Robert Daniel was born in Virginia just prior to the Revolutionary War. Twenty-five years later the country was shaken once again with the reverberations of the “Great Awakening.” In 1802 Robert Daniel was born a second time through the ministry of the Separate Baptists. As a twenty-nine-year-old he was baptized and joined the Holly Springs Baptist Church in North Carolina. About a year later he was ordained to the gospel ministry. That was when Bro. Daniel began an itinerant preaching ministry – North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and into Tennessee. Ironically, he ministered for a while in Holly Springs, Mississippi before completing his service in Salem, Mississippi. According to his biographer, Brother Daniel moved from place to place, because he was prone to periods of depression. He would move to a new area and God would begin to bless with souls saved and sometimes churches planted. But as soon as the results of his ministry began to dwindle, he grew disheartened and moved on.
After thirty years of ministry, Brother Daniel wrote the following summary: “I have traveled, for the purpose of preaching the gospel, about sixty-thousand miles, preached upwards of five thousand sermons, and baptized more than fifteen hundred people. Of that number, many are ministers of various grades, but twelve are men of distinguished talents and usefulness. I have nothing to boast, only in Christ Jesus, my Lord. I regret much, that I have done so little for His dear cause, and been so cold-hearted and remiss of duty.” If this man was remiss of duty, what does that say of so many of us?
Robert Daniel died in Paris, Tennessee, on this day in 1840.
– Source: “This Day in Baptist History, II” – Cummins and Thompson