Part 11 (1/2)
At evening I spoke to a reeable to proain knelt withhand he said, 'I shall meet you in heaven' His countenance was as serene as a omery County, N Y, on the 10th and 17th of Septe, at which between one and two thousand people were present He speaks of the Conference business that was done on the 18th and 19th as very important; but most of all was he interested in the public improvement of three fe, Mrs Sarah Hedges, Mrs Abigail Roberts, and Miss Ann Rexford, each of as , and proved the fitness of their mission by indisputable success in their respective spheres of labor Miss Rexford, then but nineteen years of age, a young woman of polished e of the Scriptures, a winning voice, a fine coious experience An article aer's papers, written a year earlier than this, is devoted to the gifts and sphere of woh it does not parallel the claims made by the modern Conventions, proves the otry, and in sympathy with the nobler aspirations of wo held at Greenville, Greene County, N Y, in the presence of several ministers, of an asseeous veiling of forest leaves, he spoke from Ps 40: 1, 2, 3; ”in which,” says the reporter of the seriven, ”he noticed fifteen distinct particulars, and we could say the as rightly divided and a portion given to each in due season He proved himself a work of this discourse, Mr Spoor, who reported the order of theto the public press, said that he appeared before the people ”like a cloud full of rain;” and probably there are few men in the ministry anywhere whose ”doctrine” dropped more ”like the rain,” or whose speech ”distilled” entle
About this tier related the substance of his missionary adventures to his intimate friend, Hon Ezra Wate, of West Bloomfield, N Y, in a series of letters, written hastily at snatches of time whilst on his way From these we learn the events of the few months that remain of 1820 To hi capacity, as I like the work of a missionary; but I am troubled with the unsettled state of what I may call hter in Lima, and I, everywhere I can now see how true my friends have been to me in Ontario County, and oh, that Providence had favoredthem! How painful the reh surrounded with the best society, though often thronged with company, I am constantly _alone_, and I have many lonesome, disconsolate and dejected hours No chastisereat ht, Delaware county, at which he spoke twice, heard five discourses from other ministers present, namely, Uriah S at which the converting power of God was signally displayed a the people Under date of October 5, he says:
”My mind has often flown from the crowd of new friends and acquaintances that surround me, to the enjoyment of those old friends hom I have taken sweet counsel in years that are past Was I co into trials and conflicts, I should be constrained to say of my new acquaintances, as David did of Saul's armour, 'I have not proved it' Friends e have proved, friends who have merited our confidence, are priceless in value Solomon knew the worth of this truth when he said, 'A friend loveth at all times'”
Also, under date of October 16th, he writes,
”My health is much better than when I left this country, and never did I enjoy reater freedo than on this journey Amidst all my misfortunes I have a world of felicity in view It is a tia) I shall speak next Sabbath evening in the Court House at Auburn, and the first Sabbath in November I will preach at our chapel in Mendon”
Letters frohi me their chapels for his use
A plain, concise, and kindly letter to Rev Mr Patching, in which he vindicates the ordinances of the Gospel against the denials of Mr P, who had, by Mr Badger's recos to this year The main object of the letter seeation, and to throw some conservative influence around a boldly speculativeextract will show its spirit and its point:
”VERY DEAR AND AFFECTIONATE BROTHER,--With the warmest affection and from a clear evidence of duty, I hastily pen a few lines for your consideration, hoping that it may not only serve as an introduction to a familiar correspondence between us, but that it ate, and harmonize our views relative to the doctrine of the Gospel and the ordinances of the New Dispensation
”I was not alarestions you ht' you had received, which led you to deny the ordinances of the Gospel, as I thought your experience would soon teach you your error, and the i what Christ and the Apostles have established--what both primitive and modern Christians have rejoiced in But when I discovered a division in the peaceful flock of e, and at our last communion, three of our once happy brethren stay away, their seats vacant which have been so faithfully filled for years, persons whom I have heard praise God on such occasions, I cannot refrain fro you that after carefully reviewing the subject, I must still 'Teach and baptize in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost,' (Luke 16:15, 16; Matt 28:19, 20,) and shall continue 'steadfast in the Apostles' doctrine and in breaking of bread and of prayers,' Acts 11:41-46 Your 'new light,' as it is called in this region, to o, and ht by the Shakers
”Water baptism and the Lord's Supper are the two main ordinances of the new dispensation I think there was no such practice as either of these a the Jews previous to John, who came to prepare the way for the Messiah At least, the Scriptures make no mention of any such practice under the law Baptism was first practised by John, was subsequently sanctioned by the precepts and example of God's holy Son; and since it is comprehended in his Coly and as extensively observed as the Gospel itself It is no more local or temporary than the mission which contains it The Supper also was first introduced by the Saviour on the night in which he was betrayed, and even after his resurrection he sanctioned it by appearing at the head of the table It is very evident that the custo the disciples, and shall we say that the Apostles and the ancient Christians generally were under the delusion of the devil in coether on the first day of the week to preach and to break bread? If not, where is the i? Are they