[Methodist Circuit Rider Preacher, Peter Cartwright, 19th Century]
Well, first of all. I want to thank you for being great neighbors
with First United Methodist Church and our Crossroads facility next door. I think it’s pretty special that First United
Methodist Church and the Lancaster Campground share a common history with
Methodism.
Many of you might be aware that your neighbor church has been
celebrating our two-hundredth birthday this year. It’s been a fun year for us. As part of our bicentennial, we have
dedicated our newly refurbished church bell which now sits beautifully in front
of our church building on Wheeling and High Streets.
About a month and a half ago, you might have noticed a large tent that
we had next door at Crossroads. That was
for our old fashioned Methodist tent revival.
How many of you like ice cream?
How many of you like free ice cream?
I want to personally invite you to our free ice cream social event this
Sunday, from 3 to 5 at our Crossroads facility.
It’s open to the community and especially to you, our friends and
neighbors at the Lancaster Campground. Tell
them Robert McDowell sent you. In addition to the free old fashioned ice cream
and other free food, we will have the wonderful Celtic musical group, the
Kells. We’ll also have inflatable games
for children.
We have some other events in September and October and we invite you to
join us as we continue to celebrate 200 years of Methodism here in the
Lancaster area.
Hearing that your week’s theme is, “Bible Boot Camp,” I’ve entitled tonight’s
sermon, “Tough Methodists.” There are
probably a good number of tough Methodists right here at the Lancaster
Campgrounds. How tough are you?
I’ve always thought of myself as a tough Methodist. But as I have been reading up on my Methodist
history, I’m not so sure.
One of the greatest of all of the 19th century Methodist
Circuit Rider preachers was a man by the name of Peter Cartwright. Circuit Rider preachers got their name by
riding on horseback from church to church and they would call those churches
their circuit.
First Church was one of the churches on Peter Cartwright’s circuit back
in 1806, six years before we became an official Methodist Church here in
Lancaster. One of the reasons Peter
Cartwright is known as one of the greatest of all the Methodist circuit rider
preachers is because toward the end of his life, he wrote an
autobiography.
I read his autobiography this past winter in preparation for our
bicentennial year. And man, was he
tough! Circuit Riders were known for
preaching at campground meetings that would attract people by the hundreds and
the thousands. And since there were
large crowds, these camp meetings would attract all kinds of people, some of
them who were up to no good.
Peter Cartwright was known to preach about God’s love and grace but he
also had no problem whatsoever in chasing down folks who were there to
interrupt the preaching and interfere with the revival. There’s a story of Cartwright hurting himself
pretty badly by chasing after one of these persons who were up to no good.
When I took a group to England to visit the places of John Wesley, one
of the guides explained to us why the early Methodist meeting houses didn’t
have any windows on the first floor.
They kept the windows high because so often, the people who didn’t like
what the Methodists were preaching and doing in their community, would try to
break in and disrupt their prayer meetings.
Maybe you have heard of these journal entries by John Wesley during a
several week period of time in his ministry.
Here are these entries:
Sunday a.m.,
May 5 -Preached in St. Ann's; was asked not to come back any more.
Sunday p.m., May 5- Preached at St. John's; deacons said, 'Get out and stay
out.'
Sunday a.m., May 12 -Preached at St. Jude's; can't go back there either.
Sunday p.m., May 12-Preached at St. George's; kicked out again.
Sunday a.m., May 19- Preached at St. Somebody Else's; deacons called a special
meeting and said I couldn't return.
Sunday p.m., May 19-Preached on the street; kicked off the street.
Sunday a.m., May 26- Preached out in a meadow; chased out of meadow when a bull
was turned loose during the service.
Sunday a.m., June 2-Preached out at the edge of town; kicked off the highway.
Wesley was the original tough
Methodist. And thanks to his
faithfulness and perseverance, many people responded to the good news of Jesus
Christ. First United Methodist Church
traces its roots back to this tough Church of England Priest who started the
Methodist movement.
But back to Peter Cartwright. There’s a great story about a time when he
was conducting camp meetings in Illinois where he spent the remaining years of
his ministry. He was riding his horse
when he came up to two men and a lady who were riding in a wagon. They were from Ohio.
