“The people crowded to this meeting from far and near. They came in their large wagons, with victuals mostly prepared. The women slept in the wagons, and the men under them. Many stayed on the ground night and day for a number of nights and days together. Others were provided for among the neighbors around. The power of God was wonderfully displayed; scores of sinners fell under the preaching, like men slain in mighty battle; Christians shouted aloud for joy.
“To this meeting I repaired, a guilty, wretched sinner. On the Saturday evening of said meeting, I went, with weeping multitudes, and bowed before the stand, and earnestly prayed for mercy. In the midst of a solemn struggle of soul, an impression was made on my mind, as though a voice said to me, “Thy sins are all forgiven thee.” Divine light flashed all round me, unspeakable joy sprung up in my soul. I rose to my feet, opened my eyes, and it really seemed as if I was in heaven; the trees, the leaves on them, and everything seemed, and I really thought were, praising God. My mother raised the shout, my Christian friends crowded around me and joined me in praising God; and though I have been since then, in many instances, unfaithful, yet I have never, for one moment, doubted that the Lord did, then and there, forgive my sins and give me religion.”
– Cartwright’s account of his conversion
Peter Cartwright died this date,9/25/1872, in Illinois. He was born 9/1/1785, in Amherst County,Virginia. He came under Holy Ghost conviction at 16, and after several weeks (months?) of seeking was converted to Christ. He was an ordained a Methodist minister, in Kentucky(1806) and married Frances Gaines (1808).
Cartwright was twice a member of the Illinois legislature. He ran against A. Lincoln for seat in US Congress and was defeated (1846). There was only one Peter Cartwright, frontier rough, limited in “book learning,” but willing to do what he felt God directed. He spent over 50 years spreading the Gospel and reflects the same in his Fifty Years a Presiding Elder (1871). He also produced Controversy with the Devil (1853) and his colorful Autobiography of Peter Cartwright (1856).
Separate-Holy 