PUBLIC LABORS, MARRIAGE, TRAVELS.—1816.
Renewing his zeal in the reflections of the opening year, Mr. Badger continued to be active in the field according to his ability, intellectual, moral, and physical. He acted up to his faith. He was no idle dreamer, but was a lover and an inspirer of lively times. The variety in him naturally called up variety in his outward life. People everywhere are agreed in preferring the man who throws himself into the circle of human action and living interests, honoring always the courageous actor whose sword and helmet are bright with use; and they are equally unanimous in rejecting the isolated ones, who would be great through separation from their fellows. Having experienced the summer bloom of the religious sentiment in his own heart, he casts himself upon the same sacred fire in which his own sins were consumed, and carries the flame to others.
This was indeed the most popular way of taking hold of the religious interest, for it is feeling that proves contagious, and thought immersed in feeling. Intellectual abstraction, even of the highest order, never was very popular, and never can be, unless mankind should arrive at some age when philosophical intellect shall be general—an age which, in all probability, is at least as far off as the millennium; whilst it is equally evident, that the man whose thoughts have an eye toward practical results, and toward the living heart of the active millions, is the one whom the people understand, and the one whom they willingly crown.
In January of this year, Mr. Badger continued to hold meetings in several towns, often from one to three in number per day, and as usual witnessed the effects of his labors. He speaks of being present at the death of Dr. Gray, a man of deistical principles, and whose life had been wicked. He visited him on Sunday, and remained till his death on Monday evening; and never did he witness more earnest prayers and pitiful expressions of grief than here by the bedside of the dying unbeliever, whose "philosophical fabrics all seemed to fail him in the trying hour;" on the 18th he presided at his funeral, and endeavored to console his disconsolate widow, and his "four weeping orphans." "Strange," says Mr. B., "that souls will live without faith, and strange that they will neglect the salvation of their souls to the last earthly day." In the early part of this month he spoke to an assembly from the merciful plea of the dresser of the vineyard, Luke 13: 18: "Let it alone this year also;" and some eight or ten were baptized this month. At Rochester, N. H., one of his "small friends," as he styles him, attempted to draw away the audience by the alarm of fire, crying to the utmost of his voice; but the more sacred fire of the speaker and of the meeting proved the stronger attraction, so that no essential disturbance ensued.
We might take the month of February as a sample of the manner in which his days and nights were used. In glancing over the dates of his appointments, the following figures stand out for this month: they were on the 1st, 2d, 3d, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th, 20th, 21st, 22d, 23d, 24th, 25th, 26th, and the remaining two days, which were passed at Lee, the place of his last appointment, are the only ones in which there is no record either of an appointment to preach or of time spent in visiting the sick. On his way from Farmington to Newmarket, he speaks of stopping at Capt. Richardson's tavern, at Durham, where he saw many strangers, and heard a conversation on political topics between two distinguished gentlemen, a conversation that ran quite high, as it just preceded the election.
"I thought," says Mr. B., "that they placed Mr. Plummer on a very low seat, much lower, indeed, than their fellow-citizens placed him a few days after; and they extolled federalism exceedingly high. Capt. T. spoke out with an air of consequence, and said: 'These runabout preachers, I find, are continually propagating the devilish doctrines of democracy.' 'O yes,' replied Col. R., 'that is their business.' I was indeed sorry for them. They little supposed that I was one of the persons they had spoken of, who, unlike themselves, had faith in the ability, good sense and integrity of mankind. I then rode to Lee, where I breathed a different atmosphere in the society of saints.
"The 1st and 2d of March I stayed at Newmarket; the 3d, held meeting at Mr. Sanborn's, of Epping; the 4th, at Newmarket, I was taken sick with the measles; the 5th, rode to Lee and preached a funeral sermon, also baptized one; the 6th, attended meeting in the evening at Nottingham; the 7th, through much infirmity, arrived at Deerfield and preached at the house of J. Hilton, where I received the kindest attentions during my severe sickness of one week. May their generosity be largely rewarded! As soon as I was able to ride, I started for Farmington, where I arrived on the 17th. After tarrying a few days, I went to Middleton and Brookfield for the first time. At the latter place, my first meeting was held on the 24th, at which time several afterwards dated their convictions. The 26th, held meeting at Middleton Corner. It was a solemn time. That night I could not sleep, as the people of Brookfield were so much in my heart and mind. The 28th, I attended the ordination of J. L. Peavy, at Farmington, and heard an appropriate sermon from Rev. Elias Smith, of Portsmouth. It was a glorious time."