They were shouting out religious phrases
as if they had just been to one of the Methodist camp meetings. They shouted out phrases like, “Glory
to God!! Glory to God!! Hallelujah!! Another sinner 's down!! Glory to God!
Hallelujah!! Glory!! Hallelujah!”
At first, Peter Cartwright thought that they were simply celebrating
their new found faith that they had experienced at one of these Methodist tent
meetings. But as he got closer and
closer to their wagon, it became apparent to him that they were being sarcastic
by shouting out these phrases and they were actually making fun of him.
When he realized this, he shouted back at them and told them to cease
their insults and to instead repent and turn to Christ. But they continued
their sarcasm by shouting out even louder, “Glory
to God! Glory to God! Hallelujah!! Another sinner’s down!! Glory to God!
Hallelujah!! Glory!! Hallelujah!”
To make matters worse, Peter’s horse was up in years and he wasn’t able
to get around their wagon so he had to endure their insults for quite a
while. When he tried to pass them, they would
crack the whip and were able to stay in front of him.
Thinking that he was destined to be tormented by these Ohio heathens for
the remainder of his ride, he remembered that there was a mud-hole about a
quarter of a mile ahead that they probably wouldn’t it notice since it was
difficult to see. The locals knew to
avoid that part of the road entirely since wagons were known to sink into the
mud and tip over.
Peter Cartwright managed to get ahead of their wagon and not wanting him
to get ahead of them, they sped up and were traveling at a good speed. And sure enough, the plan worked. Not seeing the deep mud-pit, the wagon hit it
just right and it tilted into the soft mud as Peter continued to ride safely
ahead.
Here’s the rest of the story as told word for word by Peter Cartwright
in his autobiography:
The
young lady was dressed in white, and as the wagon went over, she sprang as far
as she could, and lighted on all fours; her hands sunk into the mud up to her armpits, her mouth and the
whole of her face immersed in the muddy water, and she certainly would have
strangled if the young men had not relieved her.
As they helped her up and out, I had wheeled my horse to see the fun. I
rode up to the edge of the mud, stopped my horse, reared in my stirrups, and
shouted at the top of my voice, "Glory
to God! Glory to God! Hallelujah! Another sinner's down! Glory to God!
Hallelujah! Glory! Hallelujah!"
If ever mortals felt mean, these youngsters did; and well they might;
for they had carried on all this sport to make light of religion, and to insult
a minister, a total stranger to them. But they condemned religion, and hated
the Methodists, especially Methodist preachers. When I became tired of shouting
over them, I said to them, "Now, you
poor, dirty, mean sinners, take this as a just judgment of God upon you for
your meanness, and repent of your dreadful wickedness; and let this be the last
time that you attempt to insult a Methodist preacher.”
I tell this story, not to say that we should repay evil for evil, but to
show that these early Methodists were not received very well by a lot of
people. Add in that they were doing all
of this out here in the wilderness and the wild frontier, and it’s truly
amazing to think of all that they were able to accomplish. These were tough Methodists!
Whenever I get in my Saturn to go visit a church member, I think of this
description of what those early Methodist preachers endured in this area about
two hundred years ago. “Methodist preachers went from fort to fort,
from camp to camp, from tent to tent, from cabin to cabin, with or without road
or path. We walked on dirt floors for
carpets, sat on stools or benches for chairs, ate on puncheon tables, had
forked sticks and pocket, or butcher knives for knives and forks, slept on
bear, deer, or buffalo skins before the fire, or sometimes on the ground in
open air for downy beds, had our saddles, or saddle bags for pillows instead of
pillows of feathers, and one new suit of clothes of homespun was ample clothing
for one year for an early Methodist preacher in the west.
We crossed creeks and large rivers without
bridges or ferry boats, often swam them on horseback, or crossed on trees that
had fallen over the streams, drove our horses over, and often waded out waist
deep; and if by chance we got a dug-out or a canoe; to cross in ourselves and
swim our horses by, it was quite a treat.”
