Memoir of Rev. Joseph Badger Part 6

After speaking in detail of various conversions and baptisms, he says:

"My heart is encouraged to spread the fame of our glorious and ascended Lord. O that professed followers of the Lamb would stand together. How should we then see the powers of darkness give way! How would the fog and smoke of papacy be dispersed. How would the adherents of Calvin be confounded, as the church of the First-born should appear terrible as an army with banners! O Lord, let thy kingdom come! Let thy glory arise! Let the whole earth be filled with thy knowledge."

This is a fine specimen of his youthful enthusiasm and abandonment to the work of the ministry. Any one can see a full presence of heart and soul in all that he does, which lends to his pages the inspiration of honest aims, earnest effort, a most confiding and fervent piety; nor can we fail to see that the pure fire of religion burned quite constantly on the altar of his active spirit. There was much of true divine life in the kindling energies of his speech.

In Vol. VII, No. 14, in a letter dated Gilmanton, March 7, 1815, he says, after speaking of the prosperity that pertained to Alton, Barnstead, Pittsfield and Gilmanton, towns included in the voluntary circuit of his labors:

"Never since my labors in the Gospel commenced have I felt more like going 'forth weeping,' than for five weeks past.

Feb. 22d, I baptized one, March 3d, one, March 6th, another. I pray the Lord may add daily to their numbers such as shall be saved."

"GILMANTON, April 17, 1815.

(P. 682.) "The news of the prosperity of Zion is the most delightful that ever saluted my ears. Therefore am I desirous, as the Psalmist said, to 'make known His deeds among the people,' that my brethren may share in the blessing, while 'angels rejoice over one sinner that repenteth.' Some who have been for weeks and months in a lukewarm state, have felt a resurrection in their minds; but what most delights me is that many of the once haughty youth have bowed the knee to Christ, and confessed him to be Lord, to the glory of G.o.d the Father. My satisfaction is also greatly increased to see them advance into duty and walk in Gospel order."

He touches in this letter very finely on the character of Mr. Page, whom he baptized on the 6th, a school-mate with him, a man of excellent character from his youth, well-informed and influential; though strictly educated in the puritanical ideas of the society of Rev. J. Smith, he came forward before a large a.s.sembly and acknowledged the unsatisfactory character of the Calvinistic teachings; and the same day he submitted to baptism from the hand of one whose excesses in boyhood he had himself effectively rebuked.

Returning to his own ma.n.u.script I copy from a letter belonging to the month of May, in which he speaks of spending the time up to the 10th at Barnstead and Lower Gilmanton; of going to New Durham on the 10th, where he met the church of G.o.d at the house of Mr. Wiley, and for the first time met with Elder Wm. Buzzel, whom he found alive in the cause of Reformation. In the afternoon he preached to them from John 10: 9. "I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture." He says:

"The Lord's table was then set, and our hearts were solemn whilst we partic.i.p.ated of the sacred symbols. We felt the holy presence of Him who is with his church to the end of the world. I then returned to Alton, the 11th went to Barnstead, where I was much edified in hearing aged Christians bring out the stores of their spiritual experience; the 12th rode to Elder Wilson's much fatigued, being exposed to storms by night and by day. Thanks to Him who preserves his creatures; and now that the winter is past, and nature is gay with flowers, I would welcome, in a spiritual sense, the sentiments of the Jewish wise man, 'Lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; the flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land.' Oh, that 'at evening time'[19] light might increase until the shades of night are dispersed from the minds of the people.

"The 13th, met the church at Mr. Wilson's, where a number were added; the 14th being Sunday, we met a large a.s.sembly of attentive people. At noon we repaired to the water for baptism; in the afternoon we administered the communion to a large number of brethren in Christ. It was a solemn time.

Oh, that the youth who then heard might seek the Lord and make his Son their friend; and in this place may the works of evil, the doctrines of men, be destroyed, and a people zealous of good works be raised up. But with a heart overflowing with friends.h.i.+p to dying men, I should close this letter. Attend me, Virtue, through my youthful years!

