JOURNEY TO THE SOUTH.--PUBLISHED JOURNAL.
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 God 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 coöperation 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, passing
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 passed 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 entitled 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 God, 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 God
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, assisted 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 God 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 God.' 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 God, 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 God 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, passed 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 God
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 associates 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 assistance 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 assured 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 God 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 God. The persecution you experience, I consider a
clear evidence that you are the people of God, 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 God 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 God. 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
God'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 assault
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
principal 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 assured that her temple
totters, her pillars are shattered, and this idol must, ere
long, fall like Dagon before the Ark of God. 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 worship must also be rejected.
A fashionable conformity to anti-Christian practices would
give us the applause of men, but not the approbation of God
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 anticipate 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 God. We now have nine or ten
convenient meeting-houses built by our own people, besides
many others which have become free. Three temples of
worship 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 God, 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 publishing
salvation to sinners; view with reverence those venerable
heads which have become hoary 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
shine 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 harass 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 assembly was large, solemn, and
attentive; the preaching was powerful and interesting, and
the accommodations good. We leave the event with God. 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 multitude could
say, our place was no less than the house of God, 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 passages 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 shore 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 quantity 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
hoary 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
Shiver 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 assembly; had seen the sinner in tears
trembling under the word; and the very place where we were
assembled 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 assembly; 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 association, 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,
substitute imagination as a foundation for their action,
and call every impulse of the mind an immediate revelation
from God, 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 township, 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 passed through hunger and fatigue, but
found God to be with him. His spacious 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."
Messrs. Badger, Hathaway and Chapin, paused awhile at Williamsport,
Pickaway County, where they gave seven sermons, and received the kind
attentions of Rev. George Alkire, of whom he speaks in very respectful
terms. Holding meetings in Platt and Highland Counties, he parted with
Mr. H. on the 19th, who travelled to Cincinnati _via_ Kentucky, and
passed ten days with Rev. M. Gardner, in whose congregations he attended
sixteen meetings and preached to large and respectable assemblies. At
Ripley, Brown County, he formed the acquaintance of Hon. E. Campbell,
who had many years been a member of the United States Senate; of him and
his father-in-law, Mr. Dunlap, a native of Virginia, and among the first
settlers of Kentucky, a man who had emancipated thirty slaves and
applied his own hands to labor, he speaks in honoring terms. "His
colored people," says Mr. B., "still flock around him as their
benefactor, and love him as their best friend on earth."
"On the 29th of November, I reached this pleasant city.
Here, and in the adjoining country, I have had glorious
times, an account of which you may expect in my next
number. I have succeeded in obtaining a history of the
churches and conferences in the west and south beyond my
expectations. The preachers appear friendly, and willing to
lend every possible assistance. I shall be able, in a few
weeks, to give your readers a general representation of the
state of things west of the Alleghany mountains, in which
vast extent of country are many thousands of happy
Christians who renounce all party creeds and names, and,
with their naked Bibles in hand, are rejoicing in the hope
of immortality."
The next dates Ripley, 0., January 12, 1826. Our journalist says:--
"The prejudices, customs, ways, manners, and opinions of
men, how various! But these are not the fruit of nature or
grace, but the products of education. Nature and grace are
the same in every country, and vary only in form and
degree.
"Cincinnati is a beautiful city, situated on the north bank
of the great Ohio river, and has a population of about
15,000 souls. It is surrounded, on the east, north and
west, by hills, except the narrow but rich valley of Mill
Creek, which makes its way through from the north. Its
location is dry, healthy, and truly romantic. Its streets
are wide and pleasant, and its buildings elegant, in
eastern style. The manners of the people are a compound of
southern politeness and generosity, and of eastern
refinement, taste, and simplicity. The civility of every
class of people, down to the teamster and carman, exceeds
that of any city I ever visited. The market, for neatness
and variety, is equal to any in America, and its price only
about one-half that of Montreal, Boston, and New York. The
city council are making great improvements, and the city if
fast populating. Its climate is mild and agreeable, and, as
it is near the centre of American settlements, _I know not
what it may yet become_."
