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Title: Memoir of Rev. Joseph Badger

Author: E. G. Holland

Release date: August 29, 2012 [eBook #40609]
Most recently updated: October 23, 2024

Language: English

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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MEMOIR OF REV. JOSEPH BADGER ***

R. Badger

MEMOIR OF REV. JOSEPH BADGER.

By E. G. HOLLAND.

FOURTH EDITION.

NEW YORK:

C. S. FRANCIS AND CO., 252 BROADWAY.

BOSTON: BENJAMIN H. GREENE, 124 WASHINGTON ST.

1854.

Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1853, by
MRS. ELIZA M. BADGER,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Western
District of New York.

DAMRELL & MOORE,
Printers,
16 Devonshire Street, Boston.

PREFACE

The present volume is the Memoir of a man and a minister whose character was strikingly individual, whose services to Religion in its more liberal and unsectarian form were large and successful; and in the denomination to which he belonged, no man was more generally known, and none, we believe, ever acted a more prominent and effective part. The writer of this has endeavored to set forth the life and sentiments of Mr. Badger, to a large extent in his own language. Much of his journal must be new even to old acquaintance, as it was written many years ago, and no part of it has ever been published. To those who would be pleased to read the outlines of the greatest theological reformation among the masses which the nineteenth century may justly claim, we trust this volume will be welcome; likewise to all those who may be liberal and evangelical Christians. Aged men, contemporaries with him, will rejoice in the revival of past scenes, and the young will be taught, encouraged, and warned by the paternal voices of the departed.

Two classes of great men figure effectively on the stage of the world. One class are strongest in writing. Their written words embody the entire elegance and power of their minds. Such were Webster and Channing. The other class are strongest in speech. Their personal presence, their spontaneous eloquence in oral discourse, alone express their mind and heart. Such were Clay, Henry, and Whitfield. To the latter classification Mr. Badger unquestionably belongs. Though the marks of superiority are variously apparent in his papers, it was in the more natural medium of oral speech that his genius shone. Having now completed the task demanded by my duty to the family of Mr. Badger, I would, in the name of the self-sacrificing, trusting faith of which he was no common example, send forth this volume to the world, hoping that in an ease-loving age, the presentation of a Lutheran force in the example of a son of New Hampshire may serve to awaken in others a kindred energy.

CONTENTS.

Chapter I. Birth and Ancestry.

II. Childhood.

III. Youth and Education.

IV. Conversion.

V. Call to and Entrance upon the Ministry.

VI. Public Labors in the Province.

VII. Tour to New England, and Public Labors.

VIII. Ordination and Public Labors.

IX. Public Labors—Marriage—Travels.

X. Labors and Settlement in Western New York.

XI. Thoughts and Incidents of 1819 and 1820.

XII. Writings—Marriage—Travels.

XIII. Correspondence—Visits at Angelica with D. D. How, the Murderer—Sermon at the Gallows.

XIV. Journey at the South—Published Journal.

XV. Ministry at Boston.

XVI. Four Months' Labor in the Counties of Onondaga and Cayuga, New York, in 1828 and 1829, with other parts of his Public Life, extending to May, 1832.

XVII. Editorial Life.

XVIII. General Views.

XIX. Ministry—Published Writings and Important Events from May, 1839, to March, 1848.

XX. Retired Life—Reading—Travels—Departure—1848 to 1852.

XXI. Outlines of Character.

XXII. Addresses—Sermons—Reminiscences—Views of Contemporaries.

XXIII. Reflections.

MEMOIR.

CHAPTER I.

BIRTH AND ANCESTRY.

In so young a world as America, it has been held unsuitable for persons to spend much time in the tracing of pedigree, or to found important claims on family descent; nor can it accord less with the common sense of mankind than with the republican genius of the world, to say, that every genuine claim to human esteem is founded in character. In this is rooted every quality that can, of right, command the reverence of man. But, as character is not exactly isolated and independent of ancestral fountains, from which the innate impulses, capacity, and tendency to good and evil have flown, the subject of ancestry justly belongs to the history of every man's mind and life. Our ancestors flow in our veins. We retain them more or less in our characters always, so that the great stress which different countries have put upon this theme, rests on other than artificial and ostentatious reasons. In nature, below man, the various circuits and orders of being do nothing more than to repeat ancestral forms and habits, to which the sweet rose, the eagle, and the strong-armed oak, are perpetual witnesses; and though man, by his God-like faculty of will is lifted out, in a great measure, from this necessity, he is so far a derivation from the past, that he ought to be seen in his connections with it. We therefore introduce the subject of Mr. Badger's ancestry as the chief part of the first chapter of this book.

Joseph Badger, the subject of this memoir, was a native of Gilmanton, Strafford county, New Hampshire, born August 16th, 1792. From an early manuscript of his I copy the following lines:—

"My father, Peaslee Badger, was born at Haverhill, Mass., 1756. He was the son of General Joseph Badger, who was a native of that place. When my father was nine years of age, his father removed to Gilmanton, N. H., where his family was settled, and where my grandsire, General Joseph, ended his days in peace, in the year of our Lord 1803. The good instruction I received from him, before my ninth year, will never be effaced from my memory. His name will long be held in remembrance as a peacemaker, and a great statesman. Every recollection of him is a fulfilment of the sacred passage—'The memory of the righteous is blessed.'

"In 1781, my father was married to Lydia Kelley, born in Lee, N. H., 1759. She was the daughter of Philip Kelley, who, in the triumphs of faith, departed this life the 11th of June, 1800, at New Hampton, N. H. For the space of thirty-six years my father resided at Gilmanton. In our family were nine children, five sons and four daughters. I was the fourth son, and the old general, of whom I have already spoken, selected me as the one to bear up his name. I was accordingly named for him; but alas! I fear I have fallen greatly below his excellent examples."

Among his ancestors, there can be no doubt, that he most resembled, in mind and body, the venerable man whose name he bore. The personal form of Gen. Joseph Badger, as described in history, in which he is represented as nearly six feet in stature, somewhat corpulent, light and fair in complexion, and of dignified manners, answers most aptly to the subject of this memoir; nor is the correspondence less perfect, when his mental qualities of foresight, order, firmness, tact, and generosity are considered. "As a military man," says the faithful pen of history, "General Badger was commanding in his person, well skilled in the science of military tactics, expert as an officer, and courageous and faithful in the performance of every trust. With him order was law, rights were most sacred, and the discharge of duty was never to be neglected."

Hundreds, into whose hands this volume will fall, will never forget the promptness and the courageous efficiency with which Rev. Joseph Badger met every public duty, and every great emergency; and though his field was the ministry, and his soldierly skill that which referred to the Cross, none who ever knew him can cease to remember the ready, natural, and commanding generalship by which his entire action and influence in the world were distinguished. He did not float with the wave of circumstance, but carefully laid out his labors into system, always having a purpose and a plan; and not unfrequently did his active energy and position in life, amidst many difficulties, remind one of a campaign. No mind, acting in the same sphere, was ever more productive in ways and means. Though a clergyman, he was a general, and one, we should say, of no common tact and skill.

His father, Major Peaslee Badger, with whom the writer of this memoir was acquainted, was a man of strong mental powers, quick perceptions, and of great vivacity. The quality last named, for which the subject of these biographical sketches was so generally distinguished, is readily traceable to his father; and the same remark in regard to quickness of perception might also apply, but for the fact that the mind of the son was more intuitive, and that he possessed both the qualities spoken of in a greater degree. Joseph Badger, though at heart deeply imbued with the solemnity and importance of all that belongs to the Gospel of human salvation, was no anchorite in spirit, no desponding meditator on man or his lot; he wore no formalities of a pretending sanctity. He had the good fortune never to have lost his naturalness; and I think I never saw one in whose nature was treasured a greater fulness of social life. It was apparent that Major Badger had a memory that was strong even in advanced years; that he was a general reader, and had reflected very independently; that, though capable of tender emotions and kindness of heart, the intellect had pretty full ascendency over his sympathetic nature; and that, in social feeling, in affection, in fineness of nature, and in general sympathy, his son possessed the richer inheritance.

His mother was a Christian, and judging from her letters, was an affectionate woman, of good plain sense, and rich in sympathy and maternal care. Father, mother and son are now in the spiritual world.[1]

As there are several public men wearing the family name of Badger, and as there are different branches of the same original family that in an early day exchanged their home in England for the then comparative wilderness of New Hampshire and Massachusetts, in obedience to the spirit of adventure that drew, in those times, the most earnest and enterprising persons to the New World, I have thought it proper briefly to present the lineage of Rev. Joseph Badger from the settlement of the first family of this name in Massachusetts; in doing which I shall not rely on uncertain tradition, but on the published history of Gilmanton, N. H., and on the Memoir of Hon. Joseph Badger, both of which are now before me. From these authorities it appears that the Badger family is of English origin, that its founder was Giles Badger,[2] who settled at Newbury, Mass., previous to June 30, in 1643, only twenty-three years after the landing of the Pilgrims. His son, John Badger, a man of much respectability in his day, was by his first wife, the father of four children, only three of whom, John, Sarah and James, lived to arrive at years of responsibility, the first having died in infancy. His first wife, Elizabeth, died April 8th, 1669. By his second wife, Hannah Swett, to whom he was married February 23d, 1671, he had Stephen, Hannah, Nathaniel, Mary, Elizabeth, Ruth, Joseph, Daniel, Abigail and Lydia. Both of the parents died in 1691. John Badger, Jr., a merchant in Newbury, married Miss Rebecca Brown, October 5, 1691; their children were John, James, Elizabeth, Stephen, Joseph, Benjamin and Dorothy. Joseph was born in 1698.

Joseph Badger, son of John Badger, Jr., was a merchant, in Haverhill, Mass.,[3] and married Hannah, daughter of Col. Nathaniel Peaslee. Among his seven children was General Joseph Badger, whose usefulness and excellence of character are strongly expressed in the pages before me. He married Hannah Pearson, January 31st, 1740; their children were twelve in number, among whom was Major Peaslee Badger, the father of the subject of this memoir, and the Hon. Joseph Badger, Jr., the father of Hon. William Badger, late Governor of New Hampshire. Several of this name have been distinguished for ability, and have held important positions of public duty. Some have been active in the defence of their country, some in the cause of education, the administration of justice, and the affairs of political life; and like the distinguished men of New Hampshire generally, they mostly seem to have had strong natures, with characters marked by native vigor and original force.

South of the White Mountains some fifty miles, and near the Lake and River Winnipiseogee, is the old town of Gilmanton. As the mind of Mr. Badger, during his childhood in this place, was lastingly impressed by the society and instruction of his uncle, I have thought best to copy the presentation of his character as found in the published history of Gilmanton.

"In the early settlement of Gilmanton," says Mr. Lancaster, "no individual was more distinguished than Gen. Joseph Badger. He was born in Haverhill, Mass., Jan. 11, 1722; and was the eldest child of Joseph Badger, a merchant in that place, who was one of the wealthiest and most influential men of that town. In the time of the Revolution, he was an active and efficient officer, was muster-master of the troops raised in this section of the State, and was employed in furnishing supplies for the army. He was a member of the Provincial Congress, and a member of the Convention that adopted the Constitution. He was appointed Brigadier General June 27th, 1780, and Judge of Probate for Strafford county, December 6th, 1784. He was also a member of the State Council in 1784, 1790, and 1791.

"He was a uniform friend and supporter of the institutions of learning and religion. He not only provided for the education of his own children by procuring private teachers, but he also took a lively interest in the early establishment of common schools for the education of children generally. Not content with such efforts merely, he did much in founding and erecting the Academy in Gilmanton, which has been already a great blessing to the place and the vicinity. He was one of the most generous contributors to its funds, and was one of its Trustees, and the President of the Board of Trust until his death. Instructed in his childhood, by pious parents, in the principles of religion, he early appreciated the blessings of the Christian ministry. Having become the subject of divine grace, he publicly professed religion, and espoused the cause of Christ. As he was a generous supporter of the institutions of the Gospel, so to his hospitable mansion the ministers of religion always found a most hearty welcome. While the rich and great honored him, the poor held him in remembrance for his generous liberality. His whole life was marked by wisdom, prudence, integrity, firmness, and benevolence. Great consistency was manifested in all his deportment. He died April 4th, 1803, in the 82d year of his age—ripe in years, ripe in character and reputation, and ripe as a Christian. The text selected for his funeral sermon was strikingly characteristic of the man. 'And behold, there was a man named Joseph, a counsellor, and he was a good man and a just.'"

Rev. Joseph Badger had indeed a noble ancestry; and, in natural ability, in creative and executive intellect, in force of character and in general usefulness, he is probably unexcelled by the worthy examples that in past time may have shed honor upon the name. I have dwelt thus long on the parentage and ancestry of Mr. B., not because I regard the tenacity of the Jewish race on the subject of lineage, nor the general excess of oriental homage to departed fathers, but because we appreciate the law of cause and effect, as it is manifested in the course of hereditary descent, which forbids that any man's written history shall begin like the priesthood of Melchizedek, successionless and without descent.

In approaching another chapter, the early life of Mr. Badger, perhaps nothing is more strikingly appropriate to the reader than the exclamation which stands as the first line of an old manuscript from his own pen, with which he begins his personal narrative, viz.: "What a mystery is Life!" Ah! who can wrestle with this wonder so as to exhaust it of its marvellousness? Who can explain the innate genius, and impulse, with the endless play of outward circumstance, that so constantly drive these human myriads on to their various destiny? Scribes can record what outwardly transpires; and even the reason can do nothing more than to look through the cluster of outward development we call man's history, to its centre in the inward life, where, though it may see the harmonious relationship of the facts to the soul whence they have flown; where, though it may perceive the combination of mental and moral qualities that make up the man, it is at last obliged to own the impenetrability of the veil that hides the genius that has taken individual form for some end of its own; and through the whole drama of man it owns that life is enacted in the temple of mystery. Mr. Badger's written journal, among its opening paragraphs, has the following quotation:

"'Tis Heaven's decree, in mercy, that mankind
Should to their future destiny be blind;
Impatient man rejects his present state,
With eager steps to meet approaching fate,
Yet would the future, in perspective cast,
Display the exact resemblance of the past;
When o'er the stage of human life we range,
The scenes continue but the actors change."

CHAPTER II.

CHILDHOOD.

The town of Gilmanton, which is only forty-five miles from Portsmouth, sixteen from Concord, and eighty from Boston, is, to a great extent, of rocky and hilly surface, having within its limits a chain of eminences that vary in height from three hundred to one thousand feet, called the Suncook Range, which commences at the northern extremity, near the Lake, and extending in a south-easterly direction through the town, divides the head-springs of the Suncook and the Soucook rivers. These fruitful highlands, covered in their early state with various kinds of hardwood, interspread with ever-welcome evergreens, have some commanding positions; especially the one called Peaked Hill, from whose summit the observer discovers within the area of his extended prospect the State House of Concord, the Grand Monadnock,[4] in Jaffrey and Dublin, the Ascutney,[5] in Windsor, Vt., the Moosehillock, in Coventry,[6] Mount Major, the highest summit in the town of Gilmanton,[7] and Mount Washington,[8] which is the highest of the White Mountains. It was amidst scenery like this that the early unfolding of the mind of Joseph Badger occurred, where the spirit of beauty which everywhere finds mediums of influence and approach to man, found some romantic symbols of her presence, with which to impress the tender mind. Nature, which is everywhere the hundred-handed educator, is an agency not to be omitted even in speaking of childhood, for children see it from the heart and learn from it unconsciously. But entering the field of personal incident, let us listen to his own recorded memories.

"I cannot describe, as some have attempted to do, what transpired when only two or three years of age; but when four or five, I most distinctly remember going with my sisters on a visit to my grandsire's, Gen. Joseph Badger. It was but a few miles, and there being a school near, I consented through much persuasion to remain and attend it. The departure of my sisters was to me the severest trial I had known, one of whom however remained to comfort me. Here new and strange things, of which I had never before heard, presented themselves to my mind. At evening the family and servants were all called in. I was much surprised at the gathering, and inquired the cause. My sister told me that we were about to attend prayers. My young expectations were raised to see something new, as before this I had never heard of anything of the kind. Whilst we were assembled, the old gentleman with the greatest solemnity leaning over his chair with his face to the wall prayed some time. I knew not what he said, nor to whom he spoke. His speaking with his eyes shut, and all the rest standing in profound silence, excited much anxiety in me for an explanation. As soon as this new scene had closed and we had retired, I remember having asked my sister to whom it was that my grandsire had been speaking. This to me was a mystery, as I saw no other standing by him. She told me that he spoke to God. I saw at once from her description that I was wholly ignorant of such a Being. She also told me that there was a place of happiness and misery, that all the good people went to heaven, and that the wicked must be burned up. I thought my sister Mary the happiest person in the world, because she knew so much about those great things; and young as I was, the story she told me filled my mind with solemnity; whilst the view she gave me of the certain doom of the wicked caused me to weep much, for I thought that I was one of that number. Impressions there made, and ideas there formed never wore off my mind.

"But another scene opened to my view, which also much surprised me. As there were several small children about the house, they were all called up at evening to say their prayers. They repeated the Lord's prayer, with some additions. This made my young heart tremble, as I thought they were all Christians, and I knew I never prayed in my life; and further, I knew not what to say. After all the rest had gone through their prayers, I was called up. My grandmother asked me if I ever prayed. I answered that I never did. She then told me to say the words after her, which I refused to do, from the feeling in my mind that the name of God was so holy and so great that I could not speak that word. I wept aloud as she enjoined on me this practice, and was finally excused. I very much dreaded to have night come again. For several nights I was excused, and listened to the others; but finally she insisted on my praying, telling me plainly that I should be made to pray. That night she prepared a large whip and applied it to me severely several times before I would submit. At length I repeated the prayer, and from that time adopted the practice regularly. Through the influence of my sister, I was afterwards induced to thank my grandmother for the whipping, though I now think some milder measures had done as well."

In those stern Puritan days, the whip was far from being an idle instrument in teaching the rebellious young the fear of the Lord. Whatever was accepted as duty in religion, had no compromise with the diversity of taste and inclination in the families of the faithful. The reader, I think, will be unable to withhold his admiration from the naturalness of the question which the child asked in relation to whom it was that the praying man was speaking; and he will hardly fail to see the difference between his first religious devotions and the free appeal of ancient Scripture in saying, "Choose ye this day whom ye will serve," as the choice was made for him, and the rod was virtuous enough to see it enacted. He remained at this place about two years, making considerable proficiency in learning, and, as he thought, some in religion. Among these, his childhood's musings, was the wonder that he never heard his father pray, and why his brothers, who were older and of more understanding than himself, never talked about God. "It is still a great cause of lamentation to me," said he in riper years, "that men of understanding dwell no more on the glories of the great Benefactor. In my opinion, a sense of religion should be early awakened, as first impressions are lasting, whether for good or for evil, and often appear in future years as the governing influence, as the foundation of future action. Ask the vilest man that whirls along in his career of evil, if he never thinks of the warnings, instructions and prayers of his fond parent in early days, and if he answers candidly he will say that they often arise to his condemnation. The destinies of different men are always teaching the worth of that holy wisdom which said, 'Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.' In glancing back at the religion of my childhood, I find that I was unconsciously Pharisaical, and leaned on the virtue of my prayers and good works, although in the mixture there was a great degree of sincerity and of heartfelt repentance. Although I was wholly ignorant, probably, of the true love of God, I have always thought that, had I then departed this life, I should have been happy."

I have alluded to the fact that Major Peaslee Badger was not a pietist, and that in his family were no religious forms. At this time, and some years after, his mind, revolting from the ordinary theological teaching of the day, was inclined to a degree of general religious unbelief. The minds of the children were not softened and controlled by religious reverence, the absence of which is usually followed by a degree of rudeness in regard to all religious form. But, following the child Joseph to his own home, now that he had learned to love the voice of prayer, we find him for a time determined in the way he had learned.

"On my return home," says he, "I missed my praying grandfather and his religious instructions, which had been frequent and impressive. I also missed my devoted grandmother, by whose side, as the silence of night came down, I had kneeled in prayer. Here I was lost, as our family had no form of religious worship, and their minds were on different subjects. For a long time I kept up my form of prayer, but at last, from two reasons, fell from my steadfastness, which were, that my school-mates none of them ever prayed, but made much fun of me for this practice; and my elder brothers, on knowing that I could pray, used to coax and hire me to do so, and then subject me to much laughter and derision for doing it. Here I left my religious exercise, which had served to keep my mind in a good moral state; and a reaction soon followed, that found me a noted swearer, using the most extravagant expressions that one of my age could easily command; a course in which I was encouraged by my father's hired men, who used to reward me with much praise and laughter. I well remember, when eight years old, of being in the company of several of Mr. Page's boys, who lived near my father's. Amidst my swearing, they, being very steady, began to rebuke me and to warn me of my danger. At first, I resisted their discourse, but the force of their arguments was such that I was compelled to yield. This restored me from my wicked habit, brought back my former feelings, and many a time did I think of it afterwards. It was also very remarkable that in 1815 I should preach in the same place and administer baptism to one of those young men. During this dark interval of which I have spoken, there were times in which I had solemn reflections; sickness and death, when I heard of them, brought to my mind my former promise, and my thoughts always arose to my Creator whenever I heard the voice of thunder.

"When I was eight or nine years of age, I attended a singing-school, in which I made rapid progress in the art, sharing as I did, in common with our family, all of whom were natural singers, a passionate love of music. With this new employment I was greatly pleased. In the summer after I was nine, I remember going to the Friends' meeting. There was a small society in town, much despised by the popular. Their dress and manner were new to me. It was thought in those days a dreadful thing for a woman to speak in public; and this was the first time that I had ever listened to a female voice in meeting; and notwithstanding the prejudice through which education had taught me to view them, the persons who spake left on my mind the impression of their sincerity. Not far from this time, I went to the Congregational church to hear Mr. Smith. My father inquired, on my return, if I remembered the text, to which I replied in the negative. He then asked me if I could give him one word the minister had spoken, to which I responded that he said several times 'rambling wolves,' a part of the discourse that I could not have forgotten, as I had heard stories of wolves and was afraid of them. I inquired his meaning, when some of the family replied that he spoke of the Freewill Baptists, who he said went about like wolves, and much disturbed and deluded many good and honest people. The occasion of this assault, as I afterwards learned, was the great success which attended the preaching of Elder Kendall and other of Christ's ministers in Gilmanton and the adjoining town, where the happy effects of the Gospel were being seen and felt."

It is indeed an old story in history, that the powerful and established party in religion, medicine, science and politics becomes proscriptive toward the new and the weaker organizations, a fact which cannot be ascribed usually to the erroneousness of any one form of faith, so much as to the natural proclivity of human nature to lord it over the weak when put into possession of influence and power. Thus the persecuted parties turn persecutors as soon as they win the summit of command; and they who have tyrannized without a scruple, will at last plead for the sanctity of individual rights as soon as they are the subjects of the same oppression. But even these fierce winds of bigotry are able in some degree to purify. The young and proscribed sect gets humility and earnestness. A zeal and an enthusiasm also spring up that give them power over the hearts of men. They grow noble through their sacrifices and reliance on God.

"Not long after this several of the young people went to hear the Freewillers, as they were at that time styled. I accompanied them to the meeting, which was held in a private dwelling, in a retired neighborhood, and composed apparently of poor people. I thought they must be as bad as I had heard them represented. They prayed, they wept, they exhorted with much fervor and pathos, and notwithstanding I so much hated their manners, something reached my heart that robbed me for the time of all lightness and irreverence. Robinson Smith was the minister who spoke at this meeting, a strong, healthy man, of unusually clear and commanding voice. He spoke with power. Some of our company returned in solemnity of spirit, whilst others derided the scene we had witnessed. Shortly after this, among my early reminiscences of Gilmanton, was a weekly conference, in which various persons spoke, offered prayers, and related their experience in things pertaining to religion—a meeting to which I was led sometimes from the examples of others, sometimes from curiosity, and sometimes from an inward desire to possess what Christians said they enjoyed. Thus was my early nature swayed by strong emotions, sometimes to good and sometimes to evil."

These pages, quoted from a private journal, written more than thirty years ago, nearly conclude all that pertains to his early life in Gilmanton. I have lingered thus long on these early years, because every man is indicated by his earliest development—certainly that part of him which may inhere in the natural character. It is true that man's latest period contains all his previous stages, somewhat as the earth we now inhabit contains the marks and proofs of all its previous states; yet, it is not given us to see the historical succession in man from a glance at the matured result. We follow the steps of nature, in whose procedure childhood and youth are not only illustrations of the substantial genius, temperament, and character, but are powerful causes in the performance of the remaining acts of life's drama. In these early years of Joseph Badger, a strong emotional nature is exhibited—a nature that could not be inactive—one that was easily reached by earnest moral and religious appeal, and one that overflowed in a wild excess of energy whenever the finer restraints of reverence were cast aside.

CHAPTER III.

YOUTH AND EDUCATION.

About this time, 1801, Major Peaslee Badger contemplated a change in his plans of life, the execution of which removed the subject of this memoir far away from the lovely waters and the romantic hills of his native town in New Hampshire. It also removed him from the various advantages of the better social influence and culture which belong to an older form of society; but it also rewarded him with the freedom, hardihood, and self-reliance of forest life.

Anxious to make farmers of his sons, Major Badger resolved to further this purpose by selling his farm in Gilmanton, and by making a more extensive purchase in a new country. At this early time, when emigration had not directed its course to the valley of the Mississippi, and when the attractions of Iowa and Minnesota lay sealed up for a future development, the mind of Mr. Badger was directed to the fertile woodland region of Lower Canada, which at that time was regarded as the best part of the world. To this region he accordingly made a journey, was much pleased with the country, and, after selling his farm in Gilmanton, which he sold for between four and five thousand dollars, he again visited this section of the king's dominions, in company with his eldest son, where he purchased eight hundred acres of the best of land. Only a few families at this time resided in the town. Leaving his son and several hired men to wage the war of industrious labor on the primeval wilderness around them, he returned home, and recruiting himself with new forces, and taking with him all necessary farming utensils, with several yoke of oxen, hastened to join the company that were already at work in turning the wilderness into a fruitful field. When he had arrived within eighteen miles of his land, a wilderness of wide extent spread out before him. No road was visible. Sending some of his men forward as surveyors, and setting others to work in cutting a road through the woods, he continued slowly his progress; and, finally receiving some assistance from the inhabitants of the town of Stanstead, and augmenting his company with the addition of those who had been laboring on his farm, he went forward with the road with great courage and success, building several bridges across large streams, and conquering every obstacle in the way till an excellent road was completed through the whole distance to his farm. It has since become a highway of great travel, and is known by the name of the Badger Road to this day. This brave pioneer opened the way for the settlement of the town. Building a small cottage for temporary convenience, they prosecuted their work with zeal for several weeks, when they constructed a house for permanent residence, the best that had, at that time, been built in the town. These preparations being made, Major Badger returned to convey his family to their new abode, in the town of Compton, Lower Canada, for which place they set out in February, 1802, in eight sleighs, laden with provisions and furniture, and after nineteen days of slow and expensive journeying, experiencing the alternations of good and evil fortune, they arrived on the 4th or 5th of March at their new home in the woods. Woman is ever the natural conservative, loving her established and long-tried home.

"My mother," says Mr. B., "was much opposed to the new arrangement, which caused her to leave her kind friends and neighbors; but such was her fortitude that none discovered her feelings. In taking leave of our native town and near relatives, the greatest solemnity filled my heart. Many wept at our departure, and I could scarcely bear up under the grief I felt in leaving the place of my birth. As we arrived at our new habitation, and my mother viewed her lonely palace, she could no longer suppress her feelings, but sat down and wept, whilst my sisters were also sad, and murmured somewhat at the new prospect before them. I wondered that my father should think of living in the midst of a forest, but thought that what others could accomplish, we could certainly do."

The contrast between the cheerful society and scenery of Gilmanton, and the solitude of this woodland region, which was swept by colder winds than the climate of the east had known; the isolation of the place, which required a journey of seventy miles to purchase the necessary grains for seed and family consumption, were calculated to awaken a deep feeling of loneliness, and at the same time to invigorate the spirit with new energy and promptings to personal efforts. But man's nature is flexible, and easily bends to every variety of condition. As soon as the news of their arrival had spread, nearly all the inhabitants of the town came in to greet them in a friendly visit; and soon spring unfolded in all its gayety of woodland gem and costume, whilst all the company became laborers to the extent of their respective abilities. Joseph, now ten years of age, who had known nothing of work, learned his first lessons in the sugar groves of the new farm. Soon they became contented with their situation, and the woody solitudes gave cheering proofs of transition, as extended acres appeared to view, ready to bear the verdure of the meadow, or the harvests of golden grain. On each side of the Coatecook river lay four hundred acres; the eastern swell was called Mount Pleasant, the western, Mount Independence. Here, in a few years, they reaped a large prosperity from the productive earth. In the journal of Mr. B. I find a notice of the total eclipse in 1806, the effects that followed it on the agricultural prospects of that country, and the melancholy thoughtfulness which the day inspired in his own mind. The effect was great, according to his statement; so much so as to be sensibly felt through the seasons. Fourteen acres carefully planted with fruit-trees and grafted with the best of scions, yielded nothing to reward the toil of the laborer.

In the general picture here presented, the reader may see the theatre of action occupied by the young man who was destined in future years to impress great numbers with his own ideas and sentiments. Doubtless there are in the world some conventional minds, who, hastily deciding all things by local prejudice or capricious fashion, would hold it impossible for genius and power to hail from any but certain favored localities; from college routine, and the aids of walls of books and of titled professors. But this is not the way in which the goddess of force and faculty distributes her gifts and makes her highest elections. She is by no means afraid of mountains and woodland solitudes; nor does she despair of winning her ends when professors and colleges do not wait upon her bidding. She exults rather in natural productions; being able to turn the night-stars, heaven's winds, earth's flowers, and even common events, into teachers; and the same of all experience and inward faculty. She brings a universal power from Stratford to London, from Ayreshire to Edinburgh, from Vosges and Domremi to Orleans and to Rheims. All great men are educated. The only variance resides in the modes and teachers. We like it that a prophet should, in early life, hail from the woodland world, and that the vastness and tranquillity of landscapes should reside in his public discourse; that his words and manners should savor, not of dry scholastic pretension and mannerism, but of songsters' voices, of colossal trees, wild rose and rushing brooks. Mr. B., however, for his time and day, was an educated man; we mean even in the more restricted sense in which the world understands this word; and certainly he was this, in its most important meanings.

"We soon had opportunity," says Mr. Badger, "for education in our new country. This was very pleasing to me, and I felt the necessity of improving every privilege of the kind." And I would say that those who knew him in after life could not but see in him the rare faculty bestowed on some of our race, that of turning a few means to a great account.

Passing on to his fifteenth year, he speaks of a season of illness, occasioned by excessive ambition at manual labor, which kept him from school a part of the time during one summer. "My sickness," he says, "was of pleuritic nature, and at times my life was despaired of. A few Christian people had moved into the place, and during my sickness, some of them conversed with me on the subject of religion. At times I remember to have wept, and supposed that my condition was deplorable. The death of a Christian woman, who had often conversed with me, occurring at this time, made a deep impression on my mind. My reflections, when alone, were melancholy in the extreme. I often wished I had died when young; and frequently did I promise God that if my life was spared I would serve Him." Many paragraphs of this sort, whilst they may wear a tinge of the religious culture common to the age, show deep and unharmonized strivings of soul. To those who knew his great vivacity, the fact of melancholy, which he records in the journal of his youth, may seem strange; but it is natural. In susceptible and thoughtful natures, in natures of deep strivings, there is ever a stratum of seriousness, wearing at times the tinge of sadness. The soul, in such, will often say, "I am in Time an exile. The earth cannot feed me;" and especially will this feeling be active in the early experience, before the wisdom of years has given stability to life, to its aims and emotions.

But a young man like him could not be otherwise than fond of amusement. With young company of his age he frequently met, and was accustomed to spend considerable of the time when together in the favorite pastime of the young—the dance.

His elder brothers settling for themselves in life, threw an increased burden of care upon Joseph, whose health was so far restored as to act his part efficiently. His father about this time entered into the mercantile business, which turned out to his disadvantage; and soon after this, when seven miles from home, he had the misfortune to break his leg, suffering extremely for fifteen days, expecting constantly that amputation would have to take place. Recovering so far as to admit of removal home, after a long time he was restored to health. "After this," says his son, "he twice met the severe misfortune to break his leg, and on the 5th Sept., 1814, it was amputated six inches above the knee. This and several such misfortunes, in part, reduced him from the high station in which he was born and had formerly lived."

"The first preaching that we heard was by an old gentleman of the name of Huntington. He was a Universalist, a good man, I think, but not a great preacher. He addressed the people for the greater part of one summer generally at my father's house. I do not remember to have seen anything like reform among the people. The old gentleman died in a few years, and I trust has gone to rest. Also Elders[9] Robinson Smith and A. Moulton, of Hatley, a neighboring town, favored us with their ministry. We called them Free-willers, but their preaching was life-awakening, and it was held in remembrance long after they were gone, although they saw no immediate fruits of their labors. I recollect of hearing Mr. Moulton once, the first time I think I ever saw him. His voice to me was like thunder. For several days after, it seemed as though I could hear the sound of it."

This indeed is the proof of God's presence in the mission, that the minister has that to say which the sinner cannot forget, that which lingers in his way like an invisible spell. The man who has God's word is not a mere lecturer or essayist in the holy temple. He has words of divine fire to speak, an undying love to utter, a warning of eternity to hold forth. He commands the giddy and the sinful to listen to a voice which, if he repent not, will tingle in his ears even to his dying day. Smooth, elegant composition may be patiently taught, and patiently learned, but God's living word out of heaven to unfaithful man, is another thing. This word has many organs, finds its way far and near, and reaches the heart of the ardent young man whose footsteps are on the classic ground, or in the larger path of nature's wild.

"When about sixteen or seventeen," continues the journal, "I heard that a young man about my age from Vermont would preach in our vicinity. There was a great move to hear him, and I resolved to go. The house was full. He was evidently one much engaged in God's work. He looked very pale and much worn out. Mr. Moulton was with him, prayed at the beginning of the meeting, after which the young man, Benjamin Putnam, came forward, and in a manner and address that were engaging, and to me peculiarly pleasing, preached a sermon from Isaiah 22:22; a text which I shall never forget. 'And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder: so he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open.' He described Christ as the Son of God, and the power as being laid upon his shoulder; he also dwelt on what he had opened both to and for man, which none could shut, and finally spoke of the closing of the same door, which none should be able to open. I thought this discourse more glorious than anything I had ever heard. I thought him the happiest young man I ever saw. As soon as meeting was closed he came forward through the assembly and spoke to my brother, which had a solemn effect on us both. Many of his expressions I have ever remembered.

"The Methodist ministers next made their way into our town, and I have always thought that they came in the name and spirit of the Highest. They were humble and earnest. As my father's family seldom attended their meetings, I perhaps did not become acquainted with the first that came. Hays and Briggs were the first I heard. While listening to the farewell sermon of the former I remember to have been deeply affected, and one evening, while listening to Mr. Briggs, I felt a strong conviction of my sin, and believed that I was undone without regeneration. They first formed a small class in town. Leaving the circuit the next year, Joseph Dennet and David Blanchard were their successors, under whose ministry many of the old and the young were turned to God, whilst even children were made happy in Christ. I think that the preaching of the latter was the first that ever brought tears from my eyes. Also, in those days, we had frequent visits from the missionaries, but I do not remember that their preaching had much effect on my own mind or that of any other person.

"In the conflict of good and evil tendencies in the minds of young men who share largely of the passions and giddiness which characterize the period of one's youth, it is interesting to contemplate the skill with which these influences assail each other, each winning its temporary victory, and each wrestling at times with great might for the doubtful mastery. Notwithstanding these solemn emotions to good, I was quite wild and had several bad habits. In hearing Mr. H. preach the summer I was eighteen, I was much aroused to a sense of duty, and though seeing the way of my life to be death, my determinations as yet were not equal to the chain of habit that bound me. On the first of August I looked forward to the 16th, which was my birthday, as the day in which I should begin to walk in newness of life, and for several days this occupied my thoughts. But the time passed, and my resolution with it, whilst my feelings reacted more strongly than ever toward my former ways. The Spirit of God righteously strives with sinners; and many have I seen on languishing beds lamenting their early resistance to the holy influence, and that they had ever broken their promise to Him. I had a taste for reading, and spent much of my time in the perusal of novels and with vain young company. A young man by the name of Richardson was my most intimate friend. On the Sabbath and every other opportunity we were together; we spent the time mostly in reading; I thought I enjoyed happiness in his society. In our assemblies for diversion we ever had a good understanding. His friendship lasted until my conversion, when something far more glorious opened to my view. It appeared a great mystery to him, and it caused me much sorrow to leave him, but the first lesson I learned from the cross taught me how to relinquish and how to renounce.

"In the autumn of 1810 we had many vain assemblies for dancing and other recreations. Never had I before gone so far in wickedness as at this time. But, in the midst of our gayety, events of Providence compelled our thoughts to serious objects, as death, through the agency of a fatal fever, spread over the town its sorrow and sadness, cutting off the old and the young indiscriminately. On the 10th of January, 1811, I commenced a journey to New Hampshire, to visit my friends, whom I had not seen since 1802. When I arrived at Stanstead, I passed several days with a cousin of mine who was engaged in teaching the art of dancing. He was an agreeable gentleman, and of great talents; but it was a grief to his friends that he had taken to this employment. I was much pleased with the instructions he gave me, as I was anxious to attain perfection in the art.

"With several young men I proceeded on my way to New Hampshire, and making the journey merry with rudeness and laughter, we prosecuted it till I arrived at Gilmanton. Here I found that my honored grandsire no longer occupied his place on earth. His companion, who had watched over my childhood for two years, and had made the voice of prayer familiar to my lips, still survived. Several other relatives had also gone to their long home, and though these things made little impression on my heart, owing to the state of my mind, I could not but solemnly reflect on the hand that had so long upheld me, when I visited my early home, the place of my birth, and recalled the many scenes of my childhood freshly to mind. We have in life but one childhood, and no hours of retrospect put us into such unison with nature as when we live it over in the revival of its scenes.

"I passed several weeks in Gilmanton, attending school a part of the time, and freely enjoyed the company of my young friends. My sister Mary, the wife of General Cogswell, occasionally rebuked me for my lightness, and though I made light of her admonitions at the time, they made much impression on my mind. But most of all I dreaded that my uncle, Mr. Smith, who had been the minister of the place for thirty years, should talk to me about religion. I was very loth to visit him at all, but I stayed with him the last night I remained in town, and to my happy disappointment escaped the drilling I had so much feared, as he did not once mention the subject. In company with my cousin, Joseph Smith, I set out the next day for home, and by evening arrived at Judge William Badger's, a cousin of mine, with whom we had an excellent visit. The next day, when passing through Meredith, we saw a young man standing in the door of a house with a multitude around him. The building appeared to be full of people, to whom he was preaching. We arrived that evening at Camptown, and though I was nearly sick and my spirits depressed by some influence I could not define, and my mind uninterested by surrounding objects, I yielded to the persuasion of my cousin to go on. Nothing was able to interest me. After some time we started for the place since so much celebrated, the Notch of the White Mountains.

"But nature, which to me was ever welcome, did not attract me as usual. A spirit, over which I had not control, seemed to work within me to the extreme of solemn conviction. People, road, trees, rivers—all seemed gloomy, and I appeared to myself as a monument spared to unite with them in mourning. We finally passed the gloomy Notch, and as I drank in its lonely influence, I felt, unavoidably, its likeness to the mood of my own spirit. At Franconia, many new prospects and objects appeared to view. The manufactory of iron was at that time and there a great curiosity. At Littleton, further on in our journey, we rode on the river, as it was hardly frozen. I disguised my feelings, and as we were riding along, several in number, I fell in the rear that I might enjoy the meditations in which my mind was absorbed. At this time, an old gentleman, whose silver locks and grave appearance attracted my attention, appeared near me, coming from his house to the river to draw water. My eyes were fixed upon him. 'How far,' said he, 'is your company journeying?' To the province of Lower Canada, I answered. 'Do you live there?' said he. I answered that I did. Then in a solemn tone the old patriarch inquired, 'Is there any religion in that part of the world?' I was surprised to hear this subject introduced by a stranger. I told him there were some in our country who professed religion. He then burst into a flood of tears, and exhorted me with a warm-hearted pathos to seek salvation, and, though I disclosed none of my feelings to him, I was most deeply moved, and the image of the venerable old man was continually before my eyes through the day. I could scarcely refrain from weeping; and whatever others may think of such apparently accidental events, I am free to confess, that from that time until now, I have firmly believed that this old gentleman was a God-sent prophet unto me. The impressions he made continued till I enjoyed the sweet religion that inspired his look and his voice. I have often wished that I might see him and humble myself in thankfulness before him, a thing not to be expected in this life.

"When we arrived at Stewardstown, near the head of the Connecticut river, I parted with my cousin, whose destination was different from my own. Crossing the line, I passed the night with Dr. Ladd, a friend of my father, who was a Christian and a man of extended knowledge. I treasured up many of his observations. I was then only twenty miles from home, and heard the sad news of the ravages sickness had made during my absence, which greatly disturbed me with the thought that I should never again see all my friends. On the 10th of March, however, I arrived, and though fearful to inquire for my relatives, found, to my joy, that they were all well. In company I sought to be cheerful, but in solitude the keenest sensations of sadness were active.

"Having business with my cousin at Stanstead, I made him a visit, where I heard a missionary preach and attended as a pall-bearer at a funeral, to which my feelings were much averse. On my return, when I had proceeded as far as Barnston, for some cause I returned a mile and a half, and taking a lantern started on foot through the woods, when suddenly a storm exhibited its signs of dark and angry violence. When about half through the forest, the winds, thunder and lightning were terrific. The rain fell in torrents, my light was soon extinguished, and nothing was left to guide me through the swamp except the lurid flashes of the lightning that made the gloom more terrible. Several trees were struck and fell near me across the road; some branches fell from the tree I had chosen for my shelter, as the tempest mingled with darkness, raged in madness; and never was I so deeply impressed with the might of Him who rules the world and sways the elements. Here I gained a fresh idea of the awful power and mercy of God. I was nearly induced to kneel upon the earth, and there, in the storm, make a covenant with my Maker.

"At length the storm ceased and I arrived in safety at the house of a friend. The next day I reached home, and though met by cheerful faces, through the state of my mind, the music of their tones were as mournful sounds. The company in which I had found delight, could no longer entertain me; my home was dressed in mourning, my pillow wet with tears, and the bright prospects which had cheered me had vanished from my sky. I had no heart for business, no relish for pleasure. O how tiresome was every place! I read the Bible in private; often left my father's table in tears; often retired to the grove whose trees, more than those around me, seemed to know my heart, that I might relieve my soul in weeping. None knew the cause of this love of solitariness. Some said 'he suffers the influence of disappointment;' others, that 'he is plotting something for advantage:' none supposed that within me a deep striving was separating me from the world and leading me to the Fountain of Salvation. This period was a severe trial. Every power, it would seem, combined to test my spirit. Sometimes, from the conflict within, whilst darkness held its temporary victory, I was almost tempted to be angry with the Powers above, and with the whole creation; and once, I remember to have so far fallen under the evil power, as to swear at the existing order of things. It was continual trouble. I strove to labor what I could, and to fulfil my station in the family, using all the fortitude I could command. Here many things occurred that I shall not particularize; some things between my father and myself, which I once thought I should mention in every respect, but which the delicacy of the subject and the tenderness of our relation prevent. I can only say that my father was of deistical opinions, and at that time did not possess the degree of friendship and tenderness for the cause of religion which I could have wished him to, and which he indeed possessed some months after.

"At times, everything seemed to unite in tormenting me, in causing me trouble; again, all things in nature, when my clouds were partially dispersed, had a voice for the Creator's praise. I alone was untuned. The very winds, as they passed, spoke of His power. The stars, ever calm, looked down in love, seeming faithfully to perform the will of their Ordainer; and the flowers of the earth, which bloomed in beauty, sending forth their fragrance to His honor; and the songs of birds, whose notes were full of the primeval innocence, all combined to administer reproof. The following lines would then have spoken my feelings, as the full-blown spring-time lay unfolded around me:

"'Ye warblers of the vernal shade
Whose artless music charms my ear,
Your loveliness my heart upbraids—
My languid heart, how insincere!
While all your little powers collected, raise
A tribute to your great Creator's praise.

"'Ye lovely offsprings of the ground,
Flowers of a thousand beauteous dyes,
You spread your Maker's glory round,
And breathe your odor to the skies:
Unsullied you display your lively bloom,
Unmingled you present your sweet perfume.

"'Ye winds that waft the fragrant spring,
You, whispering, spread His name abroad,
Or shake the air with sounding wing,
And speak the awful power of God:
His will, with swift obedience, you perform,
Or in the gentle gale or dreadful storm.

"'Ye radiant orbs that guide the day
Or deck the sable veil of night,
His wondrous glory you display,
Whose hand imparts your useful light:
Your constant task, unwearied, you pursue,
Nor deviate from the path your Maker drew.

"'O Lord! thy grace my languid heart can raise,
These dissipated powers unite,
Can bid me pay my debt of praise
With love sincere and true delight:
Oh! let thy power inspire my heart and tongue,
Then will I, grateful, join Creation's song.'

"Leaving company almost entirely, and not going into society except on certain occasions, to please my friends or escape reproach, I gave myself up to solitary meditation and to the inward and undefined strivings of my being. In this state of spiritual disquietude, I felt no impulse to attend a church. I was most at home when alone. I heard divine voices where there was no man to act as medium or interpreter. At a funeral, I recollect having assisted in singing, and to have heard from Elder Moulton a sermon that impressed me, he being a man of considerable spiritual power, and one for whom I had particular respect. I heard him also a second time after this, when he most deeply affected my mind. I sometimes repaired to the forest for the express purpose of coming to God in prayer, but for some time was restrained from speaking aloud or kneeling on the earth. My heart was often eased in weeping; and though I had no form of prayer, I believe I prayed as really, as acceptably, as ever I did. Is it not a strange doctrine, so generally promulgated, that sinners, previous to conversion, ought not to pray? To me it is a dark doctrine. The Scriptures do not intimate it. My experience, the divine command, and common sense oppose the dogma. The fact that men are morally weak and sinful, is itself a sufficient occasion for prayer.

"One Sunday, without the knowledge of our family, I went about two miles to attend a Methodist meeting, in which several spoke, and spoke well. Mrs. John Gilson, a little, delicate woman, with much diffidence arose to speak. Her wisdom and manner won my heart, and her message, which was particularly to me, seemed to carry the evidence that it was from God. I could never forget it. I knew she was my friend, and believed that she spoke for my good, and I would have rendered her my thanks at the close, but for the restraining power of a sentiment common to me, which was, an unwillingness to disclose to any one my deepest emotions. We had been taught by some, that before we could attain salvation, we should be willing to be damned and lost. I never had this willingness. But, in candor, I must say that my sense of guilt was so deep that I felt I had merited the sentence to be finally uttered against the impenitent."

The reader will perceive that the thread of this journal is drawn from such portions of Mr. Badger's early life as seem most directly to express its various moral phases. From other points of experience, it is natural to suppose, much was omitted, the main purpose being that of tracing the moral history of his mind through the years of his youth. I think I never opened a journal that contained throughout a plainer natural impress of truth and reality.

CHAPTER IV.

CONVERSION.

"Repent ye therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out."—St. Peter.

To every work there is a crisis which openly exhibits success or failure. To every growth there are certain perceptible changes by which we note the progress from incipiency to the mature state. There is a symbolical new birth in nature when the rose-tree blooms, when leafless wintry trees are green with foliage and white with blossoms. Summer is a regeneration in the state of the earth, and it is none the less so because we cannot point out the moment, hour, or day, in which the actual summer assumed its effective reign. None fail to see the difference between June and January. If in July you meet the bending lilac, it silently tells you of all that March, April, May and June have done for it. So man's moral periods are marked. The soul in its struggles after divine life, through penitence and faith, reaches a crisis of victory and development of holy purpose, principle and power, which the church has generally agreed to call conversion, and for which we know no better name.

The journal of Mr. Badger, which refers to this epoch of his spiritual history, is headed with a poem on Christ, of which we have space for only a few lines:

"Oh! glorious Father, let my soul pursue
The wondrous labyrinth of love divine,
And follow my Redeemer to the cross.
Nailed to the cross—his hands, his feet, all torn
With agonizing torture!
Stupendous sacrifice! Mysterious love!
He died! The Lord of life—the Saviour died!
All nature sympathizing, felt the shock.
The sun his beams withdrew, and wrapt his face
In sable clouds and midnight's deepest shade,
To mourn the absence of a brighter sun—
The Sun of righteousness eclipsed in death!
A short eclipse. For soon he rose again,
All glorious, to resume his native skies!
Oh, love beyond conception!
In silent rapture all my powers adore."

In the religious experience of Joseph Badger, as intimated by this poem, Christ with him is always the central sun, the presiding power.

"I do not think," says Mr. B., "that persons can tell their religious experience, if their change is real and they have fully felt the effects of love divine. They are led to say with St. Peter, that it is 'joy unspeakable and full of glory.' Human language cannot describe the fulness and sweetness of the religion of Christ. Viewing the invisible depth of its wealth, how faint are our descriptions? How weak our best comparisons, and the metaphors by which we attempt to represent it! The soul which has become a partaker of the divine nature, of its love, is ever ready to exclaim—'The half had never been told me;' yet words, and other imperfect signs, will easily indicate the presence of the reality enjoyed.

"Eighteen hundred and eleven! that memorable year will never be forgotten by thousands now living, on account of the victorious spread of the Gospel in North America. Generations yet unborn will trace the pages of ecclesiastical history with anxiety and delight, to learn what transpired among their ancestors during this year. But how soon, when a heavenly influence is in the ascendant, some counteracting power will enter the field with ruinous violence! The cruel war soon succeeded, and devastation spread her vermilion garb over our happy and enlightened land.

"As I have already alluded, in a former chapter, to the feelings of moral conviction that wrought in my breast, I will only say that they began with this year, and were of a kind neither to be drowned nor driven away. Not for Adam's sins, or the sins of our fathers, did I feel condemned; it was only for such as belonged to me. Light had come and I had chosen darkness. I therefore cast no reflections on any class of persons, as the Gospel, conscience, and the creation, seemed to unite in proclaiming—'Thou art the man;' and under a sense of my ingratitude to Jesus, the sinner's Friend, I felt to add my hearty Amen, and say, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son.'"

In the pride of philosophical speculation, there are knowing ones who rob the rich idea of God of personality; also, in the attempts to deify the sacred parchments of Palestine, others unwittingly superannuate the Holy Ghost, driving us all to live solely upon ancient words—words that were undoubtedly its breathings when spoken. But one page from the journal of such an experience as that of Mr. Badger is better than all learned theory. Every page referring to his mind's exercise abounds in feeling—earnest, real feeling. He believes in the God of action, who converts the repentant soul by his holy, actual agency; in Jesus he believes as the lone sinner's Friend and Saviour; in the Holy Spirit he confides, not doubting its real striving in his own heart; in the oracles of prophets, of Jesus, and of the apostles, he holds unwavering faith that they are God's real, eternal word; whilst his frequent and many tears in private attest his deep sincerity in seeking his soul's salvation. He recognizes the supernatural, the miraculous, in the conversion of the sinner; and whatever we may concede to the rationalistic statement on this subject in our severely philosophical moods, it is certain that the miraculous statement is the one which more than it concentrates the diviner charm and the more commanding energy. It has ever been so; the statement wearing the outward miraculous hue, is the strong one—the one that holds the element of triumph; and though we do not hold that any work of God with man violates the constitution and laws of the human mind, it would have struck us with diminished effect had St. Paul, before Agrippa, discoursed on the accordance of his conversion with some a priori argument for an abstract Christianity, or of its accordance with his own nature, and with all nature. This intellectualizing on great vital facts, whatever may be its philosophical merits, can never come up to the bold and picturesque sublimity of the words—"At mid-day, O king, I saw in the way a light from heaven, above the brightness of the sun, shining round about me; and I heard a voice speaking unto me and saying, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?" Such passages reach the soul in every clime, as abstraction never could; and from the reverence we have been accustomed to pay to universal convictions, and from the effect of such eloquence on our own feelings, we believe that mankind have not been fools in the cherishing of faith which brings Divinity into active and wonder-causing contact with humanity. If we have a God in our faith, let us have one who can do something, say something, and impart something to them who ask him, and not a tender abstraction who has no thunder for transgressors, and who is so lenient and plausible that no lawless spirit shall regard him as any essential obstruction in his way. Characters of most energy always grow up under the faith of God's omnipotence, of his awful majesty, beautified by justice and love.

The youth of this memoir looked around upon the dark world, and upward to the great God for his spirit's rest, and searched through the labyrinth of his own conflicting emotions to find a rock for his feet. Often his "eyes were rivers of waters;" and, "as I looked around for comfort, every place revealed some circumstance that gave to grief a keener edge." He is now so deeply touched by the Holy Spirit that nothing filled him with delight like the tender portraiture of the love of Christ; the profane word was now a loathed and jarring discord in his ear; the songs of the wicked deepened his sadness, and often did he repeat to himself, in tears, the well-known lines, "Alas! and did my Saviour bleed!" which he tells us had the power to penetrate his heart of hearts, whilst the most secret and hidden recesses of the wild witnessed his humble thank-offerings of praise and contrite confessions of sin. Without a minister to aid him, and without the sustaining sympathy of a single human creature, he continued to wage his warfare with the powers of darkness. A young man, alone, with resolves and feelings unknown to man, longing for the clouds of his being to disperse, and for the influx of the immortal light to crown his life! This spectacle, however it may strike the mere formalist and the seeker of material good, is one which, to us, joins with myriads of heart-histories in different climes, to attest the derivation of the soul from God, to declare its yearnings and struggles against the obstacles of sin and sense, that it may regain the atmosphere and light of its native original heaven.

Contrary to the customs of his family, he went, once in a great while, to the Methodist meetings, a denomination whose power to reach the popular mind all over the world is known and honored. At one of these meetings, July, 1811, the persons present supposed, from his former reputation for rudeness, that he was there perhaps to criticise derisively their humble manner of worship. When Mrs. Tilden arose and said, "The eyes of the world are upon us, and if any came here to feast upon our failings, or to spy out our liberties, let us starve them to death, by living such lives that they can find no action of which to speak reproachfully"—after a few moments, he arose and said:

"I very much regret that any of my neighbors and friends should, for one moment, imagine me as an enemy, or suppose that I came here to ridicule what may pass before me. Far be it from my mind. I believe religion is what all men need to make them happy in time and eternity. With all my heart I wish you well and hope you will go on your way rejoicing."

This was the first time he had spoken in public, and though the object of his remark was merely to furnish a gentlemanly apology for being present, it caused the religious people much joy, as they saw him sit down in tears; and ever after his companions regarded him differently, all of whom were startled with surprise, and some wept as they heard his words.

"One of my young friends, a respectable young man, conversed with me on the subject. I stated to him all I had said, and in part I manifested my feelings to him with some degree of boldness. He expressed a fear that I would become deluded, though, by the way, he had never manifested a fear of the kind when we used to dance, play cards, and spend the Sabbath together in the reading of novels. 'About the things of religion,' said he, 'it is not well to be in haste. It is a subject which needs the greatest deliberation.' With this I agreed. He further remarked, 'If a person thinks of such things, it is not best to give expression to such thoughts, because people will talk about it, and you,' continued he, 'are already a subject of conversation. Many are concerned for you, and wish your society, and you know it is a disgrace for us to go among those foolish and ignorant Methodists.' By these remarks, coming from a particular friend, I was embarrassed, but soon learned that I must leave all, and part with my dearest companions for Christ; that two masters it was impossible to serve; and in my indecision I seemed to hear a voice as from heaven, saying, 'Choose ye this day whom ye will serve,' impressing my mind with the idea that then was the time for me to secure an interest in the Great Redeemer. Great things of eternity were continually resting on my mind; the saints, as they had opportunity, began to talk with me, of which I was glad, though to them I did not say much, as I was resolved that others should not know my feelings; even if I were ever so happy as to feel my sins forgiven, I was determined not to say much about it to others, and certainly not to make such an ado over it as many did.

"I was in search for a great and sudden change. About August 1st, 1811, I felt impressed to retire and unbosom myself to the Eternal God, and cry once more for mercy. Walking through the woods to a large valley, I there, by a murmuring brook, fell on my knees and gave vent to my burdened heart in prayer. For a moment my soul felt delivered of all her griefs, and for a few moments I sung and praised God in that delightful place with all my heart; but doubts arose, and as I cast over the scene the eyes of reason, my little heaven vanished, and I remained in silence. I began to fear that I was walking by the light of imagination, and was warming myself by sparks of my own kindling.

"I began to be more familiar with the saints, sometimes revealing to them in part my determinations, and always gaining strength by so doing. I had not the same consciousness of sin as before. At times, before I was aware of it, my mind would be soaring above on heavenly things; the Scriptures would beautifully open to my mind, and glorious would seem the things of religion; yet I scarcely dared to rejoice. I derived much benefit and instruction from the conversation of the saints, and though I asked their prayers, I neither united with them in prayer, nor kneeled according to their custom. The narrated experience of others aided me some, and as all my Christian friends advised me to pray, I again kneeled in the solitude of nature to invoke divine aid, when the reflection that I was in the presence of an Omnipotent God sealed my lips in silence. Almost fearing that my performances were but mockery, I felt inclined to despair. The next day gleams of hope entered my mind; and on Sunday, hearing many speak of the power of God, and of trials they had passed through, in a manner, some of them, that exactly expressed my feelings, I took courage, because there were others in whose Christianity I had confidence, who felt in some respects as I did. Moved, as I think, by the Spirit of God, and from a high state of mental resolve, I arose and told the assembly that I was determined to seek my happiness in religion, in which alone I believed it could be found. Many of the saints praised God aloud, and my soul was filled with joy and peace that were unspeakable. My love to the faithful was far superior to anything that ever before had dilated my heart. On my return home the very winds that waved the trees, and the streams that flowed through the quiet valley, seemed unitedly to speak my great Creator's praise. The fear of man now vanished, and a holy boldness moved me to speak to all around me of the beauties of my Lord. My soul overflowed with love to my greatest enemies, and my wonder was that the chief of sinners did not behold the glory of God, and unite to exalt his name. Through the night my soul was exceedingly happy, and the next morning I thought the sun was never before so richly laden with the glory of God. I had never known so happy, so pleasant a morning.

"Though I did not then suppose myself converted, I now think, from an analysis of my feelings, that I enjoyed something of the converting grace of God, for the following reasons:—1st. I had a witness in my own soul that God was my friend. 2d. I felt a vital union with all the saints, without respect to name, age, or color. I loved them, and could say, They are my people. Some who were poor and ignorant, whom I had formerly despised, I was able to embrace as my best friends. 3d. I felt a particular regard for every creature and object God had made, and a tenderness even to the lowest animal forms—as nothing seemed unincluded in the bond of love that united me and all things to Him. 4th. For the chief of sinners I felt particular love, regarding such as brethren in nature, and I greatly wished them to share in the peaceful wealth of the Gospel. 5th. My former ways in which I had sought happiness, now seemed to me as worthless and vain. Indeed I abhorred them.

"My freedom from the former oppressive gloom, the fulness of the tide of joy that was rising in my breast, at times startled me with the apprehension that as I was not converted I ought not to feel so light and so free, and my embarrassment was increased by the circulation of the report among the people that I was converted. They began to call me brother, which also seemed quite too much for me; and as I could not feel that I had experienced the change as usually described, I began to fear that I was deceived, which caused me much trouble and induced me to be silent for some time, as I was unwilling to discourage or to deceive others. Although I never had so much confidence in dreams as some, yet at this time the glory of God was beautifully revealed to me in night visions, and through them my mind was relieved of many doubts and fears, and again partook of the inward peace which the world in its greatest ability is unable to give. For several weeks, however, I kept my joys to myself, saying nothing in meeting and little in private, as I was determined not to deceive others, as I might in case my joys should prove unreal. Employing myself constantly in reading the Scriptures, that I might walk understandingly, my mind for several weeks was swallowed up in the interest their pages revealed, which unfolded a glory and beauty I cannot describe. In my retired moments, I held sweet communion with God, and, notwithstanding the shadows of doubt that crossed my mind in solitude, I was truly led from glory to glory.

"I heard others tell the day and the hour when the change was wrought in their hearts. Herein was my greatest trouble. My experience was not like others, nor indeed what I supposed it would be. I knew of several times when my mind was relieved of all its oppressions, but as I could single out no one of them and call it conversion, I concluded that the whole together was conversion. Though continually thirsting for new evidence, for which I was much drawn out in prayer, and selecting the most retired places for holy meditation, I pondered, like Mary, these things in my heart. Some conversations about this time, proved beneficial to me; especially was my soul refreshed by the dreams and night visions that came to me, making it seem ofttimes as though angels were hovering over my bed, and my apartment as filled with the divine glory. I was many times ready to say, I know that my Redeemer liveth."

In this manner Mr. B. records the operations of his youthful mind in seeking to solve the most serious of all problems—his soul's salvation. One perceives the presence of much self-distrust, much repentance; and an abundance of sympathetic sensibility to whatever is morally powerful and affecting in religion. Perhaps some have already taken it for granted that this youth of overflowing energy, lonely meditation, earnest prayer, and self-questionings, was wholly moving on the tide of popular instruction, or that he fell as melted lead or iron, into the moulds of theological teaching already prepared. This view is suddenly dispersed by all that is known of the man, and by the facts of the narrative itself. Do not sin and conscious alienation from God afford good cause for weeping? Are not the elements of the soul itself good reason for prayer, for deep desire and aspiration after a union of spirit with Him who is its Parent source and the glorious Perfection, of which it now has clear and happy glimpses? That work was unable to absorb his mind, that society could not get very near his heart, that his food even became tasteless, and his home a scene of mourning, are facts that hail from certain states of mind that have their deep significance, and which, in India and Persia, as well as in the American wilderness, have their numerous representatives.

He speaks of a time of religious interest when his father felt the need of something; more than Deism as a support to his mind; also of his becoming deeply interested in the ministry of Mr. Farewell, a Universalist minister; of his reading with great zeal the writings of Winchester, Dr. Hunting, Ballou, and others of the same faith, often spending whole nights in writing and study; books which, at his father's request, he also studied; and though for a time embarrassed by the philosophical arguments of Mr. Ballou on the Atonement and other topics, he discarded them ere long, with an earnest decision as opposed to the religious experience which gave him joy and hope, and as contrary to the plain teachings of the Scriptures. At this early day Universalism was indeed a bold extreme, it being little else than Calvinism benevolently applied to human destiny; and its strongly controversial and undevotional character was poorly adapted to a welcome in hearts that were glowing with the sacred enthusiasm of religious love. One evening he offered some speculative conversation in relation to the being and attributes of Satan, which so hurt the minds of the converts that he resolved no longer to harbor these negations, the dwelling upon which so much discorded with the happy feelings inspired by their simple faith and humble worship.

The Methodist denomination, at this time very spiritual and very prosperous in the province, was with him a favorite, though for reasons independent of the dictation of persons or of circumstances, he did not become a member of their society in his town, a fact which did not at all interfere with the entire freedom and cordial fellowship they mutually enjoyed. A Methodist Discipline is kindly offered him. He gladly reads, and commits it mostly to memory. But there is something in this young man that questions the Discipline and the ministers who explain it; that regards it as formal, and in many respects unlike the Scriptures; that quietly declines making it the groundwork of a faith and a sectarian position, though he does not break the happy concord about him by obtruding open controversy. He joined no sect.

"I wondered," said he, "that saints cannot all be one. I thought it strange that the affectionate names of 'Brethren,' 'Disciples,' 'Christians,' 'Friends,'—golden names that I found scattered through the New Testament, were not sufficient without the sectarian names under which the denominations were marshalled. This was a great mystery to me. I knew of none at that time who adopted the name of Christian as their only designation; but young and ignorant as I then was, I thought I beheld something more glorious than anything at which either myself or others had as yet arrived. My trials in pondering over these things were great. There were others who agreed with me in ideas of liberty, that were far greater than anything within the limits of the Discipline."

At a time when the righteousness of sectarianism was undisputed, when no voices from the pulpit were pleading for the true catholicity of the Christian faith, and when his associates were moved along by emotional ardor, was it not a strong, clear-sighted, original force of the young man that paused to ask, Why this formality and narrowness of creed? Why these many sectarian names? Why is the unity of the religion of Jesus broken by sects? These indeed were great questions for a young man in 1811; and in resolving them into a principle of action without relinquishing an iota of the faith and piety that had inspired him with hope, and joy unspeakable, he has given to the world an early proof of the superiority of mind of which his maturer years were the exhibition. The multitude, yielding to the enthusiasm of great moral excitement, often float along as flood-wood. He so controlled the current that bore him, as to be his own man, free from the despotism of any sectarian platform.

Through the spring and summer of 1812, his mind steadily poised on heavenly things, and anxious to do what the will of God in Christ required, he made the subject of baptism a topic of study.

"I searched the New Testament, as I was determined to know all that it said on the subject. I first became satisfied from the Scriptures, and secret prayer, that baptism was an institution of the Redeemer. 2. That it was enjoined on all believers in the Son of God. 3. That the mode practised in primitive days was going down into the water, and coming up out of the water after being buried therein. Although I was so clear relative to these three ideas, I often wept and cried to God in secret places in view of my unworthiness; but I received a glorious answer that in this institution of outward acknowledgment and obedience, I ought to follow the examples of Him who is the Way, the Truth, and Life. One evening when my mind was much tried on this subject, I prayed to God that if it was my duty to be baptized, I might dream of pleasant water. That night when locked in sleep I dreamed of riding on the most beautiful stream that I ever had seen; also of being immersed in the pure and tranquil element, whilst the divine glory shone around as a sacred enchantment. When I awoke my heart was filled with love divine, and I believe that, had there been an administrator present, I should hardly have waited for the day-dawn. These feelings I kept to myself; and, as I could not think of any administrator, or fix on time and place, I continued in this way till the first of September.

"I then went to Hatley to attend a general meeting, and a glorious time it was. Here I first saw Elder Benjamin Page, from Vermont, who preached a very instructive and refreshing discourse from Rom. 8: 21. 'Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the sons of God.' Here I became acquainted with many of God's people whom I had not known, and in their spirituality and freedom I saw what more accorded with my existing ideas than I yet had seen. Nearly two hours Mr. Page spoke again from Isa. 33: 2. It was a glorious time, as was also the evening meeting, in which many participated. The next day we all parted with tears of joy, never expecting to meet again on earth. As I was about to leave, I took Elder Moulton by the hand and asked him if he would come to Compton and preach, to which he replied that he would whenever I desired him, inquiring at the same time if there were not some in our vicinity who would like to receive baptism, saying, 'I have thought for some time that I should have to go there to administer this ordinance'—a remark that gave to my former impressions a new evidence of my present duty. We agreed upon the time; I made the appointment and longed for the day to come; but the morning that brought me this new responsibility was not wholly without clouds, as the cross appeared great and fears arose. In spirit, I said,—

"'Jesus, my Lord, my Life, my Light,
O come with blissful ray;
Break radiant through the shades of night,
And chase my fears away.'

In a trembling and prayerful state of mind I went to church, where I found a large concourse of people in attendance, to whom Elder M. preached words of life. Among the many that were moved to speak in honor of the Redeemer, I arose, expressed my love to God and the saints, inviting my young companions to a rich and costly repast, without money and without price. Here every doubt was removed. Here I gained strength. The glory of God filled my heart. My father being present, Elder M. asked him if he was willing that his son should go forward in baptism, to which he replied that he was perfectly willing that Joseph, in things of religion, should act according to his own conception of duty. This gave me additional joy. I had chosen a pleasant stream, the Coatecook river, as the place where I preferred to receive baptism, to which locality we walked, two and two, in large procession, the distance of half a mile, singing the praises of God as we advanced. This day, Sept. 29, 1812, will be held in everlasting remembrance by me. My father sat upon his horse a few rods above me, in the water, so as to have a fair prospect. I was informed by the spectators who stood near him, that when I went into the water the tears flowed freely from his eyes. Under the smile of clear skies, of a quiet surrounding nature, I was baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. The hearts of the brethren on shore appeared full of joy, and some voices of acclamation were heard. It seemed, indeed, as though the heavens were opened, and the Spirit was hovering on the assembly. Some praised, others wept, and a sweet peace and calmness filled my soul. As I ascended from the water, I sung the following lines with the Spirit, and I think with the understanding also:

"'But who is this that cometh forth,
Sweet as the blooming morning,
Fair as the moon, clear as the sun?
'Tis Jesus Christ adorning.'[10]

We returned singing; and truly, like the Ethiopian worshipper, we 'went on our way rejoicing.' From this time, I felt that I was newly established in God's grace. I had more strength to withstand temptation, more confidence to speak in the holy cause of the Redeemer. Here, with the Psalmist, I could say, 'How love I thy law; it is my meditation all the day.'

"'Let wonder still with love unite,
And gratitude and joy;
Be holiness my heart's delight,
Thy praises my employ.'"

Thus reads the narrative of such outward and inward facts as belong to the early religious history of Joseph Badger. Its component parts are, deep feeling, much thought, temporary doubting and despondency, penitence, inward aspiration, prayerful reliance on God, and at last a wide Christian fellowship, untinged by sectarian preference, and a conscious peace and joy in God. Through the many changes of theory, each winning admirers and having its day; through the stormy excitements of the religious feeling in the world, Mr. B. always retained his equilibrium and his constancy. And why? Because he laid his basis not in dogma, not in speculation, but in experience. By this he held his course, it being an anchor in the sea-voyage of life, a pole-star to the otherwise doubtful wanderings of the world's night. What can we or any one know of Divinity, except what we hold in our inward consciousness and experience? Nothing else. Words do not reveal holy mysteries. The soul must have God in its own life, or He is a mere intellectual conception, a mere word. We admire the poetic, marvellous vein that enables one to linger upon a beautiful dream. The young man, already rich in the Spirit's baptism, saw sacred value in the outward form, in the pure Scripture symbol. Earlier than the dates of Christian records in Palestine, did the religious feeling of man, in different climes, select water as one of its best formal expressions; and, though not heretofore inattentive to what theological controversy has said on the subject, we should say it is as well to stake one's duty now on a beautiful dream, as on all the light engendered by the ablest controversy ever held by polemic divines. The Coatecook and the Jordan are, through faith, equally sacred, as it is the Spirit that sanctifies. What can surpass in beauty and loveliness, the idea of the grand baptismal scene of the sacred river of Judea? We imagine the numerous multitude walking silently thither through the overshadowing woods, and in anxious, reverent musings, standing upon its banks. We feel the thoughts of penitence, the gleams of hope, half shaded by melancholy, as they here stole into the hearts of Abraham's dejected sons; and with them we muse upon the expected Christ of their deliverance, whom they daily hoped to see. We gaze upon the form of one whose moral and physical beauty it had delighted the eyes of the most beautiful to have seen; and as the waters glide by him on either side in graceful loveliness,—as the yellow sunbeams here and there rest calmly upon the shaded current, we see him meekly bowed into the genial waters; and what artist shall ever picture the beauty of the ideal in our minds when we view the circling dove from on high hovering upon the Saviour's breast, and the golden stream of light through the opening heaven descending upon his brow? Formal baptism, thus honored and glorified, remains a permanent institution of religion and of the Christian Church.

CHAPTER V.

CALL TO AND ENTRANCE UPON THE MINISTRY.

"But rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee."—Acts 26: 16.

With these words of a high mission Mr. Badger's journal opens, and how well does it accord with the idea of divine agency in placing moral lights in the world, and with what to him was a common thought, the unequalled greatness of the minister's station. More than once or twice have I heard him say to the young man who was publicly receiving the honors of ordination, or of a conferential reception, "You are called, my brother, to fulfil the duties of the highest station ever occupied by a human being. No station on earth is so great in its nature, and so responsible in its duties, as that of the Christian minister;" and more than once, in the quiet social circle, and when alone, heard him say: "I would not exchange the joys and trials and honors of the Christian ministry, for the throne of the ablest king on earth." And this was the settled, serious feeling of his mind. He recognized God in the call of the true minister, not leaving the sacred choice at the mercy of family policy, of individual ambition, or the efficiency of college endowment.

"In ages past," says Mr. Badger, "God has seen fit to raise up, qualify, and send forth ambassadors to the people. He has frequently sent angels with celestial messages to men. Men also have been employed in the same work, have received the word from Him and declared it to the people. Aaron, Moses, Jeremiah, Isaiah and others, are striking illustrations of the truth that God has appeared unto men to make them ministers and witnesses of those things they have seen, and of those which he shall reveal unto them. John said, 'We speak the things we do know, and testify the things we have seen.' The Gospel is not something learned by human teaching, as are the mathematics and divers natural sciences. St. Paul was nearer its fountain-head and true attainment when he said, 'I neither received it from man, neither was I taught it but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.' 'Wo is unto me if I preach not the Gospel.' Neither reputation nor worldly recompense prompted the apostolical preaching. 'We preach not ourselves, but the Lord Jesus Christ.' 'Freely thou hast received, freely give.' The Gospel is not an earthly product, but a divine institution for divine ends. The preaching of it, therefore, is the highest possible work, demanding the greatest deliberation and integrity. Its effects are either 'a savor of life unto life, or of death unto death.' How delightful also is this employment, as it brings life, light and comfort to all who yield to its elevating, enlightening and purifying power."

These passages, written in the early years of his ministerial life, at once recalled the second sermon[11] that the writer of this ever heard him preach, founded on the heroic text of St. Paul, "I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ,"[12] in which he announced the Gospel as a divine science, as a refining power, as according with human nature and its wants; and, indeed, as "the only perfect science of human happiness known on earth." Such is the supremacy he unwaveringly gave to Christ, to his Gospel, and to its genuine ministry.