Oh, leave me not to the false joys of time, but to endless life direct my steps! May, 1815.

"The 19th of May I attended meeting at Candia, was there invited to visit Deerfield, and gladly embraced the opportunity of speaking to that people. For the youth my mind was much drawn out; and though I had not the least idea when I came that I should tarry in Deerfield, the prospect of the good that might be done, induced me to make arrangements for staying in that place. On Friday evening I spoke at Rev. Peter Young's, on Sunday at the Baptist meeting-house, at which time many dated their particular convictions. On the way to my evening appointment, I was surprised by the call of a gentleman, who, very well dressed and of respectable appearance, came out of his house and moderately advanced toward me. I paused, and setting my eyes steadfastly upon him, soon observed that trembling had got hold of him. He said, 'Mr. Badger, I wish you to attend meeting at my Hall. My wife is very anxious to hear you,' and many other words of persuasive tendency. I was satisfied that he had a death wound,[20]

which to me was a source of new courage; I went on to my appointment, held meetings every day through the week, and some were daily delivered from the reign of darkness and of sin. On Sat.u.r.day I returned to the gentleman's Hall, which indeed has ever since been a place of public wors.h.i.+p, and met a mult.i.tude of people. This meeting will be had in everlasting remembrance. The gentleman who had invited me, and several others, fell on their knees some time in the afternoon, and continued in prayer until about ten in the evening. The 'new song' was sung by many, and from that time, the gentleman, his family, and even premises, seemed converted, for his house is as a sacred Bethel."

The young minister, not knowing in his ardor and youth, that this human world is an old, a tough, a wise, and a most lasting fact, that bends but temporarily to the new influence which seems for the time to mould its form, penned the conviction that soon the Angel of the Apocalypse would fly through the midst of heaven proclaiming that "the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ." Rapid was the spread and victory of the word preached. Over one hundred were converted in this town of Deerfield, and not unfrequently did he baptize twelve and sixteen a day. One evening, as the moonlight shed its silver upon the flowing stream, he baptized fourteen persons, who arose from the pure element to walk in newness of life, in the purity of which the graceful currents are evermore the eloquent symbol. He speaks of a fas.h.i.+onable clergyman who honored them by his presence, and who, in criticism, compared their appearance to a general training. "I conjecture," says Mr. B., "we might have had too much fire for him;" and finding an a.n.a.logy in the fear which forest fires cause among certain of its denizens, he proceeds in the same energetic narration, rejoicing that there is a gentle and a searching fire by which sinners here may be gloriously consumed. Jesus came to kindle such fire, whose vital heat is love, whose aspiring flames are truths that both brighten the earth and reflect upon the clouded canopy. He acknowledges the faithful cooperation and labor of Rev. Peter Young, a resident of Deerfield. The energy, decision and success, which belonged to the public life of Mr.

Badger, must, in the ordinary course of things, have called out much opposition, particularly as he did not walk in time-hallowed routines, but created, through the force of his character, and his peculiar abilities, the popularity that attended him.

"Notwithstanding," says Mr. B., "G.o.d has so wonderfully favored the people, the three characters who always persecute religion continued their old employment. Whenever you see persons engaged in persecuting religion, you will always find them one of the following cla.s.ses, viz.: the superst.i.tious, the wicked, or such of the very ignorant as do not comprehend what belongs to good manners. Here the superst.i.tious cried delusion, the wicked threatened to unite in violent mob parties, and the exceedingly foolish were thrust forward as the instruments of the first-named cla.s.s. Malevolent and silly reports were spread, but every attempt of this dissipated crew seemed to work against them, enough so as to fulfil the saying of the Psalmist, 'His mischief shall return upon his own head, and his violent dealing shall come down upon his own pate;'[21]

which leads one to think that it is unnecessary to take much pains to detect the wicked, because they very soon detect themselves. 'The heathen are sunk down in the pit that they made; in the net which they hid is their own foot taken.'[22] Solomon, who closely observed the events of the world, also had occasion to say, 'He that diggeth a pit shall fall into it.'"[23]

In Volume II, No. 14, of the Herald of Gospel Liberty, is a letter from his pen, dated at Deerfield, June 28, 1815, which reports the success of the reformation in that place, in a manner that so perfectly agrees with the foregoing, I find no occasion to present any of its paragraphs. Not to Deerfield was this reformation wholly confined, as he often visited Nottingham, Lee, Newmarket, Stratham, Exeter, Kensington, Candia, Allenstown, and other places. He says:--

"In Nottingham many were made happy in the love of Christ.

