Rensselaer Union, Volume 5, Number 3, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 October 1872 — The Late Rev. Peter Cartwright. [ARTICLE]

The Late Rev. Peter Cartwright.

From Harper's Vftrddy. ’4'his yiu/efiViHi nniilster of.ljW Qospel, whose name was loved and honored wherever known, died at (Pleasant Plains, Illinois, on the 25th u)t., at the advanced age of eigh 1y- sc vem 7 ’; IJi s life w a,so iie of zeafmis labor;-and his complete biography would include the history of the rise and progress of Methodism in the valley of the Mississippi, Where the great part of his career yas passed. He was.born September 1, 1785, in Amherst Gounty, Virginia. Ills father was a soldier.of the Revolution. Short’y after liis birth his parents removed to Kentucky, then an unbroken wilderness, over which emigrants moved on packhorses. Logan County, where the Cartw_ijolils_„ lived, * vas called “Rogues Harbor.” Refugees from al! parts of the country fled thither ito escapejustice. .Murderers horsetltiev.es’’, highway robbers, and counterfeiters actually formed a majority of the inhabitants, and weie able to set the laws at defiance.— The honest people, under the name of Regulators, combined together and formed a vigilance committee for the "execution of the laws. It was in such a—desperate state of Society that Peter Cartwright’s boyhood was passed. ‘ “I was naturally,” he says, a w ild wicked boy, and delighted in horseracing, card-playing, and dancing. My father restrained me but little, though my mother often talked to me, wept over me, and prayed for me, and often drew .tears froin m$ eyes; ami though I often, wept under preaching, and resolved to do better and seek religion, yet I broke my vows, went into young company, rode races, played cards, and danced.” Gambling became his besetting sin. About the beginning of the present eentirry Logan County became more civilized, and in 1801 was held there the Cane Ridge Campmeetihjf, the first ever held in -this country a meeting protracted for weeks, and attended by from 12,000 to 15,000 people. Preachers of all ! denominations were present, and between one and two thousand souls were converted. It was.about this tune that Peter joined the Methodist Episcopal Church. j In May of the following year

Peter Cartwright was permitted to ; exercise his gifts as an exhorter.— ’ In the fail liis father moved down the Cumberland River into LewisI, ton County. Here Presiding Elder Page gave Peter authority to i travel through that destitute region; holding meetings, organize classes, ami, in a word, to form a circuit. ■ Considering bis education defective, heTtmtered the best school to be found in the neighborhood, wherfe he staid fur a_ short time, and them- went into,the active wprk of the ministry. In 1806 he was ordained a deaeon by Bishop ; Asbury. He ,>vas married to Francis GaineS'fAugust IS, 1808, J and iu the .following October was I ordained Ln elder by Bishop ■ M‘Keudree - . In 1813 lie was appbinteddbyßishop Asbury presiding elder ol the Green River in Tennessee. From that time I the Rev. Peter Cartwright lived ; and wrought in the West with char-, acteristic energy," and his labors were attained with memorable ■ success. “I have lived,” he says, Au his autobiography, “to see this . vast Western wilderness rise and ; improve and become wealthy wilhi out a parallel! in the history-ofi the viorld; L have outlived-every' , member of my father's family—lj I have outlived every member oFthe class I joined in 1800; I bav-e outlived Cvery. member of the Western Conference in 1804, save one or | two; I have outlived every memj her of the first General Conference that I was electeel to, in Baltimore, iu 1816, save five or six; I have outlived all my early bi«hop§ r ; I have outlived every presiding elder that I ever had when on circuits; and I have outlived hundreds and thousands of my con temporary ministers and members, as well as juniors, and still linger on the mortal shores. Though all these have died, they shall live again, aud by the grace of God I shall live with them in heaven forever.” In a lecture delivered at Chicago a few days ago lie said of hijqiiself that be was ' living -beyond -his' time. He had not a father, mother, brother or sister living.— His ..life had beeu one of hardship: he had known many crossed; but if he were "to five his "life over again; he would be a Methodist traveling preacher. Few men in the-Church have had greater opportunities with more zeal for the good of hhmanity. By nature independent and sturdily aggressive,

he was eminently fitted to the field of labor in which his life was passed ; and these characteristics, no jltss than hiißiatural kmSliuess of heart, gave him great influence over men. A single incident will show the fearless side of his character. During the Nashville (’<>nTbrence of 1818 General Jackson entered tire church one day while Cartwright- was preaching. The. regular pastor of the church, who was also in the pulpit, pulled the preacher by the coat*, and.&dd, in,a rather a, loud whisper, . “ Genyral Jackson has come .in; General Jackson has come in.” “I felt,” says Cartwright, “a flash of indignation run all over me like an electric shock, and facing about to my congregation, and purposely speaking out audibly,! said, “Who is General Jackson? If he don't get his .soul converted, God will damn him as quick as he would a Guinea negro 1 ” Tlie city paston shocked and frightened, hastened the next day to apologize to the general for Cartwright’s rudeness; but Jackson, like the man ho was, declared Cartwright to be a man alter his own heart, adding that if he fihd a well-drilled army, with a few thousand such fearless and independent men as Cartwright for officers, he “could take, old England!” A presiding elder for more than a century; Peter CartWrig]iL_&p£lid a long and useful life in the service of his fellow-men, and has at last gone to tlie grave full of years, and followed by those benedictions which are the highest honors that can be paid to one’s memory.

Since the Ist instant the only Government Stamps necessary are for tobacco, fermented liquors, patent medicines, matches and ' hecks in regard to deeds and wills. The Commissioner holds that any papers of this character, should be stamped inorder to be valid. It would not be legal to record after that date if not stamped. If the probate of a will is not taken out before this date, it requires no stamp, even if died previously. An instrument requires a stamp when issued, but not before; The department has lately decided that a stamp is required on inland bills of exchange if payable at sight oi on demand ; also, on all orders at sight oil private individuals for hny sum over §lO. This decision, has, however, been questioned, and will be appealed to tho Secretary of the Treasury.— lnd, jourh <d.