"And thus he passed, as it were, almost imperceptibly away, while his ever-penetrating eyes sparkled with the utmost brilliancy till they were closed in death, which painful task fell on my brother, as he was the only one I had time to call in, after I was sensible that he was departing. Our minister, Mr. Eli Fay, came in soon after, and our house was filled with sorrowing friends and neighbors."
Here are the simple facts. They confirm the view that there was a clear, inner light of the intellect, which shone to the last, and which we believe was but transiently eclipsed in death. Thus died a great and a good man. At his dwelling, May 14th, 1852, Mr. Chapin read the Scriptures, offered prayer, and made appropriate remarks. At the church, Rev. Eli Fay, the Christian minister of the place, delivered an appropriate discourse from 2 Sam. 1: 19: "How are the mighty fallen!" in which he discussed the elements, uses and end of human greatness. In the solemn procession that followed to its resting-place the mortal form, were those who had come from some distance around, to shed the reverential tear over the grave of one whose voice had been to them a heavenly eloquence a third of a century ago. When the country was a wilderness, his words had swayed them as trees are moved by the winds. They come, the hoary-headed band, to take a last view of his spirit's fallen temple. By the side of former friends they bury him, and over his sacred ashes rises a monument with this inscription:
"JOSEPH BADGER,
A MINISTER IN THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH.
DIED MAY 12, 1852.
AGED 59 YEARS.
"Here rests his mortal part. His spirit lives,
And guides us still in virtue's path.
His life strikes us as a synonyme of energy, of accomplishing force. His words have penetrated myriads of hearts. He had travelled many thousands of miles; had led to the mercy-seat hosts of penitents; to the baptismal waters upwards of two thousand persons, over forty of whom became ministers of salvation; had attended upwards of seven hundred funerals; and, though merit is not always to be measured by outward effects, it is impossible to impartially review his life as a whole, without finding in it a steady devotion to principles, a trusting reliance on God amid the changes of men and the fluctuation of time, which, as we contemplate, grow into the sublimity of faith. He was a hero of faith, and strongly impressed himself upon his time.
[CHAPTER XXI.]
OUTLINES OF CHARACTER.
Character, as distinguished from reputation, is what we are intrinsically in moral and mental worth. Our reputations are only the various verdict of society concerning us. Our characters are our fixed value for time and eternity. They are our worth also in word and in deed, for these are mighty or weak through the spiritual power that lies back of them, from which they receive their kindling force and inspiration. Character substantially is the end of life, the purpose of nature, Providence, revelations, trial, conscience, and temptation. The universe came from it, reveals it, and strives, through all its teachings and influences, to reproduce it in man. The worship of God, and the various reverence which centres in man, at once resolve themselves into the supreme worth for which the word character stands as a sign. This, then, is the true centre of all biography, that into which the whole life is merged, and by which it may be judged. These few pages, therefore, will aim to sketch, though it may be imperfectly, the main features in the character of Joseph Badger.