The feeling that drew the mind of Mr. Badger into the ministry, was an early one, having birth almost contemporaneously with the deep strivings of his mind already narrated in the previous chapter. It was the highest aspiration of his youth. Often, when at work, as early as the autumn of 1811, then nineteen years of age, his mind scarcely within his own control, he was frequently in a preaching frame, and often fancied that he was speaking to audiences of people on the attractions of Christ; so thoroughly was his mind engrossed in these meditations, that he often spoke several words before being aware of it, and not unfrequently did he find himself suffused with tears. "I had at this time," says Mr. B., "no idea that I should ever be a minister."

"As soon as I had myself partaken of the pardoning love of Christ, I felt as though all others should be sharers in eternal life. In prayer, my mind was drawn out for all men, for the chief of sinners. My mind was quickly weaned from earthly delights, and all my powers were devoted to spiritual interests. The few good ministers I knew I esteemed as the best and happiest of human beings; and, as the harvest seemed great, I often prayed that the Lord would send forth more laborers into the field. I thought if I were in such a minister's place I would go to the ends of the earth to sound the message of redeeming love. It was in the midst of such meditations that, in the first of the year 1812, all at once the idea broke into my mind that I must leave all and preach Christ. My soul shrunk away from the overpowering greatness of the thought, which I immediately banished from my mind; but with its banishment there came a gloomy despondency, as through the winter I continued at times to be exercised with the spirit of a station, which I supposed I never could fill.

"In the spring I went into the woods to make sugar, a business much followed in that country. Night and day for several weeks I was here confined, a scene that might once have been gloomy, but now was delightsome, as I enjoyed much of God's presence in my secret devotions. I kept my Bible with me, had some opportunity of reading, which I eagerly improved with the greatest satisfaction. Here my mind was again powerfully exercised in relation to preaching; these impressions always brought with them the greatest solemnity. At such times I sought the most retired places I could find, wishing that I might hide, as it were, 'in the cleft of the rock,' as the sacred vision passed before me. I said, 'Lord, who is sufficient for these things?' and with Jeremiah I was constrained to say, 'I cannot speak, for I am a child.' While these things like mountains were rolled upon my mind, I frequently spent the greater part of the whole night in prayer, in which I asked that I might be excused, and that these things might be taken from me. Hours in the lonely woods I passed in tears, and none but the angels witnessed the action and utterance of my grief. Once I opened my Bible wishing to know my duty, and the first words I beheld were, 'The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved;' language that impressed me with the great importance of the present time as an opportunity to lay up treasure in heaven; to call the attention of men to their salvation, before the lamentation of the prophet should become their sad and unhopeful song. From the depth of my spirit I said, Oh! my soul, can I be excusable for my silence, when I behold the dark tide of sin on which myriads are rushing to eternal wo? Hearing the voice of Heaven perpetually resounding 'Why will ye die?' and beholding the crimson tide of the loving, dying Christ, that ever spoke of mercy, whilst angels appeared to my view as waiting and longing to rejoice over one repenting sinner, I said, Can I refrain from warning men of their danger, from inviting them to the Christ of their deliverance? For several days the above named scripture occupied my mind, and I was satisfied that God was drawing me into the ministry by these impressions, and soon I was willing to leave all, and suffer the loss of all things for Christ.

"Late in the spring I left my retirement, with a countenance wan and fallen, and a heart filled with 'wo is me if I preach not the Gospel.' I was silent, no company seemed agreeable, and to no one did I confide my feelings. In the summer of 1812, I searched the Scriptures, and often did my mind so extensively open to an understanding of what I read, that I was impressed to communicate what I felt and what I saw. On some particular passage my mind would rest for several days at a time, and ideas of which I had never before thought, would present themselves. Well do I remember the great power in which the words of the apostolical commission came to my mind: 'Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature;' words that seemed night and day to sound as a voice of thunder through my spirit. I regarded this as the divine voice; as Job says, 'God thundereth marvellously with his voice.' From all the scripture I read I gathered something that taught me the moral situation of mankind, God's willingness and ways for saving them, also my own duty to my race. Remarkable dreams at this time united with other evidences to confirm me in my duty, as often in the midnight slumber I dreamed of speaking to large assemblies in the name and spirit of the Lord. Frequently, under these exercises, I spoke so loud as to awaken the people in the house, and sometimes awoke in tears calling on sinners to repent and embrace the Saviour. When sleep departed from my eyes, as it frequently did, I would spend most of the night in prayer to God. Often could I say, with the weeping Hebrew prophet, 'Oh, that mine head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night.' But none, except those who have passed through similar trials, can understand the peculiar experience touched upon in these last paragraphs."

The passage of men, called in any divine way, from worldly business into the work of reclaiming souls from sin, cannot be as smooth and easy as the passage one makes from a machine-shop to a counting-room. Fashion and custom may render it so, but these are far from being God's prime ministers. Is there no preparatory process by which the spirit of the prophet is stirred to its depth? Did not the fine nature of Jesus undergo temptations and trials in the wilderness for forty days before he entered upon his public mission? Did he not there feel the grandeur of his mission, when he foresaw the cost of all that the world and its ambition holds dear, as the result of his future procedure? He casts the worldly crown beneath his feet, and steadily fixes his eye on the immortal good of the world as his end. The coarser heart of Arabia's prophet also sought solitude as its home ere it gave to the East its lasting oracles. The question of the calculating European and New Englander, as to which one of his family he shall select with whom to stock the sacred profession, never came from the land of inspiration and of divine missions. He that was too dull to be a rogue, or a successful practitioner in law, medicine or merchandise, the old maxim thought to promise best for the pulpit. No such plottings had aught to do in the election of this young man. It was warm from his heart, was seasoned in prayers, baptized in tears, and cherished in sleepless night-watchings and lonely meditations. Preaching skilfully, learned as an art, may be had almost as cheaply as Parisian dancing; but the living word that "breaketh the rocks in pieces" never comes in it.

Mr. Badger attended meetings through the summer, heard, when they had no minister, one of John Wesley's sermons read, as dictated by the discipline; mingling with others his own voice of exhortation and prayer. The eyes of all were soon fixed upon him, and the brethren began to complain of his disobedience to the heavenly vision long before he had intimated to any one the state of his mind. Some assured him confidently that they had an evidence from God that it was his duty to preach, and that their meetings were impoverished by his unfaithful withholding. "This," says he, "I could not deny." Though encouraged by the kindred sympathy of Mr. Gilson, who narrated to him his own trials before entering the ministry, though finding a response to his own conviction of duty in the hearts of all the spiritually minded about him, he did not immediately or hastily go forth in ministerial action and armor. He waited the call of circumstance and occasion. His journal narrates a most beautiful visit he had at the house of Capt. Felix Ward, where the conversation was wholly devoted to religion; where scripture inquiry, prayer and holy song united to enlighten their minds, and to lay the basis of a valuable lasting friendship; and though strangers to each other, the family spoke of him afterwards as one whom they then believed would be a chosen vessel to bear the honor of God before the Gentiles. "I thought," says Mr. B., "I scarcely ever saw a house so full of the glory of God."

But particular occasion calls. In June or July, 1812, persecution arose in Ascott, which drove from the province two successful ministers, Messrs. Bates and Granger, because they would not swear allegiance to King George, which they boldly affirmed that they would never do. Thanking God that they were counted worthy to suffer for Christ, they meekly submitted to the persecution that seized them as prisoners in the midst of a happy meeting, and that drove them, after a lengthy arbitration, back into their own country, the State of Vermont.

"When I heard of this circumstance," says Mr. B., "my heart, filled with love for the dear converts and brethren who were bereaved of their pastors by the counsel of the ungodly, caused me to feel my responsibility anew; as I was a citizen of the country, knew the manners and customs of the people, and could easily take a position from which the same persecuting powers could not drive me. My heart, like David's, began to burn with a holy resolve to go forth into the field, and take the place of my injured brothers."

Though a stranger in the town of Ascott, where these events occurred, (a town about twelve miles from Compton,) he started on Saturday, near Sept. 1st, to attend with them a general meeting of which he had previously heard, and as he was riding through a space of woods, it suddenly struck him that Mr. Moulton would be absent, and that he should be obliged to speak; and the hundreds who remember the simplicity and naturalness of the texts from which he almost invariably preached in after life, will see something characteristic in the passage, Heb. 13: 1, that came at once to his mind, "Let brotherly love continue." Hesitating for a time whether he would proceed or return, as he was satisfied that he should meet this great duty if he proceeded, he went forward, found a large audience assembled and no minister present. As he entered, all eyes were attracted to him, and though many present regarded him as one whom the Holy Spirit had called to preach, he remained through the meeting in silence, except at the close he owned his disobedience, and received from several present warnings to be faithful hereafter. In personal figure Mr. B. was a noble and commanding man, one that could not pass among strangers without drawing to himself a marked attention.

Saturday evening he was invited to pass at Mr. Bullard's, where they spent part of the evening in singing, and hours, he says, upon their knees in prayer,—an evening by him never forgotten, as the Holy Spirit consciously filled their hearts with joy. "I thought then," says our youth, "I never saw so happy a family. Oh, what a glorious age will it be when the principles of pure religion shall pervade the world!" On Sunday they repaired to the place of worship, where "Mr. M. most beautifully described from James 1: 25, the perfect law of liberty. Many were in spirit refreshed, and indeed we sat together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus." As the Lord's Supper was not then administered, another appointment was made, and from the happy influences of this meeting with saints, Mr. B. returned home "in the power of the Spirit," firmly resolved to do all that duty might ever require. He again returned to Ascott to attend the appointment made for the communion, where Mr. M. gave an able discourse on having "a sound mind," and where, for the first time in his life, he partook of the symbols of Jesus' truth and dying love. He says:

"I trembled at the thought of attending on so sacred an ordinance, and with so holy a band of brethren; but as I could not feel justified in the neglect of the privilege, I came forward in the worthiness of my Lord, and I believe with his fear before my eyes. A deep solemnity rested on the whole assembly, and our souls, at the close, were seemingly on flame for the realms above. I was never happier in my life at the close of a meeting.

"Mr. M., having appointments over St. Francis River, wished me to take a journey with him. I complied. We crossed the river, visited several families, had one meeting; then passing up the river to Westbury (eight miles), through a woody region mostly, we arrived in the afternoon much fatigued, as we had to encounter the buffetings of a violent storm. On our way, I had fallen back and rode several miles alone in the most serious meditations. I clearly saw the hardships of a missionary life, and felt that I must enter the field. We found a loving company of brethren, who received us kindly, and who appeared to be steadfast in faith. We held several good meetings in the place. Some were baptized. I also made the acquaintance of Mr. Zenas Adams, a young minister who had just begun to preach. This journey increased my confidence, as Mr. Moulton was a discerning man, and qualified both from knowledge and sympathy to assist young ministers. The conversations with Mr. Adams were also advantageous. He was but a few months my elder.

"I had now arrived at a crisis in which I must earnestly dispose of every practical objection. I had said, 'I am a child—I cannot speak.' I was but twenty years of age; I thought my friends might be unwilling. Soon, however, my father gave me my freedom; and I felt that there was much meaning yet in the good scripture which saith, 'It shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak.' I plead a comparative illiteracy, as the minister is ordained to teach, and ought to command the various resources of knowledge. This objection also fled before that potent scripture, James 1: 5, 'If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.' I was satisfied of this, that if God had called me to the work, with health, youth, and industry on my part, He would give me every necessary qualification. As swimming is learned by swimming, and agriculture is acquired by its active pursuit, it struck me that fidelity in the new work would secure the only effectual skill in conducting it. I thought of a kind father's house, of my loving parents who had watched over my childhood, of the four brothers and four sisters with whom I had lived in the greatest friendship; and I did not omit to think of the needful renunciation of worldly prospects, and of the censures I should get from some, and the various treatment I had reason to expect from the world if I went out as a faithful, uncompromising ambassador of Christ. To take the parting hand with my dear relatives, and to live in the world as a stranger and foreigner, called up many painful emotions in my breast as I glanced into the uncertain future. Still no tide of emotion could carry me back in my purposes, and with much feeling I felt to say:

"'Farewell, oh my parents, the joy of my childhood,
My brothers and sisters, I bid you adieu!
To wander creation, its fields and its wildwood,
And call upon mortals their God to pursue:
When driven by rain-drops, and night shades prevailing,
And keen piercing north-winds my thin robes assailing,
And stars of the twilight in lustre regaling,
I'll seek some repose in a cottage unknown.'

"Through all my discouragements and melancholy hours, interspersed throughout nearly a year's continuance, there were times when the sweet peace of God grew conscious in my heart, and always did this passage bring with it a cheering light, "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world!" I felt that it was mine, that it was for me, and for all true ministers through time, as well as for the worthier ones who carried the Master's truth through suffering and trial over the earth. Feeling now that the time had come when I must venture forth, and finding that nothing among the armory of Saul would suit my form or answer my purpose, I concluded that no other way remained for me but to rely on 'the mighty arm of the God of Jacob,' under whose name I would fight the battle of life. In the latter part of October, 1812, on a pleasant Sabbath morning, while the people were gathering from every direction for meeting, the following passage came with power to my mind, and as no minister was present that day, I knew I could offer no good excuse for a refusal to speak. Phil. 2: 5. 'Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.' On this text, on this very glorious theme, my public life began, and doubtless in a weak, broken, and trembling manner. I have often thought of my first text, and have endeavored to make it my motto for life, for it is on the idea here advanced that the vital merit of ministers and Christians must forever depend. How important that the Gospel minister should have the mind of Christ! How can he otherwise preach Him to the world? How may he penetrate the centre of other souls and hold up the living evidence of Christianity without it? How important that all Christians have His spirit and temper! For it is this that directs, this that supports, this that adorns the child of God."

"But when the echo of the first effort came back from the community, 'Joseph Badger has become a preacher,' a sentence then in everybody's mouth, I was greatly mortified, particularly when the invitations came to me before the week had ended, to go and preach in different parts of the town. I complied as far as practicable with these requests, and our meetings were thronged with people who came to hear the new minister, the young man—young, indeed, in a double sense,—in years and in experience. Perhaps never before did surrounding circumstances unite to render me more thoroughly conscious of my weakness, dependence, and inefficiency. I spent much time in secret prayer, and in pensive meditation, and the cry I once before had made in the anticipation now arose with redoubled energy, 'Lord, who is sufficient for these things?' More than ever did I begin to fell the worth of souls by night and by day; and through the bodily fatigues to which my labors subjected me, the sense of responsibility and insufficiency that weighed upon me, my mind was somewhat shaded with melancholy, and often did my heart find relief in tears."

"The next Thursday evening after my first sermon, I attended a Conference, where I met Mr. Gilson, a well-known minister. He appeared much rejoiced at what he called 'the good news,' and insisted that as there were many present, I should occupy the desk as the speaker, and give the introductory sermon. This, to me, was a great cross, particularly so as one of my brothers was present. After enduring for a time the conflict of feelings, which may be easily imagined, I went forward in prayer, then arose to speak from 1 John 5, 19th verse: 'And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness.' In speaking, I had a good time, and both branches of the subject, which run over the ground occupied by saints and sinners, seemed to have a good effect; it inspired joy in the one, and awakened solemnity in the other. Mr. G. approbated my discourse, but I felt much mortified that I, a mere lad, was called out to set my few loaves and small fishes before the great multitude."

CHAPTER VI.

PUBLIC LABORS IN THE PROVINCE.

"From this time, I continued to improve my gift in public speaking, in this and other neighborhoods of the town. Feeling much friendship and care for the brethren in Ascott, I spent as much time as my business would allow among them, which was to my instruction and comfort, as there were in that place many faithful and experienced Christians. As I had some leisure, and found it duty to visit the neighboring towns, I thought it would be proper to have something to show, upon my introduction to strange communities, what my character and standing were at home. As I felt commissioned from God's throne, I saw no necessity of applying to men for license or liberty to preach, and therefore only sought a confirmation of my moral character. It would indeed be an absurd mission that did not include the liberty of fulfilling the duty imposed. Thus 'I did not go up to Jerusalem to those who were Apostles before me,' though I conferred much with 'flesh and blood.' I submitted this question to Mr. John Gilson, who as a minister was highly respected. He concurred with me in opinion, gave me a letter stating that my moral and Christian character was good, and that the religious community believed me to be called to preach the Gospel. This was singular, as I was not a Methodist, and was in no way pledged to their peculiar doctrines. We always had, however, a good understanding, and it was with tears that I parted from them. Since then I have often met them with joy, and they are still dear in my memory.[13] For one year from the time I began to preach, this was all the letter I had, whilst with solemn joy I went through the region of Lower Canada to preach, experiencing the mingled cup of joy and trial common to a missionary life, which was my heart's choice.

"In the winter of 1812 I made it my home in Ascott, attended school some, but, so far as scholarship is concerned, to little profit, as my mind was subjected to impressions that constrained me to leave school and preach Christ. In the early part of the winter, I concluded to visit Shipton, on a preaching tour of about sixty miles, with Zenas Adams. He was a well-informed young man, who had commenced preaching a few months earlier than myself. We started on foot, and travelled along with mind and conversation seriously imbued with the spirit of our calling, to the appointments we had made, where we met large assemblies, who had convened to hear what the boys could say. Brother A. spoke mostly on this tour. We attended meetings in Brompton, Melbourne, Shipton, and other places, meeting kind receptions and gentle treatment from many good Christians, and short answers from some of our enemies. At Shipton we were joyfully received by Capt. Ephraim Magoon, in a manner never to be forgotten by me; also were we kindly greeted by many other good friends. We passed several days in this place, which laid the foundation for a long acquaintance, and for my subsequent labors in that community."

The following paragraph is so characteristic of Mr. B., that no one can fail to see the man as present in the youth. It was in sudden emergency that the energy and creativeness of his genius were always manifest. Though naturally diffident, no one ever saw him in an emergency that proved greater than his own mind. His dignity, firmness, composure and aptness at such times, were always striking and heroic. In a crisis, who ever saw him at a loss?

"On our return, at a meeting held at Mr. Hovey's, whilst Adams was preaching, a British officer came in. When the sermon was ended, I arose to speak by way of exhortation. It was a solemn, weeping time, and I observed the officer to shed tears. When the meeting was dismissed he made known to us his business, informing us that Esquire Cushing had sent him to arrest us, and to bring us before him for examination, as it was a time of war between two nations, and we were strangers. 'But as for myself,' he kindly observed, 'I am not concerned about you, and if you will agree to call on Esquire C. to-morrow, I will return home;' to which we agreed, exhorting him to repent. The next day we called at Esquire Cushing's tavern (for his were the double honors of landlord and magistrate) and ordered refreshment. At evening we were formally summoned into his presence. I walked forward and Adams fell in the rear, in order that I might act as the chief speaker. Mr. Cushing then exclaimed, with all the harsh authority a British tyrant could assume 'What's your business in this country?' I replied, 'To preach Christ's Gospel, sir.' 'By what authority?' 'By the authority of Heaven, sir.' At this the old man began to look surprised and beaten, thinking that I probably knew his character too well for him to succeed in this sort of treatment; and my friend Adams, constitutionally mild and retiring, began to take courage. He then observed, 'How came you in this country?' 'My father purchasing a large tract of land in the town of Compton, brought me into this country when nine years old, and, sir, I have as good a right here as you or any other man.' 'Have you taken the oath of allegiance?' 'Yes, sir.' 'Let me see your certificate,' added he. I presented it; it was read and returned. 'Are you a son of Major Badger, of Compton?' 'I am, sir.' 'Well, you'd better be at home than to be strolling about the country.' 'I thank you, sir, I shall attend to what employment I think best, and shall visit what part of the country I please.' Here I was dismissed, and I conclude he thought me a saucy fellow.

"Next poor Adams had to walk up. He came forward with a calm and delicate countenance, clothed in the sweet temper of the Lamb. The blood which had forsaken his beardless face, now returned, and adorned his cheeks with their accustomed bloom, as he stood before a 'beast of the deep,' who possessed much of the spirit that prevailed in his mother-country during the reign of Queen Mary, who caused her own beautiful cousin, Lady Jane Grey, to ascend the scaffold at the age of seventeen to suffer death for her religion. Brother Adams had taken the oath of allegiance, but as he could present no certificate he experienced some difficulty and suffered much abuse. But his soft answers served to turn away wrath. As I knew him I spoke in his favor, and after a short time we were dismissed. The next morning, after paying an extravagant price for poor, and to us disagreeable entertainment, we departed, rejoicing that we in our youthful days were counted worthy to suffer for Jesus' sake.

"This journey was very beneficial to me. Here a friendship was formed between brother Adams and myself which has never since been destroyed. He was an excellent young man, and had not at that time joined the Methodist connection. After a most agreeable acquaintance for more than one year, it was heart-rending to part with him. I found that he was resolved to join the Society, and that he was very anxious that I should. We conversed on the measure lengthily. I proposed to him that we would travel at large, and not be confined to sect or party, but preach a free salvation to all who would hear us. He said that his confidence was so small, that he thought it best to preach upon an established circuit, where he should be sure of a living and where he should have homes to receive him. I replied, that I could not fear to trust in God for a living; that the faithful minister would never starve; and that if I could not get further on my way, at any time, I would go home and resume my daily toil. I saw that he was set on going to Conference; he also saw that I had a permanent dislike to the Bishop's power, and that I would not become subject to the Methodist laws. We did not longer urge each other, but parted in love. I walked with him half a mile, when he started, and I felt the trial of our parting to be great. We kneeled in the woods with our arms around each other, and when we had prayed and bathed each other's bosoms in tears, we arose and parted with affectionate salutation, never expecting to meet again on earth. He went to unite with the American Methodists, and I, more from duty than inclination, remained among enemies in Lower Canada, to stem the torrent of opposition alone.

"In the month of January I left school, rode to Hatley and Stanstead, on the shore of Lake Mogogue, where I spent certain days, and attended several meetings. The greater part of the winter, when out of school, I spent at Ascott, Compton, and Westbury, where I had good times, though mingled with trials and temptations. The first day of January, 1813, was a very glorious time at a general meeting in Ascott. Mr. Gilson, and a colored man by the name of Dunbar, who was both a godly man and a faithful preacher, were our principal speakers. In the month of March I took a journey to Shipton alone, where I enjoyed a glorious meeting, and made an engagement to return in the spring.

"During this month, my eldest brother came four miles to hear me preach. He requested me to make an appointment at his house, which was near my father's residence; and but few of our family had ever heard me speak. His house was one where I had attended many balls and had met assemblies for vain recreations. The audience to whom I spoke was composed of my parents, brothers, sisters, neighbors, and my fellow youth, who had been my old companions in sin—circumstances that rendered my cross very great. My father's presence made my embarrassment much greater, as I knew the critical cast of his mind, the extensive reading and education by which his intellect was enriched. I observed that my father selected a seat with his back towards me. Excessive as my cross was, I could not be reconciled to this. I arose and presented him my chair, and when he had again taken his seat, I read a hymn from the Methodist collection, which was sweetly sung by the young people, my brother serving as chorister. After prayer and the second singing, I announced my text, at which every countenance fell, a general surprise being visible all around, and the young people appeared as solemn as if the day of doom had dawned. I believe I have intimated heretofore that, as a town, the people were irreligious. My text was Matt. 23: 33. 'Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers! how can ye escape the damnation of hell?' My text was harsh, but my discourse was mild. I first noticed the natural qualities of serpents and vipers that constituted the analogy of the passage, and that furnished the reason of their being so called. Second, I described what I considered to be the damnation of hell. Third, I endeavored to show how we might escape this, and the necessity of improving a present day of grace. I then addressed myself to the assembly in the following order: 1st, to my parents; 2d, to my brothers and sisters; 3d, to the young people; 4th, to the neighbors. This was indeed one of the most affecting scenes I ever had witnessed. When I came to address the young people in relation to our former sports in that room, and to express my regard for them, and to tell them of the new and better inheritance I had discovered, some wept aloud, and at the close several said 'Pray for me.' I name this circumstance, as it was the first time my parents ever heard me preach, and it being a time deeply impressed on my own memory. After this I rode four miles, and preached in the evening at Mr. Benjamin Sleeper's, in whose house a most beautiful child lay dead, and which on the following morning received its burial."

I find, on another page of his journal, that the sermon here spoken of bears date March 23d, 1813.

"I now began to reflect on the situation of the people at Shipton, and felt it my duty to return to them, as in that and in several adjoining towns there was no minister. I accordingly made preparations and started, April 1st, 1813. On the way I spoke several times, to good assemblies; arrived on the 6th, and found from multitudes a joyful reception. A reformation immediately began among the youth, and the spirits of the aged pilgrims revived like the golden life of a second summer. This, to me, was an evidence I could not doubt, that it was under a heavenly guidance that I had come to Shipton. I made it my home at Capt. Magoon's, where I enjoyed, with the aged people, many very happy hours; they were indeed the excellent of the earth, and I hope their numerous kindnesses to me may receive a thousand-fold reward.

"In the month of June, I made my first visit to Ringsey, to which place I was invited by Col. Bean, one of my father's particular acquaintances, likewise one of the principal men in this community. Though invited on a personal visit at his house, which was about sixteen miles distant, I found, on my arrival, a multitude assembled, to whom I spoke, under the conscious aid of the higher power. Several dated their conviction from this meeting, and through all the town the reformation spread. After speaking to them a few more times, I returned to Shipton; and in a few weeks visited them again, where I found several happy converts and many whose heart-cry was for mercy. Thus the work spread until it was thought that upwards of one-half of the grown people had experienced religion; I say experienced religion, for religion is not a matter of theory but of life. Its home is not in the dry speculation of the brain, but in the field of experience. Religion in theory is like the pictures of trees and flowers; they may win the eye and the fancy; but these pictures do not blossom, nor grow, nor bear fruits. The juices of life flow in the roots and branches of everything that grows.

"Col. Bean, my good friend, whose house was always to me an agreeable home, and some of his children, found peace in Christ. He continued a shining light until his death, which was about one year after. The many pleasant days and nights enjoyed with him and his agreeable family afford pleasure in their recollection; and though these cheerful scenes are not to be recalled, I trust they may be resumed in a better state of being.

"The latter part of August I was invited to attend a meeting in the upper part of the town of Ringsey, a place whose inhabitants were said to be remarkably hardened and wicked. I thought a place like this should not be shunned by a minister whose commission it is to seek the lost. At the time appointed there was a general attendance. I had rode a long distance, and both myself and horse were very much fatigued. I had no attention whatever paid me as to refreshment, nor did their sense of civility or bowels of compassion disturb them with a single thought about the needs of the faithful animal that had done its part in helping them to a minister, and that stood very patiently by the side of the fence. I stood, a stranger, in the midst of glaring spectators. I recollect that when walking through the assembly, I felt an emotion of tenderness and solicitude for them that nearly impelled me to tears. I spoke to them from Zech. 9: 12, and, if ever the Being who gave me my mission assisted me in fulfilling it, it was then. Though very feeble in health I spoke to them over one hour, and the power of God came down upon the assembly, and many wept aloud. At the close I gave opportunity to any who wished me to pray for them to indicate their mind by rising, when the greater part of the assembly arose. The cry was audible and general, 'What shall I do to be saved?' In my closing prayer I could scarcely be heard. Though late, I mounted my horse, and rode nine miles to Shipton, where, at the house of Mr. Heath, I was kindly treated. But I was so weary and exhausted that I retired without refreshment, and did not visit Ringsey again for several weeks, leaving them to work out their own salvation. I then proceeded up the St. Francis river about seventy miles, to the town of Dudswell, where I found a happy circle of Christians. When I again returned to Ringsey the scene was wonderfully changed. Old and young flocked into the streets to meet and welcome my return. I could not pass a house where I was not urged to go in. I occasionally spoke to them during my stay in that country. Truly in this place were the songs of the old and the young mingled together.

"In the month of August, we held at Shipton a general meeting. Mr. R. Smith preached a very interesting discourse on Saturday, from Gal. 3: 26: 'For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.' Sunday morning Mr. Avery Moulton spoke from Acts 3: 22: 'A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up.' Mr. J. Gilson next addressed the assembly from 2 Kings 5: 13. After him I endeavored to speak from Zech. 9: 17: 'For how great is his goodness, how great is his beauty!' Several happy converts were baptized at this meeting by Elder Moulton.

"From this we appointed a general meeting to be held at Ascott, on the 8th, 9th, and 10th of October. It being a time of war between two powerful nations, our situation was rendered very unpleasant in many respects. Our provincial officers were much opposed to our travelling from town to town, and our brethren in general refused to bear arms. This enraged the officers. They frequently sent spies to our meetings to see if we prayed for the king and if we preached against the government, as we afterward learned. One of the officers once accosted me in these words: 'Well, Mr. Badger, I understand you do not pray for the king!' 'You are mistaken, sir, I do pray for the king.' 'But how do you pray for him?' 'I pray that he may become converted, and be a child of God.' 'Ah! but that won't do; you ought to pray for the success of his arms.' 'I do, sir, pray for his arms, that his swords may be beaten into ploughshares and his spears into pruning-hooks. This is the best prayer I can make in his behalf.' He did not seem to like my answer, but said no more to me.

"The October meeting coming off at this time, made no small stir among the people, and the wicked, as of old, 'took counsel together against the Lord, and against His anointed.' As they had been successful in driving two good preachers out of the country, they were now emboldened to make a strong attempt, first to frighten us out of the country, and should they fail in that, which they did, to disturb our meetings as their next best stroke of policy. They issued warrants for nine of us, myself and two other ministers, and six of the leading members of our churches. We were arrested on the first day of our meeting, which had opened under promising auspices, as enemies to the Government. I had an insight into their methods before any part of their plot was executed; for as I was on my way the morning of the 8th, and within eight or nine miles of the meeting, an officer with whom I was acquainted, hailed me from his house and observed if I would wait a few moments he would be my company. As we rode along I drew from him a development of the whole plot, and at that time I became his prisoner. The greatest fear I had was this, that the meeting would be essentially disturbed. The prisoners were to be delivered and have their trial at Mr. Stone's tavern, one mile from the place of the meeting, at the same time that it was in progress. When I arrived at the place where the congregation was to convene, I called, found several preachers present, and some brethren to whom I related the whole of what was about to transpire. Some were filled with fear. I advised them to discover no alarm, but to go on composedly with their meeting, provided there should not be more than ten persons left, after the rulers should have sifted the audience in their legal network, and to pay no attention whatever to us who were absent, except to remember us kindly in their prayers; and away I went to stand in the presence of authority. Soon, however, I was favored with the company of brother Amos Bishop, a faithful minister of the Gospel. He came in rejoicing that he was counted worthy to suffer for Jesus' sake. Our trial formally opened on Friday noon, but not much was done. At evening I obtained a room in which to hold meeting, thinking that inasmuch as the legal process was tardy, the ministers present could make no better use of their leisure time than in preaching Christ to all who would become our hearers. Seats were prepared, and the neighbors flocked in. I then walked into the somewhat spacious bar-room to invite the honorable court to attend, a body composed of three magistrates, viz.: Pennoyer, Nichols, and Hyat, who were at the time merrily passing the glass. Making to them as courteous an address as I was capable, in which I stated the superlative worth of the religion of Christ in the soul, I gave them an invitation to be with us. They did not make much reply, but stood by the door, as we learned, where they could hear the communications of the meeting. Never did we enjoy a more glorious time, never did we realize the divine presence more joyfully than here under keepers. Many brethren came to see us, their eyes filled with tears, whilst our hearts overflowed with joy.

"Saturday morning I arose very early and obtained permission to visit my brethren at the general meeting on condition that I would return at nine o'clock. I enjoyed my visit there; but what most affected me was this. Just as the sun had begun to brighten the eastern sky, after I had started, I met my oldest sister and my brother's wife, who had heard of my bonds, and hastened with eyes and hearts full of sympathetic concern for my welfare. They had arrived at the place the night previous, and were at that early hour hastening to the lodgings of their poor brother Joseph in afflictions. When I saw them I could not refrain from tears. They brought me money and articles of clothing, which were acceptable to me at that time. They tarried through the meeting and returned home.

"At ten o'clock the court sat, and the whole scene together was one at which the student of human nature might have sat with amusement, scorn, edification, and pity. False witnesses arose as in ancient days. I say false witnesses, because they proved so before the court. They stated that we had opposed our brethren in bearing arms, that we had spoken diminutively of the British king, topics on which the public speakers present had been silent. Finally, at the close we were bound over for our appearance at court, which sat at the Three Rivers, and only twenty-five minutes were granted us in which to procure bondsmen. This we utterly declined doing. I told them that I knew the character of the cause in which I was called to suffer; that for me the Stone Jug had no terrors, and that if I must occupy its walls, I should trust that the same God who heard Paul's prayers and songs at midnight, would also be my friend. At this a captain was ordered to take charge of me. Bishop answered rather independently, and asked Esq. P. to be his bondsman, but at length informed them that he despised their power. At this we were companions. Many present who were at first our enemies, came to me in tears, and offered to be our bondsmen. A captain who had carefully observed all that had transpired, came and offered to pledge his farm for me. At this, sympathy became contagious, and the spectators, who had thus far been watchfully silent, began to damn the squires, two of whom were now observed to stagger, having taken too much whiskey to retain a respectable command of their persons. One of them took me aside, told me that he found no cause against me, that it was the others who had caused them to bind me over, that he had always been my friend, and would attend meeting the next day. The poor fellow fell from his horse on the way home, and broke his shoulder, which for weeks prevented him from leaving his house. Esq. P. the following day was found in the road drunk; and thus ended the suit. These events were not ineffectual. Our keepers, on seeing the agitation of the people, and the increase of our friends, on Monday morning, by the advice of Captain Ward, dismissed us, and told us to go about our business. This was a day of glad news to the brethren, who in trembling fear and faith, had borne us in their prayers to the Invisible King; and now having a little leisure, I improved it in visiting my friends at Compton. I had not seen my father's house for months. I spent some time with them very agreeably—relived past scenes in conversation—bade them an affectionate farewell and again went to Shipton.

"In the latter part of the year 1813, when on my return from Shipton, my father sent me word that unless I could tarry several days, he wished me to send an appointment and preach at his house. This to me was welcome tidings, as I had long been waiting with hopeful anxiety for this opportunity to open. I sent an appointment, which soon spread over the town. No travelling minister had at this time ever preached at my father's house, and a large multitude assembled, probably under the impression that there was something new in the circumstance. Oh, how solemn, how memorable the scene! I had long been absent from home among strangers, had passed through a trying experience in which friendship and hatred had largely commingled, and now, at the invitation of a kind father, I stood amidst my relatives, brethren and old acquaintances, to speak freely on whatever I felt to be dear to the hope and salvation of man. I spoke from Mark 5: 19. 'Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee.' After the assembly had dispersed, my father and myself spent a great part of the night in conversation on the things of the kingdom, in which he rather favored the doctrine of Universalism. I had an agreeable visit of a few days, and went rejoicing on my way. I name these circumstances as they belong to the time I first preached at my father's house.

"At Shipton and vicinity, we had through the fall and first part of the winter, golden seasons, and many were added to the church of God. Party rage seemed to die away, and persecution greatly subsided. I now began to feel a dismission, so far as my labors and responsibilities were related to this region of country; and in casting my eye over the world as my lawful field, I longed to visit other lands, and carry to distant parts the unsectarian message of Repentance, Faith, and Love. During the winter I made several visits at Stanstead, a town lying on the eastern shore of Lake Memphremagog, where I saw a few persons converted, and where, with the saints of the Most High, I took sweet counsel. Also had many useful meetings in my father's vicinity.

"In the spring of 1814 I found my health exceedingly poor. Many thought I was inclining to the consumption. As the roads were exceedingly bad in the spring season throughout the province, I resolved to make but one general visit in each particular place where I had preached, unless particular impression should otherwise direct me, and then journey to the land of my nativity, to the New England sea-coast, around which my feelings of friendship and reverence warmly clustered, almost taking in the scenery of New England as a vital part of my filial feelings. Accordingly, as soon as the going became settled, I started on my farewell visits through the North country. Hundreds flocked together in the several towns where my appointments had been sent, to hear my farewell discourses; and unegotistically do I record the simple fact that my audiences wept as I told them my work with them was done, and that in other lands I must go and publish the same salvation in which they rejoiced. Many said, from the poor health I was in, they were satisfied they should never see me again. This was indeed a solemn time to me. I made my intended visit, and left Shipton on the 5th of June. Many of the aged saints and the warm-hearted young people came together at an early hour in the morning to bid me adieu. When ready to leave, I sung a few verses of a missionary hymn, which thus commences:

"'Farewell, my brethren in the Lord!
The Gospel sounds the Jubilee;
My stammering tongue shall sound aloud,
From land to land, from sea to sea.'

Some united in the song, others were prevented by the fulness of their emotion. At the close, we kneeled together in prayer; and it was with a heavy heart that I offered to them my parting hand. Never can I forget the kindness and friendship of this people. They contributed largely to my necessities, welcomed me to their homes, and upheld, with their prayers, my feeble hands. Returning to spend a few days at my father's house, I found on parting, the strength of the social and filial ties that bind the heart of man to its home. When, after prayer, I gave my hand to my father, he could only utter 'God bless you,' such were his emotions, and a wordless silence, accompanied by tears, was my mother's benediction. When I rode away, I felt myself dead to every earthly prospect, to every worldly enjoyment, and from the dearest friends on earth cut off. Yet there was a holy sunshine falling down upon my clouds, that gave to my sinking spirit its needful consolation. It is usually thought that the situation of a youth cut off from his friends is a trying one, especially so if called to the ministry. It is not only in parting with friends and in renouncing worldly prospects, that the spirit is tried; the life of a missionary, who is a man of God and faithful, is exposed to a thousand sufferings and dangers. Missionaries often go forth as the chosen organs of different denominations, whose denominational interests they plead, and from whom they receive a pledged support. I had aspired to be a missionary of another school, a missionary to men and not from men, having only the Gospel of the world's salvation to uphold, looking on high for the mission, and to the just and careful operations of His providence for all necessary support. For one so conditioned to consider the awful and immense responsibility he assumes before God, to think of the account he must soon render of his stewardship, is enough to humble him in the dust. Yet when, on the other hand, the faithful minister has a view of the everlasting inheritance that appears to the eye of faith, from the future compensations of His love, he can say, with the great missionary of the Gentiles, 'I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.' Perhaps this contemplation is not capable of a statement more just than that which it finds in the olden words:

"'What contradictions meet
In ministers' employ;
It is a bitter sweet,
A sorrow full of joy.
No other post affords the place
For equal honor and disgrace.'"

With these lines the nobly expressed narrative of Mr. B., so far as it relates to his early ministerial labors in the Province, closes. A few other documents lie before me, several letters from the hand of Mr. Z. Adams, his colleague for a time in the labors and trials of his early ministrations, several letters of commendation from churches with whom he had labored, and from influential ministers with whom he had associated. These letters from Mr. A., though wearing the sallow impress of time on their forms, are fresh with the ardor and devotedness of what never grows old, the earnest heart; and what is peculiar to all these letters from the churches is this, that, after the usual commendatory expressions relative to moral and Christian character, they invariably speak of the success of his ministry among the people. There are also a few letters from him to his father and brothers, written during the period of his ministerial labors of 1813-14, that are unfeignedly rich in the spirit of self-sacrifice, firm faith in his mission, and a fine feeling of love and kindness to all his relatives, a quality flowing through all the correspondence I have seen, addressed to relatives. A long catalogue of names, dated Dec. 20, 1813, shows the number of persons in different towns who were converted under his ministry; and though the evidences at hand indicate for them a general stability of principle and aim, one name, from the first column, must appear to great disadvantage in a future chapter, for it would be equal to a hunting excursion in the forests of antiquity, to find in any country a more unreasonable persecutor, on a limited scale, than was Capt. Moor, in the month of September, 1815.

Joseph Badger was a man who could never endure dulness. Lifelessness and inactivity, in fine, all the brood of stupid demons, he had a magical power to disperse. They fled at his entrance. He would have life and interest, and no man could better create them, by awakening readily the resources of all around him. Thus far we only see the young man of twenty, but the same inherent traits of his whole life are conspicuous. He awakens community wherever he goes. He calls out opposition, creates strong friends and enemies, concentrates attention, brings himself into trying emergencies, which call out his various facility of tact and successful management, his firmness and self-composure. Having set his mind and heart on the persuasion of men to repent and to seek salvation, he carries a multitude along to this end. But what is most rich, is the deep evangelical element, in which all his powers are immersed; his constant, prayerful, weeping solicitude for souls. I know not where to go to find these holy elements in a more abundant, pure, and I will add, in a more natural state, than they appear in Mr. Badger's early life. His enthusiasm was not rash or fanatical. The fire of his heart blended with the light of his brain. His eye was always as calm as it was penetrating. It combined the glow and the calmness of the night-star. Almost at the risk of presenting too much of a good thing, I venture to quote a mere fraction of some of these letters, each line of which is so fully alive with the sincerity and earnest faith of the writer.

"Shipton, May 11th, 1813.

"Dear Parents,—I assure you it is with pleasure I once more attempt to write you. I arrived on May the 6th, very much fatigued. I walked twenty-one miles without refreshment, which was too much for my nature. I was unable to preach for some days. My greatest pain was to see the inroads made by the enemy into our little church whilst I was absent, and the spirit of persecution that rankles in many hearts. As I view souls united to eternity, and see that some are hewing out to themselves 'broken cisterns,' and giving way to 'seducing spirits,' in the doctrine, 'Ye shall not surely die,' I am led to mourn."

"It is surprising to view the beauties of creation, in which we see how everything is formed for the use and comfort of man. Yet how sadly they abuse the great profusion of His blessing. 'What more could He have done for His vineyard than He hath done for it?'—Isaiah 5: 4. Whilst I meditate on the extent of His goodness and long suffering, on the cross of Him who died for all, and then think of the wickedness that abounds, I am obliged to mourn. Oh my loving parents, may we be wise for both worlds, for time and for eternity! I have had serious thoughts of late why it was that my father did not write to me. As I am here in the wilderness without any relatives or connections, I thought that love for me would have led him to seek my enlightenment if I am in darkness, he being acquainted with the Scriptures; and if I am right, I thought he would wish to give me encouragement. My love to all for their kindness.

"Your prayerful servant,
J. Badger."

"Stanstead, July 16, 1814.

"Dear Father,—According to my expectation when at your house, I started on my journey to the southward, preaching on my way; Friday at Derby, Saturday at Holland, Sunday at Major Stewart's, in Morgan, where I met a large concourse of people, among whom were eleven young persons from Derby, who were deeply awakened to a sense of their danger whilst out of Christ. To their ardent solicitation for me to return to Derby, I have yielded, which makes it expedient for me to tarry one week more. I do not enjoy very good health, but my mind is happy. I feel that at most a few more rolling suns will bring me to the fair city of Rest. Each beating pulse but leaves the number less. Had I time I would gladly ride to Compton to see you. But it is wholly uncertain when we again shall meet. I ofttimes think of you all. My love to relatives and inquiring friends.

"'From all that's mortal, all that's vain,
And from this earthly clod,
Arise, my soul, and strive to gain
Sweet fellowship with God.'

"I subscribe myself a Disciple of Christ, or a Friend to Mankind.

"J. Badger."

"Ascott, July 27, 1813. (In haste.)

"Dear Brother,[14]—Since I have seen you I have preached in Compton, Ascott, Westbury, Oxford, Brompton, Ringsey, Shipton. I am in great haste on my return. I have been comfortable as to health, though much fatigued. I have felt the waters of salvation to flow sweetly through my soul. Give yourself no trouble if you hear I am taken up. You know the animosities that war engenders. The God who delivered Daniel, and who protected our fathers, has promised to shield me whilst in the way of my duty. Keep free from all strife, deny self, live in peace with all men. I still feel it my duty to employ all my abilities in holding up Christ to a dying world. My love to parents and brethren."

These extracts show the spirit with which his whole early life was imbued, and they accord well with the journal he wrote a few years later. One vital life pervades them all. Whilst the war was desolating the country, filling the minds of men with anger, jealousy, and irreverence to humanity, he, the heroic young soldier of the Cross, was successfully pouring into their hearts the great lessons of Reformation, Unity, and Peace. Such a ministry at such a time appears to the eye of history as a rainbow arching the black region of cloud and storm, or as life-clad rivers that flow along through the desert regions of the earth.

CHAPTER VII.

TOUR TO NEW ENGLAND, AND PUBLIC LABORS.

With good recommendations, and with the fruits of a not very ordinary experience for one so young, he starts for his native land. What sect does the young preacher hail from? From no sect. He hails from the church of experienced believers, whose test is religion, not theology. Love to God and peace with men are the cardinals of his platform, and such was the persuasion of his eye and presence, that his credentials are very seldom disputed. Nothing in the form of sectarianism hedges up his way or impedes his success. If difficulties at any time thicken in his path, he knows what to do with them.

Let us pause a moment to look at the theological latitudes and longitudes of the self-taught young man at this time, before he leaves to carry his message towards the regions of sunrise in the more intelligent east. In theology he has acknowledged no human master, has sat at the feet of no Edwards, Channing, or Wesley, nor read in musty dogmatical lore what he shall publish as the essential doctrine. The following views, however, may be gathered from the various utterance of his mind, expressed as occasion called, without the intention of making a system. 1. That man bears a living relation to God; that he may now as of old come to him confidingly, and seek effectually for wisdom and salvation. 2. That the being of God is One; that his influences are constantly felt in the moral world, promoting the joy and life of his people, and subjecting the sinful to the solemn conviction of their sin and danger. 3. That Regeneration is the want of all men; that all may, like the prodigal of Scripture memory, return to their Sovereign Father. 4. That the Scriptures are the great storehouse of sacred wisdom; that through them the will of God is infallibly revealed. 5. That Jesus is "the sinner's friend," the Son of God, the centre of Christianity, and that his Gospel is of celestial birth and mission; "the power of God unto salvation to all that believe." 6. That experience is the basis of religion; that the only authorized test of fellowship for the church is Christian character. 7. That no sect in Christendom, as such, is the church of God; that the church is everywhere composed of such only as have passed from death unto life. 8. That sectarian names do not fit the catholicity of the institution; that the names "disciples," "brethren," "friends," "Christians," are the better designations. 9. That human creeds, traditions, "doctrines and commandments of men," are abolished in the light and authority of the Gospel. 10. That sons of God are freemen, owing no allegiance to Pope, Bishop, Prelate, or Council. These views all fairly reside in the writings which unfold this early period of his life; and when we consider the exceeding scarcity of liberal thought in the religious world at so early a day, and the isolation of his position from the most active and enlightened minds on the continent, his stand in the church and the world becomes a wonder, only to be solved by the recognition of the original and superior intellect that gave him intuitive insight into the right and wrong of whatever problems may have won his earnest attention. The liberality of many is but a mere scepticism of thought. His liberality was a part of the most devoted labor and unabated zeal. It was one with prayer and tears. Now, in this last day, (1854,) with all that learning and comprehensive thinking have done for us, where and what are the heights of liberality occupied by the theological reformers whose names have gone abroad as being wider than their denominational platform? As we glance along the sparse population of these plateaux, we observe among others, the names of Bushnell and Beecher, the former with certain acute philosophical powers, the latter with a bold dramatic energy of speech, each exposing himself in a degree to the censure of that large class who dread all innovation made upon the time-honored landmarks of the Fathers, who are alarmed at new roads, even though they are more direct, convenient, and comely. But neither of these gentlemen has gone so far as did this youth in the wilderness of his adopted country. Neither has altogether practically forgotten the claims of sect and of creed; and the view that holiness of life and purpose is the indisputable claim to fraternity independent of dogma, which is their highest idea, was his constantly practised principle long before the world had heard of new and old school in the contentions of orthodox sects. Open now his first letters of commendation and you will see that the fraternities that authorized them ignored sectarian names, simply styling themselves "The Church of God in this place." In liberality, I do not see that the best part of the Christian world now are, either in theory or practice, at all in advance of his position in 1813. That his peace principles did not allow him to pray for bloody victories, or to strengthen the king's arms by his influence over the people, there is pretty good evidence. He and his brethren drank too deeply at the wells of religion to engage in the destruction of their fellows.

To return. The young man, now nearly twenty-two years of age, intent on the duties and trials of a missionary life, starts for his native New Hampshire, improving every opportunity on the way, where circumstances united with his own impressions in producing the conviction that good might be done. Without abating his own labor, he depends continually on divine assistance, believing that he enjoys the advantage of the real presence of the One who said, "Lo! I am with you alway;" and before undertaking any important cause, or plan of action, he seeks illumination in secret prayer, then follows the leading impressions of his mind. He diligently studies the Scriptures, observes nature, and discriminates the strong points and peculiarities of the different characters he meets, for which he seemed to possess an intuitive power that received no assistance from the later inductions of phrenology, or the didactic lessons of physiognomy. He could, without rules admitting of statement, readily discern the character of an audience, the kind of discourse fitted to their capacity and wants, and most easily did he arrive at this kind of knowledge by a brief social contact with individuals. No nature perhaps ever had a greater power of adaptability to the many-phased character of mankind and surrounding circumstances, than his. But for the present, indeed for the several years of his early ministry, the central element of his life, the one that ruled all others, was his earnest, hearty, prayerful devotion to the holy mission of saving human beings from sin, and of bringing them into living union with God and with Christ. Along the meanderings of this current let us therefore follow the course of his narrative, which at this time unfolds itself in a series of letters, hastily and unelaborately written to some friend whose name does not appear; perhaps to Z. Adams, or to some other young minister interested in his welfare.

"Dear Friend,—I rode from Stanstead, where I had enjoyed several good meetings, across the line into the State of Vermont, where I had several more in Derby, Holland, and Morgan, but soon returned to a little village on the line, and on Stanstead Plain, where there were prospects of good being done. It was here that I met Mr. Roswell Bates, who became my company, as he was going to the town of Woodstock. Leaving the line about July the 16th, we passed through Rigah, Browning, and Wheelock, holding several meetings at the last named town, in which the spirits of many appeared to gather new courage and joy. I then rode to Danville, and remained several days, in which time I had the pleasure of seeing some who had been for months cold in their affections, quickened and newly determined in the cause of life. We then rode to Peacham, then to Newbury, Bradford, and Corinth, where we separated, Mr. B. going to Hafford and I to Strafford. Here I was greeted by a happy band of brethren, with whom I held several meetings, and remained several days. Crossing the Connecticut river over into Lyme, thence through Dorchester to Hebron, thence to Bridgewater, I arrived next morning, which was Sunday, at New Hampton, and was kindly received by Wm. B. Kelley, Esq., a distant relative, by whom I was politely introduced to the clergyman of the place. With him I passed a half hour very pleasantly; we repaired to the church together, as the people began to assemble. I occupied with him a seat in the desk, and listened with a degree of satisfaction to what he communicated. When we returned to his house, he insisted on my speaking in the afternoon, and in vain did I urge the excuses of a long journey and much fatigue. He gave me a Bible and a Concordance, saying that I had three quarters of an hour in which to prepare, and left the room. We again repaired to the church, and contrary to the order of the morning, I was assigned the right-hand place in the pulpit. I spoke to these strangers in the same freedom to which I had ever been accustomed, and reserved nothing of the divine counsel made known unto me; the word seemed to have some direct effect; the people appeared to hang with solicitude on the truths advanced, and many wept under the exhibition of the love and pardoning grace of Jesus Christ. The next day I heard a young man, Mr. John Swett, who, much to my joy, was wholly engaged in the work of the Lord—a work already commenced under his labors. At the request of my friends, I gave out an appointment, at which there were three ministers, Mr. Hillard, the aged priest to whom I had been at first introduced, Mr. Daney, whom I had never before seen, and Mr. Swett, my new acquaintance. I scarcely ever found greater liberty in speaking. Priest Hillard at the close arose and gave me his approbation, inviting me again to call on him; others also spoke on the goodness of God, as experienced by them. Bidding them an affectionate farewell, I was, in about four hours, at my native Gilmanton, whose citizens and scenes I had not known for the space of four years.

"Here I had great joy, mingled with sorrow—joy to meet my sister, Mrs. Cogswell, and other relatives; sorrow to learn that in their plans of happiness, religion and reconciliation to God were not the essential part. Capt. C., who did not usually go to the Free Church, wished me to permit him to make an appointment in that place, to which I gave consent. Accordingly, on the next Lord's day, at half-past ten o'clock, I met a large congregation at the Free Church; and at five o'clock, P. M., spoke to a full assembly at the house of Capt. Cogswell, each audience being probably attracted in part by curiosity. At the former meeting, my mind was constrained to weep over the people, who also wept under the message I delivered them. Many serious exhortations were given; many expressed the fulness of their joy in Christ. Wishing to see men and women stand upon some positive decisions in regard to their salvation, and knowing the good influence which a public expression of secret resolves has upon the subsequent action of man, I proposed that such of the assembly as felt the worth of religion, and desired to enjoy its heavenly light and consolation, would signify the state of their minds by rising up. Very few kept their seats; and I have reason to think that many were strengthened for life. Many invitations were given me for new appointments. At 5 o'clock at Capt. C.'s, there were many Calvinists present, who with the rest, seemed to mingle with their critical aspect considerable true religious feeling. Perhaps my preaching called out more criticism than it would otherwise have done, on account of my manner being wholly extemporaneous, and my sentiments not being formed from Calvin or any sectarian creed. My grandmother[15] was present; she seemed much pleased, and after meeting said to me, 'It is a wonder and a mystery to me how you talk as you do without having any of it written. Two of my family have got to be preachers, William C. and yourself. He learned to preach at the institution, but who in the world ever learned you up there in Canada?' I believe I told her that the Being who needed ministers had much to do in making them, which seemed to be a new idea in these parts.

"I then went to New Durham to visit my relatives, but spoke frequently before my return. On my way back, at a very good meeting about two miles from the place of my other appointments in the town, a young lady whom I baptized in February of the next year, was there permanently and effectually impressed with the need of salvation through Christ. She continued from that time to be drawn into nearness and union with Jesus, whose power over the heart no one can measure. After this meeting I returned to Gilmanton. As my sister was somewhat out of health, and travelling was recommended as her best restorative, I favored her desires to visit her parents in Canada, whom she had not seen for six years: and taking a carriage suited to the journey, conveyed her to my father's house in Compton. Our parents were overjoyed to see us. The next morning early I returned to the States, rode to Glover, Greensborough, and Montpelier, attended a quarterly meeting, with several other appointments, and returned to the Province in about seven days. Meeting my sister at Stanstead, where my elder brother according to agreement had brought her, I again set out for Gilmanton, where I arrived after an absence of about four weeks. On my way east I passed through Cabot and Danville, where I held several meetings; but when passing through New Hampton I met Rev. Mr. Hillard, who informed me that he intended to go to Toronto to preach, and should be happy to have me supply at his church during his absence. I accordingly left an appointment.

"Here, my dear friend, you have a brief account of my journeyings for the space of two months and a few days, in which time I have travelled 770 miles. Here in good old New England scenes, I at times revive the lights and shades of my early days, but the work of salvation is one that overlays in interest all reverie of the mind, and I shall hasten to give you a further account of the work of God in my next, hoping that from former friendship, my hasty letters will be interesting to your delicate and studious mind.

"Yours, in the truth,
J. Badger.

"Sept., 1814."

Here I would observe, that the manuscript from which the events of these several months are chiefly known appears to be copies of letters, several of which were addressed to one person, whose name may have been upon the outer leaf of the scroll at first, but which I do not find in the letters themselves. As his present history is reflected in these, I offer them, with all the variety of incident which a man of his peculiar cast of character would very naturally call out. These "scratches," as he labelled them, appear to have been kept as a means of reënlivening past scenes, should he ever wish to write their history.

"After attending several meetings in Gilmanton, I went on to my appointment at Newhampton, and met a very large congregation who had come out to hear the new preacher. The people thinking me a missionary direct from college, readily swallowed the doctrine of a free, universal salvation, designed for and offered unto all men, and many rejoiced in the liberal view I presented. I felt at this time, very much the weight of the cause, and spoke with great freedom on the true mission of the Gospel to our lost world. It may be thought by some that courtesy should have dictated an acquiescence in the formality and doctrine that reigned about me. But I felt constrained to speak from my own soul and the word that burned in my own heart. I did so. Many of the silent kindled anew with ardor, their tongues were unloosed, and some praised God aloud. In the afternoon I had a glorious time, concluding my sermon with the most earnest warning to the people. This change in their accustomed routine for Sunday called out many remarks, some saying one thing and some another. One said, 'He preaches just like a damned Freewiller, and if Mr. Hillard lets him preach there again, I will neither hear nor pay him in future.' Nevertheless, I had several invitations to preach again. In the evening I spoke at Mr. Kelley's, to about 200 hearers, on Monday, P. M., at Lieut. Sinkter's school-house, to an audience of entire strangers. In that vicinity were many Freewill Baptists, few of whom, however, saw fit to attend. Priest Hillard's deacon came to me at the close of meeting, with considerable emotion, and said, 'I know the joyful sound of which you have spoken. I am satisfied God has called you to preach the Gospel. I want you to preach at my house this evening,' and accordingly gave out the appointment. There are always some discerning spirits among the people, who, sooner than others, look into the nature and meaning of things. One of the Freewill members, a lady, remarked when she got home on the character of the meeting, saying, 'The deacon will get joked this time with his missionary or I am deceived.' At evening the house was crowded, the Freewill brotherhood having waked up to an interest in what was occurring. At the time I did not know as there was one anti-Calvinistic mind in the house, but resolved, as a dying man, to do my duty without shrinking. I arose to speak from Mal. 4: 2: 'Unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings,' and felt, as I progressed, the love of God in my soul. Many of the young people wept aloud, the Freewill brethren began to assist, and before the meeting broke up the power of God was so strikingly displayed that the deacon, unexpectedly to all, fell prostrate on the floor. A haughty young woman, whose hair was wrought into a profusion of curls, came forward and kneeled down, bathing her curls with tears as she cried for mercy. The argument on this occasion, though no doctrine was discussed, was one that the deacon was unable to resist, for he fell as many as five times under the power of God. The house seemed filled with divine glory. The congregation broke up about one o'clock at night. The next day I went from house to house praying and conversing with the people. I found that many were seeking Christ, and that a thoughtful solemnity was resting even on the minds of children.

"The next evening our meeting was no less powerful. Not less than twice did the deacon fall to the floor; one man who had fallen away from the Christian profession, lay for some time speechless, and the young lady spoken of before, came out bright and clear in the expression of her change. She then walked through the assembly, taking her mates by the hand, and warning and inviting them to flee to Christ, made a deep impression on the assembly. One other made profession of being translated from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light. In this state of affairs I left Newhampton to attend other appointments, which required some eight or nine days, and from the good attention paid to the word and its effect on the people, I began to think that my mission to New England was not in vain."

Passages like these will doubtless meet with a variety of tastes, and be subjected to different constructions. The effects of a great immediate power that followed the preaching of Abbot, Whitfield, and others, seeming for a time to irresistibly sway the subject, has been variously explained, or, perhaps, more properly, has never been explained to the full satisfaction of the thoughtful. There is something certainly in the nature of the theme; for who was ever struck speechless and nerveless by a political appeal, or a literary, philosophical, or financial address? To make the least of it, these phenomena show a wild, mighty vigor in the darkly oppressed religious element within, or the same amount of zeal on finance or the election of candidates would produce equal results. Whether the Holy Ghost be present or absent, the man whose word and personal presence palsies a beastly sinner or formal deacon, so that he can neither move nor speak, is himself no weak formalist; no wavering, half-and-half man, who lives on plausibility and apology. This much is certain, that he carries a conquering force, if the effect be of him; if not of him, if he is right in the declaration "not unto us" be the glory, a similar conclusion follows the admission of his instrumentality. We love harmony; and in the great harmony that the soul should enjoy genuine thunder will prove no essential discord. We enjoy quietness; but of the two, we say by all means give us the preaching that knocks men off their seats, to that which never moves them. But how comes on Newhampton?

"I continued my visits to Newhampton for the space of three months. Some twenty of the youth were hopefully converted; I think I never saw converts of greater strength. But oh! what trials awaited some of this number! The first that came forward in this reformation had much persuasion to resist. Her father was an open enemy to religion, her mother was very pious, but wholly bound up in Calvinism, and the young woman was determined to be free and not be entangled with any yoke of bondage. A number of times was she threatened to be turned out of doors. She wished baptism; but being unordained I could not administer; and, as she was unable to join Mr. H.'s church, out of preference to the church of the first-born, she had to go against the current, which is never a bad sign, as dead fish invariably move along with the stream. Many wished to be baptized, and Mr. H., thinking it a good opportunity to gather additions to himself, began to raise all his forces against me, spreading defamatory reports to sour the minds of the people, intending to drive me out of the place. I was reminded of the stanza:

'They hate the Gospel preacher,
And cry out, a false teacher!
A wolf! an active creature,
Will pull our churches down.'

He found fault on several points of doctrine. We held together several conferences, public and private. He indeed stirred up the devout women and all his party to opposition, and not a little to my grief we had to say—Farewell to the reformation. He proselyted five young converts, whose happy condition, I fear, became like that of the fish which glide pleasantly down the river Jordan into the Dead Sea, which is called immediate death; for they soon grew formal and lifeless in the atmosphere of the church. 'How is the fine gold become dim!' But what of our deacon? you will say. Why this, that after falling beneath the power of God so many times, after giving me a letter of commendation extolling my character, and the power and usefulness of my ministry, after I had labored night and day, and God had visited his family in the conversion of three of his children, he 'lifted up his heel against me.' In whom then shall the Gospel minister trust? In God, and in Truth. At this declension I sorrowed with a bleeding heart. You can judge of my feelings. I gave out an appointment, administered as good advice as I knew how to the converts, preached on Sunday, took a letter of commendation signed by Elder Heart,[16] in behalf of the church, and bade them adieu. December 2, 1814."

It would seem that young Mr. Badger was not exactly a safe hand to trust with the direction of church machinery, where doctrine, devotion and preaching were respectably stereotyped, where all things were smoothly continued. His steam and individuality were rather hazardous elements in the temple of forms. "Priest Log" had been a safer priest.

He also narrates his success in Gilmanton, where several young persons and some of his own relations "bowed to the mild sceptre of mercy." His cousin, who came out in this revival, he says was the first of his relatives with whom he had felt a union in the Gospel, that as he had been educated under the theology of Calvin, he was besieged with entreaty to join them. "But," says Mr. B., "he still walks in Gospel liberty; I pray that he may be preserved blameless, and prove a thorn to the clergy whilst he lives." He compares the policy of his opponents towards his cousin to the barbarian usage of slaying prisoners when the prospect of being overcome grows certain. Extracts of other letters here follow.

"After I left Newhampton, December 2, I went to Meredith, and attended the ordination of Mr. John Swett.

Here I find a page erased, but as it is legible and very characteristic, I venture to transcribe.

"Here I was introduced by some of the brethren present for ordination. The ministers with whom I was acquainted seemed willing to ordain me, provided I would 'consent to walk on two legs,' taking the church of God for the one and the Freewill society for the other. This statement, substantially, was from Rev. E. Knowlton, of Pittsfield. This saying of Solomon immediately came to my mind, 'The legs of the lame are not equal;'[17] and considering the Freewill society as inadequate to the church of God, I concluded that, carrying out the figure, one had better go through the world hopping than limping, and I asked wherein one could be the loser, provided he went as fast on one limb as others did on two. I said to them, that if I could not have their approbation on the ground that I belonged to the church of God, without the addition of their wooden staff, I would much prefer to stand alone. They accused me of being on the common. I answered that I was born there; that I much preferred it to a barren pasture, or a pit wherein is no water; that I meant, through divine grace, to stand where I had received the Lord Jesus, and that if the church of God, unsectarianized, is the common, I would be content with it till the arrival of the time when there shall be 'one fold and one shepherd.'

"Here I had to stand alone, whilst my heart bled to see the superstition and bigotry of those who profess to be free; and, I say it reluctantly and with sorrow, I have seen as much bondage, and have met as bad treatment from those who claim to be Freewillers, as ever I did from the more stiff-necked and stoical of the sects. To have the clearest proofs of belonging to the body of Christ, of having the sanction of Him who calls men to his ministry, and to have undisputed standing among good men is not enough. Party must be worshipped. This more and more convinces me that it is well to abandon the doctrines of men and all unscriptural names, to be disciples not only in name but in practice. I am also sorry to say that I have discovered the same spirit among those who are called Christians. But I will leave this subject, praying that God will help us so to run that we may obtain."

Rather difficult, was it not, to get this young man into a net? He stands yet erect upon his mission, prays, weeps, preaches by night and by day; and old men and young, mothers and maidens, acknowledge his right to lead them in the "new and the living way" by falling into his line of march, and finding words of life in his speech. This refusal to pledge himself to creed and sect, grew out of nothing unsocial, for his whole being was social and brotherly. Interest could not so have dictated. An innate greatness of mind it was that gave him this high position for a young man as early as 1814, aided no doubt by the free and generous impulses of the religion of Jesus, which, in his experience and in his Testament, alike declared the oneness of the body of Christ, and of whatever is essential and saving. This position seems not to have hindered him; the faithful still rally under the banner he bears. Mr. Badger was a man of great facility for carrying his points, having a persuasive eye, will, and speech; nor is it at all surprising that among his early commendatory letters, there should be some from clergymen of different denominations; one I remember signed by three class leaders, in the Province of Canada, and others from those who had obeyed his call to the new life, and to whom he became as an apostle and father.

At Gilmanton, Barnstead, Stratham, Portsmouth, Rye, Northampton, he held forth in the name of the victorious Christ; and though there is no record of dogmatic speculation and "disputations of science," the fires of reformation were kindled, the young convert and the steadfast believer rejoiced together, bringing forward their golden treasures, not from the cold chambers of the intellect, but from the mines of the soul, as wrought by experience and refined by the agencies of the Holy Spirit. One more touching paragraph from this letter, we cannot withhold. Those who recollect the calmness and the pensive music of the pine-grove, its unison with the deeper feelings, will vividly realize the passage which refers to the lonely and dependent spirit which there sought relief in prayerful utterance.

"How many trials I have passed through during these four months! I well remember the sad feelings of my heart as I was riding from Rye to Portsmouth, across a pine plain, whilst I meditated on my mission and present lot in the world. Leaving my horse, I retired into this still grove, where none but the heavenly powers could hear the expression of my burdened soul. As I considered my situation, a feeble youth, hundreds of miles from home, among entire strangers, and bound by solemn duty to the world of dying sinners, I was constrained to weep before my God in this wilderness. Here I sought his aid. How oft, on that journey, did I weep for miles, as I rode the streets. Angels! ye are witnesses to the sleepless nights that passed away as I thought of the unreconciled state of mankind, and of my duty to them. Here, my loving friend, you have a brief account of what I have seen the last four months. I have reason to praise my Redeemer. Like Mr. Dow, I can say, 'What I have seen I know, what is to come I know not.' O my friend, strive to make a good improvement of these memories, and if we never meet again in time, may the Lord prepare us to meet in His kingdom of glory. Yours in the Truth, as it is in God's dear Son,

"Jan., 1815.

Joseph Badger."

Rightly did the poet say,—

"Who never ate his bread in sorrow,
Who never spent the darksome hours,
Weeping and watching for the morrow;
He knows ye not, ye heavenly Powers."

The prophet, in all ages, to whom God gives the tongue of flame, must at some time have known the holy baptism of inward sorrow.

CHAPTER VIII.

ORDINATION AND PUBLIC LABORS.

The churches and communities in which he had given proofs of his ministry, began to call for the ordination of Mr. Badger. Before me this moment is the call of the church in Gilmanton, dated Dec. 4, 1814, which reads as follows:

"This certifies that Joseph Badger has been preaching several months past in this and adjacent towns with much success, and in this place souls have been converted to God. He has the approbation of the church in this place, as a Christian and a Preacher of the Gospel, and we believe it would be for the glory of God for him to receive Ordination.

"Signed, in behalf of the Church,
"Jasper Elkins,
"Frederick Cogswell,
"Daniel Elkins."

Rev. N. Wilson, of Barnstead, after making strict inquiry and satisfactory examination, in answer to the requests from the people, wrote to brethren in the ministry all about, to attend on the occasion at his residence, Jan. 19. The call was obeyed by the presence of seven ministers and a multitude of people. Rev. Wm. Blaisdel delivered the discourse, from 2d Tim. 4: 2, who, with W. Young, J. Boody, J. Shepherd, N. Wilson, J. Knowles, N. Piper, were the persons by whom the different parts of the services were performed. It will be understood by the reader that this ordination demanded no sectarian acknowledgments; that it left the tree unbent. "I was considered by them," says Mr. B., "as free indeed. No discipline was urged upon me but the Scriptures, and no master or leader but Christ. This, to me, was a solemn day, and long to be remembered." He was now relieved of many embarrassments under which he had formerly labored in not being able to administer the ordinances.

He still persevered in his labors through towns adjacent to Gilmanton, and "many of the youth," he tells us, "fled to the Shiloh for salvation and rest." On Jan. 29, he delivered a sermon on Baptism, in the Free Meeting-house, Gilmanton, and in the extreme cold, "under the keen eye of the north-west, which surveyed them critically," he baptized two persons, Mr. F. Cogswell and Miss Lydia Levy. Satan, he thinks, began about this time to exhibit himself as a persecutor, having an interest now, as of old, in the assemblies of the saints. Feb. 4th, he baptized two others in Alton, three others on the 10th at Gilmanton, and large congregations waited upon his ministry. By the regular clergy and their united influence, his movements were often opposed. Among the reports that clerical policy caused to arise, he records the following chapter:

"Badger is going about making and baptizing converts, and leaves them on the common. He has no discipline nor articles of faith. He throws away the holy Sabbath, alleging that it is done away in Christ. He says that he is not called to preach law, but gospel; therefore he casts the law of God away. He says there is no divine authority for infant sprinkling; that if we take it from circumcision, it can have, like its prototype, but a partial application to human beings. He also teaches that it is right for sinners to pray; and has said that the clergy are the greatest evil that ever happened to New England, because they keep the people in gross ignorance, because they do not admit to their pulpits many Gospel ministers, and because they are always the first to cry out against Reformation.

"'And when a soul engaged,
Exhorts the young or aged,
The clergy cry, enraged,
They'll pull our churches down.'"

How many such things the devil enables blind men to throw into the way of truth! but such is the power of Jesus' name, that no soldier of his cross is ever slain so long as he battles for the right."

"What always grieved me most, was the deceitfulness of men, not their frank opposition, nor even honest violence. When I was present, nothing adverse would be said; but soon as I was absent, all these things would be heaped on the tender converts. Some, in sarcastic restlessness, said that if the people loved the Lord as well as they did Badger, heaven would be their surest inheritance. Others cried, 'a wolf in sheep's clothing;' but as crossing and mortifying as such things were, they did not move me, for I comprehended their origin, and had counted the cost before I entered the Gospel field. My hands were also upborne by the humble prayers of faithful ones. In defiance of all these things, Zion progressed, children within her gates were born, calls for preaching were continual, and doors of usefulness were daily opening."

"My sister at this time, wife of Capt. P. Cogswell, was dangerously ill, and her thoughts turned upon her everlasting welfare. She conversed with me about dying, wept often when speaking of pure religion, and asked my prayers. She wondered often why I tarried so brief a time with her; but could she have seen my work before me as it was, and known the feelings of my heart, wonder could have had no place in her mind. My eldest brother, who came from Vermont to visit my sister, and another brother from Boston, whom I had not met for two years, who was on his way to Canada, met me at Gilmanton. In parting with them, the most vivid picture of past associations, my parents, youthful mates and sister, whom I had not seen for eight months, came before my mind; and after our separation, a sad and lonely feeling, which words cannot describe, lingered like a cloud upon my way as I contrasted my wandering condition among strangers, and my constant exposure to persecution, with the quiet homes my relatives enjoyed. I said to myself, Here I am, a poor child, wandering about the world among strangers, spending what little property I have, my bodily strength almost worn out in preaching, between two and three hundred miles from home; and whilst I am thus, they are crowned with the honors of this life, and no shaft of sectarian malice is ever hurled at them. In these meditations, though I profusely wept, my spirit gathered up its energies and found solace in the following stanzas:

"But cease, my heart, no more complain,
For Christ has said 'tis his command;
Those who from pleasures here refrain,
'I'm with them till the world shall end.'

"Then shall I say to friends, Farewell!
Whilst they may heap their golden toys,
Christ's beauties to the world I'll tell,
And seek for heaven's substantial joys.

"And when the sun and moon shall fall,
And Nature's beauties each decay,
Christ's merits I will then extol,
When all my tears are wiped away.

"Transporting thought of joy sublime,
This prompts my soul to spread His fame;
Oh, come, my friends, unite in time,
And love the glorious Saviour's name."

"At Alton I preached Sunday, the 12th inst., baptized one young man; on the 17th inst. (Feb.), I baptized two others in the same place. Our meeting, we thought, was glorious, and as we repaired to the bank and beheld the pleasant stream gently pursuing its native channels, the streams of life did sweetly flow to cheer our drooping souls. The 22d, on a pleasant moonlit evening, I baptized another young man, after making a few remarks on the ready submission to this ordinance, as illustrated in the instances of the eunuch and the jailer.

"March the 3d, 6th, 25th, and 27th, were seasons of baptism. I then returned to Alton, found the saints steadfast, again preached, and on April 4, baptized two others. I then returned to Gilmanton, baptized brother John Page,[18] Jr., on the 6th, and Joseph Cogswell on the 16th. The glory of God seemed to shine around us. Then returning to Alton, we again had happy seasons from the refreshing Fountain of Life. Two more were here baptized. Oh, what happy, what blissful seasons my soul has known in these earthly regions!—seasons that cannot be otherwise than had in everlasting remembrance by many. The trials, though great, are past; but the hope of meeting the loved ones in God's holy realms, fills my heart with lively joy."

About this time, letters from him appeared in the Herald of Gospel Liberty, the first religious newspaper published on the continent of America, and it is believed to have been the first in the world that was exclusively devoted to religious ends. It was published in Portsmouth, N. H., by Rev. E. Smith. It was ably edited, and was devoted to Religious Liberty, and to the independent discussion of Religious Truth.

