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.

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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.[Pg iv] 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.

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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.[Pg vi]

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.[Pg 7]

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[Pg 8] 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:—

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[Pg 10] 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.

[Pg 11]

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[Pg 12] 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[Pg 13] 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.

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[Pg 15] 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[Pg 16] mystery. Mr. Badger's written journal, among its opening paragraphs, has the following quotation:

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[Pg 17] 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.

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[Pg 20] 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[Pg 21] had learned to love the voice of prayer, we find him for a time determined in the way he had learned.

[Pg 23]

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.

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.

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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 [Pg 26]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,[Pg 27] 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.

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 [Pg 28]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[Pg 29] 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[Pg 30] 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.

[Pg 31]

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."

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.

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.

[Pg 43]

CHAPTER IV.

CONVERSION.

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:

[Pg 44]

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

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[Pg 46] 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[Pg 47] 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[Pg 48] 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:

[Pg 49]

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.

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[Pg 54] 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[Pg 55] 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.

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.

[Pg 57]

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[Pg 61] 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.

[Pg 62]

CHAPTER V.

CALL TO AND ENTRANCE UPON THE MINISTRY.

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.

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[Pg 64] 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."

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[Pg 68] 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[Pg 69] 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.

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[Pg 71] 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:

[Pg 76]

CHAPTER VI.

PUBLIC LABORS IN THE PROVINCE.

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[Pg 78] at such times, were always striking and heroic. In a crisis, who ever saw him at a loss?

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

With these lines the nobly expressed narrative of Mr. B., so far as it relates to his early ministerial [Pg 93]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 [Pg 94]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.

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[Pg 98] 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[Pg 99] 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[Pg 100] 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[Pg 101] 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.

[Pg 102]

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.

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[Pg 109] 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?

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[Pg 112] barbarian usage of slaying prisoners when the prospect of being overcome grows certain. Extracts of other letters here follow.

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

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[Pg 114] 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.

Rightly did the poet say,—

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.

[Pg 116]

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:

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[Pg 117] 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:

[Pg 121]

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:

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

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[Pg 122] 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:

He touches in this letter very finely on the character of Mr. Page, whom he baptized on the 6th, a school-mate[Pg 123] 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 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[Pg 126] 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.

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:—

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[Pg 130] 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:—

[Pg 131]

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.

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[Pg 133] 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:—

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.

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.

[Pg 138]

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, [Pg 139]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:

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[Pg 141] 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:

[Pg 142]

He also narrates the following for this month:

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[Pg 145] 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.

[Pg 146]

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[Pg 147] 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[Pg 148] 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.

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[Pg 150] 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:

[Pg 151]

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:

[Pg 154]

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[Pg 156] 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.

[Pg 157]

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[Pg 158] 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.

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:[Pg 163]—

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[Pg 164] 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 [Pg 165]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.

[Pg 166]

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:[Pg 167]—

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[Pg 170] 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:

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 [Pg 171]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[Pg 172] 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.[Pg 173] 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.

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[Pg 177] 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:—

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[Pg 178] 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[Pg 179] those practical persuasions that grew out of his views of the individual freedom and responsibility of men.

[Pg 180]

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[Pg 181] 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.

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[Pg 184] 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:

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,[Pg 186] 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[Pg 187] 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[Pg 188] creation around him; for emphatically was he a son of Nature, owned and blessed of her. In this October month, he says:

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:

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:

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:

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[Pg 195] 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 [Pg 196]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[Pg 197] 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:—

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:[Pg 198]—

In a New England paper, he says—

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

[Pg 203]

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:

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[Pg 205] 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.

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.

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[Pg 208] 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[Pg 209] 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[Pg 210] 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:—

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[Pg 212] 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:

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.

[Pg 213]

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:—

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

[Pg 216]

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[Pg 217] 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[Pg 218] 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[Pg 219] 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[Pg 220] 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:—

In a letter to Mr. Moulton he says:

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.

[Pg 223]

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:

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 [Pg 224]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[Pg 225] 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[Pg 226] 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,[Pg 227] 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 [Pg 228]whilst on his way. From these we learn the events of the few months that remain of 1820. To him he says:

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:

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

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:

[Pg 232]

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:

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[Pg 233] 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:—

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,[Pg 234] 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.

[Pg 235]

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[Pg 236] 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."

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[Pg 238] 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.

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[Pg 239] 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.

