Memoir of Joseph Badger

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MEMOIR

REV. JOSEPH BADGER

BY E. G. HOLLAND.

IRD EDITION.

NEW YORK :
C. S. FRANCIS AND CO., 252

BOSTON : BENJAMIN H. GREENE, 124 WASHINGTON ST.
1854.

£
i s

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.

PRE FAC E.

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 un-
sectarian 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 senti
ments 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, encour
aged, and warned by the paternal voices of the de
parted.

Two classes of great men figure effectively on the
stage of the world. One class are strongest in writing.

IV PREFACE.

Their written words embody the entire elegance and
power of their minds. Such were Webster and Chan-
ning. 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 appa
rent 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-sacri
ficing, trusting faith of which he was no common ex
ample, send forth this volume to the world, hoping that
in an ease-loving age, the presentation of a Lutheran
force in the example of a son of New Hampshire may
serve to awaken in others a kindred energy.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I. BIRTH AND ANCESTRY.
II. CHILDHOOD.

III. YOUTH AND EDUCATION.

IV. CONVERSION.

V. CALL TO AND ENTRANCE UPON THE MINISTRY.
VI. PUBLIC LABORS IN THE PROVINCE.
VII. TOUR TO NEW ENGLAND, AND PUBLIC LABORS.
VIII. ORDINATION AND PUBLIC LABORS.
IX. PUBLIC LABORS — MARRIAGE— -TRAVELS.
X. LABORS AND SETTLEMENT IN WESTERN NEW YORK.
XI. THOUGHTS AND INCIDENTS OF 1819 AND 1820.
XII. WRITINGS — MARRIAGE — TRAVELS.

XIII. CORRESPONDENCE —VISITS AT ANGELICA WITH D. D.

How, THE MURDERER — SERMON AT THE GALLOWS.

XIV. JOURNEY AT THE SOUTH — PUBLISHED JOURNAL.
XV. MINISTRY AT BOSTON.

XVI. FOUR MONTHS' LABOR IN THE COUNTIES OF ONONDA-
GA AND CAYUGA, NEW YORK, IN 1828 AND 1829,

WITH OTHER PARTS OF HIS PUBLIC LlFE, EXTEND
ING TO MAY, 4832.

XVII. EDITORIAL LIFE.
XVIII. GENERAL VIEWS.

VI CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XIX. MINISTRY — PUBLISHED WRITINGS AND IMPOR
TANT EVENTS FROM MAY, 1839, TO MARCH, 1848.

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

XXI. OUTLINES OF CHARACTER.

XXII. ADDRESSES — SERMONS— REMINISCENCES — VIEWS
OF CONTEMPORARIES.

XXIII. REFLECTIONS.

MEMOIR.

CHAPTER I.

BIRTH AND ANCESTRY.

IN so young a world as America, it has been held
unsuitable for persons to spend much time in the
tracing of pedigree, or to found important claims on
family descent ; nor can it accord less with the common
sejise 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 an
cestors 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

8 MEMOIR OF

being do nothing more than to repeat ancestral forms
and habits, to which the sweet rose, the eagle, and the
strong-armed oak, are perpetual witnesses ; and though
man, by his God-like faculty of will is lifted out, in a
great measure, from this necessity, he is so far a deri
vation from the past, that he ought to be seen in his
connections with it. We therefore introduce the sub
ject 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 Hamp
shire, born August 16th, 1792. From an early manu
script of his I copy the following lines : —

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

"In 1781, my father was married to Lydia Kelley,
born in Lee, N. H., 1759. She was the daughter of
Philip Kelley,, who, in the triumphs of faith, departed this
life the llth of June, 1800, at New Hampton, N. H.
For the space of thirty-six years my father resided at
Gilmanton. In our family were nine children, five sons
and four daughters. I was the fourth son, and the old

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 9

general, of whom I have already spoken, selected me as
the one to bear up his name. I was accordingly named
for him ; but alas ! I fear I have fallen greatly below his
excellent examples."

Among his ancestors, there can be no doubt, that he
most resembled, in mind and body, the venerable man
whose name he bore. The personal form of Gen.
Joseph Badger, as described in history, in which he is
represented as nearly six feet in stature, somewhat cor
pulent, 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 com
manding 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
1*

10 MEMOIR OF

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 sub
ject 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 Badg
er, 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 despond
ing meditator on man or his lot ; he wore no form
alities 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.

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 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.*

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 wilder
ness of New Hampshire and Massachusetts, in obedi
ence 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 framily is of English origin, that its founder

* Mrs. Peaslee Badger died 1834, at Compton, Lower Canada.
Major Peaslee Badger died at Gilmanton, N. H. M. P. Cogswell, in
transmitting the news of his death, says — "I now have the painful
duty to perform of giving you information of the decease of your hon
ored father, who died at Gilmanton, October 13, 1846, at 12 o'clock
at night, and was buried on this day, the loth, in the old family burial
ground, by the side of his father and mother. The Rev. Daniel Lan
caster preached a good discourse at our old Smith Meeting House,
from Ecc. 12:7; he spoke well and feelingly of the Major; of his
high order of talents, of his remarkably retentive memory of the
Scriptures, and so forth. Thus has our honored father gone down to
the grave, as said Mr. Lancaster, like a shock of corn fully ripe in its
season, at the age of 92 years and six months, lacking nine days. The
day was beautiful for the season ; Gov. Badger and family, as likewise
all the relatives in Gilmanton and vicinity were present, and the
whole scene was solemnly impressive."

12 MEMOIR OF

was Giles Badger,* 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, Nathan
iel, 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.,t 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

* The History of Gilmanton, from the first settlement to the pres
ent time, 1845. By Daniel Lancaster, p. 256. Also, Memoir of
Hon. Joseph Badger, p. 1.

t See American Quarterly Register, vol. xiii, No. 3, p. 317.

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 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.

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

" He was a uniform friend and supporter of the institu
tions of learning and religion. He not only provided for
the education of his own children by procuring private

14 MEMOIR OF

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

Rev. Joseph Badger had indeed a noble ancestry ;
and, in natural ability, in creative and executive intel
lect, 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

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 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 appro
priate 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 Isfe!" Ah ! who can wrestle
with this wonder so as to exhaust it of its marvel-
lousness ? 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 out
wardly 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

16 MEMOIIl OF

mystery. Mr. Badger's written journal, among its
opening paragraphs, has the following quotation :

" 'T is Heaven's decree, in mercy, that mankind
Should to their future destiny be blind ;
Impatient man rejects his present state,
"With eager steps to meet approaching fate,
Yet would the future, in perspective cast,
Display the exact resemblance of the past ;
When o'er the stage of human life we range,
The scenes continue but the actors change."

CHAPTER II.

CHILDHOOD.

THE town of Gilmanton, which is only forty-five
miles from Portsmouth, sixteen from Concord, and
eighty from Boston, is, to a great extent, of rocky and
hilly surface, having within its limits a chain of emi
nences that vary in height from three hundred to one
thousand feet, called the Suncook Range, which com
mences 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

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 17

Concord, the Grand Monadnock,* in Jaffrey and Dublin,
the Ascutney,f in Windsor, Vt., the Moosehillock, in Co
ventry ,J Mount Major, the highest summit in the town of
Gilmanton,§ and Mount Washington, || which is the high
est 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 child
hood, for children see it from the heart and learn from
it unconsciously. But entering the field of personal
incident, let us listen to his own recorded memories.

"I cannot describe, as some have attempted to do,
what transpired when only two or three years of age ; but
when four or five, I most distinctly remember going with
my sisters on a visit to my grandsire's, Gen. Joseph
Badger. It was but a few miles, and there being a
school near, I consented through much persuasion to re
main and attend it. The departure of my sisters was to
me the severest trial I had known, one of whom however
remained to comfort me. Here new and strange things,
of which I had never before heard, presented themselves
to my mind. At evening the family and servants were
all called in. I was much surprised at the gathering, and
inquired the cause. My sister told me that we were
ab'out to attend prayers. My young expectations were
raised to see something new, as before this I had never

* 3,450 ft. high. f 3,320 ft. J 4,636 ft.

$ 1000 ft. l| 6,314 ft.

18 MEMOIR OF

heard of anything of the kind. Whilst we were assembled,
the old gentleman with the greatest solemnity leaning over
his chair with his face to the wall prayed some time. I
knew not what he said, nor to whom he spoke. His
speaking with his eyes shut, and all the rest standing in
profound silence, excited much anxiety in me for an ex
planation. As soon as this new scene had closed and we
had retired, I remember having asked my sister to whom
it was that my grandsire had been speaking. This to me
was a mystery, as I saw no other standing by him. She
told me that he spoke to God I saw at once from her
description that I was wholly ignorant of such a Being.
She also told me that there was a place of happiness and
misery, that all the good people went to heaven, and that
the wicked must be burned up. I thought my sister Mary
the happiest person in the world, because she knew so
much about those great things ; and young as I was, the
story she told me tilled my mind with solemnity; whilst
the view she gave me of the certain doom of the wicked
caused me to weep much, for I thought that I was one of
that number. Impressions there made, and ideas there
formed never wore off my mind."

" But another scene opened to my view, which also
much surprised me. As there were several small children
about the house, they were all called up at evening to say
their prayers. They repeated the Lord's prayer, with
some additions. This made my young heart tremble, as
I thought they were all Christians, and I knew / never
prayed in my life ; and further, I knew not what to say.
After all the rest had gone through their prayers, I was
called up. My grandmother asked me if I ever prayed.
I answered that I never did. She then told me to say
the words after her, which I refused to do, from the feel
ing in my mind that the name of God was so holy and so

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 19

great that I could not speak that word. I wept aloud as
she enjoined on me this practice, and was finally excused.
I very much dreaded to have night come again. For
several nights I was excused, and listened to the others ;
but finally she insisted on my praying, telling me plainly
that I should be made to pray. That night she prepared
a large whip and applied it to me severely several times be
fore I would submit. At length I repeated the prayer, and
from that time adopted the practice regularly. Through
the influence of my sister, I was afterwards induced to
thank my grandmother for the whipping, though I now
think some milder measures had done as well."

In those stern Puritan days, the whip was far from
being an idle instrument in teaching the rebellious
young the fear of the Lord. Whatever was accepted
as duty in religion, had no compromise with the diver
sity of taste and inclination in the families of the
faithful. The reader, I think, will be unable to with
hold 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

20 MEMOIR OF

lamentation to me," said he in riper years, " that men
of understanding dwell no more on the glories of the
great Benefactor. In my opinion, a sense of religion
should be early awakened, as first impressions are
lasting, whether for good or for evil, and often appear
in future years as the governing influence, as the
foundation of future action. Ask the vilest man that
whirls along in his career of evil, if he never thinks of
the warnings, instructions and prayers of his fond
parent in early days, and if he answers candidly he
will say that they often arise to his condemnation. The
destinies of different men are always teaching the
worth of that holy wisdom which said, ' Train up a
child in the way he should go, and when he is old he
will not depart from it.' In glancing back at the
religion of my childhood, I find that I was uncon
sciously 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 repent
ance. 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 gen
eral 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, fol
lowing the child Joseph to his own home, now that he

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 21

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

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

22 MEMOIR OF

and death, when I heard of them, brought to my mind
my former promise, and my thoughts always arose to my
Creator whenever I heard the voice of thunder."

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

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 23

It is indeed an old story in history, that the power
ful 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 posses
sion 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,

lt Not long after this several of the young people went
to hear the Free-willers, as they were at that time styled.
I accompanied them to the meeting, which was held in a
private dwelling, in a retired neighborhood, and composed
apparently of poor people. I thought they must be as
bad as I had heard them represented. They prayed, they
wept, they exhorted with much fervor and pathos, and
notwithstanding I so much hated their manners, something
reached my heart that robbed me for the time of all light
ness and irreverence. Robinson Smith was the minister
who spoke at this meeting, a strong, healthy man, of unu
sually clear and commanding voice. He spoke with
power. Some of our company returned in solemnity of
spirit, whilst others derided the scene we had witnessed.

24 MEMOIR OP

Shortly after this, among my early reminiscences of Gil-
manton, was a weekly conference, in which various per
sons spoke, offered prayers, and related their experience
in things pertaining to religion — a meeting to which I
was led sometimes from the examples of others, some
times from curiosity, and sometimes from an inward desire
to possess what Christians said they enjoyed. Thus was
my early nature swayed by strong emotions, sometimes to
good and sometimes to evil."

These pages, quoted from a private journal, written
more than thirty years ago, nearly conclude all that
pertains to his early life in Gilinanton. I have lin
gered thus long on these early years, because every
man is indicated by his earliest development — cer
tainly 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 re
maining 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.

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 25

CHAPTER III.

YOUTH AND EDUCATION.

ABOUT this time, 1801, Major Peaslee Badger con
templated 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 influ
ence 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 emigra
tion 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 wood
land region of Lower Canada, which at that time was
regarded as the best parfc of the world. To this
region he accordingly made a journey, was much pleased
with the country, and, after selling his farm in Gil
manton, which he sold for between four and five
thousand dollars, he again visited this section of the
king's dominions, in company with his eldest son,
where he purchased eight hundred acres of the best
of land. Only a few families at this time resided in
2

26 MEMOIR OF .' 1

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 Can
ada, for which place they set out in February, 1802,
in eight sleighs, laden with provisions and furniture,

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 27

and after nineteen days of slow and expensive jour
neying, experiencing the alternations of good and evil
fortune, they arrived on the 4th or 5th of March at
their new home in the woods. Woman is ever the
natural conservative, loving her established and long-
tried home.

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

The contrast between the cheerful society and
scenery of Gilmanton, and the solitude of this wood
land 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
efiorts. But man's nature is flexible, and easily bends
to every variety of condition. As soon as the news

28 MEMOIR OP

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 Coata-
cook river lay four hundred acres ; the eastern swell
was called Mount Pleasant, the western, Mount Inde
pendence. 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 though tfulness
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. Doubt
less 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

REV. JOSEPH BADGER 29

and power to hail from any but certain favored locali
ties ; 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 distrib
utes her gifts and makes her highest elections. She
is by no means afraid of mountains and woodland soli
tudes ; 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 Ayre-
shire 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 vastriess 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 im
portant 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

30 MEMOIR OF

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 con
versed with me on the subject of religion. At times
I remember to have wept, and supposed that my con
dition 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 reflec
tions, 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 sus
ceptible and thoughtful natures, in natures of deep
strivings, there is ever a stratum of seriousness, wear
ing 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.

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 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 dis
advantage ; and soon after this, when seven miles
from home, he had the misfortune to break his leg,
suffering extremely for fifteen days, expecting con
stantly 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 misfor
tune 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 for
merly lived."

" The first preaching that we heard was by an old gen
tleman of the name of Huntington. He was a Universal-
ist, a good man, I think, but not a great preacher. He
addressed the people for the greater part of one summer
generally at my father's house. I do not remember to
have seen anything like reform among the people. The
old gentleman died in a few years, and I trust has gone to
rest. Also Elders* Robinson Smith and A. Moulton, of

* This title was then very commonly given to all Baptist ministers.
For some years^iowever, it has been gradually growing obsolete.

32 MEMOIR OP

Hatley, a neighboring town, favored us with their minis
try. We called them Free-willers, but their preaching
was life-awakening, and it wras held in remembrance long
after they were gone, although they saw no immediate
fruits of their labors. I recollect of hearing Mr. Moulton
once, the first time I think I ever saw him. His voice to
me was like thunder. For several days after, it seemed
as though I could hear the sound of it."

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

" When about sixteen or seventeen," continues the jour
nal, " I heard that a young man about my age from Ver
mont would preach in our vicinity. There was a great
move to hear him, and I resolved to go. The house was
full. He was evidently one much engaged in God's work.
He looked very pale and much worn out. Mr. Moulton
was with him, prayed at the beginning of thdlheeting, after

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 33

which, the young man, Benjamin Putnam, came forward,
and in a manner and address that were engaging, and to
me peculiarly pleasing, preached a sermon from Isaiah 22 :
22 ; a text which I shall never forget. 'And the key of
the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder : so he
shall open, and none shall shut ; and he shall shut, and
none shall open.' lie described Christ as the Son of God,
and the power as being laid upon his shoulder ; he also
dwelt on what he had opened both to and for man, which
none could shut, and finally spoke of the closing of the
same door, which none should be able to open. I thought
this discourse more glorious than anything I had ever
heard. I thought him the happiest young man I ever
saw. As soon as meeting was closed he came forward
through the assembly and spoke to my brother, which
had a solemn effect on us both. Many of his expres
sions I have ever remembered.

" The Methodist ministers next made their way into our
town, and I have always thought that they came in the
name and spirit of the Highest. They were humble and
earnest. As my father's family seldom attended their
meetings, I perhaps did not become acquainted with the
first that came. Hays and Briggs were the first I heard.
While listening to the farewell sermon of the former I re
member to have been deeply affected, and one evening,
while listening to Mr. Briggs, I felt a strong conviction of
my sin, and believed that I was undone without regenera
tion. They first formed a small class in town. Leaving
the circuit the next year, Joseph Dennet and David Blan-
chard were their successors, under whose ministry many of
the old and the young were turned to God, whilst even
children were made happy in Christ. I think that the
preaching of the latter was the first that ever brought
tears from my eyes. Also, in those days, we had frequent
2*

34: MEMOIR OP

visits from the missionaries, but I do not remember that
their preaching had much effect on my own mind or that
of any other person.

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

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 35

caused ine much sorrow to leave him, but the first lesson
I learned from the cross taught me how to relinquish and
how to renounce.

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

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

36 MEMOIR OF

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

" But nature, which to me was ever welcome, did not
attract me as usual. A spirit, over which I had not con
trol, seemed to work within me to the extreme of solemn
conviction. People, road, trees, rivers — all seemed gloomy,
and I appeared to myself as a monument spared to unite
with them in mourning. We finally passed the gloomy
Notch, and as I drank in its lonely influence, I felt, un
avoidably, its likeness to the mood of my own spirit. At

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 37

Franconia, many new prospects and objects appeared to
view. The manufactory of iron was at that time and
there a great curiosity. At Littleton, further on in our
journey, we rode on the river, as it was hardly frozen. I
disguised my feelings, and as we were riding along, several
in number, I fell in the rear that I might enjoy the medi
tations in which my mind was absorbed. At this time, an
old gentleman, whose silver locks and grave appearance at
tracted my attention, appeared near me, coming from his
house to the river to draw water. My eyes were fixed
upon him. ' How far/ said he, * is your company journey
ing ?' To the province of Lower Canada, I answered.
( Do you live there ? ' said he. I answered that I did.
Then in a solemn tone the old patriarch inquired, ' Is there
any religion in that part of the world ? ' I was surprised
to hear this subject introduced by a stranger. I told him
there were some in our country who professed religion.
He then burst into a flood of tears, and exhorted me with
a warm-hearted pathos to seek salvation, and, though I
disclosed none of my feelings to him, I was most deeply
moved, and the image of the venerable old man was con
tinually before my eyes through the day. I could scarcely
refrain from weeping ; and whatever others may think of
such apparently accidental events, I am free to confess*
that from that time until now, I have firmly believed that
this old gentleman was a God-sent prophet unto me. The
impressions he made continued till I enjoyed the sweet
religion that inspired his look and his voice. I have often
wished that I might see him and humble myself in
thankfulness before him, a thing not to be expected in this
life.

" When we arrived at Stewardstown, near the head of
the Connecticut river, I parted with my cousin, whose des
tination was different from my own. Crossing the line,

38 MEMOIR OF

I passed the night with Dr. Ladd, a friend of my father,
who was a Christian and a man of extended knowl
edge. I treasured up many of his observations. I was
then only twenty miles from home, and heard the sad news
of the ravages sickness had made during my absence,
which greatly disturbed me with the thought that I should
never again see all my friends. On the.lOth of March,
however, I arrived, and though fearful to inquire for my
relatives, found, to my joy, that they were all well. In
company I sought to be cheerful, but in solitude the keen
est sensations of sadness were active.

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

" At length the storm ceased and I arrived in safety at
the house of a friend. The next day I reached home, and

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 39

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

40 MEMOIR OP

«k

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

" f Ye warblers of the vernal shade
Whose artless music charms my ear,
Your loveliness my heart upbraids —
My languid heart, how insincere !

While all your little powers collected, raise

A tribute to your great Creator's praise.

" ' Ye lovely offsprings of the ground, <

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

" ' Ye winds that waft the fragrant spring,
You, whispering, spread His name abroad,
Or shake the air with sounding wing,
And speak the awful power of God :

His will, with swift obedience, you perform,

Or in the gentle gale or dreadful storm.

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

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 41

" ' O Lord ! thy grace my languid heart can raise,

These dissipated powers unite,

Can bid me pay my debt of praise

With love sincere and true delight :
Oh ! let thy power inspire my heart and tongue,
Then will I, grateful, join Creation's song.'

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

" One Sunday, without the knowledge of our family, I
went about two miles to attend a Methodist meeting, in
which several spoke, and spoke well. Mrs. John Gilson,
a little, delicate woman, with much diffidence arose to

42 MEMOIR OF

speak. Her wisdom and manner won my heart, and her
message, which was particularly to me, seemed to carry
the evidence that it was from God. I could never forget
it. I knew she was my friend, and believed that she
spoke for my good, and I would have rendered her
my thanks at the close, but for the restraining power of a
sentiment common to me, which was, an unwillingness to
disclose to any one my deepest emotions. We had been
taught by some, that before we could attain salvation, we
should be willing to be damned and lost. I never had
this willingness. But, in candor, I must say that my
sense of guilt was so deep that I felt I had merited the
sentence to be finally uttered against the impenitent."

The reader will perceive that the thread of this
journal is drawn from such portions of Mr. Badger's
early life as seem most directly to express its various
moral phases. From other points of experience, it is
natural to suppose, much was omitted, the main pur
pose 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.

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 43

CHAPTER IV.

CONVERSION.

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

To every work there is a crisis which openly exhibits
success or failure. To every growth there are certain
perceptible changes by which we note the progress
from incipiency to the mature state. There is a sym
bolical 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 :

44 MEMOIR OP

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

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

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

" Eighteen hundred and eleven ! that memorable year
will rrever be forgotten by thousands now living, on ac
count of the victorious spread of the Gospel in North
America. Generations yet unborn will trace the pages

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 45

of ecclesiastical history with anxiety and delight, to learn
what transpired among their ancestors during this year.
But how soon, when a heavenly influence is in the ascend
ant, some counteracting power will enter the field with
ruinous violence ! The cruel war soon succeeded, and
devastation spread her vermilion garb over our happy
and enlightened land.

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

In the pride of philosophical speculation, there are
knowing ones who rob the rich idea of God of person
ality ; also, in the attempts to deify the sacred parch
ments 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

46 MEMOIR OF

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 stri
ving 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 fre
quent and many tears in private attest his deep sincer
ity 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 rational
istic statement on this subject in our severely philosoph
ical 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 dimin
ished 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 accord
ance 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, 0 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 pas
sages reach the soul in every clime, as abstraction never
could ; and from the reverence we have been accus-

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 47

tomed to pay to universal convictions, and from the ef
fect 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 ob
struction 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, uas I looked
around for comfort, every place revealed some circum
stance 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 jar
ring discord in his ear ; the songs of the wicked deep
ened 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 sustain
ing sympathy of a single human creature, he continued

48 MEMOIR OF

to wage his warfare with the powers of darkness.
A young man, alone, with resolves and feelings un
known 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 denomi
nation 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 man
ner 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 reproachful
ly " — after a few moments, he arose and said :

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

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 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.

" One of my young friends, a respectable young man,
conversed with me on the subject. I stated to him all I
had said, and in part I manifested my feelings to him with
some degree of boldness. He expressed a fear that I
would become deluded, though, by the way, he had never
manifested a fear of the kind when we used to dance,
play cards, and spend the Sabbath together in the reading
of novels. 'About the things of religion,' said he, 'it is
not well to be in haste. It is a subject which needs the
greatest deliberation.' With this I agreed. He further
remarked, ' If a person thinks of such things, it is not best
to give expression to such thoughts, because people will
talk about it, and you,' continued he, l are already a sub
ject of conversation. Many are concerned for you, and
wish your society, and you know it is a disgrace for us to
go among those foolish and ignorant Methodists.' By
these remarks, coming from a particular friend, I was em
barrassed, but soon learned that I must leave all, and part
with my dearest companions for Christ; that two masters
it was impossible to serve ; and in my indecision I seemed
to hear a voice as from heaven, saying, ' Choose ye this
day whom ye will serve,' impressing my mind with the
idea that then was the time for me to secure an interest
in the Great Redeemer. Great things of eternity were
continually resting on my mind ; the saints, as they had
opportunity, began to talk with me, of which I was glad,
3

50 MEMOIR OF

though to them I did not say much, as I was resolved that
others should not know my feelings ; even if I were ever
so happy as to feel my sins forgiven, I was determined
not to say much about it to others, and certainly not to
make such an ado over it as many did."

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

" I began to be more familiar with the saints, sometimes
revealing to them in part my determinations, and always
gaining strength by so doing. I had not the same con
sciousness of sin as before. At times, before I was aware
of it, my mind would be soaring above on heavenly things ;
the Scriptures would beautifully open to my mind, and
glorious would seem the things of religion ; yet I scarcely
dared to rejoice. I derived much benefit and instruction
from the conversation of the saints, and though I asked
their prayers, I neither united with them in prayer, nor
kneeled according to their custom. The narrated experi
ence of others aided me some, and as all my Christian
friends advised me to pray, I again kneeled in the solitude
of nature to invoke divine aid, when the reflection that I
was in the presence of an Omnipotent God sealed my lips
in silence. Almost fearing that my performances were

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 51

but mockery, I felt inclined to despair. The next day
gleams of hope entered my mind ; and on Sunday, hearing
many speak of the power of God, and of trials they had
passed through, in a manner, some of them, that exactly
expressed my feelings, I took courage, because there were
others in whose Christianity I had confidence, who felt in
some respects as I did. Moved, as I think, by the Spirit
of God, and from a high state of mental resolve, I arose
and told the assembly that I was determined to seek my
happiness in religion, in which alone I believed it could
be found. Many of the saints praised God aloud, and my
soul was filled with joy and peace that were unspeakable.
My love to the faithful was far superior to anything that
ever before had dilated my heart. On my return home
the very winds that waved the trees, and the streams that
flowed through the quiet valley, seemed unitedly to speak
my great Creator's praise. The fear of man now vanished,
and a holy boldness moved me to speak to all around me
of the beauties of my Lord. My soul overflowed with
love to my greatest enemies', and my wonder was that the
chief of sinners did not behold the glory of God, and
unite to exalt his name. Through the night my soul was
exceedingly happy, and the next morning I thought the
sun was never before so richly laden with the glory
of God. I had never known so happy, so pleasant a
morning."

" Though I did not then suppose myself converted, I
now think, from an analysis of my feelings, that I enjoyed
something of the converting grace of God, for the follow
ing reasons : — 1st. I had a witness in my own soul that
God was my friend. 2d. I felt a vital union with all the
saints, without respect to name, age, or color. I loved them,
and could say, They are my people. Some who were poor
and ignorant, whom I had formerly despised, I was able

52 MEMOIR OF

to embrace as my best friends. 3d. I felt a particular re
gard for every creature and object God had made, and a
tenderness even to the lowest animal forms — as nothing
seemed unincluded in the bond of love that united me and
all things to Him. 4th. For the chief of sinners I felt
particular love, regarding such as brethren in nature, and
I greatly wished them to share in the peaceful wealth of
the Gospel. 5th. My former ways in which I had sought
happiness, now seemed to me as worthless and vain. In
deed I abhorred them."

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

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. '53

not describe. In my retired moments, I held sweet com
munion with God, and, notwithstanding the shadows of
doubt that crossed my mind in solitude, I was truly led
from glory to glory."

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

In this manner Mr. B. records the operations of his
youthful mind in seeking to solve the most serious of
all problems — his soul's salvation. One perceives the
presence of much self-distrust, much repentance ; and
an abundance of sympathetic sensibility to whatever is
morally powerful and affecting in religion. Perhaps
some have already taken it for granted that this youth
of overflowing energy, lonely meditation, earnest prayer,
and self-questionings, was wholly moving on the tide of
popular instruction, or that he fell as melted lead or
iron, into the moulds of theological teaching already

54 MEMOIR OF

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 de
sire 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 numer
ous 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 Univer-
salist minister ; of his reading with great zeal the writ
ings 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 Atone
ment and other topics, he discarded them ere long, with
an earnest decision as opposed to the religious experi
ence 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

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 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 con
versation 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 dwell
ing upon which so much discorded with the happy feel
ings inspired by their simple faith and humble worship.
The Methodist denomination, at this time very spirit
ual and very prosperous in the province, was with him
a favorite, though for reasons independent of the dicta
tion of persons or of circumstances, he did not become a
member of their society in liis town, a fact which did
not at all interfere with the entire freedom and cordial
fellowship they mutually enjoyed. A Methodist Dis
cipline is kindly offered him. He gladly reads, and
commits it mostly to memory. But there is something
in this young man that questions the Discipline and the
ministers who explain it ; that regards it as formal, and
in many respects unlike the Scriptures ; that quietly
declines making it the groundwork of a faith and a
sectarian position, though he does not break the happy
concord about him by obtruding open controversy. He
joined no sect.

" I wondered," said he, " that saints cannot all be one.
I thought it strange that the affectionate names of ' Breth
ren,' ' Disciples,' ' Christians,' ' Friends,' — golden names
that I found scattered through the New Testament, were
not sufficient without the sectarian names under which the
denominations were marshalled. This was a great mys
tery to me. I knew of none at that time who adopted the

56

MEMOIR OF

name of Christian as their only designation ; but young
and ignorant a's I then was, I thought I beheld something
more glorious than anything at which either myself or
others had as yet arrived. My trials in pondering over
these things were great. There were others who agreed
with me in ideas of liberty, that were far greater than
anything within the limits of the Discipline."

At a time when the righteousness of sectarianism
was undisputed, when no voices from the pulpit were
pleading for the true catholicity of the Christian faith,
and when his associates were moved along by emotional
ardor, was it not a strong, clear-sighted, original force
of the young man that paused to ask, Why this form
ality 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 con
trolled 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.

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 57

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

" I then went to Hatley to attend a general meeting,
and a glorious time it was. Here I first saw Elder Ben
jamin Page, from Vermont, who preached a very instruc
tive and refreshing discourse from Rom. 8 : 21. ' Be
cause the creature itself also shall be delivered from the
bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the sons
of God.' Here I became acquainted with many of God's
people whom I had not known, and in their spirituality
and freedom I saw what more accorded with my existing
3*

58 MEMOIR OF

ideas than I yet had seen. Nearly two hours Mr. Page
spoke again from Isa. 33 : 2. It was a glorious time, as
was also the evening meeting, in which many participated.
The next day we all parted with tears of joy, never ex
pecting to meet again on earth. As I was about to leave,
I took Elder Moulton by the hand and asked him if he
would come to Compton and preach, to which he replied
that he would whenever I desired him, inquiring at the
same time if there were not some in our vicinity who
would like to receive baptism, saying, ' I have thought
for some time that I should have to go there to adminis
ter this ordinance ' — a remark that gave to my former im
pressions a new evidence of my present duty. We agreed
upon the time ; I made the appointment and longed for the
day to come ; but the morning that brought me this new
responsibility was not wholly without clouds, as the cross
appeared great and fears arose. In spirit, I said, —

"'Jesus, my Lord, my Life, my Light,

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

In a trembling and prayerful state of mind I went to
church, where I found a large concourse of people in
attendance, to whom Elder M. preached words of life.
Among the many that were moved to speak in honor of
the Redeemer, I arose, expressed my love to God and the
saints, inviting my young companions to a rich and costly
repast, without money and without price. Here every
doubt was removed. Here I gained strength. The glory
of God filled my heart. My father being present, Elder
M. asked him if he was willing that his son should go for
ward in baptism, to which he replied that he was per
fectly willing that Joseph, in things of religion, should
act according to his own conception of duty. This gave

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 59

me additional joy. I had chosen a pleasant stream, the
Coatecook river, as the place where I preferred to receive
baptism, to which locality we walked, two and two, in
large procession, the distance of half a mile, singing the
praises of God as we advanced. This day, Sept. 29,
1812, will be held in everlasting remembrance by me.
My father sat upon his horse a few rods above me, in the
water, so as to have a fair prospect. I was informed by
the spectators who stood near him, that when I went into
the water the tears flowed freely from his eyes. Under
the smile of clear skies, of a quiet surrounding nature, I
was baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the
Holy Ghost. The hearts of the brethren on shore ap
peared full of joy, and some voices of acclamation were
heard. It seemed, indeed, as though the heavens were
opened, and the Spirit was hovering on the assembly.
Some praised, others wept, and a sweet peace and calm
ness filled my soul. As I ascended from the water, I sung
the following lines with the Spirit, and I think with the
understanding also :

"'But who is this that cometh forth,

Sweet as the blooming morning,
Fair as the moon, clear as the sun ?
'T is Jesus Christ adorning.' *

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

* This and its accompanying stanza

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" ' Let wonder still with love unite,

And gratitude and joy ;
Be holiness my heart's delight,
Thy praises my employ.' "

Thus reads the narrative of such outward and inward
facts as belong to the early religious history of Joseph
Badger. Its component parts are, deep feeling, much
thought, temporary doubting and despondency, peni
tence, 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 con
stancy. 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 con
ception, a mere word. We admire the poetic, marvel
lous 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

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 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 en
gendered 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 loveli
ness, the idea of the grand baptismal scene of the
sacred river of Judea? We imagine the numerous
multitude walking silently thither through the over
shadowing woods, and in anxious, reverent musings,
standing upon its banks. We feel the thoughts of
penitence, the gleams of hope, half shaded by melan
choly, as they here stole into the hearts of Abraham's
dejected sons ; and with them we muse upon the ex
pected 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 perma
nent institution of religion and of the Christian Church.

62 MEMOIR OF

CHAPTER V.

CALL TO AND ENTRANCE UPON THE MINISTRY.

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

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

" In ages past," says Mr. Badger, " God has seen fit
to raise up, qualify, and send forth ambassadors to the

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 63

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

These passages, written in the early years of his
ministerial life, at once recalled the second sermon* 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/7 f m ™hich he announced the Gospel

*At Ionia, Onondaga Co., N. Y., 1825. f Rom. 1: 16

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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 fre
quently in a preaching frame, and often fancied that
he was speaking to audiences of people on the attrac
tions of Christ ; so thoroughly was his mind engrossed
in these meditations, that he often spoke several words
before being aware of it, and not unfrequently did he
find himself suffused with tears. " I had at this time,"
says Mr. B., " no idea that I should ever be a minister."

"As soon as I had myself partaken of the pardoning
love of Christ, I felt as though all others should be sharers
in eternal life. In prayer, my mind was drawn out for all
men, for the chief of sinners. My mind was quickly
weaned from earthly delights, and all my powers were de
voted to spiritual interests. The few good ministers I
knew I esteemed as the best and happiest of human be
ings ; and, as the harvest seemed great, I often prayed
that the Lord would send forth more laborers into the
field. I thought if I were in such a minister's place I
would go to the ends of the earth to sound the message of
redeeming love. It wag in the midst of such meditations

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 65

that, in the first of the year 1812, all at once the idea
broke into my mind that I must leave all and preach
Christ. My soul shrunk away from the overpowering
greatness of the thought, which I immediately banished
from my mind ; but with its banishment there came a
gloomy despondency, as through the winter I continued at
times to be exercised with the spirit of a station, which I
supposed I never could fill.