In Vol. VII, No. 12, he says:

"With great pleasure I inform you that the God of love is reviving his work in Alton. I have been laboring there for several weeks past, in which time many of the backsliders in heart have returned to the stronghold; also several of the youth have become lovers of Jesus."

After speaking in detail of various conversions and baptisms, he says:

"My heart is encouraged to spread the fame of our glorious and ascended Lord. O that professed followers of the Lamb would stand together. How should we then see the powers of darkness give way! How would the fog and smoke of papacy be dispersed. How would the adherents of Calvin be confounded, as the church of the First-born should appear terrible as an army with banners! O Lord, let thy kingdom come! Let thy glory arise! Let the whole earth be filled with thy knowledge."

This is a fine specimen of his youthful enthusiasm and abandonment to the work of the ministry. Any one can see a full presence of heart and soul in all that he does, which lends to his pages the inspiration of honest aims, earnest effort, a most confiding and fervent piety; nor can we fail to see that the pure fire of religion burned quite constantly on the altar of his active spirit. There was much of true divine life in the kindling energies of his speech.

In Vol. VII, No. 14, in a letter dated Gilmanton, March 7, 1815, he says, after speaking of the prosperity that pertained to Alton, Barnstead, Pittsfield and Gilmanton, towns included in the voluntary circuit of his labors:

"Never since my labors in the Gospel commenced have I felt more like going 'forth weeping,' than for five weeks past. Feb. 22d, I baptized one, March 3d, one, March 6th, another. I pray the Lord may add daily to their numbers such as shall be saved."

"Gilmanton, April 17, 1815.

(P. 682.) "The news of the prosperity of Zion is the most delightful that ever saluted my ears. Therefore am I desirous, as the Psalmist said, to 'make known His deeds among the people,' that my brethren may share in the blessing, while 'angels rejoice over one sinner that repenteth.' Some who have been for weeks and months in a lukewarm state, have felt a resurrection in their minds; but what most delights me is that many of the once haughty youth have bowed the knee to Christ, and confessed him to be Lord, to the glory of God the Father. My satisfaction is also greatly increased to see them advance into duty and walk in Gospel order."

He touches in this letter very finely on the character of Mr. Page, whom he baptized on the 6th, a school-mate with him, a man of excellent character from his youth, well-informed and influential; though strictly educated in the puritanical ideas of the society of Rev. J. Smith, he came forward before a large assembly and acknowledged the unsatisfactory character of the Calvinistic teachings; and the same day he submitted to baptism from the hand of one whose excesses in boyhood he had himself effectively rebuked.

Returning to his own manuscript I copy from a letter belonging to the month of May, in which he speaks of spending the time up to the 10th at Barnstead and Lower Gilmanton; of going to New Durham on the 10th, where he met the church of God at the house of Mr. Wiley, and for the first time met with Elder Wm. Buzzel, whom he found alive in the cause of Reformation. In the afternoon he preached to them from John 10: 9. "I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture." He says:

"The Lord's table was then set, and our hearts were solemn whilst we participated of the sacred symbols. We felt the holy presence of Him who is with his church to the end of the world. I then returned to Alton, the 11th went to Barnstead, where I was much edified in hearing aged Christians bring out the stores of their spiritual experience; the 12th rode to Elder Wilson's much fatigued, being exposed to storms by night and by day. Thanks to Him who preserves his creatures; and now that the winter is past, and nature is gay with flowers, I would welcome, in a spiritual sense, the sentiments of the Jewish wise man, 'Lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; the flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land.' Oh, that 'at evening time'[19] light might increase until the shades of night are dispersed from the minds of the people.

"The 13th, met the church at Mr. Wilson's, where a number were added; the 14th being Sunday, we met a large assembly of attentive people. At noon we repaired to the water for baptism; in the afternoon we administered the communion to a large number of brethren in Christ. It was a solemn time. Oh, that the youth who then heard might seek the Lord and make his Son their friend; and in this place may the works of evil, the doctrines of men, be destroyed, and a people zealous of good works be raised up. But with a heart overflowing with friendship to dying men, I should close this letter. Attend me, Virtue, through my youthful years! Oh, leave me not to the false joys of time, but to endless life direct my steps! May, 1815.

"The 19th of May I attended meeting at Candia, was there invited to visit Deerfield, and gladly embraced the opportunity of speaking to that people. For the youth my mind was much drawn out; and though I had not the least idea when I came that I should tarry in Deerfield, the prospect of the good that might be done, induced me to make arrangements for staying in that place. On Friday evening I spoke at Rev. Peter Young's, on Sunday at the Baptist meeting-house, at which time many dated their particular convictions. On the way to my evening appointment, I was surprised by the call of a gentleman, who, very well dressed and of respectable appearance, came out of his house and moderately advanced toward me. I paused, and setting my eyes steadfastly upon him, soon observed that trembling had got hold of him. He said, 'Mr. Badger, I wish you to attend meeting at my Hall. My wife is very anxious to hear you,' and many other words of persuasive tendency. I was satisfied that he had a death wound,[20] which to me was a source of new courage; I went on to my appointment, held meetings every day through the week, and some were daily delivered from the reign of darkness and of sin. On Saturday I returned to the gentleman's Hall, which indeed has ever since been a place of public worship, and met a multitude of people. This meeting will be had in everlasting remembrance. The gentleman who had invited me, and several others, fell on their knees some time in the afternoon, and continued in prayer until about ten in the evening. The 'new song' was sung by many, and from that time, the gentleman, his family, and even premises, seemed converted, for his house is as a sacred Bethel."

The young minister, not knowing in his ardor and youth, that this human world is an old, a tough, a wise, and a most lasting fact, that bends but temporarily to the new influence which seems for the time to mould its form, penned the conviction that soon the Angel of the Apocalypse would fly through the midst of heaven proclaiming that "the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ." Rapid was the spread and victory of the word preached. Over one hundred were converted in this town of Deerfield, and not unfrequently did he baptize twelve and sixteen a day. One evening, as the moonlight shed its silver upon the flowing stream, he baptized fourteen persons, who arose from the pure element to walk in newness of life, in the purity of which the graceful currents are evermore the eloquent symbol. He speaks of a fashionable clergyman who honored them by his presence, and who, in criticism, compared their appearance to a general training. "I conjecture," says Mr. B., "we might have had too much fire for him;" and finding an analogy in the fear which forest fires cause among certain of its denizens, he proceeds in the same energetic narration, rejoicing that there is a gentle and a searching fire by which sinners here may be gloriously consumed. Jesus came to kindle such fire, whose vital heat is love, whose aspiring flames are truths that both brighten the earth and reflect upon the clouded canopy. He acknowledges the faithful coöperation and labor of Rev. Peter Young, a resident of Deerfield. The energy, decision and success, which belonged to the public life of Mr. Badger, must, in the ordinary course of things, have called out much opposition, particularly as he did not walk in time-hallowed routines, but created, through the force of his character, and his peculiar abilities, the popularity that attended him.

"Notwithstanding," says Mr. B., "God has so wonderfully favored the people, the three characters who always persecute religion continued their old employment. Whenever you see persons engaged in persecuting religion, you will always find them one of the following classes, viz.: the superstitious, the wicked, or such of the very ignorant as do not comprehend what belongs to good manners. Here the superstitious cried delusion, the wicked threatened to unite in violent mob parties, and the exceedingly foolish were thrust forward as the instruments of the first-named class. Malevolent and silly reports were spread, but every attempt of this dissipated crew seemed to work against them, enough so as to fulfil the saying of the Psalmist, 'His mischief shall return upon his own head, and his violent dealing shall come down upon his own pate;'[21] which leads one to think that it is unnecessary to take much pains to detect the wicked, because they very soon detect themselves. 'The heathen are sunk down in the pit that they made; in the net which they hid is their own foot taken.'[22] Solomon, who closely observed the events of the world, also had occasion to say, 'He that diggeth a pit shall fall into it.'"[23]

In Volume II, No. 14, of the Herald of Gospel Liberty, is a letter from his pen, dated at Deerfield, June 28, 1815, which reports the success of the reformation in that place, in a manner that so perfectly agrees with the foregoing, I find no occasion to present any of its paragraphs. Not to Deerfield was this reformation wholly confined, as he often visited Nottingham, Lee, Newmarket, Stratham, Exeter, Kensington, Candia, Allenstown, and other places. He says:—

"In Nottingham many were made happy in the love of Christ. Here I baptized many. One afternoon, as a large assembly were gathered by the water-side, where eight persons received this ordinance, I observed three young men jump from the shore upon a rock that lay in the midst of the stream, and the spectacle of these unconverted young men standing upon a rock produced an association of ideas that led me to feel much for them; in praying I spoke of them, and was impressed to say that something solemn awaited them soon. In a few days one of the number, in much agony of mind, fell beneath a fatal disease, which deeply impressed the old and the young.

"On the first day of the week, I had, by the request of several gentlemen, an appointment at the Square. A few individuals, being such as they were, strove to effect a disturbance, and in a glance you will perceive the ingenuity of their plot. They hired an old man who once had been a professed preacher at Dover, but who had been turned out for his debaucheries, to enter the meeting-house before me and to occupy the time with religious services. Although it is said that the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light, it must be owned that they sometimes get defeated. Even from eight different towns the congregation was collected, the appointment being quite generally circulated. As I rode to the place, I heard the bell ring about ten o'clock, and hastening as quickly as possible to the Square, the people, who were coming from every direction, seeing me ride up, thronged about me; some of them, having been in the church, knew the attempted order of the day. One said, 'The devil is in the pulpit;' another said, 'The devil has taken the meeting-house before us, and you had best not go in.' I answered that if the devil was in the house I was bound to see him, and prevailed on the people to go in. As I entered the door, I saw the rough clergyman standing with his hymn book in his hand ready to open the meeting. As I ascended the stairs he began to read the hymn. I sat contented until he had finished the reading, then introducing myself to the assembly, inquired concerning the time when my neighbor's appointment was given out; the answers enabled me to say to him kindly, 'As my appointment is previous to yours I should esteem it a privilege to improve a part of the day.' He roughly responded, 'You can speak after I have done;' and then arose abruptly, placing himself in a position to pray as soon as the singers had concluded the music. During the repeat of the last line I asked of him the privilege of speaking a word to the people on the circumstances of the day, to which he answered, 'You must be short.' I then apprised the audience, that as my appointment was contravened by another, my meeting would in ten minutes begin in Mr. Nealey's orchard; and bidding the gentleman of the pulpit good morning, advanced to the pleasant grove about fifteen rods distant, accompanied by all the assembly save the clergyman and his five employers, to whom he read the notes he had written. On leaving the church I began to sing a popular hymn, in which I was joined by the choir who accompanied me; and after a hasty but comfortable arrangement of seats, with the azure heavens for my sounding-board, and a large box for my pulpit, I spoke to the hundreds before me from Gen. 49: 10. It was free air. Between thirty and forty spoke after the sermon, so that without a minute of vacation, the meeting continued five hours. The opposers were put to shame, and ever since has that meeting-house been free. Nottingham, therefore, by many events is kept in my memory."

Although there are several interesting letters written by him about this time to his relatives and friends, letters that abound in good feeling, in various incident, and in the devoted spirit of his mission, they cannot be introduced without sacrificing the material that represents his later years. Confining ourselves, therefore, to the shortest statement of his public life, we will follow the direct path of his own private journal. But in reading letters dictated in the freedom of the heart, and alive with the inspiration of earnest purposes, one is conscious of the resurrection of a former period; and with the aspect of the olden leaf and the evangelical words upon them written, one seems to drink, for the time, of the same fountain of life that supplied with energy the self-sacrificing and the God-trusting ones. We know that forms of thinking and modes of expression are greatly varied by the succession of time, but we have yet to learn that the pure flame of the spirit, through any medium and in any time, is other than one with the latest excellence. Naturalness, energy, courage, persevering devotion to the welfare of mankind, are qualities that, like gold retained, shine equally brilliant through all the divisions of time, the same in 1815 as in 1854.

August 22d, of this year, he announced, through the religious newspaper at Portsmouth, a paper from which some extracts have been taken, his intention of attending a general meeting in Bradford, Vt., the first Sunday in September, and of going thence into the Province of Lower Canada to visit his relatives, and to renew the friendship of former times with the churches of his former care. To his father, in a letter dated Newmarket, August 5th, he says:—

"I am now preaching in Exeter, Stratham, Newmarket, Epping, Lee, Nottingham Square, Deerfield. Often from one to two thousand people attend at a meeting. I have baptized towards one hundred since last January, and the call for preaching is very general in this quarter."

Soon we hear of him on his appointed way. But before the month of August is exhausted, we find him in Newmarket, Lee, Deerfield, Allenstown, Barnstead, Ipsom and Gilmanton, preaching, and baptizing those that believe. At Lee, where his congregation was gathered from different towns, the good-night meeting lasted till 2 o'clock in the morning, none wishing to depart. Through the pitiless storm he rides to Deerfield, hears seven relate their religious history, whom he baptizes "according to the usage and teaching of the New Testament;" on the next day (Sunday) meets a large assembly at Allenstown, to whom he speaks and administers baptism to a few believers; on Monday, at 3 o'clock P. M., addresses the community at Gilmanton; on Tuesday preaches and baptizes at Mr. Proctor's, on Wednesday returns to Barnstead, and hears that original and peculiarly gifted speaker, Elias Smith, of Portsmouth, N. H.; and on Thursday starts for his northern home by the way of Vermont, accompanied to the Province, by a young man from Farmington, N. H., whose noble history in after years has rendered his name a lasting fragrance in the churches. Indeed the name of John L. Peavy, to those who knew him, is but another word for honor, affection and faithfulness.

"The first day, I arrived at Rumney, a distance of fifty miles, and attended meeting in the evening; on Friday arrived at Bradford, and on Saturday and Sunday attended the general meeting, which was a profitable time. Here my acquaintance with ministers and others was enlarged. On Monday, in company with Rev. J. Boody and brother Peavy, I continued my journey to the North, arriving at Wheelock on Tuesday, where I was persuaded to stop by a gentleman whose wife and child had just expired, to attend their funeral the next day. He had formerly been one of my hearers. We met a large number of mourners and friends, who appeared sincerely to mourn the loss of so virtuous a friend and neighbor. As the meeting was about to commence, Squire Bean presented me the text on which the afflicted husband wished me to speak, which was, 'As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.' He was a Universalist, I think, in opinion, but with the request I cheerfully complied.

"On Thursday we rode into Canada, as far as to Stanstead, the residence of the good minister, Avery Moulton. On Friday we arrived at my father's, in Compton, where my spirit was melted down by the presence of dear friends, whom I had not seen in fifteen months. Our hearts were mingled in thankful prayer. When I left the Province it was convulsed by war. Now peace had resumed her reign. Seven days I tarried in this place and enjoyed a number of good meetings. On Monday we rode to Ascott, and had a happy meeting with friends that clung to me with affection in my early endeavors at preaching; on Tuesday we visited Oxford; on Wednesday we passed through Brompton and Windsor, to Shipton, where my excellent friend, J. L. Peavy, remained. Leaving an appointment to preach the next Sabbath at Shipton, I proceeded to Ringsey."

Truly might Mr. Badger, in his friendly letter formerly quoted, say, "What is to come I know not." A new cloud is ready to rise upon his path. The fortune of some men allows them a smooth and easy way; and others, as by some causative genius in their being, are called to meet great trials, and to plan their course against strong opposing forces. Such was the life of the independent minister; though it flows as an ample river through much calm and life-like scenery, its common-place is frequently broken by cascades and cataracts. But let us read his own natural statement:—

"In the upper part of the town of Ringsey I attended a funeral. After meeting I rode nine miles to attend an appointment in the lower part of the town. Though the state of feeling was generally low, it was a solemn, refreshing time. Early on Friday morning as I was about to visit my friends in that place, a military officer sent a man, accompanied by a large brawny Indian, to make me a prisoner, and carry me to the county seat of justice, at the Three Rivers, for the offence I had committed against the government, in leaving the country in time of war. This was done although the Governor had issued proclamation that all who had thus left might return in peace. Prisoners of war in time of peace struck me as something new. I asked the person who made me a prisoner what authority he had for so doing; he answered, that he was an officer, and, without showing any proof of his right to act for the government, ordered me immediately to get into the birch canoe, and go with them by water. I candidly informed him that I should not start for the Rivers without authority, and that if I went in the mode of conveyance proposed, under a guard of savages, it would be by force. Finding that I was not alarmed, and that he could not proceed, he then started for the residence of Capt. Moor, about one mile distant, to procure a warrant, and left the savage to guard me. I soon proposed to the red man that I would accompany him on my horse to Capt. Moor's; but fearing that I might ride by, he ran on foot with all speed. When I arrived, the captain had the warrant nearly made out, but, instead of finishing it, met me in a rage. He would not hear to a word of reason, nor to the advice of his friends. After I saw that I must go, I asked the privilege of riding my horse, at the same time offering to hire some of the keepers to go with me by land. The captain replied that he would not grant me the least favor, and the officer said I should go in the birch canoe. As I gave no assent to this method, I was seized by the shoulder and violently dragged out of the door, and beyond what language can paint was abused by the zealous officer. He boldly threatened my life, and accompanied by words of the coarsest profanity, said, 'Damn your blood, I will take your life as quick as I would a rattlesnake's.' After the officer had said this, I addressed the captain in these words: 'Sir I am much surprised that you should thus cause a prisoner to be abused, and that you should put me into the hands of a person at the head of a party of savages, who has threatened my life before your face.' Instead of acting on any idea of propriety suggested by me, he broke forth in swearing, saying that he himself would take my life. At this, his wife and son, being no longer able to refrain, spoke moderately in my behalf. As I had not given my consent to this uncivil mode of conveyance, the officer ordered a cord to be brought with which to bind me. He also asked for assistance, but none of the people present would lend any aid. Then uttering an Indian yell for some savages, whom I supposed he had placed in ambush, we soon saw them appear, some on the river and some on the land. This was a display of ferocity I in nowise had expected. Before they arrived, however, to do the will of the angry officer, Mr. Asa Bean, son of Col. John Bean, came forward in my behalf, and said I should not go with the savage crew, that he would be my keeper and agree that I should be at Windover that day, which was sixteen miles towards the Three Rivers. We then mounted our horses for the journey agreed upon, at which place we arrived about three o'clock, much fatigued. We put up at an inn, and paid our own charges. The mob party came in birch canoes on the river."

For a moment leaving the private journal of Mr. Badger, I would present a letter written to Mr. J. L. Peavy at this very point where he met the uncourteous band who had progressed by water. It will be remembered that he had an appointment at Shipton on Sunday, and that the nature of his circumstances with reference to his public engagement, as well as his friendship for the young man he had introduced into his former field of labor, required a statement of his condition. The letter is dated Windover, L. C., 9 o'clock Friday evening, Sept. 15, 1815. It was written at evening; and I would say that Mr. Badger was a man who generally cast himself upon his morning thoughts, the clear thoughts that preceded the sunrise. Under any personal trouble, he would at evening fall easily to sleep, and in the morning plan his way like a Napoleon, wherever there was magnitude in the difficulties to be met.

"My dear Brother:—Your experience, I am satisfied, teaches you that persecution is the common lot of the true followers of Christ. This morning, by the order of Capt. Moor, of Ringsey, I was taken and ordered to march to the Three Rivers, guarded by a company of Indians, with the savage-like Robert McMullen at their head. But as I could not be reconciled to this company, and to this manner of conveyance (which was a birch canoe), I plainly told them that if I went in such a manner, it would be because I was obliged to do so. I was then very unhandsomely used. I was not only abused by words, but violent hands were laid on me. Then Mr. Asa Bean appeared in my behalf, and offered to be bound to deliver me at Mr. Stewart's, in Windover, the same day. I then had liberty to ride my horse, and about three o'clock we arrived here. I expect on the morrow to start for the Three Rivers. This is indeed a time of trial to me; but I can truly say, with St. Paul, that 'None of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto me.' Hitherto the Lord has helped me, and Jesus says, 'Lo, I am with you, even unto the end of the world.' This promise to me now, whilst I am surrounded by a dozen of the merciless savages, is worth more than millions of worlds. I really feel that these afflictions will work for good in the end. Oh Lord, may they serve to humble me down, and to teach me my dependence on thee.

"Capt. Moor does not pretend to accuse me of anything but of going into the States in time of war, as I have understood, and I am informed that his own children have done the same with approbation. But that which pains my heart the most, is to think that in the reformation at Ringsey only two years ago, this mad man made a profession of religion. Oh how many such characters wound the cause of our Master! Lord, pity them. I wish you to give yourself no uneasiness on my account. God Almighty will make my afflictions a blessing to somebody. It will be well for you to return to Ascott as soon as Wednesday, and there remain until you hear from me again. Be of good courage. I hope you will never have it to regret that you came into this region. Pray for your unworthy brother Joseph, that he may finish his course with joy. I am, if need be, ready to be offered; and, from several causes, I feel that the time of my departure is not far distant. Dear brother, I bid you a short farewell, hoping, if not in time, to meet you in pure realms of glory.

"J. Badger."

"John Langdon Peavy."

The night passed away, and our prisoner arose on Saturday morning with a plan in his brain, with which he calmly confronted the tawny band and their leaders. Only about fifteen miles of the passage was completed, and the remainder was never accomplished. He told them that he should not go further unless they could get higher authority than what they then possessed, and to secure this, offered to appear before the officers of a military company whose tents were pitched on the other side of the St. Francisway river.

"Early on Saturday morning," says Mr. B., "we crossed the river into Drummondsville, and appeared before Commissary Morrison, where some of my company were greatly ashamed and humbled; when the Commissary, after hearing the facts, said unhesitatingly, 'Mr. Badger, go about your business.' It soon became a question to ascertain how much Capt. Moor had gained this time by his loyalty. Hiring an Indian to convey me across the river, Mr. Bean and myself returned to our starting-place at Ringsey, and riding fifteen miles on Sunday morning, I arrived to my appointment at Shipton, where I enjoyed a refreshing time from the presence of the Lord."

In the month of May, 1835, I remember, for the first time, to have passed some five days at the house of Mr. B., who then edited a popular and influential paper entitled "The Christian Palladium," at Union Mills, Fulton Co., New York. The order into which all his arrangements seemed naturally to fall, the business tact, that seemed with him a spontaneous ability, were easily observable. In the familiar conversation to which he was accustomed in the social circle of his own home, I remember to have heard him say to a gentleman who inquired of his daily habits, "I am a business man. I rise early, and hear the first notes of the robin. I would give more for one morning hour, to think in, than for all the rest of the day. I lay my plans in the morning; and, if you will believe it, I never got into a difficulty yet, from which one clear hour of thinking in the morning would not deliver me." And the foregoing passage of his early history is but one illustration among hundreds, showing that there was no egotism in the remark here quoted. Passing some days at Shipton, Ascott and Compton, he again started for New England, the scene of his former success, many of whose ministers and churches had crowned him with verbal benedictions, and with hearty written commendations; whose words are still alive on many carefully preserved documents, as legible as when they were first penned. Not in haste did he leave the Province, holding many meetings first; and whether these animosities, growing out of the suspected character of his British patriotism, wholly subsided or not, with the fruitless assault of his enemies already related, I know not. An explicit document, bearing date Jan. 8, 1818, signed by the citizens of Compton, shows that "Joseph Badger, son of Major Peaslee Badger, of Compton, has a bright and shining character as a Christian in the Province of Lower Canada, where he has been known; and that always when he came into the town to see his parents and friends, he came into the Province boldly and preached publicly wherever he had occasion to preach;" which, in the absence of other explanation, looks like an effort to meet the slander of some enemy, who might have planted himself, like Capt. Moor, on grounds of superabundant loyalty. Something bordering on the miraculous shines through the following incident, related of a youth in Ascott:

"A young man of the family of Mr. Bullard, who had been confined for six years, deprived of sight, strength, and the ability to speak aloud, continually bowed down, and so weak that he could not be shaven, had, three years after his debility, received from God a wonderful illumination, and in it the evidence that he had passed from death unto life; from which time his faith in the Son of God by degrees increased until he believed in the resurrection or restoration of the body to health by faith in Christ. A few days previous to our visiting him, he called in the elders of the church to pray over him, anointing him with oil, in the name of the Lord (James 5: 14, 15). As they prayed, a power was revealed, by which he arose, walked, and praised God. We held a meeting at the house, in which he arose and spoke freely, saying that his soul was troubled for the scarcity of faith on the earth. As we listened to that voice which had been silent for six years, we were surprised and startled by the reality. As he cast his languid eyes upon us, his face, like that of Moses, seemed to shine so brightly that scarcely one in the assembly could look upon him. This to me appeared as heavenly as anything I ever had witnessed; and his language and remarks, I think, exceeded anything I ever had heard from mortal lips. Our interview with him filled our souls with solemnity."

Parting with his relatives in Compton, which from his fine affectional nature was unavoidably trying, he, in company with the worthy young minister who had accompanied him from New England, passed through Stanstead and several other towns, inquiring as they went of the prosperity of Zion, receiving also at times a cold reception from the sectarian who had learned to love the Church only in the form of a sect; he speaks most gratefully of the kind treatment they received from two Methodist clergymen, of good meetings held on the way, at Cabot, at Rumney, and other places. Leaving Mr. Peavy at the last-named town, he passed on to Meredith on Friday, spoke to the people on Sunday and on Monday evening; arrived on Tuesday at his native Gilmanton, from which he again laid into order a new campaign against the reigning powers of darkness.

Without dwelling on the labors that immediately engaged his attention, which for the most part pertain to a field already described, I offer a few paragraphs for the month of December before opening the chapter for 1816. The variety of incident that blossomed on either side of his path was evidently schooling the naturally sagacious mind of the young missionary for wider usefulness and for higher position; and as no scholar who has conquered a language can tell when he learned each rule and word, but knows that his conquest numbers uncounted hours and struggles, so he who arrives at the true knowledge of mankind, so as to command a wisdom that shall be equal to every practical demand, cannot say from what place or which events his ripened energy has flown; he knows that his kingdom, like the broad-breasted river, dated back with various preceding sources. These early experiences were victories themselves; but they were also unconsciously the seeds of other victories.

Mr. Badger was beautifully gifted with extemporaneous powers. There was a charm in his voice, and a rich command of plain, apt, and elegant language in his speaking, that, all in all, I never saw equalled by any other man. His voice was soft and clear; and though not great in tone, was exceedingly distinct, and often thrilling. There was music in his discourse. Though the period of the labors here narrated is many years previous to the writer's acquaintance, I am told by those who heard him in 1816 and '17, that he possessed the same natural eloquence, the same ease and attractive grace in speaking then, as was characteristic of his public manner in later times. That such a man, both from natural preference and association, should adopt extemporaneous preaching as his favorite and only mode, is not strange; nor do we particularly wonder at his avowed dislike of note-preaching, when we think of the lifeless character of much of the sermonology that then passed for the Word of Life. Accordingly, he said:

"When I see men going forth avowedly to preach the Gospel of the grace of God, and substituting in its place the doctrines and commandments of men, I am grieved. How many have I met with in my travels who would stand up and pray that they might be assisted to bring something, new and old, out of the treasury, that the word might come from the heart, and reach the heart, and then take, not out of the 'treasury,' but out of their postbags or pockets, spiritless notes, which they would read to the people. Oh, that men felt more as the Apostle did when he said, 'Remember that by the space of three years, I have not ceased to warn every one of you, night and day, with tears;'[24] then they that bear the eternal word to men would be more clearly manifest to the conscience of each and all."

He also narrates the following for this month:

"On Friday, the 8th, I rode to Mr. Rundle's, at Lee, where I held a meeting in the evening; Saturday to Newmarket, where I was comforted in visiting the saints; Sunday, held meeting at Mr. N. Gilman's, rode to Exeter in the evening, and spoke at Lieut. Thing's, which was a time of serious thought, and of weeping among the youth. I remember the kind treatment and the good spirit of this respectable family. On my return the next day to Newmarket, I met a young man whose appearance in every respect struck me as being a gentleman until he spoke. His first remark was a challenge to swap horses; and though my answers to his several bold and sportive remarks left him somewhat ashamed of his familiar assault upon a stranger, I felt sad to think of the way in which the young men of our land, who might be respectable and useful, destroy themselves, and dishonor their connections, by corrupting their own hearts with evil manners. The 12th inst., went to Brentwood and preached to an attentive assembly; the 13th, at Esq. M.'s, of Lee; the 14th, at Mr. Laton's, of Nottingham, to a full audience, from Ps. 89: 15: 'Blessed are the people that know the joyful sound.' Many spoke afterwards, whose words were as falling showers. The meeting lasted till about 12 o'clock; and with the exception of a few North River gentlemen, whose behavior was not so modest and civil as it ought to have been, the minds of the people were seriously fixed on divine things. The 15th, at Mr. Hilton's, of Lee, I spoke from Luke 2: 11; the next day, as I arrived at Newmarket Plains, where my appointment was for the next first day, I heard that Mr. Richardson would preach in the evening. I went to hear him. His text was Isa. 61: 1, 2; which was so good that it was with difficulty that the speaker spoiled it by causing it to speak Calvinism, which seemed to have been his whole aim. After he had spoken two hours, several of us addressed the people, not on doctrine, but on the love of Christ in the heart, which soon caused a change in the atmosphere of the meeting. Dea. Chatman wished me to speak the next day, to which I consented, though my invitation to preach was from three of the committee. In the forenoon I spoke from Zech. 3: 9. 'Upon one stone shall be seven eyes.' I spoke of the stone as meaning Christ, and the seven eyes of intelligence that gave a comprehensive vision on every side, I represented by his character, which looks every way towards the satisfaction of human wants; also, in another sense, seven eyes were upon him, the eye of God, of Angels, of Patriarchs, of Prophets, of the Jewish nation, of Apostles, and of believers, all which disclose him as the Mediator, as the fit medium of divine blessing. In the afternoon Mr. R. began to speak from the words, 'I will make thee a sharp thrashing instrument,' and proceeded to prove election from the parable of the wheat and the tares; likewise from Gen. 3: 16, the sentence against the woman; but the people, in small parties of four and six, began to leave the house, being tired of hearing nothing over and over; even two of the committee could not stand it through. At the close I offered a few words, not on the discourse, but on practical things, and never did I see a meeting so unsatisfactory to the people. One person after meeting asked me if Mr. R. was not a deceiver. I told him that he could not be so considered, for one that has neither tact nor skill to deceive anybody is not entitled to so hard a name, whatever may be his errors.

"The 19th, rode to Lee and baptized four happy converts; the 20th, rode to Stratham to attend a meeting at Mr. Brown's; the 21st, to Portsmouth; the 22d, started with Elias Smith for Boston; went as far as Greenland, where we parted, as I received an especial invitation to visit Farmington, N. H.; on the 23d, arrived there, and received a kind reception at the house of Mr. A. Peavy; held meetings on the 24th; 25th, held meeting at Chestnut Hill, Rochester; the 26th, at the Tenrod road, Farmington, where I spoke from Amos 4: 12: 'Prepare to meet thy God.' I continued in the town through the week, held meetings every evening, which I trust were useful to many. The 31st, which was the first day of the week, I met a large assembly, and in speaking the word of life, my spirit was greatly refreshed. Thus ends the year."

A controversial document, in which he answers the charge of one who accused him of holding in too light a manner the authority of the Sabbath, lies before me; also a few letters from his ministerial coadjutors, that allude to the success of his labors in the same manner that they are recorded in his own journal. Said one of the ministers, who officiated at his ordination, under date of April 15, 1815: "I have often heard of you since we last met, and it has rejoiced me to hear that the work of God is going on in the towns where you have been preaching, and I have been in hopes to have received a letter from you before this." This is the tone of the addresses he received. One is reminded of the itineracy of St. Paul, as he follows the course of his labors, of the piety, self-sacrifice, bold energy, tender sympathy, and withal, the shrewd and masterly management which belonged to that Gentile missionary, who, unsalaried by sect, went out to preach an unsectarian religion, not the religion of dogma, but of the heart and the life. Each had to encounter the scorn of the formalist, of the vain boaster of worldly wisdom, and each had to plead the catholicity and the spirituality of the Christian religion against the stern bigot and the creed-loving sectary.

CHAPTER IX.

PUBLIC LABORS, MARRIAGE, TRAVELS.—1816.

Renewing his zeal in the reflections of the opening year, Mr. Badger continued to be active in the field according to his ability, intellectual, moral, and physical. He acted up to his faith. He was no idle dreamer, but was a lover and an inspirer of lively times. The variety in him naturally called up variety in his outward life. People everywhere are agreed in preferring the man who throws himself into the circle of human action and living interests, honoring always the courageous actor whose sword and helmet are bright with use; and they are equally unanimous in rejecting the isolated ones, who would be great through separation from their fellows. Having experienced the summer bloom of the religious sentiment in his own heart, he casts himself upon the same sacred fire in which his own sins were consumed, and carries the flame to others.

This was indeed the most popular way of taking hold of the religious interest, for it is feeling that proves contagious, and thought immersed in feeling. Intellectual abstraction, even of the highest order, never was very popular, and never can be, unless mankind should arrive at some age when philosophical intellect shall be general—an age which, in all probability, is at least as far off as the millennium; whilst it is equally evident, that the man whose thoughts have an eye toward practical results, and toward the living heart of the active millions, is the one whom the people understand, and the one whom they willingly crown.

In January of this year, Mr. Badger continued to hold meetings in several towns, often from one to three in number per day, and as usual witnessed the effects of his labors. He speaks of being present at the death of Dr. Gray, a man of deistical principles, and whose life had been wicked. He visited him on Sunday, and remained till his death on Monday evening; and never did he witness more earnest prayers and pitiful expressions of grief than here by the bedside of the dying unbeliever, whose "philosophical fabrics all seemed to fail him in the trying hour;" on the 18th he presided at his funeral, and endeavored to console his disconsolate widow, and his "four weeping orphans." "Strange," says Mr. B., "that souls will live without faith, and strange that they will neglect the salvation of their souls to the last earthly day." In the early part of this month he spoke to an assembly from the merciful plea of the dresser of the vineyard, Luke 13: 18: "Let it alone this year also;" and some eight or ten were baptized this month. At Rochester, N. H., one of his "small friends," as he styles him, attempted to draw away the audience by the alarm of fire, crying to the utmost of his voice; but the more sacred fire of the speaker and of the meeting proved the stronger attraction, so that no essential disturbance ensued.

We might take the month of February as a sample of the manner in which his days and nights were used. In glancing over the dates of his appointments, the following figures stand out for this month: they were on the 1st, 2d, 3d, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th, 20th, 21st, 22d, 23d, 24th, 25th, 26th, and the remaining two days, which were passed at Lee, the place of his last appointment, are the only ones in which there is no record either of an appointment to preach or of time spent in visiting the sick. On his way from Farmington to Newmarket, he speaks of stopping at Capt. Richardson's tavern, at Durham, where he saw many strangers, and heard a conversation on political topics between two distinguished gentlemen, a conversation that ran quite high, as it just preceded the election.

"I thought," says Mr. B., "that they placed Mr. Plummer on a very low seat, much lower, indeed, than their fellow-citizens placed him a few days after; and they extolled federalism exceedingly high. Capt. T. spoke out with an air of consequence, and said: 'These runabout preachers, I find, are continually propagating the devilish doctrines of democracy.' 'O yes,' replied Col. R., 'that is their business.' I was indeed sorry for them. They little supposed that I was one of the persons they had spoken of, who, unlike themselves, had faith in the ability, good sense and integrity of mankind. I then rode to Lee, where I breathed a different atmosphere in the society of saints.

"The 1st and 2d of March I stayed at Newmarket; the 3d, held meeting at Mr. Sanborn's, of Epping; the 4th, at Newmarket, I was taken sick with the measles; the 5th, rode to Lee and preached a funeral sermon, also baptized one; the 6th, attended meeting in the evening at Nottingham; the 7th, through much infirmity, arrived at Deerfield and preached at the house of J. Hilton, where I received the kindest attentions during my severe sickness of one week. May their generosity be largely rewarded! As soon as I was able to ride, I started for Farmington, where I arrived on the 17th. After tarrying a few days, I went to Middleton and Brookfield for the first time. At the latter place, my first meeting was held on the 24th, at which time several afterwards dated their convictions. The 26th, held meeting at Middleton Corner. It was a solemn time. That night I could not sleep, as the people of Brookfield were so much in my heart and mind. The 28th, I attended the ordination of J. L. Peavy, at Farmington, and heard an appropriate sermon from Rev. Elias Smith, of Portsmouth. It was a glorious time."

A sickness like the one here narrated would in these days have made a greater break in the journal of a month than it did with this hardy young minister. His body does not rest at the mere assault of disease, but moves on till the heavier blows fall; then surrenders but a week—is up again and doing as ever. Though his command of Greek and Latin may have been incomparably less than those who have passed their years in careful study, it would terrify the mass of graduates to attempt his labors.

The month of April was busily and successfully employed, each day being occupied with an appointment to preach, or with visiting from house to house, in which he carried a countenance of calm and cheerful light to all he met. Sometimes three meetings a day was his order of action. At Wakefield he spoke on the 28th to hundreds of attentive hearers, among whom was a respectable young woman, Miss Lusena Guage, and who within seventeen hours of the time of his public address, departed this life; a circumstance that impressed itself on all, from the fact that the speaker that day had uttered, almost in an oracular manner, that the whole of his assembly would never meet him again. In Brookfield, he ended this month in the same evangelical spirit that brightened all his arduous labor, thanking God for what he had seen among the people.

As May unfolded its numberless gems, it found him striving to unfold the spiritual life that lay in his own soul, and that existed, perhaps, in a wintry state, in the souls of others. The sun's increasing light and warmth invite nature to come out; whereupon, in a million-fold dress she stands arrayed before the celestial King. This is so, because the sun is to life a friend; and is it otherwise when any mind uncommonly filled with the Maker's light and love sheds itself vertically on other minds? The effects are indeed similar. Now and then a late plant or an obstinate root, that seems to be indifferent to the far-sent beam, at last buds and sprouts afresh. In this May month, he speaks of an humble twenty who met at Brookfield, N. H., and "agreed to acknowledge themselves a little company of Christians, or Disciples, and to lay aside all unscriptural names, doctrines and masters for the name of Christ, his doctrine and laws;" which, he says, was a glad day to many. "The converts were happy, the saints encouraged, the mourners comforted. The Bible alone was their creed." He also adds:

"This day and this night were solemn to me. One young man, by the name of L. Whitehouse, by reputation the wickedest young man in town, one who had often wished me out of the place, one who had despised the saints, came running to me, his face suffused with tears, and said: 'Mr. Badger, can you pray for such a man as I am?' I told him that I could. He was in deep distress. After a time he returned home. At midnight I was aroused from my slumbers by the message that Mr. W. was dying, and that he wished to see me very much. Leaving my room and walking through the darkness of night to visit one who had despised both me and my counsels, I heard him say as I entered the house where he lay, 'I am dying; and the worst of all that troubles me is that I am unprepared to meet God.' Several hours I passed with him; and the more of such scenes I witness, the more I am struck with the folly of men in neglecting salvation in prosperity and health.

"Arriving at Farmington on the 5th, at L. Peavy's I fell in company with Dr. Hammond, who soon introduced conversation on the subject of religion. He stood on the old doctrine of fatalism, and was what every man ought to be who honestly plants himself on this ground, a Universalist. After he had labored hard (for one must labor hard to support a false doctrine, whilst the truth can support itself and all who believe it,) to prove his theory, I said to him: 'Sir, although you claim to make God a good and merciful being, you make him inconsistent. You prove that he has decreed one thing and commanded another. You allege that he ordained all things. Of course he has ordained them right. But, Sir, are you able to say that all the wars, blasphemy, drunkenness, political and religious contention we have on earth, proceed from your good God?' 'Certainly' responded he; 'it is all for some end. Mortals must experience a degree of misery, to prepare them for happiness. It is best,' continued he, 'to have different beliefs and sects in the world, and what you term religion is merely impulse and imagination, which is good so far as it tends to good among men. The fear of hell which you hold up, moves many to reform, and I think it would not be so well if all men were as I am.' In the last idea I acquiesced. I told him that I never had known the opinions he avowed to work the reformation of any man; that I had not yet met a Christ-like and prayerful person of those views, and that I had known them to be accompanied by much profanity, professed in the grog-shop, and resorted to by the vilifier of practical godliness as a shelter against the solemn claims of Christ upon the heart. I said to him that truth bears good fruits, and that I was sorry that he should labor so hard to prove a doctrine of whose results he had so poor an opinion. Here our conversation closed.

"6th, I returned to Brookfield; just before I arrived at Middleton Corner I saw a funeral procession slowly moving toward the grave, and being so near the funeral I had attended when going down, it made a solemn impression on my mind. I said, Oh, may I be prepared for a similar scene! The 8th, after attending two meetings, rode to Wolfborough, where I arrived in the evening, much fatigued; the 9th, spoke for the first time to the people at Smith's Bridge; the 10th, returned to Brookfield; the 12th, spoke to the people from Job 20: 17, and though the rain, which fell very fast, prevented hundreds from attending, we had a very good time. At 7 o'clock I attended meeting at Wakefield, and as I visited from house to house on the 13th, I remember to have asked a lady whether she enjoyed the religion of Jesus, to which she replied, 'I do not intend to be a hypocrite;' I thought her purpose a good one, though her courtesy might have been a little improved. I was every where else kindly received. The 18th, 19th, 20th, 23d, 26th, and 28th, had good and effective meetings, the last appointment being at Epping, where I found the people low in the enjoyment of vital religion, and some who had by experience known the life and power of God, settled down upon their lees, or what, in Calvinistic phraseology, they would call the doctrines of grace. Grace then became my theme. I went so far as to say that not only all men, but beasts, birds, and fishes, were in a state of grace or favor with God, by which they are daily sustained. What oak or rose-bush can grow without the Creator's kindness? The 30th I spoke from Ps. 117: 7, 'Return unto thy rest, oh, my soul; for the Lord has dealt bountifully with thee.' Rev. N. Piper was present, and with many others, spoke, whilst the glory of God seemed to shine in our midst. The 31st I was sick at Mr. B.'s, whose kindness I can never forget. The Lord God alone can know whether I live through another month. If I do, oh, help me to live it more to thy glory than I have lived any month of my life."

No day of the month of June passed without an appointment to preach, as a glance at the journal shows; and among the travels recorded, is a journey to Providence, Rhode Island. At Canterbury, on his way, he speaks for the first time of hearing Elder Mark Fernald preach, June 10th, and on the 11th of hearing Elder Benj. Taylor, who addressed the meeting at Canterbury, fourteen ministers and many others being present. He says:

"The 16th, I spoke at the State House, Providence, R. I., and had a good time in preaching and in breaking of bread. The 17th, I rode to Boston, where I also spent the greater part of the 18th, visiting the Museum, which made a strong impression on my mind, and conversing with Mr. Elias Smith, with whom I put up. In the evening I enjoyed a very good time at Salem. The 23d, I went to hear Mr. Burgus, who spoke from Acts 8: 22, in which he stated that prior to prayer or any other duty, men must feel the love of God; also, that all who denied that Jesus Christ had come in the flesh, were false teachers, as are all those who regard him only as a man; for, said he, Christ is the Eternal God: there is none above him. When his afternoon meeting was closed, I arose and told the people I had two remarks to make on the sermon delivered in the morning, one in regard to prayer, the other in regard to Christ. You remember, I said to them, that the love of God was enjoined as preceding every acceptable prayer. I ask you to compare this statement with the order of facts contained in the gentleman's text, which are, 1. Repentance; 2. Prayer; 3. Forgiveness. 'Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee.' As none contend that the enjoyment of the love of God precedes the forgiveness of sins, I am amazed at so bold a contradiction of the passage on which the sermon was professedly founded. I then noticed Christ, informing the people that I knew not the sect who held him to be merely a man, for who does not know that the most ultra of the Socinian school place him above all men in the divinity of his spiritual endowments? and what class, I inquired, could more plainly deny Christ than he had been denied a short time previous, by the statement that he is the Eternal God? I stated that I believed him to be the Son of God, the great Mediatorial Centre of grace to mortals, and that he has received all power in heaven and on earth. If he is the Father, he cannot be the Son; and if the plain declarations of the New Testament are to be relied on, it is certain that he was dependent on God, and that he knew One greater than himself, to whom he offered worship, and of whom he gave a new revelation.[25] About this time the clergyman saw fit to leave without offering any public remarks. I continued my address. At the close, many spoke of the love of Christ; and though we were deprived of the presence of the clergyman, we had, I think, the presence of God, which was far preferable. The 30th, met an attentive multitude at T. Burley's barn, to whom I spoke in the forenoon, from Ps. 11: 12, and in the afternoon from Eph. 4: 5, on baptism. Many spoke freely. We then retired to a pleasant water near by, where, with great satisfaction, I baptized six happy youth. Here closes one month more. O God, I pray thee to prepare me for all that may await me in the next."

July, 1816. We read of his being at Brookfield on the 1st, of his attending the funeral obsequies of Mr. L. J. Hutchins, at Wakefield, on the 2d, and of his spending the month industriously in the several places of his accustomed labor. Not far from this time there was in his mind a temporary conviction that he would select Providence, R. I., for his permanent residence, as he was anxious to concentrate his labors in one field, and no longer extend them over so wide a surface. Bearing date a few weeks later is a letter from Rev. Benj. Taylor, of Taunton, Mass., congratulating him on the change of his condition from single to married life, and earnestly inviting him to make the city of Providence his stand, assuring him that the condition of about thirteen churches within an area of forty miles called for his influence, ability, and zeal in their midst. Though Providence had the preference in his mind over the several places that occupied his attention as a permanent home, circumstances seemed to have ordained a different lot. He never became a citizen of that beautiful city.

July the 17th he was married to Miss Mary Jane Peavy, of Farmington, New Hampshire, daughter of Capt. Anthony Peavy, of that town. The lady that now became his companion in the cares, hopes, and sorrows of life, was of the tender age of eighteen; and though doubtless inexperienced in the trials that belong to the ministerial sphere, having been herself most carefully and tenderly brought up in one of the best of New England families, her devotion to her husband, and to the cause in which he was engaged, during the brief period of her life, was ever worthy of the noblest praise. All the letters and documents of these few years indicate a mutual depth of sentiment and devotional regard. So paramount, however, was the cause of the ministry in Mr. Badger's mind, that the happy and important change recorded of his social relations made no essential vacancy in the accustomed duties of his profession. The days and evenings as they passed were continually laden with his sermons and prayers.

In a letter to his brother, dated July 17th, he writes of the gloomy prospects of the husbandman throughout that country, saying, "We have been afflicted with war and with pestilence, and now we are threatened with famine, which is, if possible, a greater evil. I hope the people may learn righteousness whilst these various judgments are abroad in the earth."

When speaking of the funeral of Mr. Hutchins, he says, "There was indeed a great solemnity in this scene. The widow's heart was a fountain of sorrow. The sons wept much, and on the face of one of the daughters sat the serene impress of eternity, whilst all the connections and friends seemed to mourn the loss of a Christian, a patriot, and a worthy member of the community. Several hours before the meeting, I spent in a pleasant grove; my retired moments, which were very solemn, were passed in meditation, prayer, and weeping; at the close of the services the afflicted family manifested to me an uncommon degree of friendship. Though very unwell, I rode to Middleton that day." In speaking of his trials, at the close of this July journal, he says: "It is well for mankind that they know not what the future conceals, lest they might shrink before the approaching conflict. I found in all my trials God's grace sufficient for me. 'In me ye shall have peace,' and to God I make my prayer that he would save me from whatever is unlike himself. 'Make me even as one of thy hired servants.'" There is an inward living current of faith flowing through his mind; nor were there any crises in his life, nor were there any trying positions into which the force of circumstances brought him, that, carefully examined, are found to be unvisited and unrefreshed by this living water of life in his soul. Like the mystic rock the Hebrew prophet smote, his heart flows out in living water.

August, 1816. "From the 1st to the 20th my time was spent in Brookfield, Middleton, Farmington, attending to reading, writing, preaching, and visiting from house to house. The 20th, had a good and solemn time at Brookfield; being ready to start for R. I., after having a public meeting we held a conference, in which brother Joseph Gooding, in an animating manner, told his religious experience, and requested baptism, which I administered at evening, whilst it seemed as though the heavens were opened and the Spirit descended upon the assembly. We then walked for a half a mile, singing the praise of God. After changing my dress, I rode to the residence of John Chamberlain, Esq., where I was kindly received, and where I found the company of Mr. F. Cogswell, of Gilmanton, whose visits among his brethren were like the coming of Titus in the days of apostolical truth and religious simplicity. The 21st, we rode to Farmington and enjoyed a happy meeting; the 22d, being ready to start on a journey to the South, I asked my affectionate companion which she would prefer me to do,—enter into business, accumulate property, and be respectable in the world, or do the will of the Lord in going forth to preach the Gospel, leaving her at home, and subjecting ourselves to be poor in this world all our days. After a moment's reflection, she burst into a flood of tears, and said, 'I hope you will do the Lord's will, whatever else may happen.' We had a weeping time. The next morning I arose early and bade all my friends an affectionate farewell, not expecting to see them again for several weeks. Here my trial was very great. I had known what it was to forsake father and mother, brother and sister, houses and homes for Christ's sake, but in leaving one who was so nearly a part of my own life, I found that it exceeded all other trials belonging to the separation of friends. The 24th I went to Deerfield to attend a general meeting. I was there also on the 25th. The 26th it was continued at Candia, and a blessing seemed to attend it. The 27th and 28th, attended the Ministers' Conference at Candia. The 29th, after the close of conference, I heard the Rev. Elias Smith preach at Deerfield, N. H. From several considerations, I was induced to postpone my journey to the South, and, in company with Mr. E. Plan, returned to Rochester and Farmington.

Sept. 1816. "From the 1st to the 10th I passed at Farmington, holding several meetings: the 11th, went to Gilmanton; the 13th, in company with Mr. Cogswell, started for the province of Canada, to visit our relatives, and to seek the welfare of Zion. The 14th, arrived at the house of my eldest brother, in Wheelock, Vt., a distance of 112 miles; on Tuesday following, arrived at Danville, held meeting at the Court House, where, favored by the presence of a good assembly and six ministers of the Gospel, I found liberty in speaking the living word. Our minds were mutually refreshed. On Wednesday, held meeting in the north part of the town, and at Mr. Wicker's in the evening, where I was amazed to find Mrs. W. happy and in health, as she had been sick for three years, and had, according to the testimony of herself and friends, been miraculously restored a few days before my arrival. Two years previous I had visited her in her illness, which served to increase my surprise at her present condition, induced, as I was told, by simple compliance in faith with the direction of the Apostle James 5: 14, 15. On Sunday, at Compton, we enjoyed an excellent meeting with old friends, relatives, and acquaintances, and on Monday evening rode to Ascott to visit a company of Christians who had formerly been noted for piety and engagedness, but were now the subjects of delusion. Abundantly had they been blessed of God; but instead of learning humility, they appeared to build themselves up in the spirit of self-righteousness. One whom they styled Apostle and Prophet was to them the highest authority, equal to anything in the Holy Scripture. He had revelations concerning all the business to be done by his followers; also his pretended illumination extended to marriages and to the intercourse of the sexes, and when his ipse dixit was given on these points, immorality was unblushingly practised. Pretending to have personal interviews with angels he had six followers, who, at his command, would fall upon their knees, lie prostrate upon the floor, or walk in a pretended labor for souls. Sometimes he kept them walking for several days and nights without eating or sleeping, when they would frequently faint and fall upon the floor. They often screamed, howled, and barked, making various strange noises, and bending themselves up into many shapes. They most tenaciously held that they were the only true church on earth, and that no person out of their pale was capable of giving them the least instruction. Like all the fanatics I ever saw, they evinced great hatred and spite when opposed, and sometimes they were full of the spirit of mocking. As I had known them when they were respectable young people, and had enjoyed with them the best of Christian fellowship, I could but deeply mourn over the delusion in which they were lost. After spending eighteen hours with them, I bore the most decided testimony I could against their sentiments and procedure. How many are carried away by every wind of doctrine, and allow the pure religion of Jesus, with which they begin, to degenerate into an alloy of earth and passion! Ever may I be kept in the Mediator, where I shall be permanent and uncontrolled by the wild extremes of the age. The week following I spent at Compton, holding meetings in different parts of the town. On Sunday, the 29th, the assembly was large, and we had a weeping time, as I bade them farewell in the name of Him in whom is our hope and love; and on Monday visited from house to house. Being ready to depart on the morrow, and thinking that it was the last time I should repose under my father's roof, my thoughts and feelings were deeply solemn, as I looked out upon the world-wide field of my future labors. My very heart was pained, and the night passed away in almost entire sleeplessness. Here closes the month, and in feelings of the greatest solemnity.

(Oct. 1816. Letter to his father. Montpelier, Vt., Oct. 12, 1816.) "Dear Father,—With pleasure I improve a few moments in writing to you, that you may be informed of my good health, and my agreeable visit at Stanstead, Wheelock and Danville. I preached the next Sunday after I left home, at Danville Court House, and in the evening at Major Morrill's. On Monday I came to this town, and held a meeting at the Hall of Esquire Snow; in this place and Calace I have held meetings all through the week. Last Thursday I attended the election. After the Governor was chosen, the ministers of all denominations were invited to his apartment, where all the choicest kinds of drinks were placed before them, and a rich dinner was prepared. Gov. J. Galusha was chosen by a very great majority. He is an agreeable man, and apparently a real Christian. His conduct through the day excited the admiration of the spectators, and it manifested, I think, the spirit of true patriotism and of sound Christianity. I have an appointment here to-morrow and expect that some will be baptized. We intend to start for N. H. on Monday. I am in great haste. Give my love to Mother, Thomas, Hannah and all my friends. God bless you all with life eternal. Farewell.

"Joseph Badger."

"Maj. Peaslee Badger."

Resuming his journal we find the following on this month. After meeting a large assembly at Danville, on Sunday, 13th, and administering baptism as intimated in his letter, he returned to his home at Farmington, N. H., the 16th, where he resumed his ministerial labor. He speaks of his appointments in different places as being to his own spirit refreshing; and of the sickness of his wife, and of outward trials and burdens as being great. His fine and sensitive nature, with all its composure and heroism, was alive to the influence of surrounding circumstances. Great and trying must have been the difficulties into which his position in the world at times must have brought him. These, however, only proved the strength and competency of the man. He never bowed his manly head in despair. He says, "Amidst all my conflict, in my retired moments I find consolation in trusting in God and in hoping for better days; and before the year shall end, O God, may I be allowed to see great displays of thy power." His clouds were always colored in part with the sun's rays. In a letter to his wife, dated Gilmanton, Oct. 31, he states the cause which commanded all the faculties of his mind:—

"As I am so far on my journey I think it best to continue it. Our parting at this time is no less disagreeable to me than to yourself. If I were to return home, the cross and the self-denial of our separation would not be diminished. We must learn to forsake all for our dear Redeemer's cause. It is not, dear Mary, to please myself or others that I leave you. It is wholly for the benefit of mankind, and for the promotion of the cause of Christ. In a few weeks, if the Lord will, I shall return to your fond embraces. Be composed and reconciled to my absence, and never utter a murmuring sigh at the will of Heaven."

The journey he was about to take through the States of New Hampshire, Vermont, and New York, led to the selection of the fruitful and pleasant region of the county of Munroe,[26] in the latter State, as his permanent home, a region of country which in conversation he frequently styled "the heart of the world."

November, 1816, leaving Gilmanton on the 2d, and passing through the towns, Salisbury, New Andover, Springfield, Newport, Clairmont, N. H.; through Weathersfield, Cavendish, Ludlow, Middleton, Poultney and Clarendon, Vt.; also passing through Granville, Hartford, Kingsbury, Saratoga, Milton, N. Y., he arrived on the 5th at Galway, where he met a kind reception from many who, like himself, stood on the common faith of one God the Father, one Christ the Mediator, one creed and platform of faith and church polity, the Holy Scriptures of both Testaments, and one common freedom of interpretation and right of private judgment. Here he addressed the people on the evening of the 5th, and rode to Ballston on the 6th, in which place and in adjoining towns, a great reformation had occurred under the public improvement of a very worthy female speaker, by the name of Nancy Gove. He gave to this community one discourse the evening of his arrival. On the 7th he was greatly delighted to meet his old friend and father in Israel, A. Moulton, from the Province, with whom, in his early years, he says, "I had taken sweet counsel in a strange land." Now he again heard his voice in the public assembly, on the same themes as when, in his youthful days, he spoke with so much feeling to his sensitive heart. In Amsterdam, a town of some prominence, in old Montgomery County, he preached to the people on the 9th and 10th, and carried the resurrection light of Christian consolation into the dwelling of Mr. Green, whose guest he was, and whose companion in life was wasting away with consumption. He had a fine faculty to light up a house of sorrow and mourning with hope and cheerfulness. At Milton, Ballston Springs, Charleston, and Canajoharie, he gave sermons; on what topics his private journal does not record, but to those who know his sagacious skill in adapting his subjects and discussions to the assemblies he met, no evidence will be needed to convince them that for the occasion and place they were happily chosen.

Parting with Mr. Thompson and family on the 18th, and passing through several townships, as Minden, Warren, Litchfield and Paris, he arrived at Clinton, Madison County, N. Y., where he spoke on the evening of the 19th. Continuing his journey through several towns he arrived on the 21st at Brutus, Onondaga County, N. Y., and addressed the inhabitants in the evening of that and of the following day. He speaks of having there met Rev. Elijah Shaw, a man whose labors were then and afterwards greatly successful in leading the people into the inward experience of the vital principles of the Christian religion. Parting with these friends, in company with Mr. Moulton, he visited what was then the village of Auburn, and crossing the lake on a bridge, which he describes as a mile and a quarter in length, came into Junius, and reposed at night in the "handsome village," as he terms it, of Phelps; on the 26th he rode to Farmington, and there saw what in those days were considered the "famous Sulphur Springs," which he describes as a stream running rapidly out of the side of a small hill, in temperature about milk-warm, in smell and medical quality of the nature of sulphur; the waters were clear, and over the current a light cloud of vapor continually arose. I find that Mr. Badger, whenever his eye is arrested by a scene in nature, is sure to group together, in few words, all the essential qualities, and nothing redundant or expletive ever appears in his descriptions, which is nearly always the reverse with persons of unsubjected imaginations. He saw nature quietly and truthfully. The journal of this month closes with the account of several meetings held in Pittsford, since named Henrietta,[27] which was the centre of his early labors in this region of country.

The month of December was assiduously employed in and about the region last mentioned. On the 1st, which was Sunday, he addressed a large assembly for the space of two hours, and at evening, in another part of the town, he spoke an hour and thirty-five minutes to a full house, a considerable number of whom were members of the Presbyterian society. From these meetings several of the people were accustomed to follow him to his lodgings and spend hours in conversation. His personal influence had a power to charm the people; and the statements of scores who still survive him, agree that Mr. Badger's influence as a speaker in those early years was, in this region of country, without a parallel. Communities were carried away by it. Opposition to his doctrine availed little in arresting the popular tide that moved at the lead of his will and word. "In those years," said an aged professional man, to the writer of this biography, "I regarded Mr. Badger as the most popular preacher I ever knew, and I still think," continued he, "that all in all, I never heard a man of so great natural gifts." At Westown, or Henrietta, he ordained deacons in his society, to take a temporal oversight of its affairs, and filling up nearly all the days with social visits and public meetings, the month was one continued earnest effort at bringing souls under the influence of Jesus and of Christianity. A theological conversation between himself and Rev. Thomas Gorton, who lived on the Genesee river, which occurred the 17th, and one with Rev. Mr. Bliss, may perhaps interest the reader. I offer his own words:—

"We conversed for the space of five hours on different subjects. He was indeed very firm, and all who did not think as he did came generally under the name of heretics. At the close he offered against me four objections, which were thus stated: 1st. You believe that the sinner in the reception of salvation is an active creature. 2d. You believe in the possibility of falling from a state of justification. 3d. You cannot reconcile all the Scripture to either of the three systems of punishment for the wicked, neither eternal misery, destruction, nor restoration. 4th. You baptize all who give evidence of their becoming new creatures, provided they are received as such by a church with whom you have fellowship, without any particular regard to their belief or doctrinal principles. Thus ended our conversation. The next day, I understood that this gentleman, in speaking of the communion, (he was of the Baptist faith,) said that it was 'absurd to think of feeding swine and sheep together,' which caused me to mourn that he or that any should have so little charity for other denominations. I preached in his neighborhood the same evening, [he was prevented from attending by a bad cold] and was introduced to Mr. Rich, another clergyman of the Baptist denomination. Asking him to participate in the meeting, I proceeded to speak from 1 Cor. 13: 13:—'And now abideth faith, hope, and charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.' The clergyman witnessed to the truth of my sermon. The 18th I spoke at Avon, the 19th went to Pittsford to administer baptism, the 20th enjoyed a good time in the south part of the town, the 21st had a very cold, disagreeable time at the village, the 22d enjoyed a happy fellowship meeting, the 23d had an excellent communion season in Pittsfield. At Briton, Mr. Chapin, a missionary, after I had spoken, read a sermon nineteen minutes in length, in which he alleged that in Christ there are two distinct natures united, the human and the divine; that the divinity never suffered, that humanity alone was the world's saving sacrifice. No wonder that he should teach a partial and a legal salvation. The 29th I attended the funeral of an excellent young man, by the name of Dorous Burr, which had on the minds of many a solemn effect. For the first time, I met, on the 31st, Rev. Mr. Bliss, of Avon. I think he was naturally a gentleman, though on this occasion, prejudice against a people with whom he was not acquainted had an overwhelming influence on his manners. Many questions he asked in regard to total depravity, a Triune God, the eternal Godhead of Christ, and many others of the kind which are unnamed in all the Holy Scriptures. Not caring to detail a lengthy conversation, I would say that near its close he observed to me, that my system was composed of Universalism and Deism; to this I replied, that the old contradictory doctrine of fate, originally introduced by the Stoics, and afterwards cruelly applied and industriously propagated by John Calvin and his followers, was the very root and foundation of both these doctrines, and that if I was to take his statement for truth, all the difference to be found between us was this,—that Calvinism is the body of the tree, Universalism the branches, and Deism the ripe fruit, and that whilst he was the body, I was the branches and fruit; and being so nearly related, we should hesitate thoughtfully before we consented to quarrel, reminding him that in the forest body and branches never contend. After some show of clerical importance and authority, enough to remind one that if the world was ruled by narrow-minded ecclesiastics, blood might yet be shed for opinion's sake, our interview closed. On the evening of the same day, I had a good meeting at Mr. Gould's, in which eight or ten feelingly spoke of the love of Christ, some of whom had never spoken in public before. Here the month and the year close. I thank God for what I have seen, and for what my soul has felt in this month; and though it has been my lot this year to pass through sickness and trials of many kinds, I thank Him that at its close I feel a degree of salvation within, and I can say with Israel's king, 'Before I was afflicted I went astray.' Through all his agencies may God aid me to live more to his glory the coming year than ever I have done. Thus end the reflections and incidents of 1816."

CHAPTER X.

LABORS AND SETTLEMENT IN WESTERN NEW YORK.

1817-18.

The opening of the New Year, 1817, as is customary on such occasions, was attended with festivities and social amusements among the young people. And the following incident will readily illustrate the peculiar power which Mr. Badger could wield over the young, as likewise the efficiency of the Gospel as preached by him. On the first day of January he spoke to a large assembly in Pittsford, from the following very significant passage in Ezekiel 36: 26. "A new heart also will I give you." The young people, many of them, called it the best New Year's they had ever enjoyed, and many whose conversions dated in 1816 were quickened and refreshed by the words of the new minister. Great preparations were being made for a ball in the town of Pittsford on the 9th; but it so happened that one of the principal managers and another influential young man were so divinely struck with the sentiments of the sermon given on New Year's Day, that all trifling, gay, or mirthful thoughts were rendered alien to their minds. Within four days they also had to speak of a sweet and rapturous bliss they had found in their newly awakened love to Christ. Instead of attending the mirth of the 9th, they sent the following letter to their companions:

"Pittsford, January 8, 1817.

"Dear Young Friends,—We were members of your intended party, and anticipated, we presume, as much pleasure as you will enjoy in our New Year's Ball; but to the joy of our hearts, within a few days God has done great things for our souls, whereof we are glad, and instead of attending the ball, we are prompted by our feelings to spend the same afternoon in solemn prayer for the welfare of our fellow youth; and whilst you are engaged in vain mirth, will you remember that we, your companions, are on our knees praying to God, the Friend of us all, for your eternal welfare? We are, with the tenderest regards and love, your friends,

"J. Wade,
"Nath. Swift."

The letter, it is said, was kindly received, and had a beneficial effect. Mr. B. thanks God for the happy opening of the year, and prays that it may be crowned with thousands of new-born souls. On the third, at Pittsford, Mr. Chapin, the missionary already spoken of, introduced a disputation on total depravity, which was very soon closed, as Mr. Badger demanded that he should either state his proposition in Scripture language, or definitely explain what he meant against human nature and the human race by the words he employed, alleging that neither the words nor the idea probably intended were contained in the Oracles of God. Thinking that Mr. B. was too severe in his demands, he desisted, with the accusation that he was unfair as a reasoner. It is but repetition to say that all these days were made golden by action, calm but incessant labor. Days and evenings his musical voice resounded on the holy themes of faith, reformation, charity, and peace on earth; many a time, as the still heavens sent down their nocturnal light and shed their holy influence all around, he returned from his precious victories over the hearts of his fellow immortals, pervaded by a love that accords with the silent glow of all that was above and about him. At his communion seasons he caused the sectary to mourn the rigidity of his creed, which did not allow him to come forward, to follow his heart, because of some dry, unvital difference in theological belief. He visits the sick, speaks occasionally in the private mansion of some friend, sometimes in the school-house, in the grove and open air, making the freest use of time and place, regarding them only as servants to his mission. At Avon, Mendon, Pittsford, Pennfield, and Lima, he continued his labors, at times administering baptism in the waters of the Genesee and its tributaries, on which occasions, as on every other where the attractions of an easy personal address give grace and impression to the scene, he was uncommonly gifted and happy. Some who had opposed him strongly, were so impressed by the solemnity of one baptismal scene, and by the remarks he there offered, as to retract, at the water's side, the hard words and speeches they had made. "I felt to forgive them," says Mr. B., "for all their unreasonable censures. At Avon I had excellent meetings the 8th, 9th, 10th and 11th; the 12th, had an excellent time at Pennfield; the 13th, returned to Pittsford," and omitting to notice the several appointments that fill up the days and evenings of the month, I would only transcribe from his pages, that "the last week of the month was spent at Lima, the 19th administered baptism, the 27th attended to the holy communion, whilst the glory of God cheeringly shone in our midst, and to the end of this month our meetings were full of interest and of feeling."

Feb. 1817. A temperance sermon to a large assembly was given on the 2d; on such occasions Mr. Badger was exceedingly persuasive and appropriate. He was almost sure to get the sympathy and hearty interest of the most fallen man in the community, could easily gain from such a hearing, and at the same time edify and entertain the most elevated men. In later years, in the spring of 1842, he gave a temperance sermon in a village of central New York, where much liquor had been sold, that secured more than a hundred signers to the pledge, and that, with the additional aid of a personal interview with those who sold, actually banished the sale from every store and shop in town. He found a favorite text for such an occasion in 1 Cor. 9: 25, where St. Paul, in contrasting the Christian with the Olympian races, and in speaking of the importance of temperance for the success of each, assigns the higher motive of the Christian temperance thus: "Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible." He drew his temperance argument from the highest motive.

With date of Feb. 3d, I find a remarkable letter, addressed to Deacon M. Sperry, of the Presbyterian Church, relating chiefly to the very important subject of Christian Union, which is becoming so popular a theme with the thinking and liberal part of the Christian world. In the extracts that follow, the reader will see what thoughts were common to Mr. Badger as early as 1817, and indeed earlier, for they appeared in his mind prior to his entrance upon the ministry in the autumn of 1812.

"Pittsford, February 3, 1817.

"Dear Brother,—I am happy in inclosing a few lines to you, which I hope will be received as the fruit of Christian friendship. We have had some opportunity of acquaintance for a few months past, which, on my part, has been agreeable, with yourself, your family, and the church with which you stand connected. It is my motive to promulgate peace and extend happiness in society, and, so far as possible, extend a real union among all the dear disciples of Christ; and as we have become citizens of the same town, let us labor for peace; as we profess to be 'fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God,' let us be one as the Father and the Son are one, and let love for one another be to all men the proof that we are his disciples.

"In my travels I can say with propriety that I have experienced much sorrow from the 'divisions' that exist among Christians, the party censures that are cast one upon another, and the imprudent conduct that obtains among public and private members of different churches. Such things harm 'the oil and the wine;' by them candid friends are caused to stumble in their way, and the hands of the wicked are strengthened. I have concluded, Sir, that a great amount of the divisions that now exist arose very much from tradition and the different ways in which men have been educated, though we must confess that the instructors or preachers are the principal cause of the divided state of the Church. The censures to which I allude flow often from ignorance, from self-righteousness, from a lack of the 'fear of God before their eyes;' and we may say that true brotherly love will remedy all the imprudent conduct by which brethren of the Christian profession annoy and perplex each other. These divisions do not arise so much from different parts of the doctrine of Christ as many imagine; but from the doctrines and commandments of men, which St. Paul, 2 Tim. 2: 23, speaks of as 'foolish and unlearned questions that do gender strifes;' questions which confuse the minds of thousands, which separate chief friends, and in which often the mind is lost in its deliberations as it turns upon subjects we cannot comprehend or understand; sometimes on things of futurity which do not immediately concern us. Thus we get lost, and the foundation is laid for Deism; and there appears the worst of fruit. It is a matter of joy to me that divisions among Christians are to end at last, 'and there shall be one fold and one Shepherd.' I do not make these observations to cast reflections on any religious people, but because these things have and do greatly occupy my mind.

"It may not be amiss for me to offer a few remarks on our present circumstances, although it is with great delicacy and tenderness that I would mention things of this nature. Our condition, and the condition of the people in this vicinity at the present time, is very critical. I can truly say that the thought of a division among the faithful ones grieves my heart. I am unwilling that the living child should be divided. I have it in contemplation to lay before you a few propositions for your consideration, as we both have the responsible care of others, and as it is now becoming necessary that I should attend to some regulations that belong to the form of a church. I think it proper to make my feelings known to you, and I seek to know the liberty wherein you stand more perfectly, before I proceed to the organization of a church in this vicinity. I thus proceed to offer my propositions in the hope that they will meet your approbation:

"1. I propose that you and I labor to have all the disciples in this vicinity become united in one church.

"2. I propose that we appoint a time for all who profess Christ to meet and confer on this subject.

"3. We will agree not to adopt any measures, rules, or doctrines, but what are clearly exhibited in the Scriptures.

"4. We will not call ourselves by any name but such as the New Testament gives.

"5. If there are points in the Scripture on which we cannot all see alike, we will not resolve ourselves into disagreement upon them, but each shall offer his light in friendship on the subject, which is the only way for truth to shine in its various lustre. If we form a society in this manner we shall be in a situation to receive all preachers who may find it in their way to call on us, and to receive the truth, in the love of it, from every quarter. The truth will make us free. The above are a few of many things I shall wish to converse upon when a suitable opportunity presents. With love and respect, I am your servant for Jesus' sake,

J. Badger."

This strikes us as a noble effort at organizing into the unity of the pure religion of love and experience, the existing theological divergences of the town; and though the idea was greatly in advance of the religious culture of the persons he sought to reach, it proves the religious elevation of Mr. Badger, and his extreme unwillingness to multiply unnecessarily the number of religious organizations. That mere doctrine, or theological opinion, is not the true basis of the church; that the life of God in the soul should be a bond sufficiently strong to inclose harmoniously the honest intellectual differences of the disciples of Christ, is a truth yet destined to appear in power, in the embrace of which, a church, more truly and influentially catholic than any which has, since the days of the Apostles, figured in the ecclesiastical history of the world, will probably exhibit itself to mankind. But it strikes us as a rich phenomenon, that an idea so great in itself and in its probable results should have lived so steadily in the mind of a minister, at a time when the severe doctrines of Calvin were so widely received, and that it should find in his discourse an expression so calm and various. Many smaller men, in the possession of so great a thought would have made much ado and noise about it, but with him it easily held its place along with other important principles of religious reformation.

It would seem that Mr. Badger did not so succeed in melting down the opinional partitions as to unite the whole religious community into one body, for in the following language he speaks of acknowledging a new society in the town, formed no doubt of the material created by his own recent and successful labors:—

"On the 18th we met for the establishment of a church. The persons present felt a free and a happy union. They were strong in faith. Twenty-five of us took each other by the hand in token of brotherhood and of our sacred union. We acknowledged ourselves as a church of God. Some little opposition appeared, but at the close harmony prevailed. Weapons formed against Zion are never destined to prosper."

As early as the 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th of this month, we read of his visiting and preaching in the towns of Bristol and West Bloomfield; neither of the congregations he there met having ever before heard a minister preach who professedly hailed from no other creed than the Bible—from no other distinguishing name than that of Christian, and from no other test of sacred fellowship than Christian character. There was a commanding newness, an inspiring originality and freshness in the position he occupied, that, aside from the peculiar abilities of the man, awakened the thoughtful attention of the people. I would here remark, that the denomination—for indeed all great religious movements, however catholic in aim and spirit, do almost necessarily centralize themselves at last into denominational form—with which Mr. Badger stood connected, was the one known in the ecclesiastical history of the last half century as the Christian denomination; a name taken not from partisan pride, but from reverence to the New Testament Scriptures, which they declared were ignorant of the sectarian creeds and names of the Christian world, and which records a period in the Primitive Church when the disciples were called Christians, a usage which had its commencement under the apostolical ministry of Paul and Barnabas, in the city of Antioch, Acts 11: 26. It was taken in charity, not in exclusiveness, inasmuch as their dearest premises conceded to all who feared God and wrought righteousness, in every sect and nation, not only the name, but what is far better, the character of a Christian. I will here only say that though they allow a wide diversity of opinion, there has ever been a general unity of faith and usage among them, and that in the main, their leading views are sketched in the early opinions of Mr. Badger; opinions formed from reason, religious experience, and Scripture revelation, before he had known of such a people. With the first years of the present century this denomination came into being; and without any one central man to act as their founder or guide, they arose in different parts of the Union simultaneously, and though unknown to each other at first, they soon were drawn into union and concert, by the magnetism of common strivings and of common truths.

