"My dear Brother:—Your experience, I am satisfied, teaches you that persecution is the common lot of the true followers of Christ. This morning, by the order of Capt. Moor, of Ringsey, I was taken and ordered to march to the Three Rivers, guarded by a company of Indians, with the savage-like Robert McMullen at their head. But as I could not be reconciled to this company, and to this manner of conveyance (which was a birch canoe), I plainly told them that if I went in such a manner, it would be because I was obliged to do so. I was then very unhandsomely used. I was not only abused by words, but violent hands were laid on me. Then Mr. Asa Bean appeared in my behalf, and offered to be bound to deliver me at Mr. Stewart's, in Windover, the same day. I then had liberty to ride my horse, and about three o'clock we arrived here. I expect on the morrow to start for the Three Rivers. This is indeed a time of trial to me; but I can truly say, with St. Paul, that 'None of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto me.' Hitherto the Lord has helped me, and Jesus says, 'Lo, I am with you, even unto the end of the world.' This promise to me now, whilst I am surrounded by a dozen of the merciless savages, is worth more than millions of worlds. I really feel that these afflictions will work for good in the end. Oh Lord, may they serve to humble me down, and to teach me my dependence on thee.
"Capt. Moor does not pretend to accuse me of anything but of going into the States in time of war, as I have understood, and I am informed that his own children have done the same with approbation. But that which pains my heart the most, is to think that in the reformation at Ringsey only two years ago, this mad man made a profession of religion. Oh how many such characters wound the cause of our Master! Lord, pity them. I wish you to give yourself no uneasiness on my account. God Almighty will make my afflictions a blessing to somebody. It will be well for you to return to Ascott as soon as Wednesday, and there remain until you hear from me again. Be of good courage. I hope you will never have it to regret that you came into this region. Pray for your unworthy brother Joseph, that he may finish his course with joy. I am, if need be, ready to be offered; and, from several causes, I feel that the time of my departure is not far distant. Dear brother, I bid you a short farewell, hoping, if not in time, to meet you in pure realms of glory.
"J. Badger."
"John Langdon Peavy."
The night passed away, and our prisoner arose on Saturday morning with a plan in his brain, with which he calmly confronted the tawny band and their leaders. Only about fifteen miles of the passage was completed, and the remainder was never accomplished. He told them that he should not go further unless they could get higher authority than what they then possessed, and to secure this, offered to appear before the officers of a military company whose tents were pitched on the other side of the St. Francisway river.
"Early on Saturday morning," says Mr. B., "we crossed the river into Drummondsville, and appeared before Commissary Morrison, where some of my company were greatly ashamed and humbled; when the Commissary, after hearing the facts, said unhesitatingly, 'Mr. Badger, go about your business.' It soon became a question to ascertain how much Capt. Moor had gained this time by his loyalty. Hiring an Indian to convey me across the river, Mr. Bean and myself returned to our starting-place at Ringsey, and riding fifteen miles on Sunday morning, I arrived to my appointment at Shipton, where I enjoyed a refreshing time from the presence of the Lord."
In the month of May, 1835, I remember, for the first time, to have passed some five days at the house of Mr. B., who then edited a popular and influential paper entitled "The Christian Palladium," at Union Mills, Fulton Co., New York. The order into which all his arrangements seemed naturally to fall, the business tact, that seemed with him a spontaneous ability, were easily observable. In the familiar conversation to which he was accustomed in the social circle of his own home, I remember to have heard him say to a gentleman who inquired of his daily habits, "I am a business man. I rise early, and hear the first notes of the robin. I would give more for one morning hour, to think in, than for all the rest of the day. I lay my plans in the morning; and, if you will believe it, I never got into a difficulty yet, from which one clear hour of thinking in the morning would not deliver me." And the foregoing passage of his early history is but one illustration among hundreds, showing that there was no egotism in the remark here quoted. Passing some days at Shipton, Ascott and Compton, he again started for New England, the scene of his former success, many of whose ministers and churches had crowned him with verbal benedictions, and with hearty written commendations; whose words are still alive on many carefully preserved documents, as legible as when they were first penned. Not in haste did he leave the Province, holding many meetings first; and whether these animosities, growing out of the suspected character of his British patriotism, wholly subsided or not, with the fruitless assault of his enemies already related, I know not. An explicit document, bearing date Jan. 8, 1818, signed by the citizens of Compton, shows that "Joseph Badger, son of Major Peaslee Badger, of Compton, has a bright and shining character as a Christian in the Province of Lower Canada, where he has been known; and that always when he came into the town to see his parents and friends, he came into the Province boldly and preached publicly wherever he had occasion to preach;" which, in the absence of other explanation, looks like an effort to meet the slander of some enemy, who might have planted himself, like Capt. Moor, on grounds of superabundant loyalty. Something bordering on the miraculous shines through the following incident, related of a youth in Ascott:
"A young man of the family of Mr. Bullard, who had been confined for six years, deprived of sight, strength, and the ability to speak aloud, continually bowed down, and so weak that he could not be shaven, had, three years after his debility, received from God a wonderful illumination, and in it the evidence that he had passed from death unto life; from which time his faith in the Son of God by degrees increased until he believed in the resurrection or restoration of the body to health by faith in Christ. A few days previous to our visiting him, he called in the elders of the church to pray over him, anointing him with oil, in the name of the Lord (James 5: 14, 15). As they prayed, a power was revealed, by which he arose, walked, and praised God. We held a meeting at the house, in which he arose and spoke freely, saying that his soul was troubled for the scarcity of faith on the earth. As we listened to that voice which had been silent for six years, we were surprised and startled by the reality. As he cast his languid eyes upon us, his face, like that of Moses, seemed to shine so brightly that scarcely one in the assembly could look upon him. This to me appeared as heavenly as anything I ever had witnessed; and his language and remarks, I think, exceeded anything I ever had heard from mortal lips. Our interview with him filled our souls with solemnity."
Parting with his relatives in Compton, which from his fine affectional nature was unavoidably trying, he, in company with the worthy young minister who had accompanied him from New England, passed through Stanstead and several other towns, inquiring as they went of the prosperity of Zion, receiving also at times a cold reception from the sectarian who had learned to love the Church only in the form of a sect; he speaks most gratefully of the kind treatment they received from two Methodist clergymen, of good meetings held on the way, at Cabot, at Rumney, and other places. Leaving Mr. Peavy at the last-named town, he passed on to Meredith on Friday, spoke to the people on Sunday and on Monday evening; arrived on Tuesday at his native Gilmanton, from which he again laid into order a new campaign against the reigning powers of darkness.