A sickness like the one here narrated would in these days have made a greater break in the journal of a month than it did with this hardy young minister. His body does not rest at the mere assault of disease, but moves on till the heavier blows fall; then surrenders but a week—is up again and doing as ever. Though his command of Greek and Latin may have been incomparably less than those who have passed their years in careful study, it would terrify the mass of graduates to attempt his labors.
The month of April was busily and successfully employed, each day being occupied with an appointment to preach, or with visiting from house to house, in which he carried a countenance of calm and cheerful light to all he met. Sometimes three meetings a day was his order of action. At Wakefield he spoke on the 28th to hundreds of attentive hearers, among whom was a respectable young woman, Miss Lusena Guage, and who within seventeen hours of the time of his public address, departed this life; a circumstance that impressed itself on all, from the fact that the speaker that day had uttered, almost in an oracular manner, that the whole of his assembly would never meet him again. In Brookfield, he ended this month in the same evangelical spirit that brightened all his arduous labor, thanking God for what he had seen among the people.
As May unfolded its numberless gems, it found him striving to unfold the spiritual life that lay in his own soul, and that existed, perhaps, in a wintry state, in the souls of others. The sun's increasing light and warmth invite nature to come out; whereupon, in a million-fold dress she stands arrayed before the celestial King. This is so, because the sun is to life a friend; and is it otherwise when any mind uncommonly filled with the Maker's light and love sheds itself vertically on other minds? The effects are indeed similar. Now and then a late plant or an obstinate root, that seems to be indifferent to the far-sent beam, at last buds and sprouts afresh. In this May month, he speaks of an humble twenty who met at Brookfield, N. H., and "agreed to acknowledge themselves a little company of Christians, or Disciples, and to lay aside all unscriptural names, doctrines and masters for the name of Christ, his doctrine and laws;" which, he says, was a glad day to many. "The converts were happy, the saints encouraged, the mourners comforted. The Bible alone was their creed." He also adds:
"This day and this night were solemn to me. One young man, by the name of L. Whitehouse, by reputation the wickedest young man in town, one who had often wished me out of the place, one who had despised the saints, came running to me, his face suffused with tears, and said: 'Mr. Badger, can you pray for such a man as I am?' I told him that I could. He was in deep distress. After a time he returned home. At midnight I was aroused from my slumbers by the message that Mr. W. was dying, and that he wished to see me very much. Leaving my room and walking through the darkness of night to visit one who had despised both me and my counsels, I heard him say as I entered the house where he lay, 'I am dying; and the worst of all that troubles me is that I am unprepared to meet God.' Several hours I passed with him; and the more of such scenes I witness, the more I am struck with the folly of men in neglecting salvation in prosperity and health.
"Arriving at Farmington on the 5th, at L. Peavy's I fell in company with Dr. Hammond, who soon introduced conversation on the subject of religion. He stood on the old doctrine of fatalism, and was what every man ought to be who honestly plants himself on this ground, a Universalist. After he had labored hard (for one must labor hard to support a false doctrine, whilst the truth can support itself and all who believe it,) to prove his theory, I said to him: 'Sir, although you claim to make God a good and merciful being, you make him inconsistent. You prove that he has decreed one thing and commanded another. You allege that he ordained all things. Of course he has ordained them right. But, Sir, are you able to say that all the wars, blasphemy, drunkenness, political and religious contention we have on earth, proceed from your good God?' 'Certainly' responded he; 'it is all for some end. Mortals must experience a degree of misery, to prepare them for happiness. It is best,' continued he, 'to have different beliefs and sects in the world, and what you term religion is merely impulse and imagination, which is good so far as it tends to good among men. The fear of hell which you hold up, moves many to reform, and I think it would not be so well if all men were as I am.' In the last idea I acquiesced. I told him that I never had known the opinions he avowed to work the reformation of any man; that I had not yet met a Christ-like and prayerful person of those views, and that I had known them to be accompanied by much profanity, professed in the grog-shop, and resorted to by the vilifier of practical godliness as a shelter against the solemn claims of Christ upon the heart. I said to him that truth bears good fruits, and that I was sorry that he should labor so hard to prove a doctrine of whose results he had so poor an opinion. Here our conversation closed.
