Part 13 (1/2)
The summer of this year, Mr. Badger seriously contemplated a voyage to England, chiefly for the purpose of promoting a union between a denomination called the ”General Baptists,” and the ”Christian Connection” of this country, as that denomination had already heard of, and expressed an interest in, their transatlantic brethren of the New World; but other and urgent duties directed his energies in a different channel. By the Western Conference he was appointed to preside at six general meetings in different sections of the country, requiring him to travel nearly a thousand miles in all, for the completion of the task; and, at the meeting of the United States Annual Conference, he was, in accordance with the appointment made by the New York Western Conference, commended as an evangelist to visit the southern States, to obtain a history of the people there who had thrown off the authority of creeds, and gone to G.o.d and their Bibles for the all-sufficient light; also to open between them and their brethren of the northern and middle States a correspondence that should promote future union and cooperation in the spread of their common faith, a purpose which had the warmest sanction of the north, and which met with a generous response in the south.
His evangelizing ministry through the summer was attended with good results; and shortly after the General Conference, held at Beekman, Dutchess county, N. Y., September 2, 1824, he, in company with Rev.
Simon Clough, of Boston, started for the city of New York, pa.s.sing through Putnam and Westchester counties, where they held many meetings.
On the 15th, they arrived at New York. In a letter to Mr. Silsby, of Rochester, he says:--
”We found a Baptist and a Universalist meeting-house open for us. The attention of the people was great to hear, and the ministers treated us with attention and respect. We are now invited to another Baptist meeting-house, and have engaged to give them two sermons next Sabbath. Last Sunday I preached in the State Prison to more than five hundred prisoners, and it was a solemn and a weeping time. I shall visit them again. In the evening I spoke to about one thousand people at the Baptist Church. The young people seemed to be deeply affected, and some of the aged saints rejoiced and said it was truth. I enjoy myself well in this city, being sensible that I am in the way of my duty. Last evening I had the pleasure of seeing the renowned La Fayette, who is on his way to the South. He is worthy of all honor, though like others, he is a frail, dying, mortal man.”[37]
He pa.s.sed three weeks in the city, preached several sermons, baptized a few happy converts, and on the 8th of October, arrived at his home in Mendon. On this tour, Mr. Badger used his influence in favor of the establishment of a new monthly periodical at West Bloomfield, New York, which commenced January 1, 1825, under the editorial direction of Rev.
D. Millard, and ent.i.tled the ”Gospel Luminary.” These sermons, from Messrs. Clough and Badger, were the first, I believe, ever given in that city under the simple name of Christian, with the exception of the labors of Doctor Joseph Hall, who had a few months preceded them. Soon after, the gifted Miss Rexford, and Mrs. Abigail Roberts, whose labors in many places had been successful, held meetings in that metropolis, and as early as January, 1825, we hear of Mr. Clough laboring to plant the standard of a liberal evangelical Christianity in that community.
Mr. Badger's journey was deferred till the late autumnal months of 1825, as he chose not to venture so great a change of climate in the warmer seasons; home duties also prevented an immediate execution of his plan.
On the 19th December, 1824, he preached twice in Chili, a town not far from Rochester, where the labors of Mr. Silsby had been effectual in the conversion of souls; also in Clarkson, Perinton, Gains, and Royalton, he preached, witnessing some cheering signs of the Sacred Presence. The first week after his arrival at Royalton he attended twelve meetings.
”In the second meeting,” he says, ”I saw two young ladies who appeared much disposed to vanity and opposition, but at the close one of them requested prayers, and within one week both became happy converts, and have been baptized.
From this occurrence the work began rapidly among the youth. About a dozen have been hopefully converted, and a great number more are now under serious conviction.
