Going Back to Camp: Week Two: Cartwright, Asbury and the Camp Meeting by Rev. Kevin Anderson

Our Scripture this morning is from 1^st Peter chapter 1 verses 13-25

Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming.  As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do;  For it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy. “since you call on a Father who judges each person’s work impartially, live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear.  

For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.  He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. Through him you believe in God,

Who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.  Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart. For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.  For, “All people are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, But the word of the Lord endures forever.” and this is the word that was preached to you.

This is the Word of God for the People of God:  Thanks be to God.

This Scripture reminds me of the early camp meetings and revivals

That happened in this Country, taking place in the frontier-lands
On farms, in fields, “All people are like grass, and all their glory
Is like the flowers of the field.”

The scripture also speaks to a call for people to be Holy,

To be born again not of the perishable seed but the imperishable seed.
Not to conform to evil desires, but to be Holy,
To live a life that is Holy because Jesus is Holy.

                             This Morning as we continue our series on the early camp meetings and revivals in our country, I would like to paint a picture for you of that era, and time, from the words and deeds and actions of two of the earliest Methodist Circuit Riders and Camp Meetings leaders, Francis Asbury and Peter Cartwright.

For the Early Christians in our Country, going to Camp Meetings, being part of the Revival movement challenged them to be intentional about their spiritual lives, to “live lives that were Holy”, and there were so many people that would come, there where thousands of people that came with their family and tents to hear the words of the preachers that they were like grass and their glory like the flowers of the field. 
          And as farmers of the Word, working the fields, the circuit riding preachers came hundreds of miles to plant the Word of God into the good seed.  Into the people that came to hear the Message of Grace and hope.
Francis Asbury and Peter Cartwright were some of these
“Farmers of the Word” that came from the grass of the field.
A Real Grass Roots Movement!

For Francis Asbury his ministry started as his mother claimed before his birth, as she had a dream that he would one day become a great preacher and leader of the Christian faith.  So at the age of 18 Francis Asbury became a local lay preacher, and at twenty two he was appointed to be a circuit rider by John Wesley.  During his ministry he became one of the first Methodist bishops along with Thomas Coke and started several schools in the American Frontier. His heart for ministry lead him to preach in jails, Churches, at Camp Meetings, at all times of the day both morning and at night.  He had a passion for visiting people getting ready for exicution and trial, giving words of peace to those at the end of the line.  Sometimes he would preach to four people, sometimes thousands; and this is what he said about the Camp Meetings, after arriving into a new town from a hard day on the road.

 “I Walked down to Gloucester-point, and then rode to brother Chew's; and though very weak, weary, wet, and low, while it rained very hard, I preached with some power to many people from these words: "As the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and re­turneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater; so shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth; it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I send it."

        In all conditions, in all weather, Wind, Rain or Snow, the Circuit rider rode on, miles at a time, to make it to the camp meeting, and whatever the condition laid out for them the camp meeting went on!  Sometimes the Minister as well as the people were soaked to the bone, yet preaching occurred, and the Spirit of the Lord was felt, as it nourished the good seed, bringing new people to Christ, with the warmth of the Holy Spirit. People were brought into new ways of Holy Living.

 Another farmer of the Word and a leader at Camp Meetings was Peter Cartwright, Cartwright has been known as one of the great preachers of his time.  For over fifty years,

“he rode the wilderness circuits from the Appalachians to the mighty Mississippi.”  Peter Cartwright was born in Amherst Country Virginia but his family moved to Logan County Kentucky soon after.  And Logan County Kentucky just happened to be the birthplace of the Great Western Revival, which was a religious awakening during the late 17,00’s.  And it is where Peter Cartwright came to his faith in Jesus Christ at the age of 15.  When he came to faith in Christ, he became an active witness to it, he shared his faith testamony at Camp Meetings and became well known.  When he was 17 the Cartwright family moved again further into the wilderness of early Kentucky.  That’s when he sent a letter

to change his Church membership, but when he got the reply it was not one that he was expecting at all.  The letter he received back was a letter commissioning him to “start a new Church circuit in the un-churched wilderness to which his family was moving.” From then on Peter Cartwright‘s Career as the most famous Methodist circuit rider began.  He spent over 50 years of preaching at Camp Meetings and churches riding through the wilderness

through the states of Kentucky, Tennessee, Indiana, Ohio, and Illinois.  He served as a preacher as well as one of the early District Superintendents for all the newer Circuit riders in the area.  He even became a politician running against President Abraham Lincoln for Congress before he became president.  Peter Cartwright after this defeat had so much respect for Abe that he called him “America’s Great Hope”