"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.[Pg 240] 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[Pg 241] 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 [Pg 242]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.

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:—

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[Pg 244] 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.

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.

[Pg 245]

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[Pg 246] 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.

[Pg 247]

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[Pg 248] 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,[Pg 249] 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:

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[Pg 250] 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[Pg 251] 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:

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[Pg 253] 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.

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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.:

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[Pg 256] 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.

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,[Pg 258] 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.

[Pg 260]

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.

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[Pg 263] 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.

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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.

[Pg 265]

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:—

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[Pg 266] 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.

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:—

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.

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:—

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[Pg 275] 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:—

Also from Gray:—

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

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:—

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[Pg 279] 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:—

November 3d, he speaks of arriving at Derby Plains, where he preached five sermons, and saw the[Pg 280] 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.

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."

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

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:—

[Pg 284]

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[Pg 285] 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.

[Pg 286]

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:—

"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[Pg 288] 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[Pg 289] 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.

[Pg 290]

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:

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:

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.

[Pg 293]

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[Pg 294] 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[Pg 295] 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[Pg 296] 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—

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[Pg 297] 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:

[Pg 299]

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:—

[Pg 300]

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:—

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[Pg 302] 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.

[Pg 303]

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[Pg 304] 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,[Pg 305] 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.

[Pg 307]

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:—

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:—

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.

[Pg 309]

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

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:—

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[Pg 312] 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.

[Pg 313]

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[Pg 314] 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[Pg 315] 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[Pg 316] 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[Pg 317] 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:[Pg 318]—

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:

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:—

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[Pg 321] 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:—

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:

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[Pg 324] 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:—

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[Pg 326] 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:—

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:[Pg 329]—

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,

[Pg 330]

was enabled to say:

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,

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,[Pg 331] 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:

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.

[Pg 333]

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[Pg 334] 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,[Pg 335] 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 [Pg 336]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[Pg 337] 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[Pg 338] 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[Pg 339] 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[Pg 340] 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[Pg 341] 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[Pg 342] 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:—

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.

[Pg 343]

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.

Referring to the charge of fluctuation he says:—

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[Pg 346] 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[Pg 347] 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:

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.

[Pg 349]

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:

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

[Pg 350]

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.

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:

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:—

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.

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.

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

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[Pg 357] 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."

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[Pg 360] 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.

[Pg 361]

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.

[Pg 362]

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.

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

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:[Pg 373]—

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[Pg 374] 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.

[Pg 375]

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[Pg 376] 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:

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:

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[Pg 380] 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[Pg 381] 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[Pg 382] 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.

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[Pg 384] 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?[Pg 385] 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.

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[Pg 390] 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[Pg 391] 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.

[Pg 392]

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:—

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,[Pg 393] 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,[Pg 394] 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:—

[Pg 395]

He continues:—

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[Pg 396] 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:—

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[Pg 398] 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[Pg 399] 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:—

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[Pg 401] 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[Pg 402] 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.[Pg 403] 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:—

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[Pg 405] 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.

[Pg 406]

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 [Pg 407]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.

[Pg 408]

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.

[Pg 409]

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.:

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:

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.[Pg 413] 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[Pg 414] 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[Pg 415] 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[Pg 416] 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[Pg 417] 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[Pg 418] 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[Pg 419] 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[Pg 420] 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[Pg 421] 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[Pg 422] 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.[Pg 423] 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[Pg 424] 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[Pg 425] 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[Pg 426] 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[Pg 427] 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 [Pg 428]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 [Pg 429]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[Pg 430] 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."

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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.

[Pg 432]

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.

[Pg 433]

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[Pg 434] 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,

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[Pg 435] 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.[Pg 436] 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[Pg 437] 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.[Pg 438] 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[Pg 439] 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;[Pg 440] and we have this firm faith, that the world is now, and ever will be, the wealthier from his having lived in it.

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.[Pg 441] Its text is, "Righteousness exalteth a nation," and its motto, the words of Barbauld,

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.

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[Pg 442] 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:—

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[Pg 445] 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:—

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[Pg 453] 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."

In passing over his dedication services, one is oft times struck with the moral weight and elegance of[Pg 454] 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.

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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:—

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

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[Pg 458] 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:[Pg 459] 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 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:

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

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

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?

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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[Pg 468] 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.

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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[Pg 470] 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[Pg 471] 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[Pg 472] 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[Pg 473] 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.