Difficulties have healed by the power of G.o.d, and backsliders have returned with confessions, repentance, and tears. I have been surprised during this revival to find popular professors of religion its worst enemies. What a shocking inconsistency it is for people to pray for reformation in foreign countries, and fight the work of G.o.d at their own doors; to bestow their funds for the conversion of the heathen, and live and act worse than heathens themselves. In the present age, the opposition of the infidel, drunkard and profane, is modest when compared with the _wrath_ and _vengeance_ of popular professors.”
He speaks of Rev. Asa C. Morrison as greatly successful in Salem, Ohio; of Elder Blodget, as having witnessed a large revival during his three months' sojourn in the Province of Upper Canada. ”I have found it duty on many accounts,” he adds, ”to adjourn my southern journey till next fall.” In Royalton, he continued to remain, where, a.s.sisted for about three weeks by the labors of Elder Levi Hathaway, he saw many converted.
Writing from that place, he says:--
”The first day of the present year was a precious time to us at Royalton. I gave a sermon appropriate to the occasion; the number and attention were great, and the saints had a satisfactory evidence that the Lord was about to revive his work, and many spoke in a feeling manner.
Several young people requested prayers, and at the close of the meeting I requested all who would covenant together and live anew for G.o.d the present year and pray for each other fervently, to come forward and join hands; about forty came with melting hearts. I then called for those who were resolved to set out the present year to seek salvation, to come into the circle and kneel; I think five came forward.
We had a solemn and glorious time in prayer, and felt the sweetest influence of the Good Spirit while we sang,
”'From whence doth this union arise, That hatred is conquered by love?'”
”By request of Mrs. Wiley (a woman in the last stage of consumption, but recently converted), I preached two sermons in her room. The season was solemn and glorious.
Many spoke, and she declared that she could now rely on the promises, and trust in the Great Redeemer. As she drew near her end, her faith grew stronger. Just before she expired her husband heard her whisper; he asked her what she said, to which she pleasantly replied, 'I was not speaking to you; I was talking with my G.o.d.' Oh, how triumphant was the death of this good woman, and with what solemn pleasure could we follow her to the grave! It is far more pleasant to me to preach at funerals of converts than to have them live and backslide from G.o.d, and wound the precious cause.
”On the third day of February we met for the organization of a religious society according to law; at the close of the business, a young man who sat on the back seat sent for me to come to him; he had many days been under serious conviction. He said that he should like to speak if there was liberty. He then arose and told what G.o.d had done for his soul. February 20 was a day of the Mediator's power; the congregation was large, solemn and attentive. At the close we repaired to the water, which is but a short distance from our meeting-house, where I baptized the bodies of twelve happy souls. I led into the water at once six young men; and when I had baptized ten, a young man who had not come forward, pa.s.sed through the crowd and proposed to his wife to join him; they took each other by the hand and came into the water together. This was one of the most pleasant scenes I ever saw. The saints praised their G.o.d aloud, and many of the congregation wept.”
Sometimes it has been customary among sects to measure the power of a religious faith by the strength and joy it imparts in the dying hour, which certainly is bringing the reality to a solemn test. Judging by this standard, and from almost innumerable instances, the faith inspired by the labors of Mr. B. and his a.s.sociates was a strong spiritual power, holding the element of triumph in the last, low hour; for not unfrequently did the departing spirit rise to a calm and joyful enthusiasm as the rays of the eternal morning began to fall upon their inward vision.
June 1825 finds Mr. Badger actively engaged in organizing a plan for an evangelizing ministry, an idea he had previously recommended in his correspondence, and in his address to the Conference, as the best means, at that time, for promoting the life and success of the churches. A full report was made on his suggestion, and with his a.s.sistance such a ministry was appointed for the year, of which he was, with four others, a member. Perhaps an extract from this address, delivered at Byron, Genesee County, N. Y., June 24, may more perfectly give his views.