At Bristol he speaks well of the courteous treatment of the Rev. Mr. Chapman, the minister of the town, whom he describes as a man of learning; of the full attendance of the people at his appointments, the last of which was principally devoted to the examination of the commonly received doctrine of election, and to those practical persuasions that grew out of his views of the individual freedom and responsibility of men.

"At West Bloomfield, on the 7th," says Mr. B., "I spoke in the evening, at the house of Mr. French, to an audience who had never before heard one of my name and sentiments preach. Mr. Hudson, a school instructor, who, as I understood, was about to enter upon the study of divinity, came to me, desirous to converse, he said, on principles, and accordingly began with a few old questions, which I judge he had already learned from some clergyman, as I have often met them in my conversations with that class. He began in foreordination, and proceeded to the human sacrifice of Christ, as he contended that what was divine in Him did not in any respect suffer for men. The assembly that came together that evening contained several who were much prejudiced, but at the close many of them came forward and manifested great satisfaction. On the 8th I returned to Pittsford, spent there the 9th, 10th, and 11th; preached at Avon on the 12th, at Lima the 13th, at Norton's Mills the 14th; the 15th returned to Pittsford; the 18th organized the church, about which time the adversaries of the reformation took a public stand against us, spread many reports concerning the opinions and sentiments of Elias Smith, of Boston, which did us but little harm, as some of us knew as much as they about his sentiments, and as none of us felt ourselves accountable for what an individual in Boston might say or do. The 26th ordained deacons in the church, and in the evening heard Mr. Moulton, who had just returned from Ohio; the 27th, after listening to the faithful voice of Mr. Moulton, we repaired to the pure and quiet water, where I baptized seven happy converts, and on the 28th enjoyed one of the best of church meetings."

In this little nucleus his faithful watch-care centered, whilst in adjoining towns he labored like a missionary of apostolical zeal and self-sacrifice.

Parting with Mr. Moulton, March 3d, who pursued his way to Canada across the lakes, Mr. Badger started for the west; paused at Murray, now Clarendon, Orleans County, N. Y., on the 4th, to hold an evening meeting; on the 5th, rode to Hartland, Niagara County, where he addressed the people in the evening; on the 6th, starting at four o'clock in the morning, and over sleighing almost wholly gone, he advanced through drenching rain another thirty-seven miles to reach his appointment at 3 P. M., which he did without eating or drinking for the day till his end was accomplished. He said: "I was much fatigued, but this was a good day to my soul. I often find it beneficial to fast and to pray. In the afternoon the Lord's holy presence was consciously upon us. About twelve here united as a church, and in the evening we ordained W. Young to the office of deacon. As Mrs. Young desired to be baptized, I found it necessary to hold meeting at sunrise the following morning, when we met a large company to hear the preaching and to witness the baptism. I found it good to hold meeting before breakfast. In the afternoon I rode to Ogden, and in the evening addressed a respectable congregation, who were mostly Presbyterians." This month, he assisted to organize a church at Murray, which is still united and prosperous. The locality of the former church was probably at Lewiston, Niagara County, New York.

Returning to Pittsford on the 8th, he passed several days in social conversation and public discourse with the Christians of his community, who were alive in the joy, light and peace of the kingdom of God. On the 14th he attended the funeral of Mrs. Abigail Stiles, who lacked but one day of completing twenty-three years of an honored pilgrimage on earth, and who in her sickness, as the fading world grew small and dim to her vision, longed in fervent earnestness to be more conformed to the Christ of her faith and love. For the first time since the organization of his society, the symbolic bread was broken among them on the 16th, to which many came forward who never before had honored the crucified One in the silent language of symbol. He preached at Avon on the 17th, in the residence of a leading officer in the Methodist Church, Mr. Wm. Brown; at Lima, the 19th; the 23d, attended the funeral of one of his intimate friends, Mr. J. Johnson, who had fallen instantly dead in the prime of life; and omitting the details of other appointments, perhaps it may reward the reader's glance, to consider the following lines.

"On the 28th I preached again in the town of Gates, where, on my arrival, I was introduced to a young gentleman, who appeared to feel that the world held at least one highly important person in it. In a very consequential manner he brought forward theological discussion on several subjects, which might come into the following divisions: 1. That the sufferings of Christ's humanity atoned for the sins of the world. 2. That God had foreordained whatsoever comes to pass. 3. That God is the author of sin. We conversed somewhat lengthily. But as I was repelled by his manner a great deal more than I could be attracted by his matter, I was prompted to end the conversation with a plain exhortation, in which I urged upon him humility of heart and the fear of God. We parted; and both from his words and actions I conclude 'the young man went away sorrowful.'

"At Parma had an agreeable meeting the same evening, and bidding the family of Mr. Mathers, where I had been a guest, a kind farewell, went to my appointment at Murray. At Parma I was much pleased, on arising to preach, to see a gentleman take his seat the other side of the table, who commenced writing as soon as I began to speak. In order to put the blush upon him I offered him the candle near me, observing that in writing he would need its light, and that I could easily preach without it. This seemed to frustrate his writing, in which he did not long proceed, but before the close of the sermon his head was gently bowed, and the tears flowed freely from his eyes. At the close he came to me, and earnestly requested that I would come again. I found this gentleman to be Judge J., a man of considerable weight and note in the town. On the 20th I had a joyful meeting at the Four Corners in breaking bread to the disciples. The 31st I devoted to the western part of the town. Thus ends another month, and my soul is happy in God.

Mr. Badger continues, "The 2d of April, on which day I held two good meetings at Parma and Gates, I was invited by a messenger from Mrs. Colby, to attend the funeral of her son, the next day, who had just departed. I found it duty to stay. The next morning, accompanied by Mr. Williams, I repaired to her dwelling and found her to be a woman of sorrow and acquainted with grief, a person of respectability and good sense; through all her various sorrows she had for years lived in the exercise of religion. Of six children and of two kind husbands she had been bereaved. The assembly was large, the scene was solemn. I spoke from Jer. 9: 21: 'For death is come up into our windows, and is entered into our palaces, to cut off the children from without and the young men from our streets.' On the 6th, at Pittsford, which was Sunday, after administering the communion in the morning, I gave a farewell sermon, from Acts 20: 32, as I designed to start on a long tour to the East, to meet my dearest friend, from whom I had so long been absent. I spent the week in visiting the places where I had preached; on the 13th, in the west part of the town, I administered the communion to a company of disciples, the greater part of whom I had baptized; and, on the 14th, at my own house, bade adieu to a company of friends who had come to give me their parting words of kindness. These indeed were solemn times. Returning east, very nearly in the same line as I had come, and holding meetings by the way, I arrived at Farmington, N. H., the last day of the month, having been absent just six months to a day. I found my companion in a low state of health; we mingled our tears together in thanksgiving to God."

We have in these preceding pages a simple narrative of six months' preaching, mostly located in the old counties of Ontario and Genesee, in the State of New York, chiefly the former; and in looking over the present religious aspects of that fine region of country, it is a remarkable fact that nearly all the churches that now flourish in these parts, hailing from the cardinal sentiments already spoken of, are on the same places and within the circle marked out by these six months' labors. At that time the county of Ontario extended from its present southern limit over all the towns between itself and the Genesee river, including most of the towns named in these last pages of the journal. In these six months, he, an entire stranger in the land of his labors, creates the material and organizes it, on which he is willing to rely for his future support and coöperation, and before leaving the people whom he had rallied about a common centre, which was religion based on experience, he decided to return in the summer and to establish his home in their midst. Accordingly, he made arrangements in the month of May, whilst in New Hampshire, to return with his family to Pittsford, N. Y., which he carried into execution in the months of June and July, not neglecting, however, his usual industry in preaching whilst in New England and on his way back to his new home, which he had provided for himself before going to the east. He turned the country into a campaign wherever he went, planning out his action into order and system always. On his return he had appointments at the close of each day, and often in the afternoon. He speaks of an interesting visit at the famous springs of Saratoga; also of a brief interview he had with the celebrated Lorenzo Dow on the morning of the 15th, as follows:

"I never before had seen him, but having his engraved likeness with me, I knew him at once. His countenance had an expression that might be called piercing. His eyes were penetrating, his mind was heavenly in its thoughts and feelings, and his conversation shone with modesty and sobriety. His appearance, and a few moments of conversation, made the most serious impression on my mind. He seemed like an inhabitant of some other region, or like a stranger and a pilgrim on the earth. As I reflected on his numerous sufferings and extensive usefulness, I was led to mourn my own unlikeness to God. How many bear the name of ministers of Christ, who do not walk as He walked."

The same day he arrived at Pittsford, thus ending a lengthy journey of much fatigue, and to Mrs. Badger of some afflictive illness; occupied his new home, and resumed from that time the same industrious action which had before been so signally crowned with success. He found his friends steadfast in affection and faith, turned into falsity the predictions of his enemies, who had said he would never return, and in company with a very worthy coadjutor, Mr. John Blodget, a minister of the same evangelical faith, with whom he had corresponded since 1815, and who had accompanied him from the east, he was now prepared to supply the increasing demand made upon his labors.

Never until now had Mr. Badger known by experience what it was for a minister to be involved by domestic cares, and the numerous solicitudes that cluster about the external well-being of a newly established home, which in some degree must divert the mind from study and thought; but which may really prove its own reward by the development of practical wisdom, and by rendering the experience of the minister more akin to the daily life of the great majority of those whom he instructs. He whose experience allows him the most numerous points of contact with mankind, can best comprehend them, and, with suitable gifts, he can most easily reach them by a leading, commanding influence. Mr. Badger was one of those men whom new circumstances and responsibilities could not frustrate, but which always found in him a new and a latent adequacy, that only waited for the outward call; and so much did his peculiar genius of self-mastery and adaptation have its symbol in the cat, which, thrown from whatever part of the building, is sure so to control the evolutions as to strike upon its feet, that throughout his life, which was bold and adventurous, it was seen that new difficulties were always more than paralleled by new manifestations of power in him. With a nature everflowingly social, and beyond most persons adapted to domestic life, he now aims to travel less into foreign parts, and to collect his energies for a field of action in which he might regard his home as the centre. The absence of theological sympathy in the world was nothing to dampen his zeal or cause him to waver, having himself so much self-reliance and creative power to modify and change society to his own views and feelings.

In the month of August he attended some general meetings, as they were called, in different parts; one as far off as Clinton, N. Y., not less than a hundred miles. By a general meeting, in those times and since, is meant a meeting of about two days, at which ministers and people came from a considerable distance around, general notice and invitation being given. Very frequently, when the weather and season would permit, the people repaired to the overshadowing groves, where, in the free and open air, they sang hymns, offered prayers, and devoutly listened to successive sermons. Often, with an eloquence as natural as the trees whose leaved branches shaded the multitudes, has the clear musical voice of Mr. Badger held thousands in listening silence, enchained as by a resistless spell, whilst he unfolded some great theme of the Christian doctrine and life. No man who heard him on such occasions would be apt ever to forget the topic or the speaker. On the 30th and the 31st of August, such a meeting was holden at Pittsford, at which time Mr. John Blodget was by suitable services ordained to the work of an evangelist. Also, in accordance to the usages of the time, a ministerial conference succeeded it September 1—an association which acted simply as an advisory body, and for purposes of mutual discussion and consultation. Such bodies in after years exercised the right of receiving new members, who were ordained ministers of the gospel, or licentiates. They also claimed and exercised the right of preserving their own moral purity, by examinations of character and by expulsion.[28] In this month he preached much in his own town, a few times at Mendon, attended funerals at Pittsford and Avon, and baptized at Mendon a few young men who had in the freshness of life's morning consecrated themselves to pure religion. As the brown leaves of October were silently admonishing the world of human frailty, as nature was pouring out the influences of a calm and holy peace, Mr. B., untrammelled by creed, and with an Old Book in his hand, whose leaves had ever held the greatest spiritual lessons for the human heart, was preaching the salvation of God with a grace and composure that, in naturalness, would compare with the spirit and scenes of the creation around him; for emphatically was he a son of Nature, owned and blessed of her. In this October month, he says:

"I started on the 1st for Hartland, Niagara County, to attend a general meeting on the 4th, a distance of about eighty miles from my residence. At Murray, Genesee County, we had a good meeting. On the evening of the 4th I spoke at Hartland, and on the 5th the assembly was blessed with the presence of our God; the conference succeeding it was also very good. I returned home on the 11th, where I preached and administered baptism; on the 12th, preached in two parts of the town, and on the 18th rode through Caledonia to attend a general meeting at Leroy,[29] which was attended with signal blessing. At the close, Mr. Hubbard Thompson was ordained to the Gospel ministry, and a church of substantial members was there organized. During this month I preached twice at Mendon, and among the people of my charge, had many good social meetings. In view of the fleeting character of this world's pleasures, let us draw from the well of salvation, let us seek our heart's eternal peace.

"In the month of November I spent the 1st, 2d, and 3d at Pittsford, the 4th, 5th, and 6th at Mendon and Lima. At this time the work of God in no small degree of power commenced. I baptized on the 8th, Messrs. Thomas Smith, Allen Crocker, Jeremiah Williams, Nathan Upton; and I now found it my duty to return to Mendon and to make a stand, as the minds of the people were inquiring, and their hearts were moved. I began to travel from house to house, and for several weeks I held several meetings a day, and in almost every meeting there were some made free by the Son of God. Among the incidents of the time, on the 20th it happened that I met with Mr. Cook, a clergyman of Lima, who presented me with this text on which to preach, 1 John 3: 16: 'Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us;'—a text given without doubt to serve as an embarrassment, inasmuch as the word God, which is supplied by the translators, seems to apply to Him who laid down his life for us. It was easy to see that, supposing the pronoun he to refer to the Son of God, who is so often spoken of in the preceding part of the chapter, the only inference that follows is, that his death is a display of God's love, which is the doctrine of the entire New Testament; or, stripping the passage of the supplied words, it only teaches that Christ proved his love by laying down his life for us. I had a fine time in speaking, as the text was a help and not an embarrassment to my mind. He, however, made some opposition, and stated that the Eternal God died on the cross. This was evidently to his own hurt.

"Several of our meetings, held at sunrise, were attended with good. On the 25th I baptized fifteen who had the inward evidence that they had passed from death unto life. This was a day of brightness; and thus, as from the giving hand of God, the work continued. On the 24th eighteen united as a church, and December 2d, six others were added to their number; on the 4th eight were baptized, and thus in Mendon and Lima the work continues to the joy of the saints and to the confusion of enemies. A way also opens into West Bloomfield. At Mendon, for the first time, we had a blessed communion on the 28th—a communion to which all who worship God, and who love the way of holiness were invited, entirely without regard to their different theories of religion. Many others were also added this month. In peace the year closes, and I thank the Father of all goodness for the trials and blessings it has brought. May the next be illuminated by thy Presence!"

Only observing that since the world begun, such men have always seen and made others see the fruits of their labors, that the power to make the frozen soul of the world melt and run in liquid streams, is one that never leaves its owner friendless or without a sceptre and a helm, I would proceed to lay before the reader more of his truthful narrative. From letters received, bearing date 1817, we judge that considerable success attended the efforts of his fellow laborers abroad; letters from the Peavys, from Blodget, King, Martin and Shaw; and if space would permit, we might quote largely from two or three of his own controversial letters in which he kindly and candidly corrects the misrepresentations of some opposing clergymen, and with his peculiar faculty for making others feel the point of his pen when he chose to do so, he reasons on the principles of his faith. We venture only a couple of paragraphs from nearly the close:

"That, Sir, which bore with the greatest weight on my mind, was your manner of introducing this subject before the people. You say that Mr. Smith, of Boston, is the founder of the people called Christians, and that I get my doctrine from his Bible Dictionary. But, Sir, Mr. S. was never the founder of any doctrine that ever I preached; nor is his dictionary any more a criterion with me than is that of Mr. Wood a criterion with you and with your brethren. To me, Brown's, Barclay's, Butterworth's, Parish's, Smith's, and Wood's are all alike; there is valuable information, and there are errors in them all, for which I am wholly unaccountable. For Mr. Smith's errors I am no more responsible than you are for Mr. Wood's. I am not his counsellor. I am accountable, Sir, for no errors but my own; for these I am willing to answer now and at the Judgment. Still, I shall notice your quotation of Mr. Smith's writings, for I esteem them incorrect and unfair. His writings, some of them, are undoubtedly very erroneous; so are some of Mr. Wesley's and Mr. Fletcher's; but can this prove that there is nothing good in them, or that their writings are all bad? Had I selected some things from Mr. Wesley's Notes on the New Testament, or some sketches from the Discipline of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and told the people that these were the faith of all the Methodists, I should certainly have been unfair, for many have discovered greater light and have offered their dissent from these writings. Yet these men were luminaries for the day that brought them forth. I would not injure the kind feelings of my numerous Methodist friends; but what would Mr. R. say, should I go into a place holding in my hand Mr. Wesley's sermon on Rom. 8: 21, which proves that the beasts will go to heaven and share in immortality?—or his sermon on the Lord's Supper, which proves it right, or which admits the unconverted to the communion?—then should I say that Mr. R. believes exactly thus, before I had seen or heard you, would you not call it unfair? This is the light in which I view your recent conduct.

"In quoting Mr. Smith, you have taken two whole sentences and part of another, and have so put them together as to make but one sentence. I think I can satisfy you that this is wrong, incorrect and unfair. By the same method I can prove that Joseph Badger should go and hang himself; yet we both know that the act would be criminal. You find the word Joseph in Gen. 45: 28, the word Badger you meet in Ezekiel 16: 10th verse; Matt. 27: 5, affirms of Judas that 'he went out and hanged himself;' this is Scripture. 'Go and do thou likewise,' is also Scripture. Now, Sir, were you to collect these Scriptures by using boldly the principle of which I complain, you have the following, viz., 'And he went out and hanged himself'—'Joseph Badger, go thou and do likewise.' By splitting a sentence of one of David's Psalms, you have the saying, 'There is no God,'—but who would dare to charge the king with atheism? I hope, dear Sir, that the plain remarks I have made will teach you the impropriety of your course, that you will be constrained to make some handsome retraction, and that you will never again descend from your high and honorable station to awaken the prejudices of the ignorant against those whom God delights to honor and to bless."

In the present day of both genuine and of boasted liberality, we are apt to think of the old pioneers as more narrow than ourselves. We may be unjust in this. Mr. Badger and his coadjutors stood on very broad grounds, their liberality being the liberality of vital religion, not the liberality of mere intellectual speculation and of doubt. They feared being a sect. The following lines from Rev. Elijah Shaw, dated Camillus, December 17, 1817, are an index of the unsectarian freedom of many minds:

"I will do the same about a Conference that I said I would do in my recent letter. I am, and have been for many months, about dead to all denominations on earth. There is so much done to build up and keep up denominations that I am sick of it. Many have spoken against 'our religion;' but are not 'Christian brethren,' 'Christian preachers,' &c., as much 'our religion' as anything else? Those who want such sectarianism may have it. I hate it and leave it forever."

Perhaps, indeed, it may be said, that the nearer we get to the origin of denominations, the more catholic we shall often find them. Methodism at first was not a creed, but rather a large revival of religion in the world, which asked no man, whether minister or layman, a solitary question concerning his belief. Age may tend to contract sects, as coal contracts iron and water. The denominational paths of the world are apt to open somewhat largely; nor in their ending would we say that they exactly fulfil the descriptions of a tourist, concerning our western roads, which, he said, opened widely and promisingly under the umbrage of magnificent trees, but gradually grew narrower and narrower in the pursuit, till they at last terminated in a squirrel track, and run up a tree.

Opening the pages of 1818, we find Mr. B. breasting the wintry storms and treading the snows of January, preaching to his flock at Pittsford, administering the communion at Leroy, holding forth at Lima and at Mendon, and attending to the funeral obsequies of departed friends. He speaks of the funeral he attended on the 19th, of the wife of Capt. Dewey, at Mendon, as to him a solemn and a joyful day. In the Christian Herald, January 24, he said:

"It is now glorious times in different parts of this country. In Mendon, Lima, Groveland, Bloomfield, Leroy, Hartland, Covington, Cato, Camillus, and Livonia, the Lord's work is now spreading. I intend in a few months to give the names of the ministers and churches in this part of New York. Within one year I have baptized about 100 in this region of the country. A few of us in these parts are about to adopt the mode of ordaining elders in each church to 'rule well,' not merely to see to the 'widows' or temporal cares of the church, but to have an oversight of the flock, without being called to labor in word and doctrine. See 1 Timothy 9: 17; Acts 15: 6; Titus 1: 5; Acts 14: 23. I have learned that it is a small part of a minister's duty to preach and baptize."

He made a visit to Niagara County in the month of February, which was attended with good results, whilst his success at home, at Lima and Mendon was unabated. "A large number was added to the company of the prayerful." In the month of March, he again preached in West Bloomfield, a town that seemed to have in it several free and inquiring minds. At South Lima he baptized five persons on the 11th, the 15th preached at Mendon, where the prospects of his cause were growing continually brighter, and on the 22d preached and administered baptism at Livonia. He now found from a survey of the field of his success that it was best to change his residence, to take up his abode in the adjoining and flourishing town of Mendon; and never delaying the execution of purposes that once were thoroughly formed in his mind, he, with the coöperation of kind friends, was conveniently located in this town as early as the 20th. The last days of March were devoted to the people of Hartland. April, May, and June witnessed additions to the fraternity he had gathered—a fraternity whose aim above everything else, would seem to have been the cultivation of the powers and the joys of the spiritual life. They were evidently inspired by sacred feelings, by inward joys of experience, and so strongly did they love religion, that theology in the common sense, was to them a very subordinate matter.

In the month of July, in company with ministers D. Millard, E. Sharp, and J. Blodget, he journeyed to Niagara Falls, attending on the way three general meetings, one at Covington, Genesee County, N. Y., the others at Murray and Royalton. At the great cataract, which less at that time than now, drew travellers from every part of the country, we have not a distinct record of his impressions. At Covington, June 21st, he gave a discourse in the grove, from Isaiah 42: 1: "Behold my servant, whom I uphold, mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth: I have put my spirit upon him; he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles"—a sermon which was reported in the religious free press of that day as one well adapted "to confirm the people in the truth," as one that exhibited Christ as the elect alluded to in this passage. "Many of the doctrines of men," said two reporters, "were proved absurd, and ingeniously set aside. The exhortation," said they, "was as arrows to the unconverted." August was passed chiefly at home; in September he journeyed to the East as far as Cooperstown, gave five discourses in Hartwick, and in adjoining villages preached to large and attentive assemblies. In this region of Otsego there still flourish societies of the Christian name and sentiments. In the published reports of the meeting at Hartwick, I find it stated that Mr. Badger, in a pleasant grove, September 27, preached the third discourse from James 1: 25: "But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed." The reporter adds, "The end of the old law was first noticed, and the imperfection that pertained to it. 2. The perfect law of liberty was then portrayed, and the manner in which people might look into it and continue therein. 3. The blessing promised to the doer of the work. This discourse was to the saints comforting, and to an attentive assembly enlightening. The meeting then closed with songs and prayer." Sunday morning the assembly again convened under the kindly shadows of the primeval trees. The morning passed away under the speaking of a somewhat popular orator, Mr. Howard; "in the afternoon," continues the writer, "J. Badger spoke from Rev. 7: 17; a most glorious theme. When speaking of the Lamb in the midst of the throne—of his feeding the saints—of his leading them to fountains of living water; that God, even the Father, should wipe away all tears from their eyes; the saints rejoiced in hope of the glory of God, and strangers wept, desirous to share in the great salvation. The meeting then closed, though the people seemed unwilling to depart." There is something beautiful in turning nature into a temple of worship, in mingling hymns with the voices of the breeze, in speaking and hearing truth within the innocent gaze of flowers. Their latent influence is a gleam of divinity to all, and easily mingles with every sincere note that may ever be struck from worshipful hearts. As I passed through that region of the State in 1850, there were still many to remember the golden times of the past, and to them the name of Joseph Badger was still a reverence and a charm.

In a written address, to the Conferential Session holden at Hartwick, at this time, to which two other names besides his own are affixed, some traces of his mind are visible. In that address is the following truly catholic sentiment:—

"Remember that this is a free country in which we live, and we ought to be as willing to let others think as to think ourselves. Others' rights are as dear to them as ours are to us, and if a Christian friend does not think as we do it is evident that we do not think as he does. While we trace the pages of ecclesiastical history, and view the uncharitable conduct of priests and rulers in this respect, we mourn the lack of charity, and feel in duty bound to warn our brethren against such pernicious practices. 'Let us stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free.'"

The month of October, which was passed at home and in neighboring towns, brought some additions to his cause; and November, which was chiefly employed in the same way, was distinguished by a theological debate, held with Rev. Mr. T., chiefly on the Trinity and on the Supreme Deity of Jesus Christ. The debate lasted two days; some other clergymen became in a degree involved in it; and from a minister then present I offer the following lines:—

"Under all circumstances Mr. Badger possessed a peculiar command of himself. He never permitted ruffled feelings to throw him into confusion or derange his clear equilibrium of mind. His ideas were always clear, and his command of language full and free. Thus he was always prepared on every sudden emergency. Some of his best polemical efforts were called out on the spur of the occasion, and seemingly without any forethought. This intuitive gift always rendered him ready, be the occasion what it might that called him to speak, and especially if to repel the attack of a religious opponent. Nor did he lack occasions of the kind. In the first spread of the Christian sentiments in western New York, public attacks on doctrinal subjects were common, and clergymen of various orders would frequently, after the close of an afternoon or evening discourse, rise and ask questions about the doctrine entertained. On occasions like these Mr. B. was about sure to leave his opponent in the condition of defeat. In every such instance he gained decided advantage and won the sympathy and influence of the masses.

"In several instances he was called out by challenges for public discussion. On such occasions he evinced himself a cool, deliberate, shrewd manager. Often it would be said among those who heard his speeches, 'What a lawyer he would have made!' Whilst his opponent was speaking he usually took down notes, which he could do with great rapidity. Wo then to his antagonist, where he left weak points in argument, as Mr. B. was sure to fasten upon them in a manner that not only exposed them, but completely withered their effect. He had great skill in making his own arguments stand out in all their strength, and in stripping those of his opponent of all their seeming worth or value. Occasionally, after he had made a solid fortress by candid argument, he would let loose a volley of sarcasm which was perfectly scathing, and was very apt to so affect the opposite party as to produce confusion of mind, one of the first elements of defeat.

"The Rev. Mr. T——, an aged and able Congregationalist minister, had sent a request to Mr. B. to call on him when convenient. Some weeks subsequent, Mr. Badger, in company with D. Millard, of West Bloomfield, called at his dwelling, but learned that he was absent. Shortly, as they passed on, they met Mr. T., to whom they introduced themselves; Mr. B. acknowledging the receipt of Mr. T.'s request. Mr. T. soon asked him if he believed the doctrine of the Trinity, the Supreme Deity of Jesus Christ, and Total Depravity, to which Mr. B. answered, after drawing him out on the meaning of the terms he employed, that he could not endorse all the views which Mr. T. entertained on these matters. 'I perceive,' says Mr. T., 'that you are wholly off from Gospel ground.' 'Then you should be alarmed at our danger and convince us of our errors,' said Mr. Badger. 'Well, call on me and I will do it,' was his reply. The time was agreed upon, and about ten days afterward quite a congregation assembled at the time and place selected, to hear Mr. T. show Messrs. Badger and Millard their errors.

"The doctrine of the Trinity was first investigated, each speaking twenty minutes on a side. Mr. T. led off, and dwelt much on the awfulness of the doctrine to be discussed, that none could be Christians without believing it. He said cases had occurred, where persons impiously denying the doctrine of the Trinity had been cut off by fearful judgments sent immediately from Heaven. Arius, for instance, whose death was sudden and awful, a fate he met soon after Constantine had recalled him to Constantinople, from a state of banishment, for rejecting the doctrine of the Trinity. To this speech Mr. Millard replied stating that he could not see that any doctrine could be awfully important which is not even named in the Bible; that he could see no cause for introducing the melancholy death of Arius, unless it was to frighten the assembly into the belief that they would be apt to experience a loss similar to that of Arius if they should deny the Trinity; and that Mosheim's Church History contained evidence to show that Arius was secretly poisoned by his enemies.

"In his next speech, Rev. Mr. T. entered systematically on the arguments usually adduced on the Trinitarian side. In justice I would say he did it with ability. Mr. Badger followed him in four set speeches, and Mr. Millard in three. They both amply sustained their ground, but Mr. Badger's adroitness and skilful management were peculiarly conspicuous to all present. The way he met the proof texts presented on the opposite side, his critical analysis of a trio of persons in one being, together with the absurdity of the two-nature scheme, made a very convincing impression on the minds of many then present. I should extend this article too far were I to attempt to give specimens of the arguments he used. The debate closed that day with an appointment to renew it one week afterward. At the next meeting a crowded assembly attended. An able Presbyterian minister was present, as a colleague with Mr. T. in the debate. I think Mr. Badger led off on that day. In his first speech he reviewed the points gained at the previous meeting. He showed just where the discussion then stood and challenged the opposite party to attempt a refutation of the position now occupied by him and his colleague. Mr. T. and his assistant did their best. They evinced much ability and preparation for the contest. But Mr. Badger, in particular, was upon them in every position they took and every seeming fastness to which they fled. The debate continued from ten in the morning, with but a brief recess, till nearly sunset; the four engaged in it taking nearly equal parts. When about to close for the day Mr. Badger proposed that if the opposite party desired it, the debate could be continued another day. Mr. T. declined, as he stated, on account of ill health. Thus this animated discussion closed, and I may say with confidence, it left on the public mind a favorable influence for the Christians."

In a New England paper, he says—

"But what is the most pleasant, is to see the good union that exists, and the steadfastness that appears. There are now between eighty and ninety members in connection with the church, and as yet there has not been to my knowledge but one that has brought any reproach on the cause. Our assemblies have been so large that I have preached in a grove the greatest part of the summer past, but we have made a beginning in constructing a meeting-house, and the prospect is that we shall soon have better conveniences. In West Bloomfield, a town adjoining this, the work has been very glorious. Elder David Millard, who had been a few months in the County, last June, had his mind drawn into that town, and as the way opened he began to preach and to visit the people. He immediately saw the fruits of his labors—was soon joined by Elder E. Sharp, of Conn., who had formerly preached in the town. The work has embraced the old and the young, and has been carried on in a remarkably still and solemn manner. Brother Millard has had several debates in public and private, on different subjects; and as the public mind has been much agitated concerning his opinion of Christ, he has written a treatise of about 48 pages, 12mo, which is now in press, entitled 'The True Messiah exalted,' which I think will be calculated to do good. A few weeks since a church has been planted at Bloomfield, and I think it consists of about thirty members. Prospects are still encouraging."

He now had an able coadjutor in the field, one whose written arguments and oral discourses have long been strong barriers to the advocates of the old Athanasian theology. In December, Mr. Badger visited Canandaigua and preached to the people; the most of the time was devoted to the town of his residence, and in supplying the wants of adjoining places. Speaking of this year in the retrospect, he says: "One year more of my unprofitable life is gone. In it I have enjoyed myself well, seen much of God's goodness, attended many funerals, solemnized many marriages, and at its close am seriously reminded that

"'The year rolls round and steals away
The breath that first it gave;
Whate'er we do, where'er we be,
We're tending to the grave.'"

CHAPTER XI.

THOUGHTS AND INCIDENTS OF 1819 AND 1820.

Mr. Badger is now in the twenty-seventh year of his age and the seventh of his ministry, and occupies a position that affords him more leisure for reflection than the activities of his itinerant life had yielded him. Among the subjects that he accepted for the action of his own thought was Universalism, whose pillars and foundations he seemed to have thoroughly examined, as set forth in the systems of that day. His mind was led to this by the circumstance that his father, for whom his letters and journal only express the kindest filial feeling and reverence, had, after much study and thought, adopted that system as his favorite form of religious belief. The document which contains his views is entitled "An affectionate Address of a Son to his Father." We offer from this a few extracts, in which the reader can see the candor, cogency and kindness that pervade the whole address, which covers some twenty-three pages of letter-paper, very finely and compactly written. This is the opening paragraph:

"Honored and Dear Father:—With pleasure I once more take my pen to address one for whom I have the most reverential regard, a regard greater than I cherish for any person on earth; one who has with hopeful anxiety watched over the days of my childhood and vanity, and wept at the follies of my youth. My former letters have given you the state of my affairs and prospects in this pleasant part of the country; also, in my several letters, I have noticed the extensive spread of the Gospel, the increase of light, and the effect of those glorious reformations I have been allowed to witness, the subjects of which are now my choice society; and you cannot imagine the unspeakable joy of your son, while a stranger in a strange land, to learn that his aged father has been entertained and comforted by the contents of his letters on those subjects. Permit me, my dear father, in this short treatise, to make a few remarks on the doctrine which you have for years embraced and vindicated relative to the salvation of all men. If this doctrine is true, it is a pleasant thing; if untrue, it is dangerous to rest on the sand. As I have serious objections against the system, I feel it a duty to lay them before you for your consideration, wishing, if I am in error, to be convinced of it; and I hope that, should you find the doctrine you have esteemed as truth, cries 'peace and safety' to those whom sudden destruction awaits, you will be willing to exchange it for that truth which opens to the sinner the worst of his case."

After this kind and gentle introduction, Mr. Badger proceeds to take up the chief arguments which his father had, in other years, employed for the support of the system,—arguments from general reason and from Scripture. He then attempts to show the origin of the system in human causes, and its disagreement with the plain teachings of Revelation, and with the spirit and genius of the Christian experience and life. Such is the plan of his treatise. The period to which these arguments belong, was one in which there was a strong controversial clash of theories, each one of which was undoubtedly a fragmentary and imperfect statement of some essential truth in religion; and as Calvinistic reasoning was then generally in the ascendant, as its bold premises were the main foundation of the plea of its opposite extreme,—the Universalian statement,—the subject seemed to take a fresh interest in the hands of one who approached it from an intermediate region of thinking.

"One of your favorite and powerful arguments in favor of this doctrine is, that in the beginning the soul of man was a part of God, and therefore cannot be defiled, condemned or punished, as Deity will not sentence a part of himself to misery. All the Scripture I ever heard quoted in favor of this view, is that 'God breathed into man the breath of life and he became a living soul,' which carries a very different idea from the one you derive from it. It does not say that the soul is a part of God, or that God breathed into man a part of himself. It means just this, that God breathed into man the breath of life, and that, as a result of this, he became a living, active, intelligent creature.

"Let us further reason on this subject. Can a part of God be ignorant of another part of himself? Yet are we not ignorant of what passes in the breast of our neighbor? Does not one drop of a fountain possess all the qualities of the fountain from which it was taken? But who will say that mortal man has all the qualities and qualifications of his Maker, God? If the soul is a part of God, where lies the propriety of those Scriptures wherein he threatens to punish the sinner? Would he threaten to banish a part of himself from himself forever, or say to a part of himself, 'Depart from me, ye workers of iniquity?'

"The supporters of this theory, arguing on the old Calvinistic, fatal plan, say that 'God foreordains whatsoever comes to pass;'—a popular and highly esteemed idea, from which I must dissent for the following reasons."

Mr. B. proceeds to urge half a dozen reasons for rejecting these theological premises, alleging, from the authority of scripture revelation, that many things have taken place which the Creator has disapproved of; that the premise assumed puts the decrees of God and his commandments into exactly hostile relations to each other; that it destroys the justice of all punishment whatever, unless it is just to punish human beings for doing the highest will in the universe, and for doing what they could not avoid.

"If all creation," says he, "moves in exact accordance with the divine will, I cannot find anything in the world that is sin. Where all is right, there can be no wrong. Sin then is rendered virtue, falsehood is truth, darkness is light, Satan is man's friend and helper toward the 'new heavens' and the eternal bliss. Is it not strange that God should give laws to machines? For this scheme completely renders men such. He does not announce laws to the trees of the forest. What would we think of the goldsmith who should appoint a day in which morally to judge all his watches according to their works? This doctrine gives as much honor to Satan as it does to Christ, as it makes him as active as he is in the salvation and final happiness of men. It certainly makes him the brother of Christ, for Jesus said, 'He that doeth the will of my Father which is in Heaven, the same is my brother;'—as universal foreordination causes the devil to do the will of God, it presents him as the brother of Jesus Christ. If the two ideas, that the soul is a part of God, and that God has foreordained whatsoever comes to pass, are true, then Universalism is correct; if they are not true, the system must fall, for these are the main pillars which support the fabric, and in my opinion they are as weak in their nature as were the feet of the king's image in the prophet's vision, which were 'part iron and part clay.'"

Mr. Badger goes on to speak of the universal goodness of God, as a pledge and proof that the divine laws will be executed; he says, that the goodness of a government, the goodness of a governor and his subordinate officers, are the proof that the laws will be duly enforced—that the criminal will find no refuge from deserved punishment.

After quoting from Mosheim on the opinions and reasoning of Origen, the celebrated father of the third century, whom he regards as the original founder of this theory, and after quoting from a late theological writer a statement of the system of Dr. Chauncey, and the Calvinistic theory of Mr. Murray, he asks which of these systems is the true and the reliable one; and after bringing the ideas he opposes to the subject of Christian experience, to the self-denial, inward love and joy produced by the regenerative agency of the Gospel, he pleads its incongeniality with those qualities of the Christian religion which cause repentance and reformation of life.

Occasionally I have heard it stated that Mr. Badger's preaching was very interesting to that class of Christians who take the name of Universalists, that they generally were fond of hearing him, and a very few unguarded persons have said that he was substantially of their doctrine. In regard to the first part of the statement, it must have been true that many of this class were pleased and interested with his preaching, for how could they be otherwise? It is to his credit that they were pleased with him as a man and as a speaker. Being less rigid than many others in their dogmatical restrictions—being less conservative and proscriptive than most other sects, and having investigating and inquiring minds, they would often be pleased to hear so natural and so gifted a man as Mr. Badger. Then his mode of preaching was never founded in terrific appeal—was never noisy or boisterous; the paternity of God, the fulness of the love of Christ to all mankind, the simplicity and reasonableness of religion, were topics that shone with peculiar brightness. Men often judge by contrasts. He who preaches humanely and from the fulness of a brotherly heart, when it is customary to hear the thunders of Sinai rocking the pulpits and churches of the land, and especially if the speaker draws the chief motive from the endearing magnetism of heaven rather than from the repulsions of the horrible pit, there will always be some to claim him as standing upon their platform, as belonging to the theory which has so stoutly and heroically fought the vindictive theology of Calvin. But if the truth is looked for or abided by, it will stand as the most unquestionable certainty that Mr. Badger adopted none of the theories of Universalism, whatever may be their merits or defects. He was one of those naturally balanced men who could see the fragmentary excellence residing in religious theories or in human reforms without becoming a partisan. Probably there is no one theological subject on which there is a larger amount of manuscript among the papers of Mr. B., than may be found on the subject of Universalism, and the whole of it may be appealed to in evidence that as a theory he always regarded it as human and erroneous. Before me lie his early writings, in which he frankly says, "I feel myself bound before my Eternal Judge to bear my testimony against it;" and plots of some controversial sermons, laid out in the form of a massive strength, and preached in the later years of his ministry, are unequivocal testifiers to the same fact. These remarks are not made to cast reflections on any sect, for our philosophy and observation have taught us to revere the great religious movements of the past century, believing that truth has been helped by each and by all of them. They are made that the original, to whom these pages refer, may be seen as he was. I rejoice that so many of those who hold the hope of the world's salvation were drawn to his ministry, and that among his friends throughout the country were those of different schools of thought, of different denominations; and it may be truthfully added, a large number of persons who were not in the habit of rendering their regards to sects by membership, nor to churches by a regular attendance. Many of this latter class, both of the intelligent and the very illiterate, would catch something from his manner and words that drew them about him. Sects are so much dressed in uniform, and are run so exactly in fixed castings, that a man whose influences go out naturally from the centre of an individual manhood is among the rarest productions. At Naples, in the State of New York, a lot of ignorant shingle makers, for example, some of whom drank and none of whom cared a groat for a church, came down at mid-day from the adjoining hills with but two questions in their mouth and heart, which were—"Where is he?" and "Will he preach?" nor were the hundreds of like instances that multiplied in his path anything less than the highest compliments, the surest evidence that a man was there and that his word was a help to all. No real man was ever yet on all sides walled by a sect; where one appears, men generally are made to feel that the bond which unites them to him is not ecclesiastical but human. Man and his brother are there. Here is the closing paragraph of the argumentative letter from which quotations have already been made:—

"For seven long years I have been deprived of the joys of a father's house on account of my obedience to the great commission, 'Go ye into the world and preach the Gospel to every creature;' yet in distant lands I have met many dear friends, and found many dear homes. But I have not lost my regard for my relatives, and the silent groves are witness to my tears that my father's family may all share in the grace of Christ. Oh, what comfort it gives me to learn that some of the family have in their experience known the light, joy, and peace of religion since I saw them. Though we connect with different sects of Christians, though our views may be vastly different, yet if we have real virtue, if we 'fear God and work righteousness,' we shall be accepted of him. It is with the greatest tenderness that I have penned these arguments against your theory, and it is with solemnity that I look forward to a coming judgment where we shall soon meet. Should you still think your system true, remember that we should have something more than a belief in any doctrine,—something more than a profession of religion to qualify us to meet our God in peace. May he crown your hopes with eternal joy. May your grey hairs, when he shall call, come down unto the grave in peace. With your ancestors and children may you praise the Lord God and the Lamb forever. My best regards to my dear mother. Ten thousand blessings crown the evening of her life, and may her sun set without a cloud. My love to my brothers and sisters, who to my heart are still dear. May they live as children of the light. Though hundreds of miles shall separate us—though hills and valleys, lakes and rivers between us lie, we can pray to the same God, cherish the same spirit, walk according to the same rule, and, ere long, meet in the same eternal mansion of repose, where sorrows, pains, and labors shall end, where tears shall be wiped away from all faces."

Among the permanent moral lights of New England at this time, Rev. Noah Worcester, of Brighton, Mass., shone with no ordinary lustre. His thoughts on several moral and theological subjects, embodied in tracts, books, and in periodical form, were known throughout the country. His opinions, though held as unsound by many, were commended to the reader by the candor, piety, learning and admirable character he possessed. Mr. Badger soon saw the value of his mind as a theological writer, instituted some friendly correspondence, and availed himself of a new element of power by throwing into wider circulation some of his argumentative writings; he also gained permission of Mr. Worcester to republish some of his works. His "Appeal to the Candid," and his "Bible News," were distinctly spoken of by Mr. B., as works deserving to be placed in every library, and of being read at every fireside. But the well of Christian life in Mr. Worcester was too full and deep to be exhausted on theological themes. Under date of April 30, 1819, he says to Mr. Badger:

"For several years I have devoted my time principally to the object of abolishing the anti-Christian custom of war. In this business I expect to spend the remainder of my days. I very much desire that the ministers of your denomination should get hold of this subject. A little attention will convince them that the errors which support war are the most fatal of any which ever afflicted or disgraced mankind, and that to be consistant 'Christians' they must renounce all participation in the dreadful work of revenge and murder. The state of my health requires brevity. The peace tracts which I send you are gratis, except that I request you to examine them impartially. I should be happy to see you. I had the pleasure of some acquaintance with your uncle, Rev. Mr. Smith, of Gilmanton, N. H., also with your noble grandsire, Gen. Badger.

"Affectionately yours,
"N. Worcester."

Other letters indicate the deep interest taken by Mr. B. in the productions of this author, and often in later years did he recommend them to the careful study of every young minister. More than this, he often bestowed them as gifts upon those who were engaging in the work of the ministry.

Among the theological papers of Mr. B., written about this time, is one on the character of God, which furnishes an example of his concise and successful method of getting at the truth of an important subject when he became fully interested in it. He commences thus:—

"Oh with what reverence ougth we to make mention of the exalted name of our Creator, and speak of his lovely character! Almost all sects acknowledge there is one God, though their opinions of his character may widely differ, owing to their present imperfection and the darkness of their minds. Truly our best discoveries are but imperfect, and, as the Apostle says, 'We see in part.'"

He then proceeds to state the modes by which the Deity is known, and offers remarks on his undivided supremacy.

"There are," says he, "three ways by which men receive the knowledge of God. 1. In the works of creation. 2. By the revelation of the Holy Spirit. 3. By the Holy Scriptures, which is a record God gave of his Son.

"In these remarks I would show that the Eternal God is alone supreme, and that he is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. The first name given to the Creator in the Scriptures is God, Gen. 1:1, which, in a peculiar manner, is expressive of his power and greatness, and is applied to him in a very different manner from what it is when bestowed on any other beings. Yet it is an ambiguous word, and in the Scripture is applied to seven different characters which are, 1. The Eternal God.—Phil. 1:2. 2. To Jesus Christ in prophecy.—Isa. 9:6. 'For unto us a child is born, a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.' 3. To angels.—Ps. 97:7; Heb. 1:6. 'Worship Him, all ye gods.' 'Let all the angels of God worship him.' 4. To Moses.—Ex. 7:1. 'And the Lord God said unto Moses, See, I have made thee a god to Pharaoh.' 5. To the Hebrew Rulers or Judges.—Ex. 22:28; Ps. 82:1. 6. To Pagan idols.—Isa. 44:10. 7. To Satan. 'In whom the God of this world hath blinded their eyes.' From these passages it is evident that the word God of itself cannot teach the self-existent Divinity of that to which it is given.

"God has no equal. I will show that he is greater than all others. He is so,

"1. In names. 2. In works. 3. In power. 4. In knowledge.

"1. In names. The word Jehovah is employed four times in the Scriptures, and in its simple, uncompounded form, is alone applied to the Supreme God. Ex. 6:3.—'And I appeared unto Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, by the name of God Almighty; but by my name Jehovah I was not known unto them.' Ps. 83:18.—'That men may know that thou, whose name alone is Jehovah, art the Most High over all the earth.' Isa. 12:2.—'For the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song.' Isa. 26:4.—'In the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength.' This word, it would seem, denotes the eternal self-existence of God. It was among the Hebrews their most sacred title for the Creator, so sacred in their regard that they did not, on common occasions, pronounce it in reading, or in worship, but after a significant pause of reverential silence, they substituted for it the word Adonai. Here is a sublime title, having no double meaning, and is applicable to no one but to the self-existent God.

"2. 'Eternal God,' is a title given to the Father, and to none else. Deut. 33:27.—'The Eternal God is thy refuge.'

"3. The words 'invisible God' are equally exclusive in their use. Col. 1:15.—'Who is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of every creature.' 4. He is called the Highest. Luke 1:32, 35. If the Deity is composed of three persons who are perfectly equal, it would be very improper to attach the name Highest to either of them, as it would disturb the equality of the three. Was not the Angel Gabriel probably ignorant of these distinctions when he made the announcement to the Virgin Mary? 5. He is styled the 'Most High.'—Ps. 107:11; Ps. 14:14; Acts 7:48; Heb. 8:1. 6. 'God of gods,' is another title given to none but the Father.—Deut. 10:17. 'For the Lord your God is God of gods.' 7. The Father is called the 'only wise God.' Jude 25.—'To the only wise God our Saviour be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen.' 1 Tim. 1:17.—'Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honor and glory forever and forever.' 8. He is styled the blessed and only Potentate. 1 Tim. 6:15.—'Which in his times (in the days of his flesh) he shall show who is the blessed and only Potentate, (the Father) the King of kings and Lord of lords.' These eight titles, which are alone given to the Father, do, as I consider, most perfectly demonstrate this part of my subject, and in part it illustrates what Jesus said in John 10:29. 'My Father which gave them me is greater than all.'"

These indeed are strong Scripture positions, comprehensively stated, well fortified, and clearly expressed.

In some of his published writings of this year, we find him looking into the subject of church polity, and endeavoring to answer the question, "Where is the power of government?" He noticed four different systems for answering this question, systems which have had their favorites, from all of which, he adds, "I am led to dissent in certain respects." These are: 1. The idea of submitting the power of government to the civil authority, as in the Church of England, as in state religion generally. He affirms that good government does its office when it defends our rights and protects our persons; that it never should attempt to enforce the laws of the church, or dictate in any way to the conscience. 2. The idea of a central man, or of a few chosen men, in whom the authority shall be vested. "The New Dispensation," said he, "establishes a kingly government; yet, as the government is on the Messiah's shoulder, I cannot consent that the power should be given to any other." He is the legislative centre. "A Diotrephes was rebuked for loving the preëminence." 3. The idea that in a council of ministers, exclusive of churches, the controlling power concentrates. 4. That in the churches, independent of the ministers, all power resides. In neither of these systems does Mr. Badger confide. He confides in the union of ministers and churches, in their assembled light. He refers to the consultation at Jerusalem as combining several elements: "apostles, elders and brethren," all being interested and active on the subjects agitated. The general state of the Christian Church called for something which the local action of no one society could give, and hence there was a general assemblage drawn together at Jerusalem by the magnitude of the questions to be discussed; and even their decisions were not sent out as laws. "We, in submitting to the laws of Christ, have a government among us, and each is to be esteemed for his work's sake. Not considering churches and ministers as two parties, but as one," says Mr. B., "we find them authorized with the power of government, but not to make laws." Referring to the council at Jerusalem, he remarks that "it is a beautiful example for modern Christians, one that fulfils the saying of the wise man, 'In the multitude of counsellors there is safety.' Where no counsel is, the people go astray." In this brief article, published in 1819, is expressed the main view to which he always adhered in his ideas on church government; a view more widely expanded and qualified in a series of articles published in the "Christian Palladium," in 1837. He goes against the spirit of isolation and individualism, and contends for the united concentration of all the light of the church—for the active union of the ministers and people. Hence he was neither Episcopal, nor a radical Congregationalist, who boasts a church government independent of the ministry.

In the town of Brutus, Cayuga County, N. Y., October 2, at a meeting where several clergymen and a large assembly were convened, Mr. Badger preached a sermon from Habakkuk 3:3, 4: "His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of his praise, and his brightness was as the light; he had horns coming out of his hand, and there was the hiding of his power,"—a sermon that gave much good instruction, and made a strong impression on the people, if we may rely on the candid report of the meeting made by the most faithful of men, Mr. Elijah Shaw, then the minister of that town; it was a sublime text, and was discussed and illustrated in a manner worthy of its exalted sentiments.[30] Also, in the town of Clarence, Niagara County, N. Y., September 26, at the ordination of Rev. Allen Crocker, he preached an effective discourse from the Apostolical Commission, Mark 16:15, in which Christ, and his authority to command, the qualifications of his ambassadors, the commission given, the Gospel to be preached, the various characters to whom it is to be addressed, the effect produced, and the sacrifices, afflictions and reward of the faithful minister, were plainly and interestingly set forth.[31]

At this time Mr. Badger held a pastoral relation with three churches; one at Henrietta, one at Lima, and one at Mendon; and in the midst of the many duties and cares that surrounded him, he found time to write occasionally for two religious publications, one called the "Christian Herald," Portsmouth, N. H., the other "The Religious Informer," published at New Andover, in the same State. To this last mentioned periodical we have no access, and therefore can select nothing from his communications to that work.

In January, 1820, a religious convention was held at Covington, Genesee County, N. Y., composed of the Freewill Baptist and the Christian denominations, the object of whose deliberations was to form a more social acquaintance with each other, to labor for a greater union, to strive together for the "faith once delivered to the saints," and to make all possible advancement towards that perfection in which the watchmen are to see "eye to eye." Mr. Badger was the clerk of this convention, a principal speaker in its discussions, and probably was one of the originators of the meeting.

We learn that the usages and views of both denominations were plainly set forth, Rev. Nathaniel Brown being appointed to represent the general order and practice of the Freewill Baptists, and Rev. D. Millard to do the same in behalf of the Christian denomination. A general and friendly discussion, abounding in queries and answers, followed, and after much deliberation it was found that the main difference between the two denominations was this, that "the Baptists do not receive any as church members who have not been baptized by immersion, though they extend fellowship and communion to all who live in newness of life; and the Christians receive all as church members who give evidence that they have passed from death unto life, and who live in newness of life." They conversed on many points of doctrine, found no particular difference except on the character of God and of Christ, which they considered to be no bar to their union and fellowship. "We think it duty," said they, "to discard all doctrine which has an immoral effect in society, and to receive and approbate all who come in the fulness of the blessing of the Gospel of Christ." They agreed to exchange, to labor together in harmony, and to acknowledge themselves "the Church of God," to the exclusion of all party names. In New England I judge the difference was more marked, as some of Mr. B.'s correspondents in the East complained that their ideas of catholic brotherhood had been rejected by them.

His indeed was a mingled cup, into which sorrow at times copiously flowed. In a letter to his brother Nathaniel, dated Mendon, March 25, 1820, we read the following:—

"My home is now in Mendon, where I have a neatly built house surrounded by only three acres I call my own; yet it is pleasant and convenient, it being only half a mile from the meeting-house now going up. I have the care of three churches. But at this time I am surrounded with great afflictions. For more than one year has my dear Mary Jane lain sick, and now she is in the last stage of consumption. She can remain but a few days longer. I rejoice that she is so calmly resigned and so well prepared to go into the world of spirits. How sweet is the presence of religion in these soul-trying scenes! We had a beautiful little son taken from us the 30th of January last, named for our two fathers 'Anthony Peaslee.' Thus with our blessings are afflictions mingled, and our cup is one of mixture."

In a letter to Mr. Moulton he says:

"Though my situation is very local in a land distant from you, and from my friends in the Province, my mind often surveys the north country, where I have travelled, preached, suffered and enjoyed so much of God's holy presence; and a hope still exists that I may again visit the pleasant cottages that have once sheltered me from the chilling blasts of winter. Since I came into this country with you it has ever seemed like home, and I still feel bound in spirit to abide. I find it is a small thing to take the ground, and a greater to keep and cultivate it. But with my joys I have sorrows. January 30th, a pleasant son was taken from us, and a council of six physicians decided as early as last July that Mary Jane cannot recover from the consumption by which she is wasting away. She enjoys much of God's presence, is resigned and patient; but this is a scene of sorrow in which nothing can give comfort but the grace of God. The cause of religion still flourishes in this country. There is a general steadfastness and a good union among the churches. Our congregations are numerous. Hundreds flock together to hear the word of life and the Macedonian cry is heard from every quarter, 'Come over and help us.'

"'Oh, Jesus, let thy beauties be
My soul's eternal food;
And grace command my heart away
From all created good.'"

In anxious watching at the bedside of sickness, and in pastoral labors, the days passed away, till the 4th of April, 1820, when the calm light of the morning shone on the departing spirit of the one who had deeply sympathized with him in all his interests. On the 5th her funeral was attended by a large and solemn concourse, to whom a sermon was preached by Rev. D. Millard, of West Bloomfield, from Phil. 1:21—"To die is gain;" from his pen we will select a few obituary lines.

"Mrs. Mary Jane Badger was born in Farmington, N. H., February 26th, 1798, of respectable parentage. She was the third daughter of the late Col. Anthony Peavy, of that town. At the age of thirteen, she made a profession of religion among a people known by the name of Christians. Her pious walk and modest deportment while but a youth, entitled her to the highest esteem of all who knew her. At the age of eighteen she became united in marriage with Elder Joseph Badger, by which she became separated from her dearest parents, never to see them again on earth. Her constitution was naturally delicate, although for two years while she resided in this country she enjoyed a comfortable state of health. She conversed freely with her husband on death, and gave him some directions about her two little children. Previous to this time she manifested great anxiety concerning them, but from this moment appeared willing to give them up, and seemed to lose that fearful concern for them with which she had hitherto been exercised. But God had otherwise declared for the youngest child. She wept at the afflicting scene, but endured it with much fortitude and resignation. She said to her husband, at the close of a prayer when several of her Christian friends were present, 'I rejoice there is such a scene as death for mortals to pass through; it is the gate of endless joy.' Enriched with early religious experience, she took delight in the singing of certain devotional hymns, such as 'My God, the spring of all my joys,' and 'O Jesus, my Saviour, to thee I submit;'—and her last words were, 'I feel composed, I can put my trust in God.' 'She was,' says Mr. Millard, 'a striking example of female neatness and industry; very exemplary in dress and manners, and particularly chaste and reserved in her conversation. Though she is now no more, yet her memory will long live in the hearts of the virtuous.'"

A tombstone now appears in the burial-ground near the village of Honeoye Falls, bearing the characteristic taste and expressive simplicity of Mr. Badger's genius, on which is inscribed these words:

"Here lies the body of Mary Jane, wife of Joseph Badger, who, in memory of her virtue, has erected this Monument. She died a Christian, April 4, 1820, aged 22 ys. 1 m. 9 d.

"Her race was swift,
Her rest is sweet,
Her views divine,
Her bliss complete."

It is with entire calmness Mr. Badger surveys the clouded skies that shut down upon his loneliness; a calmness that never ostensibly forsook him whenever great grief was at the door. He had a heart of great affections and of fine feelings. His strong nature was also extremely sensitive. Few could suffer so much, and few would weep so little when a great sorrow entered his dwelling. He is again alone in the world; his little daughter, Lydia Elizabeth, was all that remained of his family, the only tie that would seem to bind him to earth, and one indeed in whom his affections strongly centered. Letters of sympathy from numerous sources came in from different parts of the country. But sorrow, though it might soften and enrich, could never subdue the energies of his manly spirit; and in the ministry of the holy Cross he applied his force with a renewed consecration of every ability.

Though a resident of one place, it was not his nature to be a local man. His sympathies went abroad, his eye caught the signs of real and of possible success over a large area, and the public, far and near, responded with a feeling of interest equally general. At ordinations, and consecrations of "temples made with hands," he was ever a favorite with the people; and very frequently he journeyed large distances to attend to calls of this nature. His family now being broken up, after securing the pastoral labors of Rev. Oliver True, he resumes the work of a missionary.

There are indeed two classes of successful ministers, though they succeed in different ways. I refer to the class who have simply great power in preaching, who can be instrumental in the conversion of great numbers; who, when they have reached the moral depths of the sinful heart, and filled it with the new and heavenly light, have ended their mission. They leave no nucleus about which the new strength may organize itself. If such ministers belong to a denomination well organized, and if they labor in the spirit of such denomination, the results of their efforts will very likely be absorbed in the body which already contains the speakers. These can create material, but they have no constructive power to permanently unite it. There is another class, who seem to be natural husbandmen of the grounds they sow; they build, they gather, they bring everything into order and system, they fence and harvest the ripened fields. These last men are seldom if ever idealists; they see the world as it is, are men of order and of accumulative tendency. Perhaps George Whitfield and John Wesley may be taken as just examples of these two kinds of ministers. Mr. Badger was certainly a constructive, and also was he a gifted creator of material. He was, in one, both these orders of ministerial power; perhaps we should say that if either predominated it was that of conserving the wealth which his creativeness and the creativeness of others might produce. Whitfield was the powerful, the eloquent preacher, under whose word converts were multiplied "as dews of the morning;" but under his peculiar genius Methodism had never become an organic system, to last its centuries. Wesley, though not a great man in thought or language, was the master builder without whom the labor of men like Whitfield had been, as it were, "scattered unto strangers." He gave to his cause the character of a permanent institution. Mr. Badger was no disorganizer. He believed in organization, in system, though he sought to organize with simplicity and on large and catholic principles of Christian brotherhood.

At Milo, N. Y., at a general meeting which, on Sunday, September 3, 1820, was held in one of the pleasant groves of that rural town, Mr. Badger preached the ordination sermon of Benjamin Farley, James Potter and Stephen Lamphere, from Rom. 10: 14: "How shall they hear without a preacher?" The week following he spent chiefly at and in the vicinity of the village of Aurora, where he preached several sermons and administered baptism to a few believers. He then returned by way of Auburn, preached twice to large assemblies in the Presbyterian church at Brutus, visited his devoted friend Dr. Beman, and in the evening spoke to the assembled citizens of Elbridge. On the morning of the 11th he called at the bedside of Dr. Ayers, who was in the last stage of consumption. "After much conversation," says Mr. B., "I asked him if he desired us to attend prayers. He paused and said, 'Can you pray?' (What an important question!) I answered in the affirmative. Said he, 'Does God hear you and give you answers?' I told him 'Yes.' He then burst into tears and said, 'Once he heard me, but does not of late.' Every heart present was moved. He was a man beloved. He bowed with us in prayer. At nine o'clock we left him and proceeded to Camillus, where I baptized the wife of Esquire Benedict and Mrs. McMaster, his daughter. At evening I spoke to a multitude of weeping auditors. On my return, agreeable to promise, I called on Dr. A., who again knelt with me at the altar of mercy, and when I gave him my parting hand he said, 'I shall meet you in heaven.' His countenance was as serene as a morning without clouds."

At Charleston, Montgomery County, N. Y., on the 10th and 17th of September, he attended a general meeting, at which between one and two thousand people were present. He speaks of the Conference business that was done on the 18th and 19th as very important; but most of all was he interested in the public improvement of three female speakers, who occupied the time on Monday evening, Mrs. Sarah Hedges, Mrs. Abigail Roberts, and Miss Ann Rexford, each of whom was more than commonly gifted in public speaking, and proved the fitness of their mission by indisputable success in their respective spheres of labor. Miss Rexford, then but nineteen years of age, a young woman of polished manners and accomplished mind, had a clear knowledge of the Scriptures, a winning voice, a fine command of language, and withal a liberal religious experience. An article among Mr. Badger's papers, written a year earlier than this, is devoted to the gifts and sphere of woman in the church, which, though it does not parallel the claims made by the modern Conventions, proves the mind of its author to be free from the Oriental bigotry, and in sympathy with the nobler aspirations of woman's mind. On the 24th of this month, at a general meeting held at Greenville, Greene County, N. Y., in the presence of several ministers, of an assembly of about two thousand people, and under the umbrageous veiling of forest leaves, he spoke from Ps. 40: 1, 2, 3; "in which," says the reporter of the sermons given, "he noticed fifteen distinct particulars, and we could say the word was rightly divided and a portion given to each in due season. He proved himself a workman that needeth not to be ashamed." Speaking of this discourse, Mr. Spoor, who reported the order of the meeting to the public press, said that he appeared before the people "like a cloud full of rain;" and probably there are few men in the ministry anywhere whose "doctrine" dropped more "like the rain," or whose speech "distilled" more "like the dew," than his. His manner was dignified and gentle.

About this time Mr. Badger related the substance of his missionary adventures to his intimate friend, Hon. Ezra Wate, of West Bloomfield, N. Y., in a series of letters, written hastily at snatches of time whilst on his way. From these we learn the events of the few months that remain of 1820. To him he says:

"I am happy in a travelling capacity, as I like the work of a missionary; but I am troubled with the unsettled state of what I may call my own affairs;—my home in Mendon, my dear little daughter in Lima, and I, everywhere. I can now see how true my friends have been to me in Ontario County, and oh, that Providence had favored me with the blessing of living and of dying among them! How painful the remembrance of departed joys that may never be recalled! Though surrounded with the best society, though often thronged with company, I am constantly alone, and I have many lonesome, disconsolate and dejected hours. No chastisement for the present seems joyous."

He speaks of a great meeting held at Cortright, Delaware county, at which he spoke twice, heard five discourses from other ministers present, namely, Uriah Smith, O. E. Morrill, and Jesse Thompson,—a meeting at which the converting power of God was signally displayed among the people. Under date of October 5, he says:

"My mind has often flown from the crowd of new friends and acquaintances that surround me, to the enjoyment of those old friends with whom I have taken sweet counsel in years that are past. Was I coming into trials and conflicts, I should be constrained to say of my new acquaintances, as David did of Saul's armour, 'I have not proved it.' Friends whom we have proved, friends who have merited our confidence, are priceless in value. Solomon knew the worth of this truth when he said, 'A friend loveth at all times.'"

Also, under date of October 16th, he writes,

"My health is much better than when I left this country, and never did I enjoy my mind better than now, and never did I experience greater freedom in preaching than on this journey. Amidst all my misfortunes I have a world of felicity in view. It is a time of reformation in this county (Cayuga). I shall speak next Sabbath evening in the Court House at Auburn, and the first Sabbath in November I will preach at our chapel in Mendon."

Letters from many quarters and from leading men in community, came in, soliciting him to come and preach, and not unfrequently did the leading members of other denominations second these requests by offering their chapels for his use.

A plain, concise, and kindly letter to Rev. Mr. Patching, in which he vindicates the ordinances of the Gospel against the denials of Mr. P., who had, by Mr. Badger's recommendations, been preaching to his congregations, belongs to this year. The main object of the letter seems to have been to call out investigation, and to throw some conservative influence around a boldly speculative mind. The following extract will show its spirit and its point:

"Very dear and affectionate Brother,—With the warmest affection and from a clear evidence of duty, I hastily pen a few lines for your consideration, hoping that it may not only serve as an introduction to a familiar correspondence between us, but that it may lead us to discuss, investigate, and harmonize our views relative to the doctrine of the Gospel and the ordinances of the New Dispensation.

"I was not alarmed relative to the suggestions you made in my presence concerning a 'new light' you had received, which led you to deny the ordinances of the Gospel, as I thought your experience would soon teach you your error, and the impropriety of annulling what Christ and the Apostles have established—what both primitive and modern Christians have rejoiced in. But when I discovered a division in the peaceful flock of my charge, and at our last communion, three of our once happy brethren stay away, their seats vacant which have been so faithfully filled for years, persons whom I have heard praise God on such occasions, I cannot refrain from giving you my sentiments, and from assuring you that after carefully reviewing the subject, I must still 'Teach and baptize in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost,' (Luke 16:15, 16; Matt. 28:19, 20,) and shall continue 'steadfast in the Apostles' doctrine and in breaking of bread and of prayers,' Acts 11:41-46. Your 'new light,' as it is called in this region, to me is an old error, agitated by the Quakers two centuries ago, and more recently adopted and taught by the Shakers.

"Water baptism and the Lord's Supper are the two main ordinances of the new dispensation. I think there was no such practice as either of these among the Jews previous to John, who came to prepare the way for the Messiah. At least, the Scriptures make no mention of any such practice under the law. Baptism was first practised by John, was subsequently sanctioned by the precepts and example of God's holy Son; and since it is comprehended in his Commission to the Apostles, it must continue to be as lastingly and as extensively observed as the Gospel itself. It is no more local or temporary than the mission which contains it. The Supper also was first introduced by the Saviour on the night in which he was betrayed, and even after his resurrection he sanctioned it by appearing at the head of the table. It is very evident that the custom was continued among the disciples, and shall we say that the Apostles and the ancient Christians generally were under the delusion of the devil in coming together on the first day of the week to preach and to break bread? If not, where is the impropriety of our following the Apostles in this thing? Are they and the holy Scriptures our example, or are we to be governed by imagination? My dear brother, what can be your motive in this great stir? Do you think your labor on this subject essential to the conversion of souls? Or is it possible that pride and vanity have joined to induce you to become the author of something new, to be at the head of a party? My charity forbids me to think this. I hope for better things. As a gentleman of science, as a Gospel minister, you have entered upon the very responsible stage of public life. Your station is high, your position is critical, and it becomes you to walk gently before the Lord. This is a time in which we should pray fervently, think soberly, and act with deliberation. We should write the words of God with carefulness. Br. Millard informs me that you intend to publish a work on this subject. Allow me to advise you to be cautious, as an error once sent forth to the reading world can only with great difficulty be recalled. A blunder at the commencement of one's public life may cause perpetual injury. I advise you to lay your views before some enlightened council, or to correspond with able ministers on the subject. If you have a true light, others can see it; if not, you will be assisted in season by the wisdom of others."

Mr. P., it would appear, was a minister of the Freewill Baptist denomination, had associated some with Mr. Badger[32] in public life; but instead of adhering to the suggestions of his friend, it seems that he published a small volume, in which he sent baptism, the Lord's Supper, ordination, and the divinely inspired character of the Scriptures, into endless banishment, with certain broadcast allegations against the fraternity to which he had belonged. In 1823, Mr. Badger wrote six strong chapters in reply to his volume, apparently at the request of the denomination from which the author of the book had previously hailed. The title of Mr. B.'s manuscript read thus: "A Plea for the Innocent; and T. Patching's Writings against Baptism, Lord's Supper, Ordination, and the Holy Scriptures, criticised. By Joseph Badger, Minister of the New Testament." Among the mottoes of the title-page is this:

"He brushed the cobwebs from his brethren's urn,
Yet spared the insect that wove the web."

But we judge the insect was not wholly spared. It is ably written. Perhaps a glance into the boldness of the speculations of Mr. P. may be gained in the statement that among his common-place are positions like these: "The Bible is the God of thousands, a stumbling-block to the blind, and the foundation of Priestcraft—the means by which Satan, through his prelates, has served himself to the best advantage;" that those who advocate the Bible, though less numerous than those who follow the Alcoran, are probably not less blind or wicked; and that the Scriptures "are not so much as one stone in the foundation upon which God has made man's salvation dependent;" and that through scripture medium no man derives spiritual knowledge. Why Mr. Badger's reply was never published, is unknown; perhaps the passing away of the excitement attendant on the first introduction of the work of Mr. P., led to the conclusion that its publication was unnecessary. "I have traced with care," says Mr. B., "the writings of Volney, the noted French atheist, and I think he treats the Scripture with more fairness and respect; whilst Hume and Bolingbroke are decidedly too modest to rank with him. But when we turn to the pages of Mr. Paine, Mr. Allen, and Voltaire, we find a style and manner that admit of comparison with the writings now under discussion."

December 14, 1820, in writing to his father from West Bloomfield, he said:—

"The church under my care in this region is in a flourishing state, and my work is in this country. I think it my duty to continue here. I shall endeavor ere long to visit you, as my anxiety is great to see you once more. Though I ceased to keep house the day after the death of Mary Jane, I think it will be my duty, at some future period, to resume my home in this place—a home which is now left unto me desolate."

December 17, from Lima, he speaks of an important reformation, and of a prospering society of Christians in the town of Williamson, now Marion, Wayne County, New York, a town in which Mr. Badger at different times has labored with success, and where to this day the society of liberal Christians under the ministry of Rev. Amasa Staunton, is prosperous and strong. It was his primary intention to have journeyed to the land of his birth and early ministerial success in New England, when the sacred ties of his domestic life were broken; but a sudden misfortune, which deprived him of his intended method of conveyance, caused him to employ the time in visiting those places in eastern New York, spoken of in the latter pages of this chapter. On his return, whilst at Brutus, he received a message from Mr. Oliver True, then in Ontario county, that from Williamson an urgent request had arrived that he should come to baptize a large number of converts; and though no answer positively decides his compliance at that time, it is certain that he has frequently bestowed labor on that community, and was present and assisted in the organization of that church in 1820.

CHAPTER XII.

WRITINGS, MARRIAGE, TRAVELS.

A discourse on the Atonement, written the early part of 1821, vindicates the paternity of God, in the equal generosity of his provisions for the salvation of all men who will obey the truth. It is indeed a strong vindication, one that sifts the premises of Calvinism most thoroughly; and though changes that have since been wrought in the public mind render the present value of such arguments and discussions far less than their worth at the period of their formation, they are still valuable as evidences of the former states of theological thinking and of the force and clearness of mind with which the author treated the subject. His discourse is entitled "The Way of Salvation, or, The Nature and Effects of Atonement." He shows in the expressive motto of the first leaf, that he centres all in Christ: "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world;" the sermon is founded on Romans 5:18: "Therefore, as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation, even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life."

In the treatment of this topic, Mr. Badger has but two simple divisions; the first is the offence and condemnation, the second treats of the free gift and its design. After alluding to Calvinism and to Universalism as having the same roots, and differing only in respect to the number embraced in the arbitrarily elective plan, he announces the truth as being free from these extremes, and as leading the mind of the hearer along the healing stream of God's benevolence as it widening flows through all nations and climes.

In referring to the primeval state, he suggests that we are a distant posterity; that we may not presume to know all that belonged to the early Eden and to man's primitive condition. He asks the question—What is sin? What is its origin? What are its effects? He says, that the definition given by St. John 3: 4, is the most definite that the whole Scripture yields, that, in 1 John 5: 17, there is a good general view of it in the statement that all unrighteousness is sin, and in James 4: 17, the same view is confirmed in the affirmation, that "To him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin."

"The first sin of every man," says Mr. Badger, "is the doing of wrong when he knows what is right. There must be a knowledge of wrong; there must be a law in the mind of the actor to render his action sin. Admitting this scriptural view, how can we consider infants, and children unborn, to be sinners? Are they acquainted with God's will? Do they know his law? We often hear people tell of the 'sins of our nature,' and of being 'sinners by nature,' and of the 'sins we bring into the world with us;' but such sins are unknown to the Scriptures, are unnamed in the word of God, and the idea was invented in the wilderness ages of Christianity.

"Some, in speculating on the Garden of Eden, have so spiritualized the transaction as to please their own fancy; others have taken the garden, trees, and fruit in the most literal sense, and thereby have plunged themselves into darkness and difficulty. It is said that 'God planted a garden eastward,' but, as none are informed of its locality, its latitude and longitude on the globe, it is impossible for those who take it in a literal sense to add any discoveries to the scripture statements. It is evident that the sin of our first parents consisted in their doing a forbidden act, which was disloyalty to the true King. All that I will venture to say is this, that 'God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions.'

