Annie Carter Cochran

“ Guthrie looked up to where I stood, and said, ‘I have brought you an old friend whom you will be glad to see, Principal Cunningham.’ The latter had just returned to the city that day, and had gone to see Dr. Guthrie, who told him, ‘We are going to Mr. Carter’s to-night; will you go with us?’ That was the most delightful evening I spent in Edinburgh. The feast of reason and the flow of soul enraptured us all. ”

“ God grant that we may never grow faint. I never relax my hold upon the covenant. Jesus has been more precious to me than I have felt him for a long time, and the Gospel more glorious, Henceforth I am bound, I trust, for eternity. I want to live only for the glory of God. Pray for me and mine, The Lord bless you, and reward you for your kind and Christian sympathies. ”

“ We bless God for what he is enjoying now, we bless God that through the riches of Divine grace we may hope to meet him again in that happy land. The years are vanishing away; another is all but gone; yet if we are living as forgiven children of the Lord Jesus Christ, we may lift up the voice of confidence, and rejoice that as the years go we too are going home,—home to God, to Christ, to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to all whom we have loved long since and lost awhile. ”

“ Grandma loved her own people dearly, but she loved her God more, and I am sure if that is the case heaven is a better place for her than earth. A life of joy and peace without pain, without disappointment, without sorrow, is so much better than a weak, worn life.
“I would I could tell you all I feel, Grandfather. I know how black it all looks ahead, but I also know how well you know where to look for light. Grandma had more than completed her threescore years and ten; the full measure of life had been hers, and now that the cross is laid down, is it not better so? ”

“ Carter’s solemn and earnest talks as they sat in the quiet room, lighted often only by the open fire, can never be forgotten by his children. They will carry the impression of them to eternity. One of his sons specially remembers a story told on one Sabbath evening of a father who was a godly man, but whose children, while loving and dutiful to him, were utterly uninterested in the claims of religion. In vain he talked with them; they remained careless and unimpressed. One morning he came down to prayers, and took up the Bible, but was so overcome by deep feeling that he could not proceed. ”

“ I fear that the announcement which I see in the New York papers means that your dear wife is no more! No more in this world, except in the hearts of her loving husband and grateful children. To be no more here is to be forever with the Lord.
“If this be indeed your life companion who has been taken, (and I know of no other Robert Carter,) then I extend to you my most heartfelt condolence. I recall the pleasant rides and talks with you both at Saratoga in the years gone by, and I can imagine how lonely you must be after a half-century of loving fellowship. ”

“ To publish hundreds of thousands of such books, and to pass half a century in the work, is sublime. Therefore I congratulate my friend Robert Carter on the comfortable completion of his fifty years as a publisher, on the prosperity of his business, which has abundantly provided for him in his old age, on the peace and happiness with which the evening of his life is blessed, and on the assurance that his sun is setting to rise in eternal day. ”

“ We thank Thee with all our hearts for this long, happy, and holy life, and now that our beloved brother has returned unto his rest, we thank Thee that Thou hast dealt so bountifully with him. We thank Thee for his early Christian training in that land hallowed by the blood of Thy martyrs, and for those sacred influences which entered into the very fibre of his being, and continued with him through long years. ”

“ For thirty-six hours the wind raved, and the waves rolled with a fury and power unknown, for so long a time, to the most experienced navigators on board. Travelling mountains, with the power of the iceberg, the avalanche, or the Niagara, for one day and two nights, as far as eye could reach, covered the surface of the deep, thundering loud and unceasingly around us. The onset commenced on Saturday night, and raged increasingly till Sabbath morning, when, instead of mitigation, it gathered new power, and then commenced the work of desolation. ”

“ O my dear children, how much reason have you to bless God that you are not placed in the condition of slaves! and yet the poor slave that talked with me to-day about the love of Jesus may take a higher place in the kingdom of Heaven than some of us. May God enable us all to improve our privileges, and while it is yet to-day labor in the Lord’s vineyard as we have opportunity! ”

“ Carter's mother-in-law, Mrs. Thomson, left her beautiful home upon the Hudson, where the cares of her hospitable mansion were growing heavy for her increasing years, and came to live with her daughter in New York. Her presence in Mr. Carter’s family was a constant benediction. She was as a second mother to his children, already so fully blessed in their own mother. Her beautiful, unselfish life left on them an impress never to be forgotten. ”

“ There is much here to arrest the attention of a Northern man, but I do not wish, on the evening of the Lord’s day, to speak of things temporal and transitory. O that the scenes I have witnessed may make me more devoted to the service of the Master than ever before! My mind has been so tossed about and harassed that I cannot attain that blessed peace which I have so often enjoyed at home. The Sabbath has been for many years so laden with blessings, that when I occasionally wander abroad I miss exceedingly the quiet and peaceful enjoyment which I prize so highly. ”

“ Carter was one of those who took active part in all the religious services of this exciting period. His son carried through life the impression made by his father’s calmness and faith throughout the peril. He remembers his taking him in his arms, and saying, “We are in great danger. It is very probable that our ship will go down, down, down into the great sea, and we shall never see your two dear little brothers in this world; but if we love and trust the Lord Jesus, our souls will go up, up, up, into the blessed heaven, and we shall live always with our God.” ”