"6th, I returned to Brookfield; just before I arrived at Middleton Corner I saw a funeral procession slowly moving toward the grave, and being so near the funeral I had attended when going down, it made a solemn impression on my mind. I said, Oh, may I be prepared for a similar scene! The 8th, after attending two meetings, rode to Wolfborough, where I arrived in the evening, much fatigued; the 9th, spoke for the first time to the people at Smith's Bridge; the 10th, returned to Brookfield; the 12th, spoke to the people from Job 20: 17, and though the rain, which fell very fast, prevented hundreds from attending, we had a very good time. At 7 o'clock I attended meeting at Wakefield, and as I visited from house to house on the 13th, I remember to have asked a lady whether she enjoyed the religion of Jesus, to which she replied, 'I do not intend to be a hypocrite;' I thought her purpose a good one, though her courtesy might have been a little improved. I was every where else kindly received. The 18th, 19th, 20th, 23d, 26th, and 28th, had good and effective meetings, the last appointment being at Epping, where I found the people low in the enjoyment of vital religion, and some who had by experience known the life and power of God, settled down upon their lees, or what, in Calvinistic phraseology, they would call the doctrines of grace. Grace then became my theme. I went so far as to say that not only all men, but beasts, birds, and fishes, were in a state of grace or favor with God, by which they are daily sustained. What oak or rose-bush can grow without the Creator's kindness? The 30th I spoke from Ps. 117: 7, 'Return unto thy rest, oh, my soul; for the Lord has dealt bountifully with thee.' Rev. N. Piper was present, and with many others, spoke, whilst the glory of God seemed to shine in our midst. The 31st I was sick at Mr. B.'s, whose kindness I can never forget. The Lord God alone can know whether I live through another month. If I do, oh, help me to live it more to thy glory than I have lived any month of my life."
No day of the month of June passed without an appointment to preach, as a glance at the journal shows; and among the travels recorded, is a journey to Providence, Rhode Island. At Canterbury, on his way, he speaks for the first time of hearing Elder Mark Fernald preach, June 10th, and on the 11th of hearing Elder Benj. Taylor, who addressed the meeting at Canterbury, fourteen ministers and many others being present. He says:
"The 16th, I spoke at the State House, Providence, R. I., and had a good time in preaching and in breaking of bread. The 17th, I rode to Boston, where I also spent the greater part of the 18th, visiting the Museum, which made a strong impression on my mind, and conversing with Mr. Elias Smith, with whom I put up. In the evening I enjoyed a very good time at Salem. The 23d, I went to hear Mr. Burgus, who spoke from Acts 8: 22, in which he stated that prior to prayer or any other duty, men must feel the love of God; also, that all who denied that Jesus Christ had come in the flesh, were false teachers, as are all those who regard him only as a man; for, said he, Christ is the Eternal God: there is none above him. When his afternoon meeting was closed, I arose and told the people I had two remarks to make on the sermon delivered in the morning, one in regard to prayer, the other in regard to Christ. You remember, I said to them, that the love of God was enjoined as preceding every acceptable prayer. I ask you to compare this statement with the order of facts contained in the gentleman's text, which are, 1. Repentance; 2. Prayer; 3. Forgiveness. 'Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee.' As none contend that the enjoyment of the love of God precedes the forgiveness of sins, I am amazed at so bold a contradiction of the passage on which the sermon was professedly founded. I then noticed Christ, informing the people that I knew not the sect who held him to be merely a man, for who does not know that the most ultra of the Socinian school place him above all men in the divinity of his spiritual endowments? and what class, I inquired, could more plainly deny Christ than he had been denied a short time previous, by the statement that he is the Eternal God? I stated that I believed him to be the Son of God, the great Mediatorial Centre of grace to mortals, and that he has received all power in heaven and on earth. If he is the Father, he cannot be the Son; and if the plain declarations of the New Testament are to be relied on, it is certain that he was dependent on God, and that he knew One greater than himself, to whom he offered worship, and of whom he gave a new revelation.[25] About this time the clergyman saw fit to leave without offering any public remarks. I continued my address. At the close, many spoke of the love of Christ; and though we were deprived of the presence of the clergyman, we had, I think, the presence of God, which was far preferable. The 30th, met an attentive multitude at T. Burley's barn, to whom I spoke in the forenoon, from Ps. 11: 12, and in the afternoon from Eph. 4: 5, on baptism. Many spoke freely. We then retired to a pleasant water near by, where, with great satisfaction, I baptized six happy youth. Here closes one month more. O God, I pray thee to prepare me for all that may await me in the next."