" In the spring I went into the woods to make sugar,
a business much followed in that country. Night and day
for several weeks I was here confined, a scene that might
once have been gloomy, but now was delightsome, as I
enjoyed much of God's presence in my secret devotions.
I kept my Bible with me, had some opportunity of read
ing, which I eagerly improved with the greatest satisfac
tion. Here my mind was again powerfully exercised in
relation to preaching ; these impressions always brought
with them the greatest solemnity. At such times I sought
the most retired places I could find, wishing that I might
hide, as it were, ' in the cleft of the rock,' as the sacred
vision passed before me. I said, ' Lord, who is sufficient
for these things ? * and with Jeremiah I was constrained
to say, * I cannot speak, for I am a child.' While these
things like mountains were rolled upon my mind, I fre
quently spent the greater part of the whole night in prayer,
in which I asked that I might be excused, and that these
things might be taken from me. Hours in the lonely
woods I passed in tears, and none but the angels witnessed
the action and utterance of my grief. Once I opened my
Bible wishing to know my duty, and the first words I be
held were, ' The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and
we are not saved ; ' language that impressed me with the
great importance of the present time as an opportunity to
lay up treasure in heaven ; to call the attention of men to

66 MEMOIR OF

their salvation, before the lamentation of the prophet
should become their sad and unhopeful song. From the
depth of my spirit I said, Oh ! my soul, can I be excusa
ble for my silence, when I behold the dark tide of sin on
which myriads are rushing to eternal wo ? Hearing the
voice of Heaven perpetually resounding l Why will ye
die ? ' and beholding the crimson tide of the loving, dying
Christ, that ever spoke of mercy, whilst angels appeared
to my view as waiting and longing to rejoice over one re
penting sinner, I said, Can I refrain from warning men of
their danger, from inviting them to the Christ of their de
liverance ? For several days the above named scripture
occupied my mind, and I was satisfied that God was
drawing me into the ministry by these impressions, and
soon I was willing to leave all, and suffer the loss of all
things for Christ.

" Late in the spring I left my retirement, with a coun
tenance wan and fallen, and a heart filled with ' wo is
me if I preach not the Gospel.' I was silent, no company
seemed agreeable, and to no one did I confide my feelings,
In the summer of 1812, I searched the Scriptures, and
often did my mind so extensively open to an understand
ing of what I read, that I was impressed to communicate
what I felt and what I saw. On some particular passage
my mind would rest for several days at a time, and ideas
of which I had never before thought, would present
themselves. Well do I remember the great power in
which the words of the apostolical commission came to my
mind : ' Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel
to every creature ;' words that seemed night and day to
sound as a voice of thunder through my spirit. I regarded
this as the divine voice ; as Job says, ' God thundereth
marvellously with his voice.' From all the scripture I read
I gathered something that taught me the moral situation

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 67

of mankind, God's willingness and ways for saving them,
also my own duty to my race. Remarkable dreams at
this time united with other evidences to confirm me in my
duty, as often in the midnight slumber I dreamed of speak
ing to large assemblies in the name and spirit of the Lord.
Frequently, under these exercises, I spoke so loud as to
awaken the people in the house, and sometimes awoke in
tears calling on sinners to repent and embrace the Saviour.
When sleep departed from my eyes, as it frequently did, I
would spend most of the night in prayer to God. Often
could I say, with the weeping Hebrew prophet, ' Oh, that
mine head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears,
that I might weep day and night.' But none, except
those who have passed through similar trials, can under
stand the peculiar experience touched upon in these last
paragraphs."

The passage of men, called in any divine way, from
worldly business into the work of reclaiming souls from
sin, cannot be as smooth and easy as the passage one
makes from a machine-shop to a counting-room. Fash
ion 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 temp
tations 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

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home ere it gave to the East its lasting oracles. The
question of the calculating European and New Eng-
lander, 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 practi-
titioner in law, medicine or merchandise, the old maxim
thought to promise best for the pulpit. No such plot-
tings 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 Pa
risian 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 Wes
ley's sermons read, as dictated by the discipline ; min
gling 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 con
fidently 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

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 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 en
lighten 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 sub
mitted to the persecution that seized them as prisoners
in the midst of a happy meeting, and that drove them,
after a lengthy arbitration, back into their own country,
the State of Vermont.

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

70 MEMOIR OF

resolve to go forth into the field, and take the place of my
injured brothers."

Though a stranger in the town of Ascott, where
these events occurred, (a town about twelve miles
from Compton,) he started on Saturday, near Sept.
1st, to attend with them a general meeting of which
he had previously heard, and as he was riding through
a space of woods, it suddenly struck him that Mr.
Moulton would be absent, and that he should be
obliged to speak ; and the hundreds who remember
the simplicity and naturalness of the texts from which
he almost invariably preached in after life, will see
something characteristic in the passage, Heb. 13 : 1,
that came at once to his mind, " Let brotherly love
continue." Hesitating for a time whether he would
proceed or return, as he was satisfied that he should
meet this great duty if he proceeded, he went forward,
found a large audience assembled and no minister
present. As he entered, all eyes were attracted to
him, and though many present regarded him as one
whom the Holy Spirit had called to preach, he re
mained 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

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 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 appoint
ment wras made, and from the happy influences of this
meeting with saints, Mr. B. returned home " in the
power of the Spirit," firmly resolved to do all that
duty might ever require. He again returned to Ascott
to attend the appointment made for the communion,
where Mr. M. gave an able discourse on having " a
sound mind" and where, for the first time in his life,
he partook of the symbols of Jesus' truth and dying
love. He says :

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

"Mr. M., having appointments over St. Francis River,
wished me to take a journey with him. I complied. We
crossed the river, visited several families, had one meeting ;
then passing up the river to Westbury (eight miles), through
a woody region mostly, we arrived in the afternoon much

72 MEMOIR OF

fatigued, as we had to encounter the bufferings of a violent
storm. On our way, I had fallen back and rode several
miles alone in the most serious meditations. I clearly saw
the hardships of a missionary life, and felt that I must
enter the field. We found a loving company of brethren,
who received us kindly, and who appeared to be steadfast
in faith. We held several good meetings in the place.
Some were baptized. I also made the acquaintance of
Mr. Zenas Adams, a young minister who had just begun
to preach. This journey increased my confidence, as Mr.
Moulton was a discerning man, and qualified both from
knowledge and sympathy to assist young ministers. The
conversations with Mr. Adams were also advantageous.
He was but a few months my elder.

" I had now arrived at a crisis in which I must earn
estly dispose of every practical objection. I had said, * I
am a child — I cannot speak.' I was but twenty years of
age ; I thought my friends might be unwilling. Soon,
however, my father gave me my freedom ; and I felt that
there was much meaning yet in the good scripture which
saith, ' It shall be given you in that same hour what ye
shall speak.' I plead a comparative illiteracy, as the
minister is ordained to teach, and ought to command the
various resources of knowledge. This objection also fled
before that potent scripture, James 1 : 5, ' If any of you
lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all men
liberally, and upbraideth not ; and it shall be given him.'
I was satisfied of this, that if God had called me to the
work, with health, youth, and industry on my part, He
would give me every necessary qualification. As swim
ming is learned by swimming, and agriculture is acquired
by its active pursuit, it struck me that fidelity in the new
work would secure the only effectual skill in conducting it.
I thought of a kind father's house, of my loving parents

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 73

who had watched over my childhood, of the four brothers
and four sisters with whom I had lived in the greatest
friendship ; and I did not omit to think of the needful
renunciation of worldly prospects, and of the censures I
should get from some, and the various treatment I had
reason to expect from the world if I went out as a faith
ful, uncompromising ambassador of Christ. To take the
parting hand with my dear relatives, and to live in the
world as a stranger and foreigner, called up many painful
emotions in my breast as I glanced into the uncertain
future. Still no tide of emotion could carry me back in
my purposes, and with much feeling I felt to say :

" « Farewell, oh my parents, the joy of my childhood,

My brothers and sisters, I bid you adieu !
To wander creation, its fields and its wildwood,

And call upon mortals their God to pursue :
"When driven by rain-drops, and night shades prevailing,
And keen piercing north-winds my thin robes assailing,
And stars of the twilight in lustre regaling,
I'll seek some repose in a cottage unknown.'

" Through all my discouragements and melancholy
hours, interspersed throughout nearly a year's continu
ance, there were times when the sweet peace of God grew
conscious in my heart, and always did this passage bring
with it a cheering light, " Lo, I am with you alway, even
unto the end of the world ! ' I felt that it was mine, that it
was for me, and for all true ministers through time, as well
as for the worthier ones who carried the Master's truth
through suffering and trial over the earth. Feeling now
that the time had come when I must venture forth, and
finding that nothing among the armory of Saul would
suit my form or answer my purpose, I concluded that no
other way remained for me but to rely on t the mighty
arm of the God of Jacob,' under whose name I would
4

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fight the battle of life. In the latter part of October,
1812, on a pleasant Sabbath morning, while the people
were gathering from every direction for meeting, the fol
lowing passage came with power to my mind, and as no
minister was present that day, I knew I could offer no
good excuse for a refusal to speak. Phil. 2:5. ' Let
this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.' On
this text, on this very glorious theme, my public life be
gan, and doubtless in a weak, broken, and trembling man
ner. I have often thought of my first text, and have
endeavored to make it my motto for life, for it is on the
idea here advanced that the vital merit of ministers and
Christians must forever depend. How important that
the Gospel minister should have the mind of Christ!
How can he otherwise preach Him to the world ? How
may he penetrate the centre of other souls and hold up
the living evidence of Christianity without it ? How im
portant that all Christians have His spirit and temper !
For it is this that directs, this that supports, this that
adorns the child of God."

" But when the echo of the first effort came back
from the community, ' Joseph Badger has become a
preacher,' a sentence then in everybody's mouth, I was
greatly mortified, particularly when the invitations came
to me before the week had ended, to go and preach in
different parts of the town. I complied as far as practica
ble with these requests, and our meetings were thronged
with people who came to hear, the new minister, the
young man — young, indeed, in a double sense, — in years
and in experience. Perhaps never before did surround
ing circumstances unite to render me more thoroughly
conscious of my weakness, dependence, and inefficiency.
I spent much time in secret prayer, and in pensive medi
tation, and the cry I once before had made in the antici-

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 75

pation now arose with redoubled energy,^ c Lord, who is
sufficient for these things ? ' More than ever did I begin
to fell the worth of souls by night and by day; and
through the bodily fatigues to which my labors subjected
me, the sense of responsibility and insufficiency that
weighed upon me, my mind was somewhat shaded with
melancholy, and often did my heart find relief in tears."

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

76 MEMOIR OF

CHAPTER VI.

PUBLIC LABORS IN THE PROVINCE.

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

* This part of the journal was written in 1816.

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 77

to preach, this was all the letter I had, whilst with solemn
joy I went through the region of. Lower Canada to preach,
experiencing the mingled cup of joy and trial common to
a missionary life, which was my heart's choice."

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

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

78 MEMOIR OF

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

" On our return, at a meeting held at Mr. Hovey's,
whilst Adams was preaching, a British officer came in.
When the sermon was ended, I arose to speak by way of
exhortation. It was a solemn, weeping time, and I ob
served the officer to shed tears. When the meeting was
dismissed he made known to us his business, informing us
that Esquire Gushing had sent him to arrest us, and to
bring us before him for examination, as it was a time of
war between two nations, and we were strangers. ' But
as for myself/ he kindly observed, 'I am not concerned
about you, and if you will agree to call on Esquire C. to
morrow, I will return home ; ' to which we agreed, ex
horting him to repent. The next day we called at Esquire
Cushing's tavern (for his were the double honors of land
lord and magistrate) and ordered refreshment. At even
ing we were formally summoned into his presence. I
walked forward and Adams fell in the rear, in order
that-I might act as the chief speaker. Mr. Gushing then
exclaimed, with all the harsh authority a British tyrant
could assume 'What 's your business in this country?' I
replied, ' To preach Christ's Gospel, sir.' 'By what au
thority ? ' 'By the authority of Heaven, sir.' At this the
old man began to look surprised and beaten, thinking that
I probably knew his character too well for him to succeed
in this sort of treatment; and my friend Adams, constitu
tionally mild and retiring, began to take courage. He
then observed, ' How came you in this country ? ' ' My
father purchasing a large tract of land in the town of
Compton, brought me into this country when nine years
old, and, sir, I have as good a right here as you or any
other man.' ' Have you taken the oath of allegiance ? '

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 79

'Yes, sir.' 'Let me see your certificate,' added he. I
presented it ; it was read and returned. ' Are you a son
of Major Badger, of Compton?' 'I am, sir.' 'Well,
you 'd better be at home £han to be strolling about the
country.' ' I thank you, sir, I shall attend to what em
ployment I think best, and shall visit what part of the
country I please.' Here I was dismissed, and I conclude
he thought me a saucy fellow."

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

" This journey was very beneficial to me. Here a
friendship was formed between brother Adams and my
self which has never since been destroyed. He was an
excellent young man, and had not at that time joined the
Methodist connection. After a most agreeable acquaint
ance for more than one year, it was heart-rending to part
with him. I found that he was lesolved to join the So
ciety, and that he was very anxious that I should. AYe

80 MEMOIR OF

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

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

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 81

I enjoyed a glorious meeting, and made an engagement to
return in the spring.

" During this month, my eldest brother came four miles
to hear me preach. He requested me to make an appoint
ment at his house, which was near my father's residence ;
and but few of our family had ever heard me speak. His
house was one where I had attended many balls and had
met assemblies for vain recreations. The audience to
whom I spoke was composed of my parents, brothers, sis
ters, neighbors, and my fellow youth, who had been my old
companions in sin — circumstances that rendered my cross
very great. My father's presence made my embarrass
ment much greater, as I knew the critical cast of his mind,
the extensive reading and education by which his intellect
was enriched. I observed that my father selected a seat
with his back towards me. Excessive as my cross was, I
could not be reconciled to this. I arose and presented
him my chair, and when he had again taken his seat, I
read a hymn from the Methodist collection, which was
sweetly sung by the young people, my brother serving as
chorister. After prayer and the second singing, I an
nounced my text, at which every countenance fell, a gen
eral surprise being visible all around, and the young people
appeared as solemn as if the day of doom had dawned. I
believe I have intimated heretofore that, as a town, the
people were irreligious. My text was Matt. 23 : 33.
' Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers ! how can ye escape
the damnation of hell ? ' My text was harsh, but my dis
course was mild. I first noticed the natural qualities of
serpents and vipers that constituted the analogy of the
passage, and that furnished the reason of their being so
called. Second, I described what I considered to be the
damnation of hell. Third, I endeavored to show how we
might escape this, and the necessity of improving a present
4*

82 MEMOIR OF

day of grace. I then addressed myself to the assem
bly in the following order: 1st, to my parents; 2d, to my
brothers and sisters ; 3d, to the young people ; 4th, to the
neighbors. This was indeed one of the most affecting
scenes I ever had witnessed. When I came to address
the young people in relation to our former sports in that
room, and to express my regard for them, and to tell them
of the new and better inheritance I had discovered, some
wept aloud, and at the close several said ' Pray for me.'
I name this circumstance, as it was the first time my pa
rents ever heard me preach, and it being a time deeply
impressed on my own memory. After this I rode four
miles, and preached in the evening at Mr. Benjamin
Sleeper's, in whose house a most beautiful child lay dead,
and which on the following morning received its burial."

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

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

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 83

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

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

" The latter part of August I was invited to attend a
meeting in the upper part of the town of Ringsey, a place
whose inhabitants were said to be remarkably hardened
and wicked. I thought a place like this should not be
shunned by a minister whose commission it is to seek the

84 . MEMOIR OF

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

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 85

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

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

" The October meeting coming off at this time, made no
small stir among the people, and the wicked, as of old,
1 took counsel together against the Lord, and against His

86 MEMOIR OF

anointed.' As they had been successful in driving two
good preachers out of the country, they were now em
boldened to make a strong attempt, first to frighten us out
of the country, and should they fail in that, which they
did, to disturb our meetings as their next best stroke of
policy. They issued warrants for nine of us, myself and
two other ministers, and six of the leading members of
our churches. We were arrested on the first day of our
meeting, which had opened under promising auspices, as
enemies to the Government. I had an insight into their
methods before any part of their plot was executed ; for
as I was on my way the morning of the 8th, and within
eight or nine miles of the meeting, an officer with whom
I was acquainted, hailed me from his house and observed
if I would wait a few moments he would be my company.
As we rode along I drew from him a development of the
whole plot, and at that time I became his prisoner. The
greatest fear I had was this, that the meeting would be
essentially disturbed. The prisoners were to be delivered
and have their trial at Mr. Stone's tavern, one mile from
the place of the meeting, at the same time that it was in
progress. When I arrived at the place where the congre
gation was to convene, I called, found several preachers
present, and some brethren to whom I related the whole
of what was about to transpire. Some were filled with
fear. I advised them to discover no alarm, but to go on
composedly with their meeting, provided there should not
be more than ten persons left, after the rulers should
have sifted the audience in their legal network, and to
pay no attention whatever to us who were absent, except
to remember us kindly in their prayers ; and away I went
to stand in the presence of authority. Soon, however, I
was favored with the company of brother Amos Bishop, a
faithful minister of the Gospel. He came in rejoicing that

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 87

he was counted worthy to sufferfor Jesus' sake. Our trial
formally opened on Friday noon, but not much was done.
At evening I obtained a room in which to hold meeting,
thinking that inasmuch as the legal process was tardy, the
ministers present could make no better use of their leisure
time than in preaching Christ to all who would become
our hearers. Seats were prepared, and the neighbors
flocked in. I then walked into the somewhat spacious bar
room to invite the honorable court to attend, a body com
posed of three magistrates, viz. : Pennoyer, Nichols, and
Hyat, who were at the time merrily passing the glass.
Making to them as courteous an address as I was capable,
in which I stated the superlative worth of the religion of
Christ in the soul, I gave them an invitation to be with us.
They did not make much reply, but stood by the door, as
we learned, where they could hear the communications of
the meeting. Never did we enjoy a more glorious time,
never did we realize the divine presence more joyfully
than here under keepers. Many brethren came to see us,
their eyes filled with tears, whilst our hearts overflowed
with joy."

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

88 MEMOIR OF

time. They tarried through the meeting and returned
home."

" At ten o'clock the court sat, and the whole scene to
gether was one at which the student of human nature might
have sat with amusement, scorn, edification, and pity.
False witnesses arose as in ancient days. I say false wit
nesses, because they proved so before the court. They
stated that we had opposed our brethren in bearing arms,
that we had spoken diminutively of the British king, topics
on which the public speakers present had been silent.
Finally, at the close we were bound over for our appearance
at court, which sat at the Three Rivers, and only twenty-
five minutes were granted us in which to procure bonds
men. This we utterly declined doing. I told them that I
knew the character of the cause in which I was called to
suffer ; that for me the Stone Jug had no terrors, and that
if I must occupy its walls, I should trust that the same
God who heard Paul's prayers and songs at midnight,
would also be my friend. At this a captain was ordered
to take charge of me. Bishop answered rather independ
ently, and asked Esq. P. to be his bondsman, but at length
informed them that he despised their pow^r. At this we
were companions. Many present who were at first our
enemies, came to me in tears, and offered to be our bonds
men. A captain who had carefully observed all that had
transpired, came and offered to pledge his farm for me. At
this, sympathy became contagious, and the spectators, who
had thus far been watchfully silent, began to damn the
squires, two of whom were now observed to stagger, having
taken too much whiskey to retain a respectable command
of their persons. One of them took me aside, told me that
he found no cause against me, that it was the others who
had caused them to bind me over, that he had always been
my friend, and would attend meeting the next day. The

•REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 89

poor fellow fell from his horse on the way home, and broke
his shoulder, which for weeks prevented him from leaving
his house. Esq P. the following day was found in the road
drunk ; and thus ended the suit. These events were not
ineffectual Our keepers, on seeing the agitation of the
people, and the increase of our friends, on Monday morn
ing, by the advice of Captain Ward, dismissed us, and told
us to go about our business. This was a day of glad news
to the brethren, who in trembling fear and faith, had borne
us in their prayers to the Invisible King ; and now having
a little leisure, I improved it in visiting my friends at
Compton. I had not seen my father's house for months.
I spent some time with them very agreeably — relived past
scenes in conversation — bade them an affectionate fare well
and again went to Shipton."

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

90 MEMOIR OF

tliee.' After the assembly had dispersed, my father and
myself spent a great part of the night in conversation on
the things of the kingdom, in which he rather favored the
doctrine of Universalism. I had an agreeable visit of a
few days, and went rejoicing on my way. I name these
circumstances as they belong to the time I first preached
at my father's house."

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

"In the spring of 1814 I found my health exceedingly
poor. Many thought I was inclining to the consumption.
As the roads were exceedingly bad in the spring season
throughout the province, I resolved to make but q§ie gen
eral visit in each particular place where I had*preached,
unless particular impression should otherwise direct me,
and then journey to the land of my nativity, to the New
England sea-coast, around which my feelings of friendship
and reverence warmly clustered, almost taking in the
scenery of New England as a vital part of my filial feelings.
Accordingly, as soon as the going became settled, I started
on my farewell visits through the North country. Hun
dreds flocked together in the several towns where my

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 91

appointments had been sent, to hear my farewell dis
courses ; and unegotistically do I record the simple fact
that my audiences wept as I told them my work with
them was done, and that in other lands I must go and
publish the same salvation in which they rejoiced. Many
said, from the poor health I was in, they were satisfied
they should never see me again. This was indeed a
solemn time to me. I made my intended visit, and left
Shipton on the 5th of June. Many of the aged saints and
the warnr-hearted young people came together at an early
hour in the morning to bid me adieu. When ready to
leave, I sung a few verses of a missionary hymn, which
thus commences :

" ' Farewell, my brethren in the Lord !

The Gospel sounds the Jubilee;
My stammering tongue shall sound aloud,
From land to land, from sea to sea.'

Some united in the song, others were prevented by the
fulness of their emotion. At the close, we kneeled to
gether in prayer ; and it was with a heavy heart that I
offered to them my parting hand. Never can I forget the
kindness and friendship of this people. They contributed
largely to my necessities, welcomed me to their homes,
and upheld, with their prayers, my feeble hands. Return
ing to spend a few days at my father's house, I found on
parting, the strength of the social and filial ties that bind
the heart of man to its home. When, after prayer, I gave
my hand to my father, he could only utter ' God bless you/
such were his emotions, and a wordless silence, accompa
nied by tears, was my mother's benediction. When I rode
away, I felt myself dead to every earthly prospect, to every
worldly enjoyment, and from the dearest friends on earth
cut off. Yet there was a holy sunshine falling down upon
my clouds, that gave to my sinking spirit its needful

92 MEMOIR OF

consolation. It is usually thought that the situation of a
youth cut off from his friends is a trying one, especially
so if called to the ministry. It is not only in parting with
friends and in renouncing worldly prospects, that the spirit
is tried ; the life of a missionary, who is a man of God and
faithful, is exposed to a thousand sufferings and dangers.
Missionaries often go forth as the chosen organs of differ
ent denominations, whose denominational interests they
plead, and from whom they receive a pledged support. I
had aspired to be a missionary of another school, a mis
sionary to men and not from men, having only the Gospel
of the world's salvation to uphold, looking on high for the.
mission, and to the just and careful operations of His pro
vidence for all necessary support. For one so conditioned
to consider the awful and immense responsibility he assumes
before God, to think of the account he must soon render of
his steward -hip, is enough to humble him in the dust. Yet
when, on the other hand, the faithful minister has a view
of the everlasting inheritance that appears to the eye of
faith, from the future compensations of His love, he can
say, with the great missionary of the Gentiles, ' I reckon
that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to
be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in
us.' Perhaps this contemplation is not capable of a
statement more just than that which it finds in the olden
words :

" ' What contradictions meet

In ministers' employ ;.
It is a bitter sweet,

A sorrow full of joy.
No other post affords the place
For equal honor and disgrace.' "

With these lines the nobly expressed narrative of
Mr. B., so far as it relates to his early ministerial
labors in the Province, closes. A few other docu-

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 93

ments 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 Septem
ber, 1815.

Joseph Badger was a man who could never endure
dulness. Lifelessness and inactivity, in fine, all the

94 MEMOIR OF

brood of stupid demons, he had a magical power to
disperse. They fled at his entrance. He would
have life and interest, and no man could better create
them, by awakening readily the resources of all
around him. Thus far we only see the young man of
twenty, but the same inherent traits of his whole life
are conspicuous. He awakens community wherever
he goes. He calls out opposition, creates strong
friends and enemies, concentrates attention, brings
himself into trying emergencies, which call out his
various facility of tact and successful management, his
firmness and self-composure. Having set his mind
and heart on the persuasion of men to repent and to
seek salvation, he carries a multitude along to this
end. But what is most rich, is the deep evangelical
element, in which all his powers are immersed ; his
constant, prayerful, weeping solicitude for souls. I
know not where to go to find these holy elements in a
more abundant, pure, and I will add, in a more natural
state, than they appear in Mr. Badger's early life.
His enthusiasm was not rash or fanatical. The fire of
his heart blended with the light of his brain. His eye
was always as calm as it was penetrating. It combined
the glow and the calmness of the night-star. Almost
at the risk of presenting too much of a good thing, I
venture to quote a mere fraction of some of these
letters, each line of which is so fully alive with the
sincerity and earnest faith of the writer.

" SHIPTON, May llth, 1813.

" DEAR PARENTS, — I assure you it is with pleasure I
once more attempt to write you. I arrived on May the

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 95

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

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

" Your prayerful servant, J. BADGER."

" STANSTEAD, July 16, 1814.

te DEAR FATHER, — According to my expectation when
at your house, I started on my journey to the southward,
preaching on my way; Friday at Derby, Saturday at
Holland, Sunday at Major Stewart's, in Morgan, where I

96 MEMOIR OF

met a large concourse of people, among whom were eleven
young persons from Derby, who were deeply awakened to
a sense of their danger whilst out of Christ. To their
ardent solicitation for me to return to Derby, I have
yielded, which makes it expedient for me to tarry one
week more. I do not enjoy very good health, but my
mind is happy. I feel that at most a few more rolling
suns will bring me to the fair city of Rest. Each beating
pulse but leaves the number less. Had I time I would
gladly ride to Compton to see you. But it is wholly un
certain when we again shall meet. I ofttimes think of
you all. My love to relatives and inquiring friends.

"'From all that's mortal, all that's vain,

And from this earthly clod,
Arise, my soul, and strive to gain
Sweet fellowship with God.'

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

Mankind.

"J. BADGER."

"AscoTT, July 27, 1813. (In haste.)
" DEAR BROTHER,* — Since I have seen you I have
preached in Compton, Ascott, Westbury, Oxford, Bromp-
ton, Ringsey, Shipton. I am in great haste on my return.
I have been comfortable as to health, though much fa
tigued. I have felt the waters of salvation to flow sweetly
through my soul. Give yourself no trouble if you hear I
am taken up. You know the animosities that war engen
ders. The God who delivered Daniel, and who protected
our fathers, has promised to shield me whilst in the way
of my duty. Keep free from all strife, deny self, live in
peace with all men. I still feel it my duty to employ all

* His brother, Peaslee Badger.

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 97

my abilities in holding up Christ to a dying world. My
love to parents and brethren."

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

CHAPTER VII.

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 creden-
5

98 MEMOIR OF

tials are very seldom disputed. Nothing in the form
of sectarianism hedges up his way or impedes his suc
cess. 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

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 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 reform
ers 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

100 MEMOIR OF

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, conve
nient, 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 mis
sionary life, starts for his native New Hampshire,
improving every opportunity on the way, where circum
stances united with his own impressions in producing
the conviction that good might be done. Without'

KEV. JOSEPH BADGER. 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 im
portant cause, or plan of action, he seeks illumination
in secret prayer, then follows the leading impressions of
his mind. He diligently studies the Scriptures, ob
serves 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 dis
course 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 per
haps 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 mis
sion 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 unelab-
orately written to some friend whose name does not
appear ; perhaps to Z. Adams, or to some other young
minister interested in his welfare.

102 MEMOIR OF

" DEAR FRIEND, — I rode from Stanstead, where I
had enjoyed several good meetings, across the line into
the State of Vermont, where I had several more in Derby,
Holland, and Morgan, but soon returned to a little village
on the line, and on Stanstead Plain, where there were
prospects of good being done. It was here that I met
Mr. Roswell Bates, who became my company, as he was
going to the town of Woodstock. Leaving the line about
July the 16th, we passed through Rigah, Browning, and
Wheelock, holding several meetings at the last named
towrn, in which the spirits of many appeared to gather
new courage and joy. I then rode to Danville, and
remained several days, in which time I had the pleasure
of seeing some who had been for months cold in their
affections, quickened and newly determined in the cause
of life. We then rode to Peacham, then to Newbury,
Bradford, and Corinth, where we separated, Mr. B. going
to Hafford and I to Strafford. Here I was greeted by
a happy band of brethren, with whom I held several
meetings, and remained several days. Crossing the
Connecticut river over into Lyme, thence through Dor
chester to Hebron, thence to Bridgewater, I arrived next
morning, which was Sunday, at New Hampton, and was
kindly received by Wm. B. Kelley, Esq., a distant rela
tive, by whom I was politely introduced to the clergyman
of the place. With him I passed a half hour very
pleasantly ; we repaired to the church together, as the
people began to assemble. I occupied with him a seat
in the deskj'and listened with a degree of satisfaction to
what he communicated. When we returned to his house,
he insisted on my speaking in the afternoon, and in vain
did I urge the excuses of a long journey and much
fatigue. He gave me a Bible and a Concordance, saying
that I had three quarters of an hour in which to prepare,

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 103

and left the room. "We again repaired to the church, and
contrary to the order of the morning, I was assigned the
right-hand place in the pulpit. I spoke to these strangers
in the same freedom to which I had ever been accus
tomed, and reserved nothing of the divine counsel made
known unto me ; the word seemed to have some direct
effect ; the people appeared to hang with solicitude on
the truths advanced, and many wept under the exhibition
of the love and pardoning grace of Jesus Christ. The
next day I heard a young man, Mr. John Swett, who,
much to my joy, was wholly engaged in the work of the
Lord — a work already commenced under his labors. At
the request of my friends, I gave out an appointment, at
which there were three ministers, Mr. Hillard, the aged
priest to whom I had been at first introduced, Mr. Daney,
whom I had never before seen, and Mr. Swett, my new
acquaintance. I scarcely ever found greater liberty in
speaking. Priest Hillard at the close arose and gave me
his approbation, inviting me again to call on him ; others
also spoke on the goodness of God, as experienced by
them. Bidding them an affectionate farewell, I was, in
about four hours, at my native Gilinanton, whose citizens
and scenes I had not known for the space of four years."
" Here I had great joy, mingled with sorrow — joy to
meet my sister, Mrs. Cogswell, and other relatives ; sor
row to learn that in their plans of happiness, religion and
reconciliation to God were not the essential part. Capt.
C., who did not usually go to the Free Church, wished
me to permit him to make an appointment in that place,
to which I gave consent. Accordingly, on the next
Lord's day, at half-past ten o'clock, I met a large congre
gation at the Free Church ; and at five o'clock, P. M.,
spoke to a full assembly at the house of Capt. Cogswell,
each audience being probably attracted in part by curios-

104 MEMOIR OP

ity. At the former meeting, my mind was constrained to
weep over the people, who also wept under the message
I delivered them. Many serious exhortations were
given ; many expressed the fulness of their joy in Christ.
Wishing to see men and women stand upon some positive
decisions in regard to their salvation, and knowing the
good influence which a public expression of secret resolves
has upon the subsequent action of man, I proposed that
such of the assembly as felt the worth of religion, and
desired to enjoy its heavenly light and consolation, would
signify the state of their minds by rising up. Very few
kept their seats ; and I have reason to think that many
were strengthened for life. Many invitations were given
me for new appointments. At 5 o'clock at Capt. C.'s,
there were many Calvinists present, who with the rest,
seemed to mingle with their critical aspect considerable
true religious feeling. Perhaps my preaching called out
more criticism than it would otherwise have done, on
account of my manner being wholly extemporaneous, and
my sentiments not being formed from Calvin or any
sectarian creed. My grandmother* was present; she
seemed much pleased, and after meeting said to me, ' It
is a wonder and a mystery to me how you talk as you do
without having any of it written. Two of my family
have got to be preachers, William C. and yourself. He
learned to preach at the institution, but who in the world
ever learned you up there in Canada ? ' I believe I told
her that the Being who needed ministers had much to do
in making them, which seemed to be a new idea in these
parts."

" I then went to New Durham to visit my relatives,
but spoke frequently before my return. On my way

* The one that coerced him to pray when a child.

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 105

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

" Here, my dear friend, you have a brief account of
my journeyings for the space of two months and a few
days, in which time I have travelled 770 miles. Here in
good old New England scenes, I at times revive the lights
and shades of my early days, but the work of salvation
is one that overlays in interest all reverie of the mind;
and I shall hasten to give you a further account of the
5*

106 MEMOIR OP

work of God in my next, hoping that from former friend
ship, my hasty letters will be interesting to your delicate
and studious mind.

" Yours, in the truth, J. BADGER.

"Sept., 1814."

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

" After attending several meetings in Oilman ton, I went
on to my appointment at Newhampton, and met a very
large congregation who had come out to hear the new
preacher. The people thinking me a missionary direct
from college, readily swallowed the doctrine of a free,
universal salvation, designed for and offered unto all men,
and many rejoiced in the liberal view I presented. I felt
at this time, very much the weight of the cause, and spoke
with great freedom on the true mission of the Gospel to
our lost world. It may be thought by some that courtesy
should have dictated an acquiescence in the formality and
doctrine that reigned about me. But I felt constrained
to speak from my own soul and the word that burned in
my o\vn heart. I did so. Many of the silent kindled

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 107

anew with ardor, their tongues were unloosed, and some
praised God aloud. In the afternoon I had a glorious
time, concluding my sermon with the most earnest warn
ing to the people. This change in their accustomed rou
tine for Sunday called out many remarks, some saying one
thing and some another. One said, ' He preaches just
like a damned Free wilier, and if Mr. Hillard lets him preach
there again, I will neither hear nor pay him in future.'
Nevertheless, I had several invitations to preach again.
In the evening I spoke at Mr Kelley's, to about 200
hearers, on Monday, P. M., at Lieut. Sinkter's school-
house, to an audience of entire strangers. In that vicinity
were many Freewill Baptists, few of whom, however, saw
fit to attend. Priest Hillard's deacon came to me at the
close of meeting, with considerable emotion, and said, ' I
know the joyful sound of which you have spoken. I am
satisfied God has called you to preach the Gospel. I
want you to preach at my house this evening,' and ac
cordingly gave out the appointment. There are always
some discerning spirits among the people, who, sooner
than others, look into the nature and meaning of things.
One of the Freewill members, a lady, remarked when she
got home on the character of the meeting, saying, ' The
deacon will get joked this time with his missionary or I
am deceived.' At evening the house was crowded, the
Freewill brotherhood having waked up to an interest in
what was occurring. At the time I did not know as
there was one anti-Calvinistic mind in the house, but re
solved, as a dying man, to do my duty without shrinking.
I arose to speak from Mai. 4 : 2 : ' Unto you that fear
my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing
in his wings,' and felt, as I progressed, the love of God in
my soul. Many of the young people wept aloud, the
Freewill brethren began to assist, and before the meeting

108 MEMQIR OF

broke up the power of God was so strikingly displayed
that the deacon, unexpectedly to all, fell prostrate on the
floor. A haughty young woman, whose hair was wrought
into a profusion of curls, came forward and kneeled down,
bathing her curls with tears as she cried for mercy. The
argument on this occasion, though no doctrine was dis
cussed, was one that the deacon was unable to resist, for
he fell as many as five times under the power of God.
The house seemed filled with divine glory. The congre
gation broke up about one o'clock at night. The next
day I went from house to house praying and conversing
with the people. I found that many were seeking Christ,
and that a thoughtful solemnity was resting even on the
minds of children."