Here I baptized many. One afternoon, as a large a.s.sembly were gathered by the water-side, where eight persons received this ordinance, I observed three young men jump from the sh.o.r.e upon a rock that lay in the midst of the stream, and the spectacle of these unconverted young men standing upon a rock produced an a.s.sociation of ideas that led me to feel much for them; in praying I spoke of them, and was impressed to say that something solemn awaited them soon. In a few days one of the number, in much agony of mind, fell beneath a fatal disease, which deeply impressed the old and the young.

"On the first day of the week, I had, by the request of several gentlemen, an appointment at the Square. A few individuals, being such as they were, strove to effect a disturbance, and in a glance you will perceive the ingenuity of their plot. They hired an old man who once had been a professed preacher at Dover, but who had been turned out for his debaucheries, to enter the meeting-house before me and to occupy the time with religious services. Although it is said that the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light, it must be owned that they sometimes get defeated. Even from eight different towns the congregation was collected, the appointment being quite generally circulated. As I rode to the place, I heard the bell ring about ten o'clock, and hastening as quickly as possible to the Square, the people, who were coming from every direction, seeing me ride up, thronged about me; some of them, having been in the church, knew the attempted order of the day. One said, 'The devil is in the pulpit;' another said, 'The devil has taken the meeting-house before us, and you had best not go in.' I answered that if the devil was in the house I was bound to see him, and prevailed on the people to go in. As I entered the door, I saw the rough clergyman standing with his hymn book in his hand ready to open the meeting. As I ascended the stairs he began to read the hymn. I sat contented until he had finished the reading, then introducing myself to the a.s.sembly, inquired concerning the time when my neighbor's appointment was given out; the answers enabled me to say to him kindly, 'As my appointment is previous to yours I should esteem it a privilege to improve a part of the day.'

He roughly responded, 'You can speak after I have done;'

and then arose abruptly, placing himself in a position to pray as soon as the singers had concluded the music. During the repeat of the last line I asked of him the privilege of speaking a word to the people on the circ.u.mstances of the day, to which he answered, 'You must be short.' I then apprised the audience, that as my appointment was contravened by another, my meeting would in ten minutes begin in Mr. Nealey's orchard; and bidding the gentleman of the pulpit good morning, advanced to the pleasant grove about fifteen rods distant, accompanied by all the a.s.sembly save the clergyman and his five employers, to whom he read the notes he had written. On leaving the church I began to sing a popular hymn, in which I was joined by the choir who accompanied me; and after a hasty but comfortable arrangement of seats, with the azure heavens for my sounding-board, and a large box for my pulpit, I spoke to the hundreds before me from Gen. 49: 10. It was free air.

Between thirty and forty spoke after the sermon, so that without a minute of vacation, the meeting continued five hours. The opposers were put to shame, and ever since has that meeting-house been free. Nottingham, therefore, by many events is kept in my memory."

Although there are several interesting letters written by him about this time to his relatives and friends, letters that abound in good feeling, in various incident, and in the devoted spirit of his mission, they cannot be introduced without sacrificing the material that represents his later years. Confining ourselves, therefore, to the shortest statement of his public life, we will follow the direct path of his own private journal. But in reading letters dictated in the freedom of the heart, and alive with the inspiration of earnest purposes, one is conscious of the resurrection of a former period; and with the aspect of the olden leaf and the evangelical words upon them written, one seems to drink, for the time, of the same fountain of life that supplied with energy the self-sacrificing and the G.o.d-trusting ones. We know that forms of thinking and modes of expression are greatly varied by the succession of time, but we have yet to learn that the pure flame of the spirit, through any medium and in any time, is other than one with the latest excellence. Naturalness, energy, courage, persevering devotion to the welfare of mankind, are qualities that, like gold retained, s.h.i.+ne equally brilliant through all the divisions of time, the same in 1815 as in 1854.