Such was the Queen City in 1825. The state of religion there he
describes as low, "if," says he, "we speak of experimental religion;
many have profession, form and name, but we shall come short of heaven
without something more." He speaks of Mr. Burk, a popular Methodist
minister, as having renounced Episcopacy and taken with him a large
congregation, as being so far illuminated as to "see men as trees
walking;" Mr. Badger quotes the words of Franklin--"Where there is no
contradiction there is no light," as applying well to agitations of this
sort. Of the new reformers among the Baptists, he speaks as follows:--
"The Baptists in Cincinnati, also, have had revivals, but
among them exists a great commotion, and a large
congregation join with those in Kentucky and Virginia in
the general dissent from creeds. Dr. Fishback, of Kentucky,
and Alexander Campbell, of Virginia, are the champions in
this cause. They oppose sectarian bondage with considerable
ability and success. Mr. Campbell is truly a man of war,
and acts the part of a Peter with his drawn sword; but,
whether they will have humility, grace, and pure religion
enough to 'revive the ancient order of things' in the
original spirit and simplicity of the Gospel, or whether
they will be laborious architects of their own fame,
remains for their future conduct to prove."
In Preble County, fifty miles north of Cincinnati, Mr. B. preached
several sermons at Eaton, the county seat; the sheriff of the county was
his chorister and host, whose house, owing to the good order of the
country, was destitute of a prisoner; the rooms usually occupied by
criminals being now used to keep the earth's productions. On the
authority of two ministers and several other persons who were
eye-witnesses, Mr. Badger relates that he spoke in the house where, in
1821, during a great reformation, Jacob Woodard, a Deist, was struck
dead by an unseen power while in the act of forcing his wife out of the
meeting; that he never breathed or struggled after he fell--a phenomenon
that belongs to many other marvellous instances of nearly inexplicable
events we have heard of in connection with the earlier religious
revivals in Ohio. Mr. Badger thoroughly explored that State, and with
great satisfaction visited Kentucky. Indeed, the easy and courteous
manners of Mr. Badger, his happy extemporaneous gifts, his love of
society and generous sentiments, peculiarly adapted him to the
admiration and acceptance of the South. Of Rev. B. W. Stone and lady, he
speaks in the most exalted terms; and, whatever may have been the
speculative differences between Mr. Stone and his brethren in later
years, all must unite in one concession to the soundness of his
learning, the clearness of his criticisms, and in what is eternally
above all other things, the beauty and excellence of his Christian
character. Mr. B. now returned home to Mendon, Ontario[39] County, New
York, and further narrates the particulars of his adventures. He
surveys with grateful pleasure the scenes he has witnessed, the
kindnesses he has received, the new acquaintances and friends he had
gained; and from experience and observation he was prepared to speak in
the most friendly terms of his brethren in the south and west, and the
tidings he brought when formally announced was, to use the language of
Mr. Millard, "received with much joy." The brethren of the West were
reported as having no creed but the Bible, and they "wear no name but
such as the Scriptures authorize, that they uniformly believe in the
simple doctrine that there is ONE GOD, the CREATOR, ONE JESUS, the
Redeemer, ONE HOLY GHOST, the Sanctifier;" that they generally favor the
preëxistence of Christ, regarding the Socinian view of him as derogatory
to the character of the Christian religion.
"Free salvation," says Mr. B., "is sounded through all
their congregations, and Gospel liberty is the key-note of
every song. No point of doctrine is made a criterion of
fellowship, but Christian fellowship rests alone on the
true bias of _spirit_ and _practice_. They are simple,
unassuming, and spiritual in their preaching and worship;
the labor of the ministers is to make their hearers good: a
great share of singing and prayer is interspersed through
their meetings. For twenty years they have been in the way
of holding camp-meetings, but the practice is fast
declining, though in many cases good has resulted from
them. Our brethren in the west and south are as well
supplied with preachers as our churches are in the east, if
not better,--preachers who are acquainted with the manners
of the people, and are in a capacity to do much more good
than eastern men can do among them."
Under date of April 1, 1826, Mr. Badger gives a very lengthy,
interesting, and we should judge faithful account of his visit in Ohio
and Kentucky, of the proceedings of a Conference in each of those
States, convened for the purpose of receiving and answering his message
for the east; both of which were hearty in their responses of
friendship, and both furnished him with materials for giving their true
history to their brethren of the east and north. He speaks of three
denominational centres, which he thinks the future will witness, each
having a periodical and a book-store connected with it, Cincinnati the
centre for the west, New York for the east, and some place in one of the
Carolinas for the south. From Rev. William Kinkade, that able,
strong-minded and heroic divine, who had served his country in
legislative councils, and humanity by his ministry, Mr. Badger received
a strong letter, giving an account of the rise and growth of the
Christian Conference on the Wabash, of one in Indiana, and touching on
some of the larger points of primitive faith. He says:--
"While it gives me great pleasure to hear from you that
primitive Christianity is reviving in the east, I hope you
will be no less pleased to hear of its success in the west.