July, 1816. We read of his being at Brookfield on the 1st, of his attending the funeral obsequies of Mr. L. J. Hutchins, at Wakefield, on the 2d, and of his spending the month industriously in the several places of his accustomed labor. Not far from this time there was in his mind a temporary conviction that he would select Providence, R. I., for his permanent residence, as he was anxious to concentrate his labors in one field, and no longer extend them over so wide a surface. Bearing date a few weeks later is a letter from Rev. Benj. Taylor, of Taunton, Mass., congratulating him on the change of his condition from single to married life, and earnestly inviting him to make the city of Providence his stand, assuring him that the condition of about thirteen churches within an area of forty miles called for his influence, ability, and zeal in their midst. Though Providence had the preference in his mind over the several places that occupied his attention as a permanent home, circumstances seemed to have ordained a different lot. He never became a citizen of that beautiful city.
July the 17th he was married to Miss Mary Jane Peavy, of Farmington, New Hampshire, daughter of Capt. Anthony Peavy, of that town. The lady that now became his companion in the cares, hopes, and sorrows of life, was of the tender age of eighteen; and though doubtless inexperienced in the trials that belong to the ministerial sphere, having been herself most carefully and tenderly brought up in one of the best of New England families, her devotion to her husband, and to the cause in which he was engaged, during the brief period of her life, was ever worthy of the noblest praise. All the letters and documents of these few years indicate a mutual depth of sentiment and devotional regard. So paramount, however, was the cause of the ministry in Mr. Badger's mind, that the happy and important change recorded of his social relations made no essential vacancy in the accustomed duties of his profession. The days and evenings as they passed were continually laden with his sermons and prayers.
In a letter to his brother, dated July 17th, he writes of the gloomy prospects of the husbandman throughout that country, saying, "We have been afflicted with war and with pestilence, and now we are threatened with famine, which is, if possible, a greater evil. I hope the people may learn righteousness whilst these various judgments are abroad in the earth."
When speaking of the funeral of Mr. Hutchins, he says, "There was indeed a great solemnity in this scene. The widow's heart was a fountain of sorrow. The sons wept much, and on the face of one of the daughters sat the serene impress of eternity, whilst all the connections and friends seemed to mourn the loss of a Christian, a patriot, and a worthy member of the community. Several hours before the meeting, I spent in a pleasant grove; my retired moments, which were very solemn, were passed in meditation, prayer, and weeping; at the close of the services the afflicted family manifested to me an uncommon degree of friendship. Though very unwell, I rode to Middleton that day." In speaking of his trials, at the close of this July journal, he says: "It is well for mankind that they know not what the future conceals, lest they might shrink before the approaching conflict. I found in all my trials God's grace sufficient for me. 'In me ye shall have peace,' and to God I make my prayer that he would save me from whatever is unlike himself. 'Make me even as one of thy hired servants.'" There is an inward living current of faith flowing through his mind; nor were there any crises in his life, nor were there any trying positions into which the force of circumstances brought him, that, carefully examined, are found to be unvisited and unrefreshed by this living water of life in his soul. Like the mystic rock the Hebrew prophet smote, his heart flows out in living water.
