Part 13 (2/2)
A fas.h.i.+onable conformity to anti-Christian practices would give us the applause of men, but not the approbation of G.o.d and our own consciences. Let that preaching which is the most spiritual receive your most cordial approbation, and let the saints in all our congregations be encouraged to improve their gifts.
”It will also be well to keep up a friendly correspondence with other Conferences. For this purpose, let our clerk be instructed to officiate as corresponding secretary, that we may act in the light of the whole body. As we are more nearly allied to the Eastern Conference in this State than to any other, I recommend to have one delegate appointed every year to sit with them, that our business may be conducted in harmony. As our churches are extending to Georgia on the South, to Maine on the East, and to Canada on the North, it must always keep this State as the centre of the connection, and we have grounds to antic.i.p.ate much from a correspondence between our brethren of the North and the South. There are now about one hundred ministers in the Eastern and Western Conferences; but when I came into this country eight years ago, there was not over ten or twelve free preachers in the State, and many of our present number were then strangers to G.o.d. We now have nine or ten convenient meeting-houses built by our own people, besides many others which have become free. Three temples of wors.h.i.+p at least are being built this year within the bounds of these Conferences; one in the city of New York, where Simon Clough is laboring with success; one at Bloomfield, one at Salem, Ohio, and several congregations are preparing to build another year. Although we have witnessed so much prosperity, our work is just begun. Never did we witness such a time as the present. The cry, 'Come over and help us,' is now heard from all parts, and did you, my brethren, ever witness such throngs to attend upon your ministry as now? Did you ever know such a general inquiry for light and liberty? Truly the fields are all white and ready to harvest. My aged brethren, as you look upon the young men by your side who have devoted their juvenile years to G.o.d, and have just entered upon the great and arduous duties of the ministry, let every power within you rejoice that you have lived to see this good day, that you behold the evidence that the ranks will yet be filled, when you and I shall sleep in death. And you, my young brethren, look upon your fathers in the ministry, who have spent their time, property, and health in publis.h.i.+ng salvation to sinners; view with reverence those venerable heads which have become h.o.a.ry in the way of righteousness, and be stimulated by their example to end your days in honor of the sacred cause you have espoused. May you have many souls as the seals of your ministry, and hereafter s.h.i.+ne as stars of the firmament forever and ever!”
Immediately Mr. Badger began to fulfil his part of the duties devolving on the newly appointed ministry. Between July 13th and August 9th, he travelled four hundred and sixty-five miles, preached twenty-one sermons, and baptized thirteen persons; between August 12th and 31st, he journeyed three hundred and fifty-seven miles, attended twenty-one meetings, preached at Covington, N. Y., at the ordination of Rev. Elisha Beardsley, on the 21st, from Rev. 10:10; and from this period to September the 24th, the time of his departure for his western and southern tour, the days and evenings were industriously used in his mission, completing in all nine hundred and sixty-six miles from July 13th. As Mr. Badger published hasty sketches of his tour from this time, in the ”Gospel Luminary,” I shall occasionally quote his printed paragraphs. He heads his notes of travel with the scripture injunction, ”_Gather up the fragments that nothing be lost_,” and with a rapidity that neither knew nor cared for elaboration, he threw off the descriptions of the scenes and events that lay in his way. Also two or three small blank books accurately narrate every mile he travelled, every town he entered, every sermon he preached, and every farthing he expended. Such was his accustomed order. These memorandums are sometimes prefaced with significant mottoes; on one is the text, ”_Keep thyself pure_;” on another, and perhaps, indicative of the rough and various treatment the travelling missionary is sometimes liable to receive, are the words of Johnson:--
”Of all the griefs that hara.s.s the distressed, Sure the most bitter is the scornful jest; Fate never wounds more deep the generous heart, Than when the blockhead's insult points the dart.”
Also from Gray:--
”He gave to misery all he had, a tear, He gained from heaven ('twas all he wished) a friend.”
”Studious alone to learn whate'er may tend To raise the genius or the heart amend.”