Peter Cartwright was also known for his passionate preaching, his teaching of strong Methodist theology, fighting with robbers and drunks that became disorderly at camp meetings or on the road, One of the stories about Peter Cartwright involved President Andrew Jackson when he was a General. Where it was written that, “Once Cartwright warned General Andrew Jackson, that he would be damned to Hell just as quickly as any other man if he did not repent. A timid preacher apologized to Jackson for Cartwright's bluntness. The general retorted that Christ's ministers ought to love everybody and fear no mortal man, adding that he wished he had a few thousand officers like Peter Cartwright”.

another story of Peter Cartwright's time on the road, was when he was traveling on night, a very dark night, through the woods, and was confronted by a group of theives.  In fear for his life, he began to yell at some "imaginary forces", saying, "Here! here! Officers and men, take them!" The thugs retreated and bolted in panic.
Such events gave him a name. Yet regardless of the number of adventures, stories and even tall tales about the man, such as a wrestling match with the famous Mike Fink;  for Cartwright, the highlights of his ministry could be found at the Camp Meetings. In his autobiography, Cartwright described in great deal the rise of the camp meeting movement, he paints a picture for Christians of the excitement, and happenings of them as he wrote,

“times rolled on, population increased fast around us, the country improved, horse-thieves and murderers were driven away, and civilization advanced considerably.  Ministers of different denominations came in, and preached through the country; but the Methodists preachers were the pioneer messengers of salvation in these ends of the earth. Somewhere between 1800 and 1801, in the upper part of Kentucky, at a memorable place called, “Cane Ridge”, there was appointed a sacramental meeting.. at which meeting, seemingly unexpected by ministers or people, the mighty power of God was displayed in a very extraordinary manner; many were moved to tears, and bitter and loud crying for mercy.  The meeting was protracted for weeks.  Ministers of almost every denomination flocked in from far and near.  The meeting was kept up by night and day.  Thousands heard of the mighty work, and came on foot, on horseback, in carriages and wagons.  It was supposed that there were in attendance at times during the meeting from twelve to twenty-five thousand people….

              Stands were erected in the woods from which preachers of different churches proclaimed repentance towards God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, and it was supposed, by eye and ear witnesses, that between one and two thousands souls were happily and powerfully converted to God during the meeting. The heavenly fire spread in almost every direction. From this camp-meeting, for so it ought to be called, the news spread through all the Churches, and through all the land, and it excited great wonder and surprise; but it kindled a religious flame that spread all over Kentucky and through many other states.  And I may here be permitted to say, that this was the first camp-meeting ever held in the United States, and here our camp-meetings took their rise

Both Peter Cartwright and Francis Asbury, were driven men, driven to an active faith a faith and a way of living, as 1st Peter 1 tells us, “to have minds that are sober and alert, to have hope in Grace which is in Jesus Christ and to live lives that are Holy and true”. I love the imagery that Cartwright has set up for us of the Camp Meeting.  You can almost see the thousands of people present, you can almost hear the sounds of the ministers and the people gathered to worship, converted to Christianity, living Holy lives, all the people like 1^st Peter tells us were like grass or flowers on the field, thousands of them, from different backgrounds, economic status, ethnicities, and Christian denominations.  Most all of them coming together

for the same reasons, planting themselves in good soil, soaking in the Word of the Lord.

Let us too, live and plant ourselves in the good soil, let us too today feel the presence of the Holy Spirit with us, with the thousands that have gathered before us, and be “like the grass and whose glory is like the flowers of the field.” And let us pledge to live lives that are Holy, not conforming to evil desires, but to the hope and assurance of faith found in our Lord Jesus Christ.

May we be in prayer and worship every day individually as well as together and as a world, one great revival movement of the Holy Spirit, one great Camp meeting, now and forever-more Amen.