"In regard to the question, who is the author of sin, I answer, the actor is its author. Temptation is not sin. Sin consists in submitting to the influence of tempting objects. If, in the story of the garden, there are three distinct sentences of condemnation pronounced, there were also three distinct sinful actors. Sin originates in each lustful mind. Some say, Is not God the author of all things? did he not make all creatures? Yes. But sin is neither a thing nor a creature. It is the act of a creature who is enlightened and free. Many, failing to make God the author of their sins, labor to prove that the devil originates them, and thus lay to him that of which he is not guilty, and that which they had better take to themselves."

On the second division of the subject, he dwells on Christ as the great mediatorial centre of light and mercy, where God will meet all mankind in their striving to realize the salvation of their souls. By pleading the eternal life revealed in Christ as a free gift, and by urging mankind to use their personal freedom in improving the new advantages, he presents a practical At-one-ment—a real harmony of man with God, without adopting the arbitrary notions of grace prevailing in the then common theology, and without implying a pacification of "the infinite wrath" of God to men, a sentiment which, in a world that could realize the import of words so carelessly employed in theory, would be regarded as the utmost profanation, as the last step in the descending grades of religious irreverence and unbelief.

"The heathen," says Mr. B., "who has never heard the Gospel's joyful sound, is not without hope, as the gentle rays of the Holy Spirit have influenced his mind to reverence the Great Spirit, as Christ is 'a light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world.' He may arise from his darkness and misery to some bright mansion in the New Jerusalem, while high-minded professors and superstitious Jews may find their hopes to be those of the hypocrite. Under these views, the partial atonement appears in feeble colors, and the universal love of God to men shines conspicuously from the holy scripture and from reason."

Under date of February 22, 1821, at Mendon, N. Y., Mr. Badger informs the readers of the Christian Herald, that he has just returned from Genesee and Alleghany counties; that in Covington a successful reformation had begun; that in Perry, Warsaw, Gainesville, Orangeville and Pike, he found the people attentive; that "the star which rose in the east shines in the west with unfading lustre." He speaks of the glad news of revivals that had reached him from Pennsylvania, Ohio, Canada, and different sections of the State of New York. "My health," he adds, "has been poor the month past, which has located my labors some; before that, for six months, I had as many meetings as there were days. O, how delightful the thought of meeting all the elect around the Father's throne in glory, where, from every nation and sect, all will join in one harmonious song!"

March 12, 1821, he speaks of preaching twice at Perry, to large and solemn assemblies, among whom he thinks the power of the Highest was spiritually manifest; of meeting the aged parents of Rev. W. True, who were happy in the hopes of immortal life. At Middlebury, he says that he found the attention great to "hear the word;" that at the Academy his assemblies were large; that, one evening, by request, he preached on the character of Christ, taking Isaiah 9: 6, for his text.

"One Presbyterian and several Baptist clergymen were present. I first spoke on the origin, nature, character, titles and dignity of Christ, in which I endeavored to prove him divine, and an object of worship. 2. I noticed the origin, nature, effects and supports of the doctrine of the Trinity, in which I gave the reasons why I dissented from that doctrine. I endeavored to show that my faith gave me a divine Saviour, and that Trinitarianism is obliged to rely on a human sacrifice."

"I am sensible," said he, "that my visit will be remembered by the shrine-maker's," for which he assigns as a reason that in the partisan zeal of his opponents, there were many who seemed ready to exclaim, "Great is Diana!" He speaks of Mr. W. True, then pastor of the society at Covington, as being both "a son of thunder and of consolation;" as an exemplary instance of self-sacrifice and of fidelity to the truth. As Mr. B. did not sail under doctrinal idolatries, he says, at the conclusion of his address, "Love is the badge of the Christian and the tenet of Heaven; may holiness be our motto forever."

Let us return, after this absence, to the social relations of Mr. Badger. We had seen his family dispersed, his home broken up by death in the early part of 1820. We have traced him in his subsequent travels, in his various public labors since that time, and found that amidst the sorrow and loneliness that enshrouded his spirit, his former home in Ontario County, the friends that there clustered about him as their religious teacher, formed the central attraction to which he turned with the deep and permanent feelings of home. The class of persons Mr. B. had there attached to himself, were the intelligent, the responsible and influential, which, added to the happy associations that still lingered in the bower of memory, and the presence there of the only remaining relic of his family, it is natural, it is reasonable, that this region of the State, to which he seems to have been providentially sent, should have attracted him more than any other place. A new period now arrives in his life. Not merely from a sense of duty to himself or daughter, but, if one may rightly judge from the sincere embodiment of the heart in a multitude of letters, written under various circumstances and at different times, in after life, from sincere, earnest and abiding affection, did he now form the marriage alliance which continued until his death, and which placed him at the head of a talented and moderately numerous family. March 21st, 1821, he was married to Miss Eliza Maria Sterling, a talented, respectable young woman of Lima, New York, daughter of Samuel Sterling, Esq., who was one of the early pioneers, and an honored citizen of that town. Again the star of his earthly destiny seemed to emerge from clouds, and to shine with promise on future years. Her parents were members of the society of which Mr. Badger was pastor, were acquainted with him from and before his settlement in the town of Mendon, and frequently had he been a guest in the family of Mr. Sterling. With new and respectable relations, with a companion whom he deeply and abidingly loved—one that frankly and wisely expressed the sentiments and opinions that became the responsible relation she had assumed; with his little daughter, Lydia Elizabeth, whom he now took from her boarding-house to his new home, Mr. Badger again felt that life to him was verdant in the promises of peace and happiness. Immediately is he at the head of a new and an independent home, where his cheerful and genial nature made the light of happiness to shine about him. From the particular cast of mind possessed by Mrs. B., in which the faculty of judgment, of clear-sightedness on matters of practical moment, was decidedly prominent, she became in a degree his counsellor in all the great and important enterprises of his life.

In the duties of his pastoral and his new social relations, the months of April, May, June and July passed away. Among his correspondence of 1818, 1819 and 1820, there are several requests from old acquaintances and friends in the Province of Canada, for him again to visit the region of his former labors. August 7th, 1821, he started on such a tour, taking passage in the steamboat at the mouth of the Genesee river for Ogdensburg. Leaving the river at 4 P.M., the vessel soon disappeared from the sight of land, but, through the violence of wind and storm, it was driven back sixty miles into the port of Oswego.

"On this occasion," said Mr. Badger, "I had the pleasure of seeing some profane wretches, who were blasphemers in the calm, cease their profanity, and grow solemn in the midst of danger. We arrived at Oswego just at daylight, where we spent the day. I visited several places, talked with many about salvation, and had a good time in solitude and prayer. We left there 12 o'clock at night, and, in seven hours, arrived at Sackett's Harbor; here I had an agreeable interview on shore with Judge Fields, who gave me an account of a glorious reformation in that village, in which a large number had found the Saviour to be precious; he said they were well engaged and united. The converts had, many of them, joined the Methodists and Presbyterians, and some of them remained simply Christians. The judge seemed to take a great interest in the work, which he said was still increasing.

"The 10th inst. we arrived at Ogdensburg. I made several visits on shore, and found it a wicked place; as St. Paul said of Athens, 'the whole city was given to idolatry.' The 11th, lodged at a place called the Cedars, on the St. Lawrence, a French village, and a people of strange language. The 12th, we spent the Sabbath on a small island in Lake St. Clair, but, at evening, we reached a small village at the mouth of the Shatagee River, which of the most wretched places I ever saw. A gentleman told me that the inhabitants were part of them French, a part Indian, and a part Devil. I had reason to believe it. Early in the morning I visited the Indian town, Cogh-ne-wa-ga, and found some of them willing to hear of the crucified Jesus. I have just arrived in this pleasant town, Montreal, but shall leave it soon for the townships east, as I intend to visit my father's house, which I have not seen for five years. A gentleman from England has just informed me that he has discovered a general belief among all sects in England, for ten years past, that God is about to work an overture in Christendom, for the union of all sects of Christians. Happy is every person who possesses that spirit."

The English gentleman here alluded to was probably Commodore Woolsey, who had been his company from Sackett's Harbor to Ogdensburg, of whom in another letter, he says:—

"One afternoon, after a long discussion on different religious societies, and on pure religion, the Commodore, apparently with a feeling heart, observed, 'Sir, I am sensible that our variety of belief and forms of worship are principally owing to our education; but pure religion is one thing wherever you find it; it is the work of God in the heart, a principle of godliness implanted within.'"

In a very easy and happy manner, Mr. Badger, in travelling, won the attention of strangers, and drew out a free expression of thought from the best minds; and this sentiment—that pure religion is substantially one thing over all the earth, was one which met the deepest response in the entire life and philosophy of the subject of this memoir.

September 12, 1821, from Compton, L. C, in the district of the Three Rivers, he writes that from Montreal he took passage for Sevel, a French village, at the head of Lake St. Peter's; that from thence he made his way to the Indian village on St. Francisway River, where, eight years before, he had formed some acquaintance with their chief, through whose influence he now hoped for an opportunity to preach to those unsophisticated sons of the forest, children of wild and beautiful traditions, soul-taught worshippers of the Great Spirit. The absence of the chief at court frustrated his plan.

"I found the village in a flourishing situation; a large meeting-house was being built; an English school had already been established, and the natives were fast improving in the arts and sciences. Capt. St. Francisway is an interpreter of several nations, and can speak in eight languages."

On foot, Mr. B. continued his journey up the river through a wretched country, until he arrived at a settlement formed by the remnant of an old British army, to whom the government had given lands. Mr. B. considered them in nearly a state of starvation, and after almost exhausting himself with hunger and fatigue, he sat in lonely meditation beneath a sturdy pine, reflecting on the divine goodness and the dangers he had tempted in this new wilderness way.

"In the evening I arrived at the cottage of an old soldier. They had neither meat, bread, nor milk to set before me. I obtained permission to sleep on the floor, but I had some reason to suspect that they were thieves and robbers; and I thought that the surest way, and finally the only way for my safety, was to preach salvation to them. Accordingly I gave them a long discourse, which was so far attended by the power of God as to enable me to make friends in this instance of the mammon of unrighteousness. I was glad to see the morning light, and walked eight miles before I could get my breakfast."

He visited his father's residence in Compton, stayed some weeks, gave three funeral sermons in that town, visited the old parishes where he had formerly preached, wept at the grave of many a fallen friend, heard the prayerful voice of repenting sinners, and the rejoicing songs of converted ones.

After completing his visit in the king's dominion, Mr. Badger, about the middle of September, started for home, proceeding through the State of Vermont over the Green Mountains to Ballston and Saratoga; thence, after a visit at Amsterdam, where he informs us several hundred had entered into the enjoyment of the religious life during the past year, he advanced up the Mohawk to Utica; and spending the Sabbath at Westmoreland, with Rev. J. S. Thompson, and attending appointments on the way at Brutus, Camillus, Auburn and Geneva, he arrived at home October 5, which completed a journey of 1200 miles, "in which time," said he, "I have witnessed the most stupendous displays of God's mercy and salvation." At the city of Rochester, he attended several meetings before the commencement of the next year, where he gained the attention of the people.

The year preceding 1821, Mr. Badger became a member of the fraternity of Masons, an institution which he always prized for its wisdom, morality and benevolence, and one in which he made superior advancement.[33] Not given to ultra rashness, he did not extol the institution beyond its evident merits when glory and influence were on its side, nor did the temporary storm that assailed it draw from him violent resistance, or concessions that could be construed into disesteem for the great designs, general rules and customs of Masonry. He not unfrequently gave public addresses to the Masonic community in his own State, occasionally assisted in the ceremonies of initiation and of progress in the Order, and in other States of the Union he sometimes gave addresses.

Traces of writings are left, from 1821, that embody an effort to systematize the facts of history, and to retain what struck him as most important,—history relating to Egypt, Persia, Palestine, Rome, Arabia and China. But usually, such was the fulness of the active life of Mr. Badger, and of his reliance on the resources of his natural ability and experience, that he was not a close, laborious student, though he was never at a loss, when occasion required, in showing an accurate command of the substantial facts of history and of science bearing on the subject in hand.

In 1822, in addition to his local labors, Mr. Badger visited Saybrook and Lyme, Connecticut, attended the United States General Conference holden at Greenville, Green County, N. Y., besides attending to several calls at a distance from home. I would here remark that a United States General Conference,[34] though its origin was rather informal, was at last a body composed of ministers and delegates from different local Conferences, that its object was to discuss and advise in relation to subjects of general interest to the cause in which the promoters of a liberal and an evangelical Christianity were engaged. It was not uncommon for them to discuss abstract themes of faith and church polity, for the purpose of gaining greater light in the multitude of counsel. Such convocations dictated no articles of faith, presented no formula of belief except the generally conceded revelations of God. In the annual meeting here named, held September 5, 6, 7, the second resolution adopted was, that Christian fellowship arises from satisfactory evidence of being born of the Spirit of God, and that it properly extends to all who walk after "the rule of Christ." This body, though in many things it proved useful, especially in its free discussion, was, by mutual agreement, finally dissolved at Milan, Dutchess County, N. Y., October 2, 1832, chiefly from the considerations that the wants it had met might now by other methods be more successfully reached, that it was inconvenient to assemble annually from parts so remote, and that in time it might outstrip its original intentions, and become a centralization of power to the injury of congregational sentiments. At the meeting which followed the Conference, Sunday, September 8, Mr. Badger preached the third discourse from Deut. 32: 10: "He found him in a waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye." To a people who regarded the church as being still in the wilderness, as merging by slow degrees out into light and liberty, and as always dependent on Him who led, taught, and guarded the ancient Israel of his choice, such a text and sermon were suited to the time and the occasion.

In 1823, he made a tour into Pennsylvania, accompanied by S. D. Buzzael, a minister of whom he speaks as being well engaged in the cause. Preaching on the way in several towns, in Dansville, Naples, Cohocton and Bath, he arrived, in the early part of the month of March, at the pleasant village of Lewisburg, in Union County, Pa., a village that lies embosomed in the wild and attractive scenery of the Susquehannah, between the towns of Milton and Northumberland. On the way, he held a quarterly meeting which he had previously appointed among the Methodists in the town of Cohocton, Steuben County, where he met about forty church members and two ministers who had thrown off the authority of bishops, and styled themselves Methodists, rejecting episcopacy both from their name and their doctrine. To them, in company with D. Millard, of West Bloomfield, he preached and administered the communion to a free and happy people, learning at the same time that in New York there were about six hundred members in connection with them in this their new and reformatory position.

Crossing the Cohocton and the Canisteo rivers, in company with Mr. Buzzael, he followed the course of the Tioga to the town of Icoga, Pa., then crossing Peter's Camp and the Block House to Lycoming by the Wilderness road, as it was justly called, he continued his way through the enveloping night and the descending rain. "We had," says Mr. B., "to ascend and descend dreadful mountains to obtain a lodging among strangers in a strange land. We were fatigued and sorrowful; but Brother Buzzael broke the silence of the way by singing the following lines:

"Though dark be my way, since He is my guide,
'Tis mine to obey, 'tis His to provide;
Though cisterns be broken and creatures all fail,
The word He has spoken will surely prevail."

Pursuing the course of the Lycoming, he struck the west branch of the Susquehannah, at Williamsport, thence to Lewisburg, where he arrived on the evening of March 6th. On the 7th, he spoke for the first time to a small audience on the subject of heaven; from this time his assemblies began to increase and his words took effect among the people. Mr. Bacon had been somewhat successful in preceding years in that place. Mr. Badger preached several sermons in the open air, as no house would hold the assemblies that convened. He there received one minister into the fellowship of the Christian connection from the Methodists, Mr. Andrew Wolfe, a German of property, character, and respectable talent, who preached in the German language;—had three baptizing seasons, which he regarded as glorious, preached on the laying of the corner-stone of the new church, from Matt. 16: 18; a house which its builders designed to have in a state of completion the coming autumn, the time of Mr. Badger's contemplated return. In Milton, Mifflinsburg, Buffalo, Whitedeer, Chilisquaque and Northumberland, he also preached; and it is unnecessary to state that the impression he made was strong and lasting; particularly in Lewisburg, where he did much in establishing order in the society for whom he labored; where he called out the best minds in a free investigation of religious subjects; and where, at different times, he interested the community with the rich and varied resources of his ministerial power; his gifts and character were ever held in admiration and esteem. Many ministers of acknowledged ability have spoken to that community, but from personal knowledge I say that none, taking all things into consideration, have occupied so high a place, for true eloquence, for real power over a congregation and a community, as he.

At this time, Mr. Badger became acquainted with Rev. James Kay, of Northumberland, a fine example of English gentility and politeness, a man of classical and general education, and a theologian of no ordinary accomplishment in the Unitarian school of English divines. From his able pen, the pages of the periodical which Mr. B. began to edit in 1832, were frequently enriched. Northumberland is a quiet town of intelligence and wealth, in the environs of lovely scenery, the waters of the north and of the west branch of the Susquehannah there joining in graceful amity, whilst the perpendicular walls of rock tower in calm solemnity before it. There indeed is the resting-place of the philosopher Priestley, who lived a life of study and of thought; who enriched science by numerous discoveries and the cause of human liberty by his political views; and, at the close of an arduous life, died in the light of the confiding piety in which he had lived; on whose tombstone is this inscription: "I lay me down to rest till the Resurrection!" To the congregation founded by him did Mr. Kay for many years preach, and to the same did Mr. Badger communicate on his two or three occasional visits to that place. From a letter of Mr. Kay, dated September 29, 1823, I discover that Mr. Badger was in Lewisburg at that time, and that he contemplated a meeting at Northumberland.

From Lewisburg, under date of October 7, 1823, he writes to Mrs. Badger as follows:

"You have doubtless heard of the fatal sickness that now rages in this place. It still continues. I preached a funeral sermon last Thursday, and I am informed six or seven lay dead last Sabbath in the neighborhood. But I had good assemblies at our newly finished meeting-house, on Thursday evening, Sunday and Sunday evening. I found the Church in a low state. Mr. Bacon had sowed much discord; but I have nothing to do but to preach Christ and his Gospel, which are calculated to make mankind love each other and to live in union. God only knows the burden and trials I felt in this place for the first week. I was constrained day and night to ask God for wisdom, and at length we are assisted by his power. Everybody who can, turns out to bear the word, and very many of my hearers are those whose pale faces declare the reign of disease.

"I have had two church meetings and was determined to establish order in their affairs, or give them up for a lost and deluded people. I succeeded far beyond my expectations. 1st. I examined into the state of all who had ever been received into the church, found that one had been excluded, three had died, ten had removed, thirteen needed to be specially visited, as they were low in spiritual enjoyment and zeal, and fifty-nine were willing to serve God with all their hearts. 2. I called on them to appoint two persons to take the oversight of the temporalities; F. L. Metzger and John Moore were appointed. 3. I got them to appoint Andrew Wolf and John Dunachy, to take charge of the meetings in my absence. Thus you see that they are coming into order, with which they seem generally well pleased. They depend much on me. I expect to visit them again in the winter. I have been almost every day among the sick; some days have visited more than a dozen families, but never enjoyed better health. Sunday coming will make three Sabbaths I have been in Lewisburg, and on Monday or Tuesday, I design to visit Smithfield, Bradford County, Pa."

June the 20th, Mr. Badger officiated as Chairman of the New York Western Conference, at which time seven new churches were reported, and some important ideas of church polity were discussed. In August of this year, he described the city of Rochester, then a town of 3000 inhabitants, connected by water communications with Albany on the east, Quebec on the north, and Lake Superior on the west. He speaks of a small church, in that city, with whom he had labored half of the time through the summer, and expresses the hope that they will accumulate more strength in that growing town. In the early part of August, he attended a general meeting at Rochester, and, in the same month, another at Cato, Cayuga County, N. Y.

Letters from different parts of the country show the inclination of the people to make demands on his public gifts and labors; and, could we institute a close comparison between the width and depth of the interest called out by the great public meetings of those days, and of similar meetings in our own times, we are satisfied that the preference would be greatly in favor of the past. They were more in numbers, and the religious interest was more general and intense. At West Bloomfield, 1822, for instance, there were thirty-five ministers present at a general meeting, and, in those days, the most of such occasions seemed to be a centre of interest for a wide area of the country.

CHAPTER XIII.

CORRESPONDENCE—VISITS AT ANGELICA WITH D. D. HOW, THE MURDERER—HIS SERMON AT THE GALLOWS.

From the extensive correspondence of Mr. Badger, little at present can be introduced, as the interest of his published journal and things relating to his personal life and public labor have the paramount claim. Yet the freedom in which a large variety of minds addressed him evinces that he was beloved confidingly, as well as respected and admired. As an example of the free expression of one class of correspondents, we may take the following lines, dated near 1824, from the pen of a gentleman of the medical profession, Troy, Pa.:

"I think I informed you I was not a professor of religion, though I have a friendly regard for all such as appear to worship God in a rational and consistent manner, whose minds have not been circumscribed by undigested creeds and by uncharitable proscription. I have read some and thought much on the subject of religion, and after all I confess I am rather skeptical. I have endeavored to view it abstractedly by the lights of reason and philosophy; to consider what it is, its origin and design. To sum up in a few words, if I may be allowed the expression, I should consider it indispensably necessary to those who would not be good without it. Take this away, and what method would be left to bring the mere child of nature to the practice of virtue? You could not discover to him the excellency there is in goodness, and the reward which it brings. His imagination needs to be awed by the penalty annexed to vice. It may seem paradoxical to say that when men become good for goodness' sake, they have no need of religion."

Bold thoughts were no alarm to Mr. Badger; and not many persons had his faculty for taking away effectually the objections which really stood in the path of the unbelieving, though in doing so his methods were his own, and he had no use for the logical phrases of those who have been styled apologists for religion or Christianity. In looking over lines like those first quoted, is it not impossible to repress the sentiment, that "he who becomes good for goodness' sake," instead of having no need of religion, already has it in its highest possible form? It cannot be otherwise.

1824 finds Mr. Badger engaged in the local sphere of pastor; and, among the solemn and responsible duties of his profession for this year, was that of hearing the confession of a murderer, of leading his mind into faith and penitence, of administering to the bereaved families the consolations of Christian views and sympathy, and of preaching the funeral discourse of the prisoner to the immense concourse who witnessed his execution. At that time, cool and deliberate murders were comparatively rare; generally, there was great avidity to know the causes and incidents involved in the crime. The surprise and dread such intelligence awakened corresponded somewhat justly with the awful nature of the guilt which caused them. David D. How, of the town of Angelica, Alleghany County, New York, a few miles from the place where the horrid murder of Mr. Othello Church was committed, December the 29th, 1823, was a man originally from New England, and of respectable connexions; but, from a series of misfortunes and injuries experienced in life, and probably also from the peculiar organic defection which the organization of murderers usually exhibits, was prepared, though not without a violent conflict of inward emotions, to execute a murder of revenge on the person of Mr. Church, whom he regarded as having been instrumental in promoting the misfortunes that left him destitute of property, in the summer of 1823. Several angry disputes had occurred between them; and, judging from the treatment he rendered to Mr. Palmer, for having, as he thought, taken undue advantages of his troubles, one is willing to infer that revenge was his predominant tendency.

"I went," says he, "in the month of October, to Hornelsville, and being detained there one day, I had occasion to ride in the evening of the 23d, and about 12 o'clock at night came to Mr. Palmer's, near Angelica. I saw his valuable mills, on which the orbs of heaven faintly shone, and the sable curtains of night had mantled the scenery in majestic grandeur. Now, I said, is the time for me to have vengeance on one of my greatest enemies on earth. I dismounted and surveyed the scene before me. Finding the door fast, I obtained an entrance by a small window which I could raise; I entered the dark cavity; all was solitary and silent, and every step resounded with midnight horror; the sweet stream uttered its innocent murmur below, and all nature seemed combined to reprove me of my sin."

Though hesitating for a moment, a brief meditation on the causes of offence induced him to turn the mills of his neighbor into a scene of flames, which, to use the language of the criminal, "shone upon the heavens with alarming lustre" to his "guilty conscience," before he arrived at home. With equal determination, on the night of the 29th of December, after returning from the village of Angelica, between 10 and 11 o'clock, at a season when the condition of the snow would not allow him to be tracked, did he proceed to execute the awful deed on which he had long meditated, the murder, in his own house, of Othello Church,[35] whom he called from his slumbers to receive the fatal shot. This murderer thought and reflected on his end and his means. Once before, he had waylaid the path of his victim, and watched at night, with rifle in hand, behind the great pine tree; "while I stood here," said Mr. H., "I had some solemn reflections. The sweet evening breeze gently pressed the lofty forest, and the tall pines could bend beneath the power of heaven; but my obdurate heart remained unmoved." Such was the character of the man whose depths of heart were moved by the influences of Mr. Badger. Though a murderer, he was far, very far, from total depravity, for he could sincerely mourn over his own guilt, and weep over his beautiful daughter with a father's love. He was tried for his offence at Angelica, before Judge Rochester; was, by the force of circumstantial evidence, declared guilty, and, on February 8th, was sentenced to be hung March 19th, 1824. By the request of Judge Griffin, who had consulted the prisoner, Mr. Badger was requested to attend on Mr. How, and to do what he could in preparing his mind for the awful crisis before him; and, as these duties are a part of his journal for this year, we will look a moment longer at its particulars.

March the 2d, Mr. Badger took rooms at Judge Dautremont's, in Angelica, (a place 65 miles from his residence,) that he might every day have familiar access to the mind of the prisoner. The day of his arrival he entered the gloomy apartment, at 2 o'clock, P. M. found Mr. How reading the Scriptures by candle light; soon the mind of the guilty stranger unfolded freely and without reserve, to him who now endeavored to render assistance in making his peace with the eternal powers. A chain-bound prisoner in darkness, seeking to know how he shall whiten his spirit from mortal crime! A herald of the cross genially making him feel his brotherhood with man, and bowing with him in prayer to the Infinite Pacifier! A scene like this in a world of sin is a gleam of light across the ocean of darkness, even though the inveterate past should refuse to be blotted out by prayers and penance.

"In conversation," said Mr. B., "he is pleasant, familiar, easy and polite, and often his countenance is lighted up by an artificial smile. He is a man of quick discernment, and possesses a mind of unusual strength and great composure in the hour of trouble; yet he sometimes weeps at the most trifling circumstances. He feels great attachment to his friends, uncommon fondness for his children, and an ungovernable hatred to his enemies. I found Mr. How almost in a despairing state of mind. He asked my opinion of 1 John 3:15: 'No murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.' I informed him that the same verse said: 'Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer' and that no person while possessed of hatred, or in the act of murder, could be in possession of eternal life. He wept at my remarks, and asked many questions. I informed him 'all manner of sin should be forgiven except the sin against the Holy Ghost;' and I endeavored to hold up the way of life to him. We united in prayer several times, and after an interview of six hours I left him overwhelmed in grief.

"March 3d, entered the dungeon at 8 o'clock, A. M., found him very much composed. After attending prayers we sung two hymns, and his heart was apparently filled with love to all the creatures of God. He commenced speaking in the most affecting language. He spoke of the sin of profanity and drinking, described the murder of Mr. Church in the most affecting manner, and mourned that he had no time to prepare to meet his God. He said he could not think that God would forgive him, as his sins were of such an aggravated nature, and were committed against so good a Being, and against such great light. I made him three visits, and the dungeon became a pleasant place. He this day requested me to write his journal, to preach at his execution, and superintend his funeral.

"March 4. Spent four hours in my first visit, found him much composed and well resigned. I entreated with the sheriff for the removal of his irons, and succeeded, for which he expressed much gratitude."

It were indeed too long for our purpose to transcribe the half of what Mr. Badger has interestingly written on this topic. His duties were faithfully and ably done; and, what might be anticipated, he gained, and for a holy purpose, the entire mastery of the murderer's heart; turned his revengeful passions, for the time at least, into prayerful kindness for his enemies, and, through his free choice, became the agent of his most sacred trusts. On the 5th, he received and delivered to Mrs. Church the imploring and penitent address of Mr. How; also visited the family and plantation of the murderer; on the 6th, witnessed the interview between Mr. How and his own family, to whom he administered appropriate advice. Through all his doubts and fears, he accompanied the spirit-wanderings of the culprit, and succeeded in bringing his mind to a state in which he was conscious that an eternal sun shone somewhat brightly through the cloud openings of his dark horizon.

"On Sunday, the 14th, in the afternoon," says Mr. B., "his daughter, a beautiful little girl about 19 years of age, arrived. She trembled as she approached the gloomy apartment of her father. They embraced each other with great affection, and all the spectators wept. He called his daughter and friends to view the coffin, which, he informed her, was like her mother's. They wished me to pray with them; and, at the close of prayer, I found the father and daughter leaning upon the coffin, with their hands joined; he exclaimed, 'Oh, my Harriet! must we part? You are the image of your excellent mother—you have derived your good disposition and all your good qualities from her. You have nothing good from me.' They both wept aloud, and every heart seemed to be moved with grief. On the 15th I witnessed a reconciling interview between Mr. How, Mr. Palmer, and Sheriff Wilson, men of business who had once been great friends, but whose friendship had been broken by serious difficulties.

"March the 18th. He sent for me at daybreak. I found he had a restless night, and was in great distress. I made him several visits; his family came to take their leave of him forever. At 3 o'clock P. M., the Rev. Mr. Roach, a Methodist minister, preached a short discourse in the dungeon from John 3:16. Five clergymen were present, and the scene was solemn. Mr. How took the lead in singing two hymns, and carried his part through in a graceful manner. In singing the first, he stood up and leaned partly on the stove; held his little girl by one hand, who sat in the lap of her mother, and with the other he took the hand of his affectionate brother, who stood by his side. At the close of the meeting, his wife gave him her hand for the last time. He embraced her with fondness, and when he pressed his little girl to his bosom (about four years of age) he wept aloud. He requested that several Christian friends should spend the night with him in prayer; thus his last night on earth was spent in imploring God for grace and mercy.

"March the 19th. I entered the prison at break of day, found him much resigned. He observed, as I entered, that his last night on earth was gone, which he had spent in prayer. At 7 o'clock I visited him again with a company of ladies who had never seen him. Mrs. Richards, of Dansville, took him by the hand, both fell upon their knees, and she prayed for him in the most fervent manner. He then prayed for himself, for his family, for the family of Mrs. Church, who were afflicted by him, for his executioner, and all the world. As we came out, a gentleman remarked that he had never heard a man pray like him. At 9, I entered his apartment for the last time, accompanied by his beloved daughter and a young man who was soon to become her husband. We entered with serious hearts; he received them very pleasantly, and made remarks to me on the fine weather, and the lady who had prayed with him. He asked of me the privilege of walking into the yard with the young man. They spent a short time together. He then asked me to wait on Harriet to the door. He placed her by the side of the young man, and delivered her to his charge, saying that she had long been deprived of the counsels of a mother,[36] and would be in a few moments separated from her father forever. 'I now commit her to you as a friend, protector, and lover.'"

For Mr. H. there was much public sympathy, owing to the belief that he had suffered many provoking wrongs. Passages like these have a moral, and even philosophical value, in showing that the human spirit is not exhausted of wealth, no, not even by capital offence; that great sentiments of manliness may temporarily occupy an invisible throne within, though clouded and veiled from general recognition.

On the 19th, in the presence of six thousand persons, Mr. How was executed, to which immense throng Mr. Badger preached a sermon of thirty minutes, from Numbers 35: 33, which we have heard spoken of as a masterly effort. With all his feeling for the offending, he had no morbid sympathies to pour out on the injustice of his punishment; he spoke of the propriety and the majesty of the law; of the necessity of cleansing the land of murderous crimes; alleging that, while government exists, its principles must be faithfully carried into action; that the officers who, in their different official capacities, executed this solemn law, were as much in the way of their duty as he who tills the soil, and supports the government by his labor. Mr. Badger was no ultraist. He held that this world, on which golden sunlight is scattered, was not made for rascals; nor did he accuse the world of ignorance when the deliberate murderer died for his crime. In these quoted paragraphs, we see how Mr. B. passed the larger part of a month in the spring of 1824; and though the acrimony which attaches to religious sects was industrious in the misrepresentation of his theological sentiments, he cleared himself triumphantly of all their charges, and came off with the decided approbation of the judges, officers, and indeed of all the leading men whose acquaintance he had formed, for the able and faithful manner in which he had performed his high duties, and for the proper course he had pursued both as a gentleman and a minister.

CHAPTER XIV.

JOURNEY TO THE SOUTH.—PUBLISHED JOURNAL.

The summer of this year, Mr. Badger seriously contemplated a voyage to England, chiefly for the purpose of promoting a union between a denomination called the "General Baptists," and the "Christian Connection" of this country, as that denomination had already heard of, and expressed an interest in, their transatlantic brethren of the New World; but other and urgent duties directed his energies in a different channel. By the Western Conference he was appointed to preside at six general meetings in different sections of the country, requiring him to travel nearly a thousand miles in all, for the completion of the task; and, at the meeting of the United States Annual Conference, he was, in accordance with the appointment made by the New York Western Conference, commended as an evangelist to visit the southern States, to obtain a history of the people there who had thrown off the authority of creeds, and gone to God and their Bibles for the all-sufficient light; also to open between them and their brethren of the northern and middle States a correspondence that should promote future union and coöperation in the spread of their common faith, a purpose which had the warmest sanction of the north, and which met with a generous response in the south.

His evangelizing ministry through the summer was attended with good results; and shortly after the General Conference, held at Beekman, Dutchess county, N. Y., September 2, 1824, he, in company with Rev. Simon Clough, of Boston, started for the city of New York, passing through Putnam and Westchester counties, where they held many meetings. On the 15th, they arrived at New York. In a letter to Mr. Silsby, of Rochester, he says:—

"We found a Baptist and a Universalist meeting-house open for us. The attention of the people was great to hear, and the ministers treated us with attention and respect. We are now invited to another Baptist meeting-house, and have engaged to give them two sermons next Sabbath. Last Sunday I preached in the State Prison to more than five hundred prisoners, and it was a solemn and a weeping time. I shall visit them again. In the evening I spoke to about one thousand people at the Baptist Church. The young people seemed to be deeply affected, and some of the aged saints rejoiced and said it was truth. I enjoy myself well in this city, being sensible that I am in the way of my duty. Last evening I had the pleasure of seeing the renowned La Fayette, who is on his way to the South. He is worthy of all honor, though like others, he is a frail, dying, mortal man."[37]

He passed three weeks in the city, preached several sermons, baptized a few happy converts, and on the 8th of October, arrived at his home in Mendon. On this tour, Mr. Badger used his influence in favor of the establishment of a new monthly periodical at West Bloomfield, New York, which commenced January 1, 1825, under the editorial direction of Rev. D. Millard, and entitled the "Gospel Luminary." These sermons, from Messrs. Clough and Badger, were the first, I believe, ever given in that city under the simple name of Christian, with the exception of the labors of Doctor Joseph Hall, who had a few months preceded them. Soon after, the gifted Miss Rexford, and Mrs. Abigail Roberts, whose labors in many places had been successful, held meetings in that metropolis, and as early as January, 1825, we hear of Mr. Clough laboring to plant the standard of a liberal evangelical Christianity in that community.

Mr. Badger's journey was deferred till the late autumnal months of 1825, as he chose not to venture so great a change of climate in the warmer seasons; home duties also prevented an immediate execution of his plan. On the 19th December, 1824, he preached twice in Chili, a town not far from Rochester, where the labors of Mr. Silsby had been effectual in the conversion of souls; also in Clarkson, Perinton, Gains, and Royalton, he preached, witnessing some cheering signs of the Sacred Presence. The first week after his arrival at Royalton he attended twelve meetings.

"In the second meeting," he says, "I saw two young ladies who appeared much disposed to vanity and opposition, but at the close one of them requested prayers, and within one week both became happy converts, and have been baptized. From this occurrence the work began rapidly among the youth. About a dozen have been hopefully converted, and a great number more are now under serious conviction. Difficulties have healed by the power of God, and backsliders have returned with confessions, repentance, and tears. I have been surprised during this revival to find popular professors of religion its worst enemies. What a shocking inconsistency it is for people to pray for reformation in foreign countries, and fight the work of God at their own doors; to bestow their funds for the conversion of the heathen, and live and act worse than heathens themselves. In the present age, the opposition of the infidel, drunkard and profane, is modest when compared with the wrath and vengeance of popular professors."

He speaks of Rev. Asa C. Morrison as greatly successful in Salem, Ohio; of Elder Blodget, as having witnessed a large revival during his three months' sojourn in the Province of Upper Canada. "I have found it duty on many accounts," he adds, "to adjourn my southern journey till next fall." In Royalton, he continued to remain, where, assisted for about three weeks by the labors of Elder Levi Hathaway, he saw many converted. Writing from that place, he says:—

"The first day of the present year was a precious time to us at Royalton. I gave a sermon appropriate to the occasion; the number and attention were great, and the saints had a satisfactory evidence that the Lord was about to revive his work, and many spoke in a feeling manner. Several young people requested prayers, and at the close of the meeting I requested all who would covenant together and live anew for God the present year and pray for each other fervently, to come forward and join hands; about forty came with melting hearts. I then called for those who were resolved to set out the present year to seek salvation, to come into the circle and kneel; I think five came forward. We had a solemn and glorious time in prayer, and felt the sweetest influence of the Good Spirit while we sang,

"'From whence doth this union arise,
That hatred is conquered by love?'"

"By request of Mrs. Wiley (a woman in the last stage of consumption, but recently converted), I preached two sermons in her room. The season was solemn and glorious. Many spoke, and she declared that she could now rely on the promises, and trust in the Great Redeemer. As she drew near her end, her faith grew stronger. Just before she expired her husband heard her whisper; he asked her what she said, to which she pleasantly replied, 'I was not speaking to you; I was talking with my God.' Oh, how triumphant was the death of this good woman, and with what solemn pleasure could we follow her to the grave! It is far more pleasant to me to preach at funerals of converts than to have them live and backslide from God, and wound the precious cause."

"On the third day of February we met for the organization of a religious society according to law; at the close of the business, a young man who sat on the back seat sent for me to come to him; he had many days been under serious conviction. He said that he should like to speak if there was liberty. He then arose and told what God had done for his soul. February 20 was a day of the Mediator's power; the congregation was large, solemn and attentive. At the close we repaired to the water, which is but a short distance from our meeting-house, where I baptized the bodies of twelve happy souls. I led into the water at once six young men; and when I had baptized ten, a young man who had not come forward, passed through the crowd and proposed to his wife to join him; they took each other by the hand and came into the water together. This was one of the most pleasant scenes I ever saw. The saints praised their God aloud, and many of the congregation wept."

Sometimes it has been customary among sects to measure the power of a religious faith by the strength and joy it imparts in the dying hour, which certainly is bringing the reality to a solemn test. Judging by this standard, and from almost innumerable instances, the faith inspired by the labors of Mr. B. and his associates was a strong spiritual power, holding the element of triumph in the last, low hour; for not unfrequently did the departing spirit rise to a calm and joyful enthusiasm as the rays of the eternal morning began to fall upon their inward vision.

June 1825 finds Mr. Badger actively engaged in organizing a plan for an evangelizing ministry, an idea he had previously recommended in his correspondence, and in his address to the Conference, as the best means, at that time, for promoting the life and success of the churches. A full report was made on his suggestion, and with his assistance such a ministry was appointed for the year, of which he was, with four others, a member. Perhaps an extract from this address, delivered at Byron, Genesee County, N. Y., June 24, may more perfectly give his views.

"Furthermore, my brethren, to facilitate the union and prosperity of this Conference, let every church within its boundaries be advised to represent themselves by delegates and form a part of the Conference. Let every church be considered as under the care of individual ministers whom they may elect, or under the care of a travelling ministry which may be organized by this Conference. I here call your attention to a subject of the first magnitude. On a travelling connection, in my opinion, much is depending; and indeed I see no other way for our numerous vacant congregations to be supplied. Then as many preachers as feel it to be their duty to devote their whole time to travelling must be sanctioned by this body, and divide themselves into districts or circuits, as will best commode the local state of the churches. Their support must be received if possible from the congregations of their care; if not, a Conference Fund must supply them, that they be perfectly independent and devoted to their work. By this method, poor as well as wealthy congregations will have a stated ministry. But be assured that the organization of a Conference Fund will be the mainspring to give energy to the whole plan, without which all our calculations are but castles in the air."

Whilst we have this excellent address in hand we cannot dismiss it without quoting a few more lines, particularly as they show the views and state of things at that time. He begins thus:—

"My Fathers and Brethren in the Ministry: I consider myself highly honored to be called to speak in this meeting of delegates and ministers, which I deem one of the most enlightened bodies of men on earth. When I reflect on the name you espouse, the sound doctrine you inculcate, the Christian liberty you enjoy, and the reformations that have everywhere attended you for twenty years past, I am justified in the sight of God and men in congratulating you as a favored and an enlightened people.

"Though you have been called to face the storm of persecution in every step you have taken; though many of you have sacrificed both property and health for the cause, you have the pleasure of reflecting that your labors have not been unsuccessful, and that the cause in which you suffer is good, and will eventually triumph over everything unlike to God. The persecution you experience, I consider a clear evidence that you are the people of God, and are useful to his cause. When the time comes that we bear no decided testimony against error and sin, then there will be no reformation to attend our labors, and no persecution will be seen. But I pray God that such a time may never come.

"You take the Holy Scriptures for your rule of faith and practice. This is all sufficient, and far preferable to the numerous law-books which designing creed-makers have imposed on the disciples of Christ. You reject all party names, and take upon yourselves the name given by Christ to his disciples in the New Testament. This is highly commendable, and if we are Christians in name, spirit, and practice, we are what we should be, and what all denominations profess to be.

"Your church government establishes liberty and equality through all the flock of God. Every church has an equal right to a voice in this body. Here ministers and people stand upon the level, and there is none to lord it over God's heritage. We here confer on the welfare and prosperity of the whole, and take sweet counsel together. I consider your dissent from several popular errors as a great virtue; though it exposes you to much persecution, it will lay the foundation for your prosperity. In government you discard all monarchy and aristocracy, which principles have been the ruin and overthrow of many sects and kingdoms. In theology you dissent from the cold and chilling doctrines of Calvinism. You reject the mysterious doctrine of the Trinity as inconsistent. This is a bold step, yet your ground is tenable, and it defies the assault of the most learned. The doctrine of the Trinity, which has kindled such deplorable contentions throughout the Christian world, is of human origin, and was brought into the Church in the fourth century. There is no sentiment in theology more contested than it. In Europe the controversy is conducted with great ability, but the Unitarian cause is fast gaining. In England, four hundred congregations have rejected it; in America, several colleges and many of the principal men of the Union have discarded it. I am informed that the Hon. John Quincy Adams, the President of the United States, is a bold Unitarian, and is valiant for the truth. In this country, the alarm which Trinitarians manifest, the precaution they take, and the combination of different sects on this subject, are sure proof of the weakness of their cause, and though we now hear the cry from every Trinitarian church in the land, 'Great is Diana,' 'Great is Diana,' be assured that her temple totters, her pillars are shattered, and this idol must, ere long, fall like Dagon before the Ark of God. It lays the foundation of Deism, is the first argument of the Jew, the Pagan, the Mohammedan and the Infidel against the Christian religion.

"A cold, formal, spiritless worship must also be rejected. A fashionable conformity to anti-Christian practices would give us the applause of men, but not the approbation of God and our own consciences. Let that preaching which is the most spiritual receive your most cordial approbation, and let the saints in all our congregations be encouraged to improve their gifts.

"It will also be well to keep up a friendly correspondence with other Conferences. For this purpose, let our clerk be instructed to officiate as corresponding secretary, that we may act in the light of the whole body. As we are more nearly allied to the Eastern Conference in this State than to any other, I recommend to have one delegate appointed every year to sit with them, that our business may be conducted in harmony. As our churches are extending to Georgia on the South, to Maine on the East, and to Canada on the North, it must always keep this State as the centre of the connection, and we have grounds to anticipate much from a correspondence between our brethren of the North and the South. There are now about one hundred ministers in the Eastern and Western Conferences; but when I came into this country eight years ago, there was not over ten or twelve free preachers in the State, and many of our present number were then strangers to God. We now have nine or ten convenient meeting-houses built by our own people, besides many others which have become free. Three temples of worship at least are being built this year within the bounds of these Conferences; one in the city of New York, where Simon Clough is laboring with success; one at Bloomfield, one at Salem, Ohio, and several congregations are preparing to build another year. Although we have witnessed so much prosperity, our work is just begun. Never did we witness such a time as the present. The cry, 'Come over and help us,' is now heard from all parts, and did you, my brethren, ever witness such throngs to attend upon your ministry as now? Did you ever know such a general inquiry for light and liberty? Truly the fields are all white and ready to harvest. My aged brethren, as you look upon the young men by your side who have devoted their juvenile years to God, and have just entered upon the great and arduous duties of the ministry, let every power within you rejoice that you have lived to see this good day, that you behold the evidence that the ranks will yet be filled, when you and I shall sleep in death. And you, my young brethren, look upon your fathers in the ministry, who have spent their time, property, and health in publishing salvation to sinners; view with reverence those venerable heads which have become hoary in the way of righteousness, and be stimulated by their example to end your days in honor of the sacred cause you have espoused. May you have many souls as the seals of your ministry, and hereafter shine as stars of the firmament forever and ever!"

Immediately Mr. Badger began to fulfil his part of the duties devolving on the newly appointed ministry. Between July 13th and August 9th, he travelled four hundred and sixty-five miles, preached twenty-one sermons, and baptized thirteen persons; between August 12th and 31st, he journeyed three hundred and fifty-seven miles, attended twenty-one meetings, preached at Covington, N. Y., at the ordination of Rev. Elisha Beardsley, on the 21st, from Rev. 10:10; and from this period to September the 24th, the time of his departure for his western and southern tour, the days and evenings were industriously used in his mission, completing in all nine hundred and sixty-six miles from July 13th. As Mr. Badger published hasty sketches of his tour from this time, in the "Gospel Luminary," I shall occasionally quote his printed paragraphs. He heads his notes of travel with the scripture injunction, "Gather up the fragments that nothing be lost," and with a rapidity that neither knew nor cared for elaboration, he threw off the descriptions of the scenes and events that lay in his way. Also two or three small blank books accurately narrate every mile he travelled, every town he entered, every sermon he preached, and every farthing he expended. Such was his accustomed order. These memorandums are sometimes prefaced with significant mottoes; on one is the text, "Keep thyself pure;" on another, and perhaps, indicative of the rough and various treatment the travelling missionary is sometimes liable to receive, are the words of Johnson:—

"Of all the griefs that harass the distressed,
Sure the most bitter is the scornful jest;
Fate never wounds more deep the generous heart,
Than when the blockhead's insult points the dart."

Also from Gray:—

"He gave to misery all he had, a tear,
He gained from heaven ('twas all he wished) a friend."

"Studious alone to learn whate'er may tend
To raise the genius or the heart amend."

Narrating his course to the readers of the Luminary, he says:—

"I left home September 24, accompanied by my wife, Mr. Chapin, and several other friends, for the general meeting at Chili, where we arrived in the evening. Here I met eight of my brethren in the ministry. Our interview was agreeably interesting, and the parting to me uncommonly solemn. The general meeting, so far as I could discern, was very satisfactory. The assembly was large, solemn, and attentive; the preaching was powerful and interesting, and the accommodations good. We leave the event with God. On our way to Royalton, I preached once in Clarkson, and once in Gaines. At Royalton, I met thirteen ministers of the everlasting Gospel, all of whom appeared to have the good of souls at heart, and love to the great and honorable work in which they were engaged. Brothers Church, Chapin, Beardsley, Shaw, Hathaway, Whitcomb, Blodget and Hamilton, all spoke to good satisfaction, and the multitude could say, our place was no less than the house of God, and the very gate of heaven. In conference, we received Francis Hamilton as a fellow-laborer. He gave two appropriate discourses, and I hope will be useful among us.

"October 3, our company, consisting of twelve persons, visited Niagara Falls, to view the stupendous and sublime works of nature. We lodged four or five miles up the river from the Falls. On walking out in the evening, the scene was peculiarly grand. While nature around was hushed, the never-ceasing roar of the stupendous cataract brought to my mind important reflections on several passages of Scripture. The next day, visited Black Rock and Buffalo; at twelve, the solemn, memorable hour arrived when our little company must be separated. Language is too poor to describe my feelings as I gave my wife, and six young people who were to accompany her return, the parting hand. Every heart felt more than words express; but, as all the company have lively hopes of immortality, we can look forward to a world where parting can never come.

'How soothing is the thought, and sweet!
But for a while we bid adieu;
With welcome smiles again to meet,
And all our social joys renew.'

"Our company now consists of five, L. Hathaway and wife, Jesse E. Church, and Asa Chapin. The two last are valuable young men, and bid fair to be useful in the great work of the ministry."

From Buffalo, Mr. Badger and his company proceeded along the shore of Lake Erie, following a lonesome road to the town of Pomfret, Chautaque County, N.Y., where he commenced a general meeting, October 8; nine clergymen were in attendance and much good influence was manifest.

Writing from Mt. Vernon, Knox County, Ohio, under date of October 31, 1825, he says:—

"In Chautaque County, I was delighted with three curiosities in nature. 1. A small spring[38] is found in Fredonia, which affords a sufficient quantity of gas to light the whole village with very little expense. It is delightful to see, in a land which, a few years ago, was a wilderness, nature and art majestically united. 2. A larger growth of timber is found here than I have ever seen before. I saw the stump of a tree, on which I was informed that sixteen men had stood at once. We measured a chestnut tree which was dry, and had lost its bark; three feet from the ground, it was nine feet and five inches through. 3. I was made acquainted with a young lady who is remarkably gifted in poetry. A few years since, Joseph Baily found her in a poor log-hut, portraying her charming effusions on the margins of old newspapers. On his stating the subject to some Christian friends, they sent her a quire of paper, which she wrote over in a short time, and returned it, to their admiration and astonishment. She and her husband both enjoy religion. Many a brilliant soul is now breathing in soft and lively emotions in remote wildernesses, and many a precious pearl is buried in the rubbish of poverty and ignorance."

From Pomfret he visited North East, in Pennsylvania; gave two sermons, and spent a day in Conference business; thence to Salem, Ohio, where they were joyfully received by Col. Fifield, with whom Mr. B. had been acquainted in Vermont, eleven years before. There they met Rev. Asa C. Morrison, then a vigorous and efficient preacher, now a citizen of the unknown spheres; there they enjoyed a large attendance, gave seven sermons, and Mr. Badger bestows uncommon praise on the discourse given by Mr. Hathaway, on "the subject of enthusiasm, fanaticism, false zeal and delusion." Leaving Salem on the morning of the 18th, where one of the young men of his company concluded to remain, (J. E. Church,) he proceeded on his journey through Painsville, at the mouth of Grand River, Cleaveland, Brunswick, Medina and Westfield to Canaan Centre, where he held a general meeting, in which several denominations united—Presbyterians, Methodists, Baptists, and a denomination who styled themselves the United Brethren; at this time Mr. James Miles was ordained to the work of the ministry. "This to me," says Mr. Badger, "was an interesting case, as he was a young man whom I dearly loved, and one that I many years before baptized in the Province of Lower Canada; he is the seventh that I have baptized who have been ordained as ministers of the Gospel. We left Canaan on the 26th; had a pleasant journey through Wooster, and reached Mt. Vernon on the evening of the 27th, and were joyfully received by Elder James Smith and family. He is an able minister of the New Testament and a respectable citizen." At this place he met several ministers from the Southern States, some of hoary hairs, who were giving the remnant of their days to preaching the Gospel. Here Mr. Badger and Mr. Hathaway gave three sermons each, to a people who were anxious to hear and learn more of the truth which belongs to the great theme of human salvation through the Crucified One.

His next sketching dates at Cincinnati, Ohio, December 25, 1825:—

"The wise and prudent conquer difficulties
By daring to attempt them; sloth and folly
Shiver and shrink at sight of toil and danger,
And make the impossibility they fear."

"Sir,—On leaving our good friends at Mount Vernon, on the first day of November, the parting was affecting; we had been treated with great attention; we had here preached the word to the crowded assembly; had seen the sinner in tears trembling under the word; and the very place where we were assembled appeared like holy ground. We were conducted to Dublin, on the Sciota river, by our worthy friend, Elder Marvin, who has two sons who are preachers of the Gospel. At Sciota, met Elder Brittan and a large assembly; gave two sermons; Elder M. baptized one happy convert."

November 3d, he speaks of arriving at Derby Plains, where he preached five sermons, and saw the ruinous effects of the strange delusion into which a Mr. Douglas Farnum, formerly from New England, had involved himself and many others; a delusion that strove to ignore the common rules of social morality, and to find a direct revelation from Heaven in every impulse of the heart and mind. Though excluded from the people of his earlier association, he held a few deluded persons by his views, until self-destruction scattered them and left their names a reproach to virtue. Their leader, after running this singular career, died, confessing, however, many past errors and wrongs.

"When a people," says Mr. B., "deviate in their zeal from the rules of decency, when they lay aside the Scripture, substitute imagination as a foundation for their action, and call every impulse of the mind an immediate revelation from God, I expect they will sink their characters in disgrace, and come to a miserable end. I visited the vacated village where he and his followers had joined in the merry dance, and felt a kind of horror, like that which once seized the thinking soul of a Volney at the ruins of Palmyra.

"In Clark County, at the head waters of the Little Miami, we had good meetings, were kindly entertained by Charles Arther, and had agreeable intercourse with Elder Isaac N. Walters, a young man about twenty years of age, who bids fair to be useful. At Pleasant township, Madison County, we were kindly received by Fargis Graham, a man fifty-seven years of age, who had just returned from a preaching tour of six weeks in Indiana; he had a good journey, and felt encouraged. I surveyed with admiration his gray hairs, his smiles and tears, while he gave an account of his journey. He visited the poor cabins in the wilderness, lay on the ground in the great prairie, where the wolves were howling around him, and passed through hunger and fatigue, but found God to be with him. His spacious plantation at home, on which he has more than one hundred head of cattle, besides other stock in proportion, reminded me of the ancient possessions of Abraham, Lot, and Jacob. He does much for the cause, and has long been one of its ornaments and faithful ministers."

Messrs. Badger, Hathaway and Chapin, paused awhile at Williamsport, Pickaway County, where they gave seven sermons, and received the kind attentions of Rev. George Alkire, of whom he speaks in very respectful terms. Holding meetings in Platt and Highland Counties, he parted with Mr. H. on the 19th, who travelled to Cincinnati via Kentucky, and passed ten days with Rev. M. Gardner, in whose congregations he attended sixteen meetings and preached to large and respectable assemblies. At Ripley, Brown County, he formed the acquaintance of Hon. E. Campbell, who had many years been a member of the United States Senate; of him and his father-in-law, Mr. Dunlap, a native of Virginia, and among the first settlers of Kentucky, a man who had emancipated thirty slaves and applied his own hands to labor, he speaks in honoring terms. "His colored people," says Mr. B., "still flock around him as their benefactor, and love him as their best friend on earth."

"On the 29th of November, I reached this pleasant city. Here, and in the adjoining country, I have had glorious times, an account of which you may expect in my next number. I have succeeded in obtaining a history of the churches and conferences in the west and south beyond my expectations. The preachers appear friendly, and willing to lend every possible assistance. I shall be able, in a few weeks, to give your readers a general representation of the state of things west of the Alleghany mountains, in which vast extent of country are many thousands of happy Christians who renounce all party creeds and names, and, with their naked Bibles in hand, are rejoicing in the hope of immortality."

The next dates Ripley, 0., January 12, 1826. Our journalist says:—

"The prejudices, customs, ways, manners, and opinions of men, how various! But these are not the fruit of nature or grace, but the products of education. Nature and grace are the same in every country, and vary only in form and degree.

"Cincinnati is a beautiful city, situated on the north bank of the great Ohio river, and has a population of about 15,000 souls. It is surrounded, on the east, north and west, by hills, except the narrow but rich valley of Mill Creek, which makes its way through from the north. Its location is dry, healthy, and truly romantic. Its streets are wide and pleasant, and its buildings elegant, in eastern style. The manners of the people are a compound of southern politeness and generosity, and of eastern refinement, taste, and simplicity. The civility of every class of people, down to the teamster and carman, exceeds that of any city I ever visited. The market, for neatness and variety, is equal to any in America, and its price only about one-half that of Montreal, Boston, and New York. The city council are making great improvements, and the city if fast populating. Its climate is mild and agreeable, and, as it is near the centre of American settlements, I know not what it may yet become."

Such was the Queen City in 1825. The state of religion there he describes as low, "if," says he, "we speak of experimental religion; many have profession, form and name, but we shall come short of heaven without something more." He speaks of Mr. Burk, a popular Methodist minister, as having renounced Episcopacy and taken with him a large congregation, as being so far illuminated as to "see men as trees walking;" Mr. Badger quotes the words of Franklin—"Where there is no contradiction there is no light," as applying well to agitations of this sort. Of the new reformers among the Baptists, he speaks as follows:—

"The Baptists in Cincinnati, also, have had revivals, but among them exists a great commotion, and a large congregation join with those in Kentucky and Virginia in the general dissent from creeds. Dr. Fishback, of Kentucky, and Alexander Campbell, of Virginia, are the champions in this cause. They oppose sectarian bondage with considerable ability and success. Mr. Campbell is truly a man of war, and acts the part of a Peter with his drawn sword; but, whether they will have humility, grace, and pure religion enough to 'revive the ancient order of things' in the original spirit and simplicity of the Gospel, or whether they will be laborious architects of their own fame, remains for their future conduct to prove."

In Preble County, fifty miles north of Cincinnati, Mr. B. preached several sermons at Eaton, the county seat; the sheriff of the county was his chorister and host, whose house, owing to the good order of the country, was destitute of a prisoner; the rooms usually occupied by criminals being now used to keep the earth's productions. On the authority of two ministers and several other persons who were eye-witnesses, Mr. Badger relates that he spoke in the house where, in 1821, during a great reformation, Jacob Woodard, a Deist, was struck dead by an unseen power while in the act of forcing his wife out of the meeting; that he never breathed or struggled after he fell—a phenomenon that belongs to many other marvellous instances of nearly inexplicable events we have heard of in connection with the earlier religious revivals in Ohio. Mr. Badger thoroughly explored that State, and with great satisfaction visited Kentucky. Indeed, the easy and courteous manners of Mr. Badger, his happy extemporaneous gifts, his love of society and generous sentiments, peculiarly adapted him to the admiration and acceptance of the South. Of Rev. B. W. Stone and lady, he speaks in the most exalted terms; and, whatever may have been the speculative differences between Mr. Stone and his brethren in later years, all must unite in one concession to the soundness of his learning, the clearness of his criticisms, and in what is eternally above all other things, the beauty and excellence of his Christian character. Mr. B. now returned home to Mendon, Ontario[39] County, New York, and further narrates the particulars of his adventures. He surveys with grateful pleasure the scenes he has witnessed, the kindnesses he has received, the new acquaintances and friends he had gained; and from experience and observation he was prepared to speak in the most friendly terms of his brethren in the south and west, and the tidings he brought when formally announced was, to use the language of Mr. Millard, "received with much joy." The brethren of the West were reported as having no creed but the Bible, and they "wear no name but such as the Scriptures authorize, that they uniformly believe in the simple doctrine that there is one God, the Creator, one Jesus, the Redeemer, one Holy Ghost, the Sanctifier;" that they generally favor the preëxistence of Christ, regarding the Socinian view of him as derogatory to the character of the Christian religion.

"Free salvation," says Mr. B., "is sounded through all their congregations, and Gospel liberty is the key-note of every song. No point of doctrine is made a criterion of fellowship, but Christian fellowship rests alone on the true bias of spirit and practice. They are simple, unassuming, and spiritual in their preaching and worship; the labor of the ministers is to make their hearers good: a great share of singing and prayer is interspersed through their meetings. For twenty years they have been in the way of holding camp-meetings, but the practice is fast declining, though in many cases good has resulted from them. Our brethren in the west and south are as well supplied with preachers as our churches are in the east, if not better,—preachers who are acquainted with the manners of the people, and are in a capacity to do much more good than eastern men can do among them."

Under date of April 1, 1826, Mr. Badger gives a very lengthy, interesting, and we should judge faithful account of his visit in Ohio and Kentucky, of the proceedings of a Conference in each of those States, convened for the purpose of receiving and answering his message for the east; both of which were hearty in their responses of friendship, and both furnished him with materials for giving their true history to their brethren of the east and north. He speaks of three denominational centres, which he thinks the future will witness, each having a periodical and a book-store connected with it, Cincinnati the centre for the west, New York for the east, and some place in one of the Carolinas for the south. From Rev. William Kinkade, that able, strong-minded and heroic divine, who had served his country in legislative councils, and humanity by his ministry, Mr. Badger received a strong letter, giving an account of the rise and growth of the Christian Conference on the Wabash, of one in Indiana, and touching on some of the larger points of primitive faith. He says:—

"While it gives me great pleasure to hear from you that primitive Christianity is reviving in the east, I hope you will be no less pleased to hear of its success in the west. This vast country, which was lately a howling wilderness, now blossoms as the rose. On the big and little Wabash, which is still the haunt of savage men and wild beasts, there are now large churches of happy Christians. Along the Ambarrass and Bumpass, where twelve years ago little else was heard but the howling of wolves, the hooting of owls, the fierce screams of panthers and the fiercer screams of wild Indians, painted for war and thirsting for human blood, are now heard the songs of Zion, the sound of prayer, and the voice of peace and pardon through a Redeemer. Among us the demon intolerance has been exposed in its multifarious character, and banished from the congregation of the faithful. Ignorance has given way to investigation; and love and union are daily triumphing over prejudice and partyism. But still I see, I feel, I lament a great want of that holiness and divine power which characterized the followers of Jesus in the first ages of Christianity."

"It is the word of God alone," said these stout, honest-hearted men of Ohio, when assembled—"the word of God alone, on which the Church of Christ will finally settle, build and grow into a holy temple of the Lord." Mr. Badger, after taking a list of the names of ministers in Kentucky and Ohio, and with a characteristic orderly minuteness, ascertained the number of churches and of meeting-houses they erected, the names of such as had died in the active duties of the ministry, returned home, rich in the benedictions of the regions he had visited, and with the resolve at some other season to penetrate the south further than he yet had gone. Perhaps the good impressions made on his mind by these journeys may be plead in conjunction with the wide sympathies of his nature, and the well-balanced cast of his intellect, as the reason why in all his life he was uncontrolled by local prejudice, and it may be a part of the reason why, that to him, and to the cause of free and Apostolical Christianity which he represented, there was no east, no west, no north, no south, as forming any limit to his friendly regards and Christian fellowship. At Cincinnati he gathered the few who held to like faith into a convenient place of worship, made arrangements with ministers for their supply, and before his return a general Conference was agreed upon at Cincinnati the last of October, 1826.

June 23d, at the Annual Session of the New York Western Christian Conference, he was, with Rev. A. C. Morrison, appointed a messenger to the United States Conference, to be holden at Windham, Ct., the first days of September, where among the responsible trusts committed to him, was that of acting as their messenger at the autumnal assemblage of delegates and ministers who were to convene at Cincinnati. From April to August of this year, Mr. Badger was constantly engaged in the vicinity of home; at South Lima additions were made, the assembly was large; the society at Royalton he consigned to the care of Rev. E. Shaw, an able minister of the New Testament. August 18th, he visited New York city where he stayed two Sabbaths, and spoke to increasing assemblies. His remarks on the commotion and dissent which at that time appeared among the Friends under the preaching of Elias Hix, his close and practical analysis of the state of society in New York city, though interesting, we must pass by; also his remarks on the general meetings he attended at Beekman and Milan, Dutchess County, and of one at Canaan, Columbia County, N. Y. Something tragical developed under his four sermons at Beekman. A minister of another sect, who had violently opposed the people and sentiments to which Mr. Badger belonged, was observed to weep much under his discourse, and afterwards was heard to say that it was the truth of God, and that none could deny it—the same night he went into a grove near his residence, and hung himself.

In Columbia County, Mr. Badger became acquainted with the venerable old minister, John Leland, of whom the world has heard much, a man then between seventy and eighty years old, but possessing the brilliancy of youth. Though local at the time, he said that his travels as a minister would measure three times around the globe. From Rev. Mr. Gardner, a prominent minister in Ohio, Mr. B. received these lines of invitation: "A second visit from yourself in this country will be well received. Our hearts and our houses are open to receive you, and many are inquiring, 'When will he return?'" Rev. Mr. Adams also writes: "The friends remember you with affection; they have not forgotten your sermons and good counsels; they are anxious to receive another visit from you, and think that you would do much good in this country. I am confident there is not a society you visited here but would unite in inviting you to return." Several such invitations were kindly showered upon him. He did return. We may ask where were his idle days? It was one of his chosen maxims that "an idle person is the devil's playfellow." In all these labors we see a spirit that surveys the general interest, plans for the general good, and leads along easily the minds of others into the possession of his own views and feelings. In the southern and western journey, narrated in this chapter, there were revivals in almost every place he visited, as we learn not only from his own journal, but more particularly from other and reliable sources.

His second tour through Ohio and Kentucky, in which he renewed and greatly enlarged his acquaintance, gave him a still larger estimate of the success of liberal principles in the west and south. By the advices of the best informed ministers, he learned that the account he had published the previous spring in relation to the number of ministers and brethren in the west was much too small, and that, using his own language, "it is a safe and moderate calculation to say, that in the several Conferences situate in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Tennessee, Alabama, and Kentucky, there are three hundred preachers and fifteen thousand brethren. They all worship ONE GOD in ONE Person, and have no creed but their Bible." He says:

"I have again passed through the lofty forests and beautiful plains of Ohio; have seen the herds of wild deer sporting on the lovely prairie; have heard the screams of the fierce wolf, and have turned aside from these romantic beauties and terrors of nature to the wigwam of the savage to hear the praises of the Redeemer. Also, I have again visited the pleasant land of Kentucky; have seen the smiles of the convert, the tears of mourners, and have joined in worship with thousands of happy Christians in the west who are rejoicing in hope of immortality.

"It is now a more general time of reformation in the west than has been witnessed for many years past. At Dublin, Elder Isaac N. Walters has been very successful in winning souls to Christ. In Elder Alkire's vicinity the churches have received large additions of late. In Elder Gardner's congregations the number was increasing, and a new church had been organized within a few weeks. In Elder Rogers's neighborhood some sixty or seventy were hopefully converted; and from Elders Simonton, Vickers, Kyle and Miles I heard a good report. In Kentucky the prospect has not been so good as it now is for many years. News from the west part of Virginia, and east of Tennessee, by Elder William Lane, was very refreshing. Sectarianism there is fast falling. In Alabama the Lord is doing wonders, and the knowledge of one God is fast increasing; in those regions he has raised up many able advocates for his pure doctrines. In Kentucky, my interview with the preachers, brethren and friends was very agreeable, and their kindness and friendship can never be forgotten by me. A message was sent to me by order of the church at Georgetown, seventy miles distant, inviting me to visit them. In Ohio, my visit was everywhere received with joy. At Cincinnati, the congregation was large and the prospect is good. Our friends there will probably build a brick meeting-house for the worship of one God in one Person, in the course of next summer.

"Since July I have travelled about three thousand miles, and attended about one hundred meetings. My present tour has been attended with more fatigues than any journey I have ever performed. My preaching has been constant; and after meeting I have many times been constrained to engage in debate in which I have continued until morning. I have had to preach many sermons on disputed subjects, one at Cincinnati of three hours' length; though I had opponents present, they made no reply; one at Dublin of more than two hours; eight preachers present, but no reply; one at Richfield of two hours. God has stood by me in all my conflicts thus far, and many instances of his mercy have I witnessed of late. I have been once overturned in a stage, and in Kentucky I fell from my horse; in both instances narrowly escaped death."

In Columbiana County, the two colleagues of Mr. Badger, L. Hathaway and Asa Chapin, met a great excess of enthusiasm in public worship, against which they directed the cooler power of reason; and it seems that a strong paragraph in Mr. Badger's printed journal, in which he sharply and most independently reproved (as he always did under such circumstances) disorder and fanaticism in the house of God, caused a lengthy, explanatory, and complaining reply, to which Mr. B. very ably responded. Speaking of the one who had led the way in this wild enthusiasm, and whom he regarded as having been egotistically unpleasant to his colleagues, he applies the words of Johnson:

"Fate never wounds more deep the generous heart,
Than when the blockhead's insult points the dart."

At a meeting of the General Conference held at West Bloomfield, September 7, 1827, a resolution of hearty approval was passed in relation to what Mr. Badger had done for uniting the different branches of the Christian connection, east, west and south, and expressive of much gratification in the news obtained of the churches west of the Alleghanies.

CHAPTER XV.

MINISTRY AT BOSTON.

It is evident from what has already been developed in the character and public life of Joseph Badger, that his sympathies were extensive, that the cause which he always avowed to be dearer than life was everywhere a sacred unit, its wants being near, though located in a distant region. Some men root so firmly in particular locality, that no considerations ever draw them to meet the emergencies of a distant post. Though strong in certain local attachments, though firmly persuaded of the value and necessity of permanent pastors, he believed in the utility of an evangelizing ministry for destitute places, for the breaking of new ground, and was ready at any time to hear the Macedonian cry, "Come over and help us."

The Christian Church in Boston, constituted July 1st, 1804, under the ministry of the venerable Abner Jones, whose preaching in 1803 in the Baptist churches of that town was attended by one of the greatest revivals ever known in that community, was, in the year 1826, left without a stated ministry, owing to the removal of their pastor, Rev. Charles Morgridge, to New Bedford, for the purpose of taking the pastoral charge of the Purchase street church in that city. Their position at this time was very critical. Though they had succeeded in building a commodious house of worship, they were, from the nature of their sentiments, somewhat unpopular in a city where the Calvinistic theology had not as yet fully learned the lessons of becoming humility; and also were they embarrassed by the influence of Dr. Elias Smith, whose popular eloquence was at this time employed in a way to injure the cause, which, in other years, he had done much to promote. The society had been for some time destitute of a stated pastor; and by the information obtained of their condition in the persuasive letters he received from Rev. Simon Clough, of New York, and from some leading members of the church in Boston, Mr. Badger was induced to leave his pleasant field of labor in the State of New York and to take up his residence in that city, where he intended to remain until their prosperity and the voice of higher duty should render it proper for him to leave.

Proceeding by the way of New York, where he preached four sermons to Mr. Clough's congregation, he arrived at Boston on September 28th, where he received the cordial welcome and generous hospitality of his friend William Gridley, a man of noble spirit, good ability, and useful activities in the Christian cause. On the 30th, Mr. Badger preached three sermons in the Summer and Sea street Chapel, having, as he states, congregations that numbered about 400 in the morning, 800 in the afternoon, and 600 in the evening. Surveying the new field before him, he says, though informed by his friends that it was a low time, that "the prospect is good." Though Mr. Badger's letters do not state the exact time of his residence in this city, I find in a passing notice from the able and truthful pen of John G. Loring—a man whose life, precepts, intelligence, and uniform fidelity to religion, rendered him one of the best citizens of Massachusetts—that the time spent there was about one year.

In narrating the history of that society about the time that Mr. Morgridge left them, Mr. Himes observes—"Some time now elapsed in which they had no stated pastor. They procured, at length, the services of Elder Joseph Badger; he labored with them between one and two years. Much good was done. The church and society were built up, and sinners were converted."[40] This statement is the same that the people of Boston who attended his ministry have, so far as my recollections serve, invariably made; the common opinion is, that the church and society were never more uniformly prosperous, that the meetings were never better attended, and that the mind and heart of the audience were never more satisfactorily influenced and edified than they were under his ministry. The strong and stable men who were then the pillars of strength in that society have been its pillars ever since;[41] and though additions of value at different times have been made, it is certain that there was a largeness and nobility to the timbers of the olden forest that it might be difficult to surpass in more recent growths.

As a pastor, Mr. Badger was attentive to the wants of his flock, for whom he cherished a tender care. "Though the situation is a trying one," said Mr. B., in a letter addressed to his wife, "I feel in duty bound to stay for the present, for this church must not perish. All my days and evenings are taken up by the duties of my present station." Writing from Ballstown, N. Y., June 8, 1828, where he was attending a general meeting, after he had been at Boston for more than six months, and at his home in Mendon about two, he said—

"This hasty note, my dear Eliza,[42] which will no doubt be an unwelcome message, will inform you that I am pressingly urged to return immediately to Boston. The call is irresistible. And my agreeable home must for the present be abandoned, as the care and conflict of the Boston church are continually upon my mind."

The main element of success in any calling for which one has suitable capacity, was his, namely, a deep interest in the station he had taken.

In a letter addressed to Mrs. Badger, February 4, 1827, he narrates very affectingly his visit to Farmington, the sacred memories of the heart that revived in his mind as he visited that place, and Gilmanton, where, with relatives and many former friends, he enjoyed the bliss of a friendship to which years of time had added a new degree of sacredness. It is impossible to read these passages, which were the spontaneous and unstudied utterances of his mind thrown into his domestic correspondence, without seeing a sincere wealth of heart, which his light and buoyant manner in the world was often calculated to conceal rather than to express. In addressing the Luminary, May 9, 1828, he says:

"I intended in this number of my Journal, to have given a general account of all the religious societies in Boston, but other things have prevented my giving that attention to the subject which would be necessary in this case; I must therefore omit it till some future period. The Calvinistic Baptists, the Methodists and the Unitarians, have made many disciples to their several parties the year past; a number of whom we hope are experimental and practical disciples of Jesus Christ. Four new chapels have been opened in Boston the winter past, and while other societies have been favored with revivals through the goodness of God, the Christian Society, which has withstood all opposition for more than twenty years, has of late experienced some of the rich mercy-drops. I have been laboring among them some over six months, and have been enabled with divine assistance to gather up the fruits of my brethren's labors who went before me. The names of Clough and Morgridge were mentioned by some whom I baptized, as the means, under God, of calling up their attention to the concern of the soul. I will name one instance: I baptized a very respectable young lady who had always attended a Unitarian meeting until a few months since, when she found in a pew of her chapel Clough's letter to Mr. Smallfield, which excited her inquiry and finally became the means of her awakening. Thus a good thing may come out of a despised and persecuted Nazareth.