“ Be they right or wrong, men fighting for what they consider independence, with their wives and children at their back, are hard to subdue. And in the accounts from America, how often do I wish that God would step forward and put an end to the horrors! We are all greatly distressed about America, and our only comfort is the hope that the blot of slavery will in the end be washed out. ”

“ But you are enjoying in the mellow eventide of your life the love of loyal friends, and the esteem and regard of the thousands to whom you have been a blessing, and are still bringing forth fruit in old age.
“One other cause for congratulation is that you have an immortality before you, bright with rich possibilities of growth, in which you are going to continue to work for Christ. This is the best of all. The ‘endless life’ beyond the shadows of mortality is a great deal more real than the broken years we live in this world. There the oldest are the youngest, and all life is toward youth. ”

“ The doctor laid his hand on his shoulder one day, and said, “Mr. Carter, you are the most patient man I ever saw in my life. A team of horses could not draw a complaint from you.”
Another day a friend said to him, “It must be a great pleasure to you to look back on your well-spent life, and think of all the good you have done.” “Oh no, no! I have been very, very unworthy. I have no reliance but in the atoning sacrifice of my Saviour.”
He was able to see his friends, and his social nature took great pleasure in their visits. ”

“ I then went to the colored Sabbath school, and my heart melted within me to see a hundred black children listening to the instructions of their teachers, and not any of them with Bible, hymn-book, or text-book in their hands. How sad it is that, in this land of Sabbaths and Bibles and good books, so large a portion of our fellow beings should be deprived of the privilege of reading God’s blessed Book! The teachers are evidently men of God, doing the best they can under the circumstances ”

“ Carter’s party was ready. That evening ride through the twilight into the beautiful region, hallowed by so many sacred associations, was one never to be forgotten. Arrived at the little inn at La Tour, it was found to be lighted from garret to cellar; the host and hostess came out with a hearty welcome, as if to invited guests. “Here is a room for Monsieur and Madame, here one for Mademoiselle. This one we have made ready for the young gentlemen.” “But,” said Mr. Carter, “there must be a mistake. ”

“ The prayer was answered. The mother sat with Kate at the communion table, and it was a happy home, and there was joy in heaven. Kate was again taken sick. Three little nieces of mine visited her regularly. They took various delicacies to her, but they did more. They could sing sweetly, and they sang ‘Jesus loves me, this I know,’ and ‘Jesus paid it all, all the debt I owe.’ ‘Ah!’ said the poor child, ‘that is my hymn. I owed a heavy debt and had nothing to pay it with. How good He is!’ In my visits to Kate, I never heard a murmur or a doubt. Nothing but faith and hope and joy. ”

“ Carter’s door, and Dr. Griscom’s voice said, “I am not allowed to get up in the morning so early, but I wish thee would come to my room as soon as thee is dressed, that we may talk again.” Mr. Carter was soon beside his friend’s bed, and he said to him: “I lie awake much in the night, and last night I was thinking about thy prayer. I am convinced that we lose much in our Society by not having audible prayer, family worship, and blessing at table. If I were to begin life over again, I would do differently.” ”

“ Many of the people in the neighborhood were utterly irreligious, and as the family drove to church they could see the farmers at work in their fields. By and by they began to be ashamed of their Sunday work, and would run and hide themselves as they saw the good man’s carriage approaching. Mr. Thomson cared for their souls, and lost no time in building on his own grounds a pretty little church, of which he was the first ruling elder, and for many years the main support. This church, happy and prosperous, has been ever since his best monument. ”

“ We remember with delight the gatherings early on winter evenings to listen to Bible stories from dear mother, till the good father came home from outside work, like David, ‘to bless his house.’ The happy home in which we all lived together and the happy home where we still delight to meet are beautiful types of the Father’s house in which we all hope to dwell. ”

“ How good God is to me,—so much better than I deserve!” He had no greater joy than to see his children walk in the truth. In his old age he rejoiced with joy unspeakable as one after another his grandchildren came into the fold. He was wont to say, with thanksgiving, that of his twenty-five grandchildren all over twelve years of age were members of the church, some of them entering into communion at a very tender age. ”

“ Carter, “the narrative of my honored friend ended. I tell it to you boys, to encourage you to faithful efforts to improve and develop yourselves. This man, who rose from obscurity entirely by his own efforts, with the blessing of God, is now one of the most learned men and eloquent orators of our day, holding large audiences of our most cultivated people spellbound while he discourses to them of the wonderful facts of astronomy. Of late a fearful storm of war has swept over our land. ”

“ Robert Carter, New York: Dear Sir,—Your friends and associates in the book-publishing and book-selling trade of this city desire, on the fiftieth anniversary of your entrance upon the business, to convey to you their best regards and congratulations.
Some of us are the sons and successors of your early contemporaries; others are the representatives of a later generation; but the good will and kindly feeling which you commanded at the beginning, you have continued to retain through all the succeeding years of an honorable career. ”