August, 1816. "From the 1st to the 20th my time was spent in Brookfield, Middleton, Farmington, attending to reading, writing, preaching, and visiting from house to house. The 20th, had a good and solemn time at Brookfield; being ready to start for R. I., after having a public meeting we held a conference, in which brother Joseph Gooding, in an animating manner, told his religious experience, and requested baptism, which I administered at evening, whilst it seemed as though the heavens were opened and the Spirit descended upon the assembly. We then walked for a half a mile, singing the praise of God. After changing my dress, I rode to the residence of John Chamberlain, Esq., where I was kindly received, and where I found the company of Mr. F. Cogswell, of Gilmanton, whose visits among his brethren were like the coming of Titus in the days of apostolical truth and religious simplicity. The 21st, we rode to Farmington and enjoyed a happy meeting; the 22d, being ready to start on a journey to the South, I asked my affectionate companion which she would prefer me to do,—enter into business, accumulate property, and be respectable in the world, or do the will of the Lord in going forth to preach the Gospel, leaving her at home, and subjecting ourselves to be poor in this world all our days. After a moment's reflection, she burst into a flood of tears, and said, 'I hope you will do the Lord's will, whatever else may happen.' We had a weeping time. The next morning I arose early and bade all my friends an affectionate farewell, not expecting to see them again for several weeks. Here my trial was very great. I had known what it was to forsake father and mother, brother and sister, houses and homes for Christ's sake, but in leaving one who was so nearly a part of my own life, I found that it exceeded all other trials belonging to the separation of friends. The 24th I went to Deerfield to attend a general meeting. I was there also on the 25th. The 26th it was continued at Candia, and a blessing seemed to attend it. The 27th and 28th, attended the Ministers' Conference at Candia. The 29th, after the close of conference, I heard the Rev. Elias Smith preach at Deerfield, N. H. From several considerations, I was induced to postpone my journey to the South, and, in company with Mr. E. Plan, returned to Rochester and Farmington.
Sept. 1816. "From the 1st to the 10th I passed at Farmington, holding several meetings: the 11th, went to Gilmanton; the 13th, in company with Mr. Cogswell, started for the province of Canada, to visit our relatives, and to seek the welfare of Zion. The 14th, arrived at the house of my eldest brother, in Wheelock, Vt., a distance of 112 miles; on Tuesday following, arrived at Danville, held meeting at the Court House, where, favored by the presence of a good assembly and six ministers of the Gospel, I found liberty in speaking the living word. Our minds were mutually refreshed. On Wednesday, held meeting in the north part of the town, and at Mr. Wicker's in the evening, where I was amazed to find Mrs. W. happy and in health, as she had been sick for three years, and had, according to the testimony of herself and friends, been miraculously restored a few days before my arrival. Two years previous I had visited her in her illness, which served to increase my surprise at her present condition, induced, as I was told, by simple compliance in faith with the direction of the Apostle James 5: 14, 15. On Sunday, at Compton, we enjoyed an excellent meeting with old friends, relatives, and acquaintances, and on Monday evening rode to Ascott to visit a company of Christians who had formerly been noted for piety and engagedness, but were now the subjects of delusion. Abundantly had they been blessed of God; but instead of learning humility, they appeared to build themselves up in the spirit of self-righteousness. One whom they styled Apostle and Prophet was to them the highest authority, equal to anything in the Holy Scripture. He had revelations concerning all the business to be done by his followers; also his pretended illumination extended to marriages and to the intercourse of the sexes, and when his ipse dixit was given on these points, immorality was unblushingly practised. Pretending to have personal interviews with angels he had six followers, who, at his command, would fall upon their knees, lie prostrate upon the floor, or walk in a pretended labor for souls. Sometimes he kept them walking for several days and nights without eating or sleeping, when they would frequently faint and fall upon the floor. They often screamed, howled, and barked, making various strange noises, and bending themselves up into many shapes. They most tenaciously held that they were the only true church on earth, and that no person out of their pale was