and the holy Scriptures our exaination? My dear brother, what can be your reat stir? Do you think your labor on this subject essential to the conversion of souls? Or is it possible that pride and vanity have joined to induce you to beco new, to be at the head of a party? My charity forbids entleman of science, as a Gospel e of public life Your station is high, your position is critical, and it becoently before the Lord This is a time in which we should pray fervently, think soberly, and act with deliberation We should write the words of God with carefulness Br Millard informs me that you intend to publish a work on this subject Allow me to advise you to be cautious, as an error once sent forth to the reading world can only with great difficulty be recalled A blunder at the commencement of one's public life may cause perpetual injury I advise you to lay your views before sohtened council, or to correspond with able ht, others can see it; if not, you will be assisted in season by the wisdom of others”
Mr P, it would appear, was a minister of the Freewill Baptist denoer[32] in public life; but instead of adhering to the suggestions of his friend, it seems that he published a small volume, in which he sent baptism, the Lord's Supper, ordination, and the divinely inspired character of the Scriptures, into endless banishainst the fraternity to which he had belonged In 1823, Mr Badger wrote six strong chapters in reply to his volume, apparently at the request of the denomination from which the author of the book had previously hailed The title of Mr B's manuscript read thus: ”A Plea for the Innocent; and T Patching's Writings against Baptism, Lord's Supper, Ordination, and the Holy Scriptures, criticised By Joseph Badger, Minister of the New Testae is this:
”He brushed the cobwebs from his brethren's urn, Yet spared the insect that wove the web”
But we judge the insect was not wholly spared It is ably written
Perhaps a glance into the boldness of the speculations of Mr Phis common-place are positions like these: ”The Bible is the God of thousands, a stu-block to the blind, and the foundation of Priestcraft--the h his prelates, has served hie;” that those who advocate the Bible, though less numerous than those who follow the Alcoran, are probably not less blind or wicked; and that the Scriptures ”are not so much as one stone in the foundation upon which God has h scripture er's reply was never published, is unknown; perhaps the passing away of the excitement attendant on the first introduction of the work of Mr P, led to the conclusion that its publication was unnecessary ”I have traced with care,” says Mr B, ”the writings of Volney, the noted French atheist, and I think he treats the Scripture with broke are decidedly too es of Mr Paine, Mr Allen, and Voltaire, we find a style and s now under discussion”
Dece to his father from West Bloomfield, he said:--
”The church understate, and my work is in this country I think itto visit you, as h I ceased to keep house the day after the death of Mary Jane, I think it will be my duty, at some future period, to resume my home in this place--a home which is now left unto me desolate”
December 17, from Li society of Christians in the town of Williamson, now Marion, Wayne County, New York, a town in which Mr Badger at different times has labored with success, and where to this day the society of liberal Christians under theIt was his primary intention to have journeyed to the land of his birth and early land, when the sacred ties of his domestic life were broken; but a sudden misfortune, which deprived him of his intended method of conveyance, caused hi those places in eastern New York, spoken of in the latter pages of this chapter On his return, whilst at Brutus, he received a e from Mr Oliver True, then in Ontario county, that froent request had arrived that he should coh no answer positively decides his compliance at that time, it is certain that he has frequently bestowed labor on that coanization of that church in 1820
CHAPTER XII
WRITINGS, MARRIAGE, TRAVELS
A discourse on the Atonement, written the early part of 1821, vindicates the paternity of God, in the equal generosity of his provisions for the salvation of allvindication, one that sifts the prees that have since been wrought in the public uments and discussions far less than their worth at the period of their formation, they are still valuable as evidences of the for and of the force and clearness of mind hich the author treated the subject His discourse is entitled ”The Way of Salvation, or, The Nature and Effects of Atonement” He shows in the expressive motto of the first leaf, that he centres all in Christ: ”Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world;” the sermon is founded on Rohteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life”
In the treater has but two simple divisions; the first is the offence and conden After alluding to Calvinis only in respect to _the number_ embraced in the arbitrarily elective plan, he announces the truth as being free fro the healing streah all nations and cliests that we are a distant posterity; that we ed to the early Eden and to man's primitive condition He asks the question--What is sin? What is its origin? What are its effects? He says, that the definition given by St John 3: 4, is the most definite that the whole Scripture yields, that, in 1 John 5: 17, there is a good general view of it in the statehteousness is sin, and in James 4: 17, the same view is confirood and doeth it not, to him it is sin”
”The first sin of everywhen he knohat is right There ; there must be a law in thethis scriptural vie can we consider infants, and children unborn, to be sinners? Are they acquainted with God's will? Do they know his law? We often hear people tell of the 'sins of our nature,' and of being 'sinners by nature,' and of the 'sins we bring into the world with us;' but such sins are unknown to the Scriptures, are unnamed in the word of God, and the idea was invented in the wilderness ages of Christianity”