August 22d, of this year, he announced, through the religious newspaper at Portsmouth, a paper from which some extracts have been taken, his intention of attending a general meeting in Bradford, Vt., the first Sunday in September, and of going thence into the Province of Lower Canada to visit his relatives, and to renew the friends.h.i.+p of former times with the churches of his former care. To his father, in a letter dated Newmarket, August 5th, he says:--

"I am now preaching in Exeter, Stratham, Newmarket, Epping, Lee, Nottingham Square, Deerfield. Often from one to two thousand people attend at a meeting. I have baptized towards one hundred since last January, and the call for preaching is very general in this quarter."

Soon we hear of him on his appointed way. But before the month of August is exhausted, we find him in Newmarket, Lee, Deerfield, Allenstown, Barnstead, Ipsom and Gilmanton, preaching, and baptizing those that believe. At Lee, where his congregation was gathered from different towns, the good-night meeting lasted till 2 o'clock in the morning, none wis.h.i.+ng to depart. Through the pitiless storm he rides to Deerfield, hears seven relate their religious history, whom he baptizes "according to the usage and teaching of the New Testament;" on the next day (Sunday) meets a large a.s.sembly at Allenstown, to whom he speaks and administers baptism to a few believers; on Monday, at 3 o'clock P. M., addresses the community at Gilmanton; on Tuesday preaches and baptizes at Mr. Proctor's, on Wednesday returns to Barnstead, and hears that original and peculiarly gifted speaker, Elias Smith, of Portsmouth, N.

H.; and on Thursday starts for his northern home by the way of Vermont, accompanied to the Province, by a young man from Farmington, N. H., whose n.o.ble history in after years has rendered his name a lasting fragrance in the churches. Indeed the name of John L. Peavy, to those who knew him, is but another word for honor, affection and faithfulness.

"The first day, I arrived at Rumney, a distance of fifty miles, and attended meeting in the evening; on Friday arrived at Bradford, and on Sat.u.r.day and Sunday attended the general meeting, which was a profitable time. Here my acquaintance with ministers and others was enlarged. On Monday, in company with Rev. J. Boody and brother Peavy, I continued my journey to the North, arriving at Wheelock on Tuesday, where I was persuaded to stop by a gentleman whose wife and child had just expired, to attend their funeral the next day. He had formerly been one of my hearers. We met a large number of mourners and friends, who appeared sincerely to mourn the loss of so virtuous a friend and neighbor. As the meeting was about to commence, Squire Bean presented me the text on which the afflicted husband wished me to speak, which was, 'As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.' He was a Universalist, I think, in opinion, but with the request I cheerfully complied.

"On Thursday we rode into Canada, as far as to Stanstead, the residence of the good minister, Avery Moulton. On Friday we arrived at my father's, in Compton, where my spirit was melted down by the presence of dear friends, whom I had not seen in fifteen months. Our hearts were mingled in thankful prayer. When I left the Province it was convulsed by war. Now peace had resumed her reign. Seven days I tarried in this place and enjoyed a number of good meetings. On Monday we rode to Ascott, and had a happy meeting with friends that clung to me with affection in my early endeavors at preaching; on Tuesday we visited Oxford; on Wednesday we pa.s.sed through Brompton and Windsor, to s.h.i.+pton, where my excellent friend, J. L. Peavy, remained.

Leaving an appointment to preach the next Sabbath at s.h.i.+pton, I proceeded to Ringsey."

Truly might Mr. Badger, in his friendly letter formerly quoted, say, "What is to come I know not." A new cloud is ready to rise upon his path. The fortune of some men allows them a smooth and easy way; and others, as by some causative genius in their being, are called to meet great trials, and to plan their course against strong opposing forces.