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

Passages like these will doubtless meet with a
variety of tastes, and be subjected to different con
structions. The effects of a great immediate power
that followed the preaching of Abbot, Whitfield, and

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 109

others, seeming for a time to irresistibly sway the sub
ject, has been variously explained, or, perhaps, more
properly, has never been explained to the full satis
faction 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 weakjbrmalist ; 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 essen
tial discord. We enjoy quietness ; but of the two, we
say by all means give us the preaching that knocks men
off their seats, to that which never moves them. But
how comes on Newhampton ?

" I continued my visits to Newhampton for the space of
three months. Some twenty of the youth were hopefully
converted; I think I never saw converts of greater
strength. But oh ! what trials awaited some of this
number ! The first that came forward in this reformation

110 MEMOIR OP

had much persuasion to resist. Her father was an open
enemy to religion, her mother was very pious, but wholly
bound up in Calvinism, and the young woman was deter
mined to be free and not be entangled with any yoke of
bondage. A number of times was she threatened to be
turned out of doors. She wished baptism ; but being
unordained I could not administer ; and, as she was un
able to join Mr. H.'s church, out of preference to the
church of the firstborn, she had to go against the current,
which is never a bad sign, as dead fish invariably move
along with the stream. Many wished to be baptized, and
Mr. H., thinking it a good opportunity to gather additions
to himself, began to raise all his forces against me,
spreading defamatory reports to sour the minds of the
people, intending to drive me out of the place. I was
reminded of the stanza :

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

He found fault on several points of doctrine. "We held
together several conferences, public and private. He
indeed stirred up the devout women and all his party to
opposition, and not a little to my grief we had to say —
Farewell to the reformation. He proselyted five young
converts, whose happy condition, I fear, became like that
of the fish which glide pleasantly down the river Jordan
into the Dead Sea, which is called immediate death ; for
they soon grew formal and lifeless in the atmosphere of
the church. l How is the fine gold become dim ! ' But what
of our deacon ? you will say. Why this, that after falling
beneath the power of God so many times, after giving me
a letter of commendation extolling my character, and the

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. Ill

power and usefulness of my ministry, after I had labored
night and day, and God had visited his family in the con
version of three of his children, he ' lifted up his heel
against me.' In whom then shall the Gospel minister
trust? In God, and in Truth. At this declension I
sorrowed with a bleeding heart. You can judge of my
feelings. I gave out an appointment, administered as
good advice as I knew how to the converts, preached on
Sunday, took a letter of commendation signed by Elder
Heart,* in behalf of the church, and bade them adieu.
December 2, 1814."

It would seem that young Mr. Badger was not ex
actly 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 Gos
pel, 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

*This letter, and another signed by two deacons in Newhampton,
are before me. They witness to the great power and success of his
ministry ; also to hia Christian life.

112 MEMOIR OF

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

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

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

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

•Prorerbs,27:7.

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 113

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

Rather difficult, was it not, to get this young man
into a net ? He stands yet erect upon his mission,
prays, weeps, preaches by night and by day ; and old
men and young, mothers and maidens, acknowledge
his right to lead them in the " new and the living way"
by falling into his line of march, and finding words of
life in his speech. This refusal to pledge himself to
creed and sect, grew out of nothing unsocial, for his
whole being was social and brotherly. Interest could
not so have dictated. An innate greatness of mind it
was that gave him this high position for a young man
as early as 1814, aided no doubt by the free and
generous impulses of the religion of Jesus, which, in
his experience and in his Testament, alike declared the
oneness of the body .of Christ, and of whatever is

114 MEMOIR OF

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 clergy
men 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 con
vert and the steadfast believer rejoiced together, bring
ing 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 para
graph from this letter, wo cannot withhold. Those
who recollect the calmness and the pensive music of
the pine-grove, its unison with the deeper feelings, will
vividly realize the passage which refers to the lonely
and dependent spirit which there sought relief in
prayerful utterance.

" How many trials I have passed through during these
four months ! I well remember the sad feelings of my
heart as I was riding from Rye to Portsmouth, across a
pine plain, whilst I meditated on my mission and present

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 115

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

"Jan., 1815. JOSEPH BADGER."

Rightly did the poet say, —

" Who never ate his bread in sorrow,

Whenever spent the darksome hours,
Weeping and watching for the morrow ;
He knows ye not, ye heavenly Powers."

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

116 MEMOIR OF

CHAPTER VIII.

ORDINATION AND PUBLIC LABORS.

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

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

" Signed, in behalf of the Church,
" JASPER EL KINS,
"FREDERICK COGSWELL,
" DANIEL ELKINS."

Rev. N. Wilson, of Barnstead, after making strict
inquiry and satisfactory examination, in answer to the
requests from the people, wrote to brethren in the min
istry all about, to attend on the occasion at his resi
dence, 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

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 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 ad
jacent 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 sur
veyed 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 persecu
tor, having an interest now, as of old, in the assemblies
of the saints. Feb. 4th, he baptized two others in Al
ton, three others on the 10th at Gilmanton, and large
congregations waited upon his ministry. By the
regular clergy and their united influence, his move
ments were often opposed. Among the reports that
clerical policy caused to arise, he records the following
chapter :

" Badger is going about making and baptizing converts,
and leaves them on the common. He has no discipline
nor articles of faith. He throws away the holy Sabbath,
alleging that it is done away in Christ. He says that he

118 MEMOIR OF

is not called to preach law, but gospel ; therefore he casts
the law of God away. He says there is no divine author
ity for infant sprinkling ; that if we take it from circum
cision, it can have, like its prototype, but a partial appli
cation to human beings. He also teaches that it is right
for sinners to pray ; and has said that the clergy are the
greatest evil that ever happened to New England, because
they keep the people in gross ignorance, because they do
not admit to their pulpits many Gospel ministers, and be
cause they are always the first to cry out against Reform
ation.

" 'And when a soul engaged,
Exhorts the young or aged,
The clergy cry, enraged,
They '11 pull our churches down.' "

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

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

REV. JOSEPH BADGER.

" My sister at this time, wife of Capt. P. Cogswell, was
dangerously ill, and her thoughts turned upon her everlast
ing welfare. She conversed with me about dying, wept
often when speaking of pure religion, and asked my pray
ers. She wondered often why I tarried so brief a time
with her ; but could she have seen my work before me as
it was, and known the feelings of my heart, wonder could
have had no place in her mind. My eldest brother, who
came from Vermont to visit my sister, and another brother
from Boston, whom I had not met for two years, who was
on his way to Canada, met me at Oilman ton. In parting
with them, the most vivid picture of past associations, my
parents, youthful mates and sister, whom I had not seen
for eight months, came before my mind ; and after our
separation, a sad and lonely feeling, which words cannot
describe, lingered like a cloud upon my way as I contrasted
my wandering condition among strangers, and my constant
exposure to persecution, with the quiet homes my relatives
enjoyed. I said to myself, Here I am, a poor child, wan
dering about the world among strangers, spending what
little property I have, my bodily strength almost worn out
in preaching, between two and three hundred miles from
home ; and whilst I am 4hus, they are crowned with the
honors of this life, and no shaft of sectarian malice is ever
hurled at them. In these meditations, though I profusely
wept, my spirit gathered up its energies and found solace
in the following stanzas :

" But cease, my heart, no more complain,
For Christ has said 't is his command ;
Those who from pleasures here refrain,
' I 'm with them till the world shall end.'

" Then shall I say to friends, Farewell !

"Whilst they may heap their golden toys,
Christ's beauties to the world I '11 tell,
And seek for heaven's substantial joys.

120 MEMOIR OF

" And when the sun and moon shall fall,

And Nature's beauties each decay,
Christ's merits I will then extol,
When all my tears are wiped away.

" Transporting thought of joy sublime,

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

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

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

* The same mentioned on page 21.

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. • 121

About this time, letters from him appeared in the
Herald of Gospel Liberty, the first religious news
paper 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. IL, by Rev. E. Smith. It was ably
edited, and was devoted to Religious Liberty, and to
the independent discussion of Religious Truth.

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

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

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

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

This is a fine specimen of his youthful enthusiasm

and abandonment to the work of the ministry. Any

one can see a full presence of heart and soul in all

that he does, which lends to his pages the inspiration of

6

122 MEMOIR OP

honest aims, earnest effort, a most confiding and fervent
piety ; nor can we fail to see that the pure fire of re
ligion burned quite constantly on the altar of his active
spirit. There was much of true divine life in the kin
dling energies of his speech.

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

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

" GILMANTON, April 17, 1815.

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

He touches in this letter very finely on the character
of Mr. Page, whom he baptized on the 6th, a school-

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 123

mate with him, a man of excellent character from his
youth, well-informed and influential ; though strictly
educated in the puritanical ideas of the society of Rev.
J. Smith, he came forward before a large assembly and
acknowledged the unsatisfactory character of the Cal-
vinistic teachings ; and the same day he submitted to
baptism from the hand of one whose excesses in boy
hood he had himself effectively rebuked.

Returning to bis 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 Win.
Buzzel, whom he found alive in the cause of Reforma
tion. 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 pas
ture." He says :

" The Lord's table was then set, and our hearts were
solemn whilst we participated of the sacred symbols. We
felt the holy presence of Him who is with his church to
the end of the world. I then returned to Alton, the llth

went to Barnstead, where I was much edified in hearm**

o

aged Christians bring out the stores of their spiritual ex
perience ; the 12th rode to Elder Wilson's much fatigued,
being exposed to storms by night and by day. Thanks
to Him who preserves his creatures ; and now that the
winter is past, and nature is gay with flowers, I would
welcome, in a spiritual sense, the sentiments of the Jewish
wise man, ' Lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and
gone ; the flowers appear on the earth ; the time of the

124 MEMOIR OF

singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is
heard in our land/ Oh, that ' at evening time ' * light
might increase until the shades of night are dispersed
from the minds of the people."

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

" The 19th of May I attended meeting at Candia, was
there invited to visit Deerfield, and gladly embraced the
opportunity of speaking to that people. For the youth
my mind was much drawn out ; and though I had not the
least idea when I came that I should tarry in Deerfield,
the prospect of the good that might be done, induced me
to make arrangements for staying in that place. On Fri
day evening I spoke at Rev. Peter Young's, on Sunday
at the Baptist meeting-house, at which time many dated
their particular convictions. On the way to my evening
appointment, I was surprised by the call of a gentleman,
who, very well dressed and of respectable appearance, came
out of his house and moderately advanced toward me.
I paused, and setting my eyes steadfastly upon him, soon
observed that trembling had got hold of him. He said,

*Zech. 14: 7

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 125

' Mr. Badger, I wish you to attend meeting at my Hall.
My wife is very anxious to hear you,' and many other
words of persuasive tendency. I was satisfied that he
had a death wound,* which to me was a source of new
courage ; I went on to my appointment, held meetings
every day through the week, and some were daily delivered
from the reign of darkness and of sin. On Saturday I
returned to the gentleman's Hall, which indeed has ever
since been a place of public worship, and met a multitude
of people. This meeting will be had in everlasting re
membrance. The gentleman who had invited me, and
several others, fell on their knees some time in the after
noon, and continued in prayer until about ten in the
evening. The ' new song ' was sung by many, and from
that time, the gentleman, his family, and even premises,
seemed converted, for his house is as a sacred Bethel."

The young minister, not knowing in his ardor and
youth, that this human world is an old, a tough, a wise,
and a most lasting fact, that bends but temporarily to
the new influence which seems for the time to mould
its form, penned the conviction that soon the Angel of
the Apocalypse would fly through the midst of heaven
proclaiming that " the kingdoms of this world are be
come 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 uufrequently 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

*In a sense that to you needs no explanation.

126 MEMOIR OF

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 conjec
ture," 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 co
operation 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 oppo
sition, particularly as he did not walk in time-hallowed
routines, but created, through the force of his charac
ter, and his peculiar abilities, the popularity that attend
ed him.

" Notwithstanding," says Mr. B., " God has so wonder
fully favored the people, the three characters who always
persecute religion continued their old employment.
Whenever you see persons engaged in persecuting religion,
you will always find them one of the following classes,
viz. : the superstitious, the wicked, or such of the very
ignorant as do not comprehend what belongs to good
manners. Here the superstitious cried delusion, the
wicked threatened to unite in violent mob parties, and the
exceedingly foolish were thrust forward as the instru-

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 127

merits of the first-named class. Malevolent and silly
reports were spread, but every attempt of this dissipated
crew seemed to work against them, enough so as to fulfil
the saying of the Psalmist, ' His mischief shall return
upon his own head, and his violent dealing shall come
down upon his own pate ;' * which leads one to think that
it is unnecessary to take much pains to detect the wicked,
because they very soon detect themselves. ' The heathen
are sunk down in the pit that they made ; in the net
which they hid is their own foot taken. 'f Solomon, who
closely observed the events of the world, also had occa
sion to say, ' He that diggeth a pit shall fall into it.' "j

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 refor->
mation 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 ref
ormation wholly confined, as he often visited Notting
ham, Lee, Newmarket, Stratham, Exeter, Kensington,
Candia, Allenstown, and other places. He says : —

" In Nottingham many were made happy in the love of
Christ. Here I baptized many. One afternoon, as a
large assembly were gathered by the water-side, where
eight persons received this ordinance, I observed three
young men jump from the shore upon a rock that lay in
the midst of the stream, and the spectacle of these un
converted young men standing upon a rock produced an
association of ideas that led me to feel much for them ;
in praying I spoke of them, and was impressed to say that

»Ps.7:16. fP8.9:15. +Ecc.lO:8

128 MEMOIR OF

something solemn awaited them soon. In a few days one
of the number, in much agony of mind, fell beneath a
fatal disease, which deeply impressed the old and the
young."

"On the first day of the week, I had, by the request of
several gentlemen, an appointment at the Square. A few
individuals, being such as they were, strove to effect a
disturbance, and in a glance you will perceive the inge
nuity of their plot. They hired an old man who once had
been a professed preacher at Dover, but who had been
turned out for his debaucheries, to enter the meeting-house
before me and to occupy the time with religious services.
Although it is said that the children of this world are in
their generation wiser than the children of light, it must
be owned that they sometimes get defeated. Even from
eight different towns the congregation was collected, the
appointment being quite generally circulated. As I rode
to the place, I heard the bell ring about ten o'clock, and
hastening as quickly as possible to the Square, the people,
who were coming from every direction, seeing me ride up,
thronged about me ; some of them, having been in the
church, knew the attempted order of the day. One
said, ' The devil is in the pulpit ; ' another said, ' The
devil has taken the meeting-house before us, and you had
best not go in.' I answered that if the devil was in the
house I was bound to see him, and prevailed on the peo
ple to go in. As I entered the door, I saw the rough
clergyman standing with his hymn book in his hand ready
to open the meeting. As I ascended the stairs he began
to read the hymn, I sat contented until he had finished
the reading, then introducing myself to the assembly,
inquired concerning the time when my neighbor's appoint
ment was given out ; the answers enabled me to say to
him kindly, l As my appointment is previous to yours I

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 129

should esteem it a privilege to improve a part of the day/
He roughly responded, ' You can speak after I have done ;'
and then arose abruptly, placing himself in a position to
pray as soon as the singers had concluded the music.
During the repeat of the last line I asked of him the priv
ilege of speaking a word to the people on the circum
stances of the day, to which he answered, ' You must be
short.' I then apprised the audience, that as my appoint
ment was contravened by another, my meeting would in
ten minutes begin in Mr. Nealey's orchard ; and bidding
the gentleman of the pulpit good morning, advanced to
the pleasant grove about fifteen rods distant, accompanied
by all the assembly save the clergyman and his five em
ployers, to whom he read the notes he had written. On
leaving the church I began to sing a popular hymn, in
which I was joined by the choir who accompanied me ;
and after a hasty but comfortable arrangement of seats,
with the azure heavens for my sounding-board, and a large
box for my pulpit, I spoke to the hundreds before me from
Gen. 49 : 10. It was free air. Between thirty and forty
spoke after the sermon, so that without a minute of vaca
tion, the meeting continued five hours. The opposers
were put to shame, and ever since has that meeting-house
been free. Nottingham, therefore, by many events is kept
in my memory."

Although there are several interesting letters written
by him about this time to his relatives and friends, let
ters 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 repre
sents his later years. Confining ourselves, therefore,
to the shortest statement of his public life, w,e will

130 MEMOIR OF

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 evangel
ical 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, en
ergy, courage, persevering devotion to the welfare of
mankind, are qualities that, like gold retained, shine
equally brilliant through all the divisions of time, the
same in 1815 as in 1854.

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

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

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 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 Gilinanton, 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 Deer-
field, hears seven relate their religious history, whom
he baptizes " according to the usage and teaching of
the New Testament ; " on the next day (Sunday)
meets a large assembly at Allenstown, to whom he
speaks and administers baptism to a few believers ; on
Monday, at 3 o'clock P. M., addresses the community
at Gilmanton ; on Tuesday preaches and baptizes at
Mr. Proctor's, on Wednesday returns to Barnstead,
and hears that original and peculiarly gifted speaker,
Elias Smith, of Portsmouth N. H. ; and on Thursday
starts for his northern home by the way of Vermont,
accompanied to the Province, by a young man from
Farmington, N. H., whose noble history in after years
has rendered his name a lasting fragrance in the
churches. Indeed the name of John L. Peavy, to
those who knew him, is but another word for honor^
affection and faithfulness.

" The first day, I arrived at Rumney, a distance of fifty
miles, and attended meeting in the evening ; on Friday
arrived at Bradford, and on Saturday and Sunday at
tended the general meeting, which was a profitable time.
Here my acquaintance with ministers and others was
enlarged. On Monday, in company with Rev. J. Boody

132 MEMOIR OF

and brother Peavy, I continued my journey to the North,
arriving at Wheelock on Tuesday, where I was persuaded
to stop by a gentleman whose wife and child had just
expired, to attend their funeral the next day. He had
formerly been one of my hearers. "We met a large num
ber of mourners and friends, who appeared sincerely to
mourn the loss of so virtuous a friend and neighbor. As
the meeting was about to commence, Squire Bean pre
sented me the text on which the afflicted husband wished
me to speak, which was, ' As in Adam all die, even so in
Christ shall all be made alive/ He was a Universalist,
I think, in opinion, but with the request I cheerfully
complied."

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

Truly might Mr. Badger, in his friendly letter for
merly 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

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 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 com
mon-place is frequently broken by cascades and cata
racts. But let us read his own natural statement : —

" In the upper part of the town of Ringsey I attended
a funeral. After meeting I rode nine miles to attend an
appointment in the lower part of the town. Though the
state of feeling was generally low, it was a solemn,
refreshing time. Early on Friday morning as I was
about to visit my friends in that place, a military officer
sent a man, accompanied by a large brawny Indian, to
make me a prisoner, and carry me to the county seat of
justice, at the Three Rivers, for the offence I had com
mitted against the government, in leaving the country in
time of war. This was done although the Governor had
issued proclamation that all who had thus left might
return in peace. Prisoners of war in time of peace
struck me as something new. I asked the person who
made me a prisoner what authority he had for so doing ;
he answered, that he was an officer, and, without showing
any proof of his right to act for the government, ordered
me immediately to get into the birch canoe, and go with
them by water. I candidly informed him that I should
not start for the Rivers without authority, and that if I
went in the mode of conveyance proposed, under a guard
of savages, it would be by force. Finding that I was not
alarmed, and that he could not proceed, he then started
for the residence of Capt. Moor, about one mile distant,
to procure a warrant, and left the savage to guard me. I
soon proposed to the red man that I would accompany

134: MEMOIR OP

him on my horse to Capt. Moor's ; but fearing that I
might ride by, he ran on foot with all speed. When I
arrived, the captain had the warrant nearly made out,
but, instead of finishing it, met me in a rage. He would
not hear to a word of reason, nor to the advice of his
friends. After I saw that I must go, I asked the privilege
of riding my horse, at the same time offering to hire some
of the keepers to go with me by land. The captain "re
plied that he would not grant me the least favor, and the
officer said I should go in the birch canoe. As I gave no
assent to this method, I was seized by the shoulder and
violently dragged out of the door, and beyond what lan
guage can paint was abused by the zealous officer. He
boldly threatened my life, and accompanied by words of
the coarsest profanity, said, ' Damn your blood, I will take
your life as quick as I would a rattlesnake's.' After the
officer had said this, I addressed the captain in these
words : ' Sir I am much surprised that you should thus
cause a prisoner to be abused, and that you should put
me into the hands of a person at the head of a party of
savages, who has threatened my life before your face.'
Instead of acting on any idea of propriety suggested by
me, he broke forth in swearing, saying that he himself
would take my life. At this, his wife and son, being no
longer able to refrain, spoke moderately in my behalf. As
I had not given my consent to this uncivil mode of con
veyance, the officer ordered a cord to be brought with
which to bind me. He also asked for assistance, but none
of the people present would lend any aid. Then uttering
an Indian yell for some savages,' whom I supposed he had
placed in ambush, we soon saw them appear, some on the
river and some on the land.. This was a display of fe
rocity I in nowise had expected. Before they arrived,
however, to do the will of the angry officer, Mr. Asa

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 135

Bean, son of Col. John Bean, came forward in my behalf,
and said I should not go with the savage crew, that he
would be my keeper and agree that I should be at Windo-
ver that day, which was sixteen miles towards the Three
Rivers. We then mounted our horses for the journey
agreed upon, at which place we arrived about three
o'clock, much fatigued. We put up at an inn, and paid
our own charges. The mob party came in birch canoes
on the river."

For a moment leaving the private journal of Mr.
Badger, I would present a letter written to Mr. J. L.
Peavy at this very point where he met the uncourteous
band who had progressed by water. It will be remem
bered that he had an appointment at Shipton on Sun
day, 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 diffi
culties to be met.

' ' MY DEAR BROTHER : — Your experience, I am sat
isfied, teaches you that persecution is the common lot of
the true followers of Christ. This morning, by the order
of Capt. Moor, of Ringsey, I was taken and ordered to

136 MEMOIR OF

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

" Capt. Moor does not pretend to accuse me of anything
but of going into the States in time of war, as I have
understood, and I am informed that his own children have
done the same with approbation. But that which pains
my heart the most, is to think that in the reformation at
Ringsey only two years ago, this mad man made a profes
sion of religion. Oh how many such characters wound the
cause of our Master ! Lord, pity them. I wish you to
give yourself no uneasiness on my account. God Almighty
will make my afflictions a blessing to somebody. It will
be well for you to return to Ascott as soon as Wednesday,

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 137

and there remain until you hear from me again. Be of
good courage. I hope you will never have it to regret that
you came into this region. Pray for your unworthy
brother Joseph, that he may finish his course with joy.
I am, if need be, ready to be offered ; and, from several
causes, I feel that the time of my departure is not far
distant. Dear brother, I bid you a short farewell, hoping,
if not in time, to meet you in pure realms of glory.

'." J. BADGER."
11 John Langdon Peavy"

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

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

138 MEMOIR OP

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 sponstaneous
ability, were easily observable. In the familiar con
versation 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 char
acter of his British patriotism, wholly subsided or not,
with the fruitless assault of his enemies already related,
I know not. An explicit document, bearing date Jan.

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 139

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 slan
der of some enemy, who might have planted himself,
like Capt. Moor, on grounds of superabundant loy
alty. Something bordering on the miraculous shines
through the following incident, related of a youth in
Ascott :

" A young man of the family of Mr. Bullard, who had
been confined for six years, deprived of sight, strength,
and the ability to speak aloud, continually bowed down,
and so weak that he could not be shaven, had, three years
after his debility, received from God a wonderful illumina
tion, and in it the evidence that he had passed from death
unto life ; from which time his faith in the Son of God by
degrees increased until he believed in the resurrection or
restoration of the body to health by faith in Christ. A
few days previous to our visiting him, he called in the
elders of the church to pray over him, anointing him
with oil, in the name of the Lord (James 5: 14, 15).
As they prayed, a power was revealed, by which he arose,
walked, and praised God. We held a meeting at the
house, in which he arose and spoke freely, saying that his
soul was troubled for the scarcity of faith on the earth.
As we listened to that voice which had been silent for six
years, we were surprised and startled by the reality. As

140 MEMOIR OF

he cast his languid eyes upon us, his face, like that of
Moses, seemed to shine so brightly that scarcely one in
the assembly could look upon him. This to me appeared
as heavenly as anything I ever had witnessed ; and his
language and remarks, I think, exceeded anything I ever
had heard from mortal lips. Our interview with him filled
our souls with solemnity."

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

Without dwelling on the labors that immediately
engaged his attention, which for the most part pertain
to a field already described, I offer a few paragraphs
for the month of December before opening the chapter
for 1816. The variety of incident that blossomed on
either side of his path was evidently schooling the
naturally sagacious mind of the young missionary for

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 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 con
quest 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 practi
cal 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 experi
ences were victories themselves ; but they were also
unconsciously the seeds of other victories.

Mr. Badger was beautifully gifted with extempora
neous 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 pos
sessed the same natural eloquence, the same ease and
attractive grace in speaking then, as was character
istic 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 :

142 MEMOIR OF

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

He also narrates the following for this month :

" On Friday, the 8th, I rode to Mr. Run die's, at Lee,
where I held a meeting in the evening ; Saturday to New
market, where I was comforted in visiting the saints ; Sun
day, held meeting at Mr. N. Gilman's, rode to Exeter in
the evening, and spoke at Lieut. Thing's, which was a time
of serious thought, and of weeping among the youth. I
remember the kind treatment and the good spirit of this
respectable family. On my return the next day to New
market, I met a young man whose appearance in every
respect struck me as being a gentleman until he spoke.
His first remark was a challenge to swap horses ; and
though my answers to his several bold and sportive remarks
left him somewhat ashamed of his familiar assault upon a
stranger, I felt sad to think of the way in which the young
men of our land, who might be respectable and useful, de-

* Acts, 20: 31.

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 143

stroy themselves, and dishonor their connections, by cor
rupting their own hearts with evil manners. The 12th inst.,
went to Brentwood and preached to an attentive assembly ;
the 13th, at Esq. M.'s, of Lee; the 14th, at Mr.Laton's,
of Nottingham, to a full audience, from Ps. 89:15:
* Blessed are the people that know the joyful sound.' Many
spoke afterwards, whose words were as falling showers.
The meeting lasted till about 12 o'clock; and with the
exception of a few North River gentlemen, whose behavior
was not so modest and civil as it ought to have been, the
minds of the people were seriously fixed on divine things.
The 15th, at Mr. Hilton's, of Lee, I spoke from Luke 2 :
11; the next day, as I arrived at Newmarket Plains,
where my appointment was for the next first day, I heard
that Mr. Richardson would preach in the evening. I went
to hear him. His text was Isa. 61 : 1, 2 ; which was so
good that it was with difficulty that the speaker spoiled it
by causing it to speak Calvinism, which seemed to have
been his whole aim. After he had spoken two hours,
several of us addressed the people, not on doctrine, but on
the love of Christ in the heart, which soon caused a change
in the atmosphere of the meeting. Dea. Chatrnan wished
me to speak the next day, to which I consented, though
my invitation to preach was from three of the committee.
In the forenoon I spoke from Zech. 3:9. ' Upon one
stone shall be seven eyes.' I spoke of the stone as meaning
Christ, and the seven eyes of intelligence that gave a com
prehensive vision on every side, I represented by his
character, which looks every way towards the satisfaction
of human wants ; also, in another sense, seven eyes were
upon him, the eye of God, of Angels, of Patriarchs, of
Prophets, of the Jewish nation, of Apostles, and of believ
ers, all which disclose him as the Mediafor, as the fit medi
um of divine blessing. In the afternoon Mr. R. began to

144 MEMOIR OF

speak from the words, ' I will make thee a sharp thrashing
instrument,' and proceeded to prove election from the
parable of the wheat and the tares ; likewise from Gen.
3 : 1C, the sentence against the woman ; but the people, in
small parties of four and six, began to leave the house,
being tired of hearing nothing over and over ; even two of
the committee could not stand it through. At the close I
offered a few words, not on the discourse, but on practical
things, and never did I see a meeting so unsatisfactory to
the people. One person after meeting asked me if Mr. R.
was not a deceiver. I told him that he could not be so
considered, for one that has neither tact nor skill to deceive
anybody is not entitled to so hard a name, whatever may
be his errors."

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

A controversial document, in which he answers the
charge of one who accused him of holding in too light
a manner the aufhority of the Sabbath, lies before me ;
also a few letters from his ministerial coadjutors, that

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 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 : u 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 vhich belonged to that Gentile mission
ary, 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.

%***"

146 MEMOIR OP

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 phy
sical. 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 ex
perienced 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 prob
ability, is at least as far off as the millennium ; whilst
it is equally evident, that the man whose thoughts have

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 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 Sun
day, 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 assem
bly from the merciful plea of the dresser of the vine
yard, Luke 18 : 18 : " Let it alone this year also ; "
and some eight or ten were baptized this month. At
Rochester, 1ST. 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

148 MEMOIR OF

following figures stand out for this month : they were
on the 1st, 2d, 3d, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th,
10th, llth, 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 conversa
tion on political topics between two distinguished
gentlemen, a conversation that ran quite high, as it
just preceded the election.

" I thought," says Mr. B., " that they placed Mr. Plum-
mer on a very low seat, much lower, indeed, than their fel
low-citizens placed him a few days after; and they extolled
federalism exceedingly high. Capt. T. spoke out1 with an
air of consequence, and said: ' These runabout preachers,
I find, are continually propagating the devilish doctrines
of democracy.' ' O yes/ replied Col. R., ' that is their
business/ I was indeed sorry for them. They little sup
posed that I was one of the persons they had spoken of,
who, unlike themselves, had faith in the ability, good
sense and integrity of mankind. I then rode to Lee,
where I breathed a different atmosphere in the society of
saints."

14 The 1st and 2d of March I stayed at Newmarket ;
the 3d, held meeting at Mr. Sanborn's, of Epping; the
4th, at Newmarket, I was taken sick with the measles;
the 5th, rode to Lee and preached a funeral sermon, also
baptized one ; the 6th, attended meeting in the evening

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 149

at* Nottingham ; the 7th, through much infirmit}', arrived
at Deerfield and preached at the house of J- Hilton,
where I received the kindest attentions during my severe
sickness of one week. May their generosity be largely
rewarded ! As soon as I was able to ride, I started for
Farmington, where I arrived on the 17th. After tar
rying a few days, I went to Middleton and Brookfield for
the first time. At the latter place, my first meeting was
held on the 24th, at which time several afterwards dated
their convictions. The 26th, held meeting at Middleton
Corner. It was a solemn time. That night I could not
sleep, as the people of Brookfield were so much in my
heart and mind. The 28th, I attended the ordination of
J. L. Peavy, at Farmington, and heard an appropriate
sermon from Rev. Elias Smith, of Portsmouth. It was a
glorious time."

A sickness like the one here narrated would in these
days have made a greater break in the journal of a
month than it did with this hardy young minister. His
body does not rest at the mere assault of disease, but
moves on till the heavier blows fall ; then surrenders
but a week — is up again and doing as ever. Though
his command of Greek and Latin may have been in
comparably 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 appoint
ment to preach, or with visiting from house to house,
in which he carried a countenance of calm arid cheer
ful light to all he met. Sometimes three meetings a
day was his order of action. At Wakefield he spoke

150 MEMOIR OF

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 efiects 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 com
forted. The Bible alone was their creed." He also
adds:

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 151

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

" Arriving at Farmington on the 5th, at L. Peavy's I
fell in company with Dr. Hammond, who soon introduced
conversation on the subject of religion. He stood on the
old doctrine of fatalism, and was what every man ought
to be who honestly plants himself on this ground, a Uni-
versalist. After he had labored hard (for one must labor
hard to support a false doctrine, whilst the truth can sup
port itself and all who believe it,) to prove his theory, I
said to him : ' Sir, although you claim to make God a
good and merciful being, you make him inconsistent.
You prove that he has decreed one thing and command
ed another. You allege that he ordained all things. Of
course he has ordained them right. But, Sir, are you able to
say that all the wars, blasphemy, drunkenness, political and
religious contention we have on earth, proceed from your
good God? 'Certainly/ responded he ; ' it is all for some

152 MEMOIR OP

end. Mortals must experience a degree of misery, to pre
pare them for happiness. It is best/ continued he, ' to
have different beliefs and sects in the world, and what you
term religion is merely impulse and imagination, which is
good so far as it tends to good among men. The fear of
hell which you hold up, moves many to reform, and I think
it would not be so well if all men were as I am/ In the
last idea I acquiesced. I told him that I never had known
the opinions he avowed to work the reformation of any
man ; that I had not yet met a Christ-like and prayerful
person of those views, and that I had known them to be
accompanied by much profanity, professed in the grog
shop, and resorted to by the vilifier of practical godliness
as a shelter against the solemn claims of Christ upon the
heart. I said to him that truth bears good fruits, and
that I was sorry that he should labor so hard to prove a
doctrine of whose results he had so poor an opinion.
Here our conversation closed."

" 6th, I returned to Brookfield ; just before I arrived
at Middleton Corner I saw a funeral procession slowly
moving toward the grave, and being so near the funeral I
had attended when going down, it made a solemn impres
sion on my mind. I said, Oh, may I be prepared for a
similar scene ! The 8th, after attending two meetings,
rode to Wolfborough, where I arrived in the evening,
much fatigued ; the 9th, spoke for the first time to the
people at Smith's Bridge ; the 10th, returned to Brook-
field ; the 12th, spoke to the people from Job 20 : 17, and
though the rain, which fell very fast, prevented hundreds
from attending, we had a very good time. At 7 o'clock
I attended meeting at Waltefield, and as I visited from
house to house on the 13th, I remember to jiave asked a
lady whether she enjoyed the religion of Jesus, to which
she replied, ' I do not intend to be a hypocrite ; ' I

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 153

thought her purpose a good one, though her courtesy
might have been a little improved. I was every where
else kindly received. The 18th, 19th, 20th, 23d, 26th,
and 28th, had good and effective meetings, the last
appointment being at Epping, whese I found the people
low in the enjoyment of vital religion, and some who had
by experience known the life and power of God, settled
down upontheir lees, or what, in Calvinistic phraseology,
they would call the doctrines of grace. Grace then
became my theme. I went so far as to say that not only
all men, but beasts, birds, and fishes, were in a state of
grace or favor with God, by which they are daily sus
tained. What oak or rose-bush can grow without the
Creator's kindness ? The 30th I spoke from Ps. 117 : 7,
1 Return unto thy rest, oh, my soul ; for the Lord has
dealt bountifully with thee.' Rev. N. Piper was present,
and with many others, spoke, whilst the glory of God
Seemed to shine in our midst. * The 31st I was sick at
Mr. B.'s, whose kindness I can never forget. The Lord
God alone can know whether I live through another
month. If I do, oh, help me to live it more to thy glory
than I have lived any month of my life."

