"If the Presbyterians, in the late session of their general assembly, had adhered to these principles they would not have been split asunder. But how plain it is to every impartial spectator that they substituted a few little things as the criterion of fellowship; hence they are rent in twain. But their separation, which is by the most of people considered as a matter of lamentation, we regard as a favorable omen. They were a great, a powerful people, united by human laws made by themselves. They were oppressive, proud, and cruel; and their arbitrary measures, party feelings, and great influence, might yet have endangered our liberties. Their ranks are now broken, and the work of reform is begun. They will again be more cordially united when they all submit to Christ, throw by their petty stars and dark planets, and acknowledge the supremacy of the glorious Sun, the Gospel of our blessed Lord.
"When the temperance reform was introduced it was a blessed work; but many good and zealous persons placed it altogether before Christianity, and represented the Gospel as a feeble instrument in doing good compared with this benevolent human association. We were never opposed to temperance, but to intemperate measures for the promotion of temperance. We are still opposed to placing the temperance cause before Christianity, making it the centre, and calling upon the Gospel, as an inferior orb, to revolve around it.
"When the tornado of anti-masonry swept like a mighty torrent through the land, rending asunder the churches of God and separating the ministers of Christ, the cause of Jesus bled at every pore. What a desolating mildew it left! What an overheated course many a zealous and good brother ran in this holy war. In those perilous times we were among the cool who pleaded for the union of the churches and conferences; we then deprecated all forced measures and intemperate decisions, and said, Do not try to make this star a sun, but let us all keep our eye upon the great centre, and all be Christians. This mild doctrine prevailed, and all now rejoice that we were saved from disorder and ruin.
"Slavery and anti-slavery are now the exciting subjects which bid fair to produce great commotion and some division in the church. It is said this subject was among the causes which led to the division of the Presbyterian assembly. Some good brethren always have their powder dry and ready to blow up by every spark that falls near them. Such have no medium in which they rest, have no principles by which they are bounded; but they drive ahead upon the excitement of the moment, regardless of that moderation and charity which the Gospel enjoins. They make their point the sun, and call on the Gospel to exert its influence to accomplish their favorite object. Here is the difficulty. Men will be partial and limited in the view they take of subjects, and will, more or less, be governed by human passions in their pursuits; hence coercive measures are resorted to, and division and ruin follow."
The Ministry.—In the views already given in this book, it is plain that Mr. Badger believed in a Gospel ministry, that, besides the human qualifications of learning and culture, had a vital, living union with God, with Christ, with the perpetual region of light in the heavens. This view, which appears in the earliest ideas cherished in his youth, pervaded all his ordination sermons and addresses; and he pleaded that such a ministry should be supported in a manner to elevate it above the necessity of worldly cares and of temporal privation. Though very much of his own ministry through life was unrewarded by adequate returns of temporal aid, he firmly held to the two apparently conflicting ideas, that he to whom God gives this spiritual mission should go forward and preach for life, nor be dissuaded by poverty, calumny or persecution; and that the people are not justly entitled to any man's services in the ministry any longer than they continue to render the proof of their appreciation in the form of earthly support, according to their ability and the reasonable wants of the minister. Gracefully and practically did he know how to develop the meaning of that apostolical saying, "The laborer is worthy of his hire." Though, like John Milton, he disliked to have the minister occupy a position in which community may justly regard him as a feed attorney for the cause he advocates, he also disdained to foster a covetous, money-worshipping community under the name of a Christian church. He was once heard to say, that the true minister would live on browse before he would abandon the cause of God.
"Three things," said he (in a letter to a young man[55] who was about to begin to preach), "are essential to a preacher. First, the ability to discern the condition and capacity of a congregation. Second, an ability to select a subject suited to their capacity and wants. Third, skill to deliver it in a manner to be received to the best advantage. How often you hear preachers labor on inappropriate subjects, who evidently did not understand the wants of their assembly; and how frequently you have heard a good subject mutilated and the assembly disgusted by bad delivery. The more natural, easy, simple, and affectionate a truth can be told, the better and more lasting effect it will have."
On problems of the future state, he did not largely speculate. In reply to some nice questions touching his views of the details and minutiæ of the immortal life, he once said, "Let us wait until we get there. Who can answer these questions now?" He preached that virtue leads to glory eternal; that vice naturally proceeds to darkness and wo; that revelation gives hope only to those who obey. It will be almost invariably found, that his abilities and themes had strong practical bearings; that his power was never prone to assume the merely speculative form.
On human nature he was explicit. He never admitted the doctrine of original inherent sin; but from the first, vindicated humanity from the charges of total depravity. In 1854, though the blaspheming of human nature, common to the olden creeds, is theoretically retained, we seldom hear its allegations in bold words: but in 1817 and onwards, it was otherwise. Then Mr. Badger took his stand in behalf of humanity with a defence so wise that it repelled at the same time the charges of Calvinism and pleaded the need of regeneration. At Royalton, about twenty-five years ago, he spoke on human nature against the common view, so strongly and so boldly, that it caused some two or three ministers who were with him in the desk to exhibit signs of surprise. He continued without the least deviation; and, a few months since, one of the same gentlemen who witnessed the scene at Royalton, said, that the view Mr. Badger then gave, was the one now hailed with joy by the large masses, the one which thoughtful minds are everywhere weaving into the philosophy of man's nature and life.