Such was the life of the independent minister; though it flows as an ample river through much calm and life-like scenery, its common-place is frequently broken by cascades and cataracts. But let us read his own natural statement:--

"In the upper part of the town of Ringsey I attended a funeral. After meeting I rode nine miles to attend an appointment in the lower part of the town. Though the state of feeling was generally low, it was a solemn, refres.h.i.+ng time. Early on Friday morning as I was about to visit my friends in that place, a military officer sent a man, accompanied by a large brawny Indian, to make me a prisoner, and carry me to the county seat of justice, at the Three Rivers, for the offence I had committed against the government, in leaving the country in time of war. This was done although the Governor had issued proclamation that all who had thus left might return in peace. Prisoners of war in time of peace struck me as something new. I asked the person who made me a prisoner what authority he had for so doing; he answered, that he was an officer, and, without showing any proof of his right to act for the government, ordered me immediately to get into the birch canoe, and go with them by water. I candidly informed him that I should not start for the Rivers without authority, and that if I went in the _mode_ of conveyance proposed, under a guard of savages, it would be by force. Finding that I was not alarmed, and that he could not proceed, he then started for the residence of Capt. Moor, about one mile distant, to procure a warrant, and left the savage to guard me. I soon proposed to the red man that I would accompany him on my horse to Capt. Moor's; but fearing that I might ride by, he ran on foot with all speed. When I arrived, the captain had the warrant nearly made out, but, instead of finis.h.i.+ng it, met me in a rage. He would not hear to a word of reason, nor to the advice of his friends. After I saw that I must go, I asked the privilege of riding my horse, at the same time offering to hire some of the keepers to go with me by land. The captain replied that he would not grant me the least favor, and the officer said I should go in the birch canoe. As I gave no a.s.sent to this method, I was seized by the shoulder and violently dragged out of the door, and beyond what language can paint was abused by the zealous officer. He boldly threatened my life, and accompanied by words of the coa.r.s.est profanity, said, 'd.a.m.n your blood, I will take your life as quick as I would a rattlesnake's.'

After the officer had said this, I addressed the captain in these words: 'Sir I am much surprised that you should thus cause a prisoner to be abused, and that you should put me into the hands of a person at the head of a party of savages, who has threatened my life before your face.'

Instead of acting on any idea of propriety suggested by me, he broke forth in swearing, saying that he himself would take my life. At this, his wife and son, being no longer able to refrain, spoke moderately in my behalf. As I had not given my consent to this uncivil mode of conveyance, the officer ordered a cord to be brought with which to bind me. He also asked for a.s.sistance, but none of the people present would lend any aid. Then uttering an Indian yell for some savages, whom I supposed he had placed in ambush, we soon saw them appear, some on the river and some on the land. This was a display of ferocity I in nowise had expected. Before they arrived, however, to do the will of the angry officer, Mr. Asa Bean, son of Col. John Bean, came forward in my behalf, and said I should not go with the savage crew, that he would be my keeper and agree that I should be at Windover that day, which was sixteen miles towards the Three Rivers. We then mounted our horses for the journey agreed upon, at which place we arrived about three o'clock, much fatigued. We put up at an inn, and paid our own charges. The mob party came in birch canoes on the river."

For a moment leaving the private journal of Mr. Badger, I would present a letter written to Mr. J. L. Peavy at this very point where he met the uncourteous band who had progressed by water. It will be remembered that he had an appointment at s.h.i.+pton on Sunday, and that the nature of his circ.u.mstances with reference to his public engagement, as well as his friends.h.i.+p for the young man he had introduced into his former field of labor, required a statement of his condition. The letter is dated Windover, L. C., 9 o'clock Friday evening, Sept. 15, 1815. It was written at evening; and I would say that Mr. Badger was a man who generally cast himself upon his _morning_ thoughts, the clear thoughts that preceded the sunrise. Under any personal trouble, he would at evening fall easily to sleep, and in the morning plan his way like a Napoleon, wherever there was magnitude in the difficulties to be met.

"MY DEAR BROTHER:--Your experience, I am satisfied, teaches you that persecution is the common lot of the true followers of Christ. This morning, by the order of Capt.