capable of giving them the least instruction. Like all the fanatics I ever saw, they evinced great hatred and spite when opposed, and sometimes they were full of the spirit of mocking. As I had known them when they were respectable young people, and had enjoyed with them the best of Christian fellowship, I could but deeply mourn over the delusion in which they were lost. After spending eighteen hours with them, I bore the most decided testimony I could against their sentiments and procedure. How many are carried away by every wind of doctrine, and allow the pure religion of Jesus, with which they begin, to degenerate into an alloy of earth and passion! Ever may I be kept in the Mediator, where I shall be permanent and uncontrolled by the wild extremes of the age. The week following I spent at Compton, holding meetings in different parts of the town. On Sunday, the 29th, the assembly was large, and we had a weeping time, as I bade them farewell in the name of Him in whom is our hope and love; and on Monday visited from house to house. Being ready to depart on the morrow, and thinking that it was the last time I should repose under my father's roof, my thoughts and feelings were deeply solemn, as I looked out upon the world-wide field of my future labors. My very heart was pained, and the night passed away in almost entire sleeplessness. Here closes the month, and in feelings of the greatest solemnity.
(Oct. 1816. Letter to his father. Montpelier, Vt., Oct. 12, 1816.) "Dear Father,—With pleasure I improve a few moments in writing to you, that you may be informed of my good health, and my agreeable visit at Stanstead, Wheelock and Danville. I preached the next Sunday after I left home, at Danville Court House, and in the evening at Major Morrill's. On Monday I came to this town, and held a meeting at the Hall of Esquire Snow; in this place and Calace I have held meetings all through the week. Last Thursday I attended the election. After the Governor was chosen, the ministers of all denominations were invited to his apartment, where all the choicest kinds of drinks were placed before them, and a rich dinner was prepared. Gov. J. Galusha was chosen by a very great majority. He is an agreeable man, and apparently a real Christian. His conduct through the day excited the admiration of the spectators, and it manifested, I think, the spirit of true patriotism and of sound Christianity. I have an appointment here to-morrow and expect that some will be baptized. We intend to start for N. H. on Monday. I am in great haste. Give my love to Mother, Thomas, Hannah and all my friends. God bless you all with life eternal. Farewell.
"Joseph Badger."
"Maj. Peaslee Badger."
Resuming his journal we find the following on this month. After meeting a large assembly at Danville, on Sunday, 13th, and administering baptism as intimated in his letter, he returned to his home at Farmington, N. H., the 16th, where he resumed his ministerial labor. He speaks of his appointments in different places as being to his own spirit refreshing; and of the sickness of his wife, and of outward trials and burdens as being great. His fine and sensitive nature, with all its composure and heroism, was alive to the influence of surrounding circumstances. Great and trying must have been the difficulties into which his position in the world at times must have brought him. These, however, only proved the strength and competency of the man. He never bowed his manly head in despair. He says, "Amidst all my conflict, in my retired moments I find consolation in trusting in God and in hoping for better days; and before the year shall end, O God, may I be allowed to see great displays of thy power." His clouds were always colored in part with the sun's rays. In a letter to his wife, dated Gilmanton, Oct. 31, he states the cause which commanded all the faculties of his mind:—
"As I am so far on my journey I think it best to continue it. Our parting at this time is no less disagreeable to me than to yourself. If I were to return home, the cross and the self-denial of our separation would not be diminished. We must learn to forsake all for our dear Redeemer's cause. It is not, dear Mary, to please myself or others that I leave you. It is wholly for the benefit of mankind, and for the promotion of the cause of Christ. In a few weeks, if the Lord will, I shall return to your fond embraces. Be composed and reconciled to my absence, and never utter a murmuring sigh at the will of Heaven."
The journey he was about to take through the States of New Hampshire, Vermont, and New York, led to the selection of the fruitful and pleasant region of the county of Munroe,[26] in the latter State, as his permanent home, a region of country which in conversation he frequently styled "the heart of the world."