No day of the month of June passed without an
appointment to preach, as a glance at the journal
shows ; and among the travels recorded, is a journey
to Providence, Rhode Island. At Canterbury, on his
way, he speaks for the first time of hearing Elder
Mark Fernald preach, June 10th, and on the llth of
hearing Elder Benj. Taylor, who addressed the meeting
at Canterbury, fourteen ministers and many others
being present. He says :
7*

154 MEMOIR OF

" The 16th, I spoke at the State House, Providence,
R. I., and had a good time in preaching and in breaking
of bread. The 17th, I rode to Boston, where I also
spent the greater part of the 18th, visiting the Museum,
which made a strong impression on my mind, and con
versing with Mr. Elias Smith, with whom I put up. In
the evening I enjoyed a very good time at Salem. The
23d, I went to hear Mr. Burgus, who spoke from Acts 8 :
22, in which he stated that prior to prayer or any other
duty, men must feel the love of God ; also, that all who
denied that Jesus Christ had come in the flesh, were false
teachers, as are all those who regard him only as a
man ; for, said he, Christ is the Eternal God : there is
none above him. When his afternoon meeting was
closed, I arose and told the people I had two remarks to
make on the sermon delivered in the morning, one in
regard to prayer, the other in regard to Christ. You
remember, I said to them, that the love of God was
enjoined as preceding every acceptable prayer. I ask
you to compare this statement with the order of facts
contained in the gentleman's text, which are, 1. Repen
tance ; 2. Prayer ; 3. Forgiveness. ' Repent therefore
of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the
thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee.' As
none contend that the enjoyment of the love of God pre
cedes the forgiveness of sins, I am amazed at so bold a
contradiction of the passage on which the sermon was
professedly founded. I then noticed Christ, informing the
people that I knew not the sect who held him to be merely
a man, for who does not know that the most ultra of the
Socinian school place him above all men in the divinity
of his spiritual endowments ? and what class, I inquired,
could more plainly deny Christ than he had been denied a
short time previous, by the statement that he is the

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 155

Eternal God ? I stated that I believed him to be the
Son of God, the great Mediatorial Centre of grace to
mortals, and that he has received all power in heaven and
on earth. If he is the Father, he cannot be the Son ;
and if the plain declarations of the New Testament are
to be relied on, it is certain that he was dependent on
God, and that he knew One greater than himself, to whom
he offered worship, and of whom he gave a new reve
lation.* About this time the clergyman saw fit to leave
without offering any public remarks. I continued my
address. At the close, many spoke of the love of Christ;
and though we were deprived of the presence of the
clergyman, we had, I think, the presence of God, which
was far preferable. The 30th, met an attentive multitude
at T. Burley's barn, to whom I spoke in the forenoon,
from Ps. 11: 12, and in the afternoon from Eph. 4: 5,
on baptism. Many spoke freely. We then retired to a
pleasant water near by, where, with great satisfaction, I
baptized six happy youth. Here closes one month more.
O God, I pray thee to prepare me for all that may await
me in the next."

July, 1816. We read of his being at Brookfield
on the 1st, of his attending the funeral obsequies .of
Mr. L. J. Hutchins, at Wakefield, on the 2d, and of
his spending the month industriously in the several
places of his accustomed labor. Not far from this
time there was in his mind a temporary conviction that
he would select Providence, R. I., for his permanent
residence, as he was anxious to concentrate his labors
in one field, and no longer extend them over so wide a
surface. Bearing date a few weeks later is a letter

* John 17:3; John 1 : 18 ; Matt. 11 : 27.

156 MEMOIR OF

from Rev. Benj, Taylor, of Taunton, Mass., congrat
ulating 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,
luring 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 senti
ment 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 accus
tomed duties of his profession. The days and evenings
as they passed were continually laden with his sermons
and prayers.

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 157

In a letter to his brother, dated July 17th, he writes
of the gloomy prospects of the husbandman through
out 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 friend
ship. 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.
4 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 cir
cumstances brought him, that, carefully examined, are

158 MEMOIR OF

found to be unvisited and unrefreshed by this living
water of life in his soul. Like the mystic rock the
Hebrew prophet smote, his heart flows out in living
water.

August, 1816. "From the 1st to the 20th my time
was spent in Brookfiehl, Middleton, Farmington, attending
to reading, writing, preaching, and visiting from house to
house. The 20th, had a good and solemn time at Brook-
field ; being ready to start for R. L, after having a public
meeting we held a conference, in which brother Joseph
Gooding, in an animating manner, told his religious experi
ence, and requested baptism, which I administered at even
ing, whilst it seemed as though the heavens were opened
and the Spirit descended upon the assembly. We then
walked for a half a mile, singing the praise of God. After
changing my dress, I rode to the residence of John Cham-
berlain, Esq., where I was kindly received, and where I
found the company of Mr. F. Cogswell, of Gilmanton,
whose visits among his brethren were like the coming of
Titus in the days of apostolical truth and religious sim
plicity. The 21st, we rode to Farmington and enjoyed a
happy meeting ; the 22d, being ready to start on a jour
ney to the South, I asked my affectionate companion which
she would prefer me to do, — enter into business, accumu
late property, and be respectable in the world, or do the
will of the Lord in going forth to preacli the Gospel, leav
ing her at home, and subjecting ourselves to be poor in
this world all our days. After a moment's reflection, she
burst into a flood of tears, and said, ' I hope you will do
the Lord's will, whatever else may happen/ We had a
weeping time. The next morning I arose early and bade
all my friends an affectionate farewell, not expecting to
see them again for several weeks. Here my trial was

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 159

very great. I had known what it was to forsake father
arid mother, brother and sister, houses and homes for
Christ's sake, but in leaving one who was so nearly a part
of -my own life, I found that it exceeded all other trials
belonging to the separation of friends. The 24th I went
to Deerfield to attend a general meeting. I was there
also on the 25th. The 26th it was continued at Candia,
and a blessing seemed to attend it. The 27th and 28th,
attended the Ministers' Conference at Candia. The 29th,
after the close of conference. I heard the Rev. Elias Smith
preach at Deerfield, N. H. From several considerations,
I was induced to postpone my journey to the South, and,
in company with Mr. E. Plan, returned to Rochester and
Farmington."

Sept. 1816. ''From the 1st to the 10th I passed at
Farmington, holding several meetings : the llth, went to
Gilmanton; the 13th, in company with Mr. Cogswell,
started for the province of Canada, to visit our relatives,
and to seek the welfare of Zion. The 14th, arrived at
the house of my eldest brother, in Wheelock, Vt,, a dis
tance of 112 miles ; on Tuesday following, arrived at Dan
ville, held meeting at the Court House, where, favored by
the presence of a good assembly and six ministers of the
Gospel, I found liberty in speaking the living word. Our
minds were mutually refreshed. On Wednesday, held
meeting in the north part of the town, and at Mr. Wick
er's in the evening, where I was amazed to find Mrs. W.
happy and in health, as she had been sick for three years,
and had, according to the testimony of herself and friends,
been miraculously restored a few days before my arrival.
Two years previous I had visited her in her illness, which
served to increase my surprise at her present condition,
induced, as I was told, by simple compliance in faith with
the direction of the Apostle James 5: 14, 15. On

160 MEMOIR OF

Sunday, at Compton, we enjoyed an excellent meeting with
old friends, relatives, and acquaintances, and on Monday
evening rode to Ascott to visit a company of Christians
who had formerly been noted for piety and engagedness,
but were now the subjects of delusion. Abundantly had
they been blessed of God ; but instead of learning humility,
they appeared to build themselves up in the spirit of self-
righteousness. One whom they styled Apostle and Prophet
was to them the highest authority, equal to anything in
the Holy Scripture. He had revelations concerning all the
business to be done by his followers ; also his pretended
illumination extended to marriages and to the intercourse
of the sexes, and when his ipse dixit was given on these
points, immorality was unblushingly practised. Pretending
to have personal interviews with angels he had six followers,
who, at his command, would fall upon their knees, lie pros
trate upon the floor, or walk in a pretended labor for souls.
Sometimes he kept them walking for several days and
nights without eating or sleeping, when they would fre
quently faint and fall upon the floor. They often screamed,
howled, and barked, making various strange noises, and
bending themselves up into many shapes. They most tena
ciously held that they were the only true church on earth,
and that no person out of their pale was capable of giving
them the least instruction. Like all the fanatics I ever
saw, they evinced great hatred and spite when opposed,
and sometimes they were full of the spirit of mocking.
As I had known them when they were respectable young
people, and had enjoyed with them the best of Christian
fellowship, I could but deeply mourn over the delusion
in which they were lost. After spending [eighteen hours
with them, I bore the most decided testimony I could
against their sentiments and procedure. How many are
carried away by every wind of doctrine, and allow the

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 1G1

pure religion of Jesus, with which they begin, to degen
erate into an alloy of earth and passion ! Ever may I be
kept in the Mediator, where I shall be permanent and un
controlled by the wild extremes of the age. The week
following I spent at Compton, holding meetings in differ
ent parts of the town. On Sunday, the 29th, the assem
bly was large, and we had a weeping time, as I bade them
farewell in the name of Him in whom is our hope and
love ; and on Monday visited from house to house. Being
ready to depart on the morrow, and thinking that it was
the last time I should repose under my father's roof, my
thoughts and feelings were deeply solemn, as I looked out
upon the world-wide field of my future labors. My very
heart was pained, and the night passed away in almost
entire sleeplessness. Here closes the month, and in feel
ings of the greatest solemnity."

(Oct. 1816. Letter to his father. Montpelier, Vt., Oct.
12, 1816.) " Dear Father, — With pleasure I improve a
few moments in writing to you, that you may be informed
of my good health, and my agreeable visit at Stanstead,
Wheelock and Danville. I preached the next Sun-Jay
after I left home, at Danville Court House, and in the
evening at Major Merrill's. On Monday I came to this
town, and held a meeting at the Hall of Esquire Snow;
in this place and Calace I have held meetings all through
the week. Last Thursday I attended the election. After
the Governor was chosen, the ministers of all denomina
tions were invited to his apartment, where all the choicest
kinds of drinks were placed before them, and a rich dinner
was prepared. Gov. J. Galusha was chosen by a very
great majority. He is an agreeable man, and apparently
a real Christian. His conduct through the day excited
the admiration of the spectators, and it manifested, I think,
the spirit of true patriotism and of sound Christianity.

162 MEMOIR OF

I have an appointment here to-morrow and expect that
some will be baptized. We intend to start for N. H. on
Monday. I am in great haste. Give my love to Mother,
Thomas, Hannah and all my friends. God bless you all
with life eternal. Farewell.

" JOSEPH BADGER."
"Maj. Peaslee Badger."

Resuming his journal we find the following on this
month. After meeting a large assembly at Danville,
on Sunday, 13th, and administering baptism as inti
mated in his letter, he returned to his home at Farm-
ington, 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, 0 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 : —

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 163

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

The journey he was about to take through the States
of New Hampshire, Vermont, and New York, led to
the selection of the fruitful and pleasant region of the
county of Munroe,* 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

* Then Ontario County.

164 MEMOIR OF

private judgment. Here he addressed the people on
the evening of the 5th, and rode to Ballston on the
6th, in which place and in adjoining towns, a great
reformation had occurred under the public improvement
of a very worthy female speaker, by the name of Nancy
Gove. He gave to this community one discourse the
evening of his arrival. On the 7th he was greatly
delighted to meet- his old friend and father in Israel,
A. Moulton, from the Province, with whom, in his early
years, he says, " I had taken sweet counsel in a strange
land." Now he again heard his voice in the public
assembly, on the same themes as when, in his youthful
days, he spoke with so much feeling to his sensitive
heart. In Amsterdam, a town of some prominence, in
old Montgomery County, he preached to the people on
the 9th and 10th, and carried the resurrection light of
Christian consolation into the dwelling of Mr. Green,
whose guest he was, and whose companion in life was
wasting away with consumption. He had a fine faculty
to light up a house of sorrow and mourning with
hope and cheerfulness. At Milton, Ballston Springs,
Charleston, and Canajoharie, he gave sermons ; on what
topics his private journal does notj-ecord, but to those
who know his sagacious skill in adapting his subjects
and discussions to the assemblies he m?t, no evidence
will be needed to convince them that for the occasion
and place they were happily chosen.

Parting with Mr. Thompson and family on the 18th,
and passing through several townships, as Minden,
Warren, Litchfield and Paris, he arrived at Clinton,
Madison County, N. Y., where he spoke on the evening
of the 19th. Continuing his journey through several

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 165

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 tem
perature 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 th'e
account of several meetings held in Pittsford, since
named Henrietta,* which was the centre of his early
labors in this region of country.

* In 1818, this town was constituted out of the town of Pittsford.

166 MEMOIR OF

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 conversa
tion. 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, with
out 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 Hen
rietta, 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

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 167

" "We conversed for the space of five hours on different
subjects. He was indeed very firm, and all who did not
think as he did came generally under the name of heretics.
At the close he offered against me four objections, which
were thus stated : 1st. You believe that the sinner in the
reception of salvation is an active creature. 2d. You
believe in the possibility of falling from a state of justifi
cation, 3d. You cannot reconcile all the Scripture to
either of the three systems of punishment for the wicked,
neither eternal misery, destruction, nor restoration. 4th.
You baptize all who give evidence of their becoming new
creatures, provided they are received as such by a church
with whom you have fellowship, without any particular
regard to their belief or doctrinal principles. Thus ended
our conversation. The next day, I understood that this
gentleman, in speaking of the communion, (he was of the
Baptist faith,) said that it was ' absurd to think of feed
ing swine and sheep together,' which caused me to mourn
that he or that any should have so little charity for other
denominations. I preached in his neighborhood the same
evening, [he was prevented from attending by a bad cold]
and was introduced to Mr. Rich, another clergyman of the
Baptist denomination. Asking him to participate in the
meeting, I proceeded to speak from 1 Cor. 13:13: —
1 And now abideth faith, hope, and charity, these three ;
but the greatest of these is charity/ The clergyman
witnessed to the truth of my sermon. The 18th I spoke
at Avon, the 19th went to Pittsford to administer baptism,
the 20th enjoyed a good time in the south part of the town,
the 21st had a very cold, disagreeable time at the village,
the 22d enjoyed a happy fellowship meeting, the 23d had
an excellent communion season in Pittsfield. At Briton,
Mr. Chapin, a missionary, after I had spoken, read a
sermon nineteen minutes in length, in which he alleged

168 MEMOIR OF

that in Christ there are two distinct natures united, the
human and the divine ; that the divinity never suffered,
that humanity alone was the world's saving sacrifice. No
wonder that he should teach a partial and a legal salvation.
The 29th I attended the funeral of an excellent young
man, by the name of Dorous Burr, which had on the minds
of many a solemn effect. For the first time, I met, on
the 31st, Rev. Mr. Bliss, of Avon. I think he was
naturally a gentleman, though on this occasion, prejudice
against a people with whom he was not acquainted had an
overwhelming influence on his manners. Many questions
he asked in regard to total depravity, a Triune God, the
eternal Godhead of Christ, and many others of the kind
which are unnamed in all the Holy Scriptures. Not car
ing to detail a lengthy conversation, I would say that near
its close he observed to me, that my system was composed
of Universalism and Deism ; to this I replied, that the
old contradictory doctrine of fate, originally introduced
by the Stoics, and afterwards cruelly applied and industri
ously propagated by John Calvin and his followers, was
the very root and foundation of both these doctrines, and
that if I was to take his statement for truth, all the differ
ence to be found between us was this, — that Calvinism is
the body of the tree, Universalism the branches, and
Deism the ripe fruit, and that whilst he was the body, I
was the branches and fruit ; and being so nearly related,
we should hesitate thoughtfully before we consented to
quarrel, reminding him that in the forest body and branches
never contend. After some show of clerical importance
and authority, enough to remind one that if the world was
ruled by narrow-minded ecclesiastics, blood might yet be
shed for opinion's sake, our interview closed. On the
evening of the same day, I had a good meeting at Mr.
Gould's, in which eight or ten feelingly spoke of the love

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 169

of Christ, some of whom had never spoken in public
before. Here the month and the year close. I thank
God for what I have seen, and for what my soul has felt
in this month ; and though it has been my lot this year to
pass through sickness and trials of many kinds, I thank
Him that at its close I feel a degree of salvation within,
and I can say with Israel's king, ' Before I was afflicted
I went astray/ Through all his agencies may God aid
me to live more to his glory the coming year than ever I
have done. Thus end the reflections and incidents of
1816."

CHAPTER X.

LABORS AND SETTLEMENT IN WESTERN NEW YORK.
1817-18.

THE opening of the New Year, 1817, as is customary
on such occasions, was attended with festivities and
social amusements among the young people. And the
following incident will readily illustrate the peculiar
power which Mr. Badger could wield over the young,
as likewise the efficiency of the Gospel as preached by
him. On the first day of January he spoke to a large
assembly in Pittsford, from the following very signifi
cant 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
8

170 MEMOIR OF

-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 Dth ; 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 :

, January 8, 1817.
" DEAR YOUNG FRIENDS, — We were members of your
intended party, and anticipated, we presume, as much
pleasure as you will enjoy in our New Year's Ball ; but
to the joy of our hearts, within a few days God has done
great things for our souls, whereof we are glad, and
instead of attending the ball, we are prompted by our feel
ings to spend the same afternoon in solemn prayer for the
welfare of our fellow youth ; and whilst you are engaged
in vain mirth, will you remember that we, your compan
ions, are on our knees praying to God, the Friend of us
all, for your eternal welfare ? We are, with the tenderest
regards and love, your friends,

" J. WADE,
"NATH. SWIFT."

The letter, it is said, was kindly received, and had a
beneficial effect. Mr. B. thanks God for the happy
opening of the year, and prays that it may be crowned
with thousands of new-born souls. On the third, at

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 171

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 lan
guage, or definitely explain what he meant against
human nature and the human race by the words he em
ployed, 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 de
mands, 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 re turned from his precious
victories over the hearts of his fellow immortals, per
vaded 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 occa
sionally in the private mansion of some friend, some
times 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

172 MEMOIR OP

address give grace and impression to the scene, he was
uncommonly gifted and happy. Some ^who had op
posed him strongly, were so impressed by the solem
nity 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 unreasona
ble 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.

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 173

9 : 25, where St. Paul, in contrasting the Christian
with the Olympian races, and in speaking of the im
portance 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 argu
ment 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 Chris
tian world. In the extracts that follow, the reader will
see what thoughts were common to Mr. Badger as
early as 1817, and indeed earlier, for they appeared
in his mind prior to his entrance upon the ministry in
the autumn of 1812.

"PITTSFORD, February 3, 1817.
"DEAR BROTHER, — I am happy in inclosing a few
lines to you, which I hope will be received as the fruit of
Christian friendship. We have had some opportunity of
acquaintance for a few months past, which, on my part,
has been agreeable, with yourself, your family, and the
church with which you stand connected. It is my motive
to promulgate peace and extend happiness in society, and,
so far as possible, extend a real union among all the dear
disciples of Christ ; and as we have become citizens of
the same town, let us labor for peace ; as we profess to be
1 fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of
God,' let us be one as the Father and the Son are one,
and let love for one another be to all men the proof that
we are his disciples."

174 MEMOIR OF

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

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 175

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

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

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

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

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

"5. If there are points in the Scripture on which we
cannot all see alike, we will not resolve ourselves into
disagreement upon them, but each shall offer his light in
friendship on the subject, which is the only way for truth
to shine in its various lustre. If we form a society in
this manner we shall be in a situation to receive all
preachers who may find it in their way to call on us, and
to receive the truth, in the love of it, from every quarter.

176 MEMOIR OF

The truth will make us free. The above are a few of
many things I shall wish to converse upon when a suita
ble opportunity presents. "With love and respect, I am
your servant for Jesus' sake, J. BADGER."

This strikes us as a noble effort at organizing into the
unity of the pure religion of love and experience, the
existing theological divergences of the town ; and
though the idea was greatly in advance of the religious
culture of the persons he sought to reach, it proves the
religious elevation of Mr. Badger, and his extreme
unwillingness to multiply unnecessarily the number of
religious organizations. That mere doctrine, or theo
logical 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 des
tined 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 ex
hibit itself to mankind. But it strikes us as a rich phe
nomenon, that an idea so great in itself and in its prob
able 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

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 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 : —

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

As early as the 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th of this month,
•we read of his visiting and preaching in the towns of
Bristol and West Bloomfield ; neither of the congrega
tions 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 fel
lowship than Christian character. There was a com
manding newness, an inspiring originality and freshness
in the position he occupied, that, aside from the pecu
liar abilities of the man, awakened the thoughtful
attention of the people. I would here remark, that
the denomination — for indeed all great religious move
ments, however catholic in aim and spirit, do almost
necessarily centralize themselves at last into denomi
national form — with which Mr. Badger stood connected,
was the one known in the ecclesiastical history of the
8*

178 MEMOIR OP

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 righteous
ness, 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 veiws are sketched in the early opinions of Mr.
Badger ; opinions formed from reason, religious expe
rience, 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 with
out any one central man to act as their founder or
guide, they arose in different parts of the Union simul
taneously, 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

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 179

those practical persuasions that grew out of his views
of the individual freedom and responsibility of men.

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

180 MEMOIR OP

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, Or
leans 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 bap
tism. I found it good to hold meeting before break
fast. 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

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 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 hon
ored 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. Win.
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 follow
ing lines.

" On the 28th I preached again in the town of Gates,
where, on my arrival, I was introduced to a young gentle
man, who appeared to feel that the world held at least
one highly important person in it. In a very consequen
tial manner he brought forward theological discussion on
several subjects, which might come into the following
divisions: 1. That the sufferings of Christ's humanity
atoned for the sins of the world. 2. That God had fore
ordained whatsoever comes to pass. 3. That God is the
author of sin. We conversed somewhat lengthily. But
as I was repelled by his manner a great deal more than I
could be attracted by his matter, I was prompted to end

182 MEMOIR OP

the conversation with a plain exhortation, in which I
urged upon him humility of heart and the fear of God.
We parted ; and both from his words and actions I con
clude ' the young man went away sorrowful.' "

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

Mr. Badger continues, "The 2d of April, on which
day I held two good meetings at Parma and Gates, I was
invited by a messenger from Mrs. Colby, to attend the
funeral of her son, the next day, who had just departed.
I found it duty to stay. The next morning, accompanied
by Mr. Williams, I repaired to her dwelling and found
her to be a woman of sorrow and acquainted with grief, a
person of respectability and good sense ; through all her
various sorrows she had for years lived in the exercise of
religion. Of six children and of two kind husbands she
had been bereaved. The assembly was large, the scene

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 183

was solemn. I spoke from Jer. 9 : 21 : < For death is
come up into our windows, and is entered into our palaces,
to cut off the children from without and the young men
from our streets.' On the 6th, at Pittsford, which was
Sunday, after administering the communion in the morn
ing, I gave a farewell sermon, from Acts 20 : 32, as I
designed to start on a long tour to the East, to meet my
dearest friend, from whom I had so long been absent. I
spent the week in visiting the places where I had preached ;
on the 13th, in the west part of the town, I administered
the communion to a company of disciples, the greater part
of whom I had baptized; and, on the 14th, at my own
house, bade adieu to a company of friends who had come
to give me their parting words of kindness. These indeed
were solemn times. Returning east, very nearly in the
same line as I had come, and holding meetings by the
way, I arrived at Farmington, N. H., the last day of the
month, having been absent just six months to a day. I
found my companion in a low state of health ; we mingled
our tears together in thanksgiving to God."

We have in these preceding pages a simple narrative
of six months' preaching, mostly located in the old
counties of Ontario and Genesee, in the State of New
York, chiefly the former ; and in looking over the
present religious aspects of that fine region of country,
it is a remarkable fact that nearly all the churches that
now flourish in these parts, hailing from the cardinal
sentiments already spoken of, are on the same places
and within the circle marked out by these six months'
labors. At that time the county of Ontario extended
from its present southern limit over all the towns
between itself and the Genesee river, including most

184 MEMOIR OF

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
cooperation, 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 sum
mer and to establish his home in their midst. Accord
ingly, he made arrangements in the month of May,
whilst in New Hampshire, to return with his family to
Pittsford, N. Y., which he carried into execution in
the months of June and July, not neglecting, however,
his usual industry in preaching whilst in New England
and on his way back to his new home, which he had
provided for himself before going to the east. He
turned the country into a campaign wherever he went,
planning out his action into order and system always.
On his return he had appointments at the close of each
day, and often in the afternoon. He speaks of an
interesting visit at the famous springs of Saratoga ;
also of a brief interview he had with the celebrated
Lorenzo Dow on the morning of the 15th, as follows :

" I never before had seen him, but having his engraved
likeness with me, I knew him at once. His countenance
had an expression that might be called piercing. His eyes
were penetrating, his mind was heavenly in its thoughts
and feelings, and his conversation shone with modesty and
sobriety. His appearance, and a few moments of conver
sation, made the most serious impression on my mind. He
seemed like an inhabitant of some other region, or like a
stranger and a pilgrim on the earth. As I reflected on
his numerous sufferings and extensive usefulness, I was

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 185

led to mourn my own unlikeness to God. How many bear
the name of ministers of Christ, who do not walk as He
walked."

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

Never until now had Mr. Badger known by expe
rience 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 influ
ence. Mr. Badger was one of those men whom new
circumstances and responsibilities could not frustrate,

186 MEMOIR OF

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 con
trol the evolutions as to strike upon its feet, that through
out 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 Arsons 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 minis
ters 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

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 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 81st 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 discus
sion 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 preserv
ing their own moral purity, by examinations of character
and by expulsion.* 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., un
trammelled 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 natural
ness, would compare with the spirit and scenes of the

* It is stated that the first regularly organized Conference in the
United States, occurred at Hartwick, Otsego County, N. Y., 1813.
See Pall., vol. ii., p. 169.

188 MEMOIR OP

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

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

" In the month of November I spent the 1st, 2d, and 3d
at Pittsford, the 4th, 5th, and Gth at Mendon and Lima.
At this time the work of God in no small degree of power
commenced. I baptized on the 8th, Messrs. Thomas
Smith, Allen Crocker, Jeremiah Williams, Nathan Upton ;
and I now found it my duty to return to Mendon and to
make a stand, as the minds of the people were inquiring,
and their hearts were moved. I began to travel from
house to house, and for several weeks I held several
meetings a day, and in almost everj meeting there were

* Now Stafford, Genesee County, N. Y.

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 189

some made free by the Son of God. Among the incidents
of the time, on the 20th it happened that I met with Mr.
Cook, a clergyman of Lima, who presented me with this
text on which to preach, 1 John 3 : 16:' Hereby perceive
we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us ; '
— a text given without doubt to serve as an embarrass
ment, inasmuch as the word God, which is supplied by the
translators, seems to apply to Him who laid down his life
for us. It was easy to see that, supposing the pronoun
he to refer to the Son of God, who is so often spoken of
in the preceding part of the chapter, the only inference
that follows is, that his death is a, display of God's love,
which is the doctrine of the entire New Testament; or,
stripping the passage of the supplied words, it only teaches
that Christ proved his love by laying down his life for us.
I had a fine time in speaking, as the text was a help and
not an embarrassment to my mind. He, however, made
some opposition, and stated that the Eternal God died on
the cross. This was evidently to his own hurt."

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

190 MEMOIR OF

thank the Father of all goodness for the trials and blessings
it has brought. May the next be illuminated by thy Pres
ence!"

Only observing that since the world begun, suchmen
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 ; let
ters 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 let
ters in which he kindly and candidly corrects the mis
representations 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 prin
ciples of his faith. We venture only a couple of
paragraphs from nearly the close :

" That, Sir, which bore with the greatest weight on my
mind, was your manner of introducing this subject before
the people. You say that Mr. Smith, of Boston, is the
founder of the people called Christians, and that I get my
doctrine from his Bible Dictionary. But, Sir, Mr. S. was
never the founder of any doctrine that ever I preached ;
nor is his dictionary any more a criterion with me than is
that of Mr. Wood a criterion with you and with your
brethren. To me, Brown's, Barclay's, Butterworth's,
Parish's, Smith's, and Wood's are all alike ; there is valua-

KEV. JOSEPH BADGER. 191

ble information, and there are errors in them all, for which
I am wholly unaccountable. For Mr. Smith's errors I am
no more responsible than you are for Mr. Wood's. I am
not his counsellor. I am accountable, Sir, for no errors
but my own ; for these lam willing to answer now and at
the Judgment. Still, I shall notice your quotation of Mr.
Smith's writings, for I esteem them incorrect and unfair.
His writings, some of them, are undoubtedly very errone
ous ; so are some of Mr. Wesley's and Mr. Fletcher's ; but
can this prove that there is nothing good in them, or that
their writings are all bad ? Had I selected some things
from Mr. Wesley's Notes on the New Testament, or some
sketches from the Discipline of the Methodist Episcopal
Church, and told the people that these were the faith of
all the Methodists, I should certainly have been unfair, for
many have discovered greater light and have offered their
dissent from these writings. Yet these men were lumina
ries for the day that brought them forth. I would not
injure the kind feelings of my numerous Methodist friends ;
but what would Mr. R. say, should I go into a place hold
ing in my hand Mr. Wesley's sermon on Rom. 8 : 21,
which proves that the beasts will go to heaven and share
in immortality ? — or his sermon on the Lord's Supper,
which proves it right, or which admits the unconverted to
the communion ? — then should I say that Mr. R. believes
exactly thus, before I had seen or heard you, would you
not call it unfair ? This is the light in which I view your
recent conduct.

" In quoting Mr. Smith, you have taken two whole
sentences and part of another, and have so put them
together as to make but one sentence. I think I can
satisfy you that this is wrong, incorrect and unfair. By
the same method I can prove that Joseph Badger should
go and hang himself; yet we both know that the act would

192 MEMOIR OF

be criminal. You find the word Joseph in Gen. 45 : 28,
the word Badger you meet in Ezekiel 16: 10th verse;
Matt. 27 : 5, affirms of Judas that ' he went out and hanged
himself;' this is Scripture. 'Go and do thou likewise,' is
also Scripture. Now, Sir, were you to collect these Scrip
tures by using boldly the principle of which I complain,
you have the following, viz , * And he went out and hanged
himself — 'Joseph Badger, go thou and do likewise.'
By splitting a sentence of one of David's Psalms, you have
the saying, ' There is no God/ — but who would dare to
charge the king with atheism? I hope, dear Sir, that the
plain remarks I have made will teach you the impropriety
of your course, that you will be constrained to make some
handsome retraction, and that you will never again descend
from your high and honorable station to awaken the pre
judices of the ignorant against those whom God delights
to honor and to bless."

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

<c I will do the same about a Conference that I said I
would do in my recent letter. I am, and have been for
many months, about dead to all denominations on earth.
There is so much done to build up and keep up denomina-

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 193

tions that I am sick of it. Many have spoken against
1 our religion ;' but are not ' Christian brethren/ l Christian
preachers,' &c., as much ' our religion ' as anything else ?
Those who want such sectarianism may have it. I hate it
and leave it forever."

Perhaps, indeed, it may be said, that the nearer we
get to the origin of denominations, the more catholic
we shall often find them. Methodism at first was not
a creed, but rather a large revival of religion in the
world, which asked no man, whether minister or layman,
a solitary question concerning his belief. Age may tend
to contract sects, as coal contracts iron and water.
The denominational paths of the world are apt to open
somewhat largely ; nor in their ending would we say
that they exactly fulfil the descriptions of a tourist,
concerning our western roads, which, he said, opened
widely and promisingly under the umbrage of magnifi
cent 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. breast
ing 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 de
parted fiiends. He speaks. of the funeral he attended
on the 19th, of the wife of Capt. Dewey, at Mendon,
as to him a solemn and a joyful day. In the Christian
Herald, January 24, he said :

" It is now glorious times in different parts of this coun
try. In Mendon, Lima, Groveland, Bloomfield, Leroy,
9

194 MEMOIR OF

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

lie 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 llth, 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 coop
eration 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

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 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 E-oyalton. At the great
cataract, which less at that time than now, drew trav
ellers 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 discourse in
Hartwick, and in adjoining villages preached to large
and attentive assemblies. In this region of Otsego
there still flourish societies of the Christian name and
sentiments. In the published reports of the meeting

196 MEMOIR OF

at Hartwick, I find it stated that Mr. Badger, in a pleas
ant grove, September 27, preached the third discourse
from James 1 : 25 : " But whoso looketh into the per
fect 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 dis
course 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 prime
val trees. The morning passed away under the speak
ing 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 foun
tains 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 unwill
ing to depart." There is something beautiful in
tuning 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

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 197

be struck from worshipful hearts. As I passed through
that region of the State in 1850, there were still many
to rememher the golden times of the past, and to them
the name of Joseph Badger was still a reverence and
a charm.

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

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

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

198 MEMOIR OP

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

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

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 199

fortress by candid argument, he would let loose a volley
of sarcasm which was perfectly scathing, and was very
apt to so affect the opposite party as to produce confusion
of mind, one of the first elements of defeat."

" The Rev. Mr. T •, an aged and able Congrega-

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

"The doctrine of the Trinity was first investigated,
each speaking twenty minutes on a side. Mr. T. led off,
and dwelt much on the awfulness of the doctrine to be
discussed, that none could be Christians without believing
it. He said cases had occurred, where persons impiously
denying the doctrine of the Trinity had been cut off by
fearful judgments sent immediately from Heaven. Arius,
for instance, whose death was sudden and awful, a fate he
met soon after Constantine had recalled him to Constan
tinople, from a state of banishment, for rejecting the

200 MEMOIR OP

doctrine of the Trinity. To this speech Mr. Millarcl replied
stating that he could not see that any doctrine could be
awfully important which is not even named in the Bible ;
that he could see no cause for introducing the melancholy
death of Arius, unless it was to frighten the assembly into
the belief that they would be apt to experience a loss
similar to that of Arius if they should deny the Trinity ;
and that Mosheim's Church History contained evidence
to show that Arius was secretly poisoned by his enemies."
u In his next speech, Rev. Mr. T. entered systematically
on the arguments usually adduced on the Trinitarian side.
In justice I would say he did it with ability. Mr. Badger
followed him in four set speeches, and Mr. Millard in
three. They both amply sustained their ground, but Mr.
Badger's adroitness and skilful management were peculiarly
conspicuous to all present. The way he met the proof
texts presented on the opposite side, his critical analysis
of a trio of persons in one being, together with the
absurdity of the two-nature scheme, made a very con
vincing impression on the minds of many then present.
I should extend this article too far were I to attempt to
give specimens of the arguments he used. The debate
closed that day with an appointment to renew it one week
afterward. At the next meeting a crowded assembly
attended. An able Presbyterian minister was present, as
a colleague with Mr. T. in the debate. I think Mr.
Badger led off on that day. In' his first speech he re
viewed the points gained at the previous meeting. He
showed just where the discussion then stood and chal
lenged the opposite party to attempt a refutation of the
position now occupied by him and his colleague. Mr. T.
and his assistant did their best. They evinced much
ability and preparation for the contest. But Mr. Badger,
in particular, was upon them in every position they took

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 231

and every seeming fastness to which they fled. The de
bate continued from ten in the morning, with but a brief
recess, till nearly sunset ; the four engaged in it taking
nearly equal parts. When about to close for the day Mr.
Badger proposed that if the opposite party desired it, the
debate could be continued another day. Mr. T. declined,
as he stated, on account of ill health. Thus this animated
discussion closed, and I may say with confidence, it left
on the public mind a favorable influence for the Chris
tians."