Moor, of Ringsey, I was taken and ordered to march to the Three Rivers, guarded by a company of Indians, with the savage-like Robert McMullen at their head. But as I could not be reconciled to this company, and to this manner of conveyance (which was a birch canoe), I plainly told them that if I went in such a manner, it would be because I was obliged to do so. I was then very unhandsomely used. I was not only abused by words, but violent hands were laid on me. Then Mr. Asa Bean appeared in my behalf, and offered to be bound to deliver me at Mr. Stewart's, in Windover, the same day. I then had liberty to ride my horse, and about three o'clock we arrived here. I expect on the morrow to start for the Three Rivers. This is indeed a time of trial to me; but I can truly say, with St. Paul, that 'None of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto me.' Hitherto the Lord has helped me, and Jesus says, 'Lo, I am with you, even unto the end of the world.' This promise to me now, whilst I am surrounded by a dozen of the merciless savages, is worth more than millions of worlds. I really feel that these afflictions will work for good in the end. Oh Lord, may they serve to humble me down, and to teach me my dependence on thee.

"Capt. Moor does not pretend to accuse me of anything but of going into the States in time of war, as I have understood, and I am informed that his own children have done the same with approbation. But that which pains my heart the most, is to think that in the reformation at Ringsey only two years ago, this mad man made a profession of religion. Oh how many such characters wound the cause of our Master! Lord, pity them. I wish you to give yourself no uneasiness on my account. G.o.d Almighty will make my afflictions a blessing to somebody. It will be well for you to return to Ascott as soon as Wednesday, and there remain until you hear from me again. Be of good courage. I hope you will never have it to regret that you came into this region. Pray for your unworthy brother Joseph, that he may finish his course with joy. I am, if need be, ready to be offered; and, from several causes, I feel that the time of my departure is not far distant. Dear brother, I bid you a short farewell, hoping, if not in time, to meet you in pure realms of glory.

"J. BADGER."

"_John Langdon Peavy._"

The night pa.s.sed away, and our prisoner arose on Sat.u.r.day morning with a plan in his brain, with which he calmly confronted the tawny band and their leaders. Only about fifteen miles of the pa.s.sage was completed, and the remainder was never accomplished. He told them that he should not go further unless they could get higher authority than what they then possessed, and to secure this, offered to appear before the officers of a military company whose tents were pitched on the other side of the St. Francisway river.

"Early on Sat.u.r.day morning," says Mr. B., "we crossed the river into Drummondsville, and appeared before Commissary Morrison, where some of my company were greatly ashamed and humbled; when the Commissary, after hearing the facts, said unhesitatingly, 'Mr. Badger, go about your business.' It soon became a question to ascertain how much Capt. Moor had gained this time by his loyalty. Hiring an Indian to convey me across the river, Mr. Bean and myself returned to our starting-place at Ringsey, and riding fifteen miles on Sunday morning, I arrived to my appointment at s.h.i.+pton, where I enjoyed a refres.h.i.+ng time from the presence of the Lord."

In the month of May, 1835, I remember, for the first time, to have pa.s.sed some five days at the house of Mr. B., who then edited a popular and influential paper ent.i.tled "The Christian Palladium," at Union Mills, Fulton Co., New York. The order into which all his arrangements seemed naturally to fall, the business tact, that seemed with him a spontaneous ability, were easily observable. In the familiar conversation to which he was accustomed in the social circle of his own home, I remember to have heard him say to a gentleman who inquired of his daily habits, "I am a business man. I rise early, and hear the first notes of the robin. I would give more for one morning hour, to think in, than for all the rest of the day. I lay my plans in the morning; and, if you will believe it, I never got into a difficulty yet, from which one clear hour of thinking in the morning would not deliver me." And the foregoing pa.s.sage of his early history is but one ill.u.s.tration among hundreds, showing that there was no egotism in the remark here quoted.