Narrating his course to the readers of the Luminary, he says:--
”I left home September 24, accompanied by my wife, Mr.
Chapin, and several other friends, for the general meeting at Chili, where we arrived in the evening. Here I met eight of my brethren in the ministry. Our interview was agreeably interesting, and the parting to me uncommonly solemn. The general meeting, so far as I could discern, was very satisfactory. The a.s.sembly was large, solemn, and attentive; the preaching was powerful and interesting, and the accommodations good. We leave the event with G.o.d. On our way to Royalton, I preached once in Clarkson, and once in Gaines. At Royalton, I met thirteen ministers of the everlasting Gospel, all of whom appeared to have the good of souls at heart, and love to the great and honorable work in which they were engaged. Brothers Church, Chapin, Beardsley, Shaw, Hathaway, Whitcomb, Blodget and Hamilton, all spoke to good satisfaction, and the mult.i.tude could say, our place was no less than the house of G.o.d, and the very gate of heaven. In conference, we received Francis Hamilton as a fellow-laborer. He gave two appropriate discourses, and I hope will be useful among us.
”October 3, our company, consisting of twelve persons, visited Niagara Falls, to view the stupendous and sublime works of nature. We lodged four or five miles up the river from the Falls. On walking out in the evening, the scene was peculiarly grand. While nature around was hushed, the never-ceasing roar of the stupendous cataract brought to my mind important reflections on several pa.s.sages of Scripture. The next day, visited Black Rock and Buffalo; at twelve, the solemn, memorable hour arrived when our little company must be separated. Language is too poor to describe my feelings as I gave my wife, and six young people who were to accompany her return, the parting hand. Every heart felt more than words express; but, as all the company have lively hopes of immortality, we can look forward to a world where parting can never come.
'How soothing is the thought, and sweet!
But for a while we bid adieu; With welcome smiles again to meet, And all our social joys renew.'
”Our company now consists of five, L. Hathaway and wife, Jesse E. Church, and Asa Chapin. The two last are valuable young men, and bid fair to be useful in the great work of the ministry.”
From Buffalo, Mr. Badger and his company proceeded along the sh.o.r.e of Lake Erie, following a lonesome road to the town of Pomfret, Chautaque County, N.Y., where he commenced a general meeting, October 8; nine clergymen were in attendance and much good influence was manifest.
Writing from Mt. Vernon, Knox County, Ohio, under date of October 31, 1825, he says:--
”In Chautaque County, I was delighted with three curiosities in nature. 1. A small spring[38] is found in Fredonia, which affords a sufficient quant.i.ty of gas to light the whole village with very little expense. It is delightful to see, in a land which, a few years ago, was a wilderness, nature and art majestically united. 2. A larger growth of timber is found here than I have ever seen before. I saw the stump of a tree, on which I was informed that sixteen men had stood at once. We measured a chestnut tree which was dry, and had lost its bark; three feet from the ground, it was nine feet and five inches through. 3. I was made acquainted with a young lady who is remarkably gifted in poetry. A few years since, Joseph Baily found her in a poor log-hut, portraying her charming effusions on the margins of old newspapers. On his stating the subject to some Christian friends, they sent her a quire of paper, which she wrote over in a short time, and returned it, to their admiration and astonishment. She and her husband both enjoy religion. Many a brilliant soul is now breathing in soft and lively emotions in remote wildernesses, and many a precious pearl is buried in the rubbish of poverty and ignorance.”
From Pomfret he visited North East, in Pennsylvania; gave two sermons, and spent a day in Conference business; thence to Salem, Ohio, where they were joyfully received by Col. Fifield, with whom Mr. B. had been acquainted in Vermont, eleven years before. There they met Rev. Asa C.
