PETER CARTWRIGHT (PART 4)

A Bold Stand: Confronting the Jew

“Well now, my dear sir,” said I, “let us test this matter. If you are in earnest, get down here and pray to God to stop this work. If it is wrong, He will answer your petition and stop it. But if it is not wrong, all hell cannot stop it.”

The rest of our company saw how bold I was and took courage. The Jew hesitated. I said, “Get down instantly and pray, for if we are wrong, we want to know it.”

He lingered, showing unmistakable signs of unwillingness. So I challenged him again. Slowly, he knelt, cleared his throat and coughed.

I said, “Now, boys, pray with all your might that God may answer by fire.”

The Outcome of the Challenge

Our Jew began, tremblingly, “O Lord God Almighty,” then coughed again, cleared his throat and started over, repeating the same words.

We saw his evident confusion and simultaneously began praying aloud at the top of our voices. The Jew leaped up and hurried away. We raised a shout and had a glorious time.

Several of our mourners were converted. Then we all rose and started towards the camp at full speed, shouting. We firmly believed that we had obtained a signal victory over the devil and the Jew.

The Kentucky Boy Starts Out

At the beginning of the following year’s Communion season, Peter was surprised when his pastor presented him with a letter recognising him as an “exhorter” in the Methodist Church.

The letter read:

“Peter Cartwright is hereby permitted to exercise his gifts as an exhorter in the Methodist Episcopal Church, so long as his practice is agreeable to the Gospel.

Signed in behalf of the society at Ebenezer.

Jesse Walker, A. P. May, 1802.”

READ ALSO: CHARLES FINNEY-PART 3

A New Chapter Unfolds

Peter had not sought this office, but he was persuaded to accept it. One provision of the office was that if the Spirit came upon him to preach, he had the right to do so.

That fall, Peter’s father moved the family to Lewiston County, near the mouth of the Cumberland River. Interestingly, the area happened to be eighty miles from the nearest Methodist circuit.

Peter and his mother requested letters of membership so they could hold meetings in their house. In response, Peter received a letter authorising him to establish a preaching circuit in the area.

Facing Opposition and Trials

This permission was far more than Peter had expected, let alone hoped for. He had been planning to attend school and considered circuit preaching too great a responsibility for him.

Brother Page, the presiding elder from whom Peter had requested the letters of membership, advised him to first settle his father’s family in the area. If he could find a good moral school with a good teacher, he should attend throughout the winter. Then, in the spring and summer, he could form the circuit and do the best he could.

Peter agreed with Page and found a school that looked promising. However, things did not work out as expected. Although the teacher was a minister, he hated Methodists “more than he hated the devil.”

The other boys at the school branded Peter with the name “The Methodist Preacher” and taunted him. The schoolmaster did little to discourage them.

At one point, two of the boys decided to throw Peter into a nearby creek. The spot had a bank about seven feet high and a pool about ten feet deep.

To lure Peter to the riverbank, they pretended to be distressed over their sins and asked him to pray for them.

He suspected that their request was not genuine. However, he did not want to turn them away in case they were sincere. So, he agreed to go…

TO BE CONTINUED…