This vast country, which was lately a howling wilderness,
now blossoms as the rose. On the big and little Wabash,
which is still the haunt of savage men and wild beasts,
there are now large churches of happy Christians. Along the
Ambarrass and Bumpass, where twelve years ago little else
was heard but the howling of wolves, the hooting of owls,
the fierce screams of panthers and the fiercer screams of
wild Indians, painted for war and thirsting for human
blood, are now heard the songs of Zion, the sound of
prayer, and the voice of peace and pardon through a
Redeemer. Among us the demon intolerance has been exposed
in its multifarious character, and banished from the
congregation of the faithful. Ignorance has given way to
investigation; and love and union are daily triumphing over
prejudice and partyism. But still I see, I feel, I lament a
great want of that holiness and divine power which
characterized the followers of Jesus in the first ages of
Christianity."
"It is the word of God alone," said these stout, honest-hearted men of
Ohio, when assembled--"the word of God alone, on which the Church of
Christ will finally settle, build and grow into a holy temple of the
Lord." Mr. Badger, after taking a list of the names of ministers in
Kentucky and Ohio, and with a characteristic orderly minuteness,
ascertained the number of churches and of meeting-houses they erected,
the names of such as had died in the active duties of the ministry,
returned home, rich in the benedictions of the regions he had visited,
and with the resolve at some other season to penetrate the south further
than he yet had gone. Perhaps the good impressions made on his mind by
these journeys may be plead in conjunction with the wide sympathies of
his nature, and the well-balanced cast of his intellect, as the reason
why in all his life he was uncontrolled by local prejudice, and it may
be a part of the reason why, that to him, and to the cause of free and
Apostolical Christianity which he represented, there was no east, no
west, no north, no south, as forming any limit to his friendly regards
and Christian fellowship. At Cincinnati he gathered the few who held to
like faith into a convenient place of worship, made arrangements with
ministers for their supply, and before his return a general Conference
was agreed upon at Cincinnati the last of October, 1826.
June 23d, at the Annual Session of the New York Western Christian
Conference, he was, with Rev. A. C. Morrison, appointed a messenger to
the United States Conference, to be holden at Windham, Ct., the first
days of September, where among the responsible trusts committed to him,
was that of acting as their messenger at the autumnal assemblage of
delegates and ministers who were to convene at Cincinnati. From April to
August of this year, Mr. Badger was constantly engaged in the vicinity
of home; at South Lima additions were made, the assembly was large; the
society at Royalton he consigned to the care of Rev. E. Shaw, an able
minister of the New Testament. August 18th, he visited New York city
where he stayed two Sabbaths, and spoke to increasing assemblies. His
remarks on the commotion and dissent which at that time appeared among
the Friends under the preaching of Elias Hix, his close and practical
analysis of the state of society in New York city, though interesting,
we must pass by; also his remarks on the general meetings he attended at
Beekman and Milan, Dutchess County, and of one at Canaan, Columbia
County, N. Y. Something tragical developed under his four sermons at
Beekman. A minister of another sect, who had violently opposed the
people and sentiments to which Mr. Badger belonged, was observed to weep
much under his discourse, and afterwards was heard to say that it was
the truth of God, and that none could deny it--the same night he went
into a grove near his residence, and hung himself.
In Columbia County, Mr. Badger became acquainted with the venerable old
minister, John Leland, of whom the world has heard much, a man then
between seventy and eighty years old, but possessing the brilliancy of
youth. Though local at the time, he said that his travels as a minister
would measure three times around the globe. From Rev. Mr. Gardner, a
prominent minister in Ohio, Mr. B. received these lines of invitation:
"A second visit from yourself in this country will be well received. Our
hearts and our houses are open to receive you, and many are inquiring,
'When will he return?'" Rev. Mr. Adams also writes: "The friends
remember you with affection; they have not forgotten your sermons and
good counsels; they are anxious to receive another visit from you, and
think that you would do much good in this country. I am confident there
is not a society you visited here but would unite in inviting you to
return." Several such invitations were kindly showered upon him. He did
return. We may ask where were _his_ idle days? It was one of his chosen
maxims that "an idle person is the devil's playfellow." In all these
labors we see a spirit that surveys the _general_ interest, plans for
the general good, and leads along easily the minds of others into the
possession of his own views and feelings. In the southern and western
journey, narrated in this chapter, there were revivals in almost every
place he visited, as we learn not only from his own journal, but more
particularly from other and reliable sources.