In a New England paper, he says —

" But what is the most pleasant, is to see the good union
that exists, and the steadfastness that appears. There are
now between eighty and ninety members in connection with
the church, and as yet there has not been to my knowledge
but one that has brought any reproach on the cause. Our
assemblies have been so large that I have preached in a
grove the greatest part of the summer past, but we have
made a beginning in constructing a meeting-house, and
the prospect is that we shall soon have better conveniences.
In West Bloomfield, a town adjoining this, the work has
been very glorious. Elder David Millard, who had been
a few months in the County, last June, had his mind
drawn into that town, and as the way opened he began to
preach and to visit the people. He immediately saw the
fruits of his labors — was soon joined by Elder E. Sharp,
of Conn., who had formerly preached in the town. The
work has embraced the old and the young, and has been
carried on in a remarkably still and solemn manner.
Brother Millard has had several debates in public and
private, on different subjects ; and as the public mind has
been much agitated concerning his opinion of Christ, he
9*

202 MEMOIR OF

has written a treatise of about 48 pages, 12mo, which is
now in press, entitled ' The True Messiah exalted,' which
I think will be calculated to do good. A few weeks since
a church has been planted at Bloomfield, and I think it
consists of about thirty members. Prospects are still

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 Canan-
daigua and preached to the people ; the most of the
time was devoted to the town of his residence, and in
supplying the wants of adjoining places. Speaking of
this year in the retrospect, he says : " One year more
of my unprofitable life is gone. In it I have enjoyed
myself well, seen much of God's goodness, attended
many funerals, solemnized many marriages, and at its
close am seriously reminded that

" ' The year rolls round and steals away

The breath that first it gave ;
Whate'er we do, where'er we be,
"We're tending to the grave.' "

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 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 :

''HONORED AND DEAR FATHER: — With pleasure I
once more take my pen to address one for .whom I have
the most reverential regard, a regard greater than I
cherish for any person on earth ; one who has with hope
ful anxiety watched over the days of my childhood and
vanity, and wept at the follies of my youth. My former
letters have given you the state of my affairs and

204 MEMOIR OF

prospects in this pleasant part of the country ; also, in my
several letters, I have noticed the exten.4ve spread of the
Gospel, the increase of light, and the effect of those glo
rious reformations I have been allowed to witness, the
subjects of which are now my choice society ; and you
cannot imagine the unspeakable joy of your son, while a
stranger in a strange land, to learn that his aged father
has been entertained and comforted by the contents of
his letters on those subjects. Permit me, my dear father,
in this short treatise, to make a few remarks on the doc
trine which you have for years embraced and vindicated
relative to the salvation of all men. If this doctrine is
true, it is a pleasant thing; if untrue, it is dangerous to
rest on the sand. As I have . serious objections against
the system, I feel it a duty to lay them before you for
your consideration, wishing, if I am in error, to be con
vinced of it ; and I hope that, should you find the doc
trine you have esteemed as truth, cries ' peace and safety"
to those whom sudden destruction awaits, you will be
willing to exchange it for that truth which opens to the
sinner the worst of his case."

After this kind and gentle introduction, Mr. Badger
proceeds to take up the chief arguments which his
father had, in other years, employed for the support of
the system, — arguments from general reason and from
Scripture. He then attempts to show the origin of
the system in human causes, and its disagreement with
the plain teachings of Revelation, and with the spirit
and genius of the Christian experience and life. Such
is the plan of his treatise. The period to -which these
arguments belong, was one in which there was a strong
controversial clash of theories, each one of which was

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 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.

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

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

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

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 punish
ment whatever, unless it is just to punish human beings
for doing the highest will in the universe, and for doing
what they could not avoid.

"If all creation," says he, "moves in exact accordance
with the divine will, I cannot find anything in the world
that is sin. Where all is right, there can be no wrong.
Sin then is rendered virkie, falsehood is truth, darkness is
light, Satan is man's friend and helper toward the ' new
heavens ' and the eternal bliss. Is it not strange that
God should give laws to machines ? For this scheme
completely renders men such. He does not announce
laws to the trees of the forest. What would we think of
the goldsmith who should appoint a day in which morally
to judge all his wratches according to their works ? This
doctrine gives as much honor to Satan as it does to
Christ, as it makes him as active as he is in the salvation
and final happiness of men. It certainly makes him the
brother of Christ, for Jesus said, ' He that doeth the will
of my Father which is in Heaven, the same is my brother ; '
— as universal foreordination causes the devil to do the

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 207

will of God, it presents him as the brother of Jesus
Christ. If the two ideas, that the soul is a part of God,
and that God has foreordained whatsoever comes to pass,
are true, then Universalism is correct ; if they are not
true, the system must fall, for these are the main pillars
which support the fabric, and in my opinion they" are as
weak in their nature as were the feet of the king's image
in the prophet's vision, which were ' part iron and part
clay.'"

Mr. Badger goes on to speak of the universal good
ness of God, as a pledge and proof that the divine
laws will be executed ; he says, that the* goodness1 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 Chris
tians who take the name of Universalists, that they

208 MEMOIR OF

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
prescriptive than most other sects, and having investi
gating and inquiring minds, they would of ten 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 heroi
cally 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 maybe
their merits or defects. He was one of those naturally
balanced men who could see the fragmentary excellence

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 209

residing in religious theories or in human reforms with
out 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 unequiv
ocal 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

210 MEMOIR OF

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 quo
tations have already been made : —

" For seven long years I have been deprived of the
joys of a father's house on account of my obedience to
the great commission, ' Go ye into the world and preach
the Gospel to every creature ; ' yet in distant lands I have
met many dear friends, and found many dear homes.
But I have not lost my regard for rny relatives, and the
silent groves are witness to my tears that my father's
family may all share in the grace of Christ. Oh, what
comfort it gives me to learn that some of the family have
in their experiance known the light, joy, and peace of re
ligion since I saw them. Though we connect with
different sects of Christians, though our views may be
vastly different, yet if we have real virtue, if we ' fear
God and work righteousness,' we shall be accepted of him.
It is with the greatest tenderness that I have penned these
arguments against your theory, and it is with solemnity

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 211

that I look forward to a coming judgment where we shall
soon meet. Should you still think your system true,
remember that we should have something more than a
belief in any doctrine, — something more than a profession
of religion to qualify us to meet our God in peace. May
he crown your hopes with eternal joy. May your grey
hairs, when he shall call, come down unto the grave in
peace. With your ancestors and children may you praise
the Lord God and the Lamb forever. My best regards
to my dear mother. Ten thousand blessings crown the
evening of her life, and may her sun set without a cloud.
My love to my brothers and sisters, who to my heart are
still dear. May they live as children of the light.
Though hundreds of miles shall separate us — though
hills and valleys, lakes and rivers between us lie, we can
pray to the same God, cherish the same spirit, walk
according to the same rule, and, ere long, meet in the
same eternal mansion of repose, where sorrows, pains,
and labors shall end, where tears shall be wiped away
from all faces."

Among the permanent moral lights of New England
at this time, Rev. Noah Worcester, of Brighton, Mass.,
shone with no ordinary lustre. His thoughts on several
moral and theological subjects, embodied in tracts,
books, and in periodical form, were known throughout
the country. His opinions, though held as unsound by
many, were commended to the reader by the candor,
piety, learning and admirable character he possessed.
Mr. Badger soon saw the value of his mind as a theo
logical writer, instituted some friendly correspondence,
and availed himself of a new element of power by
throwing into wider circulation some of his argumenta-

212 MEMOIR OF

live writings ; he also gained permission of Mr. Wor
cester to republish some of his works. His " Appeal
to the Candid," and his " Bible News," were distinctly
spoken of by Mr. B., as works deserving to be placed
in every library, and of being read at every fireside.
But the well of Christian life in Mr. Worcester was
too full and deep to be exhausted on theological
themes. Under date of April 30, 1819, he says to
Mr. Badger :

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

" N. WORCESTER."

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

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 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 : —

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

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

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

" In these remarks I would show that the Eternal God
is alone supreme, and that he is the Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ. The first name given to the Creator in the
Scriptures is God, Gen. 1:1, which, in a peculiar
manner, is expressive of his power and greatness, and
is applied to him in a very different manner from what it
is when bestowed on any other beings. Yet it is an
ambiguous word, and in the Scripture is applied to seven
different characters which are, 1. The Eternal God. —

214 MEMOIR OF

Phil. 1:2. 2. To Jesus Christ in prophecy.— Isa, 9 : 6.
'For unto us a child is born, a son is given; and the
government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name
shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God,
he Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.' 3. To
angels.— Ps. 97 : 7 ; Heb. 1:6. < Worship Him, all ye
gods/ 'Let all the angels of God worship him.' 4.
To Moses. — Ex. 7: 1. 'And the Lord God said unto
Moses, See, I have made thee a god to Pharaoh.' 5. To
the Hebrew Rulers or Judges.— Ex. 22: 28; Ps. 82 : 1.
6. To Pagan idols.— Isa. 44: 10. 7. To Satan. 'In
whom the God of this world hath blinded their eyes.'
From these passages it is evident that the word God of
itself cannot teach the self-existent Divinity of that to
which it is given."

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

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

" 1. In names. The word Jehovah is employed four
times in the Scriptures, and in its simple, uncompounded
form, is alone applied to the Supreme God. Ex. G : 3.
— 'And I appeared unto Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, by
the name of God Almighty ; but by my name JEHOVAH
I was not known unto them.' Ps. 83: 18. — 'That men
may know that thou, whose name alone is Jehovah, art the
Most High over all the earth.' Isa. 12:2. — ' For the
Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song.' Isa. 26 : 4. —
f In the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength.' This word,
it would seem, denotes the eternal self-existence of God.
It was among the Hebrews their most sacred title for the
Creator, so sacred in their regard that they did not, on
common occasions, pronounce it in reading, or in worship,
but after a significant pause of reverential silence, they

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 215

substituted for it the word Adonai. Here is a sublime
title, Laving no double meaning, and is applicable to no-
one but to the self-existent God.

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

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

216 MEMOIR OF

These indeed are strong Scripture positions, com
prehensively 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 ? r 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 Mes
siah'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 preemi
nence." 3. The idea that in a council of ministers,
exclusive of churches, the controlling power concen
trates. 4. That in the churches, independent of the
ministers, all power resides. In neither of these sys
tems 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 sub
jects agitated. The general state of the Christian

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 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 iii his ideas on church
government ; a view more widely expanded and quali
fied 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., Octo
ber 2, at a meeting where several clergymen and a
large assembly were convened, Mr. Badger preached a
sermon from Habbakuk 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
10

218 MEMOIR OF

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 minis
ter of that town ; it was a sublime text, and was .dis
cussed and illustrated in a manner worthy of its exalted
sentiments.* 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. f

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 occa
sionally for two religious publications, one called the
" Christian Herald," Portsmouth, 1ST. H., the other
" The Religious Informer," published at New Andover,
in the same State. To this last mentioned periodical
we have no access, ani 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

* Christian Herald, Portsmouth, N. H., Vol. II, p. 61.
f Christian Herald, Portsmouth, N. H., Vol. II, p. 63.

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 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 denomi
nations 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 re
ceive any as church members who have not been bap
tized 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 fellow
ship. " 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

220 MEMOIR OF

exclusion of all party names. In New England I judge
the difference was more marked, as some of Mr. B.'s
correspondents in the East complained that their ideas
of catholic brotherhood had been rejected by them.

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

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

In a letter to Mr. Moulton he says :

"Though my situation is very local in a land distant
from you, and from my friends in the Province, my mind
often surveys the north country, where I have travelled,
preached, suffered and enjoyed so much of God's holy
presence ; and a hope still exists that I may again visit
the pleasant cottages that have once sheltered me from

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 221

the chilling blasts of winter. Since I came into this
country with you it has ever seemed like home, and I
still feel bound in spirit to abide. I find it is a small
thing to take the ground, and a greater to keep and culti
vate it. But with my joys I have sorrows. January
30th, a pleasant son was taken from us, and a council of
six physicians decided as early as last July that Mary
Jane cannot recover from the consumption by which she
is wasting away. She enjoys much of God's presence,
is resigned and patient ; but this is a scene of sorrow in
which nothing can give comfort but the grace of God.
The cause of religion still flourishes in this country.
There is a general steadfastness and a good union among
the churches. Our congregations are numerous. Hun
dreds flock together to hear the word of life and the
Macedonian cry is heard from every quarter, ' Come over
and help us.'

" ' Oh, Jesus, let thy beauties be

My soul's eternal food ;
And grace command my heart away
From all created good.' "

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

"Mrs. Mary Jane Badger was born in Farmington, N.
H., February 26th, 1798, of respectable parentage. She

222 MEMOIR OF

was the third daughter of the late Col. Anthony Peavy,
of that town. At the age of thirteen, she made a pro
fession of religion among a people known by the name of
Christians. Her pious walk and modest deportment
while but a youth, entitled her to the highest esteem of all
who knew her. At the age of eighteen she became
united in marriage with Elder Joseph Badger, by which
she became separated from her dearest parents, never to
see them again on earth. Her constitution was naturally
delicate, although for two years while she resided in this
country she enjoyed a comfortable state of health. She
conversed freely with her husband on death, and gave
him some directions about her two little children. Pre
vious to this time she manifested great anxiety concerning
them, but from this moment appeared willing to give
them up, and seemed to lose that fearful concern for them
with which she had hitherto been exercised. But God
had otherwise declared for the youngest child. She wept
at the afflicting scene, but endured it with much fortitude
and resignation. She said to her husband, at the close of
a prayer when several of her Christian friends were
present, ' I rejoice there is such a scene as death for
mortals to pass through ; it is the gate of endless joy.'
Enriched with early religious experience, she took delight
in the singing of certain devotional hymns, such as ' My
God, the spring of all my joys/ and ' 0 Jesus, my Saviour,
to thee I submit ; ' — and her last words were, ' I feel
composed, I can put my trust in God.' ' She was/ says
Mr. Millard, ' a striking example of female neatness and
industry; very exemplary in dress and manners, and
particularly chaste and reserved in her conversation.
Though she is now no more, yet her memory will long
live in the hearts of the virtuous.' "

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 223

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

" HERE LIES THE BODY OF MARY JANE, WIFE OF
JOSEPH BADGER, WHO, IN MEMORY OF HER VIRTUE,
HAS ERECTED THIS MONUMENT. SHE DIED A CHRIS
TIAN, APRIL 4, 1820, AGED 22 YS. 1 M. 9 D.

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

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

Though a resident of one place, it was not his nature
to be a local man. His sympathies went abroad, his

224 MEMOIR OF

eye caught the signs of real and of possible success
over a large area, and the public, far and near, re
sponded 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 num
bers ; 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. Per
haps 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

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 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 con
serving 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 cen
turies. 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 El
bridge. On the morning of the llth he called at the
10*

226 MEMOIR OF

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 prom
ise, 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
16th 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 pub
lic 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,

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 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 thou
sand people, and under the umbrageous veiling of
forest leaves, he spoke from Ps. 40 : 1, 2, 3 ; "in
which," says the reporter of the sermons given, " he
noticed fifteen distinct particulars, and we could say
the word was rightly divided and a portion given to
each in due season. He proved himself a workman
that needeth not to be ashamed." Speaking of this
discourse, Mr. Spoor, who reported the order of the
meeting to the public press, said that he appeared
before the people " like a cloud full of rain ; " and
probably there are few men in the ministry anywhere
whose " doctrine " dropped more " like the rain,"
or whose speech " distilled " more " like the dew,"
than his. His manner was dignified and gentle.

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

228 MEMOIR OF

of the few months that remain of 1820. To him he
says:

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

He speaks of a great meeting held at Cortright,
Delaware -county, at which he spoke twice, heard
five discourses from other ministers present, namely,
Uriah Smith, 0. E. Merrill, and Jesse Thompson, —
a meeting at which the converting power of God was
signally displayed among the people. Under date of
October 5, he says :

" My mind has often flown from the crowd of new
friends and acquaintances that surround me, to the enjoy
ment of those old friends with whom I have taken sweet
counsel in years that are past. Was I coming into trials
and conflicts, I should be constrained to say of my new
acquaintances, as David did of Saul's armour, ' I have not
proved it.' Friends whom we have proved, friends who
have merited our confidence, are priceless in value.

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 229

Solomon knew the worth of this truth when he said, ' A
friend loveth at all times.' "

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

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

Letters from many quarters and from leading men
in community, came in, soliciting him to come and
preach, and not unfrequently did the leading mem
bers 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 influ
ence around a boldly speculative mind. The follow
ing extract will show its spirit and its point :

"VERY DEAR AND AFFECTIONATE BROTHER, — With
the warmest affection and from a clear evidence of duty,
I hastily pen a few lines for your consideration, hoping
that it may not only serve as an introduction to a familiar
correspondence between us, but that it may lead us to

230 MEMOIR OF

discuss, investigate, and harmonize our views relative to
the doctrine of the Gospel and the ordinances of the New
Dispensation.

" I was not alarmed relative to the suggestions you
made in my presence concerning a ' new light ' you had
received, which led you to deny the ordinances of the
Gospel, as I thought your experience would soon teach you
your error, and the impropriety of annulling what Christ
and the Apostles have established — what both primitive
and modern Christians have rejoiced in. But when I dis
covered a division in the peaceful flock of my charge, and
at our last communion, three of our once happy brethren
stay away, their seats vacant which have been so faithfully
filled for years, persons whom I have heard praise God on
such occasions, I cannot refrain from giving you my senti
ments, and from assuring you that after carefully review
ing the subject, I must still l Teach and baptize in the
name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
Ghost/ (Luke 1C : 15, 16 ; Matt. 28 : 19, 20,) and shall
continue ' steadfast in the Apostles' doctrine and in break
ing of bread and of prayers/ Acts 11:41-46. Your
'new light,' as it is called in this region, to me is an old
error, agitated by the Quakers two centuries ago, and
more recently adopted and taught by the Shakers.

" Water baptism and the Lord's Supper are the two
main ordinances of the new dispensation, I think there
was no such practice as either of these among the Jews
previous to John, who came to prepare the way for the
Messiah. At least, the Scriptures make no mention of
any such practice under the law. Baptism was first
practised by John, was subsequently sanctioned by the
precepts and example of God's holy Son ; and since it is
comprehended in his Commission to the Apostles, it must
continue to be as lastingly and as extensively observed as

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 231

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

232 MEMOIR OP

Mr P., it would appear, was a minister of the
Freewill Baptist denomination, had associated some
with Mr. Badger * in public life ; but instead of ad
hering to the suggestions of his friend, it seems that
he published a small volume, in which he sent bap
tism, the Lord's Supper, ordination, and the divinely
inspired character of the Scriptures, into endless ban
ishment, 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 denomina
tion from which the author of the book had previously
hailed. The title of Mr. B.'s manuscript read thus :
" A Plea for the Innocent ; and T. Patching's Writings
against Baptism, Lord's Supper, Ordination, and the
Holy Scriptures, criticised. By Joseph Badger,
Minister of the New Testament." Among the mottoes
of the title-page is this :

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

But we judge the insect was not wholly spared. It
is ably written. Perhaps a glance into the boldness
of the speculations of Mr. P. may be gained in the
statement that among his common-place are positions
like these : " The Bible is the God of thousands, a
stumbling-block to the blind, and the foundation of
Priestcraft — the means by which Satan, through his
prelates, has served himself to the best advantage ; "
that those who advocate the Bible, though less numer-

* Both were active members of the Union Convention held in Co-
vington, Genesee, January, 1820.

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 233

ous 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 m£n derives spiritual
knowledge. Why Mr. Badger's reply was never pub
lished, 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 publi
cation was unnecessary. " I have traced with care,"
says Mr. B., " the writings of Volney, the noted
French atheist, and I think he treats the Scripture
with more fairness and respect; whilst Hume and
Bolingbroke are decidedly too modest to rank with
him. But when we turn to the pages of Mr. Paine,
Mr. Allen, and Voltaire, we find a style and manner
that admit of comparison with the writings now under
discussion."

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

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

December 17, from Lima, he speaks of an important
reformation, and of a prospering society of Christians
in the town of Williamson, now Marion, Wayne County,

234 MEMOIR OP

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 re
quest 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.

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 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 theo
logical thinking and of the force and clearness of mind
with which the author treated the subject. His dis
course 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 Uni-
versalism as having the same roots, and differing only

236 MEMOIR OF

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 benevo
lence as it "widening flows through all nations and
climes.

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

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

" Some, in speculating on the Garden of Eden, have
so spiritualized the transaction as to please their own

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 237

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

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

On the second division of the subject, he dwells on
Christ as the great mediatorial centre of light and
mercy, where God will meet all mankind in their
striving to realize the salvation of their souls. By
pleading the eternal life revealed in Christ as a free
gift, and by urging mankind to use their personal
freedom in improving the new advantages, he pre-

238 MEMOIR OP

sents 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 care
lessly employed in theory, would be regarded as the
utmost profanation, as the last step in the descending
grades of religious irreverence and unbelief.

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

Under date of February 22, 1821, at Mendon, 1ST.
Y., Mr. Badger informs the readers of the Christian
Herald, that he has just returned from Genesee and
AlTeghany counties ; that in Covington a successful
reformation had begun ; that in Perry, Warsaw,
Gainesville, Orange ville and Pike, he found the peo
ple 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 sec-

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 239

tions of the State of New York. " My health," he
adds, " has heen poor the month past, which has lo
cated my labors some ; before that, for six months, I
had as many meetings as there were days. 0, how
delightful the thought of meeting all the elect around
the Father's throne in glory, where, from every nation
and sect, all will join in one harmonious song ! "

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

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

" I am sensible," said he, " that my visit will be
remembered by the sArme-maker's," for which he
assigns as a reason that in the partisan zeal of his
opponents, there were many who seemed ready to ex
claim, " Great is Diana ! " He speaks of Mr. W.

240 MEMOIR OF

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 let
ters, written under various circumstances and at dif
ferent times, in after life, from sincere, earnest and
abiding affection, did he now form the marriage alii-

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 241

ance which continued until his death, and which placed
him at the head of a talented and moderately numer
ous family. March 21st, 1821, he was married to
Miss Eliza Maria Sterling, a talented, respectable
young woman of Lima, New York, daughter of Sam
uel 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 pa
rents 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 fac
ulty of judgment, of clear-sightedness on matters of
practical moment, was decidedly prominent, she be
came in a degree his counsellor in all the great and
important enterprises of his life.

In the duties of his pastoral and his new social
relations, the months of April, May, June and July
passed away. Among his correspondence of 1818,

242 MEMOIR OF

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

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

" The 10th inst. we arrived at Ogdensburg. I made
several visits on shore, and found it a wicked place ; as
St. Paul said of Athens, l the whole city was given to
idolatry/ The llth, lodged at a place called the Cedars,
on the St. Lawrence, a French village, and a people of
strange language. The 12th, we spent the Sabbath on a
small island "in Lake St. Clair, but, at evening, we reached
a small village at the mouth of the Shatagee River, which

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 243

is one of the most wretched places I ever saw. A gentle
man told me that the inhabitants were part of them
French, a part Indian, and a part Devil. I had reason
to believe it. Early in the morning I visited the Indian
town, Cogh-ne-wa-ga, and found some of them willing to
hear of the crucified Jesus. I have just arrived in this
pleasant town, Montreal, but shall leave it soon for the
townships east, as I intend to visit my father's house,
which I have not seen for five years. A gentleman from
England has just informed me that he has discovered a
general belief among #11 sects in England, for ten years
past, that God is about to work an overture in Christen
dom, for the union of all sects of Christians. Happy is
every person -who possesses that spirit."

•

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

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

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

I

244 MEMOIR OF

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 frus
trated his plan.

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

On foot, Mr. B. continued his journey up the river
through a wretched country, until he arrived at a
settlement formed by the remnant of an old British
army, to whom the government had given lands.
Mr. B. considered them in nearly a state of starva
tion, 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.

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 245

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

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

After completing his visit in the king's dominion,
Mr. Badger, about the middle of September, started
for home, proceeding through the State of Vermont
over the Green Mountains to Ballston and Saratoga ;
thence, after a visit at Amsterdam, where he informs
us several hundred had entered into the enjoyment
of the religious life during the past year, he advanced
up the Mohawk to Utica ; and spending the Sabbath
at Westmoreland, with Kev. J. S. Thompson, and
attending appointments on the way at Brutus, Ca-
millus, Auburn and Geneva, he arrived at home Oc
tober 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

246 MEMOIR OF

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 ad
vancement.* 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 con
strued 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 ad
dresses.

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 sub
ject in hand.

* His degree in Masonry was the Royal Arch.

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 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 Confer
ence,* 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, pre
sented no formula of belief except the generally con
ceded 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

* At first, it was a voluntary assemblage, called general because
all denominations were invited to participate ; later, delegates from
local Conferences were appointed.

248 MEMOIR OF

from parts so remote, and that in time it might out
strip its original intentions, and become a centralization
of power to the injury of congregational sentiments.
At the meeting which followed the Conference, Sun
day, 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 in
structed 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, accom
panied 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, Cohoc-
ton 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 Susquehan-
nah, between the towns of Milton and Northumber
land. 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 Bloomfieid, he preached and
administered the communion to a free and happy peo-

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 249

pie, 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 con
tinued his way through the enveloping night and the
descending rain. "We had," says Mr. B., "to as
cend and descend dreadful mountains to obtain a lodg
ing among strangers in a strange land. We were
fatigued and sorrowful ; but Brother Buzzael broke the
silence of the way by singing the following lines :

" Though dark be my way, since He is my guide,
'T is mine to obey, 't is His to provide ;
Though cisterns be broken and creatures all fail,
The word He has spoken will surely prevail."

Pursuing the course of the Lycoming, he struck the
west branch of the Susquehannah, at Williamsport,
thence to Lewisburg, where he arrived on the evening
of March 6th. On the, 7th, he spoke for the first time
to a small audience on the subject of heaven ; from
this time his assemblies began to increase and his
words took effect among the people. Mr. Bacon had
been somewhat successful in preceding years in that •
place. Mr. Badger preached several sermons in the
open air, as no^ house would hold the assemblies that
convened. He there received one minister into the
fellowship of the Christian connection from the Meth
odists, Mr. Andrew Wolfe, a German of property,
character, and respectable talent, who preached in the

250 MEMOIR OF

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 un
necessary 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 con
sideration, 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 exam
ple 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

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 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 nu
merous 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 1 " 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 Sep
tember 29, 1823, 1 discover that Mr. Badger was in
Lewisburg at that time, and that he contemplated a
meeting at Northumberland.

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

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

252 MEMOIR OF

Everybody who can, turns out to hear the word, and very
many of my hearers are those whose pale faces declare
the reign of disease."

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

June the 20th, Mr. Badger officiated as Chairman
of the New York Western Conference, at which time
seven new churches were reported, and some import
ant ideas of church polity were discussed; In Au
gust 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

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 253

of a small church in that city, with whom he had
labored half of the time through the summer, and ex
presses 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 pub
lic gifts and labors ; and, could we institute a close
comparison between the width and depth of the inter
est 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.

254 MEMOIR OF

CHAPTER XIII.

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

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 per
sonal 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. :

61 1 think I informed you I was not a professor of reli
gion, though I have a friendly regard for all such as appear
to worship God in a rational and consistent manner,
whose minds have not been circumscribed by undigested
creeds and by uncharitable proscription. I have read
some and thought much on the subject of religion, and
after all I confess I am rather skeptical. I have endeav
ored to view it abstractedly by the lights of reason and
philosophy ; to consider what it is, its origin and design.
To sura up in a few words, if I may be allowed the ex
pression, I should consider it indispensably necessary to
those who would not be good without it. Take this
away, and what method would be left to bring the mere

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 255

child of nature to the practice of virtue ? You could not
discover to him the excellency there is in goodness, and
the reward which it brings. His imagination needs to be
awed by the penalty annexed to vice. It may seem par
adoxical to say that when men become good for goodness1
sake, they have no need of religion."

Bold thoughts were no alarm to Mr. Badger ; and
not many persons had his faculty for taking away
effectually the objections which really stood in the
path of the unbelieving, though in doing so his meth
ods 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 oth
erwise.

1824 finds Mr. Badger engaged in the local sphere
of pastor ; and, among the solemn and responsible du
ties 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 sym
pathy, 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

256 MEMOIR OF

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, Decem
ber 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 hav
ing 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.

11 1 went," says he, " in the month of October, to Horn-
elsville, and being detained there one day, I had occasion
to ride in the evening of the 23d, and about 12 o'clock
at night came to Mr. Palmer's, near Angelica. I saw his
valuable mills, on which the orbs of heaven faintly shone,
and the sable curtains of night had mantled the scenery
in majestic grandeur. Now, I said, is the time for me to
have vengeance on one of my greatest enemies on earth.
I dismounted and surveyed the scene before me. Finding
the door fast, I obtained an entrance by a small window
which I could raise ; I entered the dark cavity ; all was
solitary and silent, and every step resounded with mid
night horror ; the sweet stream uttered its innocent mur-

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 257

mur below, and all nature seemed combined to reprove
me of my sin."

Though hesitating for a moment, a brief meditation
on the causes of oflence 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 med
itated, the murder, in his own house, of Othello Church,*
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 ofience at Angel-

* Mr. Church lived in the town of Friendship, six miles west from
Mr. How.

258 MEMOIR OF

ica, before Judge Rochester; was, by the force of
circumstantial evidence, declared guilty, and, on Feb
ruary 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 can
dle 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 eter
nal 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 ! m 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 pen
ance.

" In conversation/' said Mr. B., " he is pleasant, famil
iar, easy and polite, and often his countenance is lighted
up by an artificial smile. He is a man of quick discern
ment, and possesses a mind of unusual strength and great

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 259

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

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

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

260 MEMOIR OF

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 murder
er'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 be
tween Mr. How and his own family, to whom he ad
ministered appropriate advice. Through all his doubts
and fears, he accompanied the spirit-wanderings of the
culprit, and succeeded in bringing his mind to a state
in which he was conscious that an eternal sun shone
somewhat brightly through the cloud openings of his
dark horizon.

" On Sunday, the 14th, in the afternoon," says Mr. B.,
" his daughter, a beautiful little girl about 19 years of
age, arrived. She trembled as she approached the gloomy
apartment of her father. They embraced each other
with great affection, and all the spectators wept. He
called his daughter and friends to view the coffin, which,
he informed her, was like her mother's. They wished
me to pray with them ; and, at the close of prayer, I
found the father and daughter leaning upon the coffin,
with their hands joined ; he exclaimed, ' Oh, my Harriet !
must we part? You are the image of your excellent
mother — you have derived your good disposition and all
your good qualities from - her. You have nothing good

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 261

from me.' They both wept aloud, and every heart seemed
to be moved with grief. On the 15th I witnessed a recon
ciling interview between Mr. How, Mr. Palmer, and
Sheriff Wilson, men of business who had once been great
friends, but whose friendship had been broken by serious
difficulties."

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

"March the 19th. I entered the prison at break of
day, found him much resigned. He observed, as I entered,
that his last night on earth was gone, which he had spent
in prayer. At 7 o'clock I visited him again with a com
pany of ladies who had never seen him. Mrs. Richards,
of Dansville, took him by the hand, both fell upon their
knees, and she prayed for him in the most fervent manner.
He then prayed for himself, for his family, for the family
of Mrs. Church, who were afflicted by him, for his execu-

262 MEMOIR OP

tioner-, and all the world. As we came out, a gentleman
remarked that he had never heard a man pray like him.
At 9, I entered his apartment for the last time", accom
panied by his beloved daughter and a young man who was
soon to become her husband. We entered with serious
hearts ; he received them very pleasantly, and made re
marks to me on the fine weather, and the lady who had
prayed with him. He asked of me the privilege of walk
ing into the yard with the young man. They spent a
short time together. He then asked me to wait on
Harriet to the door. He placed her by the side of the
young man, and delivered her to his charge, saying that
she had long been deprived of the counsels of a mother,*
and would be in a few moments separated from her father
forever. ' I now commit her to you as a friend, protector,
and lover.' "

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

On the 19th, in the presence of six thousand per
sons, 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 offend
ing, he had no morbid sympathies to pour out on the
injustice of his punishment ; he spoke of the propriety

* Her mother, Mr. How's first wife, died 1816.

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 263

and the majesty of the law ; of the necessity of cleans
ing the land of murderous crimes ; alleging that, while
government exists, its principles must be faithfully
carried into action ; that the officers who, in their dif
ferent 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 theologi
cal sentiments, he cleared himself triumphantly of all
their charges, and came off with the decided approba
tion of the judges, officers, and indeed of all the lead
ing 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 pur
sued both as a gentleman and a minister.

264 MEMOIR OF

CHAPTER XIV.

JOURNEY TO THE SOUTH. — PUBLISHED JOURNAL.

THE summer of this year, Mr. Badger seriously con
templated a voyage to England, chiefly for the pur
pose 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 ap
pointed 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 Con
ference, he was, in accordance with the appointment
made by the New York Western Conference, com
mended 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 cooperation 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.

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 265

His evangelizing ministry through the summer was
attended with good results ; and shortly after the Gen
eral 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 Wcstchester coun
ties, where they -held many meetings. On the 15th,
they arrived at New York. In a letter to Mr. Silsby,
of Rochester, he says : —

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

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

* The La Fayette Ball given at that time, he says, cost $100,000 ;
and about 12,000 persons were said to have been present.

12

MEMOIR OF

establishment of a new monthly periodical at West
Bloomfield, Xew York, which commenced January 1,
1 X25. under the editorial direction of Rev. D. Millard,
and entitled the " Gospel Luminary." These sernHaa,
from Messrs. Gough 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 Doc
tor Joseph Hall, who had a few months preceded them.
Soon after, the gifted Miss Rexford, and Mrs. Abigail
Roberts, •huge labors in many places had been suc
cessful, held meetings in that metropolis, and as early
as January. ISJo, we ^ear °^ ^r* ^ouon laboring
to plant the standard of a liberal evangelical Chris
tianity in that community.

Mr. Badgers journey was deferred tfll the late
^•^••fcAl 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 Roche-
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
meei.

