"I suppose it is the design of the great Founder of religion, that all his followers should be placed in a state of trial here, and that Christianity should grapple with the powers of darkness, and overcome all the influences which can be raised against it. We never know our own strength, or the strength of other Christians, until we are placed in a state of trial and affliction; and the strength and virtue of Christ's religion are never fully developed until tested by the sword and the fagot. But in the darkest time its holy light shines, and its virtue is felt and known."
During his stay in Fall River, 1846 and 1847, he frequently wrote for the public papers, in which he took some very bold and independent positions. He closely criticised and answered an anonymous writer, who, with much ability and severity, introduced a sermon on the text, "My people perish for lack of knowledge;" he also conducted a somewhat lengthy controversy with an able anonymous writer, who styled himself Azro. In all these communications, the ideas which steadily hold the ascendant are these: that all the moral evils of society are anticipated by the Gospel; that its mission being the redemption of a fallen world, it is capable of reaching the entire depth of moral disease in every phase it can assume; that the church is the only moral association Jesus ever sanctioned; that it is through the power which inherently lives in Christianity, that the entire brood of social evils are to be vanquished—slavery, war, intemperance, and every sin known to human history. He pleaded that no one virtue should be singled out and made the whole of Christianity; that no one vice is the whole tree of evil; and that the only method by which human society can be made to yield good fruits is by making the tree good, by reform in its heart and life; that the coercion of law and the flaming zeal of partisans cannot reform the world efficiently. These are substantially his positions. No man, we believe, ever had a higher faith in the mission of Christ and the Gospel; and none ever confided more strongly than he in the certainty of their final victories. But the world needs, and will have, a complexity of agencies in the work of its deliverance: discussion, debate, societies, radicals, conservatives, men of one idea and men of a thousand, all are equally necessary, as in nature we get the soft, green grass and the thorny hedge, the south gale and the lightning's dart. In nature, we judge that no angelic reformer, had he turned naturalist prior to the human epoch, could have so induced the coming of the postponed era of land animals as to have blended it with that of the coralline limestone; nor can any ado of church or state pile up topmost strata in the moral world any faster than is granted by the eternal law that underlies all the eras of nature and spirit. But in doing the work of the world's salvation, all agencies can be overruled; John, with his loving divinity; Peter, with his sword; battles and prayers, all can be woven into service.
At Fall River, though the ability of his labors was greatly impaired by bad health, he made a strong impression, created many friends, and has ever been remembered there with friendly interest. His sermon on temperance was highly spoken of by the papers of that place; his bold vindication of the rights of the over-taxed energies of the female laborer at the cotton mills, in reply to the lecture of an influential clergyman who maintained that the rules and labors of the factories are favorable to longevity, was characteristic of the man, and won the respectful attention of many who had known nothing of the stranger who was sojourning among them. He continued his labors in Fall River into the month of July, 1846, when, with health somewhat improved, he returned to his family at Honeoye. In glancing over the plots of sermons delivered in that place one is struck with their simple brevity and clear pointedness. For instance: all that appears under the text, Acts 28: 26: "Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian," are these words:—"1. The Christian name. 2. The Christian doctrine. 3. The Christian spirit. 4. The Christian character." His farewell sermon was built on John 14: 18: "I will not leave you comfortless."
In the spring of 1847, he visited the pleasant village of Conneaut, Ohio, which commands a fine prospect of land and lake, and which afforded him at the same time a field of usefulness and the medical services of Doctors Fifield and Sandborn. By the request of Mr. Fuller, then a student at the Meadville Theological School, the success of whose labors at Spring, Pa., seemed to demand his ordination to the Christian ministry, Mr. Badger left home April 2d, to preach the sermon on that occasion. Proceeding by way of Stafford, Laona, and Fairview, he arrived on the 9th; and on the 10th gave a very impressive and interesting discourse, which was happily suited to the occasion. In company with Elder J. E. Church he proceeded to Conneaut, where he gave three sermons to large assemblies—a place he had not before visited in twenty years. There he stood by the graves of Blodget and Spaulding, early associates, called away in the midst of their labors. "How dear their memory, and how venerable their names! how soon I shall join them in the heavenly world! Oh, Lord! prepare me for the holy society above."
The church, which had been in a low and tried state for a long time, began to rally again with brighter hopes of success and prosperity. They came with new interest to the communion—to the social meeting—to the Sabbath services. Attention began to increase, and as early as June 26, Mr. Badger could say:—
"We have received nine, I believe good and spiritual members into the church. How comforting it is to a church who have long sat in sadness by the side of the river of Babylon, again to see the walls and gates of Jerusalem restored, and Zion's altars again smoking with the offering of God. I intend to spend next month at home, and the first of August to resume my labor here again, if the Lord will. It is my meat and my drink to do the will of my Father who is in heaven. I view my great home near, and am anxious to be ready. Our chapel to-day was crowded with hearers, who seemed to feel deeply the importance of religion, which alone can bring salvation to the soul. In the afternoon I met a multitude of solemn hearers, on the pleasant bank of the Conneaut, where, after a short address, I led four happy converts down to the watery grave, who all came forth with joy and strength, to witness a good profession and to shine as lights in the world. May God strengthen their young hearts to endure to the end, that they may be saved. I love the people."
The month of July, which he spent at home, he improved in attending some meetings with his old congregations. July 4, he spoke over an hour to his people at Lakeville, who assembled en masse. The 18th, with Rev. Asa Chapin, he attended the ordination of Sylvester Morris, at Springwater; in speaking of the sermon given by his colleague, he said:—"One such sermon which indicates God and his authority, and teaches men to rely on his strong arm, is worth all the flowers of oratory and empty show which human art and skill can produce." He resumed his labors at Conneaut in August, continued them till March, 1848. Whilst there he received about twenty additional members, baptized twelve, among whom was a young Unitarian clergyman, then about to graduate from the Meadville Theological School. Though broken in health and in spirits, though visited by dark and lonely hours, he exhibited the remains of a gigantic force, and over the social circle he still could throw the bright sunlight of his own spirit, which, unlike his bodily constitution, refused to grow old. In frequent social parties he was kindly greeted and cheered during the winter of his stay in Conneaut; and though the excitement of company often reacted upon him injuriously, his letters addressed to his family eulogize the cordiality and kindness of the people. As spring drew near, he felt that his labors should close; and early in March he returned home with the feeling that his long career in the ministry was closed. And so it was. On three or four occasions he again addressed the people, once at Henrietta, on a funeral occasion, once at Naples, and once at Honeoye Falls. Notice had been given at the last place, that Mr. Badger would meet all his friends, who might desire to hear him once more on earth. He spoke to them for the last time. Many came to hear. Among the remarks made concerning this general address, the whole of which was extemporaneous, was this; that the greatest amount of meaning was thrown into the most concise form that language would permit. But his once eloquent speech had now become slow and thick. It no longer flowed. Thirty-six years of a most active, arduous, and often self-sacrificing ministry, thus ended in retirement, when nothing in his years gave signs of life's abating energy.