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."