Pa.s.sing some days at s.h.i.+pton, Ascott and Compton, he again started for New England, the scene of his former success, many of whose ministers and churches had crowned him with verbal benedictions, and with hearty written commendations; whose words are still alive on many carefully preserved doc.u.ments, as legible as when they were first penned. Not in haste did he leave the Province, holding many meetings first; and whether these animosities, growing out of the suspected character of his British patriotism, wholly subsided or not, with the fruitless a.s.sault of his enemies already related, I know not. An explicit doc.u.ment, bearing date Jan. 8, 1818, signed by the citizens of Compton, shows that "Joseph Badger, son of Major Peaslee Badger, of Compton, has a bright and s.h.i.+ning character as a Christian in the Province of Lower Canada, where he has been known; and that always when he came into the town to see his parents and friends, he came into the Province boldly and preached publicly wherever he had occasion to preach;" which, in the absence of other explanation, looks like an effort to meet the slander of some enemy, who might have planted himself, like Capt. Moor, on grounds of superabundant loyalty. Something bordering on the miraculous s.h.i.+nes through the following incident, related of a youth in Ascott:

"A young man of the family of Mr. Bullard, who had been confined for six years, deprived of sight, strength, and the ability to speak aloud, continually bowed down, and so weak that he could not be shaven, had, three years after his debility, received from G.o.d a wonderful illumination, and in it the evidence that he had pa.s.sed from death unto life; from which time his faith in the Son of G.o.d by degrees increased until he believed in the resurrection or restoration of the body to health by faith in Christ. A few days previous to our visiting him, he called in the elders of the church to pray over him, anointing him with oil, in the name of the Lord (James 5: 14, 15). As they prayed, a power was revealed, by which he arose, walked, and praised G.o.d. We held a meeting at the house, in which he arose and spoke freely, saying that his soul was troubled for the scarcity of faith on the earth. As we listened to that voice which had been silent for six years, we were surprised and startled by the reality. As he cast his languid eyes upon us, his face, like that of Moses, seemed to s.h.i.+ne so brightly that scarcely one in the a.s.sembly could look upon him. This to me appeared as heavenly as anything I ever had witnessed; and his language and remarks, I think, exceeded anything I ever had heard from mortal lips. Our interview with him filled our souls with solemnity."

Parting with his relatives in Compton, which from his fine affectional nature was unavoidably trying, he, in company with the worthy young minister who had accompanied him from New England, pa.s.sed through Stanstead and several other towns, inquiring as they went of the prosperity of Zion, receiving also at times a cold reception from the sectarian who had learned to love the Church only in the form of a sect; he speaks most gratefully of the kind treatment they received from two Methodist clergymen, of good meetings held on the way, at Cabot, at Rumney, and other places. Leaving Mr. Peavy at the last-named town, he pa.s.sed on to Meredith on Friday, spoke to the people on Sunday and on Monday evening; arrived on Tuesday at his native Gilmanton, from which he again laid into order a new campaign against the reigning powers of darkness.

Without dwelling on the labors that immediately engaged his attention, which for the most part pertain to a field already described, I offer a few paragraphs for the month of December before opening the chapter for 1816. The variety of incident that blossomed on either side of his path was evidently schooling the naturally sagacious mind of the young missionary for wider usefulness and for higher position; and as no scholar who has conquered a language can tell when he learned each rule and word, but knows that his conquest numbers uncounted hours and struggles, so he who arrives at the true knowledge of mankind, so as to command a wisdom that shall be equal to every practical demand, cannot say from what place or which events his ripened energy has flown; he knows that his kingdom, like the broad-breasted river, dated back with various preceding sources. These early experiences were victories themselves; but they were also unconsciously the seeds of other victories.