November, 1816, leaving Gilmanton on the 2d, and passing through the towns, Salisbury, New Andover, Springfield, Newport, Clairmont, N. H.; through Weathersfield, Cavendish, Ludlow, Middleton, Poultney and Clarendon, Vt.; also passing through Granville, Hartford, Kingsbury, Saratoga, Milton, N. Y., he arrived on the 5th at Galway, where he met a kind reception from many who, like himself, stood on the common faith of one God the Father, one Christ the Mediator, one creed and platform of faith and church polity, the Holy Scriptures of both Testaments, and one common freedom of interpretation and right of private judgment. Here he addressed the people on the evening of the 5th, and rode to Ballston on the 6th, in which place and in adjoining towns, a great reformation had occurred under the public improvement of a very worthy female speaker, by the name of Nancy Gove. He gave to this community one discourse the evening of his arrival. On the 7th he was greatly delighted to meet his old friend and father in Israel, A. Moulton, from the Province, with whom, in his early years, he says, "I had taken sweet counsel in a strange land." Now he again heard his voice in the public assembly, on the same themes as when, in his youthful days, he spoke with so much feeling to his sensitive heart. In Amsterdam, a town of some prominence, in old Montgomery County, he preached to the people on the 9th and 10th, and carried the resurrection light of Christian consolation into the dwelling of Mr. Green, whose guest he was, and whose companion in life was wasting away with consumption. He had a fine faculty to light up a house of sorrow and mourning with hope and cheerfulness. At Milton, Ballston Springs, Charleston, and Canajoharie, he gave sermons; on what topics his private journal does not record, but to those who know his sagacious skill in adapting his subjects and discussions to the assemblies he met, no evidence will be needed to convince them that for the occasion and place they were happily chosen.
Parting with Mr. Thompson and family on the 18th, and passing through several townships, as Minden, Warren, Litchfield and Paris, he arrived at Clinton, Madison County, N. Y., where he spoke on the evening of the 19th. Continuing his journey through several towns he arrived on the 21st at Brutus, Onondaga County, N. Y., and addressed the inhabitants in the evening of that and of the following day. He speaks of having there met Rev. Elijah Shaw, a man whose labors were then and afterwards greatly successful in leading the people into the inward experience of the vital principles of the Christian religion. Parting with these friends, in company with Mr. Moulton, he visited what was then the village of Auburn, and crossing the lake on a bridge, which he describes as a mile and a quarter in length, came into Junius, and reposed at night in the "handsome village," as he terms it, of Phelps; on the 26th he rode to Farmington, and there saw what in those days were considered the "famous Sulphur Springs," which he describes as a stream running rapidly out of the side of a small hill, in temperature about milk-warm, in smell and medical quality of the nature of sulphur; the waters were clear, and over the current a light cloud of vapor continually arose. I find that Mr. Badger, whenever his eye is arrested by a scene in nature, is sure to group together, in few words, all the essential qualities, and nothing redundant or expletive ever appears in his descriptions, which is nearly always the reverse with persons of unsubjected imaginations. He saw nature quietly and truthfully. The journal of this month closes with the account of several meetings held in Pittsford, since named Henrietta,[27] which was the centre of his early labors in this region of country.