”Furthermore, my brethren, to facilitate the union and prosperity of this Conference, let every church within its boundaries be advised to represent themselves by delegates and form a part of the Conference. Let every church be considered as under the care of individual ministers whom they may elect, or under the care of a travelling ministry which may be organized by this Conference. I here call your attention to a subject of the first magnitude. On a travelling connection, in my opinion, much is depending; and indeed I see no other way for our numerous vacant congregations to be supplied. Then as many preachers as feel it to be their duty to devote their whole time to travelling must be sanctioned by this body, and divide themselves into districts or circuits, as will best commode the local state of the churches. Their support must be received if possible from the congregations of their care; if not, a Conference Fund must supply them, that they be perfectly independent and devoted to their work. By this method, poor as well as wealthy congregations will have a stated ministry. But be a.s.sured that the organization of a Conference Fund will be the mainspring to give energy to the whole plan, without which all our calculations are but castles in the air.”
Whilst we have this excellent address in hand we cannot dismiss it without quoting a few more lines, particularly as they show the views and state of things at that time. He begins thus:--
”My Fathers and Brethren in the Ministry: I consider myself highly honored to be called to speak in this meeting of delegates and ministers, which I deem one of the most enlightened bodies of men on earth. When I reflect on the name you espouse, the sound doctrine you inculcate, the Christian liberty you enjoy, and the reformations that have everywhere attended you for twenty years past, I am justified in the sight of G.o.d and men in congratulating you as a favored and an enlightened people.
”Though you have been called to face the storm of persecution in every step you have taken; though many of you have sacrificed both property and health for the cause, you have the pleasure of reflecting that your labors have not been unsuccessful, and that the cause in which you suffer is good, and will eventually triumph over everything unlike to G.o.d. The persecution you experience, I consider a clear evidence that you are the people of G.o.d, and are useful to his cause. When the time comes that we bear no decided testimony against error and sin, then there will be no reformation to attend our labors, and no persecution will be seen. But I pray G.o.d that such a time may never come.
”You take the Holy Scriptures for your rule of faith and practice. This is all sufficient, and far preferable to the numerous _law-books_ which designing creed-makers have imposed on the disciples of Christ. You reject all party names, and take upon yourselves the name given by Christ to his disciples in the New Testament. This is highly commendable, and if we are Christians in _name_, _spirit_, and _practice_, we are what we should be, and what all denominations profess to be.
”Your church government establishes liberty and equality through all the flock of G.o.d. Every church has an equal right to a voice in this body. Here ministers and people stand upon the level, and there is none to lord it over G.o.d's heritage. We here confer on the welfare and prosperity of the whole, and take sweet counsel together. I consider your dissent from several popular errors as a great virtue; though it exposes you to much persecution, it will lay the foundation for your prosperity. In government you discard all monarchy and aristocracy, which principles have been the ruin and overthrow of many sects and kingdoms. In theology you dissent from the cold and chilling doctrines of Calvinism. You reject the mysterious doctrine of the Trinity as inconsistent. This is a bold step, yet your ground is tenable, and it defies the a.s.sault of the most learned. The doctrine of the Trinity, which has kindled such deplorable contentions throughout the Christian world, is of human origin, and was brought into the Church in the fourth century. There is no sentiment in theology more contested than it. In Europe the controversy is conducted with great ability, but the Unitarian cause is fast gaining. In England, four hundred congregations have rejected it; in America, several colleges and many of the princ.i.p.al men of the Union have discarded it. I am informed that the Hon. John Quincy Adams, the President of the United States, is a bold Unitarian, and is valiant for the truth. In this country, the alarm which Trinitarians manifest, the precaution they take, and the combination of different sects on this subject, are sure proof of the weakness of their cause, and though we now hear the cry from every Trinitarian church in the land, 'Great is Diana,' 'Great is Diana,' be a.s.sured that her temple totters, her pillars are shattered, and this idol must, ere long, fall like Dagon before the Ark of G.o.d. It lays the foundation of Deism, is the first argument of the Jew, the Pagan, the Mohammedan and the Infidel against the Christian religion.
”A cold, formal, spiritless wors.h.i.+p must also be rejected.