"The 23d of March was a day of great interest to myself and the Christian Society of Boston: the day was fine, and the assembly large. On this memorable day twenty-four happy converts presented themselves for baptism. Thousands assembled at the sea-side in South Boston: and though some confusion was visible amidst the thronging multitude, yet God was with his children to own and bless his holy ordinance. This was a day of unusual strength and comfort to me; I preached three sermons, was in the water forty-five minutes, and through the whole was scarcely sensible of fatigue. God's strength has hitherto been sufficient: in Him I put my trust. I would not wish, however, by this, or any other communication of mine, to carry the idea that we have had a great reformation in Boston, for we have only a small addition to our numbers, and have been blessed only with occasional conversions; but I hope that those who have professed faith in Christ are converted to God and not to creeds, or to a party, or to man; and that the work is so effectual that it will endure in time of trials. All the New England States are abundantly blessed with the outpouring of the Spirit of God at the present time. A cloud of mercy is hanging over the happy land. If the ministers keep humble and stand in the counsel of God, if the saints live in union and stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made them free, the pure testimony must and will prevail, and reformation everywhere will abound. What we have seen will be only the beginning of good days; the petty wrangles of frail mortals will subside; the darkness in which the Church has long been groping will be dispelled; and she will come forth from the wilderness on the breast of her beloved, and will fill the world with her majesty, glory and beauty."

The first days of April, 1828, Mr. and Mrs. Badger improved in returning home to Mendon, N. Y.; in their absence, William, their youngest son, had died; in the region of Mendon he chiefly remained until his June meeting at Ballstown, already spoken of, when the united request of the committee, William Gridley, John G. Loring, Abner H. Bowman, in behalf of the society in Boston, arrived, inviting him to return as soon as possible to their assistance; which request, together with an invidious article published in Dr. Elias Smith's paper in relation to Mr. Badger's position in regard to him, induced his immediate return to that city, where he boldly and successfully vindicated his premises, whether theological or personal. Within the three months succeeding his arrival on June 21st, are several valuable letters from his pen. A few extracts we will here subjoin:—

"Boston, July 8, 1828.

"My dear Wife: I am this moment much refreshed in receiving a letter from you, and I would now make such returns as become an affectionate husband. I spent one week agreeably in New York, and had a pleasant passage to this city, where we arrived in good health, June 21st. The 22d, my assembly was large, and all greeted me with the same joy and affection as when we parted with them, at a time you must well remember—the past spring. My first text was Acts 15: 36: 'Let us go again and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord, and see how they do.' The brethren have lost much since I left them; but we have already seen their strength and courage revive, and several are now under awakening."

"Boston, July 19, 1828.

"Brother Millard: I have received yours of June 28, and was glad to hear of your success in Canada and at the Central Conference. The truth must prevail, and error must fall. Since my return our assembly is fast coming back, and we are getting many new hearers. A revival is now commencing. Several are under conviction, and the saints begin to offer 'the pure testimony' in the house of the Lord. Elders Kilton, from Eastport, and Green, from Hartford, have visited me. I have visited the colleges at Cambridge, and the venerable Noah Worcester, of Brighton. He is one of the purest men I ever saw. His theme is peace, peace, peace! I would also say, that for young men among us who should wish to have a liberal education for the ministry, they can have board and tuition gratis, if properly introduced at Cambridge.

"I have been much out of health for a few weeks past; the hot weather overcomes me very much. If I do not get better I shall spend the week time in the country, though it seems as if I could not be spared a day from the flock of my care."

"Boston, August 4, 1828.

"Dear and affectionate Wife: I suppose you have some days been expecting this letter, but my labors here are of that arduous and oppressive kind which consume all my moments, and scarcely leave me time for repose and refreshment, much less to enjoy any innocent relaxation, or to bathe my weary spirit in the sweet and endearing reflections of home. You know, Maria, that home has charms for my heart this summer, which I scarcely ever felt so sensibly before; and since I left you, at any time would these four little letters, (H O M E) pronounced aright, cause the blood to flow more warmly about my heart, and a chain of endearing recollections to visit my soul in a manner which, in spite of all my masculine powers and native fortitude, would cause the briny tear to flow; and then ashamed of my childlike weakness, I have mingled with the crowd and wrapped these tender scenes in smiles, to hide them from my unfeeling associates, who, of course, would only mock my affection if they knew it. But this Monday morning, after the labors of one more holy Sabbath, I accept the pleasure and the duty of communicating to you a few lines to feed that sacred fire which should ever burn in your affections toward your God, your duty, and me."

Passages like these reveal unmistakably a serious depth of heart, almost wholly unindicated by the great self-control, and by the free and cheerful manner that shrouded his inmost life from the notice and perception of the world, and from the circle also of acknowledged friends. He adds:—

"Nothing but duty could confine me to this city the present month. I am in hopes to get time to spend one day with Mr. Bowman in the country, this week. I expect to receive several members next Wednesday, and to baptize on the coming Sabbath."

Whilst in Boston, Mr. Badger became acquainted with the clergymen of other denominations, particularly with Dr. Ware, Gannet and Tuckerman, of the Unitarian faith, of whom he always spoke in exalted terms. His acquaintance and intercourse with Ware and Tuckerman were familiar; and often did he speak of the divine spirit of Henry Ware, and of the benevolent heart of Mr. Tuckerman. Indeed, at one time Mr. Badger thought of accepting a proposal to join Mr. Tuckerman in his missionary labors in Boston, at least, so far did he think of it as to consult his family on the propriety of accepting the unanimous call of the Christian Society[43] in Boston, for a settlement of three or five years, or instead of this, to join Mr. Tuckerman in his missionary labors, with a permanent settlement and a thousand or twelve hundred dollars per year. For a work like this, the gathering in, the instruction and persuasion to virtue and religion of the neglected and unprosperous classes, Mr. B. had extraordinary gifts; yet, from the weight of considerations founded chiefly in his relations to his home and former field of labor in the State of New York, neither of these positions was accepted. An anecdote somewhat characteristic of the man was lately given me by a friend, and as it relates to extemporaneous preaching, I will transcribe it.

"While he was in Boston, he occasionally associated with clergymen of the Unitarian denomination, men who were perhaps distinguished above the average of ministers by the careful and elaborate manner in which they prepared their written discourses. One day he was accosted by one of them thus: 'Mr. Badger, how do you manage to prepare and preach so many sermons?' 'Why, sir,' he replied, 'I never study the words of my sermons. I study ideas, and clothe them in words when I want them.'"

Before me lies a plain 12mo Bible, published in 1826, on whose margins, in delicate marks and letters, are pointed out every text (and the day of its use) that he spoke from during his ministry in Boston. A simple mark declares the passage, and at the bottom or top of the page the date is seen, so that, without any journal, a clue is given to every topic of his public discoursing, for his texts very generally pointed out his subjects. Whoever will look over this book, could, in the character of the passages chosen, at once see that Mr. B. had a practical mind, good taste, and knew how to be to the point and purpose. His chosen passages are full of expression. These, of course, cannot here be quoted, but a list of these passages written out, as they range from Genesis to Revelation, would be an instruction as well as a reproof to those who preach from irrelevant and inexpressive passages; and they would likewise form a noble chain of Scripture gems. A man shows what is characteristic in him by his texts, taken as a whole, often as clearly as by what he preaches.

From this Bible, which does not strike the reader as being marked up so as to mar at all its regular character, I learn that on March 30th, 1828, on leaving the flock of his charge to remain for a time at Mendon, his three sermons were from the following texts:—Job 19: 25: "For I know that my Redeemer liveth, and he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth." John 16: 22: "And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again and your hearts shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you." John 17: 20, 21: "Neither pray I for these alone: but for them also which shall believe on me through their word, that they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee; that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that thou hast sent me." Though from the Old Testament he drew many passages, and from Job, the Psalms, Proverbs and Isaiah somewhat freely, it is from the Gospels and the Epistles that he chiefly made his selections. Some of his texts may be called ingenious, requiring a free play of analogy to set them forth, as, for instance, Prov. 30:24-5-6-7-8, preached January 20, 1828: "There be four things which are little upon the earth, but they are exceeding wise: the ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer; the conies are but a feeble folk, yet make their houses in the rocks; the locusts have no king, yet go they forth all of them by bands; the spider taketh hold with her hands, and is in kings' palaces."

From the same source we learn that, on the first Sabbath of his ministry in Boston, September 30, 1827, he spoke from Rev. 22: 14, James 1: 17, and Prov. 29: 1; his valedictory sermons were given September 14, 1828, from Psalms 46: 4, and from Ecc. 11: 9. July 13, 1828, he spoke from Luke 19: 41: "And when he drew near, he beheld the city and wept over it." December 9, 1827, Psalms 133: 1, 2, 3: "Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! It is like the precious ointment upon the head that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard: that went down to the skirts of his garments; as the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion: for there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life forevermore." But the only sermon written out at length is founded on two words found in James 1: 27, "Pure Religion," and was delivered February 10, 1828. From this I offer the following paragraphs.

"Never did I arise in this congregation under a greater sense of my responsibility, than on this occasion. Never did I come before you with a subject of greater magnitude. Divest religion of purity, and a subject of horror, misery, and disgrace is presented. Religion has been the cause of wars; has divided kingdoms; has imprisoned the saints; has lighted the fagots about the disciples of Jesus, and has even in this favored city banished the Baptist and hung the humble Quaker; but this was not the religion of my text. But turn from those scenes of superstition and misery, and add to religion the word pure, and all is changed; all is meekness, simplicity and heaven. The horrors of death are dispelled, a world of glory and immortality is opened to the reflecting soul of man. By its influence the sorrowful widow receives comfort, the weeping orphan smiles, circumstances of misfortune are sanctified, the poor are enriched, the sick are supported, and the chamber of death is illuminated with the gracious smiles of the Son of God. Pure religion requires no fagot to light it, no science to adorn it, no human arm to defend it, and no carnal weapon to enforce it.

"The word religion, in its common acceptation, is applied to the four great bodies of worshippers which divide our World, Jews, Pagans, Mohammedans, and Christians. The Jews' religion embraces a belief in one God in one person, with the practice of those legal rites enjoined by the law of Moses; but it rejects the Messiah, and hopes in one yet to come. The Pagan religion embraces all that part of mankind who are involved in the worship of idols. The Mohammedan religion embraces a belief in one God, and in Mahomet as his Apostle; whilst the word Christian is applied to all who believe that Christ has come in the flesh, which includes all professed Christians.

"But what saith the Holy Scriptures? In the Bible the word occurs but five times, and is once used in reference to 'our religion,' (Acts 26: 5); twice to Jews' religion, (Gal. 1: 13, 14); and once to 'vain religion,' (James 1: 26); and once, in the language of our text, to 'pure religion.' Thus four kinds of religion are mentioned in the Bible, and but one of them is good. Four kinds of religion are found in the world, Jewish, Pagan, Mohammedan, Christian, and but one of them is good. This accords with the parable Jesus spake of the sower. The good seed fell on four kinds of ground, the wayside, among thorns, on stony ground, on good ground; four kinds, but only one brings forth fruit. So 'our religion' 'Jews' religion' and 'vain religion' bring forth no acceptable fruit to God; but 'pure religion' is like the good soil which brings forth 'some thirty, some sixty, and some one hundred fold.' Thus do the facts of history and of Scripture correspond.

"The word religion means to bind, as it puts a restraint upon our conduct and passions, and unites the soul to God, to good people and to virtuous actions. Pure religion is the soul's ornament; its fruits are the ornament of the life. To illustrate this subject further, I shall explain pure religion to be: first, purity of spirit; second, kindness and benevolence of practice."

After portraying the Christian spirit as one of meekness, as merciful, tender, forgiving, peaceful and patient, as valiant, as charitable, as contented and devout, he proceeds to show the practical fruits of the spirit he has portrayed in alleviating the sorrows of life. In describing pure religion, Mr. Badger sees fit to correct the following error:—

"One of the greatest errors which has ever infested the church militant, is that of having our fellowship bounded by a theory, opinion, or creed. While this exists, division, misery and ruin are spread through all the flock of God. While a party name or creed is valued higher than experience, it is no wonder that we are divided. But whenever the scene is reversed, when rectitude of spirit and practice shall outweigh the poor inventions of men and become the criterion of fellowship, there shall then be one fold and one shepherd; watchmen shall see eye to eye, and the people shall lift up their voice together.

"'We'll not bind a brother's conscience,
This alone to God is free;
Nor contend for non-essentials,
But in Christ united be.'"

After speaking of the kind offices which Christian sympathy extends to the widow, he alludes to the fostering, paternal care it spreads over the path of the orphan, in the following strain:—

"Again, we reflect with tender sympathy upon the case of the orphan who in early life is cut off from the instruction and care of its fond parents, and is turned into the wide world without education, without experience, without friends, without bread or shelter. What a world of misery, deception and sin he is left in! What snares are spread for his strolling feet! What woes for his expanding soul! The provision made in this city for male and female orphans is not only a subject of admiration and praise to the good of every class, but I have no doubt the departed spirits of their ancestors and parents look down with satisfaction and joy upon the benevolent founders of those asylums, that are now the living monuments of Christ's spirit on earth; and can we doubt that He who is the orphan's Father, delights in these institutions and in the kind and fostering care now extended unto them? You cannot imagine the pleasure I enjoy while on my way to this house. Almost every Sabbath I meet the female orphans, who, in uniform, follow their instructresses to the house of worship. This city, I am happy to say, not only abounds in profession, but there is no city in the world, of its population and ability, which abounds more in works of charity and benevolence. The friendship and kindness of the inhabitants of Boston are proverbial in all parts of the Union, and a Bostonian is respected throughout the world."

In the spring and summer of 1835, which the writer of this memoir passed in Boston, he well remembers the kind tone of regard in which Dr. Tuckerman uniformly spoke of Mr. Badger. They had been intimate friends, had conversed often on the present imperfect state of society, on its moral and temporal evils, and especially on the best ways of reaching it effectually with the saving principles of Christianity, for both concurred in the idea which may be called invariably the key-note of Mr. Badger's ministry, that the Gospel of Christ, properly understood and applied to life, is the only science of human happiness.

The last published letter of Mr. Badger from the field he at this time occupied, is dated Boston, September 16, 1852. He says:—

"Having now completed three months' labor in this pleasant city, I am about to start for my residence again. My visit here has been as successful as could be expected under present circumstances; each month has added some new members to the Church, and every communion has been crowned with the Lord's presence. 'The little opposition party' who were drawn off from this church three years ago, who have been much engaged to slander and revile the society, as well as many useful ministers and other churches and conferences in the connection, have, finally, so far lost what little influence they had, that nothing now is to be feared from them.

"But there is still another class of disorganizers in the land, and not a few in this city, who deny that the Bible is a sufficient rule of faith and practice, who ridicule the ordinances of Baptism and the Lord's Supper, who despise church order and a preached Gospel, unless it is accommodated to their poor, frail, weak, and changeable imaginations. They also pretend to great revelations, which fills them with self-righteousness and prepares them to pass judgment on all their fellow-Christians who have the misfortune to differ from their notions. How often we see the basest principle of pride in the garb of singularity, slovenly idleness, and in what the apostle calls a voluntary humility. The church in all ages has been tempted by conflicts from without, and unholy and unreasonable persons of their own number, but happy are they who endure hardness as good soldiers, and are overcomers through the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony; and it is through great tribulation that we enter into Heaven.

"During my stay here I have made two visits to the State of New Hampshire, both of which were interesting. My native State is still favored with mercy-drops. Many of the old saints are strong and valiant for the truth, and in several places are prospects of revivals. My last visit, which was to the town of Mason, and county of Hillsborough, was under peculiar circumstances and pleasing and flattering prospects. Mason has long been a stronghold of orthodoxy. No dissenter from that doctrine had ever preached in the place; but a few respectable men who had become enlightened by reading the Scripture and our periodicals, were resolved to hear the 'sect which is everywhere spoken against,' for themselves. Accordingly, one of their number was despatched to Boston, forty-eight miles, to engage me to visit them. From this representation I concluded to go, as Peter did among the Gentiles, not conferring with flesh and blood. I found on my arrival, September 11, a decent assembly convened at the Presbyterian meeting-house, who were very attentive to hear the word. I gave another appointment in the evening, and found the attention of the people still increasing. At the intermission, and after sermon, late at night, and in the morning, many strangers flocked around me to make inquiry, to state their feelings, and to manifest the great pleasure they had in the increasing light, and in the truths proclaimed. While I saw their prospect of improvement and deep attention, I almost forgot the fatigues of the day and night, though they passed heavily; I had journeyed fifty miles, preached at 4 P. M., one hour and a half; in the evening two long hours; I had conversed until twelve at night, when the mind became so full that sleep departed until about three o'clock in the morning. Here are gentlemen of talents and property who are liberal-minded Christians. They say, when in the judgment of our ministry it is prudent to make a stand there, a meeting-house shall be immediately built, and some are about ready to be baptized. I have written to Mr. H. Plummer, on the case of the people here; and hope they will be noticed by the preachers of New England."

His next paragraph, which emphatically repeats sentiments not as yet quoted in this book, but published as early as 1817, embraces a topic of so much importance to the permanent power and respectability of church institutions, that I call to it a distinct attention. After speaking of the importance of introducing the new and liberal sentiments into places that have never heard them proclaimed, in a manner that shall make the best impression, that is, through the agency of able and efficient speakers, he proceeds to say:—

"I am decidedly opposed to the hasty constitution of churches. No church, in my opinion, should be acknowledged until there are numbers, talents, and strength sufficient to keep a regular meeting on the Sabbath; also there should be a prospect of stated preaching. I recommend that these brethren at Mason be baptized and stand either in their individual capacity, or be associated with the church at Boston, or Haverhill. We have already taken possession of more ground than we can cultivate to advantage, and I see no way for our vacant congregations to be supplied but by an evangelizing ministry."

Mr. Badger closes this letter by saying that his numerous engagements would prevent him from fulfilling his appointment at Dutchess County, N. Y., where he had been solicited to meet again the throngs of people who had, in other years, listened to his voice in the calm and tranquil forest, where, to use his own words, they had formerly "felt and seen the power and influence of truth." From his notes, and some social parties he attended in Boston, it is perceived that he had a sympathizing interest in the struggles and sufferings of the noble Greeks, who were then aiming at freedom and self-government. During the year of his Boston ministry, he preached on a great variety of subjects, attended several funerals, baptized many believers, and solemnized many marriages. Like St. Paul, he was ever abundant in labors. With the society over which he had presided, Rev. I. C. Goff remained. September 17, 1828, he took of the good city his final leave, of whose citizens, customs, literature, and general character, he always afterward spoke in the most respectful terms, in a manner expressive of agreeable memories.

CHAPTER XVI.

FOUR MONTHS' LABOR IN THE COUNTIES OF ONONDAGA AND CAYUGA, NEW YORK, IN 1828 AND 1829, WITH OTHER PARTS OF HIS PUBLIC LIFE, EXTENDING TO MAY, 1832.

December, 1828, Mr. Badger accepted a field of labor, for about four months, in the counties of Onondaga and Cayuga, New York. His peculiar abilities were needed to revive and strengthen the churches, whose wants at that time were greater than could be supplied by the ministers who lived in that section. In the town of Brutus (since called Sennett), in Camillus and other towns of that region, he had preached frequently in former years. In the former town, Elijah Shaw had been very successful in his ministerial labors; and throughout all that country generally, Rev. O. E. Morrill, whose happy and popular gifts always made him a favorite with the people, had preached much, and wielded a great influence in behalf of liberal sentiments. But Mr. Shaw had moved to New England; Mr. M. was unable to meet the many calls for assistance, and the greatness of the harvest seemed to demand additional laborers.

His plan of action covered a somewhat extended field, though his regular appointments were at Sennett, Cayuga, and at Lysander and Canton, Onondaga. At times he spoke at Cato, Baldwinsville, Jericho, Van Buren, Camillus, Elbridge, Weedsport, and other places; yet he so centralized his labor and influence as to make them effectual at the desired points. Besides his Sabbath services, it is said that he generally preached every evening in the week except on Mondays and Saturdays. As usual, his congregations were generally large and attentive, and his advocacy of liberal and evangelical sentiments was indeed formidable to all who were opposed. It could not be otherwise than a result of his independent course, that controversy, more or less, should be awakened by his ministry. He boldly stated his views, and never shrunk, from the controversial discussion of them whenever a man of character and ability ventured to encounter him with the tests of Scripture and reason. Accordingly, these manly collisions of intellect on theological questions form a very observable part of his public life. In the field he now occupied, he had two public discussions; one with the Rev. Mr. Baker, at Ionia, an eloquent Methodist minister; another with Rev. Mr. Stowe, a learned clergyman of the Presbyterian sect, at Elbridge, though with the latter it was conducted through the medium of letters, of which Mr. S. wrote only a small part, so that perhaps it cannot be called a debate so properly as a discussion.

Mr. Baker was confident of success, not having taken the measure of the man he was to encounter. The form of their controversy on the supreme Deity of Jesus, was to be the delivery of a sermon each to the same audience on the same evening; they met to settle preliminaries late in the afternoon. Mr. Badger, by his careless ease, his deference and reserve of power, managed to give his opponent an inferior opinion of his own capacity, whilst he studied closely the temper and quality of his antagonist. This he always did before he ventured upon warfare. He would draw out the resources of his opponent and reserve his own. He always held that in oral controversy, in the form of sermons, it was a desirable advantage to speak first, for two reasons. 1st. The attention of the people is then unwearied, and their minds are fresh. 2d. The speaker has the opportunity to anticipate the arguments of his opponent and to answer them, thereby depriving them of power before his adversary has used them. He cared not who had the last speech, provided he could have the first. Apparently indifferent to the result, he offered Mr. Baker the choice of time, who allowed Mr. Badger to speak first, thinking that the greater advantage belongs to the last word. No limit of time was set for either speaker. They appeared at early evening before a large assembly. Mr. Badger arose and announced for his text 1 Cor. 1: 4: "Is Christ divided?" a text which struck at the artificial division of his nature and being, made by those who affirm that he is at the same time perfect God and perfect man. Mr. Badger spoke between two and three hours to the most perfectly attentive audience, in which time he stated and met all the strong arguments that were likely to be arrayed against him, and urged in clear and lucid statements the evidences for his own position. I find in the plots of his controversial sermons, that he carried on usually a double work, giving, as he proceeded, alternately his own view and its evidence, then examining the opposition and its proof, then returning to the further statement of his own opinions and their evidences, and again exploding the usual arguments of the opposite side, ending always with positive views. In this debate he thoroughly achieved his aim. He so broke the weapons of his adversary that he could not rally to his use his accustomed strength. During Mr. Badger's long discourse, Mr. Baker would occasionally look at his watch and remind him that time is short, to whose impatience he once replied, "Be patient, Brother Baker, I have much yet to say; this is only the beginning of sorrows." It is certain that parties are usually biased in regard to the merits of controversies in which their peculiar doctrines are discussed; but from such recollections of this debate as community possessed in 1831 and 1835, I unhesitatingly say that but one opinion prevailed, which was, that Mr. Badger was plainly victorious.

His letters to Mr. Stowe, which originated in a misrepresentation of views made in the pulpit of Mr. S., were published in the Gospel Luminary of 1829. They were strong and able papers; and it is evident from a letter in my possession from the hand of Mr. S., that he carefully sought to evade any public contact of mental forces with Mr. B. on the subjects of difference between them.

During the several months which he passed in these counties, he performed a large amount of labor, called out an interest which was by no means limited by the extent of his own denomination, and the churches were strengthened and refreshed. His influence was always creative. But even when he added no numerical strength to his cause, a thing which we are not sure ever happened under his active ministry, he had an uncommon ability to inspire the men and women already marshalled under free principles, with new confidence in what they could do were they to try; and what is kindred to, but still a little higher than this, he had a particular faculty to bring them to the point of action; could persuade them to begin and to prosecute enterprises that they ordinarily might simply talk about, delay, and neglect. At Sennett, he pursuaded the people to attempt the building of a church; he organized the society, selected the location, and put things in active course for the completion of the enterprise. Between the villages of Canton and Ionia stands a commodious chapel, which, through the generous sacrifices of a few men, and the cooperative action of others, was built and dedicated to the service of Almighty God January 26, 1830. This chapel also was started and went up at the time it did through the leading, managing influence of Mr. Badger. But events of this kind were very common in his ministry, as he was in the habit of studying closely the strength of the cause he plead, and of enlisting into decisive action the ability of his friends in its furtherance. January 23, 1830, he preached the dedication sermon of a beautiful church in Lysander, Onondaga County, New York, where he had regularly preached in the winter of 1829. Text was Ps. 126: 3: "The Lord hath done great things for us; whereof we are glad." He also preached the dedication sermon of the church in Sennett. At Canton, the Christian Chapel was open for worship January 26, 1830. From the pen of Rev. David Millard, who gave the sermon on that occasion, I extract the following lines:—

"This is the second chapel erected in Onondaga county for the use of the people called Christians. The building is neat, plain, and commodious. The labors of Rev. O. E. Morrill have been devoted to that region of country for nine years past, and have been much owned and blessed of God. About one year ago, Rev. J. Badger spent several months in that section, and was much blessed in preaching the word. His labors contributed largely towards the building of the two chapels we have just named, (Lysander and Canton,) and also of another in the town of Sennett, Cayuga County, not yet completed. The cause of liberal Christianity was never more prosperous in that part of the country than now."[44]

There was indeed ability in favor of liberal views through that country, ability of long standing; but we think it just to the memory of Mr. Badger to say that, during his labors in that region, his creative mind was prominent in giving to that ability the form of active, prosperous enterprise in the respects here spoken of.

November, 1830. From the Valley of Repose,[45] he writes:

"Since my last, I have visited many places in this part of the State, and am happy to find that the cause of Christian liberty is gradually advancing, though opposition attends every step that is taken. In Rochester, a Unitarian society has been raised. Mr. W. Ware, of New York city, was the first minister of that order who ever preached there. His preaching was like Paul's, at Athens; it made no small stir. Many were alarmed for their favorite dogmas; for his three sermons gave the doctrine of the Trinity a deadly blow. He was succeeded by Mr. Green, of Massachusetts, who is an eloquent man, and, like Apollos, mighty in the Scriptures. He left, after a stay of three months, for Cincinnati. I am informed they are now supplied by two young men from Boston, who have my best wishes for their success. Though these men have encountered much opposition, a spirit of inquiry and a love of liberal Christianity are imparted from their faithful labors, which will live among the citizens of Rochester in spite of the influence of superstitious sectarians. Though they are a distinct sect from the Christians, their labors go to promote the same great principles of liberty, and their enemies and ours are the same."

In Cayuga County, he speaks of the labors of Morrill and Coburn as successful; of passing through Montgomery, Delaware, Green and Dutchess Counties; of standing by the grave of his worthy early associate in the ministry, John L. Peavy, at Milan; of thinking of his many associates who now sleep in the grave;—men cut off in the midst of their useful labors. Taking with him, from Green County, a young man by the name of Joseph Marsh, he returned to Mendon, October 2d.

In the autumn of 1830, his visit to Lewisburg, Pa., is thus spoken of by Rev. J. J. Harvey, in a recent letter to Mrs. Badger:—

"His congregations were large and attentive. The sects cried out against him and his doctrine. Being young, and liberal in my feelings, I was induced, by the opposition raised against this 'great Unitarian heretic, as his enemies styled him, to go and hear for myself. From the course pursued on both sides, I soon became a regular hearer, and found my feelings strongly interested in favor of the persecuted party. Among others, he preached one discourse on the doctrine of the Trinity. This was fortunate for me, because he removed from my mind the infidelity into which the popular teaching among the Methodists and Presbyterians had well-nigh driven me. I never could understand, and therefore could not believe, their irrational and unscriptural preaching on this subject; I was, therefore, on the verge of rejecting the Bible in toto. But, by clear exhibitions of truth, Mr. Badger convinced me of the scriptural and the reasonable doctrine of one God, and of one Mediator between God and men; and on that subject I have never since had a doubt."

From this place he proceeded to Milford, New Jersey, to attend the theological debate held in that town, December, 1830, between Rev. William McCalla, of Philadelphia, and Rev. Wm. Lane, of Ohio, on the question—"Is the man Christ Jesus the supreme and eternal God?" of which Mr. McCalla had the affirmative, and Mr. Lane the negative. This discussion, attended by a large concourse, and on the fourth day abandoned by the former gentleman, in the words, "I relinquish this debate forever," was one in which Mr. Badger took a deep interest. He was one of the Board of Moderators; and, with his peculiar facility at management, he succeeded, during the early stage of the debate, in getting Mr. McCalla and Rev. S. Clough into a contract for a new discussion of the same question, at the city of New York, at a subsequent time, a contract which Mr. McCalla, on the fourth day of the debate, took from his pocket, and tore into pieces in the presence of the great assembly, as significant of his intention not to carry out the purpose therein expressed. The coolness, foresight, and shrewdness of Mr. Badger on all such occasions were strong and serviceable traits.

He spent the principal part of 1831 in the vicinity of his residence, in which time additions were made to his society, which then was in a state of prosperity. From special request he visited Stafford, Genesee County, where, fourteen years before, with the assistance of Elder Levi Hathaway, he had organized a small church of eleven; a reformation immediately began, which, in the language of Mr. D. Millard, "was one of the most glorious revivals ever experienced in that region of country. Within a few months, he baptized, in Stafford, not far from fifty," about half of whom were young men of talent. Under date of October 12, 1831, Mr. Badger writes:—

"It is now nearly twenty years since I engaged in the great and responsible work of preaching the Gospel. I regret that I did not engage in that work earlier, and that I have been no more successful. But, with all my lack of qualifications, I have every year had something to encourage me; I have baptized about one thousand persons; I have had the pleasure of seeing twelve of that number become useful ministers of the Gospel, and many have finished their pilgrimage on earth with joy. Of late, I have been more than ever encouraged, and, notwithstanding my embarrassment on account of ill health, my spirit is alive to the good work, and my heart is warm to the interests of Zion. The church at Lakeville, Livingston County, has also been blessed of late. I have, within a short time, baptized six persons there. In Tompkins County, our brethren have been abundantly favored with revivals. In Cayuga County, also, the cause is prospering. Elder Morrill has had an addition to the churches of his care of about eighty members, this year."

"Several of our brethren in this country have, the present season, finished their course in this world. We have taken sweet counsel with them; we have joined them in commemorating the love and suffering of the lowly Jesus; we have mingled with them in songs of praise and sweet devotion on earth, and now look up with trembling confidence and cheerful hope to the time when we shall be permitted to join them with improved capacities, in an immortal song of praise to God and the Lamb in heaven."

On March 27th, he attended the funeral of Mrs. Thomas Pease, of Rochester, one in whom the Christian virtues were said to have shone with mild and constant brilliancy. Speaking of this event, he says:

"While I sat by the bedside of my emaciated friend, and saw her health, her beauty, and relish for life gone, and the strong attachment of friends presenting their last claims to a heart which had always responded in emotions of kindest friendship, but which could respond no longer, I heard her in a low whisper say, 'Oh Lord, grant me thy smiles and thy presence, and I ask no more.' Here, said I, I see the end of all perfection. Oh God, 'Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his.'

"After I left she appeared much revived in spirit, and made choice of the text on which I should preach at her funeral, which was John 14: 2: 'In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.' How delightful to see a child of God looking up from the verge of the grave to those mansions which Christ has gone to prepare for his children."

CHAPTER XVII.

EDITORIAL LIFE.

Believing in the power of the press as one of the strongest agents which, for weal or for wo, is ever brought to bear on the thoughts, consciences, and outward destinies of men, Mr. Badger and his associates resolved on the employment of this agency for the up-building of faith, for the free investigation of Christian theology, and for the furtherance of wider views of Christian brotherhood than had ever obtained under the reign of stern, sectarian dogma. The "Gospel Luminary," started at West Bloomfield, in 1825, had been, in 1827, removed to the city of New York, and though ably conducted in the main, the feeling became strong and general in the State of New York, that something more perfectly adapted to the wants of the people could be issued; accordingly the "Genesee Christian Association," composed of some of the most experienced ministers and competent men, was organized December, 1831, with a constitution and officers, for the purpose of publishing, purchasing, selling and distributing such books and publications as the wants of the Christian Connection should, in their judgment, require; also to assist young men in the ministry with libraries and such other means of improvement as might be within their power; and especially did they contemplate, as their first work, the establishment of a periodical at Rochester, N. Y., whose objects were announced to be the vindication and dissemination of Gospel truth, the development of the ability of young men in the department of writing, and the promotion of a faith which should be at the same time scriptural, liberal, rational, and evangelical. Of this new monthly periodical, D. Millard, O. E. Morrill and Asa Chapin, were the Executive Committee, and J. Badger, Editor. A prospectus for this work, called the "Christian Palladium," a name sacred to liberty and its defence, was issued by Mr. Badger, January, 1832, in which he says:—

"The prominent objects of this work will be the defence of the Scripture doctrine of one God and one Mediator, the vindication of free and liberal Christianity, the right of private judgment in religion, and the sufficiency of the Holy Scriptures as a perfect system of church polity. In the dissemination of those sacred principles, it will seek no alliance with proscriptive sectarianism, nor will it bow to the ipsi dixerunt of fallible men, or ascribe holiness to any human creed whatever. While it inculcates Christianity as it is, it will endeavor to show what its votaries should be; and while it advocates holy truth, it shall breathe the benign spirit of Him who is the way, the truth, and the life. While it will urge the necessity of vital piety and holiness of heart, it shall also show that these sacred principles directly tend to the union of Christ's spiritual body, which is the Church. In a word, it is not to be a sectarian engine, but a free vehicle of general Christian intelligence."

On the next page, which contains his address to agents, he says, that "the time when the friends of religious liberty and impartial investigation of Gospel truth, should adopt every laudable measure to further those important and benevolent objects, has unquestionably arrived;" and May 1, 1832, witnessed the circulation of the first number of his monthly, a neat pamphlet of 24 pages, in goodly attire, and in excellence of mechanical execution far in advance, we should say, of any printing we have recently seen from that city. In a letter addressed to a meeting of pioneers, held in Rochester, October, 1848, to which he was invited, he claimed to have caused the publication of the first book[46] printed in that place, when Rochester was only a prosperous village.

This new era, as we may call it, in the public life of Mr. Badger, though it brought great responsibilities in which he had no previous experience, found him an easy master of its difficulties. His qualifications for an editor were, an intuitive and accurate perception of the character of the class of readers to whom his labors belonged—a quick recognition of whatever might serve to enrich his pages from the communications of his correspondents, from publications, and books; a business tact rarely equalled, which gave system and order to every department of duty in his office; and to these I will add two other qualities that in him were exceedingly prominent, namely, the power to write pages that were full of original force, nerve, life and freshness; and to call out the ability of other minds, which he could turn to his own account. He had great facility in inspiring ordinary men, obscure in life, with the belief that they could write, and often from such did he get rich and useful gems. His genius could make writers, and many from his encouragements, and from the practice of writing for his paper, did become masters of a strong and pointed style, of which they need never be ashamed. No other man among religious editors could, we believe, get as much good material from uneducated and undisciplined sources as he.

In his May number he addressed his readers in the following strain:—

"The present is an era of light, and a day peculiar to prophetic fulfilment. Never was there a time when the soldiers of the Cross could look forward to brighter prospects, and never a day when victory over the powers of darkness was more certain. The rapid increase of Gospel light, the spread of pure religion, a submission to the doctrine of the Scriptures, in preference of man-made creeds, and the spirit of reciprocal love and Christian forbearance among free inquirers after the word of life, afford indications of the approach of a more brilliant era.

"All dissenters from civil despotic governments have been regarded as rebels, and all dissenters from ecclesiastical tyranny and oppression have been denounced as heretics and infidels. Some of the purest men that have ever honored this mortal stage of existence, and some of the purest sentiments that have ever elevated human thought, have been sacrificed upon the unholy altar of priestcraft and superstition. We should evidently be wanting in charity were we to represent all as illiberal who are stationed in the ranks of orthodoxy. Such are not our views; for we are convinced that many, very many, thus circumstanced, know and highly appreciate the value of Gospel liberty, and were it not for the anxious watchings of those who 'bear rule,' would have burst their chains asunder.

"We are dissenters from the corruptions the church has accumulated in the wilderness. Its unscriptural creeds and doctrines—its cruel and oppressive government—its unholy and proscriptive spirit—its fanatical and superstitious ceremonies—its worldly show and empty parade—its unwarrantable pretensions and unnecessary divisions, we shall endeavor to expose in a prudent manner, and show our readers 'a more excellent way!' We shall endeavor to take the medium between a blind fanaticism and a cold formality, and in all cases the Holy Scriptures shall be the man of our counsel; and we shall use every exertion in our power to persuade our readers to be enlightened, rational, liberal, charitable, kind, experimental and practical Christians.

"Christian liberty will be a leading topic in the Palladium, as genuine religion can breathe freely only in the atmosphere of freedom. There cannot be imagined a greater treason against heaven and earth, than for men, under the pretence of a superior sanctity, to plot, contrive, and provide for the control of human thoughts, actions and hopes, by infusing into the minds of their brethren and equals the delirium of superstitious fears of God, and the poison of cringing subserviency to man. The churches which have attempted this, have displayed the worst effects of ambition, selfishness and sensuality; and the states which have submitted to it, all the debasement of servility, ignorance, and even of crime. Men should dread nothing but sin, and submit to no authority not delegated by themselves, except that of their parents and their God. The Palladium is not designed to espouse any party in politics; yet it may have occasion at times to speak on the subject of Civil Government, so far as that species of government has a direct bearing on Christian liberty."

In this bold, independent, out-spoken manner, the Editor of the Palladium unfurled his banner both to the friendly and the adverse breezes of the church and the world; and though he well knew how and when to be politic, his paper had no disguise of sentiments. Up to the mark of his own enlightenment it had a bold, free, and therefore an effective utterance on the errors it attempted to correct, and the truths it aimed to set forth.

As one object of Mr. Badger's monthly was to develop the talent of young writers in the cause he represented, in his first number he commends to their observance a method of improvement, containing seven distinct rules, which are worthy of repetition in this volume, as many of the same class may still be profited by taking them into consideration. He says to them:—

"1st. Devote some part of each week to writing on some important subject. 2d. Express your ideas in as few words as possible, render the sense clear, use plain and familiar language, but lively and impressive figures. 3d. Often revise and improve your former compositions. 4th. Keep your ideas clear and distinct, and avoid tautology. 5th. Occasionally submit your best compositions to your more learned and experienced brethren; and never be offended, but always thankful, for any new idea or correction. 6th. When you write for the press, keep a copy of your communications, and when they are revised and published, carefully compare your copy with the editor's improvement. 7th. Always keep in view the great object of all our labor, which is to make men good."

Let these seven rules of wisdom for young writers still be remembered, as those that are able to discipline and to improve their power, and particularly the last, which gives to writing an earnest and a truthful character.

Assisted by a few practical writers, and by such contributions as he could get from others, he continued his work successfully, presenting a good variety of matter; essays on moral and theological themes, letters, extracts from the best authors, poems, news from churches, and so forth. This first volume presents among its writers the names of Kinkade, Morrill, Millard, Walters, Barr, Flemming, Miles, Jones, McKee, Purveyance, Henry and others, whilst on its pages are able extracts from the pen of Channing, from the Christian Examiner and other periodicals of the time; and at the close of the year, April, 1833, the editor, in an address headed by the impressive lines,

"'Tis greatly wise to talk with our past hours,
And ask them what report they bore to Heaven,
And how they might have borne more welcome news,'"

was enabled to say:

"We now have associated with this establishment a greater number of correspondents than there is in any other of our acquaintance. Our periodical has received the approbation of some of the oldest and most experienced ministers in the connection. Several liberal periodicals have favorably noticed us. Many young men have used their pens for the first time (for the press) to adorn our pages. Our old brethren who have long been dormant, have come forth as from the silence of the tomb, have spoken again and stretched forth their palsied hands to our assistance. Kinkade's last trembling lines were for our use. In his wise counsel we commenced; and in his dying moments a fervent prayer was raised for our prosperity."

Having completed a well-executed volume, for whose pages over one hundred correspondents had written, Mr. Badger regarded his periodical, surrounded as it was by increasing encouragements, as being established; and, though pledged to the vindication of sentiments some of which provoke the thunder of theological strife, he calmly takes the motto,

"Fear not! the good shall flourish in immortal youth,
Unhurt amidst the war of elements,
The wreck of matter, and the crush of worlds."

May, 1833, the second volume of this publication commenced; and until its removal, by the united compromise of the east, the north, the south and the west, to the town of Broadalbin, Montgomery County, N. Y., in the spring of 1834, it was issued monthly from the press of Marshall & Dean, at Rochester; and with such ability and interest was it conducted that the General Convention at Milan, N. Y., October, 1833, resolved, under the name of the "Gospel Palladium," to establish a weekly paper, of which Mr. Badger was unanimously chosen editor.[47] As we glance over the pages of this volume, we notice the discussion of some very important themes, such as the natural immortality of man, the doctrine of the Trinity, the freedom of the human mind, the basis of Universalism, the derived existence of Christ, the subject of Christian liberty and union, the reasons for ministerial ordination, and themes of similar weight, with journals and letters of religious intelligence in large number. It were a lengthy task to present a paragraph or two from all the editorials; his replies to his opponents, his strictures on the Monroe Baptist Association, his views of ordination in reply to Mr. Kay; all these are accessible to those who own his monthly; we only say they are usually such as he only could have written.

In an article on the "Deformities of Sectarianism," he indulges in great plainness of speech, using language which at times has the sharpness of satire, yet the candor of honest belief. Looking at the sectarian phenomena, he says:

"What a compound of spite and piety! at war with all dissenters, and at war with themselves! In many instances,

'They preach, and pray, and fight, and groan
For public good, but mean their own.'

"'How has the fine gold become dim! How has the salt lost its savor! How are the mighty fallen!'"

We omit the strictures given on the different systems and organizations of the times.

In answer to a request of the committee of the Milan Convention, the Genesee Christian Association ordered the removal of the Palladium to Union Mills,[48] Montgomery County,[49] N. Y., that being the central position between the east and west selected by the people of New England as a location of compromise, and acceded to by the people of the west. The Genesee Association assigned to him the entire control of the paper and its responsibilities;[50] and in May, 1834, it took the form of a large octavo, with double columns, a form it has retained until now, and went forth in semi-monthly visits to cheer the hearts and teach the minds of several thousands.

During the time of its publication at Rochester, Mr. Badger discharged jointly the duties of pastor and editor; and in the rural town of his after residence he did the same, being early and late in his office, often, as creditable testimony affirms, sixteen hours a day; and on Sunday, no sentence of his sermons was languid or weary. It is moderate to say, that his manifold resources were not exhausted by the different and various directions in which they were used.

In the closing number of Volume II, Mr. Badger expressed the opinion that the ground occupied by the Christians is a medium between the wide extremes which several sects have assumed. It is probable, indeed, that, were the two general positions of doctrinal orthodoxy and rationalistic reformers brought into contrast, it would be found that the position of this denomination is midway between the two extremes, having in it the evangelical element of inward salvation through Christ, and the operation of the Holy Spirit, and with it the rigid demands of reason in regard to the accordancy of theological statements with themselves, and with all known truth within and without. They discarded Socinianism and the mere religion of the intellect on the one hand, and, on the other, the unquestioning submission of the mind to the authority of time-honored and creed-embalmed opinion. Whilst they rejected the supreme and self-existent deity of Jesus as inconsistent with the eternal supremacy of Him whom Jesus worshipped, they revered the unmeasured presence of the high divinity that dwelt in him; and, whilst they denied the doctrine of arbitrary grace, they affirmed the full dependence of man on the direct agency of God, of his illuminating word and sanctifying spirit, for his salvation. They seemed to unite, to a large extent, the light of the reason on subjects of belief, with the most earnest piety and zeal for the salvation of sinners, regarding, in all discussions of sacred themes, the Scripture testimony as final and supreme.

The Christian Palladium, now at Union Mills, by the agreement of a general convention, representing different parts of the country, did not, as was contemplated, become a weekly paper, but a semi-monthly. In this form, Mr. Badger was its editor until May 1, 1839, making in all seven years' service in the editorial field. Though there had been and were several periodicals published under the auspices of the Christian denomination, the Christian Herald, of Portsmouth, N. H., the Gospel Luminary, of New York, the Christian Messenger, of Georgetown, Ky., and the Christian Banner, of Vermont, none ever wielded the influence, nor displayed the same continuous course of mental energy and interest, as did the Palladium, when under the control of Joseph Badger, its first editor; and perhaps we might, taking all things into view, add to this title the name creator and founder, for, though it sprung out of the necessities of the denomination, under the assistance of several minds, it was his laborious toil and managing genius that gave it permanence and successful progress.[51] We would not claim that Mr. Badger was free from editorial faults and errors; these he had; but, what is not small in the success of any person, he had the ability to make even his errors interesting and entertaining; nor were his truths ever dull or drowsy. His friends wanted to read what he had written from the magnetism common to friendship when it centres in an original man, and his opponents and enemies,—for he had not a few of this class,—would, from some other attraction, hasten to the perusal of his lines, as if they were impelled by a curiosity to know what would come next. I judge that friends and foes, on opening his newly-issued paper, were very much in the habit of first reading what he had written.

At the General Convention already spoken of, there originated, in the merging of many local interests into general, and especially in the importance ascribed to questions touching the general weal, the idea so often alluded to in Mr. Badger's editorials, under the name of "General Measures." By consent of all, his paper was the representative of the general interest, in contradistinction to whatever was local; and to overcome local prejudices was one of his determined aims. Among the methods he adopted to unite the east and the west in the bonds of a stronger amity, was that of inducing young ministers of talent in the west to locate in New England, and men of influence in New England to take western fields of labor. "I wish," said Mr. B., in May, 1835, to the writer of this memoir, "to get all the ministers I can in the west to settle in the east, and all the eastern ministers I can to settle in the west. In this way I can conquer the local prejudices."

"Religion without bigotry, zeal without fanaticism, liberty without licentiousness," are the words that blaze on the flag of Mr. Badger's editorial ship, which, though usually accustomed to peaceful cruising, was by necessity, at times, a man-of-war. In exposing imposition, in opposing formidable ability if arrayed against what he regarded as vital in religion, Mr. B. was very decided; and none who had to contend with him much or long, ever looked with indifference on his power to achieve his ends. His weapons of war were various; if they were not always polished with the finest logic, they were such as did execution and brought success. Satire, humor, wit, not unfrequently lent their aid to his controversial labors; yet it is difficult, it is even impossible, to find a single article in which these abound, that does not, when divested of those qualities, possess a sufficiency of substantial argument to render his position a strong one.

In glancing over these pages, of 1834-5-6, it is evident that the subjects discussed are those in which the feelings of the writers were strongly engaged. Education for all men and education for ministers was very independently vindicated, though the idea of the competency of schools to impart all the qualifications needed by a minister of salvation, was justly and strongly denied; instead of an entire human reliance, the minister was advised to remember his dependence on the Holy Spirit, whose office to illuminate the human mind beyond the teachings of man, and to purify the human heart beyond the power of earthly guardians, has never yet ceased on earth. Mr. Badger's writings show him to be a decided friend of general education, of the cultivation which science and literature impart. They declare him to be an active friend of this culture for young ministers, for it has not only the advocacy of his words, but of his deeds also. In June, 1839, he aided the introduction of a resolution at the Conferential Assemblage, held at Rock Stream, Yates County, N. Y., which called for the appointment of a number of persons to investigate the practicability and the propriety of establishing a literary institution in the State of New York, in which the common and higher branches of science should be taught, for the intent, as explained by the speakers who discussed the question, that young men who were to devote their lives to the ministry might, unembarrassed by the narrowness of a sectarian platform, secure to themselves the accomplishment of a good education; also, that the friend of liberal Christianity in the State and elsewhere might enjoy the same privilege. Beyond the benefit of the culture of science, he spoke cautiously, thinking it no benefit for a young man to learn and to drag after him through life, a dead, dogmatic system of theology. I remember to have heard him say on that occasion, "Let it not be thought that the end of this institution is to teach theology. We will make men, and let God make ministers." These were his words. It is well known that the movement at that time made resulted in the establishment of the Starkey Seminary, which, embosomed in the elegant scenery of the Seneca Lake, continues still to be active and prosperous. At Union Mills, he took no common pains to give influence and character to the Academy, which, under his encouragement, and the encouragement of a few others, had opened in that place. In 1844, he became one of the trustees and a member of the visiting committee of the Meadville Theological School, which offices he held until his death. But, perhaps, in some other place in this memoir, we may state more fully his ideas of ministerial education. It was indeed characteristic of his taste, the republication, in 1833, of Mason on Self-knowledge, and Blair on the Grave, which he so generally introduced among young ministers. Instead of giving them a dry bone of theology to pick, he handed them a live book to read, and "to place, for a season at least, next to their Bibles," in esteem, which was founded on the old Grecian text, "Know thyself."

But reverting back to the pages of the Palladium, we find that Mr. Badger, as editor, not only presided over, but took part, in a discussion on the subject of Divine or Spiritual Influence; a subject which, in those years, claimed attention from the somewhat successful agitation of Mr. A. Campbell's system of theology, in the west. Mr. C., from the commanding talents with which he advocated his positions, from the reputation he had gained as a controversialist,[52] and from the liberality of his new views in some respects and their originality in others, it happened that a large number of ministers and churches who belonged to the Christian denomination, in the west and south, together with a few minds so inclined in the Eastern and Middle States, began to look to Mr. Campbell as the light of the age—as a new spiritual Moses sent to lead Israel through his wilderness. It is not uncommon, indeed, for the uneducated to magnify the powers, and to assign undue consequence to an originally endowed and educated mind, especially when such a mind is possessed of eloquence and boldness, qualities that always impress strongly the mass of mankind. Many churches in Kentucky, and some in other States, embraced his views; nor can it be questioned that Mr. Campbell presented many truths, and in an attractive dress, to the people of the west.

In this system it was premised that divine influence reaches man wholly through the intellectual powers; that conversion is wholly from the force of knowledge and motive offered to the understanding; that the Holy Spirit which once inspired the ancients, never in these years directly reaches man as once it did; that God only penetrates the sinner by the agency of the word recorded in the Old and New Testaments; that it is only through these ancient words that the Eternal Spirit works upon the world's darkness and degradation. To these ideas we may add two others, which are, that there is no divine call to the ministry; that in or through the act of water baptism, in the form of immersion, sins are remitted. Whilst Mr. Badger and his associates agreed with Mr. C. in reverence for the Scriptures, in the free investigation of sacred themes, and in the rejection of human creeds as tests of fellowship, ideas in whose conception and utterance they were many years his seniors and predecessors in the field of theological reform, they took religious experience as their basis, affirmed the free present agency of the Holy Spirit in the world, man's free access to God, and the forgiveness of sins on the conditions of faith and repentance, previous to, and independent of, the outward baptismal rite. Without attempting to enter upon theological investigation, that being foreign to our purpose, we would say, that we seem to deny that God is a sun, we impair the force of his eternal rays, by obliging him to shine forever upon the world exclusively through the atmosphere of ancient Palestine. The sun pours out each day afresh. So is God a sun, radiating for all men, not through the ancient word-medium exclusively, but through many media. His deeds certainly ought to be as expressive of his spirit as his words; and are not creation and providence full of his deeds? God governs the material universe not by ancient but by present agency and action. Let this fact stand as the type of his manner of ruling and blessing in the universe of moral and intellectual being; for it renders no injustice to the past, since the condition of both nature and spirit in this nineteenth century holds its lawful and inviolable connection with all the past eras and epochs that either nature or spirit have known. What is religion worth if it opens no fresh and living communication with Heaven? Is there nothing but a word-ligament to unite the living soul with its living God? Is the Holy Spirit a retired agent, no longer mindful of his ancient offices? Are his abilities lost? Are there no fresh inspirations of holiness and truth?

Mr. Badger's remarks on the word-theory of Mr. Campbell are various; sometimes one or two paragraphs only, sometimes several columns are employed. Though these are not thrown into systematic argument, they were pointed and effective, and through them all, one idea is prominent, that religion of the inward life, that a true religious experience, are opposed to a system so intellectually speculative, and which tends to chill and discourage faith in a free access to God, and in his direct holy influences on the soul. This idea, based in experience, was his principal reliance.

In 1836, he preached a sermon on Rom. 8: 26: "Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities," in which he set forth the idea, which frequently occurs in his writings, that human nature is too weak to resist error, to encounter temptation, and to bear life's sorrows from its own strength; that its imperfections demand an immediate spiritual aid, which he contended was promised in the system of Christianity, and realized by all who live by faith and walk in newness of life.

The gifted and egotistical young man, William Hunter, originally from Ireland, who became an eloquent orator and editor in behalf of those views, Mr. Badger disposes of very easily. He tells him, that if he should live twenty years longer and happen to read one of his prospectuses, he will see that his youthful swells run rather high, that these now "are enough to make an old man's head swim." And, when reminded by Mr. Hunter that old sailors should not complain of swells, and that unless he held fast to the rigging and looked aloft, he would fall overboard within one year, Mr. B. calmly inquires, "Oh, friend William! and will ye verily have us all overboard in one year? Then, indeed, and ye will have us all in the water—according to thy theory, friend William, that is a very safe element. Shall we not be in a fair way for heaven?" Mr. Hunter offers to show, on one page of the Palladium, from the Bible, that he believes in a spiritual religion, and that Mr. Badger believes in a spiritless one. The latter replies, that the work promised is weighty, and that his doubts concerning his astonishing skill will be lessened if he will first exhibit some proof of spirituality on one of his own pages, before coming to take the mote from his neighbor.

The allusions of Mr. Campbell, in his "Millennial Harbinger," show that he was by no means indifferent to Mr. Badger's antagonism to his cause. One allusion taken from his notes, December, 1837, on his eastern tour, in which he styles Mr. Badger the "redoubtable captain," will suffice. He says:—

"Mr. Badger has been one of the leaders in this glorious struggle of walking by the Bible alone; but these brethren (and I could name others with them) are determined not merely to profess, but to walk in all the commandments and ordinances in the Bible. We intend, in the next volume, to pay some more attention to the great apostasy from the Bible alone, now commanded by the redoubtable captain, who sails sometimes under this flag, and sometimes under that. However, the New England brethren are not ignorant of his devices, and are not likely to marshal long under his Palladium, inasmuch as he seems not to relish the simplicity nor authority of the Nazarenes."

The permanency and stability of Mr. Badger, questioned in this paragraph, all who know anything of him must concede to be conspicuous traits of his whole career in life. He was a man of no great and sudden changes. Perhaps a paragraph or so from his reply may serve to show his manner of dealing with a strong assailant.

"Mr. Campbell had succeeded in drawing away so many Christians in the west, that his expectation of success among the intelligent people of New York and New England was very great. But he toiled all night and caught nothing. The enterprise was a failure; and his disappointment and chagrin were so great that since his return to the west, in speaking of eastern men and measures, he gives strong symptoms of insanity, and some of his articles abound in cruel, unworthy invectives and misrepresentations.

"But the most diverting thing, is to see his means of knowing, and his pretended knowledge of the state of things at the east. He spent but a few days in New England; yet he pretends to know the state of society, the manners and customs of the people throughout that wide extended portion of our continent. But what churches did he visit? Astonishing to tell! He spent a few days in Boston; a few hours at Salem and Lynn; and we have never heard of his making a moment's call on any other Christian church in New England. Yet he speaks in broad terms and says: 'The Christians in New England need only to be taught the way of the Lord more perfectly.' What does this foreigner, this man of the west know about the condition of the churches in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and good old Connecticut, having never entered a chapel or cottage in either of those great States? But he continues: 'Much is wanting in many places to bring them nigh to the platform of Apostolic usage and authority.' Many places! This sounds well from a stranger, such as himself. Why did he not teach our brethren the way of the Lord more perfectly? Why did he not bring them to the Apostolic platform? Why not push his inquiries further? Alas, alas! he had seen enough of New England sagacity; it was not the soil for the seed he had brought. Therefore, he turns upon his heel and leaves the good people of Lynn to manufacture their own shoes, and those of Salem to manage their own witches."

The following paragraph, which succeeds what I have inserted, was partially quoted by Bishop Purcell in the celebrated discussion between himself and Mr. Campbell on the Roman Catholic religion,[53] held at Cincinnati, January, 1837, which, with several other quotations from the same paper, goes to show that the Palladium, which he introduced as the organ of a numerous body of Christians, had not failed to impress the Catholic Church as being a work of strength in Protestant literature.

"He frequently speaks of 'the Bible alone;' but this is not a term generally used by the brethren in New England, and is taught by few except Mr. C. We never knew our brethren to boast of walking by the Bible alone. This we regard as an error, let who will proclaim it. We say give us the Bible, but not alone. Let us have a God, a Christ, a Holy Spirit, and a ministry to accompany it. There was a law given to the Jews; also, a testimony, which they were bound to observe. The testimony of the inspired prophets did not contradict the law, but taught and enforced the same great truths. The ancients were to walk by the law and the testimony, which was called a word, (Isa. 8: 20). So the New Dispensation presents the written Word and the Spirit of God as the perfect law by which the saints are to be governed. Thus we preach the Spirit and the Word.

"We have frequently heard," continues Mr. B., "the followers of Mr. C. talk about carrying the Gospel in their pockets, meaning the Bible; but such are not like Christ's ministers, who have the 'treasure in earthen vessels.' The Gospel is the power of God unto salvation."

Referring to the charge of fluctuation he says:—

"Mr. C., we never belonged to the Presbyterians of Scotland; we never united with nor dissented from the Red Stone Association of Baptists. But, dear sir, has not your whole life been one scene of reforms, deforms, and changes? Just look at your equivocations on Calvinism and the Trinity; turn to your correspondence with Mr. Grew and all your opponents, and blush, while you talk about any man 'who sails sometimes under this flag, and sometimes under that.' This, sir, comes with a very bad grace from your honorable self."

It is not my wish to revive the passions of past controversy, but the antagonism of Mr. Badger to certain features of the cause which Mr. Campbell represented in the west was so conspicuous a part of his editorial life, that the chapter here opened could not well be completed without some allusions to and quotations from it. No one doubts that his paper influenced thousands not to embrace the system of his distinguished opponent.

In 1837 and 1838 he discussed the question at length, "The Church the Highest Tribunal," making a distinction between a church and the church, denying that the former is the highest tribunal, and qualifiedly conceding this honor to the latter; that is to say, a particular church may be incompetent to act upon questions which the large assemblage of ministers and particular churches might act upon with wisdom and safety. These articles were indeed an able vindication of the doctrine of associated action, of conferential organization; they called out a vast deal of discussion, and whatever may be thought of the justness of his position, none can deny that his articles produced a very strong impression on the public generally. The great danger of large associative bodies is the usurpation of power over individual rights; but he claimed to protect the individual and to secure his rights through the associative action for which he plead. Both sides were heard in this discussion.

The Catholic question, the subject of temperance, slavery, ministerial education, and historical sketches of the denomination, each had a share of attention. Dr. Channing's letter on the Catholic question, originally in the Western Messenger, was published in his columns, printed in small pamphlets and scattered over the country. Also his letter to Mr. Badger on the principles and wants of the Christian denomination, which, to a good extent, may be called a treatise on education, was called forth by Mr. Badger's direct request, and, excellent as it was as a whole, it received from him friendly and independent strictures on points wherein he regarded Dr. C. as being misinformed. The Palladium, in the hands of Joseph Badger, was an organ of power mightier than had ever been wielded in the same cause before, and altogether more so than the same paper has ever been since. We think the editor speaks truthfully in saying, "The secret of its success is its adaptation to the wants of the people. It now has a larger subscription than any two periodicals have or ever had in the Christian or Unitarian societies on the globe." It is almost unnecessary to add the most practical evidence of its success, namely, that through the provident management of its editor, it was financially the source of a very respectable income. Let us hear what impression this paper made on the other side of the Atlantic. Rev. John R. Beard,[54] of Manchester, England, under the date of June 1, 1838, wrote as follows:

"I have long desired to find a moment to address you a few lines. I feel a deep interest in the cause to which you and many other excellent men are devoted; and I do hope and trust that the great Head of the Church will abundantly bless your praiseworthy labors.

"In your alienation from creeds of human formation, you not only have a feeling in common with the Unitarians of England, but in my opinion have assumed a position at once eminently Scriptural and of great and pressing need in the actual state of the religious world. The New Testament Scriptures ought to be the only standard of faith and doctrine with followers of Christ; and aware of the fallibility which must attach to every mere human interpretation of Holy Writ, I feel that the great work is to command allegiance to the great Protestant principle of the sufficiency and paramount authority of the Bible, and particularly of the writings of the Evangelists and the Apostles. I cannot but look on your efforts and successes with high gratification, and in the chills of a colder moral atmosphere and the dissatisfactions of a necessarily less productive field, I sometimes half wish myself in the midst of you.

"While others contend," said Mr. B., "about the supervacaneous part of religion, we will encourage the enjoyment of its more exhilarating radiancy." "We are reformers; we must and will be reformers. We are determined never to be guilty of a cringing subserviency to the Man of Sin, nor to bow to any idol of superstition which frail men have imposed upon the Church of God. The Palladium will be Doctrinal, Historical, and Practical. Much attention will be bestowed on the culture of the youthful mind, and the improvement of young ministers and young writers."

These and similar passages may be regarded as the landmarks of his editorial action; and through all his seven years' course, it will appear that the Palladium never lost sight of its cardinal idea as taken from the old apostolical discussion, "That Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God." One proof of its decision and energy lies in the violence and depth of feeling that, in some instances, were awakened against it. "It is," said its editor, "the bane of the Catholic, the Campbellite, the disorganizer, and the proud sectarian; and it is generally known in the camp of the enemies of Christian liberty." When Mr. Badger made an assault, which he never did without believing he had good reason so to do, the party receiving it was at no loss to know who it came from, when it was received, and what it signified. We like to see everything thorough after its kind; let a blow be a blow, let a smile be a smile.

On leaving the editorial chair, May 1, 1839, he returned to his newly purchased and agreeable residence at West Mendon village, now called Honeoye Falls, in Monroe County, N. Y., where he became, in 1840, the pastor of a prospering church which had recently been formed in that place. Six months before leaving the Palladium, he had announced the intention of being for a few years an evangelist. Speaking of himself in the third person, he said:

"His circuit will be principally within the following limits: From Quebec on the north, to Georgia on the south; and from Maine on the east, to Arkansas and Missouri on the west. To be at liberty to travel and preach the Gospel again, as in the days of his youth, is the height of his ambition; and this is his desire above all things of Heaven."

In his farewell address, April 15, 1839, he says:

"'And so, without more circumstance at all,
I hold it fit that we shake hands and part.'

"I now take up my pen to address you for the last time, as Editor of the Christian Palladium, with a feeling of strong attachment to each and all of you, and a fervent desire for your present and future happiness. We have travelled a long journey and encountered many difficulties together, and at length have arrived at that point where that sacred relation we have sustained to each other is to end, and our connection as editor and patron is to be severed forever."

In reviewing the past, he claims to have used no disguise, to have spoken plainly and independently on all subjects, though at times, he concedes, a little too severely with certain opponents, it being necessary to regulate controversy with reference to the opponent one has to combat, and to answer some persons by Solomon's celebrated rule. These occasional severities he candidly regards as the greatest errors in all his editorial labors. He justifies the cool and unimpassioned tone of the Palladium during the high excitements of the abolition agitation, and expresses a willingness that his position and procedure on that subject should be put to the test, that on them he is willing to hazard his reputation, believing that the duties of the Palladium did not require it to enter the arena of the new political warfare.

"On Church Government and the powers of Conference, we have bestowed special attention, and occupied much room, and given our opponents a fair hearing. If we thought there was one single argument left unanswered on which disorganizers rely, we would now, on leaving the editorial chair, give it due consideration. We have opened this door wide; there has not been a single argument or statement of the opposition left out, which has been presented for publication. This discussion was called for, and has been of utility to the Christian society, as our Conferences have since put on new strength and the churches taken new courage. This poor worn-out slander which a few heated partisans have set on foot, that our Conferences have assumed improper authority and interfered with the domestic or internal affairs of the churches, is proved, by long experience and common observation, to be a fabrication of error, a false alarm sounded for party purposes. But our opponents on this question are vanquished; and though the struggle on this question has been long and arduous, we shall ever look upon our labors on this point with interest and satisfaction.

"We feel such a strong attachment to the great Christian family for whom we have so long provided our humble repast, that the task is truly painful to take leave. You have been our friends and the friends of a noble cause; you have sustained us and advanced truth. You have frequently prayed for our success, and your prayers have been heard, and now, though our relation in one respect is changed, yet we still will be one in spirit, and unitedly labor for the advancement of the same common cause, keep our eye on the mark and meet in glory. When our toils are done, when we lay low in the grave, then may the cause in which we have labored exert a universal influence; liberal truth spread throughout the world,—and the Palladium's humble banner wave in triumph over the crumbling ruins of sectarism and be the herald of Liberty, Union and Peace. Beloved patrons, Farewell!"

Thus ended seven years of severe editorial service, through which we discern the action of a shrewd, intelligent, energetic and active mind; all in all, the ablest and most efficient editor of whom the history of the Christian denomination may boast. He was, indeed, constitutionally kind, yet on dishonesty and imposture, especially if they came under the sacred garb, he was boldly severe, this being his favorite, chosen motto on all such occasions:

"Strip the miscreants of the robes they stain,
And drive them from the altars they profane."

One has only to look at the character of the same periodical from the time he left it until now, to be convinced that his place has never been supplied; that the same amount of concentrated interest has never, to this date, been awakened; and, when we reflect on the energy, the life and the hope its pages inspired in the communities whose sentiments it faithfully pleaded, we are strikingly reminded that on earth nothing is so valuable as a man, and that no cause is ever mighty except through decision, through force of character and force of expression, in setting forth the ideas and principles which may enlighten and save.

CHAPTER XVIII.

GENERAL VIEWS.

On Education.—The first time I had the pleasure of a personal acquaintance with Mr. Badger, was in January, 1835, at Canton, N. Y.; and among the several topics on which he conversed during the few days we were together, was the subject of education. He then said:—

"Every human being should be educated. All young men who are seeking to be useful in public life should be educated. But there are certain evils to be avoided in the means we pursue. Every human being, to improve in a natural way, requires a certain amount of physical exercise. To shut one's self up among books without walking and suitable activity is the certain road to weakness."

He said he had been trying to mature a plan of education for young ministers, of which he should speak at some future time. He said that ministers gain no power by becoming dry scholars; that they should be living, natural men, to be profited by science and literature. I noticed, in all subsequent interviews, that he never seemed to want scientific culture, at the expense of naturalness, spirituality, and sound health. It was Horace Mann, I think, who more recently said, that a dyspeptic stomach is an abomination to the Lord. Mr. Badger substantially stood upon this text, in his educational views, many years ago.

"June, 1835.—All, we believe, are in favor of general education. This is a great principle on which all are agreed. On this ground we can, and indeed it is our duty to unite all our energies, until our congregations shall be an enlightened and intelligent community. We do not think our people now so far behind other societies as some may imagine; we have also scores of ministers who are not a whit behind the chiefest apostles of the sects around us, in a sound knowledge of theology; and among us are some of the finest natural orators in our country. We do not believe that any society of equal numbers can find, among their church members, an equal number of biblical critics. The people called Christians have labored under many embarrassments; but they have made the best use of the limited means in their possession for improvement. This is a proof that they are capable of still higher attainments, and a reason why they should be blessed with greater privileges. As the time has come for the Christian church to take strong and improved ground in this enlightened age, let education and all other practical subjects be thoroughly discussed, that we may be sufficiently enlightened to go forward in union and strength, and sustain our character as Christian reformers."

He recommended that there should be a vigilant committee in every conference, whose business it should be to look up young men whose good but buried talents might, with a little encouragement, be brought out to good advantage in the work of the ministry. He proposed, as a temporary aid, the establishment of suitable libraries, and of theological reading-rooms, where young men could repair, and find a desirable retreat for study and reflection.

"This," says he, "is an age of improvement, and we must keep pace with the improvements of the generation in which we live in order to be useful. Nothing can be more degrading to a religious community, and nothing can more effectually retard their usefulness and prosperity, than an ignorant ministry. We are not in favor of men-made ministers, for we believe there must be a spiritual, experimental, and divine qualification. But we do believe that young men whose minds are exercised on the great work of preaching the Gospel should embrace every opportunity for improvement, and study 'to be workmen that need not be ashamed.' In old times, there were the 'sons of the prophets;' in the days of the apostles, there was a Timothy and a Titus under the particular instruction of Paul."—Pall., vol. 3, p. 54. 1834.

"April 15, 1835.—The Education of Ministers.—On this subject we expect to be able to present an improved method of education, which will be less expensive, and will remedy two great evils. The first is the destruction of health and the natural energies of the man. The second is the decline of grace and of spiritual exercises in the mind of the student. There is a system of self-education just introduced in this State, on which Mr. Southwick and other scientific gentlemen are lecturing, which is highly spoken of. We intend immediately to inform ourself on this subject, and hope to find something in it worthy the attention of our readers. A study of this kind may, to great advantage, be connected with theology without the burdens, the darkness and pollution of heathen mythology."

February, 1837.—In his remarks on Dr. Channing's letter, he says:

"We are generally opposed to the present mode of getting up sectarian theological schools. We see so many ignorant men coming out of those establishments pretending to teach theology, who were never designed, by nature or grace, for the ministry, who are as ignorant of grace, and the first principles of the Christian religion, as Nicodemus, that we have become disgusted with such human institutions, and regard them as sources of corruption and division rather than helps to the church of God. In past ages, the schools have been the channels through which error, like a mighty torrent, has poured its poison into the church. Through these mediums the clergy have contrived to control and take away the liberty of Zion. And is it surprising that we, who are reformers, should be a little cautious about entering hastily into a course which has proved so fatal and dangerous to thousands? It is not education, but the method, which produces alarm among our friends. The doctor proclaims the sentiment of our congregations in the clearest manner, in the following noble strain: 'I feel that a minister, scantily educated but fervent in spirit, will win more souls to Christ than the most learned minister whose heart is cold, whose words are frozen, whose eye never kindles with feeling, whose form is never expanded with the greatness of his thoughts, and the ardor of his love.'"

When, in his tour to New England, in the autumn of 1835, he passed the evening of September 8th, with Dr. Channing, at his summer residence at Newport, R. I., the topic of education was partially discussed; and the views there developed, and the interest manifested on the part of Dr. C. in the Christian denomination, whom he regarded as having a great mission to fulfil, induced Mr. B., in January, 1837, to invite a communication from his pen. Those who would be pleased to read that able document will find it in Vol. V, p. 305, of the Christian Palladium. Mr. Badger's interest in the cause of education grew with his years; I remember to have heard him express a compliment to the Roman Catholic Church, in 1845, to this amount; "Their scholars," said he, "are scholars. There is no smattering or pretension about it,"—a sentiment that perfectly expressed his profound regard for thorough learning. But he had a contempt, which he did not always conceal, for that class of men in the ministry, or elsewhere, who had a systematic book-learning, without any knowledge of human nature, or any living force with which to act upon the world they were living in; at times, both in private and in public, he alluded to them under the name of "College dunces."

"August 1, 1837.—The Gospel and the Reforms. The Sun and the Stars.—The natural sun is the centre of the solar system. Every planetary star is stationed at a respectful distance, and is dependent on the great centre for its power and influence. Every planet revolves round the sun in its time, and is directed, sustained, bounded and governed by its attractive power. So the Gospel is, to the moral world, civil government, science, and all the systems of light and improvement, what the sun is to the heavenly bodies. All must revolve around, are dependent on, are subordinate to, and all must be governed by the glorious Gospel of the Son of God.

"If this reasoning is sound, and we think none will deny it, we bring it forward as an admonition to all men, who, in their zeal to promote certain objects and to carry certain points, have set up some little star as the centre and attempted to make it the rallying point, and are pleading for all other planets to revolve around it. The Pope's decree, Mohamet's revelations, the decisions of councils, synods, and the creeds of men, all in their turn have been substituted for the sun, or centre of operation. How mean they all look in this age of light as a rule of action, when compared with the testimony of the living God.

"If the Presbyterians, in the late session of their general assembly, had adhered to these principles they would not have been split asunder. But how plain it is to every impartial spectator that they substituted a few little things as the criterion of fellowship; hence they are rent in twain. But their separation, which is by the most of people considered as a matter of lamentation, we regard as a favorable omen. They were a great, a powerful people, united by human laws made by themselves. They were oppressive, proud, and cruel; and their arbitrary measures, party feelings, and great influence, might yet have endangered our liberties. Their ranks are now broken, and the work of reform is begun. They will again be more cordially united when they all submit to Christ, throw by their petty stars and dark planets, and acknowledge the supremacy of the glorious Sun, the Gospel of our blessed Lord.

"When the temperance reform was introduced it was a blessed work; but many good and zealous persons placed it altogether before Christianity, and represented the Gospel as a feeble instrument in doing good compared with this benevolent human association. We were never opposed to temperance, but to intemperate measures for the promotion of temperance. We are still opposed to placing the temperance cause before Christianity, making it the centre, and calling upon the Gospel, as an inferior orb, to revolve around it.

"When the tornado of anti-masonry swept like a mighty torrent through the land, rending asunder the churches of God and separating the ministers of Christ, the cause of Jesus bled at every pore. What a desolating mildew it left! What an overheated course many a zealous and good brother ran in this holy war. In those perilous times we were among the cool who pleaded for the union of the churches and conferences; we then deprecated all forced measures and intemperate decisions, and said, Do not try to make this star a sun, but let us all keep our eye upon the great centre, and all be Christians. This mild doctrine prevailed, and all now rejoice that we were saved from disorder and ruin.