~ In the second meeting," he says, " I saw two young
ladies who appeared much disposed to vanity and oppo
sition, bat at the close one of them requested prayers., and
within one week both became happy converts, and have
ance been baptized. From this occurrence the work began

BET. JOSEPH BADGES. L"?"

rapidly among the youth. About a dozen hare been hope
fully converted, and a great number more are now under
serious conviction. Difficulties hare healed by the power
of God, and backsliders hare iciatacd with confessions,
IiyqiUutt, and tear?. I hare been surprised daring this
revival to find popular pafl&JBUM of religion its want
fflifmiP^ What a shocking inconsistency it is for people
to pray for ufianiilinn in foreign countries, and fight the
work of God at their own doors ; to BCihia latii funds
for die conversion of the htaftffi, and five and act worse
than heathens themselves. In the present age, the oppo
sition of the infidel, dnmiau^ and profime, is modest when
compared with the wrath and ccngtaxec of popular pro-

He speaks of Rev. Asa C. Morrison as greatly
eeoBsful in Salem, Ohio ; of Elder Hodget, as har-

ing witnessed m large revival during his three amntamf
sojourn in the Province of Upper Canada. " I have
found it duty on many accounts," he adds, ^ to ad
journ my southern journey tfll next fidL" In Royal-
ion, be continued to remain, where, assisted for about
three weeks by the labors of Elder Levi Hathaway,
he saw many converted. Writing from that place, he
says: —

*• The first day of the present year was
to us at Boyahon. I gave a sermon appropriate to the
occasion ; the number and attention were great, and At
samts had a satisfiu^ory evidence that the Lord was about
to revive his work, and many spoke in a feeling manner.
Several young people requested prayers, and at the close
of the meeting I requested afl who would covenant together
and live anew for God the present year and pray for each

268 MEMOIR OF

other fervently, to come forward and join hands ; about
forty came with melting hearts. I then called for those
who were resolved to set out the present year to seek
salvation, to come into the circle and kneel ; I think five
came forward. We had a solemn and glorious time in
prayer, and felt the sweetest influence of the Good Spirit
while we sang,

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

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

" On the third day of February we met for the organi
zation of a religious society according to law ; at the close
of the business, a young man who sat on the back seat
sent for me to come to him ; he had many days been under
serious conviction. He said that he should like to speak
if there was liberty. He then arose and told what God
had done for his soul. February 20 was a day of the
Mediator's power; the congregation was large, solemn
and attentive. At the close we repaired to the water,
which is but a short distance from our meeting-house,
where I baptized the bodies of twelve happy souls. I led

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 269

into the water at once six young men ; and when I had
baptized ten, a young man who had not cqjne forward,
passed through the crowd and proposed to his wife to join
him ; they took each other by the hand and came into the
water together. This was one of the most pleasant scenes
I ever saw. The saints praised their God aloud, and
many of the congregation wept."

Sometimes it has been customary among sects to
measure the power of a religious faith by the strength
and joy it imparts in the dying hour, which certainly
is bringing the reality to a solemn test. Judging by
this standard, and from almost innumerable instances,
the faith inspired by the labors of Mr. B. and his
associates was a strong spiritual power, holding the
element of triumph in the last, low hour ; for not un-
frequently 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 correspond
ence, 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.j
June 24, may more perfectly give his views.

" Furthermore, my brethren, to facilitate the union and
prosperity of this Conference, let every church within its

270 MEMOIR OF

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

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

li My Fathers and Brethren in the Ministry : I con
sider myself highly honored to be called to speak in this
meeting of delegates and ministers, which I deem one of
the most enlightened bodies of men on earth. When I re
flect on the name you espouse, the sound doctrine you in
culcate, the Christian liberty you enjoy, and the reforma
tions that have everywhere attended you for twenty years

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 271

past, I am justified in the sight of God and men in
congratulating you as a favored and an enlightened
people."

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

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

" Your church government establishes liberty and equal
ity through all the flock of God. Every church has an
equal right to a voice in this body. Here ministers and
people stand upon the level, and there is none to lord it
over God's heritage. We here confer on the welfare and
prosperity of the whole, and take sweet counsel together. I
consider your dissent from several popular errors as a great
virtue ; though it exposes you to much persecution, it will
lay the foundation for your prosperity. In government

272 MEMOIR OF

you discard all monarchy and aristocracy, "which princi
ples have been the ruin and overthrow of many sects and
kingdoms. In theology you dissent from the cold and
chilling doctrines of Calvinism. You reject the mysterious
doctrine of the Trinity as inconsistent. This is a bold step,
yet your ground is tenable, and it defies the assault of the
most learned. The doctrine of the Trinity, which has
kindled such deplorable contentions throughout the Chris
tian world, is of human origin, and was brought into the
Church in the fourth century. There is no sentiment in
theology more contested than it. In Europe the contro
versy is conducted with great ability, but the Unitarian
cause is fast gaining. In England, four hundred congre
gations have rejected it ; in America, several colleges and
many of the principal men of the Union have discarded it.
I am informed that the lion. John Quincy Adams, the
President of the United States, is a bold Unitarian, and
is valiant for the truth. In this country, the alarm which
Trinitarians manifest, the precaution they take, and the
combination of different sects on this subject, are sure proof
of the weakness of their cause, and though we now hear
the cry from every Trinitarian church in the land, ' Great
is Diana,' 'Great is Diana,' be assured that her temple
totters, her pillars are shattered, and this" idol must, ere
long, fall like Dagon before the Ark of God. It lays the
foundation of Deism, is the first argument of the Jew, the
Pagan, the Mohammedan and the Infidel against the Chris
tian religion."

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

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 273

" It will also be well to keep up a friendly correspond
ence with other Conferences. For this purpose, let our
clerk be instructed to officiate as corresponding secretary,
that we may act in the light of the whole body. As we
are more nearly allied to the Eastern Conference in this
State than to any other, I recommend to have one delegate
appointed every year to sit with them, that our business
may be conducted in harmony. As our churches are ex
tending to Georgia on the South, to Maine on the East,
and to Canada on the North, it must always keep this
State as the centre of the connection, and we have grounds
to anticipate much from a correspondence between our
brethren of the North and the South. There are now
about one hundred ministers in the Eastern and "West
ern Conferences ; but when I came into this country
eight years ago, there was not over ten or twelve free
preachers in the State, and many of our present number
were then strangers to God. We now have nine or ten
convenient meeting-houses built by our own people, besides
many others which have become free. Three temples of
worship at least are being built this year within the bounds
of these Conferences ; one in the city of New York,
where Simon dough is laboring with success ; one at
Bloomfield, one at Salem, Ohio, and several congregations
are preparing to build another year. Although we have
witnessed so much prosperity, our work is just begun.
Never did we witness such a time as the present. The
cry, ' Come over and help us,' is now heard from all parts,
and did you, my brethren, ever witness such throngs to
attend upon your ministry as now ? Did you ever know
such a general inquiry for light and liberty ? Truly the
fields are all white and ready to harvest. My aged breth
ren, as you look upon the young men by your side who
have" devoted their juvenile years to God, and have just
12*

274 MEMOIR OF

entered upon the great and arduous duties of the ministry,
let every power within you rejoice that you have lived to
see this good day, that you behold the evidence that the
ranks will yet be filled, when you and I shall sleep in death.
And you, my young brethren, look upon your fathers in the
ministry, who have spent their time, property, and health
in publishing salvation to sinners ; view with reverence
those venerable heads which have become hoary in the
way of righteousness, and be stimulated by their example
to end your days in honor of the sacred cause you have
espoused. May you have many souls as the seals of your
ministry, and hereafter shine as stars of the firmament for
ever and ever ! "

Immediately Mr. Badger began to fulfil his part of
the duties devolving on the newly appointed ministry.
Between July 13th and August 9th, he travelled four
hundred and sixty-five miles, preached twenty-one
sermons, and baptized thirteen persons ; between
August 12th and 31st, he journeyed three hundred
and fifty-seven miles, attended twenty-one meetings,
preached at Covington, N. Y., at the ordination of
Rev. Elisha Beardsley, on the 21st, from Rev. 10 :
10 ; and from this period to September the 24th, the
time of his departure for his western and southern
tour, the days and evenings were industriously used
in his mission, completing in all nine hundred and
sixty-six miles from July 13t!i. As Mr. Badger pub
lished 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 frag
ments that nothing be lost" and with a rapidity that

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 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 ac
curately narrate every mile he travelled, every town
he entered, every sermon he preached, and every far
thing 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 missiona
ry is sometimes liable to receive, are the words of
Johnson : —

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

Also from Gray : —

•

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

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

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

" I left home September 24, accompanied by my wife,
Mr. Chapin, and several other friends, for the general
meeting at Chili, where we arrived in the evening. Here
I met eight of my brethren in the ministry. Our inter
view was agreeably interesting, and the parting to me
uncommonly solemn. The general meeting, so far as I
could discern, was very satisfactory. The assembly was
large, solemn, and attentive ; the preaching was power-

276 MEMOIR OF

ful and interesting, and the accommodations good. "We
leave the event with God. On our way to Royalton, I
preached once in Clarkson, and once in Gaines. At Roy
alton, I met thirteen ministers of the everlasting Gospel,
all of whom appeared to have the good of souls at heart,
and love to the great and honorable work in which they
were engaged. Brothers Church, Chapin, Beardsley,
Shaw, Hathaway, Whitcomb, Blodget and Hamilton,
all spoke to good satisfaction, and the multitude could
say, our place was no less than the house of God, and
the very gate of heaven. In conference, we received
Francis Hamilton as a fellow-laborer. He gave two
appropriate discourses, and I hope will be useful among
us."

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

' How soothing is the thought, and sweet !

But for a while we bid adieu ;
With welcome smiles again to meet,
And all our social joys renew.'

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 277

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

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

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

" In Chautaque County, I was delighted with three
curiosities in nature. 1. A small spring* is found in
Fredonia, which affords a sufficient quantity of gas to
light the whole village with very little expense. It is
delightful to see, in a land which, a few years ago, was a
wilderness, nature and arfc majestically united. 2. A
larger growth of timber is found here than I have ever
seen before. I saw the stump of a tree, on which I was
informed that sixteen men had stood at once. We meas
ured a chestnut tree which was dry, and had lost its bark ;
three feet from the ground, it was nine feet and five
inches through. 3. I was made acquainted with a young
lady who is remarkably gifted in poetry. A few years
since, Joseph Baily found her in a poor log-hut, portray
ing her charming effusions on the margins of old news
papers. On his stating the subject to some Christian
friends, they sent her a quire of paper, which she wrote
over in a short time, and returned it, to their admiration

* This spring emits carbureted hydrogen gas. It has not only
lighted the apartments of the citizens, but has been used in cooking.

278 MEMOIR OF

and astonishment. She and her husband both enjoy
religion. Many a brilliant soul is now breathing in soft
and lively emotions in remote wildernesses, and many a
precious pearl is buried in the rubbish of poverty and
ignorance."

From Pomfret he visited North East, in Pennsyl
vania ; gave two sermons, and spent a day in Con
ference 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 atten
dance, gave seven sermons, and Mr. Badger bestows
uncommon praise on the discourse given by Mr. Hath
away, 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 Pains ville, 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 — Pres
byterians, 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 bap
tized in the Province of Lower Canada ; he is the
seventh that I have baptized who have been ordained

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 279

as ministers of the Gospel. We left Canaan on the
26th ; had a pleasant journey through Wooster, and
reached Mt. Yernon 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, De
cember 25, 1325 : —

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

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

i

November 3d, he speaks of arriving at Derby
Plains, where he preached five sermons, and saw the

280 MEMOIR OP

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

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

" In Clark County, at the head waters of the Little
Miami, we had good meetings, were kindly entertained
by Charles Arther, and had agreeable intercourse with
Elder Isaac N. Walters, a young man about twenty years
of age, who bids fair to be useful. At Pleasant town
ship, Madison County, we were kindly received by Far-
gis Graham, a man fifty-seven years of age, who had just
returned from a preaching tour of six weeks in^Indiana ;
he had a good journey, and felt encouraged. I surveyed
with admiration his gray hairs, his smiles and tears,

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 281

•while he gave an account of his journey. He visited the
poor cabins in the wilderness, lay on the ground in the
great prairie, where the wolves were howling around
him, and passed through hunger and fatigue, but found
God to be with him. His spacious plantation at home,
on which he has more than one hundred head of cattle,
besides other stock in proportion, reminded me. of the
ancient possessions of Abraham, Lot, and Jacob. He
does much for the cause, and has long been one of its
ornaments and faithful ministers."

Messrs. Badger, Hathaway and Chapin, paused
awhile at Williamsport, Pickaway County, where they
gave seven sermons, and received the kind attentions
of Rev. George Alkire, of whom he speaks in very
respectful terms. Holding meetings in Platt and
Highland Counties, he parted with Mr. H. on the 19th,
who travelled to Cincinnati via Kentucky, and passed
ten days with Rev. M. Gardner, in whose congrega
tions he attended sixteen meetings and preached to
large and respectable assemblies. At Ripley, Brown
County, he formed the acquaintance of Hon. E. Camp
bell, 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 bene
factor, and love him as their best friend on earth."

" On the 2.9th of November, I reached this pleasant
city. Here, and in the adjoining country, I have had

282 MEMOIR OF

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

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

" The prejudice*, customs, ways, manners, and opin
ions of men, how various ! But these are not the fruit
of nature or grace, but the products of education. Na
ture and grace are the same in every country, and vary
only in form and degree.

" Cincinnati is a beautiful city, situated on the north
bank of the great Ohio river, and has a population of
about 15,000 souls. It is surrounded, on the east, north
and west, by hills, except the narrow but rich valley of
Mill Creek, which makes its way through from the north.
Its location is dry, healthy, and truly romantic. Its
streets are wide and pleasant, and its buildings elegant,
in eastern style. The manners of the people are a com
pound of southern politeness and generosity, and of east
ern refinement, taste, and simplicity. The civility of
every class of people, down to the teamster and carman,
exceeds that of any city I ever visited. The market, for
neatness and variety, is equal to any in America, and its
price only about one-half that of Montreal, Boston, and

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 283

New York. The city council are making great improve
ments, and the city if fast populating. Its climate is
mild and agreeable, and, as it is near the centre of Amer
ican settlements, I know not what it may yet become"

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

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

284 MEMOIR OF

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 wero
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 re
ligious revivals in Ohio. Mr. Badger thoroughly ex
plored 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 be'en
the speculative differences between Mr. Stone and his
brethren in later years, all must unite in one conces
sion 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* County, New York, and further narrates the

* Then all the towns east of the Genesee, in this section, were in
Ontario County ; Monroe County was not then formed.

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 285

particulars of his adventures. He surveys with grate-
ul pleasure the scenes he has witnessed, the kind
nesses 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 preexistence of Christ, re
garding the Socinian view of him as derogatory to the
character of the Christian religion.

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

286 MEMOIR OF

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 Chris
tian Conference on the Wabash, of one in Indiana, and
touching on some of the larger points of primitive faith.
He says : —

" While it gives me great pleasure to hear from you
that primitive Christianity is reviving in the east, I hope
you will be no less pleased to hear of its success in the
west. This vast country, which was lately a howling
wilderness, now blossoms as the rose. On the big and
little Wabash, which is still the haunt of savage men and
wild beasts, there are now large churches of happy Chris
tians. Along the Ambarrass and Bumpass, where twelve
years ago little else was heard but the howling of wolves,
the hooting of owls, the fierce screams of panthers and the
fiercer screams of wild Indians, painted for war and thirst-

KEY. JOSEPH BADGEK. 287

ing for human blood, are now heard the songs of Zion, the
sound of prayer, and the voice of peace and pardon through
a Redeemer. Among us the demon intolerance has been
exposed in its multifarious character, and banished from
the congregation of the faithful. Ignorance has given way
to investigation ; and love and union are daily triumphing
over prejudice and partyism. But still I see, I feel, I
lament a great want of that holiness and divine power
which characterized the followers of Jesus in the first ages
of Christianity."

" It is the word of God alone," said these stout,
honest-hearted men of Ohio, when assembled — " the
word of God alone, on which the Church of Christ will
finally settle, build and grow into a holy temple of
the Lord." Mr. Badger, after taking a list of the
names of ministers in Kentucky and Ohio, and with a
characteristic orderly minuteness, ascertained the num
ber 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 benedic
tions of the regions he had visited, and with the re
solve at some other season to penetrate the south
further than he yet had gone. Perhaps the good im
pressions 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 Cin-

288 MEMOIR OF

cinnati 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 con
stantly 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 1 8th, 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

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 289

that it was the truth of God, and that none could deny
it — the same night he went into a grove near his resi
dence, 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 in
vitation : " 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.
13

290 MEMOIR OF

His second tour through Ohio and Kentucky, in
which he renewed and greatly enlarged his acquain
tance, 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 lan
guage, " it is a safe and moderate calculation to say,
that in the several Conferences situate in Ohio, In
diana, Illinois, Missouri, Tennessee, Alabama, and
Kentucky, there are three hundred preachers and fif
teen thousand brethren. They all worship ONE GOD
IN ONE PERSON, and have NO CREED BUT THEIR
BIBLE." He says :

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

" It is now a more general time of reformation in the
west than has been witnessed for many years past. At
Dublin, Elder Isaac N. Walters has been very successful
in winning souls to Christ. In Elder Alkire's vicinity
the churches have received large additions of late. In
Elder Gardner's congregations the number was increasing,
and a new church had been organized within a few weeks.

REV. JOSEPH BADGER, 291

In Elder Rogers's neighborhood some sixty or seventy
were hopefully converted ; and from Elders Simonton,
Vickers, Kyle and Miles I heard a good report. In Ken
tucky the prospect has not been so good as it now is for
many years. News from the west part of Virginia, and
east of Tennessee, by Elder William Lane, was very
refreshing. Sectarianism there is fast falling. In Ala
bama the Lord is doing wonders, and the knowledge of
one God is fast increasing ; in those regions he has raised
up many able advocates for his pure doctrines. In Ken
tucky, my interview with the preachers, brethren and
friends was very agreeable, and their kindness and friend
ship can never be forgotten by me. A message was sent
to me by order of the church at Georgetown, seventy
miles distant, inviting me to visit them. In Ohio, my
visit was everywhere received with joy. At Cincinnati,
the congregation was large and the prospect is good. Our
friends there will probably build a brick meeting-house
for the worship of ONE GOD in ONE PERSON, in the course
of next summer.

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

292 MEMOIR OF

from my horse ; in both instances narrowly escaped
death."

In Columbiana County, the two colleagues of Mr.
Badger, L. Hathaway and Asa Chapin, met a great
excess of enthusiasm in public worship, against which
they directed the cooler power of reason ; and it seems
that a strong paragraph in Mr. Badger's printed jour
nal, in which he sharply and most independently re
proved (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 un
pleasant to his colleagues, he applies the words of
Johnson :

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

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

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 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 particu
lar 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 revi
vals ever known in that community, was, in the year
1826, left without a stated ministry, owing to the re
moval of their pastor, Rev. Charles Morgridge, to New
Bedford, for the purpose of taking the pastoral charge
of theJPurchase street church in that city. Their po
sition 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

294 MEMOIR OF

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 per
suasive 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

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 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 El
der Joseph Badgef ; he labored with them between
one and two years. Much good was done. The church
and society were built up, and sinners were converted."*
This statement is the same that the people of Boston
who attended his ministry have, so far as my recollec
tions serve, invariably made ; the common opinion is,
that the church and society were never more uniformly
prosperous, that the meetings were never better at
tended, 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 b.een its pillars ever since ; t and though

* In a later address of Mr. Loring, than the one whose statements
were quoted by Mr. Himes, published in 1844, which was the 40th
anniversary of the Boston Church, Mr. L. observes — "Elder Badger
arrived in September, and commenced preaching. His labors were
successful, and many gathered to hear the word. In the winter fol
lowing, a considerable number professed conversion, and were re
ceived by the Church. Under date of Lord's day, March 23, 1828,
there stands on tke Church record the following entry : — 'At the
close of the afternoon service, Elder Badger, with the candidates for
baptism, previously prepared, proceeded in ten carriages to South
Boston, where they were followed by a large portion of the congrega
tion. After solemn prayer, the ordinance was administered after the
example of our glorious Lord.' Elder Badger remained with us about
a year, and during his stay I believe this house was generally as well
filled as at any period since its erection." — p. 18.

f J. G. Loring and Wm. Gridley are deceased ; the former but
recently.

296 MEMOIR OF

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 otie," 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 Balls town,
N. Y., June 8, 1828, where he was attending a gen
eral meeting, after he had been at Boston for more than
six months, and at his home in Mendon about two,
he said —

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

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

In a letter addressed to Mrs. Badger, February 4,
1827, he narrates very affectingly his visit to Farming-
ton, 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

* Mrs. Badger.

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 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 un
studied utterances of his mind thrown into his domestic
correspondence, without seeing a sincere wealth of
heart, which his light and buoyant manner in the world
was often calculated to conceal rather than to express.
In addressing the Luminary, May 9, 1828, he says :

" I intended in this number of my Journal, to have
given a general account of all the religious societies in
Boston, but other things have prevented my giving that
attention to the subject which would be necessary in this
case ; I must therefore omit it till some future period.
The Calvinistic Baptists, the Methodists and the Unitari
ans, have made many disciples to their several parties
the year past ; a number of whom we hope are experi
mental and practical disciples of Jesus Christ. Four
new chapels have been opened in Boston the winter past,
and while other societies have been favored with revivals
through the goodness of God, the Christian Society,
which has withstood all opposition for more than twenty
years, has of late experienced some of the rich mercy-
drops. I have been laboring among them some over six
months, and have been enabled with divine assistance to
gather up the fruits of my brethren's labors who went
before me. The names of Clough and Morgridge were
mentioned by some whom I baptized, as the means, under
God, of calling up their attention to the concern of the
soul. I will name one instance : I baptized a very re
spectable young lady who had always attended a Unita
rian meeting until a few months since, when she found in
a pew of her chapel Clough's letter to Mr. Smallfield,
which excited her inquiry and finally became the means
13*

298 MEMOIB OF

of her awakening. Thus a good thing may come out
of a despised and persecuted Nazareth."

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

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 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 Gr. Loring, Abner H. Bowman, in be
half 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 per
sonal. Within the three months succeeding his ar
rival on June 21st, are several valuable letters from
his pen. A few extracts we will here subjoin : —

" BOSTON, July 8, 1828.

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

300 MEMOIR OF

" BOSTON, July 19, 1828.

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

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

^BOSTON, August 4, 1828.

" Dear and affectionate Wife : I suppose you have some
days been expecting this letter, but my labors here are
of that arduous and oppressive kind which consume all
my moments, and scarcely leave me time for repose and
refreshment, much less to enjoy any innocent relaxation,
or to bathe my weary spirit in the sweet and endearing
reflections of HOME. You know, Maria, that home has
charms for my heart this summer, which I scarcely ever
felt so sensibly before ; and since I left you, at any time
would these four little letters, (H O M E) pronounced

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 301

aright, cause the blood to flow more warmly about my
heart, and a chain of endearing recollections to visit my
soul in a manner which, in spite of all my masculine
powers and native fortitude, would cause the briny tear
to flow ; and then ashamed of my childlike weakness, I
have mingled with the crowd and wrapped these tender
scenes in smiles, to hide them from my unfeeling asso
ciates, who, of course, would only mock my affection if
they knew it. But this Monday morning, after the labors
of one more holy Sabbath, I accept the pleasure and the
dnty of communicating to you a few lines to feed that
sacred fire which should ever burn in your affections
toward your God, your duty, and me."

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

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

Whilst in Boston, Mr. Badger became acquainted
with the clergymen of other denominations, particu
larly 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 ; arid often did he speak

302 MEMOIR OF

of the divine spirit of Henry Ware, and of the be
nevolent 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* in Boston, for a settle
ment of three or five years, or instead of this, to join
Mr. Tuckerman in his missionary labors, with a per
manent 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 reli
gion of the neglected and unprosperous classes, Mr.
B. had extraordinary gifts ; yet, from the weight of con
siderations 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 anec
dote somewhat characteristic of the man was lately
given me by a friend, and as it relates to extemporane
ous preaching, I will transcribe it.

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

* His answer to the committee, in which he declines their invita
tion, ia dated at Boston, August 14, 1828.

REV. JOSEPH BADGER.

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 re
proof to those who preach from irrelevant and inex
pressive 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 leav
ing 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 Re
deemer liveth, and he shall stand at the latter day
upon the earth." John 16 : 22 : " And ye now there
fore 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

304 MEMOIR OF

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,

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 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.

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

" The word religion, in its common acceptation, is ap
plied to the four great bodies of worshippers which divide
ou World, Jews, Pagans, Mohammedans, and Christians.
The Jews-' religion embraces a belief in one God in one
person, with the practice of those legal rites enjoined by

306 MEMOIR OF

the law of Moses ; but it rejects the Messiah, and hopes
in one yet to come. The Pagan religion embraces all
that part of mankind who are involved in the worship of
idols. The Mohammedan religion embraces a belief in
one God, and in Mahomet as his Apostle ; whilst the
word Christian is applied to all who believe that Christ
has come in the flesh, which includes all professed
Christians."

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

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

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 307

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

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

" ' We '11 not bind a brother's conscience,

This alone to God is free ;

Nor contend for non-essentials,

But in Christ united be.' "

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

" Again, we reflect with tender sympathy upon the case
of the orphan who in early life is cut off from the instruc
tion and care of its fond parents, and is turned into the
wide world without education, without experience, without
friends, without bread or shelter. What a world of misery,

308 MEMOIR OF

deception and sin he is left in ! What snares are spread
for his strolling feet ! What woes for his expanding soul !
The provision made in this city for male and female or
phans is not only a subject of admiration and praise to the
good of every class, but I have no doubt the departed
spirits of their ancestors and parents look down with sat
isfaction and joy upon the benevolent founders of those
asylums, that are now the living monuments of Christ's
spirit on earth ; and can we doubt that He who is the
orphan's Father, delights in these institutions and in the
kind and fostering care now extended unto them ? You
cannot imagine the pleasure I enjoy while on my way to
this house. Almost every Sabbath I meet the female or
phans, who, in uniform, follow their instructresses to the
house of worship. This city, I am happy to say, not only
abounds in profession, but there is no city in the world,
of its population and ability, which abounds more in works
of charity and benevolence. The friendship and kindness
of the inhabitants of Boston are proverbial in all parts of
the Union, and a Bostonian is respected throughout the
world."

In the spring and summer of 1885, which the writer
of this memoir passed in Boston, he well remembers
the kind tone of regard in which Dr. Tuckerman uni
formly 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.

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 309

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

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

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

310 MEMOIR OF

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

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 311

merit of our ministry it is prudent to make a stand there,
a meeting-house shall be immediately built, and some are
about ready to be baptized. I have written to Mr. H.
Plummer, on the case of the people here ; and hope they
will be noticed by the preachers of New England."

His next paragraph, which emphatically repeats
sentiments not as yet quoted in this book, but published
as early as 1817, embraces a topic of so much im
portance 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 : —

"lam decidedly opposed to the hasty constitution of
churches. No church, in my opinion, should be acknowl
edged until there are numbers, talents, and strength* suf
ficient to keep a regular meeting on the Sabbath ; also
there should be a prospect of stated preaching. I rec
ommend that these brethren at Mason be baptized and
stand either in their individual capacity, or be associated
with the church at Boston, or Haverhill. We have al
ready taken possession of more ground than we can cul
tivate to advantage, and I see no way for our vacant con
gregations to be supplied but by an evangelizing ministry."

Mr. Badger closes this letter by saying that his
numerous engagements would prevent him from ful
filling his appointment at Dutchess County, N. Y.,
where he had been solicited to meet again the throngs

312 MEMOIR OF

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, liter
ature, and general character, he always afterward
spoke in the most respectful terms, in a manner ex
pressive of agreeable memories.

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 313

CHAPTER XYI.

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 Onon-
daga and Cajuga, 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 Bennett), 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. 0. E. Morrill, whose happy and popu
lar 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 Lysanderand Canton, Onondaga. At
times he spoke at Cato, Bald wins ville, Jericho, Van
Buren, Camillus, Elbridge, Weedsport, and other
14

314 MEMOIR OF

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 Mon
days and Saturdays. As usual, his congregations
were generally large and attentive, and his advocacy
of liberal and evangelical sentiments was indeed form
idable to all who were opposed. It could not be other
wise 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 when
ever a man of character and ability ventured to en
counter 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 Presby
terian 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

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 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 re
serve his own. He always held that in oral contro
versy, 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 be
longs to the last word. No limit of time was set for
either speaker. They appeared at early evening be
fore a large assembly. Mr. Badger arose and an
nounced 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 tiine perfect God and perfect man. Mr.
Badger spoke oetween 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 pro
ceeded, alternately his own view and its evidence, then
examining the opposition and its proof, then returning

316 MEMOIR OF

to the further statement of his own opinions and
their evidences, and again exploding the usual argu
ments 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 unhesi
tatingly say that but one opinion prevailed, which was,
that Mr. Badger was plainly victorious.

His letters to Mr. Stowe, which originated in a mis
representation 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 con
tact 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

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 317

ever happened under his active ministry, he had an
uncommon ability to inspire the men and women al
ready marshalled under free principles, with new con
fidence 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 prose
cute 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 enter
prise. Between the villages of Canton and Ionia
stands a commodious chapel, which, through the gener
ous 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 oc
casion, I extract the following lines : —

318 MEMOIR OF

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

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,f
he writes :

" Since rny last, I have visited many places in this
part of the State, and am happy to find that the cause of
Christian liberty is gradually advancing, though oppo
sition attends every step that is taken. In Rochester, a
Unitarian society has been raised. Mr. AY. Ware, of
New York city, was the first minister of that order who
ever preached there. His preaching was like Paul's, at
Athens ; it made no small stir. Many were alarmed for
their favorite dogmas ; for his three sermons gave the

* Gospel Luminary, Vol. Ill, p. 95.

t The name of his residence in Mendon.

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 319

doctrine of the Trinity a deadly blow. He was succeeded
by Mr. Green, of Massachusetts, who is an eloquent man,
and, like Apollos, mighty in the Scriptures. He left,
after a stay of three months, for Cincinnati. I am in
formed they are now supplied by two young men from
Boston, who have my best wishes for their success.
Though these men have encountered much opposition, a
spirit of inquiry and a love of liberal Christianity are im
parted from their faithful labors, which will live among
the citizens of Rochestf r in spite of the influence of super
stitious sectarians. Though they are a distinct sect from
the Christians, their labors go to promote the same great
principles of liberty, and their enemies and ours are the
same."

In Cayuga County, he speaks of the labors of Mor-
rill and Coburn as successful ; of passing through
Montgomery, Delaware, Green and Dutchess Coun
ties ; 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 : —

o

" His congregations were large and attentive. The
sects cried out against him and his doctrine. Being
young, and liberal in my feelings, I was induced, by the
opposition raised against this ' great Unitarian heretic,

320 MEMOIR OP

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

From this place he proceeded to Milford, New Jer
sey, to attend the theological debate held in that town,
December, 1830, between Rev. William McCalla, of
Philadelphia, and Rev. "Win. 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 discuss
ion, 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 subse-

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 321

quent 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 pur
pose 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 assist
ance of Elder Levi Hathaway, he had organized a
small church of eleven ; a reformation immediately be
gan, 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, nob far from fifty," about half
of whom were young men, of talent. Under date of
October 12, 1831, Mr. Badger writes : —

"It is now nearly twenty years since I engaged in the
great and responsible work of preaching the Gospel. I
regret that I did not engage in that work earlier, and
that I have been no more successful. But, with all my
lack of qualifications, I have every year had something
to encourage me; I have baptized about one thousand
persons ; I have had the pleasure of seeing twelve of that
number become useful ministers of the Gospel, and many
have finished their pilgrimage on earth with joy. Of
late, I have been more than ever encouraged, and, not
withstanding my embarrassment on account of ill health,
my spirit is alive to the good work, and my heart is warm
14*

322 MEMOIR OP

to the interests of Zion. The church at Lakeville, Liv
ingston County, has also been blessed of late. I have,
within a short time, baptized six persons there. In Tomp-
kins County, our brethren have been abundantly favored
with revivals. In Cayuga County, also, the cause is
prospering. Elder Morrill has had an addition to the
churches of his care of about eighty members, this year."

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

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

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

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 323

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

CHAPTER XVII.

EDITORIAL LIFE.

BELIEVING in the power of the press as one of the
strongest agents which, for weal or for wo, is ever
brought to bear on the thoughts, consciences, and out
ward 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," compose of dsome of the most

324. MEMOIR OP

experienced ministers and competent men, was organ
ized 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 t^eir 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, 0. E. Merrill and Asa Chapin,
were the Executive Committee, and J. Badger, Editor.
A prospectus for this work, called the " Christian
Palladium," a name sacred to liberty and its defence,
was issued by Mr. Badger, January, 1832, in which
he says : —

" The prominent objects of this work will be the de
fence of the Scripture doctrine of one God and one
Mediator, the vindication of free and liberal Christianity,
the right of private judgment in religion, and the suffi
ciency of the Holy Scriptures as a perfect system of church
polity. In the dissemination of those sacred principles,
it will seek no alliance whh prescriptive sectarianism, nor
will it bow to the ipsi dixerunt of fallible men, or ascribe
holiness to any human creed whatever. While it incul
cates Christianity as it is, it will endeavor to show what
its votaries should be ; and while it advocates holy truth,

REV. JOSEPH BADGEll. 325

it shall breathe the benign spirit of Him who is the way,
the truth, and the life. While it will urge the necessity
of vital piety and holiness of heart, it shall also show that
these sacred principles directly tend to the union of Christ's
spiritual body, which is the Church. In a word, it is not
to be a sectarian engine, but a free vehicle of general
Christian intelligence."

On the next page, which contains his address to
agents, he says, that c; 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 unquestion
ably arrived ; " and May 1, 1832, witnessed the circu
lation of the first number of his monthly, a neat
pamphlet of 24 pages, in goodly attire, and in excel
lence 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
of the first book* 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

* Bible Doctrine of God, Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, Atonement
and Faith; to which is prefixed au Essay on Natural Theology and
the Truth of Revelation. By Wm. Kinkade. Revised by J. Badger.

326 MEMOIR OF

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 reli
gious editors could, we believe, get as much good ma
terial from uneducated and undisciplined sources as he.
In his May number he addressed his readers in the
following strain : —

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

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 327

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

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

" Christian liberty will be a leading topic in the Pal
ladium, as genuine religion can breathe freely only in the
atmosphere of freedom. There cannot be imagined a
greater treason against heaven and earth, than for men,
under the pretence of a superior sanctity, to plot, contrive,

328 MEMOIR OF

and provide for the control of human thoughts, actions
and hopes, by infusing into the minds of their brethren and
equals the delirium of superstitious fears of God, and the
poison of cringing subserviency to man. The churches
which have attempted this, have displayed the worst
effects of ambition, selfishness and sensuality ; and the
states which have submitted to it, all the debasement of
servility, ignorance, and even of crime. Men should
dread nothing but sin, and submit to no authority not
delegated by themselves, except that of their parents and
their God. The Palladium is not designed to espouse
any party in politics ; yet it may have occasion at times
to speak on the subject of Civil Government, so far as
that species of government has a direct bearing on Chris
tian liberty."

In this bold, independent, out-spoken manner, the
Editor of the Palladium unfurled his banner both to
the friendly and the adverse breezes of the church
and the world ; and though he well knew how and
when to be politic, his paper had no disguise of senti
ments. 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 de
velop 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 : —

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 329

X

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

Let these seven rules of wisdom for young writers
still be remembered, as those that are able to disci
pline and to improve their power, and particularly
the last, which gives to writing an earnest and a truth
ful 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, Merrill, Mil-
lard, 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,

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" 'T is greatly wise to talk with our past hours,
And ask them what report they bore to Heaven,
And how they might have borne more welcome news,' "

was enabled to say :

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

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

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

May, 1833, the second volume of this publication
commenced ; and until its removal, by the united com
promise of the east, the north, the south and the west,

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 331

to the town of Broadalbin, Montgomery County, K. 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.* As we glance over the
pages of this volume, we notice the discussion of some
very important themes, such as the natural immortal
ity 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 ot
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 strict
ures on the Monroe Baptist Association, his views of
ordination in reply to Mr. Kay ; all these are accessi
ble to those who own his monthly ; we only say they
are usually such as lie only could have written.

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

"What a compound of spite and piety! at war with all
dissenters, and at war with themselves ! In many in
stances, ;V

* Pall., Vol. II, p. 287. A general convention from the different

States.

