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 thorough after its kind; let a blow be a blow, let a smile be a smile.
On leaving the editorial chair, May 1, 1839, he returned 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:
"'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 be severed forever."
In reviewing the past, he claims to have used no disguise, 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 Conference, 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 unanswered on which disorganizers 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 argument 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 interfered with the domestic or internal affairs of the churches, is proved, by long experience and common observation, to be a fabrication of error, a false alarm sounded for party purposes. But our opponents on this question are vanquished; 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.