The other day, when I noticed that gas was now $3.89 a gallon, I almost
whined when I remembered these words from Peter Cartwright. Not that I want to pay high gas prices, but
I’ll be glad to pay those prices if I don’t have to cross the Hocking River on
my horse every day!
At my last church I served, the pastor I followed was a weight
lifter. He had a chiseled face with
great big biceps and lifted weights every week.
The pastor who followed me is also a weight lifter. Last week, he took second at Raw Nationals in Killeen, Texas. He squatted 403 lbs.,
benched 315, and his dead weight lift was 451 lbs. There are 650 pastors in the West Ohio
Conference, and I had to serve in between these two guys.
What do you think of these biceps? Impressive?
OK, maybe not.
Why were those Methodists so tough?
Well, probably the same reason why we can be tough in our faith
today. They had the armor of God. As the Apostle Paul writes, “You must take up God’s complete armor. Then, when wickedness grabs its moment,
you’ll be able to withstand, to do what needs to be done, and still to be on
your feet when it’s over. So stand firm!
Put the belt of truth round your waist; put on justice as your breastplate; for
shoes on your feet, ready for battle, take the good news of peace. With it all, take the shield of faith; if
you’ve got that, you’ll be able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil
one. Take the helmet of salvation, and
the sword of the spirit, which is God’s word.”
We need all of these things, the armor, the belt of truth, the
breastplate, the shoes, the shield of faith, and the helmet of salvation if we
ever expect to live out our calling to reach people for Christ and to see real
transformation in our community and world.
Those early Methodist circuit riders didn’t depend on their own
strength. They were a disciplined bunch
who relied on God’s armor and strength to help them through the tough
times. That’s why they were tough.
A couple of weeks ago, I had the funeral for a member of my church who
lived to be 102. She was a remarkable
woman. When I first visited her at the
nursing home a couple of years ago, someone had mentioned to me that she would
be turning 100 soon. I brought my bible
with me to read some scripture with her and I was prepared to share with her some
of the things that were going on at the church at the time.
When I entered her room at the nursing home, she was sitting at her
desk. When I asked her if I was
interrupting her time, she said, “Oh,
come on in. I’m just finishing up my
letter to the editor of the paper.”
She told me that she often writes to the paper to express her thoughts.
As we talked, she went on to tell me about all of the ways that she was
still active in the church, not to mention her several organizations here in
Lancaster. Even though I had brought my
bible to share some scripture with her that day, I noticed that she had been
reading her own bible because it was open by her bed.
As I shared about the latest news of the church, I discovered that there
wasn’t very much that was news to her.
In fact, I learned more about my own church that day thanks to her
active involvement.
When I left from the nursing home, I thought to myself, “That’s one tough Methodist.” It’s because she had the armor of God.
I was a guest preacher at a church on Baptism of the Lord Sunday. I decided to offer a baptism renewal as part
of that service. Maybe you have
participated in one of these services.
It’s where you come forward and a pastor places some water on your
forehead while saying, “Remember your baptism and be thankful.”
I remember feeling a little reluctant to offer the invitation since I
didn’t know how the people would respond.
As I stood by the bowl of water and looked out at the faces of all these
people who I didn’t know, I remember wondering if people would respond to the
invitation to come forward.
I couldn’t help but notice this great big guy, probably in his late 20’s
sitting in the very back pew of the sanctuary.
His thick and strong arms were crossed and he had this tough and
intimidating look about him. I thought
to myself that there’s no way that this guy will come forward for this baptism
renewal.
After I gave the invitation for the people to come, I placed the water
on each of their foreheads. It felt like
a long time as people came to me one by one for their baptism renewal.
And then, to my surprise, I could see that this man that I had spotted
in the last pew was now in line. As he
approached me, this great big bear of a man had tears streaming down his face. He was so moved by this holy moment. I reached up to place the water on his
forehead and looking into his eyes and I said, “Remember your baptism, and be thankful.”
As he wiped away the tears from his eyes and started to turn to go back
to his seat, he said back to me, “Bless
you, pastor.”
He was probably one of the toughest
Methodists I have ever met.
Tonight, I invite us to put on the whole armor of God. You'll need it.