"Slavery and anti-slavery are now the exciting subjects which bid fair to produce great commotion and some division in the church. It is said this subject was among the causes which led to the division of the Presbyterian assembly. Some good brethren always have their powder dry and ready to blow up by every spark that falls near them. Such have no medium in which they rest, have no principles by which they are bounded; but they drive ahead upon the excitement of the moment, regardless of that moderation and charity which the Gospel enjoins. They make their point the sun, and call on the Gospel to exert its influence to accomplish their favorite object. Here is the difficulty. Men will be partial and limited in the view they take of subjects, and will, more or less, be governed by human passions in their pursuits; hence coercive measures are resorted to, and division and ruin follow."

The Ministry.—In the views already given in this book, it is plain that Mr. Badger believed in a Gospel ministry, that, besides the human qualifications of learning and culture, had a vital, living union with God, with Christ, with the perpetual region of light in the heavens. This view, which appears in the earliest ideas cherished in his youth, pervaded all his ordination sermons and addresses; and he pleaded that such a ministry should be supported in a manner to elevate it above the necessity of worldly cares and of temporal privation. Though very much of his own ministry through life was unrewarded by adequate returns of temporal aid, he firmly held to the two apparently conflicting ideas, that he to whom God gives this spiritual mission should go forward and preach for life, nor be dissuaded by poverty, calumny or persecution; and that the people are not justly entitled to any man's services in the ministry any longer than they continue to render the proof of their appreciation in the form of earthly support, according to their ability and the reasonable wants of the minister. Gracefully and practically did he know how to develop the meaning of that apostolical saying, "The laborer is worthy of his hire." Though, like John Milton, he disliked to have the minister occupy a position in which community may justly regard him as a feed attorney for the cause he advocates, he also disdained to foster a covetous, money-worshipping community under the name of a Christian church. He was once heard to say, that the true minister would live on browse before he would abandon the cause of God.

"Three things," said he (in a letter to a young man[55] who was about to begin to preach), "are essential to a preacher. First, the ability to discern the condition and capacity of a congregation. Second, an ability to select a subject suited to their capacity and wants. Third, skill to deliver it in a manner to be received to the best advantage. How often you hear preachers labor on inappropriate subjects, who evidently did not understand the wants of their assembly; and how frequently you have heard a good subject mutilated and the assembly disgusted by bad delivery. The more natural, easy, simple, and affectionate a truth can be told, the better and more lasting effect it will have."

On problems of the future state, he did not largely speculate. In reply to some nice questions touching his views of the details and minutiæ of the immortal life, he once said, "Let us wait until we get there. Who can answer these questions now?" He preached that virtue leads to glory eternal; that vice naturally proceeds to darkness and wo; that revelation gives hope only to those who obey. It will be almost invariably found, that his abilities and themes had strong practical bearings; that his power was never prone to assume the merely speculative form.

On human nature he was explicit. He never admitted the doctrine of original inherent sin; but from the first, vindicated humanity from the charges of total depravity. In 1854, though the blaspheming of human nature, common to the olden creeds, is theoretically retained, we seldom hear its allegations in bold words: but in 1817 and onwards, it was otherwise. Then Mr. Badger took his stand in behalf of humanity with a defence so wise that it repelled at the same time the charges of Calvinism and pleaded the need of regeneration. At Royalton, about twenty-five years ago, he spoke on human nature against the common view, so strongly and so boldly, that it caused some two or three ministers who were with him in the desk to exhibit signs of surprise. He continued without the least deviation; and, a few months since, one of the same gentlemen who witnessed the scene at Royalton, said, that the view Mr. Badger then gave, was the one now hailed with joy by the large masses, the one which thoughtful minds are everywhere weaving into the philosophy of man's nature and life.

Mr. Badger said, that there was partial truth in all the new things of the day, in Mesmerism, Phrenology, Fourierism, Abolitionism, Non-resistance, Adventism; but that neither of these is what its partisans make it. He thought there was something superficial in each offered remedy of modern time for the cure of human evils; that the Gospel, with its divine persuasions, is alone able to rectify the condition of man on earth. He thought there were heads in the world that would puzzle and confound phrenology, though in the main it might have the perception of a great truth. The spirit of his views would say—Why get infatuated with your new idea? Why make it everything? Why lose your balance in the circle of your Christian duty, and grow dizzy-headed on your one idea, your darling ultraism? He held that the world's real progress is plain and slow; that God's kingdom does not come in coruscations of lightning, or in the sport of whirlwinds. "Oh! foolish Galations, who hath bewitched you that ye should not obey the truth?" was the text of a very impressive sermon delivered to a great concourse of people in June, 1845,[56] in which he particularized on the extremes of the day, on the infatuation which temporarily seizes a certain class of men, and causes them to substitute a fragmentary truth for the whole Gospel, and for the whole platform of human duty.

Church Polity. "We have noticed for more than twenty years," said Mr. B., "that the first ground assumed by disorganizers is, that 'the church is the highest tribunal on earth.' Recently, Mr. Campbell and some others have urged this doctrine in a manner and with explanations which are calculated to produce the worst of consequences.

"1st. We object to the term tribunal, when applied to the church. We not only regard it unscriptural, but in the general acceptation of the term it implies too much. It carries with it not only the authority to constitute a judgment seat, but the power to reward and punish; the church has no such power. God is a sovereign. His government is monarchical—he has given his Son all authority in his church, and the whole government is upon his shoulder. The church has no authority to alter one of Christ's institutions, nor make the least law for the government of his spiritual body. The business of the church is to learn of Christ, to know his laws and institutions, and to walk by them; to fear God and keep his commandments is the whole duty of man. The church has no power to bestow rewards nor to inflict punishments; this alone is the prerogative of the Great Head of the church. Christians on earth have less authority over each other than some imagine. We have little to do with each other's private opinions: in these matters each stands or falls, or is accountable to his own master. To be sure, we are authorized to form an opinion of men from the fruits they bring forth—from the spirit they manifest; and we have power to fellowship or disfellowship according to the fruits brought forth; but we can inflict no other punishment, and this should be regarded as a Christian duty rather than in the light of punishment. As far as the church can exert a Christian influence in reclaiming men from the error of their ways, and as long as they, under guidance of the spirit of Christ, can labor for each other's advancement in the divine life, so long they can be useful. But the moment they feel that they have authority to punish, and begin to labor under that impression, they do mischief in the flock of Christ. Thus we object to the application of the term 'tribunal' to the church, and the anti-Christian authority it seems to impart.

"The error is not so much in the term used as in the explanations, opinions, and practice connected with its use. We have seen it fully carried out in practice. The doctrine is this. Each little band of brethren scattered abroad is the church, and are the highest tribunal on earth. There is no appeal from their decisions; they have power to try and exclude a minister of the Gospel, and all councils or conferences composed of ministers and brethren are unscriptural, arbitrary and anti-Christian. But the error lies at the starting-point—in the very foundation. Those little bands of brethren are only parts of the great family on earth. They can attend to their own internal affairs; their work is small, and in a very limited circle. From such little decisions we ask no appeal. They can extend fellowship to whom they please, and withdraw from the disorderly; but they cannot act for other branches of Zion who live fifty or a thousand miles from them. They can hear, encourage, or abandon such ministers as they choose, so far as their ministry with them is concerned; but it would be folly for them to attempt to make or destroy ministers for others. Now ministers are not the property of one little branch of the church; they belong to the whole—are accountable to the whole. Any branch of the church has a right to present a trial or grief against a minister. But the question will arise, Who shall decide on a trial thus presented by a church against a minister? Surely not the church who present the trial, for they are the accusing party. He is a public man, all the churches are interested in his prosperity and in his impeachment. The common error says, the accusing party must accuse and condemn, for it is the highest tribunal on earth. But common sense and common justice say, Let a council of ministers and brethren from other churches be called to investigate and decide this matter. Let the man have a hearing before a council, equal in numbers and authority to that which received or ordained him, and by which he was inducted into his holy work in the church. We care not whether this assemblage of ministers and church members is called a council or a conference; if it possesses the talent, the wisdom and light of the body, if a board is formed whose just, fair, and impartial decisions shall receive the sanction, respect, and confidence of all the churches for whom they act.

"Within three years past we have known two instances in which ministers had fallen into disrepute with a part of the churches of their charge. When trials were presented they immediately assumed the ground that the church was the highest tribunal; they would have no council, nor ministers in the case, unless they could bring in some partial friend of theirs who was prepared to cover up and defend their iniquitous proceedings; they would be tried by the church, and immediately set themselves to work to secure the majority, whose first business it was to exclude the minority. Those ministers, we presume, could not be induced to have their conduct examined by a wise, impartial, and judicious conference of elders and brethren; yet they have good and clean letters of commend and justification from the churches to which they belong. Such ministers as are not willing to throw themselves open to the investigation of all the churches and all their brethren in the ministry, ought to confine their labors to the church or party who has commended them, and by whom they are willing to be judged.

"We do not believe there is a church in the land who shall undertake to exclude their pastor, let him be ever so bad, that can do it without rending their own body asunder. A minister, in ever so great errors, or ever so much fallen in morality, will have his adherents and his party, and frequently by his management will secure the majority of the church of his charge. How many churches have thus been rent asunder; how many wicked ministers have thus endeavored to screen themselves from justice. "Where no counsel is, the people fall; but in the multitude of counsellors there is safety." Prov. 11:14.

"Having discarded the idea that one little branch of Zion possesses the whole authority, we shall now state that the term Church is sometimes applied to a very small band of believers, and in other cases it is applied to the whole body of Christians in the world. The church, in the general use of the word, embraces all the ministers, gifts, and members of Christ's body. When people have separated the ministers from the congregations, or the congregations from the ministers, and undertaken to do business in their separate capacities, independent of each other, when the business transacted was of a public or general character, they have both materially erred. The Gospel recognizes ministers and people as one body, united and coöperating in one work, advancing the same interests, and promoting the same cause. Their talents may be different, their calling and gifts various, but no one member can say to another, 'I have no need of you.' To take the church as a whole, if it were proper to use the term 'tribunal,' we should have no objection to saying it was the highest tribunal on earth, that is, there is no earthly court that has a right to control its decisions, and there is no earthly court to which it can appeal. But Christ and his revealed will are still higher than any decision of the church; to it the whole church must bow with humble reverence, and say, 'Thy will be done.'

"Nothing is plainer and more clearly taught in the word of God than that it is the design of the Gospel that God's people should act in union as one family, and be the light of the world. Under the old dispensation, when the congregations stood in the counsel of the Lord and walked in his statutes, they were of one heart and of one mind; all acted for the public good; the different tribes often consulted together, and all marshalled under the same banner. But when they departed from the Lord, each one did what was right in his own eyes, and every one went to his own tent. The entire history of God's people under the law, shows that when they consulted and acted in union they were blessed and prospered; and when they separated and acted in their individual capacities, they proved the Scripture true, which says, 'Where no counsel is, the people fall.'

"But in the New Testament the same principle of general consultation is most clearly exhibited in the proceedings of the first Christians. The very nature of the Christian religion, the constitution of the Gospel church, impose the duty. The Christian religion is a general system; it breaks down all separations, and of Jews and Gentiles forms one new church. All Christians are bound up in the same great interests: they are of one heart and of one mind. In the sixth chapter of Acts of the Apostles, we find a plain account of the call and proceedings of a Christian Conference. The brethren brought forward the candidates for ordination, and the ministers laid their hands on them and appointed them to their work. Here were at least twelve ministers and a multitude of brethren. If this instance stood alone in the Bible, we should think the Scripture authority for conference clear; but it is not alone. In the fifteenth chapter of Acts, we have an account of a difficulty which arose about circumcision, which Paul, Barnabas and the whole church at Antioch could not decide. When the apostles, elders, and a multitude of brethren were assembled at Jerusalem, we have an account that Peter, Barnabas, Paul, and James addressed them at length on the great question, which was settled to mutual satisfaction. When this was done, they sent out messengers to bear their decisions to all their brethren who could not be present. Here is another instance of a Christian conference doing business and deciding questions for the church at large. If one church is the highest tribunal, why did not the church at Antioch put the question to rest without making so much expense and trouble? It is plain that there was none of this childish independence and authority claimed by the primitive churches, about which the disorganizers make so much ado in the nineteenth century."

Freedom of Discussion. "Messrs. Editors of the Telegraph;[57]—I ever with pleasure, whether at home or abroad, grasp the interesting sheet which is daily sent forth from your office, and with interest peruse its columns.

"Under the editorial head my attention was recently arrested by the performances of a writer who styles himself B., who, after a tedious preamble, brings forth what he is pleased to style, 'A rare collection of geniuses;' and although he looks into contempt the speculations of the humble Capt. Sims, tramples with impunity on the honors of Gov. Morril, proclaims on the house-top the vanity and folly of Gov. Clinton, Lieut. Gov. Pitcher, Gen. Root, J. V. N. Yates, Dr. Beck, and the whole faculty of Hamilton College, we think he leaves us proof among his heterogeneous labors that he must be ranked among the rare wits of our times. What he says of Capt. Sims strikes me as a piece of base cowardice, as the theory of Capt. S. is very unpopular. Capt. Sims, as I understand him, is convinced, from long and arduous study, that further northern discoveries ought to be made. This is the burden of his labors. To this idea the American Congress and every thinking man must consent. I heard his lectures at Cincinnati, and regard him as an honest, independent man. As the President has recommended northern explorations, I sincerely hope that important discoveries will be made. Though Mr. Sims's theory is now very unpopular, is it more so than was the revolution of the earth when first published by Galileo? The projects of Columbus were ridiculed; the American Revolution was sneered at by our proud foes of the east. Even the mission of the Saviour was treated with the utmost contempt. How careful, Sirs, ought we to be in opposing new views, and in guarding ourselves and others against the spirit of persecution."

We offer the following on the tragical fate of Lovejoy, as appropriate to this subject:

"The riot which recently took place in Alton, Ill., in which two citizens lost their lives, is one of the most disgraceful events that ever stained the character of our country. The mayor must have been guilty of gross negligence, for from what had transpired he ought to have been fully prepared for it. Had an efficient man been in his place, clothed with his authority, the property and life of the innocent might have been protected, and a ruthless mob would have been taught a lesson which would have cured their propensity for that kind of diversion. The destruction of fifty of those lawless midnight assassins would have been a trifle compared with the loss of one peaceable, honorable man in the lawful discharge of his duty. It is said that the Attorney General of the State, and a clergyman, took a conspicuous part, and made speeches to influence and encourage the mob, and that several respectable citizens were among the number. Oh, shame! Has our country come to this? Can it be that there is a man in Illinois who makes the least pretension to respectability or morality, who would encourage or countenance for a moment such an infringement upon the laws of God and man? We think little, very little, of such respectability, of such officers, such attorneys, and such clergymen. We say—

'Strip the miscreants of the robes they stain,
And drive them from the altars they profane.'

"What can men expect to gain by associating as mobs? No honorable object was ever accomplished by cruelty and oppression. No righteous cause requires such measures. This outrage will defeat its own object; it will increase and excite the sympathies of the people, and advance the cause it intends to destroy, tenfold. Funds will be raised, and valiant men enough will be found who will cheerfully volunteer to raise the standard of liberty and free discussion on the very spot where their brave brother has fallen a martyr. Men in such cases will not count their lives dear unto themselves; there are hundreds ready to be offered upon the same altar. Not only so, but the blood of this innocent man crieth from the ground for vengeance, and there is a righteous God in heaven who regards the condition of the oppressed, and who will not let the wicked go unpunished.

"The people of Boston, New York, and Cincinnati, have tried the virtue of mobs, to put down free discussion, and what has been the result? Why, it has increased, strengthened and built up the persecuted party. The destruction of one printing-press will only raise up ten to speak and plead for the liberty of the press. The murder of one Morgan will raise up thousands to redress his injuries. In our eastern cities, where we have efficient and enlightened officers, mobs are immediately put down, but at Alton and St. Louis society must be in a deplorable state.

"Mr. Lovejoy, we have ever understood, was a respectable citizen, a man of talent, and a zealous minister of the Gospel. He had a right to enjoy his opinions; he had a right to use the press, that great engine of liberty, in propagating his views; and none had a right to molest him. His zeal no doubt led him to adopt strong measures in vindicating his own interest and the cause to which his energies were devoted. He acted in his own defence upon the principle of justice as a citizen. If he had slain a score of his opponents under these circumstances, the laws of the land would have held him guiltless. But still the course was an unfortunate one. The New Testament and the Christian Spirit teach us, as children of the Prince of Peace, a more excellent way: 'Resist not evil'—'Put up thy sword into its sheath'—'Be patient in tribulation'—'If ye are persecuted, revile not.'

"The friends who were leaders in the English reform, persevered over thirty years firm and faithful, without slander, war or bloodshed. They had the utmost confidence in the justice and righteousness of their cause; they were patient under persecutions, were meek and humble in every defeat, and the light at length shone and they triumphed. Here is a beautiful model for American reformers. Light and truth should be the only weapons used in accomplishing great moral, benevolent and religious objects. Christians in all laudable enterprises should be meek and humble, should possess much of the spirit of their holy Master, render good for evil, and conquer all opposition with love."

"Ordinances.—Herein we see the benefit of institutions and images by which past events are preserved by us and transmitted to posterity. National events, Jewish, Roman, Pagan, and Christian ordinances, are speaking things, which, as soon as they are abandoned, the events on which they are founded, the impressions and ideas associated with them, are lost."

At the present time, there are a few indications that the active theological minds of the country may at some distant day fall under two general classifications, which, for the want of a better expression at hand, we may call the centralizers and universalizers. The latter resolve religion wholly into abstract ideas and principles which freely range through the whole empire of spirit, as gravitation, electricity and light operate through all space. Such rally about no personal centre. The former seek the abstract principles of religion only, or chiefly in their personal investments, and look for their effective radiance in a mediator. This class, for reasons needless to be discussed at this time, are from necessity the great mass, the organized activity of the religious sentiment; and though Mr. Badger had much catholicity in his faith and practice, nothing is plainer than that he centralized all in Christ, who, to him, was the untiring sun in the solar system of God's impartial favor. Thus speaks the following letter:—

"Honeoye Falls, August, 1845.

"Br. Ross,—I am now better in health, and am trying to go ahead with what little ability I have, in the one, single, simple work of preaching the blessed Gospel. Am I right, or should I be a political minister, and conform to the practice of this corrupt age, and present to my hearers a chowder compound? I follow St. Paul's old, obsolete theology of knowing nothing among the people save Jesus Christ and him crucified."

CHAPTER XIX.

MINISTRY, PUBLISHED WRITINGS AND IMPORTANT EVENTS, FROM MAY, 1839, TO MARCH, 1848.

On leaving the Palladium office, in 1839, Mr. Badger repaired to his residence at Honeoye Falls, Monroe County, New York, where his friends built for themselves a new and commodious chapel, the best in the town; it was dedicated by Mr. Badger in 1840. He was unanimously chosen pastor of this society. He was now in the centre of his former field of labors, a field he had occupied nearly twenty years. His congregations were large, equal at that time, it was stated, to the other four congregations combined. The pastoral relation furnished him a good field for success, as his wise management, social spirit, attractive preaching, and compromising, conciliating turn of mind, gave him strong ability for establishing and enlarging the prosperity of a new congregation. He held this relation till the autumn of 1842.

But the death of his second son, Joseph Badger, Jr., who died May 27, 1839, in the sixteenth year of his age, was indeed an affliction that deeply shaded his spirit. He was a noble and an ingenious youth. He had fine abilities, was truthful and genial; and in the execution of business plans, so far certainly as they related to publishing, he was his father's main reliance. Great were the parental affections that centred in him; and when he departed, the gigantic spirit of his father, which had ever dealt easily with great adversity, now was deeply stirred, like the patriarch's of ancient time. Though he shed no tear over the death of his son, though he opposed a serene temper and countenance to the great bereavement, no event had ever bowed him so deeply, or struck so centrally into his inward composure and peace. Often, as night came on, refusing his accustomed slumber, he walked the garden in lonely meditations, and blended with the serious light of moon and stars the more sober workings of his own mind. Never before had calamity the power to bring out the evidences of a deeply disturbed and broken spirit; and these were now so well controlled by him, that the world neither saw nor dreamed of their existence. At times, he arose from his nightly rest to walk the grounds of his pleasant mansion, and for hours seemed to invite the holy and beautiful sympathy of nature to soften his grief. Deep, exceedingly deep was this sorrow over his worthy son.

There were plans occupying his mind at this time, which, though unannounced to the world, were of large moment. Aside from ministerial duties, at home and abroad, he contemplated the publication of several works. He intended to have given the world the biography of several distinguished ministers whose lives were closed in the field of arduous labor. Among these, he had selected, for a prominent place, the life and writings of Joseph Thomas, of Ohio, a man of eloquence and interesting ability. All the materials for this book now lie in Mr. Badger's desk, in the order in which he arranged them. In ministerial biography, how capable had been his pen! His acquaintance and experience were so extensive that, from memory alone, he could have drawn the largest contributions for his object. He had also determined on editing a Church History which should have reflected the success of Christian principles preached for half a century. In this, also, how largely was he qualified to do justice to his undertaking! No inconsiderable quantity of material gathered for this purpose now remains in his library; but the hand that would have edited them is motionless for ever, and the son whose age and capacity then qualified him to second and to render effectual his enterprises, was taken from the earth. Notwithstanding these breaks in these cherished aims, his life continued active, and the churches felt the weight of his counsel and the worth of his influence.

In June, he attended three conferences in the State; at Rock Stream, Yates County, where the attendance of both ministers and people was great, he preached, on Saturday, a sermon of marked character, full of the calm and harmonizing spirit of Christianity, founded on Ps. 119: 165: "Great peace have they which love thy law, and nothing shall offend them." It had a visible influence, it was thought, on the proceedings of the body, and on the tone of all the meetings. In dwelling on the peace of the divine law, he spoke of the trials of brethren against each other as wholly wrong; as unnecessary; he dwelt on the repose of spirit, on the fine feelings and peaceful sentiments of the true Christian, explaining the latter part of the passage as meaning that "nothing shall cause them to offend." At this time, he was appointed chairman of the committee on education, who met in the new chapel at Honeoye Falls, September, 1839, and there decided the location of the contemplated seminary in favor of Starkey, N. Y.

This season, Mr. Badger attended several dedications of new chapels in western New York; one at Union Springs, on the shores of the Cayuga, one at Searsburg, one at York, one at Laona; whether he was present at the dedication of the churches at Springwater and Machias, no evidence informs us. At Marion, Wayne County, N. Y., September, 1840, he preached eleven sermons, which were followed by good effects. I here quote a paragraph, as it embodies his opinion on the subject of revivals:

"Some would call our meeting at Marion a protracted effort; but I care not what it is called, provided God is honored and souls are saved. A protracted meeting, conducted by enthusiastic, proud, extravagant, and ranting leaders, is a curse to any well-organized congregation. Some men think it is no matter what means are employed if an effect is produced; the end will justify the means. But this is a dangerous sentiment. Let a meeting be conducted for days or weeks, with prudence, candor and solemnity, let an appeal be made to the understanding of rational men, let their judgment be informed; then the experience will be sound, the effect lasting, and the revival will be a blessing and an honor to any congregation."

It were, indeed, a lengthy task to record the history, in detail, of his various labors from 1840 to 1848. Justice, however, demands a condensed statement of facts. In 1840, his labors were very successful in Stafford, Genesee County, N. Y. About sixty were added to the church. Under his labors, the Christian society of that place merged out of many discouragements. In the spring of 1841, he speaks of a revival in his own assembly; of some sixty who had made religion a fact of inward experience; of the reception of about forty members into his church; of the baptism, at one time, April 25th, of twenty-nine persons in the waters of the Honeoye; of other important seasons of administering this symbolical rite to persons in whom had just opened the new epoch of a spiritual life. The first year of his retirement from editorial labor was spent in considerable devotion to study and reflection. This year, he visited Castile, Wyoming County, N. Y.; also several other places whose condition required his assistance. He said:

"No energy should be suffered to slumber, no rational and scriptural means should be left unimproved, for the conversion of sinners, and the perfection and holiness of the church of God. In such exciting times as these, what a steady and constant care should every Christian exercise in order to 'discern between the precious and the vile,' and be suitably guarded against the extravagant inventions of men, which direct the mind from Christ and from that holy work which devolves upon our hands as disciples. How many have followed vain speculations and empty theories until they have lost their Christian meekness and zeal, and have become proud, haughty, heady, self-righteous sectarians, the sport of the infidel, or stumbling-block to sinners, and a reproach to the cause of God. In this state of things, ministers should be awake, divested of the world, harnessed for the holy war, and, in Christian meekness, should lay the axe at the root of every evil tree, whether within or without the church. In this view of things, I have not dared to engage in any worldly enterprise, and now feel strong, as in my youth, to go forth into the harvest of the Lord. It will be thirty years next August since I engaged in the work of the ministry. I mourn that I have done no more good. The past year, I have preached as many sermons, and labored as hard, as in any other year of my life, and I trust it has not been in vain. To be useful to the souls of men, to produce a healthy and saving influence in the church, should be the great motive to govern all good ministers of our Lord. With this object in view, every man who puts forth an untiring effort will assuredly see the fruit of his labor.

"When our American fathers fought for liberty, the love of country inspired their bold and worthy devotion. Their voluntary suffering and sacrifices were the loud clarions to proclaim immortality upon their names and virtues. It is so with ministers and people; where a suitable degree of love to the Redeemer's cause is felt, the sacrifices will be voluntary and hearty, and the blessing is sure to follow as that they put forth a suitable effort from the right motive. But we too often ask and receive not, because we ask amiss, by asking or laboring with a wrong or impure desire. Whether the minister is suitably remunerated or not, he should do all he can for the cause of God, and leave his hearers to answer in the judgment for their treatment to him. Let us, as ministers and people, do our duty, come what will. It will be a poor apology for a minister in the judgment day, when asked why he was no more active in God's vineyard, to say that he was poorly paid; and it will be a poor apology for the miserly professor, when asked why he has sustained the Gospel ministry no better, to say he did not like the minister, that he never signed subscriptions, or any of the thousand excuses the covetous urge in this life. When we behold all the beauty of nature, all the splendid works of art, and all the wealth of this vast world melted down in the general conflagration, how will Christians mourn over the pernicious worldly spirit which has choked the good seed, rendered them nearly useless in the church, and presented them mere dwarfs in the presence of God. Oh, foolish Christians, to be so worldly now; of what blessings do you deprive yourselves in this life, and what a reward you lose in heaven! Oh, precious Zion, how she bleeds and suffers, and how indifferent her professed friends! Who will put forth a helping hand to rebuild her waste places?"

As his own congregation was now established on a good foundation, numbering upwards of a hundred members, he began to think of devoting his labors one half of the time to the churches generally, to raise in them a higher tone of religious feeling. In the winter of 1842 he visited Yates County, preached thirty-one sermons in the village of Dundee to large assemblies. His sermon on temperance raised one hundred and four signers to the pledge; his personal visits to the liquor-sellers took every drop from their stores, so that none of it could be bought. His sermon on profane swearing changed the tone of language among young men, and gave rise among them to an association whose object was the cultivation of a pure speech. Being unable this year to comply with the invitation of his brethren in Michigan to attend their Conference, he addressed them a letter, in which he offered the counsels he supposed adapted to their condition in a new country, among which was the idea, that if they would prosper as a people, they should, in building chapels, be careful to select the best locations, to build in thriving villages and in cities; for he pleaded that a village, however small or wicked it might be, is a far better location than can be gained a mile or so distant, inasmuch as it is sure to finally centralize the interest of the surrounding region.

In the fall of 1842, Mr. Badger resigned his pastoral care of the church at Honeoye Falls, that he might travel among the churches, and be free to attend the many calls for ordination, dedication, and other services that were made upon his time and labor from abroad. This separation was in the kindest feeling, and on the part of the society was accompanied by a commendatory letter that expressed the highest regard for his services and character, a regard based on an acquaintance of twenty five years. The society, with the counsel and approval of their former pastor, engaged the labors of Rev. Oliver Barr, whose tragical death in the late railroad disaster at Norwalk, May 6th, 1853, has given occasion to many expressions of appreciation and sympathy. Under the labors of Mr. Badger, this society stood on a solid basis of prosperity and union; all in all, their position was stronger and their influence sounder under his pastoral care than they ever have been since they were organized as a church. Mr. Badger is again free to obey the miscellaneous calls of his brethren and of the community in general, December 7th, he attended the dedication of the church at Shelby; the 8th, he preached the ordination sermon of Chester Covel, and for several weeks continued meetings with success. He valued this revival, because its subjects were persons of character, talent and influence, "who would do honor to any cause," and because they embraced Christianity understandingly, and not from excitement and fear. "Where men are frightened, abused and stormed into sectarian measures," said Mr. B., "they may make professions, and like slaves may submit to Christian ordinances, but they will seldom walk worthy of their avocation. Such persons will generally make warm partisans and proud worldly professors, rather than humble, useful Christians." He also visited Ogden and Barry, and gave several discourses. He did not preach six sermons in any place during his labors in the bounds of the Western Conference, without seeing a revival commence. He speaks highly of that association of churches and ministers.

The latter part of the winter, 1843, he visited the congregation of Rev. C. E. Morrill, at Union Springs, Cayuga County, N. Y., and delivered over twenty sermons to his people; under their united labors several were converted to God. Soon after this, he visited Lakeville, twelve miles south of his residence, where, twenty-five years previous, he had assisted to organize a church, and had, for the first nine years of their history, held the pastoral charge over them. Here he continued his efforts for three weeks, baptized twenty persons, collected and concentrated the scattered strength of the society, and continued with them one half of the time through the year. They put on strength and were revived. He speaks of the general complaint throughout the country of religion being at a low ebb, as having its primary cause in the wild zeal with which new theories are pursued to the neglect of prayer, the church, the simple Gospel and its claims. He strongly persuades professing Christians to return with fresh zeal to their holy devotions, to the simplicity of the means of grace as their only hope for securing the prosperity of Zion.

"What a state society has been in far two years past.[58] The sun is darkened by the locusts from the bottomless pit, and the Christian atmosphere in every neighborhood in the land seems impregnated with some poisonous vapor to ruin the soul and to paralyze the energies of the innocent child of God. Never shall we see the evil remedied until ministers come home to the gospel, rely on that, and on that alone, for the salvation of men; know nothing among the people but Jesus Christ and him crucified; leave their wild speculations, encourage the improvement of all the gifts in Zion, and teach and encourage practical religion in every heart. Never shall we be delivered from the incubus that hangs so heavily upon us until church members leave their high-headed racing after new theories and come home to the prayer meeting and conference, be content with the simplicity of the Gospel, know their Master's will and do it, and sit at the feet of Jesus clothed and in their right mind."

In September, 1843, the death of his son-in-law, Rev. Seth Marvin, a man of good ability, of fine and noble nature, of rich fountains of religious experience, and of an oratory peculiarly divine for the awakening of all the heavenward feelings of the human heart, was an event that called out the sympathies of his inmost life; and in the Palladium, vol. 12, p. 97, is a long obituary from his pen, possessing the grace of tender love, combined with a clear, comprehensive statement of the life and qualities of that lamented man.

To this year also belongs his action in regard to that great excitement, which took a temporary hold on the different denominations, known under the name of Millerism. Though we would speak reverently of every form of human hope, regarding all that is strong in religious phenomena as being at least mythologically true, we cannot but honor the independent position Mr. Badger assumed on this subject, at a time when many others either embraced the doctrine, or favored it as a means of promoting popular revivals in their congregations. With a clear vision he penetrated its claims, acknowledged the degree of truth he thought it contained, then spoke of its defects of doctrine, logic, and temper, declaring its probable future results on the welfare of religion and the churches. He early saw the effect in the cause, and in 1842, withstood the tendency of the paper he had so long conducted, whose editor was then guiding it into the service of that system.

Let it not be thought that we speak sectarianly on the subject here introduced, for substantially we concede all that man ever has or can hope for. "New heavens and new earth" were promised us in 1843; and though Nature did not condescend even to frown or smile at those who told her fortune, she knows very well that new heavens and new earth will ultimately come. The progress of the solar system through space will alone bring new heavens physically; and changes now at work in terrestrial nature shall yet exhibit a new earth. Be patient; myriads of years, which are God's seconds, will do the work. Is not the earth now good enough for thee, thou latter-day saint? Be patient; it is now much better than you are; it flowers are more fragrant than your virtues, its fountains are purer than your actions, its music of bird and brook is sweeter than your Sabbath melody, and it rolls in its orbit far more majestically and truthfully than you have ever pursued the circuit of your duties. He who has divine life in him always sees a new earth and a new heaven. "The Lord shall come;" yes, more and more in proportion as man is capable of receiving him. He has come, does come, and shall come; and in the symbolical, higher sense, who that believes in God or man dares to despair of a new heaven and a new earth in the mental, moral, and social conditions of humanity? Who does not hope for a more perfect state? In the great substance of these questions there is never a quarrel; this only fastens on the details which make up the form. Texts may be skilfully quoted; but we are to reverence the whole of God's scripture. Creation is full of holy, living texts; and he who sees His laws in nature as an everlasting scripture will never be moved by alarming interpretations that men may put on the visions of Patmos and Palestine, or the princely dreams of old Assyria. Mr. Badger believed, doubtless, in the personal second coming of Christ; he held firmly to the law and the prophets; but there was a certain something in him which no proof texts could ever dupe into theories anti-common sense or anti-natural. We give a few quotations, which show earnestness, decision and strength.

"Mr. Editor: Sir,[59]—Night before last the Palladium came to hand, which I hastily read, and retired from the scene with disgust. Last evening I read carefully the articles which to me were offensive, with the hope that I might be so far reconciled as to excuse myself from the task of offering my dissent publicly to some opinions which you have taught and endorsed. But, Sir, I retired again with grief and increased dissatisfaction. I said, Is it possible that I have lived to see the 'Palladium,' which was brought into existence by a few choice spirits, (some of whom are gone to their graves,) over whose destinies for seven long years I watched with such vigilance, now become the slave of a deluded party, and a channel through which error, delusion and ruin shall be poured into the bosom of the church of God? I have not written for the Palladium these many months only when I could not avoid it; and would not now if a sense of my duty to the public would allow my pen longer to slumber.

"The error of which I complain is not that you and others teach that the Saviour will come personally the second time, to reward his saints and destroy his enemies. This all Christians believe. But the great error lies in the fact that Mr. Miller and his followers teach what plain contradicts common sense and existing facts in relation to the Ottoman dominion and the Holy Bible. They teach that Christ has no kingdom on earth; of course, no laws, no subjects, no institutions, and no government. Also they fix the time of the Saviour's coming. In this they assume to be more knowing than the angels of God, or Jesus Christ when he was on earth. This looks like being wise above what is written, or like the old-fashioned Calvinists divulging the secret will of God. They also denominate their mission the 'Midnight Cry.' This I most cordially approve, and think that nothing could be more appropriate; for certainly such obvious errors could never proceed from the kingdom of light. The apostle represents his brethren as being the children of the day, not of the night or of darkness. Those who walk in darkness know not at what they stumble. Mr. Miller and his disciples have thrown about themselves such a cloud of absurdities that they are all enveloped in midnight darkness, and thus make their midnight cry. Essential pillars may fall out in their temple and they know it not. The day of grace was to close in 1840, and they in 1842, at the very close of the year, boast of their converts, spread abroad their canvas, and declare their chain is yet perfect.

"Its motive to action is wrong. The lever used and the means employed is terror; the principle which moves to action is fear. A class of orators are got up who assume uncommon sanctity, have a set of arguments founded on mathematical calculation upon the prophecies, which common sinners are not capable of contradicting. Another class of arguments drawn from history, which common men have not the means at hand to contradict, are presented; then bringing all to bear on the one great point that God will burn up the world next year, is it strange that converts are multiplied? They serve God for fear he will burn them up if they do not. Take away this fear and they will hate him still. Such repentance is very liable to be spurious. Men are sick and afraid to die, and they repent; but I venture to say, there is not one instance out of fifty in which they carry out the principles and sustain the character of Christians when restored to health. The love of Christ should constrain men, the goodness of God should lead them to repentance, and they should appreciate all his claims upon their service. They should, from choice, submit to his government, and love him because he first loved them. The Gospel plan is the best. Light and intelligence are the great influence to be applied to the noble intellect of man, to move him to virtuous actions and reforms. I do not see how we can say it matters not what motives we present, or what means we adopt, if we only get men to repent. The Mormons put on sanctity, put forth efforts and make converts by wholesale; but this is no proof that their doctrine is true, or that the cause of pure religion is essentially benefited by their revivals.

"2. Its spirit is wrong. It is a peculiar trait in the Christian religion that it always inspires its subjects with humility, kindness, charity, whilst error is generally attended with pride, egotism and cruelty. For thirty years past I have seen many false prophets and false religions rise and fall, and uniformly a vain, vaunting, self-righteous spirit has attended them all. But I have never witnessed more of it in any case than in Mr. Miller and his followers. Just look at Mr. M.'s reply to Simon Clough, as published in the Palladium. The egotism and insult seen in that reply can scarcely be found in the English language from the pen of any man who makes any pretensions to Christianity. I have not conversed with one of them who could hear a cogent argument against their doctrine without exhibiting pride and passion. They cannot bear contradiction. They are the wise virgins, and the rest of their brethren are the slumbering and foolish who will be shut out of heaven; they often refer to a passage in Daniel which says 'the wise shall understand,' and have no hesitation in considering themselves 'the wise' and their brethren as the 'wicked' who shall not understand. They know it all, and are more confident than seven men who can render a reason.

"3. Their heads have a peculiar shape. There are men in every church, and have been in every age, who are constitutionally inclined to fanaticism. They cannot stand in excitement; they cannot hold still. There are two classes of them, who have ever been an annoyance to the church. The first are fond of the marvellous, are always driving into speculative theories, are never at rest. The last or new theory is always the true one, and they soon ride the new hobby to death, and then seek another. It matters not how absurd the doctrine. It may contradict the Bible, it may rend the church asunder, it may prostrate all good order in society, it must be forced and driven ahead, and have its day. They are always a class of Jehus ready for a new scheme. The second class are those of weak minds, who are moved by passion. Any excitement takes them along with the multitude. Human nature being thus constituted, is it strange that converts are made? I know of several of Mr. Miller's associates whose lives have been one scene of changes. Should 1843 pass away and the world not be destroyed, they will in no wise be discouraged. Instead of repenting of their folly and mourning over the havoc and disorder they have caused in the church, and the infidels they have made, they will be driving ahead in some new scheme, and will wonder that the poor backslidden church and the poor blind ministers cannot see their great light, and will not appreciate their astonishing usefulness."

In other articles he went more particularly into the discussion of the question, which, as the entire excitement has passed away, could not be of much interest to readers of the present time. These articles were rejected by the partial editor; only the first one was published, which was done by order of the committee. Had the three been printed, we are confident that no editorials could have effaced or marred their strong impression on the public mind. In justice, however, to the proper mental dignity of that periodical, I should say that its editorial advocacy of Adventism was but temporary, that through the faithful action of the executive committee, the Palladium was soon restored to its original aims. Indeed it was a luckless event to that paper, its finances, and its power over the community that Mr. Badger left it. Had his wise head and strong hand guided it through the action and reaction of excitement until 1845, the effect on the union, concentration, and sanity of the religious interest would have been great. It is folly to think that a weak, or a half-and-half man, whatever may be the sanctimony of his carriage, can ever fill the place of a bold, great man. It never was done, and never can be. Mr. Badger not only used his influence at an early day to prevent this perversion of the Palladium from its former high character, but when it occurred, with much toil and decision, he, with a few others of similar force, labored until it was effectually emancipated. The real value of Joseph Badger, in all great emergencies, his ability to conduct a cause to honor and prosperity, though seen by the discriminating, and in a degree acknowledged by all, is not even yet truthfully appreciated. There are not many who so analyze past events as to see the full worth of a real man; some flaming humbug, that dazzles the mass with words and extravagant zeal, is much more taking and congenial to the general stupidity. I here dismiss this part of his public life, with the remark, that some who read his articles will probably never find a class of ultraists gathered about their one idea without first looking to see whether "their heads have not a peculiar shape."

In August, 1843, Mr. Badger began to write a series of articles in the Christian Palladium, under the head of "Sketches," which were extended to 1848. In these his various labors are reflected; also his views on subjects particular and general, in the most frank and open manner. In some numbers belonging to 1844, in answer to the resolution of a New England Convention which declared that ministers should sustain a lay membership with some local church, as essential to their general good standing, Mr. Badger argued, that the minister, by virtue of his office as public teacher, by virtue of his relation as pastor, and by virtue of his relation to all the churches, cannot be required to become a member of a local church, and to submit to its local authority all the interests of his character and ministerial position in the world. He pleaded that a minister of the gospel is not created officially, or ordained by a single church, that it is in the united wisdom of several churches and ministers that he is appointed to his work, and that it requires an authority equally general to try, acquit, or exclude him, as the evidence may demand. He conceded not only to each local church, but to any individual within or without its pale, whose candor should entitle him to respect, the privilege of bringing a minister to account for any conduct that is contrary to the ethics of the Gospel he was ordained to preach, but that the determining tribunal is nothing less than the assembled virtue and intelligence of the several churches and ministers who are to be, as nearly as the limits of convenience will permit, the whole body to which he belongs. "I only contend," said he, "for what the old English code of common law established as a fundamental principle, that 'every man shall be tried by his peers.'" In this protracted discussion, in which his own powers were not fully awakened, he penned some strong and cogent paragraphs; nor did the two or three opponents who answered him as he advanced, at all embarrass his progress or disturb the composure of his argument on the question. The whole bearing of his views as expressed on this and kindred topics, from 1819 to 1845, goes against every theory which seeks to separate ministers from churches, or churches from ministers. Their united action was his idea of church government.

In 1845, he preached mostly within the region of his early labors in that country, at Lakeville, South Lima, and occasionally at Greece. At the latter place, he was called to dedicate a new and beautiful chapel, January 3, 1845; Rev. F. W. Holland, the Unitarian minister of Rochester, N. Y., A. Crocker and L. Allen were with him. He spoke from Ps. 84: 1: "How amiable are thy tabernacles, O Lord of Hosts!" Speaking of the effect of this sermon, Mr. Holland observes:—

"Many venerable faces were wet with tears, and the audience listened eagerly for an hour. This excellent brother has labored a third of a century in this country, erected the first church west of the Genesee river,[60] and prides himself on bearing his years so well as not to feel a pulpit effort of several hours. I was much pleased with this interview, and was strongly moved to accept his invitation to add a codicil to his last words. I then made the prayer of consecration, and, after the anthem, a Methodist minister gave the benediction from a full and gushing heart."

In union with Mr. Crocker, of Parma, and Allen, of Greece, he continued his labors there constantly for one month. Mr. Badger gave about thirty sermons. At the close of his eleventh discourse, thirty-three persons obeyed his invitation to take a decided stand for God and his service, three-fourths of whom were men, and among them persons of talent, wealth, and influence in the community. "The good work," says Mr. B., "proceeded gradually through the month, without fanaticism, extravagance, or disorder." Among those who were reached by redeeming influence was a German, who had been with Napoleon in many of his wars, had crossed the bridge of Lodi by his side, and been wounded at the battle of Agram; also another of seventy-five years, who had stood by Commodore Perry in the battle on Lake Erie. Two-thirds of the building committee, who were men of the world, were also numbered with the converts; and of his refreshing seasons with the people of Greece, at baptisms, communions, and other times, he speaks in words of pleasure. But he closed his labors with them near the last of 1845; likewise the same with the church at Lakeville, which he had planted twenty-seven years before. He also visited Canada in the month of August, which he said was invigorating both to his bodily and spiritual health. "There are," said he, "in Canada, some of the most pious spirits and some of the most valiant souls that ever adorned the church of God. They live to do good, and love the Saviour's cause above all things." He is now free from all pastoral confinement, and designs to visit the sea-shore of New England as soon as proper opportunity shall open, that he may there regain his usual health.

We are now at a crisis of his life which makes us sad as we cast our eyes upon it. Thus far, through his long career, we have traced the energetic man, the man of full and overflowing resources of physical power. But here the scene must change, not gradually as age and as even disease commonly execute their mutations on human frailty, but suddenly as from the lightning's stroke, the oaken form receives assault. July 2, 1845, while employed for an hour in assisting his hands at work, and using an uncommon amount of vigor, he paused a moment to rest, when he received a paralytic shock on his left side, which never after allowed him the enjoyment of his former health. His ancestors on his mother's side were subject to this fatal affliction; and whatever may be justly said in favor of active habits and frugal diet as preventives of a disaster so terrible, it is certain in this case that the fact has a close relation to laws of hereditary descent. Alluding to this event, Mr. Badger observes:—

"I have felt, during this affliction, the most perfect resignation to the will of God. I have stood upon the walls of Zion over thirty years; I am weary in the work, but not of it. Many of my early associates have left their stations before me. I have baptized about forty who have become ministers of the Gospel, several of whom have entered upon their rest. I now stand upon the isthmus between two worlds, ready to depart and be with Christ, or still to toil on amidst the ills of life as the great Master may direct. While I do live, I am determined to stand firm against what I know to be the delusions of the present age, which are spreading death and devastation among the flock of Christ, and to hold fast that system of revealed truth on which the hopes of this lost world must rest for salvation. I do as I think all ministers should in such an age of speculation in theology as the present; place my confidence in, and consecrate my energies to, the promotion of the one blessed Gospel, which is the power of God unto salvation, and declare, to a divided and excited public, 'I am determined to know nothing among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified.'"

He continues:—

"Again, I cannot go with the tirade of persecution which some of the sects are getting up against the Catholics. Let us hold up truth, and scatter light to refute error. If we take the sword, we shall perish of the sword. God has shaken every other sect to its very centre, and the work has just commenced among them. God will, in due time, effect his own purposes. In Germany, and in this country, the work of dissent and reform has commenced. At Rome, their main temple begins to crumble, and soon a howling will be heard among the merchants of Babylon. Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord. Let Christians in every case be careful how they grasp the sword of vengeance.

"This whole State is missionary ground; and there is no part of the world where funds can be expended and labors put forth to greater advantages than among ourselves. As soon as the citadel is manned and ammunitioned, I say go forth to conquest, and the Great West is our next field. If I were in health, I would now sooner risk a support among the new settlers at the west, than among three-fourths of the old churches in this State. Let us all put shoulder to the wheel, and strengthen the things that remain which are ready to die; and extend our efforts to all the world as soon as possible."

Though half of him was paralyzed July 2d, these, and very many other paragraphs and sermons that might be quoted, indicate that the remaining half was adequate to all practical needs. December 8th, he started for Plainville, Onondaga County, N. Y., to visit the strong and prosperous congregation of Rev. E. J. Reynolds, to whom he preached twenty-two sermons. Mr. Badger, after complimentary remarks on the success of Mr. R., said, "Many churches suffer great loss by frequent changes in the ministry, and thereby keep themselves in a fluctuating state. When a minister is known, he has acquired an amount of influence which the church should regard as so much capital; this it may take another a long time to gain. A church should guard against the excitement which a change in the ministry always occasions, the consequences of which are frequently fatal."

From this place he started for New England; visited Boston and New Bedford, and by invitation of the committee of Franklin-street church, Fall River, Mass., he went to occupy the pulpit of that society. His first letters from this place describe, with comprehensive exactness, the condition of society, the advantages and improvements of the places he had visited in New England. He saw a new town as he saw a new man, comprehensively, and in one paragraph would group together the main features in its temporal prosperity and in its spiritual state. Turning his eye back upon the field he had left, he said:—

"In the State of New York I have labored in the ministry near thirty years. I have in that great and interesting field of labor sacrificed the best part of my frail life. I have there devoted my strength in youth and middle age, have there seen great displays of God's glory in the conversion of sinners and in the planting and growth of many of the tender branches of Zion. But I have failed in the work—failed amidst my labors, with the best of prospects before me, when it seemed that the infant churches most needed my counsel and assistance. But I can do no more for them; I cannot face the storms, endure the fatigues, and meet the opponents with that vigor and success I did a quarter of a century ago. No; let me retire in peace, with the consolation that I have fought a good fight, and that my labors have not been in vain in the establishment of Christianity in the State of New York. Young men who will come after us in the ministry, and enter into our labors, can never appreciate the toils and sufferings pioneers in this cause were obliged to endure, to raise and sustain the standard of Christian liberty in that State."

After the first six weeks of his stay in Fall River, not finding that strength and rally of bodily faculty he had hoped from the sea-breeze, he thought of going to Virginia, or to some more genial climate of the South. But he remained a while longer; and, realizing a moderate improvement, he continued his labors in that town, preaching three sermons every Sabbath, attending three social meetings through the week, visiting the sick, calling on his parishioners, reading and writing as much as the accustomed duties of clergymen require.

His first sermon, delivered January 4, 1846, was founded on 1st Cor. 2: 2: "For I determined to know nothing among you save Jesus Christ, and him crucified,"—a text which was the key-note of his whole theologic harmony. In the plot of this sermon there are three simple divisions: 1. Why did St. Paul bring his labors and efforts to bear on this one point? Why would he know nothing else? 2. What is it to know Jesus Christ and him crucified? 3. The danger of mixing other things with the Gospel, thereby dividing and polluting the minds of the hearers. The reasons assigned under the first division are: 1. Christ is the only hope of a lost world, the only medium by which we can approach God. 2. He wished that his hearers should be rightly taught, that their faith might stand in the power of God, not in the wisdom of men. "To know Jesus Christ," he said, "is to understand his history, to know his doctrine, to have him in our experience, to know the power of his resurrection, which is eternal life." It is, however, impossible to form any adequate idea of a sermon of his from a plot, as he was so richly extemporaneous, and never committed to paper anything more than the guiding points of his discourse; the minutiæ were wholly in his mind. If the several hundred plots of sermons found amongst his papers were presented to the world, it would soon appear that only those who have heard him in the days of his strength could form any just idea of the discourses he gave, for his spoken language was infinitely more eloquent and free than his written, and there was so much that made up the total interest in his manner, voice, and expression, that cannot, by any known skill, be transferred to paper. Like the speaking of Whitfield and Henry Clay, the occasion only was the true witness of his power. The written report, though it reads well, carries but little of the peculiar life-impress, the fine pathos, the delicate humor, the ready turn of thought, the quick imagination, and the falling tear of the listening auditor. It is only by hearing, we say, that Joseph Badger's pulpit abilities can be judged.

Casting his eye over New England society, he pleaded the necessity of broader sympathy and union, of greater confidence between ministers and people, and for a giving up of local prejudices between the east and the west, as the cause of Christ is a unit over all the world. He extols the spirit and labors of Benjamin Taylor in the Bethel cause, at Providence, R. I., which served to send over the wide seas the pure principles of unsectarian religion; the same praise was bestowed on the efforts of Moses How, of New Bedford, whose labors for years in the seaman's cause, have been catholic in nature and efficient in result. In glancing at the generally low state of religious interest, whose causes he thought lay deeper than the lack of human science, he said:—

"These times are doubtless suffered to come upon the earth, to sift the church, to purge it from its dross, to try and purify the people of God and to prepare them for a greater work and a holier state. Oh, merciful God! grant this may be the result of all the conflicts which now surround the dear people, who are pressed down, grieved, discouraged and tempted. Oh! let them once more arise in their strength, put on their beautiful garments, exert their influence and see thy glory as they have in years that are past.

"The anxiety I feel for the Christian cause at the present crisis exceeds anything I have felt in years past; and in my feeble state it presses heavily upon my spirit night and day. I know our doctrine, our order and our spirit are right; I know our cause is good, and many have sacrificed their precious lives and labored valiantly to sustain and establish it. It must come up again. It must and will yet live; it must be the general centre to which all sects must approach, when their revolutions and reforms bring them fully into the liberty of the Gospel of Christ. Oh, brethren, stand fast in the liberty of the Gospel, hold fast whereunto you have attained, endure to the end, and salvation is sure. I may not live to see better days upon the earth; but they will come. 'Why art thou cast down, Oh my soul! hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise him.' The storms will blow over, the darkness will pass away, and God's true people will come forth like gold seven times tried in the fire. Courage, courage, my brethren. Remember the fate of the fearful and unbelieving.

"I suppose it is the design of the great Founder of religion, that all his followers should be placed in a state of trial here, and that Christianity should grapple with the powers of darkness, and overcome all the influences which can be raised against it. We never know our own strength, or the strength of other Christians, until we are placed in a state of trial and affliction; and the strength and virtue of Christ's religion are never fully developed until tested by the sword and the fagot. But in the darkest time its holy light shines, and its virtue is felt and known."

During his stay in Fall River, 1846 and 1847, he frequently wrote for the public papers, in which he took some very bold and independent positions. He closely criticised and answered an anonymous writer, who, with much ability and severity, introduced a sermon on the text, "My people perish for lack of knowledge;" he also conducted a somewhat lengthy controversy with an able anonymous writer, who styled himself Azro. In all these communications, the ideas which steadily hold the ascendant are these: that all the moral evils of society are anticipated by the Gospel; that its mission being the redemption of a fallen world, it is capable of reaching the entire depth of moral disease in every phase it can assume; that the church is the only moral association Jesus ever sanctioned; that it is through the power which inherently lives in Christianity, that the entire brood of social evils are to be vanquished—slavery, war, intemperance, and every sin known to human history. He pleaded that no one virtue should be singled out and made the whole of Christianity; that no one vice is the whole tree of evil; and that the only method by which human society can be made to yield good fruits is by making the tree good, by reform in its heart and life; that the coercion of law and the flaming zeal of partisans cannot reform the world efficiently. These are substantially his positions. No man, we believe, ever had a higher faith in the mission of Christ and the Gospel; and none ever confided more strongly than he in the certainty of their final victories. But the world needs, and will have, a complexity of agencies in the work of its deliverance: discussion, debate, societies, radicals, conservatives, men of one idea and men of a thousand, all are equally necessary, as in nature we get the soft, green grass and the thorny hedge, the south gale and the lightning's dart. In nature, we judge that no angelic reformer, had he turned naturalist prior to the human epoch, could have so induced the coming of the postponed era of land animals as to have blended it with that of the coralline limestone; nor can any ado of church or state pile up topmost strata in the moral world any faster than is granted by the eternal law that underlies all the eras of nature and spirit. But in doing the work of the world's salvation, all agencies can be overruled; John, with his loving divinity; Peter, with his sword; battles and prayers, all can be woven into service.

At Fall River, though the ability of his labors was greatly impaired by bad health, he made a strong impression, created many friends, and has ever been remembered there with friendly interest. His sermon on temperance was highly spoken of by the papers of that place; his bold vindication of the rights of the over-taxed energies of the female laborer at the cotton mills, in reply to the lecture of an influential clergyman who maintained that the rules and labors of the factories are favorable to longevity, was characteristic of the man, and won the respectful attention of many who had known nothing of the stranger who was sojourning among them. He continued his labors in Fall River into the month of July, 1846, when, with health somewhat improved, he returned to his family at Honeoye. In glancing over the plots of sermons delivered in that place one is struck with their simple brevity and clear pointedness. For instance: all that appears under the text, Acts 28: 26: "Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian," are these words:—"1. The Christian name. 2. The Christian doctrine. 3. The Christian spirit. 4. The Christian character." His farewell sermon was built on John 14: 18: "I will not leave you comfortless."

In the spring of 1847, he visited the pleasant village of Conneaut, Ohio, which commands a fine prospect of land and lake, and which afforded him at the same time a field of usefulness and the medical services of Doctors Fifield and Sandborn. By the request of Mr. Fuller, then a student at the Meadville Theological School, the success of whose labors at Spring, Pa., seemed to demand his ordination to the Christian ministry, Mr. Badger left home April 2d, to preach the sermon on that occasion. Proceeding by way of Stafford, Laona, and Fairview, he arrived on the 9th; and on the 10th gave a very impressive and interesting discourse, which was happily suited to the occasion. In company with Elder J. E. Church he proceeded to Conneaut, where he gave three sermons to large assemblies—a place he had not before visited in twenty years. There he stood by the graves of Blodget and Spaulding, early associates, called away in the midst of their labors. "How dear their memory, and how venerable their names! how soon I shall join them in the heavenly world! Oh, Lord! prepare me for the holy society above."

The church, which had been in a low and tried state for a long time, began to rally again with brighter hopes of success and prosperity. They came with new interest to the communion—to the social meeting—to the Sabbath services. Attention began to increase, and as early as June 26, Mr. Badger could say:—

"We have received nine, I believe good and spiritual members into the church. How comforting it is to a church who have long sat in sadness by the side of the river of Babylon, again to see the walls and gates of Jerusalem restored, and Zion's altars again smoking with the offering of God. I intend to spend next month at home, and the first of August to resume my labor here again, if the Lord will. It is my meat and my drink to do the will of my Father who is in heaven. I view my great home near, and am anxious to be ready. Our chapel to-day was crowded with hearers, who seemed to feel deeply the importance of religion, which alone can bring salvation to the soul. In the afternoon I met a multitude of solemn hearers, on the pleasant bank of the Conneaut, where, after a short address, I led four happy converts down to the watery grave, who all came forth with joy and strength, to witness a good profession and to shine as lights in the world. May God strengthen their young hearts to endure to the end, that they may be saved. I love the people."

The month of July, which he spent at home, he improved in attending some meetings with his old congregations. July 4, he spoke over an hour to his people at Lakeville, who assembled en masse. The 18th, with Rev. Asa Chapin, he attended the ordination of Sylvester Morris, at Springwater; in speaking of the sermon given by his colleague, he said:—"One such sermon which indicates God and his authority, and teaches men to rely on his strong arm, is worth all the flowers of oratory and empty show which human art and skill can produce." He resumed his labors at Conneaut in August, continued them till March, 1848. Whilst there he received about twenty additional members, baptized twelve, among whom was a young Unitarian clergyman, then about to graduate from the Meadville Theological School. Though broken in health and in spirits, though visited by dark and lonely hours, he exhibited the remains of a gigantic force, and over the social circle he still could throw the bright sunlight of his own spirit, which, unlike his bodily constitution, refused to grow old. In frequent social parties he was kindly greeted and cheered during the winter of his stay in Conneaut; and though the excitement of company often reacted upon him injuriously, his letters addressed to his family eulogize the cordiality and kindness of the people. As spring drew near, he felt that his labors should close; and early in March he returned home with the feeling that his long career in the ministry was closed. And so it was. On three or four occasions he again addressed the people, once at Henrietta, on a funeral occasion, once at Naples, and once at Honeoye Falls. Notice had been given at the last place, that Mr. Badger would meet all his friends, who might desire to hear him once more on earth. He spoke to them for the last time. Many came to hear. Among the remarks made concerning this general address, the whole of which was extemporaneous, was this; that the greatest amount of meaning was thrown into the most concise form that language would permit. But his once eloquent speech had now become slow and thick. It no longer flowed. Thirty-six years of a most active, arduous, and often self-sacrificing ministry, thus ended in retirement, when nothing in his years gave signs of life's abating energy.

CHAPTER XX.

RETIRED LIFE—READING—TRAVELS—DEPARTURE—1848 TO 1852.

The mind of Mr. Badger was in reality less impaired than his ability to manifest it. In company, perhaps most persons judge of mind almost wholly from its vocal manifestations. Hence a diversity of opinion and report that went abroad concerning his imbecility. My last interviews with him were in the winter and summer of 1850. I was joyfully surprised to perceive the error of the report that had gone abroad concerning his mental weakness. Honestly, there was then more in his brain than ever existed in the minds of those who reported him as being only a spectacle of sadness. Though his communication was slow and impaired, his clear gray eye shone with all the clearness and thoughtful penetration that it ever had done. I never enjoyed with him more interesting visits. He referred to past events with perfect accuracy of memory, related many incidents of his travels, spoke of argumentative discussions and of positions he had taken, passed judgments on men and things, which at no period of his life could have been more mature.

But ordinarily, his self-control, his power to be unaffected by disturbing causes, was said to have been much diminished; and the clearness and vigor of his mind were also said to have varied essentially at different intervals. Every day, he read, or heard some member of his family read to him, the news of the time. He kept a clear knowledge of the world's great movements; and above all, he relished the sacred news that apprised him of the welfare of Zion. All his letters of 1849 and '50 have the same conciseness and clearness of expression that always distinguished his letter-writing. In the winter of 1850 I called on him; it was evening, about 8 o'clock; found him wearing a most calm and meditative expression. There was no vivacity to cheer a visitor; but immediately one felt the calm and tranquillizing influence of his presence. In glancing over his form and features, it was readily apparent that his whole character was there, not in activity but in repose.

If I might be permitted the liberty of speaking further in the first person, and of drawing from personal reminiscence, I would state some remarks he then made. We conversed sometimes for hours. I chanced to have with me Emerson's newly issued volume, entitled Representative Men. The second day of my sojourn with him, he requested me to read from it. He called for the characters presented; after naming these, he said: "First read to me of Napoleon; after that, of Swedenborg." I did so. And invariably, as the reading passed over those striking and ingenious passages for which Mr. E. is so greatly distinguished, his eye and countenance lighted up with a smile of delight; the thoughts of the writer passed into his mind as easily as the rays of morning enter the eyes of living creatures. I only read from these two characters, and in the pages presented him he evinced the truest delight. His power to appreciate a thinker even then cost him no effort.

He also alluded to the near approach of death. He said he entertained peculiar views on that subject. He would cheerfully die in a foreign land, or far away from home. "I prefer," said he, "that my wife, children, and near friends, would not see me as a corpse. It would suit me, if Providence should so order, to bid my family a cheerful good-by some pleasant day, and in some distant part meet the summons of my God. I would wish that all their remembrances of me might be associated with cheerfulness and life, and that not a single recollection should connect me with death." These utterances, of course, were only a free statement of feeling, but they impressed me much, and were indeed characteristic of the man. He was a lover of life and of the life-like.

In June, 1850, the annual session of the New York Central Christian Conference was holden at his residence. Not wishing to partake of the excitement common to large assemblies, and particularly anxious to avoid the excitement which contact with so many old acquaintances and friends would necessarily create, he planned a journey to Manchester and Gilmanton, New Hampshire. I saw him an evening and morning before he left. He walked with me to the beautiful grove where the Sabbath meeting was to be held; on the way, he observed, "Whenever I went away to preach a dedication sermon, or to hold a meeting in a new grove, I always wanted to go upon the ground and look at the scene a day beforehand." He had a fine visit with relatives among his native hills of New Hampshire, and returned in two or three weeks.

In the spring of 1851, when his power of speech was greatly enfeebled, so much so that he could not speak intelligibly to strangers, he expressed a strong desire to go about and visit once more the churches he had formed, and see all his brethren in the ministry. Mrs. Badger made arrangements to accompany him to Parma, where the New York Western Christian Conference was held June 23, 1851. She had accompanied him on two other journeys of a similar nature, and served him as interpreter, she being able to understand him when others could not. These trips he enjoyed very much; at Parma, he sat in meeting all day Saturday, Sunday and Monday; and, using the language of Mrs. B., "he seemed to have the most profound enjoyment." Taking the precaution to rest on Tuesday, Mrs. B., in their private conveyance, started with him on Wednesday for Gaines, a distance of thirty miles, where they remained for the night; on Thursday morning they journeyed but three miles, to the town of Barry, where they tarried but a night; on Friday he arose early, in his usual health; the sun poured down his burning rays in great power. He became anxious and determined to return home. Said Mrs. B.:

"Accordingly, I started with him as soon as I could prepare; we had rode but about one mile when the last and final shock came over him, which deprived him for the time of every sense but that of intense suffering. I immediately inquired for the nearest physician, and found that we were in the vicinity of Dr. Eaton, an old friend, and one who had prescribed for him before. He was speechless, and nearly senseless when I arrived with him at the doctor's. The doctor immediately took him in, and by thorough rubbing, and bathing, and by administering hot medicines, succeeded in restoring him to a state of consciousness. From this place he was conveyed to my brother's house at Barry, where he was regularly attended by Dr. E. twice a day for one week, at the end of which time he was able to be put into his carriage and to be conveyed home, taking two days for fifty miles, which are ten miles less than he was accustomed to ride when he was well, and called himself a travelling minister. He continued to improve from that time until he was able to walk by my going alongside of him, and leading him from our house to the church. He walked in that way to meeting every Sunday till October, but never recovered his mental and physical faculties as he had them before. He always ascribed his recovery to the energetic course adopted by Dr. Eaton, when he was thrown accidentally into his hands. From the first of October he began visibly to decline, like a person in the consumption. He grew weaker and weaker, his articulation became more indistinct, until about the middle of January or first of February, he ceased to pronounce any words but Yes and No. All communication was now cut off, except such as could be answered in that manner. Many of his old friends in that space of time came to see him, Elder D. F. Ladley, of Ohio, who published an account of his visit in the Gospel Herald. It was always one of the greatest luxuries of his life to have me sit down and read to him, which was now seemingly his only remaining pleasure. This he enjoyed to the last. But from the first of April to his final exit, May 12th, 1852, he seldom ever uttered a word.

"And thus he passed, as it were, almost imperceptibly away, while his ever-penetrating eyes sparkled with the utmost brilliancy till they were closed in death, which painful task fell on my brother, as he was the only one I had time to call in, after I was sensible that he was departing. Our minister, Mr. Eli Fay, came in soon after, and our house was filled with sorrowing friends and neighbors."

Here are the simple facts. They confirm the view that there was a clear, inner light of the intellect, which shone to the last, and which we believe was but transiently eclipsed in death. Thus died a great and a good man. At his dwelling, May 14th, 1852, Mr. Chapin read the Scriptures, offered prayer, and made appropriate remarks. At the church, Rev. Eli Fay, the Christian minister of the place, delivered an appropriate discourse from 2 Sam. 1: 19: "How are the mighty fallen!" in which he discussed the elements, uses and end of human greatness. In the solemn procession that followed to its resting-place the mortal form, were those who had come from some distance around, to shed the reverential tear over the grave of one whose voice had been to them a heavenly eloquence a third of a century ago. When the country was a wilderness, his words had swayed them as trees are moved by the winds. They come, the hoary-headed band, to take a last view of his spirit's fallen temple. By the side of former friends they bury him, and over his sacred ashes rises a monument with this inscription:

"JOSEPH BADGER,
A MINISTER IN THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH.
DIED MAY 12, 1852.
AGED 59 YEARS.

"Here rests his mortal part. His spirit lives,
And guides us still in virtue's path.

His Children."

His life strikes us as a synonyme of energy, of accomplishing force. His words have penetrated myriads of hearts. He had travelled many thousands of miles; had led to the mercy-seat hosts of penitents; to the baptismal waters upwards of two thousand persons, over forty of whom became ministers of salvation; had attended upwards of seven hundred funerals; and, though merit is not always to be measured by outward effects, it is impossible to impartially review his life as a whole, without finding in it a steady devotion to principles, a trusting reliance on God amid the changes of men and the fluctuation of time, which, as we contemplate, grow into the sublimity of faith. He was a hero of faith, and strongly impressed himself upon his time.

CHAPTER XXI.

OUTLINES OF CHARACTER.

Character, as distinguished from reputation, is what we are intrinsically in moral and mental worth. Our reputations are only the various verdict of society concerning us. Our characters are our fixed value for time and eternity. They are our worth also in word and in deed, for these are mighty or weak through the spiritual power that lies back of them, from which they receive their kindling force and inspiration. Character substantially is the end of life, the purpose of nature, Providence, revelations, trial, conscience, and temptation. The universe came from it, reveals it, and strives, through all its teachings and influences, to reproduce it in man. The worship of God, and the various reverence which centres in man, at once resolve themselves into the supreme worth for which the word character stands as a sign. This, then, is the true centre of all biography, that into which the whole life is merged, and by which it may be judged. These few pages, therefore, will aim to sketch, though it may be imperfectly, the main features in the character of Joseph Badger.

When I approach this subject, I am at once struck by the originality and marked distinctions of what I am to examine; and, though the naturalness and simplicity which ever shone in his language and manner might seem to promise an easy task, a longer study dissipates the hope, and leaves the lasting impression that a mind and character like his were never truthfully and fully expressed in a few words, and certainly they were never known by mere passing acquaintance or superficial observation. He was a man of manifold nature, was strong in many directions. He had depths unseen by ordinary acquaintance or by ordinary observation; and to fully interpret one whose inward life was so much of it veiled from the world's gaze, whose power of character was in itself so complex and diverse, requires analytical patience and faithful study. I would not intimate by this that it is invested in dark and impenetrable clouds of mystery; for not a few of his traits are, under almost any circumstances, plainly discernible, those, indeed, which served to render the hours of sociality agreeable and entertaining to all. His quick and clear perception, his calm balance of power, who would not at once discover? But it is the quality of greatness that the manifold qualities involved do not admit of a thorough comprehension except at the cost of time and care. That Joseph Badger was by nature a great man, that, in the sphere of his action, he was so by effects produced, it is presumed that none will be at all likely to deny. Persons who could read God's handwriting of ability in the forms and features of men, or in the discourse and action by which superiority is indicated, were never disposed to place him in the rank of ordinary gifts and powers. A few may have said that no book can add to their knowledge of him; that, for years, they have listened to his sermons; have mingled in his society at their firesides; that they know him entirely. This conclusion we do not unqualifiedly accept. It is our impression that few persons on the earth, in the profoundest sense, knew Joseph Badger. Beyond what they had observed lay much more in unseen repose.

The free and more airy moods of mind with which he usually met his friends and mingled in society, though combined with real dignity of manner, were calculated, in some degree, to give the impression of entire acquaintance to those who could penetrate but a small distance beneath the apparent. But there were sober depths underlying the vivacity and social joy of his presence. In company, it is true, he commonly avoided the introduction and discussion of weighty themes, those requiring continuity of thought, choosing rather to converse on matters of immediate care and interest. He spoke truthfully when he once said to a friend, "I have three moods of mind; one that may be light and airy, one of common seriousness, and one of very deep seriousness." They who judge him only from the first do not, cannot know him; yet is it not more common for people to judge from the surface than from the deeper soul of one's life? The former is easily seen; the latter requires attention. Luther and Franklin were humorous men; but those who would know them must look to the depths over which their humor played.

As the physical man is, by usual consent, the basis of that higher self, in which character, as to its greater meanings, resides, it may be worthy of recollection that the bodily constitution and temperament of Mr. Badger were well adapted to power and excellence of intellect. His constitution, though of fine quality, was naturally very strong and vigorous; the different temperaments commingled in it, the sanguine or arterial taking the lead. With this, there was a full degree of the nervous or intellectual temperament, which imparted much mental activity; with these, there was a measure of the bilious and lymphatic, which, according to the usual explanations of modern science, give endurance, calmness and ease, supplying the wasting activities with support. In early life, Mr. Badger was tall and spare in figure; about middle age, and after, he was more portly; and, at all times, his personal appearance was noble, commanding, and prepossessing. His likeness, facing the title-page of this volume which represents him at the age of forty-two, gives a very good idea of his intellectual expression, with the exception that his brain was of a larger cast, and, in after life, his features and form were more full than they appear in this representation.

The intellect of Mr. Badger was great, especially so in the use of practical perception. His perceptive ability was indeed immense. In seeing through character, motives, and events; in looking at a new movement in the moral world, or at any practical enterprise, he had great, sudden perceptions of the reality before him, on which he formed his conclusions and acted. His mind was quick; his opinions were not usually formed in slow processes, but were very comprehensive, very exact, and when the final results came round, no man's former words sounded so much like certain prophecy in the quotation as his. His mind was richly intuitive in these respects. He readily and closely saw the strong points of every case.

His reasoning intellect was strong and clear, and when awakened was full of power. But thought, in its most abstract form, was not his forte. He could appreciate it, and estimate its value accurately in others, could use it himself; but it was truth, having a direct bearing upon, and demonstrations in, the world of practice, that roused his energies and delightfully employed his powers. He was American. The form of his mind was not, perhaps, exactly philosophical, was not largely given to seek out the laws which pervade the facts of nature and of life, to treasure up universal principles; but he could rapidly work his way into the reality of any cause that it might interest him to know. He readily saw important principles. His mind was creative. He could originate and execute with great skill and dexterity; the former of these functions, however, was, in our opinion, his most favorite work. He often liked to produce and direct the plan for others to carry into effect. His acquaintance with human nature, as it appears in the thousand-fold diversities of the world, was his profoundest knowledge. His great sagacity always seemed as intuition, as a native inspiration. It was next to impossible to deceive him.

There is that in the human mind which takes the name of no one faculty, but which, in the manifestation, is entitled good sense, and "strong sense." There are men in the world, who wield no scholastic terminology, who have no tendency to much speculative theorization, but nevertheless have that in them, which, on the presentation of the most carefully elaborated theories, can at once judge upon their worth and fallacy. This strong searching force which despises the artificial operations of logicians, and the visionary theorization of idealists, makes of them solid pillars amidst the general fluctuation, enables them to say of all the "nine days' wonders," as they arrive, that they are but nine days' wonders. In them it says, "The theory is learned and rendered plausible; but substantially there is nothing in it. It is of no actual use. It hails from cloud-land, and in cloud-land it will ere long dissolve." Mr. Badger was no ideologist; he was an actualist, a realist, who never alienated himself from the circle of the sympathy of mankind, but wrought upon themes and enterprises for which the people themselves had feeling and care. He could easily weigh the humbugs as they arose; and there was no art of proselytism by which they could be glued to him or he to them. Scores of wild theories sprung up in his day. He patiently heard the arguments therefor, mildly responded, gave his own opinion, and with it possibly a cheerful laugh, which was itself no insignificant argument, and probably announced what he believed the result would be when time should have ripened and tested the fruit. The friends of Fourier built an institution within two miles of his door, and kindly invited him to join; some of his old acquaintances with infatuated joy rushed into the new millennium. He told them there was truth in the idea of more fraternity than the selfish world is disposed to enjoy, but that the conception of society they had adopted was visionary, and that all would repent who had thus invested their means. "Be assured, friend G., that in two or three years this whole matter will fail, and your funds will be lost." And so it was. Millerism, also, came along, showing large maps of the world's chronology, Bible symbol, and all that; some of his old ministerial friends rushed into the excitement, and cried aloud for the speedy coming of the personal Christ. He was calm. He told them it was idle theory, that it was theological egotism; and it mattered not how strongly and flippantly they quoted from Daniel and John, or what the array of texts and historical passages might be; he had a large, clear, manly brain, and knew that the main fabric was woven of cobweb. He opposed against it strong arguments, and when knowing vanity and egotism on the opposite side became intolerable, he mingled with his argumentation the withering force of satire, which, with him, was little else than long pieces of strong sense, made very sharp at the points.