His second tour through Ohio and Kentucky, in which he renewed and
greatly enlarged his acquaintance, gave him a still larger estimate of
the success of liberal principles in the west and south. By the advices
of the best informed ministers, he learned that the account he had
published the previous spring in relation to the number of ministers and
brethren in the west was much too small, and that, using his own
language, "it is a safe and moderate calculation to say, that in the
several Conferences situate in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri,
Tennessee, Alabama, and Kentucky, there are three hundred preachers and
fifteen thousand brethren. They all worship ONE GOD IN ONE PERSON, and
have NO CREED BUT THEIR BIBLE." He says:
"I have again passed through the lofty forests and
beautiful plains of Ohio; have seen the herds of wild deer
sporting on the lovely prairie; have heard the screams of
the fierce wolf, and have turned aside from these romantic
beauties and terrors of nature to the wigwam of the savage
to hear the praises of the Redeemer. Also, I have again
visited the pleasant land of Kentucky; have seen the smiles
of the convert, the tears of mourners, and have joined in
worship with thousands of happy Christians in the west who
are rejoicing in hope of immortality.
"It is now a more general time of reformation in the west
than has been witnessed for many years past. At Dublin,
Elder Isaac N. Walters has been very successful in winning
souls to Christ. In Elder Alkire's vicinity the churches
have received large additions of late. In Elder Gardner's
congregations the number was increasing, and a new church
had been organized within a few weeks. In Elder Rogers's
neighborhood some sixty or seventy were hopefully
converted; and from Elders Simonton, Vickers, Kyle and
Miles I heard a good report. In Kentucky the prospect has
not been so good as it now is for many years. News from the
west part of Virginia, and east of Tennessee, by Elder
William Lane, was very refreshing. Sectarianism there is
fast falling. In Alabama the Lord is doing wonders, and the
knowledge of _one_ God is fast increasing; in those regions
he has raised up many able advocates for his pure
doctrines. In Kentucky, my interview with the preachers,
brethren and friends was very agreeable, and their kindness
and friendship can never be forgotten by me. A message was
sent to me by order of the church at Georgetown, seventy
miles distant, inviting me to visit them. In Ohio, my visit
was everywhere received with joy. At Cincinnati, the
congregation was large and the prospect is good. Our
friends there will probably build a brick meeting-house for
the worship of ONE GOD IN ONE PERSON, in the course of next
summer.
"Since July I have travelled about three thousand miles,
and attended about one hundred meetings. My present tour
has been attended with more fatigues than any journey I
have ever performed. My preaching has been constant; and
after meeting I have many times been constrained to engage
in debate in which I have continued until morning. I have
had to preach many sermons on disputed subjects, one at
Cincinnati of three hours' length; though I had opponents
present, they made no reply; one at Dublin of more than two
hours; eight preachers present, but no reply; one at
Richfield of two hours. God has stood by me in all my
conflicts thus far, and many instances of his mercy have I
witnessed of late. I have been once overturned in a stage,
and in Kentucky I fell from my horse; in both instances
narrowly escaped death."
In Columbiana County, the two colleagues of Mr. Badger, L. Hathaway and
Asa Chapin, met a great excess of enthusiasm in public worship, against
which they directed the cooler power of reason; and it seems that a
strong paragraph in Mr. Badger's printed journal, in which he sharply
and most independently reproved (as he always did under such
circumstances) disorder and fanaticism in the house of God, caused a
lengthy, explanatory, and complaining reply, to which Mr. B. very ably
responded. Speaking of the one who had led the way in this wild
enthusiasm, and whom he regarded as having been egotistically unpleasant
to his colleagues, he applies the words of Johnson:
"Fate never wounds more deep the generous heart,
Than when the BLOCKHEAD'S insult points the dart."
At a meeting of the General Conference held at West Bloomfield,
September 7, 1827, a resolution of hearty approval was passed in
relation to what Mr. Badger had done for uniting the different branches
of the Christian connection, east, west and south, and expressive of
much gratification in the news obtained of the churches west of the
Alleghanies.