332 MEMOIR OF

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

" t How has the fine gold become dim ! How has the
salt lost its savor ! How are the mighty fallen ! ' '

We omit the strictures given on the different sys
tems 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,* Montgom
ery County,! N. Y., that being the central position be
tween 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 assign
ed to him the entire control of the paper and its responsi
bilities ; f and in May, 1834, it took the form of a
large octavo, with double columns, a form it has re
tained 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 lan
guid or weary. It is moderate to say, that his mani
fold resources were not exhausted by the different and
various directions in which they were used.

* In the town of Broadalbin. f Now Fulton County.

J Pall., Vol. IT, p. 387.

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 333

In the closing number of Volume II, Mr. Badger
exrpessed 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 doctri
nal 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 salva
tion 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 opin
ion. Whilst they rejected the supreme and self-
existent deity of Jesus as inconsistent with the eternal
supremacy of Him whom Jesus worshipped, they re
vered the unmeasured presence of the high divinity
that dwelt in him ; and, whilst they denied the doc
trine of arbitrary grace, they affirmed the full depend
ence of man on the direct agency of God, of his illu
minating 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 tes
timony as final and supreme.

The Christian Palladium, now at Union Mills, by
the agreement of a general convention, representing

334 MEMOIR OF

different parts of the country, did not, as was contem
plated, become a weekly paper, but a semi-monthly.
In this form, Mr. Badger was its editor until May 1,
183D, making in all seven years' service in the edito
rial field. Though there had been and were several
periodicals published under the auspices of the Chris
tian denomination, the Christian Herald, of Ports
mouth, 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 de
nomination, under the assistance of several minds, it
was his laborious toil and managing genius that gave
it permanence and successful progress.* Wo 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 com
mon 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,

* The leading men in starting the general association and the
publication of the Christian Palladium were 0. E. Morrill, J. Badger,
J. Bailey, B. Miles, and others. O. E. Morrill was particularly active
and prominent in this useful movement.

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 335

hasten to the perusal of his lines, as if they were im
pelled by a cariosity 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 con
tradistinction 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 Eng
land to take western fields of labor. " I wish," said
Mr. B., in May, 1885, 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 pre
judices."

" 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 neces
sity, at times, a man-of-war. In exposing imposition,
in opposing formidable ability if arrayed against what
he regarded as vital in religion, Mr. B. was very
decided; and none who had to contend with him

336 MEMOIR OF

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 strong
ly 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 Confer-
ential 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

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 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 accom
plishment of a good education ; also, that the friends
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 encour
agement, 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 gener-
15

338 MEMO1K OF

ally 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,* and from the lib
erality 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 Chris
tian 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 edu
cated mind, especially when such a mind is possessed
of eloquence and boldness, qualities that always im
press strongly the mass of mankind. Many churches

* The debate with R. D. Owen, as it was called, was evidently no
debate. No direct issue was formed between them, and there was no
direct conflict of mind with mind on any essential question. It was
mostly the rare phenomenon of two men talking alternately in the
name place on different subjects.

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 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 degrada
tion. 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 ex
perience as their basis, affirmed the free present agen
cy 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 for
eign to our purpose, we would say, that we seem to
deny that God is a sun, we impair the force of his

340 MEMOIR OF

eternal rays, by obliging him to shine forever upon
the world exclusively through the atmosphere of an
cient 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 ma
terial 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 inviola
ble 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 wwdMigament
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 para
graphs only, sometimes several columns are employed.
Though these are not thrown into systematic argu
ment, 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 op-
'posed to a system s-o intellectually speculative, and
which tends to chill and discourage faith in a free
access to God, and in his direct holy influences on the

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 341

soul. This idea, based in experience, was his princi
pal 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 sor
rows from its own strength ; that its imperfections
demand an immediate spiritual aid, which he contended
was promised in the system of Christianity, and real
ized by all who live by faith and walk in newness of
life.

The gifted and egotistical young man, William Hun
ter, 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, in
deed, and ye will have us all in the water — according
to* thy theory, friend William, that is a very safe ele
ment. Shall we not be in a fair way for heaven?"
Mr. Hunter offers to show, on one page of the Palla
dium, 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

34*2 MEMOIR OF

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 allu
sion taken from his notes, December, 1837, on his
eastern tour, in which he styles Mr. Badger the
" redoubtable captain," will suffice. He says : —

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

The permanency and stability of Mr. Badger, ques
tioned 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.

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 343

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

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

344 MEMOIR OF

for the seed he had brought. Therefore, he turns upon
his heel and leaves the good people of Lynn to manufac
ture their own shoes, and those of Salem to manage their
own witches."

The following paragraph, which succeeds what I
have inserted, was partially quoted by Bishop Pur cell
in the celebrated discussion between himself and Mr.
Campbell on the Roman Catholic religion,* held at Cin
cinnati, January, 1837, which, with several other quo
tations from the same paper, goes to show that the
Palladium, which he introduced as the organ of a nu
merous body of Christians, had not failed to impress
the Catholic Church as being a work of strength in
Protestant literature.

" He frequently speaks of ' the Bible alone ;' but this
is not a term generally used by the brethren in New Eng
land, and is taught by few except Mr. 0. We never
knew our brethren to boast of walking by the Bible alone.
This we regard as an error, let who will proclaim it. We
say give us the Bible, but not alone. Let us have a God,
a Christ, a Holy Spirit, and a ministry to accompany it.
There was a law given to the Jews ; also, a testimony,
which they were bound to observe. The testimony of "the
inspired prophets did not contradict the law, but taught
and enforced the same great truths. The ancients were
to walk by the law and the testimony, which was called a
word, (Isa. 8 : 20). So the New Dispensation presents
the written Word and the Spirit of God as the perfect law
by which the saints are to be governed. Thus we preach
the Spirit and the Word."

* Debate on the Roman Catholic religion, pages 59, 186, 172.

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 345

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

Referring to the charge of fluctuation he says : —

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

It is not my wish to revive the passions of past con
troversy, 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
15*

346 MEMOIR OF

upon questions* which the large assemblage of ministers
and particular churches might act upon with wisdom
and safety. These articles were indeed an able vindi
cation of the doctrine of associated action, of confer-
ential organization ; they called out a vast deal of dis
cussion, 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 usurp
ation 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, origi
nally 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 re
quest, 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

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 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 finan
cially 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,* of Manchester,
England, under the date of June 1, 1838, wrote as
follows":

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

" In your alienation from creeds of .human formation,
you not only have a feeling in common with the Unitari
ans of England, but in my opinion have assumed a posi
tion at onc3 eminently Scriptural and of great and press
ing need in the actual state of the religious world. The
New Testament Scriptures ought to be the only standard
of faith and doctrine with followers of Christ ; and aware
of the fallibility which must attach to every mere human
interpretation of Holy Writ, I feel that the great work is
to command allegiance to the great Protestant principle
of the sufficiency and paramount authority of the Bible,
and particularly of the writings of the Evangelists and
the Apostles. I cannot but look on your efforts and suc
cesses with high gratification, and in the chills of a colder
moral atmosphere and the dissatisfactions of a necessarily

* Editor of the Christian Teacher.

348 MEMOIR OF

less productive field, I sometimes half wish myself in
the midst of you."

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

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

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 349

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

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

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

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

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

350 MEMOIR OF

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

" On Church Government and the powers of Confer
ence, we have bestowed special attention, and occupied
much room, and given our opponents a fair hearing. If
we thought there was one single argument left unanswer
ed on which disorganizes rely, we would now, on leaving
the editorial chair, give it due consideration. "We have
opened this door wide ; there has not been a single argu
ment or statement of the opposition left out, which has
been presented for publication. This discussion was called
for, and has been of utility to the Christian society, as
our Conferences have since put on new strength and the
churches taken new courage. This poor worn-out slander
which a few heated partisans have set on foot, that our
Conferences have assumed improper authority and inter
fered with the domestic or internal affairs of the churches,
is proved, by long experience and common observation, to

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 351

be a fabrication of error, a false alarm sounded for party
purposes. But our opponents on this question are van
quished ; and though the struggle on this question has
been long and arduous, we shall ever look upon our labors
on this point with interest and satisfaction."

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

Thus ended seven years of severe editorial service,
through which we discern the action of a shrewd, in
telligent, 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, in
deed, constitutionally kind, yet on dishonesty and im
posture, especially if they came under the sacred garb,
he was boldly severe, this being his favorite, chosen
motto on all such occasions :

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

352 MEMOIR OF

One has only to look at the character of the same
periodical from the time he left it until now, to be con
vinced 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 pleas
ure 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.
Ho then said : —

" Every human being should be educated. All young
men who are seeking to be useful in public life should be
educated. But there are certain evils to be avoided in
the means we pursue. Every human being, to improve
in a natural way, requires a certain amount of physical

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 353

exercise. To shut one's self up among books without
walking and suitable activity is the certain road to weak
ness."

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 sci
ence and literature. I noticed, in all subsequent in
terviews, that he never seemed to want scientific cul
ture, at the expense of naturalness, spirituality, and
sound health. It was Horace Mann, I think, who
more recently said, that a dyspeptic stomach is an
abomination to the Lord. Mr. Badger substantially
stood upon this text, in his educational views, many
years ago.

"June, 1835. — All, we believe, are in favor of gen
eral education. This is a great principle on which all are
agreed. On this ground we can, and indeed it is our
duty to unite all our energies, until our congregations
shall be an enlightened and intelligent community. We
do not think our people now so far behind other societies
as some may imagine ; we have also scores of ministers
who are not a whit behind the chiefest apostles of the
sects around us, in a sound knowledge of theology ; and
among us are some of the finest natural orators in our
country. We do not believe that any society of equal
numbers can find, among their church members, an equal
number of biblical critics. The people called Christians
have labored under many embarrassments ; but they have
made the best use of the limited means in their possession
for improvement. This is a proof that they are capable

35.4 MEMOIR OF

of still higher attainments, and a reason why they should
be blessed with greater privileges. As the time has
come for the Christian church to take strong and im
proved ground in this enlightened age, let education and
all other practical subjects be thoroughly discussed, that
we may be sufficiently enlightened to go forward in union
and strength, and sustain our character as Christian re
formers."

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

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

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 355

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

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

" We are generally opposed to the present mode of
getting up sectarian theological schools. W"e see so
many ignorant men coming out of those establishments
pretending to teach theology, who were never designed,
by nature or grace, for the ministry, who are as ignorant
of grace, and the first principles of the Christian religion,
as Nicodemus, that we have become disgusted with such
human institutions, and regard them as sources of corrup
tion and division rather than helps to the church of God.
In past ages, the schools have been the channels through
which error, like a mighty torrent, has poured its poison
into the church. Through these mediums the clergy
have contrived to control and take away the liberty of
Zion. And is it surprising that we, who are reformers,
should be a little cautious about entering hastily into a

356 MEMOIR OF \

course which has proved so fatal and dangerous to thou
sands ? It is not education, but the method, which pro
duces alarm among our friends. The doctor proclaims
the sentiment of our congregations in the clearest manner
in the following noble strain: 'I feel that a minister,
scantily educated but fervent in spirit, will win more
souls to Christ than the most learned minister whose
heart is cold, whose words are frozen, whose eye never
kindles with feeling, whose form is never expanded with
the greatness of his thoughts, and the ardor of his love.' "

When, in his tour to New England, in the autumn
of 1835, he passed the evening of September 8th,
with Dr. Channing, at his summer residence at New
port, R. I., the topic of education was partially dis
cussed ; and the views there developed, and the inter
est 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. Y, 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 pro
found 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 forco with which to act

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 357

upon the world they were living in ; at times, both in
private and in public, he alluded to them under the
name of u College dunces."

" August 1, 1837. — THE GOSPEL AND THE REFORMS.
THE Sux AND THE STARS. — The natural sun is the
centre of the solar system. Every planetary star is sta
tioned at a respectful distance, and is dependent on the
great centre for its power and influence. Every planet
revolves round the sun in its time, and is directed, sus
tained, bounded and governed by its attractive power.
So the Gospel is, to the moral world, civil government,
science, and all the systems of light and improvement,
what the sun is to the heavenly bodies. All must re
volve around, are dependent on, are subordinate to, and
all must be governed by the glorious Gospel of the Son
of God.

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

" If the Presbyterians, in the late session of their
general assembly, had adhered to these principles they
would not have been split asunder. But how plain it is
to every impartial spectator that they substituted a few
httle things as the criterion of fellowship ; hence they are

358 MEMOIR OF

rent in twain. But their separation, which is by the most
of people considered as a matter of lamentation, we re
gard as a favorable omen. They were a great, a power
ful people, united by human laws made by themselves.
They were oppressive, proud, and cruel ; and their arbi
trary measures, party feelings, and great influence, might
yet have endangered our liberties. Their ranks are now
broken, and the work of reform is begun. They will
again be more cordially united when they all submit to
Christ, throw by their petty stars and dark planets, and
acknowledge the supremacy of the glorious Sun, the
Gospel of our blessed Lord.

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

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

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 359

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

THE MINISTRY. — In the views already given in
this book, it is plain that Mr. Badger believed in a
Gospel ministry, that, besides the human qualifications
of learning and culture, had a vital, living union with
God, with Christ, with the perpetual region of light in
the heavens. This view, which appears in the earliest
ideas cherished in his youth, pervaded all his ordina
tion 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 con
flicting ideas, that he to whom God gives this spiritual
mission should go forward and preach for life, nor bo

360 MEMOIR OF

dissuaded by poverty, calumny or persecution ; and
that the people are not justly entitled to any man's
services in the ministry any longer than they continue
to render the proof of their appreciation in the form
of earthly support, according to their ability and the
reasonable wants of the minister. Gracefully and
practically did he know how to develop the meaning of
that apostolical saying, " The laborer is worthy of his
hire." Though, like John Milton, he disliked to have
the minister occupy a position in which community may
justly regard him as a feed attorney for the cause he
advocates, he also disdained to foster a covetous,
money-worshipping community under the name of a
Christian church. He was once heard to say, that the
true minister would live on browse before he would
abandon the cause of God.

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

* J. J. Harvey.

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 3G1

On problems of the future state, he did not largely
speculate. In reply to some nice questions touching
his views of the details and minutiae 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 in
variably 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 ad
mitted 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 regenera
tion. 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 witb
joy by the large masses, the t>ne which thoughtful mind
are everywhere weaving into the philosophy of mac
nature and life.

16

362 MEMOIR OF

Mr. Badger said, that there was partial truth in
all the new things of the day, in Mesmerism, Phre
nology, Fourierism, Abolitionism, Non-resistance, Ad-
ventism ; 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 persua
sions, 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-heaied 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,* in which he particularized on
the extremes of the day, on the infatuation which
temporarily seizes a certain class of men, arid causes
them to substitute a fragmentary truth for the whole
Gospel, and for the whole platform of human duty.

CHURCH POLITY. " We have noticed for more than
twenty years," said Mr. B., " that the first ground assumed
by disorganizes is, that ' the church is the highest tribunal
on earth.' Recently, Mr. Campbell and some others have

* At Marion, Wayne County, N. Y.

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 363

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

364 MEMOIR OF

under that impression, they do mischief in the flock of
Christ. Thus we object to the application of the term
' tribunal ' to the church, and the anti-Christian authority
it seems to impart."

" The error is not so much in the term used as in the
explanations, opinions, and practice connected with its
use. We have seen it fully carried out in practice. The
doctrine is this. Each little band of brethren scattered
abroad is the church, and are the highest tribunal on
earth. There is no appeal from their decisions ; they have
power to try and exclude a minister of the Gospel, and all
councils or conferences composed of ministers and brethren
are unscriptural, arbitrary and anti-Christian. But the
error lies at the starting-point — in the very foundation.
Those little bands of brethren are only parts of the great
family on earth. They can attend to their own internal
affairs; their work is small, and in a very limited circle.
From such little decisions we ask no appeal. They can
extend fellowship to whom they please, and withdraw from
the disorderly ; but they cannot act for other branches of
Zion who live fifty or a thousand miles from them. They
can hear, encourage, or abandon such ministers as they
choose, so far as their ministry with them is concerned ;
but it would be folly for them to attempt to make or de
stroy ministers for others. Now ministers are not the
property of one little branch of the church ; they belong
to the whole — are accountable to the whole. Any branch
of the church has a right to present a trial or grief against
a minister. But the question will arise, Who shall decide
on a trial thus presented by a church against a minister?
Surely not the church who present the trial, for they are
the accusing party. He is a public man, all the churches
are interested in his prosperity and in his impeachment.
The common error says, the accusing party must accuse

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 365

and condemn, for it is the highest tribunal on earth. But
common sense and common justice say, Let a council of
ministers and brethren from other churches be called to
investigate and decide this matter. Let the man have a
hearing before a council, equal in numbers and authority
to that which received or ordained him, and by which he
was inducted into his holy work in the church. We care
not whether this assemblage of ministers and church mem
bers is called a council or a conference ; if it possesses the
talent, the wisdom and light of the body, if a board is
formed whose just, fair, and impartial decisions shall re
ceive the sanction, respect, and confidence of all the
churches for whom they act."

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

366 MEMOIR OF

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

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

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 367

decision of the church ; to it the whole church must bow
with humble reverence, and say, ' Thy will be done.' "

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

" But in the New Testament the same principle of gen
eral consultation is most clearly exhibited in the proceed
ings of the first Christians. The very nature of the
Christian religion, the constitution of the Gospel churchj
impose the duty. The Christian religion is a general
system ; it breaks down all separations, and of Jews and
Gentiles forms one new church. All Christians are
bound up in the same great interests : they are of one
heart and of one mind. In the sixth chapter of Acts of
the Apostles, we find a plain account of the call and
proeedin«s of a Christian Conference. The brethren
brought forward the candidates for ordination, and the
ministers laid their hands on them an^ appointed them to
their work. Here were at least twelve ministers and a
multitude of brethren. If this instance stood alone in the
Bible, we should think the Scripture authority for confer-

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ence clear ; but it is not alone. In the fifteenth chapter
of Acts, we have an account of a difficulty which arose
about circumcision, which Paul, Barnabas and the whole
church at Antioch could not decide. When the apostles,
elders, and a multitude of brethren were assembled at
Jerusalem, we have an account that Peter, Barnabas,
Paul, and James addressed them at length on the great
question, which was settled to mutual satisfaction. When
this was done, they sent out messengers to bear their de
cisions to all their brethren who could not be present.
Here is another instance of a Christian conference doing
business and deciding questions for the church at large.
If one church is the highest tribunal, why did not the
church at Antioch put the question to rest without making
so much expense and trouble ? It is plain that there was
none of this childish independence and authority claimed
by the primitive churches, about which the disorganizers
make so much ado in the nineteenth century."

FREEDOM OF DISCUSSION. " Messrs. Editors of the
Telegraph ; * — I ever with pleasure, whether at home or
abroad, grasp the interesting sheet which is daily sent
forth from your office, and with interest peruse its
columns.

" Under the editorial head my attention was recently
arrested by the performances of a writer who styles
himself B., who, after a tedious preamble, brings forth
what he is pleased to style, ' A rare collection of
geniuses ; ' and although he looks into contempt the spec
ulations of the humble Capt. Sims, tramples with impunity
on the honors of Gov. Morril, proclaims on the house-top
the vanity and foll^of Gov. Clinton, Lieut. Gov. Pitcher,
Gen. Root, J. V. N. Yates, Dr. Beck, and the whole
faculty of Hamilton College, we think he leaves us proof

* 1828.

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 369

among his heterogeneous labors that he must be ranked
among the rare wits of our times. What he says of
Capt. Sims strikes me as a piece of base cowardice, as the
theory of Capt. S. is very unpopular. Capt. Sims, as I
understand him, is^convinced, from long and arduous study,
that further northern discoveries ought to be made. This
is the burden of his labors. To this idea the American
Congress and every thinking man must consent. I heard
his lectures at Cincinnati, and regard him as an honest,
independent man. As the President has recommended
northern explorations, I sincerely hope that important
discoveries will be made. Though Mr. Sims's theory is
now very unpopular, is it more so than was the revolution
of the earth when first published by Galileo ? The pro
jects of Columbus were ridiculed ; the American Revolu
tion was sneered at by our proud foes of the east. Even
the mission of the Saviour was treated with the utmost
contempt. How careful, Sirs, ought we to be in opposing
new views, and in guarding ourselves and others against
the spirit of persecution."

We offer the following on the tragical fate of Love-
joy, as appropriate to this subject :

" The riot which recently took place in Alton, 111., in
which two citizens lost their lives, is one of the most dis
graceful events that ever stained the character of our
country. The mayor must have been guilty of gross
negligence, for from what had transpired he ought to have
been fully prepared for it. Had an efficient man been in
his place, clothed with his authority, the property and
life of the innocent might have been protected, and a
ruthless mob would have been taught a lesson which would
have cured their propensity for that kind of diversion.
16*

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The destruction of fifty of those lawless midnight assassins
would have been a trifle compared with the loss of one
peaceable, honorable man in the lawful discharge of his
duty. It is said that the Attorney General of the State,
and a clergyman, took a conspicuous part, and made
speeches to influence and encourage the mob, and that
several respectable citizens were among the number. Oh,
shame ! Has our country come to this ? Can it be that
there is a man in Illinois who makes the least pretension
to respectability or morality, who would encourage or
countenance for a moment such an infringement upon the
laws of God and man ? We think little, very little, of
such respectability, of such officers, such attorneys, and
such clergymen. We say —

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

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

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 371

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

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

" The friends who were leaders in the English reform,
persevered over thirty years firm and faithful, without
slander, war or bloodshed. They had the utmost confi
dence in the justice and righteousness of their cause ;
they were patient under persecutions, were meek and
humble in every defeat, and the light at length shone and
they triumphed. Here is a beautiful model for American

372 MEMOIR OF

reformers. LIGHT and TRUTH should be the only
weapons used in accomplishing great moral, benevolent
and religious objects. Christians in all laudable enter
prises should be meek and humble, should possess much
of the spirit of their holy Master, render good for evil,
and conquer all opposition with love."

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

At the present time, there are a few indications that
the active theological minds of the country may at
some distant day fall under two general classifications,
which, for the want of a better expression at hand, we
may call the centralizers and universalizers. The latter
resolve religion wholly into abstract ideas and principles
which freely range through the whole empire of spirit,
as gravitation, electricity and light operate through all
space. Such rally about no personal centre. The
former seek the abstract principles of religion only, or
chiefly in their personal investments, and look for their
effective radiance in a mediator. This class, for rea
sons 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 im
partial favor. Thus speaks the following letter : —

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 373

" HONEOYE FALLS, August, 1845.
" Br. Ross, — I am now better in health, and am try
ing to go ahead with what little ability I have, in the one,
single, simple work of preaching the blessed Gospel. Am
I right, or should I be a political minister, and conform to
the practice of this corrupt age, and present to my hear
ers a chowder compound ? I follow St. Paul's old, obso
lete theology of knowing nothing among the people save
Jesus Christ and him crucified."

CHAPTER XIX.

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

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

374 MEMOIR OF

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 evi
dences 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.

HEV. JOSEPH BADGER. 875

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 biog
raphy 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 elo
quence 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 mate
rial gathered for this purpose now remains in his libra
ry ; but the hand that would have edited them is
motionless for ever, and the son whose age and capa
city then qualified him to second and to render effect
ual his enterprises, was taken from the earth. Not
withstanding 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

376 MEMOIR OF

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 dedica
tions 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, K Y., September, 1840,
he preached eleven sermons, which were followed by
good effects. I here quote a paragraph, as it embod
ies his opinion on the subject of revivals :

" Some would call our meeting at Marion a protracted
effort ; but I care not what it is called, provided God is
honored and souls are saved. A protracted meeting, con
ducted by enthusiastic, proud, extravagant, and ranting
leaders, is a curse to any well-organized congregation.

KEV. JOSEPH BADGER. 377

Some men think it is no matter what means are em
ployed if an effect is produced; the end will justify the
means. But this is a dangerous sentiment. Let a meet
ing be conducted for days or weeks, with prudence, can
dor and solemnity, let an appeal be made to the under
standing of rational men, let their judgment be informed ;
then the experience will be sound, the effect lasting, and
the revival will be a blessing and an honor to any con
gregation."

It were, indeed, a lengthy task to record the his
tory, 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, 1ST. Y. About sixty were
added to the church. Under his labors, the Christian
society of that place merged out of many discourage
ments. 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 bap
tism, at one time, April 25th, of twenty-nine persons
in the waters of the Honeoye ; of other important sea
sons 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 con
dition required his assistance. He said :

" No energy should be suffered to slumber, no rational
and scriptural means should be left unimproved, for the

378 MEMOIR OF

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

" When our American fathers fought for liberty, the
love of country inspired their bold and worthy devotion.
Their voluntary suffering and sacrifices were the loud
clarions to proclaim immortality upon their names and
virtues. It is so with ministers and people ; where a suit-

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 379

able degree of love to the Redeemer's cause is felt, the
sacrifices will be voluntary and hearty, and the blessing
is sure to follow as that they put forth a suitable effort
from the right motive. But we too often ask and receive
not, because we ask amiss, by asking or laboring with a
wrong or impure desire. Whether the minister is suit
ably remunerated or not, he should do all he can for the
cause of God, and leave his hearers to answer in the judg
ment for their treatment to him. Let us, as ministers
and people, do our duty, come what will. It will be a
poor apology for a minister in the judgment day, when
asked why he was no more active in God's vineyard, to
say that he was poorly paid ; and it will be a poor apology
for the miserly processor, when asked why he has sus
tained the Gospel ministry no better, to say he did not
like the minister, that he never signed subscriptions, or
any of the thousand excuses the covetous urge in this life.
When we behold all the beauty of nature, all the splen
did works of art, and all the wealth of this vast world
melted down in the general conflagration, how will Chris
tians mourn over the pernicious worldly spirit which has
choked the good seed, rendered them nearly useless in
the church, and presented them mere dwarfs in the pres
ence of God. Oh, foolish Christians, to be so worldly
now ; of what blessings do you deprive yourselves in this
life, and what a reward you lose in heaven ! Oh, pre
cious Zion, how she bleeds and suffers, and how indiffer
ent her professed friends ! Who will put forth a helping
hand to rebuild her waste places ? "

As his own congregation was now established on a
good foundation, numbering upwards- of a hundred
members, he began to think of devoting his labors one
half of the time to the churches generally, to raise in

380 MEMOIR OF

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 pasto
ral 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

KEV. JOSEPH BADGER. 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 sym
pathy. 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. De
cember 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, be
cause 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 meas
ures," 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 Chris
tians." 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 West
ern 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

882 MEMOIR OF

congregation of Rev. C. E. Merrill, at Union Springs,
Cayuga County, N. Y., and delivered over twenty
sermons to his people ; under their united labors sev
eral 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 scat
tered strength of the society, and continued with them
one half of the time through the year. They put on
strength and were revived. He speaks of the general
complaint throughout the country of religion being at
a low ebb, as having its primary cause in the wild zeal
with which new theories are pursued to the neglect of
prayer, the church, the simple Gospel and its claims.
He strongly persuades professing Christians to return
with fresh zeal to their holy devotions, to the simplicity
of the means of grace as their only hope for securing
the prosperity of Zion.

" What a state society has been in for two years past.*
The sun is darkened by the locusts from the bottomless
pit, and the Christian atmosphere in every neighborhood
in the land seems impregnated with some poisonous vapor
to ruin the soul and to paralyze the energies of the inno
cent child of God. Never shall we see the evil remedied
until ministers come home to the gospel, rely on that, and
on that alone, for the salvation of men ; know nothing
•among the people but Jesus Christ and him crucified ;
leave their wild speculations, encourage the improvement

• January, 1844.

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 383

of all the gifts in Zion, and teach and encourage practical
religion in every heart. Never shall we be delivered
from the incubus that hangs so heavily upon us until
church members leave their high-headed racing after new
theories and come home to the prayer meeting and con
ference, be content with the simplicity of the Gospel, know
their Master's will and do it, and sit at the feet of Jesus
clothed and in their right mind.

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

To this year also belongs his action "in regard to that
great excitement, which took a temporary hold on the
different denominations, known under the name of
Millerism. Though we would speak reverently of every
form of human hope, regarding all that is strong in
religious phenomena as being at least mythologically
true, we cannot but honor the independent position Mr.
Badger assumed on this subject, at a time when many
others either embraced the doctrine, or favored it as a
means of promoting popular revivals in their congre
gations. With a clear vision he penetrated its claims,
acknowledged the degree of truth he thought it con
tained, then spoke of its defects of doctrine, logic, and

384 MEMOIR OF

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, Avhose
editor was then guiding it into the service of that sys
tem.

Let it not be thought that we speak sectarianly on
the subject here introduced, for substantially we con
cede 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 ?

KEY. JOSEPH BADGER. 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 maybe 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, doubt
less, 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-natu
ral. We give a few quotations, which shqw earnest
ness, decision and strength.

" MR. EDITOR : SIR,* — Night before last the Palladium
came to hand, which I hastily read, and retired from the
scene with disgust. Last evening I read carefully the
articles which to me were offensive, with the hope that I
might be so far reconciled as to excuse myself from the
task of offering my dissent publicly to some opinions which
you have taught and endorsed. But, Sir, I retired again
with grief and increased dissatisfaction. I said, Is it pos
sible that I have lived to see the ' Palladium,' which was
brought into existence by a few choice spirits, (some of
whom are gone to their graves,) over whose destinies for
seven long years I watched with such vigilance, now be
come the slave of a deluded party, and a channel through
which error, delusion and ruin shall be poured into the

* To Joseph Marsh, Editor of the Palladium.
17

386 MEMOIR OF

bosom of the church of God ? I have not written for the
Palladium these many months only when I could not avoid
it; and would not now if a sense of my duty to the public
would allow my pen longer to slumber.

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

" Its motive to action is wrong. The lever used and
the means employed is terror ; the principle which moves

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 387

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

" 2. Its spirit is wrong. It is a peculiar trait in the
Christian religion that it always inspires its subjects with
humility, kindness, charity, whilst error is generally at
tended with pride, egotism and cruelty. For thirty years
past I have seen many false prophets and false religions

388 MEMOIR OF

rise and fall, and uniformly a vain, vaunting, self-righteous
spirit has attended them all. But I have never witnessed
more of it in any case than in Mr. Miller and his follow
ers. Just look at Mr. M.'s reply to Simon Clough, as
published in the Palladium. The egotism and insult
seen in that reply can scarcely be found in the English
language from the pen of any man who makes any pre
tensions to Christianity. I have not conversed with one
of them who could hear a cogent argument against their
doctrine without exhibiting pride and passion. They
cannot bear contradiction. They are the wise virgins,
and the rest of their brethren are the slumbering and
foolish who will be shut out of heaven ; they often refer
to a passage in Daniel which says l the wise shall un
derstand,' and have no hesitation in considering themselves
' the wise ' and their brethren as the * wicked/ who shall
not understand. They know it all, and are more confi
dent than seven men who can render a reason.

" 3. Their heads have a peculiar shape. There are men
in every church, and have been in every' age, who are
constitutionally inclined to fanaticism. They cannot stand
in excitement; they cannot hold still. There are two
classes of them, who have ever been an annoyance to the
church. The first are fond of the marvellous, are always
driving into speculative theories, are never at rest. The
last or new theory is always the true one, and they soon
ride the new hobby to death, and then seek another. It
matters not how absurd the doctrine. It may contradict
the Bible, it may rend the church asunder, it may pros
trate all good order in society, it must be forced and
driven ahead, and have its day. They are always a class
of Jehus ready for a new scheme. The second class are
those of weak minds, who are moved by passion. Any
excitement takes them along with the multitude. Human

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 389

nature being thus constituted, is it strange that converts
are made ? I know of several of Mr. Miller's associates
whose lives have been one scene of changes. Should
1843 pass away and the world not be destroyed, they will
in no wise be discouraged. Instead of repenting of their
folly and mourning over the havoc and disorder they have
caused in the church, and the infidels they have made,
they will be driving ahead in some new scheme, and will
wonder that the poor backslidden church and the poor
blind ministers cannot see their great light, and will not
appreciate their astonishing usefulness."

In other articles he went more particularly into the
discussion of the question, which, as the entire excite
ment 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 exec
utive 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, concen
tration, 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

390 MEMOIR OF

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 acknowl
edged 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 hum
bug, 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 & 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 sus
tain 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

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 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 offi
cially, 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 deter
mining 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 con
venience will permit, the whole body to which he be
longs. " I only contend," said he, " for what the old
English code of common law established as a funda
mental 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.

MEMOIR OF

In 1845, he preachecl 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 : u How amiable are thy tabernacles, 0 Lord of
Hosts ! " Speaking of the effect of this sermon, Mr.
Holland observes : —

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

In union with Mr. Crocker, of Parma, and Allen,
of Greece, he continued his labors there constantly for
one month. Mr. Badger gave about thirty sermons.
At the close of his eleventh discourse, thirty- three
persons obeyed his invitation to take a decided stand
for God and his service, three-fourths of whom were
men, and among them persons of talent, wealth, and
influence in the community. " The good work," says
Mr. B., " proceeded gradually through the month,

* The Christian Church at Royalton, N. Y., was the first erected
in the State west of the Gen"~°" *' w.

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 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 refresh
ing 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 1 845 ; likewise the same with the church
at Lakeville, which he had planted twenty-seven years
before. He also visited Canada in the month of Au
gust, which he said was invigorating both to his bodily
and spiritual health. " There are," said he, " in Can
ada, 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 pas
toral 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 e^es 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,
18*

MEM OIK OP

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 para
lytic shock on his left side, which never after allowed
him the enjoyment of his former health. His ances
tors 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 disas
ter so terrible, it is certain in this case that the fact
has a close relation to laws of hereditary descent.
Alluding to this event, Mr. Badger observes : —

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

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 395

•

He continues : —

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

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

Though half of him was paralyzed July 2d, these,
and very many other paragraphs and sermons that
might be quoted, indicate that the remaining half was
adequate to all practical needs. December 8th, he
started for Plain ville, Onondaga County, N. Y., to
visit the strong and prosperous congregation of Rev.
E. J. Reynolds, to whom he preached twenty-two

396 MEMOIR OF

sermons. Mr. Badger, after complimentary remarks on
the success of Mr. II., 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 in
fluence 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 conse
quences 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 compre
hensive exactness, the condition of society, the advan
tages 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 pros
perity and in its spiritual state. Turning his eye back
upon the field he had left, he said : —

" In the State of New York I have labored in the min
istry near thirty years. I have in that great and inter
esting field of labor sacrificed the best part of my frail
life. I have there devoted my strength in youth and
middle age, have there seen great displays of God's glory
in the conversion of sinners and in the planting and growth
of many of the tender branches of Zion. But I have
failed in the work — failed amidst my labors, with the
best of prospects before me, when it seemed that the
infant churches most needed my counsel and assistance.

REV. JOSEPII BADGER. 397

But I can do no more for them ; I cannot face the storms,
endure the fatigues, and meet the opponents with that
vigor and success I did a quarter of a century ago. No ;
let me retire in peace, with the consolation that I have
fought a good fight, and that my labors have not been in
vain in the establishment of Christianity in the State of
New York. Young men who will come after us in the
ministry, and enter into our labors, can never appreciate
the toils and sufferings pioneers in this cause were obliged
to endure, to raise and sustain the standard of Christian
liberty in that State."