This statement should be made for his mind and speech, that whenever he spoke it was to the point. It told plainly on the case in hand. His force was never lost by diffuseness or redundancy. He could say very much in few words. In coming to truth, he preferred the shortest way, and cherished, I judge, a cheerful contempt for artistic modes of reasoning, in which many strive to display so much science of method. The dry logician and the disputer of words he could endure, though he never would waste much time with them. If some one in the company was anxious to controvert, he usually turned to some other person and gave over his part of the question to him; then, in calmly witnessing their play of words, he derived great satisfaction from whatever was weighty, sharp, or well directed on either side, using the occasion chiefly as a scene of entertainment. In him one might see not a little of the ironical advice of Mephistopheles to the student, who in recommending the study of logic as a means of saving time, tells him that "in this study the mind is well broken in—is laced up as in Spanish boots,[61] so that it creeps circumspectly along the path of thought," minding the immense importance of one, two, three, four, which shall now cost him hours to accomplish what he before hit off at a blow. If, as Mephistopheles said, the actual operations of the human mind are as a weaver's loom, where one treadle commands a thousand threads, which are invisible in the rapidity of their movements, Mr. B. was more an actual weaver of the real garment than the philosopher who steps in to prove that these processes must have been so; that the first was so, and therefore the second came; and that since the first and second were, the third was inevitable.[62] In arriving at truth, be it remembered, he preferred the plainest, directest roads. He was emphatically a thinking man; and the end of his thought, mostly, was practical result.

The powers of his mind were not rigid but flexible, as, under any variety of scenes, he was capable of being composed and genial. He did not stickle on small points of theology or practice; points he desired to carry he could gracefully introduce; those which he found it necessary or expedient to abandon, he could give up with easy indifference. He was a man of order; and, perhaps what can be said of but few clergymen, he was a man of skilful business talent, a great tactician, a good economist and financier. "Not one in ten of mankind," said he, "know how to do business."

It has been common for persons to speak much about his shrewdness, tact, sagacity and cunning. As some of these traits often unite in unpowerful and secretive natures, I would say that in him they stood connected with much decision of character, independence and boldness. These stronger traits were manifest in every stage of his history. He stood erect and strong in youth, when answering the tyrannical British magistrate. He put the savages to the extremity of violence rather than acquiesce in a dishonorable mode of conveyance to the seat of justice at the Three Rivers. When about twenty-two, he met a clergyman in New England who confessed to him that he had preached for twelve years in an unconverted state, and whose prayers and sermons were then as spiritless as fallen leaves. Mr. Badger invited him courteously to share in the services of the Sabbath, but on parting he faithfully warned him to seek the life-giving influences of the Holy Spirit. These qualities of tact, shrewdness, cunning, lay under the shadow of stronger and bolder powers. They greatly facilitated his success, so far as this depends on adaptation and proper management; and probably we cannot account for a certain elegant aptness and fitness to the occasion and purpose, which gave peculiar charm to his public discourses, without implying the presence of these intellectual attributes.

It is conceded that it required the extraordinary demand of great occasions, or great opposition, as in the case of controversy, to bring out his greatest intellectual force, though he was happily adapted to ordinary occasions. When obliged to use his power, it came in strong and impressive forms of utterance; all saw his meaning, felt the force of his illustrations and the victorious power of will, which, in minds like his, is strongly determined on the achieving of its aims. In controversy, Joseph Badger was indeed a difficult opponent. We have never heard of any who have claimed a victory against him. The event may possibly have occurred, but the echo thereof has never come to our ears. We doubt that it ever happened. He did not challenge nor seek controversy, nor did he shrink from it when truth and the honor of his cause demanded that formidable opponents should be met. The position of a theological reformer is liable, in the early stages of his work, to receive a great variety of assault; and under such circumstances the peaceful quietness and repose which reside in the established state of the public mind are not his legacy. In a degree, he is to be a moral hero and warrior, and if he wars for truth successfully and handsomely, we should hasten to render him the wreath of honor and praise. We believe that Joseph Badger never stood for the advocacy of views which he did not himself heartily believe; and this conceded, we believe also that he never entered a controversial field without the determination of victory, the end being, in all reason, not so much to persuade the wrangling antagonist as to convince the people. The calmness of his intellect and the composure of his feelings were always conspicuous at such times. Though he had high spirit and temper constitutionally, though his passional nature was uncommonly strong, he was, on all occasions where the passions of others were likely to be inflamed, astonishingly cool. It was the coolness of a pilot amidst the storm. At all times of which we have any knowledge, Mr. Badger was distinguished for this self-command, by which he could rise above surrounding excitement or present calamity. This trait gave him great advantage in discussion; for, from his own cool state, he was sure to learn the weaknesses of temper and of argument on the opposite side, which soon became advantageous capital to his cause. But we do not here design to trace him through his controversial history. The glance we have taken in this direction is simply to exhibit certain qualities that distinguish his mind.

Imagination, without which there is no blue sky of starred excellence in our being, is a faculty which in some degree of richness operates in all creative minds. It was often playfully and often seriously active in the mind of Joseph Badger. It aided his free and happy use of language. It brought to his service a vast number of natural illustrations and figures, both for the ornament of public discourse and social conversation; and in the good taste and fancy, of which the clearest evidences exist, is also implied that something finer than the understanding enriched him. He held in his mind a high standard of poetry; therefore he never sought to approach it by creations of his own. He had intense feeling and delicacy of sentiment, and withal a vein of marvellousness that caused him at times to note in his diary the dreams of his midnight slumber, on which he would afterwards linger in sober reflection. Among his private papers there are a few instances in which his strong presentiments are recorded. The generous enthusiasm of his nature, that gave so much life to his early labors, and that always rendered his influence enlivening, is well balanced by the deliberate intellect that imparted to his action and manner the impress of composure. But it is as a matter-of-fact man chiefly, as a utilitarian in the best sense of that word, as a definite thinker, that his true character appears in the world. He was a great and a natural planner, was most in his element when standing in the centre of some enterprise which aimed at important practical results. In every cause he undertook, his power to concentrate himself upon the single end before him was immense.

Though possessed of great suavity of manners and smoothness of speech, in power of will and in firmness of decision he had few equals. He labored with great fidelity and perseverance toward the achievement of his main purpose. He could smile or laugh at the sharpest opposition that might be expressed in his presence, could speak of his plans without using tenacious language, but everything proved in the long run, the power of his will and the solidity of his purpose. His will was by nature and discipline strong, very strong; and he had that which took away the offence which strong-willed persons usually give. Instead of appearing at all wilful, or stubborn, he cast himself upon the assignation of the best reasons, and demeaned himself in a conciliatory bearing toward all. He knew how to give in and how to waive minor matters that he might compromise people of different opinions and prejudices, for which he possessed great tact and skill. Yet when opposition became decided and open, he had no great patience or long-suffering towards the obstacles that stood in his way. He wanted them out of the path, and set to work for their removal. Though he was always courteous, and in social greetings cordial to all, even to enemies and opposers who happened to meet him, he had no taste for rivalry and opposition. He sought to cripple the power of whatever stood in the way as a solid barrier to the success of his dearly cherished plans, an attribute this, which strong actors in the world have, we believe, very commonly possessed, from Napoleon of Corsica to the great Democrat of the Hermitage. The kindness of his nature was native and overflowing; but there were circumstances under which his severity was equally conspicuous. Nevertheless, toward the conquered party, his generosity naturally reacted in forms of kindness, and of such, at last, he often made permanent friends and co-workers.

The sympathies and kindness of Mr. Badger, I have elsewhere alluded to as being great. He had a large power of friendship. From this phase of his nature, proceeded his facility for making friends and attaching them to himself. His friends became numerous wherever he went. We cannot account for so noble a fact, without conceding to him the possession of a heart in which the magnetism of human kindness was great, for it takes a power to awaken a power, and selfishness alone never became the radiant centre about which the hearts of the many were happily drawn. The power of sympathy and friendship is an attraction which, like the physical property in nature designated by this name, is in proportion to the quantity of the source from which it flows; also, the proximity or the distance of objects, which suggests another law of this material energy, is likewise true in the world of friendship. For it is nearness, that is to say, it is kindredness of mind, feeling, and experience; it is the ability to furnish other hearts with the true objects of their own affections, that qualifies one to sit as king or queen on the throne of friendship and love. He who lawfully sways this sceptre over the multitudes, is one in whom the many are represented, who is truly brother to each and to all. Viewed from this sentiment, how can the influences of Joseph Badger be accounted for, except on the ground that his heart was truly great and brotherly? A community of strangers into which he might come soon felt the power of this attraction. Said the honest Barton W. Stone, of Kentucky, in a letter of welcome to his intended second visit to the South:—"Your name is dear to the people of Georgetown. Many are anxiously hoping to greet you;"—though he had but once visited Georgetown and other localities south and west, his name remained in the hearts of the people. This is but a common illustration of what generally occurred in places where he preached several sermons and freely mingled with the people. As a strong example of the lasting attachment he had the power to inspire in his friends, I would mention a circumstance recorded in his private journal while at Boston.

Mr. Jonas Clark, of Dublin, Cheshire Co., N. H., a man of sound mind, who had not seen Mr. B. for thirteen years, but had listened to his early ministry, went to meet him at Boston, August 20, 1828. On coming into his presence he took him by the hand and said: "Can this be Joseph, my friend?" On being answered in the affirmative, he was unable to reply; but turning away his head and leaning over a desk near by, he wept in silence. The memories of the past that rushed into his mind were golden by affection, and years of time and much mingling with the world had not effaced or marred the sacred impress of former years. "Oh, what majesty," said Mr. B., "there is in such tears of love! True friendship is more lasting than time, and it outlives every other principle." Though Mr. Badger had an intellect that was strong and peculiarly original and self-relying, we think on the whole that his stronghold was far more in the hearts of the people than in their merely intellectual regard and admiration. His neighbors who have lived near him for twenty and thirty years, testify to the strict and uniform kindness of his feelings and acts as a neighbor.

To young ministers and to feeble churches, he extended the wealth of his sympathy. He was both a brother in Christ and a father in Israel. Particularly was his sympathy deep and strong for young men just entering into the ministry. Many things in his own life qualified him to be their benefactor. He had himself passed through great trials of mind and of outward circumstances, when a young man of nineteen and twenty, as the result of his choice, or rather of his acceptance of the preacher's mission. No young man would be likely to stand in the midst of greater embarrassments than he had stood. Then his extensive observation of men and things, his knowledge of human nature, his own varied experience of years in the Gospel ministry, his tender sympathies, his gentle and easy manners, which took away fear and restraint, peculiarly fitted him for a nearness of access to their minds, to render them counsel to meet their doubts, and to give them instruction and needful encouragement. He had great skill with which to inspire hope in a young man. He could prune his defective habits, also, without giving offence; and well did he know how to set his mind upon new trains of thought. First of all, it was his policy to find out the real material of a young man's mind, to learn his real character. To effect this, he gradually threw off whatever in manner should serve to impose restraint, became familiar, perhaps in some instances greatly so, and turned conversation so as to hit on every side of human nature and of the supposed character of the person whose mental and moral dimensions he desired to take. In a few days, at most, he developed his characteristics far enough to be completely satisfied of his capacity, principles and promise. I do not say that this was his method in all cases, but I know of some instances in which it was, and have heard of it in others. The wisdom of this procedure appears in the fact that to qualify young men for the ministry, respect must be had for what in them is individual, as there are no uniform theological moulds into which human nature can be successfully fused and run; and it had the advantage also of enabling the counsellor to decide at the beginning, the most important of all questions, whether a young man is not mistaking the meaning of God as announced in his nature, by assuming the position of a spiritual leader. He gave them books to read and to keep; taught them the great importance of a healthy degree of physical culture; gave them his views of the most useful and successful methods of preaching; taught the supreme importance of religious experience; looked out for them fields of labor, took them to his own appointments, made journeys with them, and if any diffident young man of merit was mortified at the imperfection and feebleness of his own public efforts, he had the finest skill in restoring to him his lost confidence. Many whose conversions took place under his preaching, became ministers; and very many owe their earliest and best lessons in the ministry to his examples and counsels. To sum up his faculty in this direction, in few words, I should say, he greatly excelled in the power of calling out the minds of others, in developing their resources for good.

He was in the habit of treating young men as if he respected their wisdom. He asked their advice on his own plans and enterprises. This he did, not so much to receive new information as to set their minds upon practical thinking, and to connect their sympathy and intelligence with that which should increase their knowledge. He was always very fond of young people; and nothing more readily enlisted his attention than the appearance of a young man of promise just entering the Gospel ministry. He cordially took him by the hand, welcomed him to his own fireside, and invariably and reverently taught him that there is no station in the universe, that can be occupied by a human being, which is in itself so truly honorable and so sacredly responsible as that of the Christian minister. The same genial power of development here spoken of in regard to young ministers, was equally manifest in relation to young writers. Very much of his influence was genial; therefore, like the sun's ray, it called out the life on which it shone.

His sympathy was also cosmopolitan. He had a passion to know the stirring events of the world. The great enterprises and achievements in different countries awakened him. He was uncommonly fond of the news. A new school of philosophers springing up in a foreign country would not escape his notice; but he had far greater interest in a new series of events that might be unfolding, and auguring changes in the empires and in the social condition of man. He watched the nations. He also watched the various sects and political parties of his own country. He read every week the most widely circulated Roman Catholic paper of the new continent, studied the olden structure of their organization; and freely and respectfully visited Roman Catholic clergymen whenever he found a resident priest within the vicinity of his own labors. Father William O'Reilly, of Rochester, a very worthy man in the Catholic ministry, frequently received his calls and most kindly reciprocated his friendship. Mr. Badger had indeed no tendencies whatever toward Roman Catholicism, but he profoundly respected religion and human nature, and was pleased to see them in their various phases and manifestations. There were, I would opine, several elements in the Mother Church that had his respect. Indeed, how could it have been otherwise? Protestantism has not in the main been largely originative in theology. Nearly all its great doctrines coming under the head of dogma, are even now those that exist in Rome and that proceeded from Rome. Omission and modification, more than origination are, thus far, the distinction of what is most revered in Protestant faith. In the preaching of Joseph Badger, all seemed to feel the wide and liberal sympathy of his doctrines. Said General Ross, of Wilkesbarre, who went some half a dozen miles to hear him speak, October, 1830:—"I never heard such republican preaching as that before. The society who hold to these principles must prosper."

Within the view here offered, mention might justly be made of the reach of influence he gained over the diverse grades of man. The intelligent and the ignorant, the believer and the sceptic, the man of inward holiness, and the hardest specimens of sin and unbelief, looked up when they heard he was in town; and, from some earnest sympathy, felt that they should hear him. He seemed to have a key fitted to unlock all hearts, so that, from murderers and drunkards, as well as from the penitent and faithful, he drew a tear, and won a confidence through which he had access to what was best in their being. It not unfrequently happened that he had those in his audience who would have listened to no one else, and some who were noted for boldness and originality of sin he ofttimes persuaded into a divine faith, in which they were steadfast and life-long in their pursuit. What signify such phenomena? At least this is implied, that the speaker had a wide form of sympathy, and that the manifold experiences of the world were comprehended by him.

In meeting him often, one never felt that he met a stereotyped man. He was new at each period. So testify his old parishioners. They say, that, in every sermon, there was something fresh, something that was unsaid at previous times, and was new to them. Those who had been acquainted with him for years would see new traits of character, as the varying phase of circumstance and association might suggest. He was plain-spoken; yet, beyond that plain, bold speech, the reserved and the unspoken could often claim large territories their own. Indeed, no man of depths was ever read throughout as an alphabet is read.

No man, probably, ever had a stronger individuality. He was Joseph Badger, and no one else. He was quite free from personal eccentricity; was easy and graceful. But on whom was the impress of individuality ever more decidedly made? Who did he imitate? Look at his language, his manners, his modes of treating a subject, his voice, his entire action, and tell us who was his pattern. What original stood on the foreground of his reverence, commanding even an unconscious conformity? But one answer can be given to these questions. He was a man of marked character, and original beyond what is common to men of superior endowments. Persons who had not seen him for many years at once recognized him at night, on entering a stage-coach or steamboat, merely from his voice. His shortest business letters—and very many of his letters are composed of but a couple of paragraphs, and some of but a very few sentences—are stamped with the peculiar character of his mind. They are so concise, so direct, so comprehensive. Character and genius appear in small as well as in great things. Often, in letters of one short paragraph, have I been reminded of Napoleon, of the clear, brief, pithy statements by which that commander expressed himself, both in vocal and in written messages. Since the world stood, we are satisfied there has been but one Joseph Badger, and we will risk our credit at prophecy in the declaration that another will never appear. Not, indeed, that the creative resources of divinity or humanity are in the least abated, but the pure originalities of the Creator in human history are never repeated.

In drawing the just outlines of his character, there is one prominent feature that commands our attention. I mean the strong proclivity of his mind to lead, to plan, to direct, to be at the centre of operations, to be first. This proclivity cannot be denied; nor can it be affirmed that it was accustomed to clothe itself in assumptively offensive forms. His passage to the pilot's station was easy and natural, and his labor there appeared as a matter of course. Two reasons account for this trait. The first and chief is founded in nature; the second, in that discipline of experience which, for many years, required him to act a leader's part. If we examine whatever is successful in the history of events belonging to associated action, we shall find that action to be led on by some guiding mind. Everything of much import has its leader, from the passage of the children of Israel through the Red Sea to the founding of the latest literary institution. Even a revolt, a schism, must have a head. The God who has anticipated all human wants has not neglected this need of mankind, but has given them many commanding, guiding spirits, whose quickness of perception, concentration, foresight, courage, and sympathy, inspire the many with confidence in their wisdom. Such men are God's choice gifts. They carry their credentials in their ability. And, as the real man, under whatever circumstances, will tell, there is no good reason why society should not recognize its appropriate guides. Happy are they that do this. The birds that voyage many leagues to the south, and the flocks that roam in the freedom of the wild, never err in their selection of leaders. Their chiefs are never stupid.

Granting this, that some are made to lead and that many are born to follow, it is important and right that he who can serve his fellows best by acting a leading part should know his station. It will be natural for him to start first, to stand at the centre of operation, and, if he is kind and fraternal to all, as true leaders ever are, none can justly feel that he is out of his place, or that they are shaded. The true leader in any true cause rejoices in every sign of merit in others. Their strength is his wealth. In the words of Festus,

"He would not shade an atom of another,
To make a sun his slave, or a god his brother."

Yet what would we think of a pilot who on the sea should hesitate in his services through fear that others might regard him as too forward, or too high in his aspiration? When the right man leads the way, the reasonable are satisfied, are glad that they are provided for, and they are the stronger for being inspired with the hope and vigor of their guide. Mr. Badger was in his element, we confess, when his directing genius swayed the action of the day; and the success of his guidance is the fair proof of his value. It was his element, because of his nature and evident mission, and not from artificial or ostentatious reasons. He counselled much with his brethren. He prayed to God for light. Indeed, he was naturally diffident, though his strength and boldness, as called out by demand, might have made the impression of a conscious and perpetual feeling of self-sufficiency. He had not, I am sure, a high form of self-esteem. But he was a a leader, and when so, the cause he espoused was alive with interest and accumulated power.

It will be seen that, from the broad catholicity of his early labors, his action, in later years, grew apparently more denominational. But in this there is no contradiction. He followed the line of duty. At no time in his life did he plead for a sectarian denominationalism based on creed, or mere doctrinal platform. Always and forever was he opposed to this. In one of the first days of October, 1842, I remember that some two or three ministers were discussing the subject of Christian union in his parlor, with the view of stating its true basis. As usual with him, he avoided entering into private controversy; but after all had said what they thought on the subject, he added, in substance, these words: "Gentlemen, there seems to be something light in our conversation this morning. When I go into a new place and preach, and have occasion to organize a church, or receive members, I always ask these questions. Is the man who would join us a man of good influence? Is his influence on the side of virtue and good order in society? Will his example be a light to the church and to the world? If I am satisfied on these points I have no more questions to ask."

His path in this respect was a natural one. The preaching of the early ministers, which ignored sectarianism, which was founded in the religion of experience, in spiritual communion with God, and in the fellowship of all saints, was exceedingly prosperous. Thousands were drawn by this magnetism of liberal principles into union; and the strong opposition they encountered from those who deified mere dogma in theology, also served to make them one body in the world. From the very nature of the social law, masses who are strongly moved by new truths or errors do come together into organic form. A religious community once created, must have its papers, associations and customs; so that in a short time it will happen that the freest principles in religion will appear to be invested with sectarian form. But sect and denomination are not synonymous. Br. Badger's labors were to build up the free, pure and holy principles of the Christian religion, without limiting them by any boundary of the intellect, by any limit except virtue, holiness and love. In the concentration of his mind in editorial life, in pastoral relations, in anxious concern for the spread of the principles he had preached in his youth, in his general services to the denomination to which he belonged, I see nothing that wars with the freedom of his early position in 1812; nothing but what appears as the proper, natural course of the current of life.

The genesis of a new people, just born into religious being, like the genesis of nature, has its period of chaos, of unorganized elements. This was the case with the denomination called Christians; and though their transition to order and system was aided by many minds, it is my conviction, from the testimony of those who were familiar with those early years, that to Joseph Badger more than to any other one man they are indebted for the introduction of order and system into their Conferences and into their general modes of action. He defended order and organization with great success. He was, indeed, the founder of the regular organization of Conference, having cognizance of the moral standing of ministers.[63]

In short, Mr. Badger was a man of a rich and many-sided nature; not of one idea nor of one fortress of energy. His intellect was clear and strong. His passions also were strong. His physical power and dignity of person far surpassed the average of men. His kindness was great; his courage and decision were also great. His social feelings and social power were of uncommon vigor; few indeed could entertain company with so much satisfaction as he. Though familiar, none could approach him irreverently. He had deep and abiding faith in God. He also honored reason, and asked her light through the darkness of life. He loved a denomination; yet through it he sought to impress for good the human family. He loved ideas, and was a strong dealer in facts. He could dissolve assemblies in tears, and if he chose, illumine their countenances with joy and mirth. He could unfold the holy meaning of Scripture, could draw from the deep wells of the religious life, could lead the repenting sinner into the inner sanctuary of spiritual rest and peace. He could also make the most effective speech at a railroad meeting, or on any enterprise in which practical sagacity and foresight were essential to success. He had self-care; he knew how to provide for his own wants, and how to extend his manly sympathies to others. He was keenly sensitive; and, under the greatest troubles, his eye was calm and his countenance unchanged. He loved a sermon; he also loved a song. He was, in brief, a natural man, a natural minister. No clerical tones could be detected in his voice. He spoke like a man, who had a definite knowledge of what he intended to say. His bearing in society well sustained the dignity of his calling. He was true to the main purpose of his life. The needle vibrates, but through all the years of its being the true magnet turns to the pole. In 1812 he began his ministry; in 1852 he bade farewell to earth. Through this long period, whilst his ability lasted, he adhered to the work of preaching salvation and of building up the holy interests of Zion. The true magnet was he, or we should not have witnessed this long and faithful adherence to the fixed star of his faith. He indeed had errors. He had faults; for he was only a man. Men constituted as he was, in erring, often err strongly. But when such persons err, there are large resources of honor and goodness left, by which they arise and shine. The errors of superior men, said Confucius, are like the eclipse of the sun and moon. All men observe them, and all look for their reformation. Also it happens, in the order of creation, that great natures have strong opponents and strong enemies. The lion is assailed by the wild boar; the whale is opposed by the sword-fish and the thrasher. Thus Washington and Webster, in their day, were followed by mighty assailants, in the form of prejudice and calumny. Though Mr. Badger's sphere of action was unpolitical and sacred, it was his fortune to have many strong friends and at times a few strong opponents. But all, we believe, who knew him well, regard his memory and revere his name. He was a good man.

Genuinely, he was a great man, capable by nature of acting successfully on a wider theatre than the one he filled; but, we think he occupied the best position for usefulness. Admitting that he had natural powers, which, if trained in the widest field of the world's action, had equalled in policy a Talleyrand, or, in the creation of great and successful plans, a Napoleon or a Wellington, how much better is the retrospect, in the eyes of all heavenly wisdom, to survey his labors as being directed to the salvation of men, to the establishment in the church of order and prosperity, and to the dissemination of a great truth in Christendom, which, though it may have been a century in advance of the age, is destined to fill the whole earth. This truth is the declaration that true religion and the right bond of union among Christians, are a divine life, and not a mental assent, a theological belief. We own the hand of Providence in the gift of such men to the world; and whether appreciated now or not, according to the demand of justice, we boldly affirm that Joseph Badger has declared truths, made sacrifices, and exerted influences on earth as a theological reformer, whose effects shall not die away in centuries. They who help the world's progress are doubtless its first benefactors; and we have this firm faith, that the world is now, and ever will be, the wealthier from his having lived in it.

"No farther seek his merits to disclose,
Or draw his frailties from their dread abode,
Where they alike in trembling hope repose,
The bosom of his Father and his God."

CHAPTER XXII.

ADDRESSES, SERMONS, REMINISCENCES, VIEWS OF CONTEMPORARIES.

Elsewhere allusion has been made to the extreme difficulty, to the impossibility even, that accompanies an effort to imbody a speaker like Mr. Badger, entire, in written words. Yet it is due to the readers of his Biography that some definite attention be called to this part of his ministerial accomplishments. There was nothing of the trumpet-blast in his oratory. It was liquid. It flowed as a current from a fountain, and, like a current, at times was brisk and playful in movement. Simplicity, ease, dignity, clearness, were his graces. A power to command the entire attention, to deal in surprises in unfolding a subject, to keep an audience for hours without weariness, was, in a rare degree, his possession.

The earliest written address I have noticed is an oration delivered July 4, 1819, at Penfield, New York. Its text is, "Righteousness exalteth a nation," and its motto, the words of Barbauld,

"August she sits, and with extended hands
Holds forth the Book of Life to distant lands."

Instead of beginning as gaseous orators usually did and do on such occasions, with a patriotic vaunting, he alludes to the nobleness of man's nature, which originally was designed for self-government.

"Man," he said, "is the noblest part of the work of God. He is made capable of great good and of enjoying great happiness; is formed for society, and qualified for government; he is capable of enjoying God's blessings here and his eternal presence hereafter. In his first state he had an extensive dominion over every creature of the earth, but in consequence of sin the crown falls from his head, guilt, misery, and slavery become his companions. Nothing but righteousness can extricate mortals from this low condition and restore to them that holiness and government which Heaven designed them to enjoy. Reason and revelation concentrate their light in the human breast, and prompt us to contemplate with wonder the stupendous works of our glorious Author, 'to look through Nature up to Nature's God,' and to behold also the mighty changes and revolutions which have occurred on the great theatre of nations."

This address, which is full of historical remark and practical reflection, is throughout a cool and rational view of the topics introduced. He glances over the discovery of the Continent, the settlement of the Colonies, the Indian, French, and American wars, the memory of heroes, the effect of America on foreign nations, the origin of the two forms of government, monarchical and republican, locating the former at Egypt and the latter at Rome. After assigning five or six reasons showing wherein the American government is better than any other, he contrasts its glories with other nations, and with the savage state which had, not long previous, occupied the same theatre of action. He says:—

"Ours is the best government on the earth. 1. Because it affords greater privileges than are enjoyed in any other nation. In no other country do Jews and Gentiles enjoy equal rights; and it is only in North America that a descendant of Abraham can own a foot of land. 2. Because our government establishes an equality of rights among all classes of citizens, unknown among other nations. 3. Because we have a form of government and laws, not arbitrarily imposed, but of our own choice. 4. Because we have a voice in the election of all the officers who make and administer the laws. 5. Because the liberties of conscience are enjoyed by all. 6. Because our government establishes no theory of religion in favor of any one sect. Among the nations it has been thought a great honor to have some established mode of religion. But how gross the error! We might, with even more propriety, prescribe to our subjects a system of diet, or a course of medicine. Indeed, there was once a law in France which prohibited a physician from giving an emetic in any case; law excluded potatoes as an article of food, and even in Massachusetts the legislature once decreed that every man's hair should be cut, that none should wear it long.

"Would you see the beauties of law religion? In Babylon, the king set up a golden image and commanded all to worship it; in consequence of a refusal, Daniel was cast into the lions' den. Herod commanded all the young children to be slain. This was law religion. Saul of Tarsus obtained letters from the priests to drag men and women to prison who believed in Jesus. This was law religion. Paul, Silas, Peter and John, were whipped and imprisoned for preaching Christ. A holy Jesus was condemned by false witnesses, and by wicked hands was slain. This was law religion. Charles IX, of France, during his reign, put to death 300,000 Protestants, of which he often afterwards made his boasts; Louis IV succeeded him, and in his days there were put to death in England, 1,200,000. This was law religion. Add to these the reign of Queen Mary. From such religion, gracious Lord, evermore deliver us. In good old Connecticut it was once believed that the use of tobacco was the great and crying sin of the world. Accordingly, an edict was passed that if any man was known to use it within a mile of any house, he should be subjected to a heavy fine. How undignified government may become when it abandons its legitimate aims! True religion never needed the aid of the sword, nor the authority of human law to enforce it. It is able to support itself and all who embrace it.

"No country has risen to rank, power, and respectability so rapidly as the United States. England has been six hundred years in arriving at what she now is. France has stood eight hundred years as a nation. Austria has had one thousand years of advancement from her primitive barbarous state. Russia, in this respect, most resembles the United States, for in the space of one century, and under the influence of one man, she has risen to rank and authority in the civilized world. But how interesting is the reflection, that two centuries ago, this land, which is now ornamented with villages, highways and vineyards, was a howling wilderness. It is now a fruitful field. Arts and sciences here flourish, while mechanism exhibits its glories on every hand. Oh, favored America! Prosperity be thine forever. Be an asylum to the thousands who throng thy shores to escape the rage of foreign tyrants. Over them extend thy protecting banner. Thy fame is known throughout the earth; thy sons are honored in every nation. Righteousness has exalted us. 1. In enjoyment. 2. In usefulness. 3. In honor. 4. In the favor of Heaven. With all the world we are now at peace; plenty crowns our cheerful toil; party rage gradually subsides as light advances, and truly may every American say, 'The lines are fallen to me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage.'

"Before me are aged veterans of the Revolution. Honored fathers, your names and services are not forgotten by your country. Let your hearts expand in gratitude to God, who has more than crowned your sanguine hopes. Before me are many who were active in the preservation of the Republic during the conflicts of the late war, whose services have saved our wives from the tomahawk of the savage, our daughters from the power of a hostile foe, and our helpless innocents from the grasp of unsparing violence. On you shall rest their grateful recollections. May you imitate the virtues of your ancestors, be free in deed, and long enjoy the blessings of the Republic."

As space, in a degree, is limited, I shall offer but one more address, delivered in the city of New York, May 1, 1836, at the ordination of the Rev. D. F. Ladley. At the house of Rev. I. N. Walter, whose cordial and extensive hospitality must still be remembered by hundreds who have been his guests, I had the pleasure to meet Mr. B., a few days previous to the ordination services of May 1. Having listened to the delivery of the charge, which was extemporaneous in its manner, it become my surprise afterward, that so little of the impression there made should have been given to the written statement. After the ordination sermon had been preached by Mr. Walter, Mr. Badger, who was seated in the altar, arose and said:—

"Brother Ladley,—It becomes my duty, by the arrangements of the solemn exercises of this day, in behalf of those ministers who have united in your ordination—this church and the whole body of Christians with which you stand connected, to deliver to you on this occasion, in the name of the great Head of the church, a charge to be faithful and to perform all the duties now devolving upon you as an administrator, with dignity and integrity. You now fill one of the most important stations ever occupied by a human being. A minister of the Gospel, an ambassador of the Lord Jesus, you bear a message of eternal life to dying men. Your work is to save perishing sinners from the miseries of sin and the wrath to come; your station is responsible, your work is arduous, but your reward is sure. The strongest who have ever entered this important field have trembled at the thought of the greatness of the work and the awful responsibilities of the station, and no doubt you have been ready to exclaim, 'Who is sufficient for these things?' That you may be able to occupy the holy ground on which you are called in the providence of God to stand, with satisfaction to yourself and profit to your hearers, suffer me to introduce for your solemn consideration the following leading points:

"1. You should be truly pious. No man, without a genuine experience and the constant influence of true piety upon his heart and life, is fit for an ambassador of Jesus Christ. Sin is odious in whatever form or place it exhibits itself. In the profane circle, in the gambler's group, in the drunkard's shop, in the vilest streets and haunts of wickedness in this great city, how hateful it appears. But it appears not so bad as it would in the parlors of the rich, in the circle of learned and refined society, in the halls of justice, the councils of the nation, or in the house of religious worship. In no person does sin appear so bad as in a minister of the Gospel; and in no place is it so unfit as in the sacred desk. What would be considered innocent in another man, in another place, would be regarded as impious in you while ministering at the altar of a holy God. Your life must be pure, your conversation blameless, and your heart must cherish holy affections for the people you address; it should be like the pot of incense which sent forth sweet odors constantly to God. Your life must be one scene of solitude, study, and devotion. You must be so far crucified to this vain world, that prayer, preaching, and all your sacred work shall be your meat, your drink, your theme, your life. Be ye holy that bear the vessels of the Lord.

"You have doubtless seen many enter the work of the ministry with but poor success,—men of talents, of erudition, fine orators, who never witness the conversion of souls; whose labors appear to make the sinner harder, and more averse to the Gospel, and to divide and separate the precious flock of Christ. The reason is plain; such ministers are not enough like Christ, are not in the spirit of the Gospel they profess to preach. Good men are sure of success, be their talents few or many; Christ is with them, and the word will prove a savor of life unto life. If you are and continue to be a good man,—have salt in yourself,—go to your work with prayer, perform your duties faithfully, come down from your pulpit on all occasions with a conscience void of offence towards God and man; your labors will be a blessing to the world, your peace will be like a river, and your reward will be great in heaven. Therefore, dear brother, suffer me to exhort you on this solemn occasion, while you stand upon the threshold of your great work, to study and labor, every day of your life, to possess and enjoy genuine piety in the sight of God. This will give life and energy to all your labors, and will be a source of never-failing consolation in every hour of trouble.

"2. The great object of your labors should be to make others pious. Every sermon should be one persuasive oration for men to be good. To win the applause of your hearers, to instruct them in the theory of the Christian religion, is not enough. Thousands of such superficial Christians will, no doubt, sink down to hell. Gospel truth must be set home in faithfulness to the sinner's heart He must be made to feel that unless he is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God. The minister should never feel satisfied with the condition of his hearers unless he is confident that they are 'in Christ'—'are new creatures'—that with them 'old things are passed away and all things are become new.' In order to be successful in producing spiritual reform, all your addresses and labors must assume the tone and character of friendship, and of kind entreaty. You can never frighten rational intelligences into the love of God; you cannot drive men into the kingdom of heaven; you cannot storm and force sinners home to the bosom of the Saviour. But, Sir, you can reason with them, you can persuade, entreat, and pray them in Christ's stead to be reconciled to God. You must exhibit the glorious majesty and bountiful dealings of the great God, the atonement, the sufferings, the love and compassion of the glorious Redeemer, the intelligence, doctrine, promises and claims of the Gospel, which is the power of God unto salvation. These truths, proclaimed in the right manner, and under the direction of the right spirit, will surely produce the desired effect. Remember that when you have influenced one sinner to forsake the error of his ways and to embrace and conform to the Saviour, you have accomplished more than when you have made any number of wrangling proselytes to party. To win men to Christ, and to make them good, is the great object to which your energies should be devoted.

"3. It is your duty to cultivate holiness, union, and zeal in the church of God. A careless way of living, a vain, a licentious, a cruel and haughty spirit should never be encouraged by a minister of Christ. Every disciple of Jesus should be plainly taught that without holiness no man can see the Lord.

"Again, look abroad in Christendom and behold the divided and subdivided flock of Christ. See the infidel vulture feasting upon the havoc which wicked and unskilful ministers have made in Zion. While you behold this gloomy picture, and listen to the holy injunction of the great Head of the church for his people to be one; raise the warning voice, lift the banner of truth, and with the authority of Heaven, plead for union and peace among all that love and serve God.

"Also labor to encourage zeal for the truth, and liberty of the Gospel among the saints. The Catholics are zealous, infidels are zealous, proud sectarians are compassing sea and land to make proselytes; and saints who have no creed but the Bible, and no master but Christ, should be zealous to advance and promulgate the truth. Influence should be exerted, talent should be employed, and a part of our earthly treasures should be cheerfully dedicated to the holy cause. These things you should teach and urge upon the consideration of all who love the truth.

"4. I charge you to love the cause, and to consider no sacrifice too great for its advancement. The nature of your calling is such that you cannot with propriety enter into the speculations of the world. The prospect, therefore, of worldly honor and worldly treasure, must be laid aside for the humble cross of the meek and lowly Jesus. You should glory in nothing save the cross, by which you are crucified to the world and the world unto you. Your work as evangelist will separate you from many of the friends of your youth, and deprive you of a thousand domestic joys which are the portion of your brethren in a private circle. Also your work is hard and laborious, which has caused thousands of the best constitutions to sink under it. I have been devoted to the ministry only twenty-four years, and have seen many of my first associates, young and in the prime of life, sink under their labors into premature graves. I have seen the strong and robust youth, whose eye was bright, whose nerve was strong, whose cheek was like the rose, when he entered the work; but after a few years, he falters, he fails, he dies, a holy martyr to the truth. I trust, Sir, you have seriously counted the cost, and received Christ at the loss of all things. How will unfaithful ministers appear in the great day, who have sought the applause of men, studied their own ease, and made no sacrifice for the cause of God? If we suffer with him on earth, we shall be glorified with him in heaven.

"5. Shun the delusion and wickedness of sectarism. This is an age of party, of sectarian rage and bitterness. It is a time of universal strife, excitement and war. The civil and religious world are in a state of unnatural and unreasonable commotion. Almost every subject is driven to an alarming extreme, and the basest measures are sometimes employed to advance sectarian objects. What blindness and delusion mark the progress of sectarism! What cruelty and wickedness follow in her train! The commands and institutions of Jesus are trampled under foot, and brotherly love and Christian forbearance are banished far from the soul of the bigot. This, doubtless, is the time spoken of in the Scriptures, when the heavens and the earth are to be shaken. Now is the time for the man of God to be cool and candid. Never descend from your high and holy calling to the low pursuits of grovelling sectarism; never forsake the great message of love and salvation you are destined to proclaim, to mingle in the petty wrangles of party. Never turn aside from the path of justice and charity to vend the cruel slanders of the times, or to censure and condemn a brother who differs from you in opinion. Let justice, kindness and charity mark all your proceedings, and you will be a good minister of Christ, and a light in the world. Be a Christian, a liberal, genuine Christian; and never suffer any sectarian act of cruelty to tarnish your fame, nor wound your conscience.

"6. Be patient in the sufferings, and humble in the success that may attend your ministry. One of the greatest arts of human happiness is to keep the mind, under all circumstances, in one even, regular position, neither too much elated by flattering prospects, nor too much depressed by misfortunes. It requires as much strength and exertion to sustain ourselves against the temptations and allurements of prosperity, as it does to bear up under the heavy pressure of adversity. We see but few men who are raised to important stations in life, who have sufficient wisdom and strength to act the part of plain, natural, sensible men. See a person raised from poverty to wealth by some unexpected smile of fortune; how frequently he becomes a proud, haughty, intemperate novice. Some men raised to important stations in State, are filled with vanity and egotism; useless, hateful sycophants. As lamentable as the fact is, in the church likewise this trait of human weakness is sometimes discovered. But a man who is filled with pride and importance on being inducted into office in the Church of God, has no just views of himself or his calling, and is altogether unfit for the station he fills. Such vain and deceived persons will be lords over God's heritage, are miserable examples to the flock of Christ; their labors will be a constant source of corruption and temptation to the saints, and the sooner congregations are purged from such tyrants, such wells without water, the better.

"My brother, when prosperity smiles all around, when your labors are crowned with a rich harvest, when your praise and popularity are the theme of every tongue, and affectionate greetings and cheering smiles of applause are seen in every countenance; then, oh! then be humble; like Mary, weep at the feet of Jesus, and press the holy cross closer and closer to your trembling heart, and bless the Lamb of God, that his blood was ever applied to such a sinner. On the other hand, when afflictions gather thick in your path, when base envy shall prompt the tongue of slander to assail you, when the storms of persecution shall gather in threatening aspect on every side, and pale poverty stare you in the face; then is the time to collect all your energies, all your strength, and all your fortitude. Then, while you repose with unshaken confidence on the immutable promises of Jehovah, be sure to put forth your efforts still for the promotion of holy truth; be the same man in spirit and in life now, that you wore in your favored days of success. Never suffer your heart to indulge despair under any circumstances, and ever wear a becoming cheerfulness upon your countenance. But, Sir, I must close, by expressing my happiness in my short acquaintance with you—my confidence in your ability and integrity, and my fervent wish for your prosperity, happiness and success. And when the Great Shepherd shall come to gather all his faithful watchmen, and his precious elect from the four winds of heaven, may you be numbered among the sanctified, and meet the precious souls for whom you have labored on earth, at God's right hand! Amen."

His sermons, not being written, cannot be offered to the world. They only live in the effects they produced, and in the memories of the people; and his written plots were so brief, that their presentation would be but the mockery of a just idea of the discourses given. I will, therefore, not transcribe them; these plots, however, range over every variety of subject. He once said to a few young ministers, that he disliked the plan of announcing to a congregation, at the commencement, the order of a subject, for the reason that it gave them the opportunity of anticipating too readily what he would say. "Let the order of the subject unfold to them as newly as possible," was his usual motto in preaching. He also said:—"Be sure to preach so plain that the most ignorant person in the house will understand you; then even the learned will be pleased." A very conscientious man who believed in the annihilation of the wicked—which he called the second death—once came to him for advice in relation to its having a prominent place in his ministry. "I will tell you," said Mr. Badger, "what to preach. Preach life. Preach life, my brother; the people want life, not death."

A sermon for moral enterprise he gave at Iona, N. Y., January, 1835, could it be given as he spoke it, would do more toward setting forth his pulpit ability than all we can publish or say on the subject. His text was Neh. 2: 20: "The God of heaven, he will prosper us; therefore let us arise and build." The same might be said of any of his ablest discourses; this is mentioned simply because it was the first sermon I ever heard him preach. As the plot of a sermon, then delivered on the excellency of the Gospel, lies before me, I will present it, it being a fair specimen of his usual manner of committing the points of a sermon to paper. Text, Rom. 1: 16: "I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ."

"1. To arrive at a state in which we glory in the Gospel above all other institutions and systems, is the highest condition of perfection on earth.

"Reasons why we should not be ashamed of the Gospel: 1. The dignity of its author. 2. Its authenticity. 3. Its salutary influence on society. It civilizes man; it elevates woman. It enlightens, convicts, and saves sinners. It unites Christians; is the bond of society. 4. Its doctrine is rational and consistent. 5. Its institutions are all agreeable. 6. Its worship is satisfying and delightful. 7. Its end and object is immortality."

In passing over his dedication services, one is oft times struck with the moral weight and elegance of the passages from which he spoke, as, for instance, at the consecration of the Christian chapel, September, 1832, in Canandaigua, N. Y., he addressed the people from John 8: 32: "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." He dwelt on the extent, the power, and the excellence of truth, the conditions of knowing it, and the freedom it brings. In speaking on the last division of the subject, he alluded to four evils from which the truth liberates believers, namely, ignorance, sin, the misery of guilt, and the enslaving fear of death. On the last idea, he dwelt with peculiar force, showing how the revelation of immortality dissipates death's fears and glooms. Temples of worship, indeed, derive much of their sacredness from the consideration that they are meant to be temples of eternal, imperishable truth.

Also at Berlin, N. Y., 1834, he spoke at the consecration of the Christian chapel, from Rev. 22: 1, 2: "And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations." Only those who have seen his ingenious dealing with passages of lively imagery can imagine the exhibition of thought this text would inspire, whilst he traced the clear Gospel river which flowed, not from human creeds and institutions, but from the eternal throne, causing life, in its large variety, to bloom in its course.

April, 1824, he held a public debate with a liberally educated clergyman at Rochester, N. Y., in which, by general consent, he triumphantly maintained his cause. The rank of Jesus appears to have been the principal topic. April 7, 1825, at Royalton, N. Y., he preached two sermons, embracing the supreme deity of Jesus, and the doctrine of the Trinity in reply to Rev. Mr. Colton. Sermon first is founded on Rom. 9: 5: "Of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed forever." Sermon second is founded on 1 Tim. 2: 5: "For there is one God, and one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus." In laying out his work on the former passage, he observed the following plan:—

"1. Explain the text. 2. Give a general view of the Christian doctrine of God and the Son. 3. Examine and criticise Mr. Colton's sermon. 4. Give my reasons for rejecting the doctrine of the Trinity. In explaining the passage, he says, 'I regard this text as a simple declaration relative to the fulfilment of the promises alluded to in the preceding verse—promises made to the Israelites, of whom, as concerning the flesh, Christ came—that is, of or through those Israelites his lineage is traced, and to them was the promise of the Messiah made.' This is the first doctrine of the text, and is so self-evident that it requires no further remark.

"The second thing in this verse is, that Christ is declared to be 'over all,' which represents his extensive reign, his universal dominion, his superintendency over all the affairs of the New Dispensation, his being head over all things unto the church, which is his body. 'The head of every man is Christ, and the head of Christ is God.' 1 Cor. 11: 3—which agrees with the Saviour's final address to his apostles after his resurrection, 'All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth,' Matt. 28: 18. A beautiful description of his being first, of his having preëminence, is given, Col. 1: 18, 19: 'And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the first-born from the dead, that, in all things, he might have the preëminence; for it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell.' There are but two rational conclusions that can be drawn from the words 'God blessed forever,' to neither of which have I any special objection. 1. That the promise is fulfilled, Christ is come, is over all, therefore bless God forever, or let God be blessed for ever, for his fulfilment of so great and glorious a promise; which accords with another expression of St. Paul, Rom. 9: 15: 'Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift.' According to this view, it is only an exclamation of praise. 2. That he is 'blessed of God forever,' as the expressions—God blessed and blessed of God signify the same. He was blessed of God, and he shall be blessed of him forever. God promised him, God sent him, God strengthened and glorified him, raised him from the dead, received him at his own right hand, and has committed to him judgment; and, under God, he shall reign over all till the last enemy is conquered. Where is the word or the idea of a Trinity in this text? I cannot find it."

In the last part of the discourse, he assigns seven reasons for rejecting the Trinity, which are:—

"1. It is not a doctrine of Revelation, but is an invention of men in a dark age. 2. It contradicts plain declarations of Scripture. 3. It contradicts reason. 4. It has always caused contention in the church, and now is the greatest subject of controversy in Christendom. 5. It is a doctrine which obliges its believers to contradict themselves in preaching and in prayer. 6. It involves the idea it claims to despise—a human Saviour, a human atonement. 7. It is the foundation of deism."

February, 1841, whilst conducting a series of meetings at Stafford, N. Y., he was challenged into a public debate at Morganville, by Rev. J. Whitney, an ultra Universalist, in which Mr. W. engaged to prove: 1. That the last judgment is confined to this life. 2. The final salvation of all men. 3. That ultra Universalism is better, in its moral tendency, than any other system of faith. The order of discussion was a sermon each. Mr. Badger spoke first, taking for his entire speech four hours and twenty minutes. The plot of his sermon is very lengthy, and laid out in the form of a massive strength. It was one of those masterly efforts to which a successful reply would seem impossible.

Volumes of interesting personal reminiscences, those that would be characteristic of the man might be written, provided his contemporaries would pour out their recollections in a form that would be available for a writer's use. I would here narrate an incident given me on good authority, which illustrates his readiness for an emergency. In the village of his residence, some eight or ten years ago, the Episcopal Church, and the citizens generally, had assembled in their chapel, splendidly illuminated on Christmas Eve, expecting to hear a sermon for the occasion from an Episcopal clergyman from a distance. The clergyman arrived in town, but not sufficiently early to look over his papers, and to prepare for the service. He declined to speak. The leading man of the society, who felt deeply the disappointment, saw but one method by which to save the credit of the occasion, which was to get Mr. Badger to preach. No other clergyman would dare to attempt it. The people were assembled, expectations were high. He at once came to Mr. Badger's house, found that he had just returned from Lakeville, weary with labor, and was reclining in front of the fire. He told him the facts of the case, that he must go to the church and preach the sermon, that not a moment could be lost. Mr. Badger arose, and without waiting to find a text, to brush his coat, or to comb his hair, walked with him to the chapel, entered the desk, and without much apology, gave, what the citizens have ever since declared to be, a most eloquent and able discourse—a better than which, they had never heard him give.

In the village of Springport, during his labors there, a few men of skeptical cast of mind thought they would embarrass him by sending him a text, accompanied by a respectful request that they would be glad to hear him preach from it. The text was Ecc. 3: 21: "Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?" It was handed to him one evening, and he preached from it the next. After speaking respectfully and thankfully of his indebtedness to some three or four gentlemen for the subject on which he should speak, he proceeded to give the import of the passage thus: King Solomon, he said, was an observer, a thinker, and a man of knowledge. He saw the two natures of man, his body and spirit: that as respects the former, all go to one place, man and beast; but that notwithstanding the plainness of these outward phenomena, an impenetrable mystery remains in respect to the spirit of each. "Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward?" that is, who comprehends it, who can declare the whole mystery of its powers? Who comprehends the spirit of the beast?—this too is mystery. The wise man, said Mr. Badger, knew the limit of knowledge. After giving this view of the passage, which cleared it of all imagined difficulty, and which is justified by the letter of the text, he preached a sermon on the immortal nature and destiny of man. Near the close, after applying the subject quite effectively, he called attention to the object for which the gentleman had given the text.

"The only purpose," said he, "why this passage was sent me under these peculiar circumstances, was to establish the doctrine that man is a beast, that he has only the destiny of a beast. This," said he, "is a grave position. Were I to meet one of those gentlemen to-morrow, and in my salutation call him a beast, would he not regard it as a gross insult? Look at the origin of this request. A few men, or beasts if they are determined to have it so, meet and talk about the Bible, the church, religion and the ministers. They say the Bible is a fable, religion is imagination, and the clergy are after the people's money. Now let us send the minister a text that proves there is no hereafter. Is not this conversation on a pretty high order of subjects for beasts? And this handwriting too (holding up the note) looks very handsome and fair for a beast. Animals are fast ascending."

The power of this satire, as given by him, was perfectly triumphant, and it is needless to add that he was ever after left to choose his own subjects. But in this line of remark we are obliged to desist, not having been supplied with material for a chapter of personal recollections.

A few remarks from two or three of his contemporaries will close this chapter. Rev. L. D. Fleming, of Rochester, N. Y., writes as follows:

"He is associated with all the remembrances of my early Christian experience. In many respects he was an extraordinary man. Few men take as deep an interest in the wants and necessities of young ministers as he did. He was always ready to lift them up when through discouragement they were falling; and he had a most happy gift for drawing them out, for developing their mental resources, for inspiring them with hope when hopeless, and with that necessary self-reliance which many lack, and for the want of which many abandon their calling. He treated them not only as babes in Christ, 'feeding them with the sincere milk of the word,' but as fellows with him in the Gospel mission. This was an inspiring fellowship, where lay much of his hidden power. How often have I known him to ask the advice of the young minister on important subjects, not, probably, that he expected that they could unravel knotty questions, or enlighten him. He intended to draw them into a new field of thought, to set them in pursuit of their own resources, and to kindle up the fires of mentality as no other means would have done it. He had tact and talent peculiarly his own. His nature overflowed with the milk of human kindness; this, associated with his peculiar organization, gave him that great social power which was one characteristic of his life. Although I cannot hope by anything I can say, to add to his fame, I feel a pleasure in bearing testimony to those entrancing social qualities and Christian virtues, which should be emulated by all lovers of the Gospel he professed, and by which he became endeared to multitudes."

From Rev. O. E. Morrill, of Plainville, Onondaga County, N. Y., we take the following lines:

"Much has already been said, and well said by Messrs. Hazein and Fay, in their obituary notices, and it would seem superfluous in me to reiterate the same things. It may be proper for me to observe, that, within a few past years many of our worthy brethren in the ministry, with whom I have battled in the Lord's war for more than a quarter of a century, have retired from the battle field with an honorable discharge. The name of Joseph Badger now becomes classified with those of Peavy, Bailey, Clough, Morrison, Shaw, Fernald, and more recently with our deeply lamented brother Barr.

"I knew all these men when young, and loved them as my own natural brothers. They were all pious, devoted ministers of the Gospel. They were persevering, faithful pioneers, and true to the spirit and doctrine of the Christian reformation. Men of the first class of natural talents, but of moderate literary accomplishments, they were emphatically a class of self-sacrificing men, public benefactors of our race. They commenced in the ministry when young, labored hard, fared hard, lived upon short pay, and survived to see their storm-beaten vessel under full sail before a refreshing breeze, and died in peace.

"Of all these good men it may seem invidious to make a distinction, but without intending the least detraction from the rest of them, I may be permitted to say, that, from some strong affinity of our nature, or some other cause I cannot now explain, Mr. Badger was always nearer and dearer to me than either of the rest of them. We loved like Jonathan and David. Our souls were knit together. We were raised in adjoining towns in New Hampshire, and he was but a few years my senior. His whole nature was cheerful, his address familiar and easy, and all his associations were frank, kind, and interesting. His natural turn was affable, and he enjoyed sociability with an uncommon relish.

"In preaching, his voice was not heavy, but clear, soft, and musical, and capable of being heard at a good distance. His sermons were methodical, his ideas clear, distinct, and comprehensive. He was familiar with the Scriptures, and evinced a sufficient knowledge of books and of literature, for all practical purposes. He had a well-disciplined mind, a retentive memory, and a happy faculty of communication. He was never at a loss for words to express his thoughts, nor did he confuse his hearers with a redundancy of them. His preaching was not loud, but soft, easy, and pleasant to the hearer, yet pathetic and commanding. His manner was never boisterous, but mild, quiet, and agreeable. He never lost his balance of temper in debate, but always bore himself through with much unaffected pleasantry and good humor. He was a ready writer, a close thinker, a fair debater, a good editor, an excellent preacher, and a strong man. He was strictly evangelical in doctrine, according to Dr. L. Beecher's definition of that term. To the honor of his name be it said, he never had the least sympathy with Campbellism, Millerism, Calvinism, or Universalism, but was a whole-hearted Christian individually, theologically, and denominationally.

"To be sure, Brother Badger had his foibles, imperfections, and mortal weaknesses as well as other men; but now, having gone from us, and his account sealed up to the great day, let the broad mantle of Christian charity cover these forever, as he can give no further explanations, make no defence, nor be benefited by our limited extenuations. Peace to his ashes!"

Rev. J. Ross, of Charleston, N. Y., says:

"My first acquaintance with Mr. Badger was, I think, in the fall of 1816. He then, in company with ministers Avery, Moulton, and J. L. Peavy, called at my father's house in Milton, Saratoga County, N. Y., and held a meeting. Mr. Peavy preached. This was a little over two years after my profession of religion, and the organization of the Christian church at Ballstown. There was then a church existing at Galway, ten or twelve miles distant, and brethren scattered throughout various towns in the vicinity. Jabez King and Philip Sandford, both young men, were nearly all the help we had in that vicinity. Mr. Badger and his associates called to hold a general meeting of all the brethren who could assemble at Galway, for the purpose of seeking out and commending to the work, such persons as gave evidence of having gifts profitable for the Gospel field. The meeting was held in Galway, in the first chapel ever erected by our people in the State of New York. A number of young and diffident brethren, who afterwards became ministers, were here taken by the hand, by those more experienced, and encouraged to improve their gifts, whilst the churches were taught their duty to them. The sympathy and union generated by that interview doubtless still live in several hearts. This was our first acquaintance; and the act of meeting for the encouragement of young men whose eye was on the ministry, I deem peculiarly characteristic of the subject of the memoir. No young man in the circle of his influence was permitted to hide a profitable gift in a napkin, or bury his talent in the earth. He knew how to draw out the most diffident, could make the most of them when drawn out, and none could inspire their minds with stronger fortitude. At our first conference at Hartwick, Otsego County, 1818, he was there the active, moving spirit of that body. And whatever of order and good arrangement we now have in our conferences and conventions, may be attributed, more than to any other cause, to the impetus given by him in those early times.

"There was little of Don Quixote or of Utopianism in his constitution. He judged accurately of the effect of causes. He was cool, calm, and self-possessed amidst exciting scenes that moved the multitude; and wherever his Gospel labors proved effective, society was built up and order was established. He was a close observer of men and things, took the gauge and dimensions of men quickly, and it was usually safe to take his estimate as the true one. He saw coming events in the shadows which preceded them. Seemingly inspired with the sentiment that the Gospel was the God-appointed lever designed to lift the world from its moral degradation, he showed but little sympathy for any humanly devised means of reformation. 'The Gospel! the Gospel! THE PURE GOSPEL!' was his cry for the cure of moral evil. A want of confidence in the many professedly reformatory measures and associations of the age was calculated to affect his popularity in many quarters, but he adhered unwaveringly to his motto, 'the Gospel.'

"His sermons had method peculiar to himself. They always had order and arrangement; but the coherence of the parts was not always apparent to the casual observer. His manner in the pulpit was often playful, exciting a smile from the light-hearted, and sometimes a sigh or a tear from the most devout, as he rowed out into the sea of public discourse. But the scene gradually changed as he advanced in his labors, as his design began to be revealed, and his subject was applied. The sigh and tear were oft exchanged for songs, and the playful smile for prayer and tears. He always closed well.

"As a writer 'he is known and read of all men.' His style is his own, plain, clear, ungarnished and straight-forward. For this difficult station of editor he had rare accomplishments; and the denomination have cause for lasting gratitude for the aid and encouragement rendered to inexperienced writers, and for the impetus he gave to this mode of teaching. A glimpse at those volumes of the Palladium, issued under his supervision, and then at the condition of the correspondents and contributors, or the original copy from which it was made, at once reveals the singular ability of the man. How a class of young writers clustered around him! A thousand blessings rest upon him here!

"He had quick perception, great decision, and concentration. He habitually thought at early dawn; and when his purposes were laid, every energy was concentrated upon that single point. In this he was a Washington, a Napoleon, a Wellington. As a man of tact I have not known his equal. To this quality we may ascribe much of his success in conducting the Palladium. Many who could have written a labored article as well, or better, could not have succeeded in conducting the paper at all. Many with resources would have produced a mole-hill when he formed a mountain. But we will not, we dare not, say that his positions and his means of sustaining them were always right. He was a man; and in this utterance we plainly say he was erring. The most we can say, the highest character we would give our brother is, we hope, we trust, we believe he was a CHRISTIAN."

CHAPTER XXIII.

REFLECTIONS.

As the value of men historically stands in close connection with the ideas they represent, and with the movements in which they take part, it is relevant to the present subject that we glance at the character of the reformation in which Mr. Badger was the leading actor, and in whose principles he lived and preached more than a third of a century. We read the worth of a man in the value of the cause he aids. Mankind evidently are saved, not by magic, but by principles. The moral benefactor, therefore, is to be prized by the service he renders in making these perfect in the knowledge, and effective in the practice of his fellows. What, then, are the historical worth and characteristics of the Christian Reformation, in whose ministry Mr. Badger was a star of primary magnitude and brightness?

Its historical worth can now be stated but partially, as the half century which has elapsed since the first declaration of principles is too small a space of time for their determination in results. If, in all reformatory movements, the conception, utterance, agitation, and adoption of ideas, are the natural steps of progress by which new truths become externized in permanent effects, we might well appropriate the period of time here spoken of mostly to the preparatory stages of the work, and look forward to the future for the final verdict which shall declare its entire importance. This question cannot now be answered, except by the ability which reads, in moral causes, the distant triumphs they contain. As a future forest resides in present acorns, so great future changes reside in present truths.

The religious sentiment has its eras in the world, its triumphs and discouragements, as really as art and science have theirs; and between its present state and final victories lie many great and earnest revolutions. Three things may be safely premised on this subject: 1. The religious sentiment is mighty and eternal in man, and therefore will forever appear with prominence in human history. 2. There now exist all the truths and all the principles that can ever possibly appear. 3. The increasing knowledge of truth, the development of principles, the revolutions that are needed for their establishment in the world—these must continue. To truth no iota can ever be added, it being already infinite; but its development in human history must, like human nature, be progressive.

In looking over the world's religious phenomena, we notice, among the defects, a mixture of truth with superstition, an ignorance of everlasting law, which flows through all departments of being, and into which all facts are resolved. In marking the particular line of religion which forms the boundary of Christendom, we perceive, in the inclosure, the abundance of sectarism, of intolerance and persecution, all growing out of the immense importance which each sect attaches to its dogmas of belief, to its name and organization. Prior to Protestantism, the church, which has always boasted of its unity, imprisoned and burned the heretic. The belligerent attitude of clergymen now conclusively proves that theology, or divine science, is not understood; for it is impossible that honest men should quarrel on any subject of which they have a full comprehension. War, therefore, is the proof of ignorance, and ignorance is the mother of intolerance and persecution. As these are the most prominent evils the history of the church presents, we are obliged to highly honor the principles which melt these asperities into charity, as they shine from the effulgent heaven of a wider love. Under the stern authority of creeds, a manly freedom will scarcely grow. The Christian reformation, which began with the masses, and not with a caste, in the first years of the nineteenth century, contained principles which liberate the spirit from narrow and oppressive bonds, which open comparatively a whole broad horizon over the man of faith, and form a larger brotherhood than mere uniformity of belief can ever create. In naming distinctly four elements of that reformation, the view here offered will be clearly verified.

1. It cast aside sectarian names. To witness the power of names, whether political or religious, to learn their efficiency in perpetuating a division, one has only to look at the different parties into which men are separated. Often, it is the name mostly that holds a party together, and that forms the limit of sympathy and fraternization. But it was no philosophical reasons that led the people to throw off all sectarian names. It was reverence to the New Testament, and to the holy sympathies of Christian fellowship, which perpetually pass beyond the artificial boundaries of sect. In reverence to the New Testament, they assumed the Catholic name—Christian, and conceded it to all of every class who walked in purity of life.

2. They exalted the Bible to the exclusion and rejection of human creeds. Creeds cannot be wiser than to men who made them; as these are weak, fallible creatures, it is in vain to seek the Rock of Ages among their products. It may be said that no one can attend to every branch of business; that if one man makes ploughs he should be excused from making coffins, and be supplied from his neighbor's shop; that the unthinking masses, whose toil absorbs their energy, cannot form their own belief; that each, out of the storehouse of creeds already made, should find what fits his own dimensions. This may not be the worst advice to one who, mentally, is ready to die, and needs wherewith to be entombed; but to him who is resolved to live, it is the veriest mockery. If the Bible is, according to the general concession, the firmament of suns and stars, that bends morally and religiously over mankind, why should the torch and taper lights of theological invention be substituted in its place? In the daytime is not the radiance of the sun sufficient? The cause which induced these reformers to reject the man-made creeds, was simply reverence to the Book of books, and to the individual right of every man to learn truth for himself, undictated by the authority of men.

3. They claimed for each person a perfect, individual freedom. Romanism denies this right; and, though Protestanism has usually admitted it in theory, it has always Romanized in practice. Who is authorized to be the master of my thought? Who is commissioned from on high to tell me what I am to believe? Who or what is entitled to an arbitrary throne in this free realm? To the fish God gave an element in which they are free; to the birds and trees he was equally kind. Nothing grows proportionately, truly, except freedom. To man the High One has given the boundless element of truth, a shoreless and fathomless ocean to swim in; and who shall here compel his path? There was manliness in the words of Henry, "Give me liberty or give me death."

4. Experience they made the basis of religion. Their bond of fellowship, therefore, did not say, What, sir, is your opinion? It asked the deeper questions, Where is your heart? How do you live? Of the Holy Spirit are you born? It is true that the doctrine of one God in one person, of Jesus as his son, became with them a general belief, probably from the fact that a full surrender of their minds to the Scriptures as exclusive authority necessitated these convictions; but no notions of Trinity or Unity were ever thought of as bonds of fellowship. The spirit and doctrine of that movement cried to men and women of all sects and of no sect, "If you walk by faith in the Son of God, if you love the Lord Jesus, if you try to live the holy life, come to our embrace, come to the symbolical supper of our Lord." The full history of these sentiments in the world, the future must write. They are already introduced; and from the democratic turn which thought and education are everywhere taking, from the liberal spirit which every new, valuable work in literature breathes, from the generally increasing aversion to dogmatic theology, we opine that they are destined, through many agencies, to triumph sublimely in the Christian world. These fathers, like those of the Mayflower, wrought from reverence and duty, and no more than they, foresaw the distant results of the principles they espoused. But time is logical, and reproduces the proper fruit of every seed. The movement was self-relying, but more especially was it God-relying. Human nature in its view is not self-illumined even in its dutiful action, as the earth by no majestic revolving can cause the day. This proceeds from the sun; and from the Eternal Sun are all spirits lighted.

In the cause of education, Mr. Badger's interest and care survived his ability to speak or write on general questions. On the new educational movement, which has since resulted in the establishment of Antioch College, at Yellow Springs, Ohio, under circumstances of much promise, he looked with anxious and hopeful solicitude, always inquiring of the success of the enterprise; and it may be justly said that his last years were full of the conviction that more education is the strongly available instrument of power. He lived to see the denomination with whom his lot was cast, become enthusiastically awake in behalf of culture. He saw it and rejoiced. Though his people, from the warm, intense faith through which they had early looked to the region of the spiritual and the supernatural for their resources of conquest, had allowed human accomplishment to be in a degree eclipsed, they never cherished substantially the least irreverence to science; for the reverence of truth, native in all spirits, extends to science, which is nothing more than truth made known. Against this precious light, which comes out of nature to instruct us of her hidden property and law, no antagonism ever appeared. Not culture, not science, but the objectionable narrowness of the usual theological training; this was the main centre of their established prejudice. The Seminary at Starkey, the Graham Institute of North Carolina, and the College in Ohio, are earnest monuments of their deep regard for the culture which belongs to literature and to science; the last named success being, all things considered, the largest movement under the guiding impulse of liberal faith, that has ever occurred on the continent. The genius of the nineteenth century is to educate. Even the elements are disciplined to do for man, to prepare his timbers, to print his thoughts, to carry him on his journey, to bring him tidings; and in no department of human interest and enterprise are raw forces ranked in value with educated power. From the ignorance in which life universally begins, and from the infinity of unconquered truth that ever remains to be learned, it follows, as by unyielding necessity, that the highway that leads from man as a savage to man as the ripened glory of the universe, is none other than education.

Mr. Badger, in his time and way, was indeed an educator (e-duco, to call out), and his whole action tended to impart discipline to the means and forces about him. His position on this subject was one he never changed; and it is remarkable that through his long life there are no contradictions between his avowed opinions at different times. In the thorough retrospect, from the close to the beginning of his public career, one is impressed with the idea of matureness, of an extraordinary consistency. Each part agrees with the rest. So strikingly manifest is this trait, that we are not surprised at the words of Mr. Wellons, of Virginia, who said, "I have read his writings from my boyhood, and I must say he was the most consistent man I ever knew."

Though science is entitled to reverence from its sacredness, and to regard from its ministry of uses and its utility in breaking up the dark empire of superstition, it was religion in its great and catholic elements, that won the central worship of his heart. The one God, the one Christ, the one Spirit, the one Gospel, the one brotherhood, the one salvation, freedom, and fellowship of saints; these were his themes. He loved these principles with a firm and steadfast affection. As long as he could walk, even with assistance, he urged his way to the sanctuary of their proclamation. These pioneers were indeed strong, invincible spirits, who prove that the men who make a people are greater than those whom the people make.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Mrs. Peaslee Badger died 1834, at Compton, Lower Canada. Major Peaslee Badger died at Gilmanton, N. H. M. P. Cogswell, in transmitting the news of his death, says—"I now have the painful duty to perform of giving you information of the decease of your honored father, who died at Gilmanton, October 13, 1846, at 12 o'clock at night, and was buried on this day, the 15th, in the old family burial ground, by the side of his father and mother. The Rev. Daniel Lancaster preached a good discourse at our old Smith Meeting House, from Ecc. 12: 7; he spoke well and feelingly of the Major; of his high order of talents, of his remarkably retentive memory of the Scriptures, and so forth. Thus has our honored father gone down to the grave, as said Mr. Lancaster, like a shock of corn fully ripe in its season, at the age of 92 years and six months, lacking ninedays. The day was beautiful for the season; Gov. Badger and family, as likewise all the relatives in Gilmanton and vicinity were present, and the whole scene was solemnly impressive."

[2] The History of Gilmanton, from the first settlement to the present time, 1845. By Daniel Lancaster, p. 256. Also, Memoir of Hon. Joseph Badger, p. 1.

[3] See American Quarterly Register, vol. xiii, No. 3, p. 317.

[4] 3,450 ft. high.

[5] 3,320 ft.

[6] 4,636 ft.

[7] 1000 ft.

[8] 6,314 ft.

[9] This title was then very commonly given to all Baptist ministers. For some years, however, it has been gradually growing obsolete.

[10] This and its accompanying stanza.

[11] At Ionia, Onondaga Co., N. Y., 1835.

[12] Rom. 1: 16.

[13] This part of the journal was written in 1816.

[14] His brother, Peaslee Badger.

[15] The one that coerced him to pray when a child.

[16] This letter, and another signed by two deacons in Newhampton, are before me. They witness to the great power and success of his ministry; also to his Christian life.

[17] Proverbs, 27: 7.

[18] The same mentioned on page 21.

[19] Zech. 14: 7.

[20] In a sense that to you needs no explanation.

[21] Ps. 7: 16.

[22] Ps. 9: 15.

[23] Ecc. 10: 8.

[24] Acts 20: 31.

[25] John 17: 3; John 1: 18; Matt. 11: 27.

[26] Then Ontario County.

[27] In 1818, this town was constituted out of the town of Pittsford.

[28] It is stated that the first regularly organized Conference in the United States, occurred at Hartwick, Otsego County, N. Y., 1818. See Pall., vol. ii., p. 169.

[29] Now Stafford, Genesee County, N. Y.

[30] Christian Herald, Portsmouth, N. H., Vol. II, p. 61.

[31] Christian Herald, Portsmouth, N. H., Vol. II, p. 63.

[32] Both were active members of the Union Convention held in Covington, Genesee, January, 1820.

[33] His degree in Masonry was the Royal Arch.

[34] At first, it was a voluntary assemblage, called general because all denominations were invited to participate; later, delegates from local Conferences were appointed.

[35] Mr. Church lived in the town of Friendship, six miles west from Mr. How.

[36] Her mother, Mr. How's first wife, died 1816.

[37] The La Fayette Ball given at that time, he says, cost $100,000; and about 12,000 persons were said to have been present.

[38] This spring emits carbureted hydrogen gas. It has not only lighted the apartments of the citizens, but has been used in cooking.

[39] Then all the towns east of the Genesee, in this section, were in Ontario County; Monroe County was not then formed.

[40] In a later address of Mr. Loring, than the one whose statements were quoted by Mr. Himes, published in 1844, which was the 40th anniversary of the Boston Church, Mr. L. observes—"Elder Badger arrived in September, and commenced preaching. His labors were successful, and many gathered to hear the word. In the winter following, a considerable number professed conversion, and were received by the Church. Under date of Lord's day, March 23, 1828, there stands on the Church record the following entry:—'At the close of the afternoon service, Elder Badger, with the candidates for baptism, previously prepared, proceeded in ten carriages to South Boston, where they were followed by a large portion of the congregation. After solemn prayer, the ordinance was administered after the example of our glorious Lord.' Elder Badger remained with us about a year, and during his stay I believe this house was generally as well filled as at any period since its erection."—p. 18.

[41] J. G. Loring and Wm. Gridley are deceased; the former but recently.

[42] Mrs. Badger.

[43] His answer to the committee, in which he declines their invitation, is dated at Boston, August 14, 1828.

[44] Gospel Luminary, Vol. III, p. 95.

[45] The name of his residence in Mendon.

[46] Bible Doctrine of God, Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, Atonement and Faith; to which is prefixed an Essay on Natural Theology and the Truth of Revelation. By Wm. Kinkade. Revised by J. Badger.

[47] Pall., Vol. II, p. 287. A general convention from the different States.

[48] In the town of Broadalbin.

[49] Now Fulton County.

[50] Pall., Vol. II, p. 387.

[51] The leading men in starting the general association and the publication of the Christian Palladium were O. E. Morrill, J. Badger, J. Bailey, B. Miles, and others. O. E. Morrill was particularly active and prominent in this useful movement.

[52] The debate with R. D. Owen, as it was called, was evidently no debate. No direct issue was formed between them, and there was no direct conflict of mind with mind on any essential question. It was mostly the rare phenomenon of two men talking alternately in the same place on different subjects.

[53] Debate on the Roman Catholic religion, pages 59, 186, 172.

[54] Editor of the Christian Teacher.

[55] J. J. Harvey.

[56] At Marion, Wayne County, N. Y.

[57] 1828.

[58] January, 1844.

[59] To Joseph Marsh, Editor of the Palladium.

[60] The Christian Church at Royalton, N. Y., was the first erected in the State west of the Genesee river.

[61] One of the means of torture in the Spanish Inquisition.

[62] Faust, p. 89.

[63] The first local Conference regularly organized in the United States, for the transaction of general business and for the keeping of a pure ministry, was called by him at Hartwick, N. Y., 1818. He was the leading spirit of that body, and ably met the objections that were raised against its objects. In 1817 he wrote some letters to individual preachers, pleading for an association of churches and ministers, to which ministers should be responsible for the characters they sustain.

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