"It is the word of God alone," said these stout, honest-hearted men of Ohio, when assembled—"the word of God alone, on which the Church of Christ will finally settle, build and grow into a holy temple of the Lord." Mr. Badger, after taking a list of the names of ministers in Kentucky and Ohio, and with a characteristic orderly minuteness, ascertained the number of churches and of meeting-houses they erected, the names of such as had died in the active duties of the ministry, returned home, rich in the benedictions of the regions he had visited, and with the resolve at some other season to penetrate the south further than he yet had gone. Perhaps the good impressions made on his mind by these journeys may be plead in conjunction with the wide sympathies of his nature, and the well-balanced cast of his intellect, as the reason why in all his life he was uncontrolled by local prejudice, and it may be a part of the reason why, that to him, and to the cause of free and Apostolical Christianity which he represented, there was no east, no west, no north, no south, as forming any limit to his friendly regards and Christian fellowship. At Cincinnati he gathered the few who held to like faith into a convenient place of worship, made arrangements with ministers for their supply, and before his return a general Conference was agreed upon at Cincinnati the last of October, 1826.
June 23d, at the Annual Session of the New York Western Christian Conference, he was, with Rev. A. C. Morrison, appointed a messenger to the United States Conference, to be holden at Windham, Ct., the first days of September, where among the responsible trusts committed to him, was that of acting as their messenger at the autumnal assemblage of delegates and ministers who were to convene at Cincinnati. From April to August of this year, Mr. Badger was constantly engaged in the vicinity of home; at South Lima additions were made, the assembly was large; the society at Royalton he consigned to the care of Rev. E. Shaw, an able minister of the New Testament. August 18th, he visited New York city where he stayed two Sabbaths, and spoke to increasing assemblies. His remarks on the commotion and dissent which at that time appeared among the Friends under the preaching of Elias Hix, his close and practical analysis of the state of society in New York city, though interesting, we must pass by; also his remarks on the general meetings he attended at Beekman and Milan, Dutchess County, and of one at Canaan, Columbia County, N. Y. Something tragical developed under his four sermons at Beekman. A minister of another sect, who had violently opposed the people and sentiments to which Mr. Badger belonged, was observed to weep much under his discourse, and afterwards was heard to say that it was the truth of God, and that none could deny it—the same night he went into a grove near his residence, and hung himself.
In Columbia County, Mr. Badger became acquainted with the venerable old minister, John Leland, of whom the world has heard much, a man then between seventy and eighty years old, but possessing the brilliancy of youth. Though local at the time, he said that his travels as a minister would measure three times around the globe. From Rev. Mr. Gardner, a prominent minister in Ohio, Mr. B. received these lines of invitation: "A second visit from yourself in this country will be well received. Our hearts and our houses are open to receive you, and many are inquiring, 'When will he return?'" Rev. Mr. Adams also writes: "The friends remember you with affection; they have not forgotten your sermons and good counsels; they are anxious to receive another visit from you, and think that you would do much good in this country. I am confident there is not a society you visited here but would unite in inviting you to return." Several such invitations were kindly showered upon him. He did return. We may ask where were his idle days? It was one of his chosen maxims that "an idle person is the devil's playfellow." In all these labors we see a spirit that surveys the general interest, plans for the general good, and leads along easily the minds of others into the possession of his own views and feelings. In the southern and western journey, narrated in this chapter, there were revivals in almost every place he visited, as we learn not only from his own journal, but more particularly from other and reliable sources.
His second tour through Ohio and Kentucky, in which he renewed and greatly enlarged his acquaintance, gave him a still larger estimate of the success of liberal principles in the west and south. By the advices of the best informed ministers, he learned that the account he had published the previous spring in relation to the number of ministers and brethren in the west was much too small, and that, using his own language, "it is a safe and moderate calculation to say, that in the several Conferences situate in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Tennessee, Alabama, and Kentucky, there are three hundred preachers and fifteen thousand brethren. They all worship ONE GOD in ONE Person, and have no creed but their Bible." He says:
"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 savage 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. 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 Kentucky 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 Alabama 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 Kentucky, my interview with the preachers, brethren and friends was very agreeable, and their kindness and friendship 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 present, 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 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 journal, in which he sharply and most independently reproved (as he always did under such circumstances) disorder and fanaticism in the house of God, caused a lengthy, explanatory, and complaining reply, to which Mr. B. very ably responded. Speaking of the one who had led the way in this wild enthusiasm, and whom he regarded as having been egotistically unpleasant to his colleagues, he applies the words of Johnson:
"Fate never wounds more deep the generous heart,
Than when the blockhead's insult points the dart."