After the first six weeks of his stay in Fall River,
not finding that strength and rally of bodily faculty
he had hoped from the sea-breeze, he thought of going
to Virginia, or to some more genial climate of the
South. But he remained a while longer ; and, real
izing 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 cruci
fied," — 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

398 MEMOIR OF

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 ex
perience, 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 minutige were wholly in his mind. If
the several hundred plots of sermons found amongst his
papers were presented to the world, it would soon ap
pear that only those who have heard him in the days
of his strength could form any just idea of the dis
courses 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 Whit-
field 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

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 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. L, which served
to send over the wide seas the pure principles of un-
sectarian religion ; the same praise was bestowed on
the efforts of Moses How, of New Bedford, whose
labors for years in the seaman's cause, have been
catholic in nature and efficient in result. In glancing
at the generally low state of religious interest, whose
causes he thought lay deeper than the lack of human
science, he said : —

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

"The anxiety I feel for the Christian cause at the
present crisis exceeds anything I have felt in years past ;
and in my feeble state it presses heavily upon my spirit
night and day. I know our doctrine, our order and our
spirit are right ; I know our cause is good, and many have
sacrificed their precious lives and labored valiantly to
sustain and establish it. It must come up again. It must
and will yet live ; it must be the general centre to which
all sects must approach, when their revolutions and

400 MEMOIR OF

reforms bring them fully into the liberty of the Gospel of
Christ. Oh, brethren, stand fast in the liberty of the Gos
pel, hold fast whereunto you have attained, endure to the
end, and salvation is sure. I may not live to see better
days upon the earth ; but they will come. ' Why art thou
cast down, Oh my soul ! hope thou in God, for I shall
yet praise him.' The storms will blow over, the
darkness will pass away, and God's true people will come
forth like gold seven times tried in the fire. Courage,
courage, my brethren. Remember the fate of the fear
ful and unbelieving."

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

During his stay in Fall River, 1846 and 1847, he
frequently wrote for the public papers, in which he
took some very bold and independent positions. He
closely criticised and answered an anonymous writer,
who, with much ability and severity, introduced a ser
mon 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 Aj.ro. In all these communications, the ideas
which steadily hold the ascendant are these : that all
the moral evils of society are anticipated by the Gos
pel ; that its mission being the redemption of a fallen

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 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 sanc
tioned ; that it is through the power which inherently
lives in Christianity, that the entire brood of social
evils are to be vanquished — slavery, war, intemper
ance, 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

402 MEMOIR OF

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 im
pression, 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 clergy
man 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.

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 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 min
istry, Mr. Badger left home April 2d, to preach the
sermon on that occasion. Proceeding by way of Staf
ford, 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 assem
blies — a place he had not before visited in twenty
years. There he stood by the graves of Blodget and
Spaulding, early associates, called away in the midst
of their labors. " How dear their memory, and how
venerable their names ! how soon I shall join them in
the heavenly world ! Oh, Lord ! prepare me for the
holy society above."

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

" We have received nine, I believe good and spiritual
members into the church. How comforting it is to a
church who have long sat in sadness by the side of the
river of Babylon, again to see the walls and gates of Jeru
salem restored, and Zion's altars again smoking with the
offering of God. I intend to spend next month at home,
and the first of August to resume my labor here again, if
the Lord will. It is my meat and my drink to do the will

404 MEMOIR OF

of my Father who is in heaven. I view my great home
near, and am anxious to be ready. Our chapel to-day
was crowded with hearers, who seemed to feel deeply the
importance of religion, which alone can bring salvation
to the soul. In the afternoon I met a multitude of solemn
hearers, on the pleasant bank of the Conneaut, where,
after a short address, I led four happy converts down to
the watery grave, who all came forth with joy and strength,
to witness a good profession and to shine as lights in the
world. May God strengthen their young hearts to endure
to the end, that they may be saved. I love the people."

The month of July, winch he spent at home, he
improved in attending some meetings with his old con
gregations. 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 ordina
tion 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 mem
bers, baptized twelve, among whom was a young Uni
tarian 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

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 405

kindly greeted and cheered during the winter of his
stay in Conneaut ; and though the excitement of com
pany often reacted upon him injuriously, his letters
addressed to his family eulogize the cordiality and kind
ness 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 minis
try was closed. And so it was. On three or four
occasions he again addressed the people, once at Hen
rietta, 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 e.arth. He
spoke to them for the last time. Many came to hear.
Among the remarks made concerning this general ad
dress, 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.

406 MEMOIR OF

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 concern
ing 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 im
paired, 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 un
affected 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 differ
ent intervals. Every day, he read, or heard some

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 407

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 per
sonal 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, enti
tled 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 char
acters, and in the pages presented him he evinced the
truest delight. His power to appreciate a thinker even
then cost him no effort.

408 MEMOIR OF

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
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 cheerful
ness 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 im
pressed 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 resi
dence. 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.

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 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 Con
ference was held June 23, 1851. She had accom
panied him on two other journeys of a similar nature,
and served him as interpreter, she being able to under
stand him when others could not. These trips he
enjoyed very much ; at Parma, he sat in meeting all
day Saturday, Sunday and Monday ; and, using the
language of Mrs. B., "he seemed to have the most
profound enjoyment." Taking the precaution to rest
on Tuesday, Mrs. B., in their private conveyance,
started with him on Wednesday for Gaines, a distance
of thirty miles, where they remained for the night ; on
Thursday morning they journeyed but three miles, to
the town of Barry, where they tarried but a night ; on
Friday he arose early, in his usual health ; the sun
poured down his burning rays in great power. He
became anxious and determined to return home.
Said Mrs. B. :

" Accordingly, I started with him as soon as I could
prepare ; we had rode but about one mile when the last
and final shock came over him, which deprived him for the
time of every sense but that of intense suffering. I imme
diately inquired for the nearest physician, and found that
we were in the vicinity of Dr. Eaton, an old friend,
and one who had prescribed for him before. He was
speechless, and nearly senseless when I arrived with him
18

410 MEMOIR OF

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

"And thus he passed, as it were, almost imperceptibly
away, while his ever-penetrating eyes sparkled with the
utmost brilliancy till they were closed in death, which
painful task fell on my brother, as he was the only one I

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 411

had time to call in, after I was sensible that he was de
parting. Our minister, Mr. Eli Fay, came in soon after,
and our house was filled with sorrowing friends and
neighbors."

Here are the simple facts. They confirm the view
that there was a clear, inner light of the intellect,
which shone to the last, and which we believe was but
transiently eclipsed in death. Thus died a great and
a good man. At his dwelling, May 14th, 1852, Mr.
Chapin read the Scriptures, offered prayer, and made
appropriate remarks. At the church, Rev. Eli Fay,
the Christian minister of the place, delivered an appro
priate 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 elo
quence a third of a century ago. When the country
was a wilderness, his words had swayed them as trees
are moved by the winds. They come, the hoary-
headed band, to take a last view of his spirit's fallen
temple. By the side of former friends they bury him,
and over his sacred ashes rises a monument with this
inscription :

"JOSEPH BADGER,

A MINISTER IN THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH.

DIED MAY 12, 1852.

AGED 59 YEARS.

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

His CHILDREN."

412 MEMOIR OF

His life strikes us as a synonyme of energy, of ac
complishing force. His words have penetrated myr
iads 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 per
sons, over forty of whom became ministers of salva
tion ; had attended upwards of seven hundred fune
rals ; and, though merit is not always to be measured
by outward effects, it is impossible to impartially re
view 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 him
self 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 soci
ety 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 in-

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 413

spiration. 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 sim
plicity 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 truth
fully 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 ordi
nary observation ; and to fully interpret one whose in
ward life was so much of it veiled from the world's
gaze, whose power of character was in itself so com
plex and diverse, requires analytical patience and faith
ful 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

414 MEMOIR OF

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 dis
cover ? But it is the quality of greatness that the man
ifold 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 pro
duced, 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 dis
course and action by which superiority is indicated,
were never disposed to place him in the rank of ordi
nary 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

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 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 arte
rial taking the lead. With this, there was a full de
gree of the nervous or intellectual temperament, which
imparted much mental activity ; with these, there was
a measure of the bilious and lymphatic, which, accord
ing 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 prepossess
ing. His likeness, facing the title-page of this volume

416 MEMOIR OF

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 char
acter, motives, and events ; in looking at a new move
ment 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 delight
fully employed his powers. He was American. The
form of his mind was not, perhaps, exactly philosophi
cal, 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 inter-

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 417

est him to know. He readily saw important princi
ples. 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 pro-
foundest 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 manifes
tation, is entitled good sense, and " strong sense."
There are men in the world, who wield no scholastic
terminology, who have no tendency to much specu
lative 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
18*

418 MEMOIR OF

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
j;he arguments therefor, mildly responded, gave his
own opinion, and with it possibly a cheerful laugh,
which was itself no insignificant argument, and proba
bly 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 mat
tered not how strongly and flippantly they quoted from
Daniel and John, or what the array of texts and his
torical 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

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 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 wit
nessing their play of words, he derived great satisfac
tion 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,* 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

* One of the means of torture in the Spanish Inquisition.

420 MEMOIR OF

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.*
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 be
ing 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

*Faust, p. 89.

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 421

youth, when answering the tyrannical British magis
trate. He put the savages to the extremity of violence
rather than acquiesce in a dishonorable mode of con
veyance to the seat of justice at the Three Rivers.
When ahout 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 faith
fully 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 in
tellectual force, though he was happily adapted to ordi
nary 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 op
ponent. 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

422 MEMOIR OF

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 po
sition 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 ren
der 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 dis
tinguished 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 weak
nesses of temper and of argument on the opposite side,
which soon became advantageous capital to his cause.

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 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 hlue 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 conver
sation ; 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 slum
ber, on which he would afterwards linger in sober re
flection. Among his private papers there are a few
instances in which his strong presentiments are re
corded. 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 stand-

424 MEMOIR OF

ing in the centre of some enterprise which aimed at
important practical results. In every cause he under
took, 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 te
nacious language, but everything proved in the long
run, the power of his will and the solidity of his pur
pose. 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. In
stead 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 mat
ters 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 greet
ings 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 what
ever stood in the way as a solid barrier to the success
of his dearly cherished plans, an attribute this, which

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 425

strong actors in the world have, we believe, very com
monly 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 wher
ever 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 dis
tance of objects, which suggests another law of this
material energy, is likewise true in the world of friend
ship. For it is nearness, that is to say, it is kindred-
ness 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

426 MEMOIR OP

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 locali
ties 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

REV JOSEPH BADGER. 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 ex
tended 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 him
self 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 em
barrassments 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, with
out giving offence ; and well did he know how to set
his mind upon new trains of thought. First of all, it

428 MEMOIR OF

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 dimen
sions he desired to take. In a few days, at most, he
developed his characteristics far enough to be com
pletely 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 assum
ing 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 jour
neys with them, and if any diffident young man of merit
was mortified at the imperfection and feebleness of his
own public efforts, he had the finest skill in restoring to
him his lost confidence. Many whose conversions took

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 429

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 enter
ing 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

430 MEMOIR OF

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 organi
zation ; 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 Catholi
cism, 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 origina
tive 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 be
fore. The society who hold to these principles must
prosper."

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 431

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 igno
rant, the believer and the sceptic, the man of inward
holiness, and the hardest specimens of sin and unbe
lief, 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 hap
pened 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 per
suaded into a divine faith, in which they were stead
fast 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, ^s the varying phase of circum
stance and association might suggest. He was plain-
spoken ; yet, beyond that plain, bold speech, the re
served and the unspoken could often claim large ter
ritories their own. Indeed, no man of depths was
ever read throughout as an alphabet is read.

432 MEMOIR OF

No man, probably, ever had a stronger individual
ity. 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 indi
viduality 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.

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 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 success
ful 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 tho children of Israel
through the Red Sea to the founding of the latest lit
erary 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, cour
age, 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 recog
nize 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
19

434 MEMOIR OP

•wild, never err in their selection of leaders. Their
chiefs are never stupid.

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

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

Yet what would we think of a pilot who on the sea
should hesitate in his services through fear that others
might regard him as too forward, or too high in his
aspiration ? When the right man leads the way, the
reasonable are satisfied, are glad that they are pro
vided 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

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 435

perpetual feeling of self-sufficiency. lie 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 ap
parently 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 denom-
mationalism based on creed, or mere doctrinal plat
form. 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.
\Vhen I go into a new place and preach, and have oc
casion 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 ques
tions to ask."

His path in this respect was a natural one. The
preaching of the early ministers, which ignored secta
rianism, which was founded in the religion of experi
ence, in spiritual communion with God, and in the
fellowship of all saints, was exceedingly prosperous.

436 MEMOIR OP

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 com
munity 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 denomina
tion 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 con
cern for the spread of the principles he had preached
in his youth, in his general services to the denomina
tion 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 cur
rent 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 in
debted for the introduction of order and system into

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 437

their Conferences and into their general modes of ac
tion. 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.*

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 pas
sions 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 com
pany 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 im
press for good the human family. He loved ideas, and
was a strong dealer in facts. He could dissolve assem
blies in tears, and if he chose, illumine their coun
tenances 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.

* The first local Conference regularly organized in the United
States, for the transaction of general business and for the keeping
of a pure ministry, was called by him at Hartwick, N. Y., 1818. He
was the leading spirit of that body, and ably met the objections that
were raised against its objects. In 1817 he wrote some letters to in
dividual preachers, pleading for an association of churches and min
isters, to which ministers should be responsible for the characters
they sustain.

438 MEMOIR OF

He could also make the most effective speech at a rail
road 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 inter
ests 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-

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 439

fish and the thrasher. Thus Washington and Webster,
in their day, were followed by mighty assailants, in
the form of prejudice and calumny. Though Mr.
Badger's sphere of action was unpolitical and sacred,
it was his fortune to have many strong friends and at
times a few strong opponents. But all, we believe,
who knew him well, regard his memory and revere his
name. He was a good man.

Genuinely, he was a great man, capable by nature
of acting successfully on a wider theatre than the one
he filled ; but, we think he occupied the best position
for usefulness. Admitting that he had natural powers,
which, if trained in the widest field of the world's ac
tion, 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 establish
ment 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 in
fluences 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 bene-

440

MEMOIR OF

factors ; and we have this firm faith, that the world is
now, and ever will be, the wealthier from his having
lived in it."

" No farther seek his merits to disclose,

Or draw his frailties from their dread abode,
Where they alike in trembling hope repose,
The bosom of his Father and his God."

CHAPTER XXII.

ADDRESSES, SERMONS, REMINISCENCES, VIEWS OF
CONTEMPORARIES.

ELSEWHERE allusion has been made to the extreme
difficulty, to the impossibility even, that accompanies
an effort to imbody a speaker like Mr. Badger, entire,
in written words. Yet it is due to the readers of his
Biography that some definite attention be called to this
part of his ministerial accomplishments. There was
nothing of the trumpet-blast in his oratory. It was
liquid. It flowed as a current from a fountain, and,
like a current, at times was brisk and playful in move
ment. 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.

RET. JOSEPH BADGER. 441

Its text is, " Righteousness exalteth a nation," and its
motto, the words of Barbauld,

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

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

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

This address, which is full of historical remark and
practical reflection, is throughout a cool and rational
view of the topics introduced. He glances over the
discovery of the Continent, the settlement of the Colo
nies, the Indian, French, and American wars, the
memory of heroes, the effect of America on foreign
19*

442 MEMOIR OF

nations, the origin of the two forms of government,
monarchical and republican, locating the former at
Egypt and the latter at Rome. After assigning
five or six reasons showing wherein the American
government is better than any other, he contrasts its
glories with other nations, and with the savage state
which had, not long previous, occupied the same theatre
of action. He says : —

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

" "Would you see the beauties of law religion ? In Bab
ylon, the king set up a golden image and commanded all

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 413

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

" No country has risen to rank, power, and respect
ability so rapidly as the United States. England has
been six hundred years in arriving at what she now is.
France has stood eight hundred years as a nation. Aus
tria has had one thousand years of advancement from her
primitive barbarous state. Russia, in this respect, most
resembles the United States, for in the space of one cen
tury, and under the influence of one man, she has risen to
rank and authority in the civilized world. But how inter
esting is the reflection, that two centuries ago, this land,

444 MEMOIR OF

which is now ornamented with villages, highways and
vineyards, was a howling wilderness. It is now a fruitful
field. Arts and sciences here flourish, while mechanism
exhibits its glories on every hand. Oh, favored America !
Prosperity be thine forever. Be an asylum to the thou
sands who throng thy shores to escape the rage of foreign
tyrants. Over them extend thy protecting banner. Thy
fame is known throughout the earth ; thy sons are honored
in every nation. Righteousness has exalted us. 1. In
enjoyment. 2. In usefulness. 3. In honor. 4. In the
favor of Heaven. With all the world we are now at
peace ; plenty crowns our cheerful toil ; party rage gradu
ally subsides as light advances, and truly may every
American say, ' The lines are fallen to me in pleasant
places ; yea, I have a goodly heritage.' "

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

As space, in a degree, is limited, I shall offer but
one more address, delivered in the city of JSTew 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 remem-

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 445

bered by hundreds who have been his guests, I had
the pleasure to meet Mr. B., a few days previous to
the ordination services of May 1. Having listened to
the delivery of the charge, which was extemporaneous
in its manner, it become my surprise afterward, that
so little of the impression there made should have been
given to the written statement. After the ordination
sermon had been preached by Mr. Walter, Mr. Badger,
who was seated in the altar, arose and said : —

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

446 MEMOIR OF

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

" You have doubtless seen many enter the work of the
ministry with but poor success, — men of talents, of eru
dition, fine orators, who never witness the conversion of
souls ; whose labors appear to make the sinner harder,
and more averse to the Gospel, and to divide and sepa
rate the precious flock of Christ. The reason is plain ;
such ministers are not enough like Christ, are not in the
spirit of the Gospel they profess to preach. Good men
are sure of success, be their talents few or many ; Christ
is with them, and the word will prove a savor of life unto

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 447

life. -If you are and continue to be a good man, — have
salt in yourself, — go to your work with prayer, perform
your duties faithfully, come down from your pulpit on all
occasions with a conscience void of offence towards God
and man ; your labors will be a blessing to the world,
your peace will be like a river, and your reward will be
great in heaven. Therefore, dear brother, suffer me to
exhort you on this solemn occasion, while you stand upon
the threshold of your great work, to study and labor,
every day of your life, to possess and enjoy genuine piety
in the sight of God. This will give life and energy to all
your labors, and will be a source of never-failing conso
lation in every hour of trouble.

" 2. The great object of your labors should be to make
others pious. Every sermon should be one persuasive
oration for men to be good. To win the applause of your
hearers, to instruct them in the theory of the Christian
religion, is not enough. Thousands of such superficial
Christians will, no doubt, sink down to hell. Gospel
truth must be set home in faithfulness to the smner's heart
He must be made to feel that unless he is born again he
cannot see the kingdom of God. The minister should
never feel satisfied with the condition of his hearers un
less he is confident that they are ' in Christ ' — ' are new
creatures' — that with them ' old things are passed away
and all things are become new.' In order to be successful
in producing spiritual reform, all your addresses and la
bors must assume the tone and character of friendship,
and of kind entreaty. You can never frighten rational
intelligences into the love of God ; you cannot drive men
into the kingdom of heaven ; you cannot storm and force
sinners home to the bosom of the Saviour. But, Sir, you
can reason with them, you can persuade, entreat, and
pray them in Christ's stead to be reconciled to God. You

448 MEMOIR OF

must exhibit the glorious majesty and bountiful dealings
of the great God, the atonement, the sufferings, the love
and compassion of the glorious Redeemer, the intelli
gence, doctrine, promises and claims of the Gospel, which
is the power of God unto salvation. These truths, pro
claimed in the right manner, and under the direction of
the right spirit, will surely produce the desired effect.
Remember that when you have influenced one sinner to
forsake the error of his ways and to embrace and conform
to the Saviour, you have accomplished more than when
you have made any number of wrangling proselytes to
party. To win men to Christ, and to make them good, is
the great object to which your energies should be de
voted.

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

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

" Also labor to encourage zeal for the truth, and liberty
of the Gospel among the saints. The Catholics are zeal
ous, infidels are zealous, proud sectarians are compassing
sea and land to make proselytes ; and saints who have no
creed but the Bible, and no master but Christ, should be

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 449

zealous to advance and promulgate the truth. Influence
should be exerted, talent should be employed, and a part
of our earthly treasures should be cheerfully dedicated to
the holy .cause. These things you should teach and urge
upon the consideration of all who love the truth.

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

" 5. Shun the delusion and wickedness of sectarism.
This is an age of party, of sectarian rage and bitterness.

450 MEMOIR OP

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

" G. Be patient in the sufferings, and humble in the
success that may attend your ministry. One of the great
est arts of human happiness is to keep the mind, under
all circumstances, in one even, regular position, neither
too much elated by flattering prospects, nor too much de
pressed by misfortunes. It requires as much strength
and exertion to sustain ourselves against the temptations
and allurements of prosperity, as it does to bear up under
the heavy pressure of adversity. We see but few men

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 451

who are raised to important stations in life, who have
sufficient wisdom and strength to act the part of plain,
natural, sensible men. See a person raised from poverty
to wealth by some unexpected smile of fortune ; how
frequently he becomes a proud, haughty, intemperate
novice. Some men raised to important stations in State,
are filled with vanity and egotism ; useless, hateful syco
phants. As lamentable as the fact is, in the church like
wise this trait of human weakness is sometimes discovered.
But a man who is filled with pride and importance on
being inducted into office in the Church of God, has no
just views of himself or his calling, and is altogether
unfit for the station he fills. Such vain and deceived per
sons will be lords over God's heritage, are miserable
examples to the flock of Christ ; their labors will be a
constant source of corruption and temptation to the saints,
and the sooner congregations are purged from such tyrants,
such wells without water, the better.

" My brother, when prosperity smiles all around, when
your labors are crowned with a rich harvest, when your
praise and popularity are the theme of every tongue, and
affectionate greetings and cheering smiles of applause are
seen in every countenance ; then, oh ! then be humble ;
like Mary, weep at the feet of Jesus, and press the holy
cross closer and closer to your trembling heart, and bless
the Lamb of God. that his blood was ever applied to such
a sinner. On the other hand, when afflictions gather thick
in your path, when base envy shall prompt the tongue of
slander to assail you, when the storms of persecution shall
gather in threatening aspect on every side, and pale pov
erty stare you in the face ; then is the time to collect all
your energies, all your strength, and all your fortitude.
Then, while you repose with unshaken confidence on the
immutable promises of JEHOVAH, be sure to put forth your

452 MEMOIR OF

efforts still for the promotion of holy truth ; be the same
man in spirit and in life now, that you were in your favored
days of success. Never suffer your heart to indulge de
spair under any circumstances, and ever wear a becoming
cheerfulness upon your countenance. But, Sir, I must
close, by expressing my happiness in my short acquaint
ance with you — my confidence in your ability and integ
rity, and my fervent wish for your prosperity, happiness
and success. And when the Great Shepherd shall come
to gather all his faithful watchmen, and his precious elect
from the four winds of heaven, may you be numbered
among the sanctified, and meet the precious souls for whom
you have labored on earth, at God's right hand! AMEN."

His sermons', not being written, cannot be offered to
the world. They only live in the effects they produced,
and in the memories of the people ; and his written
plots were so brief, that their presentation would be but
the mockery of a just idea of the discourses given. I
will, therefore, not transcribe them ; these plots, how
ever, 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 commence
ment, 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 annihi
lation of the wicked — which he called the seco nd death
— once came to him for advice in relation to its having

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 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
detth."

A sermon for moral enterprise he gave at Tona,
N. Y., January, 1835, could it be given as he spoke
it, would do more toward setting forth his pulpit abil
ity 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 ser
mon I ever heard him preach. As the plot of a ser
mon, then delivered on the excellency of the Gospel,
lies before me, I will present it, it being a fair speci
men of his usual manner of committing the points of a
sermon to paper. Text, Rom. 1 : 16 : "I am not
ashamed of the Gospel of Christ."

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

" Reasons why we should not be ashamed of the Gos
pel : 1. The dignity of its author. 2. Its authenticity.

3. Its salutary influence on society. It civilizes man ;
it elevates woman. It enlightens, convicts, and saves
sinners. It unites Christians ; is the bond of society.

4. Its doctrine is rational and consistent. 5. Its institu
tions are all agreeable. 6. Its worship is satisfying and
delightful. 7. Its end and object is immortality."

In passing over his dedication services, one is oft
times struck with the moral weight and elegance of

454 MEMOIR OF

the passages from which he spoke, as, for instance, at
the consecration of the Christian chapel, September,
1832, in Canandaigua, N. Y., he addressed the peo
ple from John 8 : 82 : " Ye shall know the TRUTH, and
the truth shall make you free." He dwelt on the ex
tent, the power, and the excellence of truth, the con
ditions 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 im
mortality dissipates death's fears and glooms. Tem
ples of worship, indeed, derive much of their sacred-
ness from the consideration that they are meant to be
temples of eternal, imperishable truth.

Also at Berlin, N. Y.., 1834, he spoke at the conse
cration 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 vari
ety, to bloom in its course.

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 455

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 overall, God blessed forever." Sermon second
is founded on 1 Tim. 2:5: " For there is one God,
and one Mediator between God and men, the man
Christ Jesus." In laying out his work on the former
passage, he observed the following plan : —

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

" The second thing in this verse is, that Christ is de
clared to be ' over all,' which represents his extensive
reign, his universal dominion, his superintendency over
all the affairs of the New Dispensation, his being head
over all things unto the church, which is his body. ' The
head' of every man is Christ, and the head of Christ is

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

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

u 1. It is not a doctrine of Revelation, but is an inven
tion of men in a dark age. 2. It contradicts plain decla
rations of Scripture. 3. It contradicts reason. 4. It
has always caused contention in the church, and now is

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 457

the greatest subject of controversy in Christendom. 5. It
is a doctrine which obliges its believers to contradict
themselves in preaching and in prayer. G. It involves
the idea it claims to despise — a human Saviour, a human
atonement. 7. It is the foundation of deism."

February, 1841, whilst conducting a series of meet
ings at Stafford, N. Y., he was challenged into a pub
lic 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 Uni-
versalism is better, in 'its mofcil 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 mas
terly efforts to which a successful reply would seem
impossible.

Volumes of interesting personal reminiscences, those
that would be characteristic of the man might be writ
ten, 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, ex
pecting to hear a sermon for the occasion from an
20

458 MEMOIR OF

Episcopal clergyman from a distance. The clergy
man 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 lym 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 :

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 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 impene
trable 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 na
ture and destiny of man. Near the close, after apply
ing the subject quite effectively, he called attention to
the object for which the gentleman had given the text.

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

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(holding up the note) looks very handsome and fair for a
beast. Animals are fast ascending."

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

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

" He is associated with all the remembrances of my
early Christian experience. In many respects he was an
extraordinary man. Few men take as deep an interest in
the wants and necessities of young ministers as he did.
He was always ready to lift them up when through dis
couragement they were fulling ; and he had a most happy
gift for drawing them out, for developing their mental re
sources, for inspiring them with hope when hopeless, and
with that necesssry self-reliance which many lack, and for
the want of which many abandon their calling. He
treated them not only as babes in Christ, ' feeding them
with the sincere milk of the word,' but as fellows with
him in the Gospel mission. This was an inspiring fel
lowship, where lay much of his hidden power. How often
have I known him to ask the advice of the young minister
on important subjects, not, probably, that he expec'ed
that they could unravel knotty questions, or enlighten
him. He intended to draw them into a new field of
thought, to set them in pursuit of their own resources,
and to kindle up the fires of mentality as no other means

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 461

would have done it. He had tact and talent peculiarly
his own. His nature overflowed with the milk of human
kindness ; this, associated with his peculiar organization,
gave him that great social power which was one charac
teristic of his life. Although I cannot hope by anything
I can say, to add to his fame, I feel a pleasure in bear
ing testimony to those entrancing social qualities and
Christian virtues, which should be emulated by all lovers
of the Gospel he professed, and by which he became en
deared to multitudes."

From Rev. 0. E. Morrill, of Plain ville, Onondaga
County, N. Y., we take the following lines :

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

" I knew all these men when young, and loved them as
my own natural brothers. They were all pious, devoted
ministers of the Gospel. They were persevering, faithful
pioneers, and true to the spirit and doctrine of the Chris
tian reformation. Men of the first class of natural talents,
but of moderate literary accomplishments, they were em
phatically a class of self-sacrificing men, public benefac
tors of our race. They commenced in the ministry when
young, labored hard, fared hard, lived upon short pay, and

462 MEMOIR OF

survived to see their storm-beaten vessel under full sail
before a refreshing breeze, and died in peace.

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

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

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 463

name be it said, he never had the least sympathy with
Campbellism, Millerism, Calvinism, or Universalism, but
was a whole-hearted Christian individually, theologically,
and denominationally.

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

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

" My first acquaintance with Mr. Badger was, I think,
in the fall of 1816. He then, in company with ministers
Avery, Moulton, and J. L. Peavy, called at my father's
house in Milton, Saratoga County, N. Y., and held a meet
ing. Mr. Peavy preached. This was a little over two
years after my profession of religion, and the organization
of the Christian church at Ballstown. There was then a
church existing at Galway, ten or twelve miles distant,
and brethren scattered throughout various towns in the
vicinity. Jabez King and Philip Sandford, both young
men, were nearly all the help we had in that vicinity.
Mr. Badger and his associates called to hold a general
meeting of all the brethren who could assemble at Galway,
for the purpose of seeking out and commending to the
work, such persons as gave evidence of having gifts profit
able for the Gospel field. The meeting was held in Gal
way, in the first chapel ever erected by our people in the
State of New York. A number of young and diffident
brethren, who afterwards became ministers, were here
taken by the hand, by those more experienced, and

464 MEMOIR OF

encouraged to improve their gifts, whilst the churches were
taught their duty to them. The sympathy and union gen
erated by that interview doubtless still live in several
hearts. This was our first acquaintance ; and the act of
calling that meeting for the encouragement of young men
whose eye was on the ministry, I deem peculiarly charac
teristic of the subject of the memoir. No young man in
the circle of his influence was permitted to hide a profitable
gift in a napkin, or bury his talent in the earth. He knew
how to draw out the most diffident, could make the most
of them when drawn out, and none could inspire their minds
with stronger fortitude. At our first conference at Hart-
wick, Otsego County, 1818, he was there the active,
moving spirit of that body. And whatever of order and
good arrangement we now have in our conferences and
conventions, may be attributed, more than to any other
cause, to the impetus given by him in those early times.
" There was little of Don Quixote or of Utopianism in
his constitution. He judged accurately of the effect of
causes. He was cool, calm, and self-possessed amidst ex
citing scenes that moved the multitude ; and wherever
his Gospel labors proved effective, society was built up
and order was established. He was a close observer of
men and things, took the gauge and dimensions of men
quickly, and it was usually safe to take his estimate as
tha true one. He saw coming events in the shadows which
preceded them. Seemingly inspired with the sentiment
that the Gospel was the God-appointed lever designed to
lift the world from its moral degradation, he showed but
little sympathy for any humanly devised means of ref
ormation. < The Gospel! THE GOSPEL ! THE PURE
GOSPEL! ' was his cry for the cure of moral evil. A
want of confidence in the many professedly reformatory
measures and associations of the age was calculated to

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 465

affect his popularity in many quarters, but he adhered un
waveringly to his motto, ' the Gospel.'

" His sermons had method peculiar to himself. They
always had order and arrangement ; but the coherence of
the parts was not always apparent to the casual observer.
His manner in the pulpit was often playful, exciting a smile
from the light-hearted, and sometimes a sigh or a tear
from the most devout, as he rowed out into the sea of pub
lic discourse. But the scene gradually changed as he ad
vanced in his labors, as his design began to be revealed,
and his subject was applied. The sigh and tear were oft
exchanged for songs, and the playful smile for prayer and
tears. He always closed well.

" As a writer ' he is known and read of all men.' His
style is his own, plain, clear, ungarnished and straight-for
ward. For this difficult station of editor he had rare ac
complishments ; and the denomination have cause for last
ing gratitude for the aid and encouragement rendered to
inexperienced writers, and for the impetus he gave to this
mode of teaching. A glimpse at those volumes of the
Palladium, issued under his supervision, and then at the
condition of the correspondents and contributors, or the
original copy from which it was made, at once reveals the
singular ability of the man. How a class of young
writers clustered around him ! A thousand blessings
rest upon him here !

" He had quick perception, great decision, and concen
tration. He habitually thought at early dawn ; and when
his purposes were laid, every energy was concentrated upon
that single point. In this he was a Washington, a Napo
leon, a Wellington. As a man of tact I have not known
hie equal. To this quality we may ascribe much of his
success in conducting the Palladium. Many who could
have written a labored article as well, or better, could not
20*

466 MEMOIR OF

have succeeded in conducting the paper at all. Many
with his resources would have produced a mole-hill when
he formed a mountain. But we will not, we dare not, say
that his positions and his means of sustaining them were
always right. He was a man ; and in this utterance we
plainly say he was erring. The most we can say, the
highest character we would give our brother is, we hope,
we trust, we believe he was a CHRISTIAN."

CHAPTER XXIII.

•

REFLECTIONS.

As' the value of men historically stands in close con
nection 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 characteris
tics of the Christian Reformation, in whose ministry
Mr. Badger was a star of primary magnitude and
brightness ?

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 467

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 reforma
tory 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 ver
dict which shall declare its entire importance. This
question cannot now be answered, except by the abil
ity 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

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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 secta-
rism, 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 here
tic. The belligerent attitude of clergymen now con
clusively proves that theology, or divine science, is not
understood ; foe. it is impossible that honest men should
quarrel on any subject of which they have a full com
prehension. War, therefore, is the proof of ignorance,
and ignorance is the mother of intolerance and perse
cution. 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 ref
ormation, 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 nar
row 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.

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 469

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 sep
arated. 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 oif all sectarian names.
It was reverence to the New Testament, and to the
holy sympathies of Christian fellowship, which perpet
ually 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 re
jection 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 un
thinking masses, whose toil absorbs their energy, can
not form their own belief; that each, out of the store
house 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 where
with to be entombed ; but to him who is resolved to
live, it is the veriest mockery. If the Bible is, ac
cording to the general concession, the firmanent of
suns and stars, that bends morally and religiously over
mankind, why should the torch and taper lights of

470 MEMOIR OF

theological invention be substituted in its place ? In
the daytime is not the radiance of the sun sufficient ?
The cause which induced these reformers to reject the
man-made creeds, was simply reverence to the Book
of books, and to the individual right of every man to
learn truth for himself, undictated by the authority of
men.

3. They claimed for each person a perfect, indi
vidual freedom. Romanism denies this right ; and,
though Protestanism has usually admitted it in the
ory, 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 be
lieve ? 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 ex
clusive authority necessitated these convictions ; but
no notions of Trinity or Unity were ever thought of as

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 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 liter
ature 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 May
flower, 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 revolv
ing 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 Col
lege, at Yellow Springs, Ohio, under circumstances of
much promise, he -looked with anxious and hopeful
solicitude, always inquiring of the success of the en
terprise ; and it may be justly said that his last years
were full of the conviction that more education is the

472 MEMOIR OF

strongly available instrument of power. He lived to
see the denomination with whom his lot was cast, be
come 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 super
natural 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 con
sidered, the largest movement under the guiding im
pulse 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 journeyj 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 unconque red' truth that ever remains to
be learned, it follows, as by unyielding necessity, that

REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 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 supersti
tion, 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.

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