Morrison, then a vigorous and efficient preacher, now a citizen of the unknown spheres; there they enjoyed a large attendance, gave seven sermons, and Mr. Badger bestows uncommon praise on the discourse given by Mr. Hathaway, on ”the subject of enthusiasm, fanaticism, false zeal and delusion.” Leaving Salem on the morning of the 18th, where one of the young men of his company concluded to remain, (J. E. Church,) he proceeded on his journey through Painsville, at the mouth of Grand River, Cleaveland, Brunswick, Medina and Westfield to Canaan Centre, where he held a general meeting, in which several denominations united--Presbyterians, Methodists, Baptists, and a denomination who styled themselves the United Brethren; at this time Mr. James Miles was ordained to the work of the ministry. ”This to me,” says Mr. Badger, ”was an interesting case, as he was a young man whom I dearly loved, and one that I many years before baptized in the Province of Lower Canada; he is the seventh that I have baptized who have been ordained as ministers of the Gospel. We left Canaan on the 26th; had a pleasant journey through Wooster, and reached Mt. Vernon on the evening of the 27th, and were joyfully received by Elder James Smith and family. He is an able minister of the New Testament and a respectable citizen.” At this place he met several ministers from the Southern States, some of h.o.a.ry hairs, who were giving the remnant of their days to preaching the Gospel. Here Mr. Badger and Mr. Hathaway gave three sermons each, to a people who were anxious to hear and learn more of the truth which belongs to the great theme of human salvation through the Crucified One.
His next sketching dates at Cincinnati, Ohio, December 25, 1825:--
”The wise and prudent conquer difficulties By daring to attempt them; sloth and folly s.h.i.+ver and shrink at sight of toil and danger, And make the impossibility they fear.”
”SIR,--On leaving our good friends at Mount Vernon, on the first day of November, the parting was affecting; we had been treated with great attention; we had here preached the word to the crowded a.s.sembly; had seen the sinner in tears trembling under the word; and the very place where we were a.s.sembled appeared like holy ground. We were conducted to Dublin, on the Sciota river, by our worthy friend, Elder Marvin, who has two sons who are preachers of the Gospel.
At Sciota, met Elder Brittan and a large a.s.sembly; gave two sermons; Elder M. baptized one happy convert.”
November 3d, he speaks of arriving at Derby Plains, where he preached five sermons, and saw the ruinous effects of the strange delusion into which a Mr. Douglas Farnum, formerly from New England, had involved himself and many others; a delusion that strove to ignore the common rules of social morality, and to find a direct revelation from Heaven in every impulse of the heart and mind. Though excluded from the people of his earlier a.s.sociation, he held a few deluded persons by his views, until self-destruction scattered them and left their names a reproach to virtue. Their leader, after running this singular career, died, confessing, however, many past errors and wrongs.
”When a people,” says Mr. B., ”deviate in their zeal from the rules of decency, when they lay aside the Scripture, subst.i.tute imagination as a foundation for their action, and call every impulse of the mind an immediate revelation from G.o.d, I expect they will sink their characters in disgrace, and come to a miserable end. I visited the vacated village where he and his followers had joined in the merry dance, and felt a kind of horror, like that which once seized the thinking soul of a Volney at the ruins of Palmyra.
”In Clark County, at the head waters of the Little Miami, we had good meetings, were kindly entertained by Charles Arther, and had agreeable intercourse with Elder Isaac N.
Walters, a young man about twenty years of age, who bids fair to be useful. At Pleasant towns.h.i.+p, Madison County, we were kindly received by Fargis Graham, a man fifty-seven years of age, who had just returned from a preaching tour of six weeks in Indiana; he had a good journey, and felt encouraged. I surveyed with admiration his gray hairs, his smiles and tears, while he gave an account of his journey.
He visited the poor cabins in the wilderness, lay on the ground in the great prairie, where the wolves were howling around him, and pa.s.sed through hunger and fatigue, but found G.o.d to be with him. His s.p.a.cious plantation at home, on which he has more than one hundred head of cattle, besides other stock in proportion, reminded me of the ancient possessions of Abraham, Lot, and Jacob. He does much for the cause, and has long been one of its ornaments and faithful ministers.”
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