Mr. Badger was beautifully gifted with extemporaneous powers. There was a charm in his voice, and a rich command of plain, apt, and elegant language in his speaking, that, all in all, I never saw equalled by any other man. His voice was soft and clear; and though not great in tone, was exceedingly distinct, and often thrilling. There was music in his discourse. Though the period of the labors here narrated is many years previous to the writer's acquaintance, I am told by those who heard him in 1816 and '17, that he possessed the same natural eloquence, the same ease and attractive grace in speaking then, as was characteristic of his public manner in later times. That such a man, both from natural preference and a.s.sociation, should adopt extemporaneous preaching as his favorite and only mode, is not strange; nor do we particularly wonder at his avowed dislike of note-preaching, when we think of the lifeless character of much of the sermonology that then pa.s.sed for the Word of Life. Accordingly, he said:

"When I see men going forth avowedly to preach the Gospel of the grace of G.o.d, and subst.i.tuting in its place the doctrines and commandments of men, I am grieved. How many have I met with in my travels who would stand up and pray that they might be a.s.sisted to bring something, new and old, out of the treasury, that the word might come from the heart, and reach the heart, and then take, not out of the 'treasury,' but out of their postbags or pockets, spiritless notes, which they would read to the people. Oh, that men felt more as the Apostle did when he said, 'Remember that by the s.p.a.ce of three years, I have not ceased to warn every one of you, night and day, with tears;'[24] then they that bear the eternal word to men would be more clearly manifest to the conscience of each and all."

He also narrates the following for this month:

"On Friday, the 8th, I rode to Mr. Rundle's, at Lee, where I held a meeting in the evening; Sat.u.r.day to Newmarket, where I was comforted in visiting the saints; Sunday, held meeting at Mr. N. Gilman's, rode to Exeter in the evening, and spoke at Lieut. Thing's, which was a time of serious thought, and of weeping among the youth. I remember the kind treatment and the good spirit of this respectable family. On my return the next day to Newmarket, I met a young man whose appearance in every respect struck me as being a gentleman until he spoke. His first remark was a challenge to swap horses; and though my answers to his several bold and sportive remarks left him somewhat ashamed of his familiar a.s.sault upon a stranger, I felt sad to think of the way in which the young men of our land, who might be respectable and useful, destroy themselves, and dishonor their connections, by corrupting their own hearts with evil manners. The 12th inst., went to Brentwood and preached to an attentive a.s.sembly; the 13th, at Esq. M.'s, of Lee; the 14th, at Mr. Laton's, of Nottingham, to a full audience, from Ps. 89: 15: 'Blessed are the people that know the joyful sound.' Many spoke afterwards, whose words were as falling showers. The meeting lasted till about 12 o'clock; and with the exception of a few North River gentlemen, whose behavior was not so modest and civil as it ought to have been, the minds of the people were seriously fixed on divine things. The 15th, at Mr. Hilton's, of Lee, I spoke from Luke 2: 11; the next day, as I arrived at Newmarket Plains, where my appointment was for the next first day, I heard that Mr. Richardson would preach in the evening. I went to hear him. His text was Isa. 61: 1, 2; which was so good that it was with difficulty that the speaker spoiled it by causing it to speak Calvinism, which seemed to have been his whole aim. After he had spoken two hours, several of us addressed the people, not on doctrine, but on the love of Christ in the heart, which soon caused a change in the atmosphere of the meeting. Dea. Chatman wished me to speak the next day, to which I consented, though my invitation to preach was from three of the committee. In the forenoon I spoke from Zech. 3: 9. 'Upon one stone shall be seven eyes.' I spoke of the stone as meaning Christ, and the seven eyes of intelligence that gave a comprehensive vision on every side, I represented by his character, which looks every way towards the satisfaction of human wants; also, in another sense, seven eyes were upon him, the eye of G.o.d, of Angels, of Patriarchs, of Prophets, of the Jewish nation, of Apostles, and of believers, all which disclose him as the Mediator, as the fit medium of divine blessing. In the afternoon Mr.

R. began to speak from the words, 'I will make thee a sharp thras.h.i.+ng instrument,' and proceeded to prove election from the parable of the wheat and the tares; likewise from Gen. 3: 16, the sentence against the woman; but the people, in small parties of four and six, began to leave the house, being tired of hearing nothing over and over; even two of the committee could not stand it through.

At the close I offered a few words, not on the discourse, but on practical things, and never did I see a meeting so unsatisfactory to the people. One person after meeting asked me if Mr. R. was not a deceiver. I told him that he could not be so considered, for one that has neither tact nor skill to deceive anybody is not ent.i.tled to so hard a name, whatever may be his errors.