The month of December was assiduously employed in and about the region last mentioned. On the 1st, which was Sunday, he addressed a large assembly for the space of two hours, and at evening, in another part of the town, he spoke an hour and thirty-five minutes to a full house, a considerable number of whom were members of the Presbyterian society. From these meetings several of the people were accustomed to follow him to his lodgings and spend hours in conversation. His personal influence had a power to charm the people; and the statements of scores who still survive him, agree that Mr. Badger's influence as a speaker in those early years was, in this region of country, without a parallel. Communities were carried away by it. Opposition to his doctrine availed little in arresting the popular tide that moved at the lead of his will and word. "In those years," said an aged professional man, to the writer of this biography, "I regarded Mr. Badger as the most popular preacher I ever knew, and I still think," continued he, "that all in all, I never heard a man of so great natural gifts." At Westown, or Henrietta, he ordained deacons in his society, to take a temporal oversight of its affairs, and filling up nearly all the days with social visits and public meetings, the month was one continued earnest effort at bringing souls under the influence of Jesus and of Christianity. A theological conversation between himself and Rev. Thomas Gorton, who lived on the Genesee river, which occurred the 17th, and one with Rev. Mr. Bliss, may perhaps interest the reader. I offer his own words:—
"We conversed for the space of five hours on different subjects. He was indeed very firm, and all who did not think as he did came generally under the name of heretics. At the close he offered against me four objections, which were thus stated: 1st. You believe that the sinner in the reception of salvation is an active creature. 2d. You believe in the possibility of falling from a state of justification. 3d. You cannot reconcile all the Scripture to either of the three systems of punishment for the wicked, neither eternal misery, destruction, nor restoration. 4th. You baptize all who give evidence of their becoming new creatures, provided they are received as such by a church with whom you have fellowship, without any particular regard to their belief or doctrinal principles. Thus ended our conversation. The next day, I understood that this gentleman, in speaking of the communion, (he was of the Baptist faith,) said that it was 'absurd to think of feeding swine and sheep together,' which caused me to mourn that he or that any should have so little charity for other denominations. I preached in his neighborhood the same evening, [he was prevented from attending by a bad cold] and was introduced to Mr. Rich, another clergyman of the Baptist denomination. Asking him to participate in the meeting, I proceeded to speak from 1 Cor. 13: 13:—'And now abideth faith, hope, and charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.' The clergyman witnessed to the truth of my sermon. The 18th I spoke at Avon, the 19th went to Pittsford to administer baptism, the 20th enjoyed a good time in the south part of the town, the 21st had a very cold, disagreeable time at the village, the 22d enjoyed a happy fellowship meeting, the 23d had an excellent communion season in Pittsfield. At Briton, Mr. Chapin, a missionary, after I had spoken, read a sermon nineteen minutes in length, in which he alleged that in Christ there are two distinct natures united, the human and the divine; that the divinity never suffered, that humanity alone was the world's saving sacrifice. No wonder that he should teach a partial and a legal salvation. The 29th I attended the funeral of an excellent young man, by the name of Dorous Burr, which had on the minds of many a solemn effect. For the first time, I met, on the 31st, Rev. Mr. Bliss, of Avon. I think he was naturally a gentleman, though on this occasion, prejudice against a people with whom he was not acquainted had an overwhelming influence on his manners. Many questions he asked in regard to total depravity, a Triune God, the eternal Godhead of Christ, and many others of the kind which are unnamed in all the Holy Scriptures. Not caring to detail a lengthy conversation, I would say that near its close he observed to me, that my system was composed of Universalism and Deism; to this I replied, that the old contradictory doctrine of fate, originally introduced by the Stoics, and afterwards cruelly applied and industriously propagated by John Calvin and his followers, was the very root and foundation of both these doctrines, and that if I was to take his statement for truth, all the difference to be found between us was this,—that Calvinism is the body of the tree, Universalism the branches, and Deism the ripe fruit, and that whilst he was the body, I was the branches and fruit; and being so nearly related, we should hesitate thoughtfully before we consented to quarrel, reminding him that in the forest body and branches never contend. After some show of clerical importance and authority, enough to remind one that if the world was ruled by narrow-minded ecclesiastics, blood might yet be shed for opinion's sake, our interview closed. On the evening of the same day, I had a good meeting at Mr. Gould's, in which eight or ten feelingly spoke of the love of Christ, some of whom had never spoken in public before. Here the month and the year close. I thank God for what I have seen, and for what my soul has felt in this month; and though it has been my lot this year to pass through sickness and trials of many kinds, I thank Him that at its close I feel a degree of salvation within, and I can say with Israel's king, 'Before I was afflicted I went astray.' Through all his agencies may God aid me to live more to his glory the coming year than ever I have done. Thus end the reflections and incidents of 1816."