R. Badger

MEMOIR OF REV. JOSEPH BADGER.

By E. G. HOLLAND.

FOURTH EDITION.

NEW YORK:

C. S. FRANCIS AND CO., 252 BROADWAY.

BOSTON: BENJAMIN H. GREENE, 124 WASHINGTON ST.

1854.


Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1853, by
MRS. ELIZA M. BADGER,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Western
District of New York.

DAMRELL & MOORE,
Printers,
16 Devonshire Street, Boston.

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PREFACE

The present volume is the Memoir of a man and a minister whose characterwas strikingly individual, whose services to Religion in its moreliberal and unsectarian form were large and successful; and in thedenomination to which he belonged, no man was more generally known, andnone, we believe, ever acted a more prominent and effective part. Thewriter of this has endeavored to set forth the life and sentiments ofMr. Badger, to a large extent in his own language. Much of his journalmust be new even to old acquaintance, as it was written many years ago,and no part of it has ever been published. To those who would be pleasedto read the outlines of the greatest theological reformation among themasses which the nineteenth century may justly claim, we trust thisvolume will be welcome; likewise to all those who may be liberal andevangelical Christians. Aged men, contemporaries with him, will rejoicein the revival of past scenes, and the young will be taught, encouraged,and warned by the paternal voices of the departed.

Two classes of great men figure effectively on the stage of the world.One class are strongest in writing.[Pg iv] Their written words embody theentire elegance and power of their minds. Such were Webster andChanning. The other class are strongest in speech. Their personalpresence, their spontaneous eloquence in oral discourse, alone expresstheir mind and heart. Such were Clay, Henry, and Whitfield. To thelatter classification Mr. Badger unquestionably belongs. Though themarks of superiority are variously apparent in his papers, it was in themore natural medium of oral speech that his genius shone. Having nowcompleted the task demanded by my duty to the family of Mr. Badger, Iwould, in the name of the self-sacrificing, trusting faith of which hewas no common example, send forth this volume to the world, hoping thatin an ease-loving age, the presentation of a Lutheran force in theexample of a son of New Hampshire may serve to awaken in others akindred energy.

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CONTENTS.

Chapter I. Birth and Ancestry.

II. Childhood.

III. Youth and Education.

IV. Conversion.

V. ...