Memoir of Rev. Joseph Badger Part 1

Memoir of Rev. Joseph Badger.

by Elihu G. Holland.

PREFACE

The present volume is the Memoir of a man and a minister whose character was strikingly individual, whose services to Religion in its more liberal and unsectarian form were large and successful; and in the denomination to which he belonged, no man was more generally known, and none, we believe, ever acted a more prominent and effective part. The writer of this has endeavored to set forth the life and sentiments of Mr. Badger, to a large extent in his own language. Much of his journal must 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 pleased to read the outlines of the greatest theological reformation among the ma.s.ses which the nineteenth century may justly claim, we trust this volume will be welcome; likewise to all those who may be liberal and evangelical Christians. Aged men, contemporaries with him, will rejoice in the revival of past scenes, and the young will be taught, encouraged, and warned by the paternal voices of the departed.

Two cla.s.ses of great men figure effectively on the stage of the world.

One cla.s.s are strongest in writing. Their written words embody the entire elegance and power of their minds. Such were Webster and Channing. The other cla.s.s are strongest in speech. Their personal presence, their spontaneous eloquence in oral discourse, alone express their mind and heart. Such were Clay, Henry, and Whitfield. To the latter cla.s.sification Mr. Badger unquestionably belongs. Though the marks of superiority are variously apparent in his papers, it was in the more natural medium of oral speech that his genius shone. Having now completed the task demanded by my duty to the family of Mr. Badger, I would, in the name of the self-sacrificing, trusting faith of which he was no common example, send forth this volume to the world, hoping that in an ease-loving age, the presentation of a Lutheran force in the example of a son of New Hampshire may serve to awaken in others a kindred energy.

CHAPTER I.

BIRTH AND ANCESTRY.

In so young a world as America, it has been held unsuitable for persons to spend much time in the tracing of pedigree, or to found important claims on family descent; nor can it accord less with the common sense of mankind than with the republican genius of the world, to say, that every genuine claim to human esteem is founded in character. In this is rooted every quality that can, of right, command the reverence of man.

But, as character is not exactly isolated and independent of ancestral fountains, from which the innate impulses, capacity, and tendency to good and evil have flown, the subject of ancestry justly belongs to the history of every man's mind and life. Our ancestors flow in our veins.

We retain them more or less in our characters always, so that the great stress which different countries have put upon this theme, rests on other than artificial and ostentatious reasons. In nature, below man, the various circuits and orders of being do nothing more than to repeat ancestral forms and habits, to which the sweet rose, the eagle, and the strong-armed oak, are perpetual witnesses; and though man, by his G.o.d-like faculty of will is lifted out, in a great measure, from this necessity, he is so far a derivation from the past, that he ought to be seen in his connections with it. We therefore introduce the subject of Mr. Badger's ancestry as the chief part of the first chapter of this book.

Joseph Badger, the subject of this memoir, was a native of Gilmanton, Strafford county, New Hampshire, born August 16th, 1792. From an early ma.n.u.script of his I copy the following lines:--

"My father, Peaslee Badger, was born at Haverhill, Ma.s.s., 1756. He was the son of General Joseph Badger, who was a native of that place. When my father was nine years of age, his father removed to Gilmanton, N. H., where his family was settled, and where my grandsire, General Joseph, ended his days in peace, in the year of our Lord 1803. The good instruction I received from him, before my ninth year, will never be effaced from my memory. His name will long be held in remembrance as a peacemaker, and a great statesman.

Every recollection of him is a fulfilment of the sacred pa.s.sage--'The memory of the righteous is blessed.'

"In 1781, my father was married to Lydia Kelley, born in Lee, N. H., 1759. She was the daughter of Philip Kelley, who, in the triumphs of faith, departed this life the 11th of June, 1800, at New Hampton, N. H. For the s.p.a.ce of thirty-six years my father resided at Gilmanton. In our family were nine children, five sons and four daughters. I was the fourth son, and the old general, of whom I have already spoken, selected me as the one to bear up his name.

I was accordingly named for him; but alas! I fear I have fallen greatly below his excellent examples."

Among his ancestors, there can be no doubt, that he most resembled, in mind and body, the venerable man whose name he bore. The personal form of Gen. Joseph Badger, as described in history, in which he is represented as nearly six feet in stature, somewhat corpulent, light and fair in complexion, and of dignified manners, answers most aptly to the subject of this memoir; nor is the correspondence less perfect, when his mental qualities of foresight, order, firmness, tact, and generosity are considered. "As a military man," says the faithful pen of history, "General Badger was commanding in his person, well skilled in the science of military tactics, expert as an officer, and courageous and faithful in the performance of every trust. With him order was law, rights were most sacred, and the discharge of duty was never to be neglected."

Hundreds, into whose hands this volume will fall, will never forget the promptness and the courageous efficiency with which Rev. Joseph Badger met every public duty, and every great emergency; and though his field was the ministry, and his soldierly skill that which referred to the Cross, none who ever knew him can cease to remember the ready, natural, and commanding generalship by which his entire action and influence in the world were distinguished. He did not float with the wave of circ.u.mstance, but carefully laid out his labors into system, always having a purpose and a plan; and not unfrequently did his active energy and position in life, amidst many difficulties, remind one of a campaign. No mind, acting in the same sphere, was ever more productive in ways and means. Though a clergyman, he was a general, and one, we should say, of no common tact and skill.

His father, Major Peaslee Badger, with whom the writer of this memoir was acquainted, was a man of strong mental powers, quick perceptions, and of great vivacity. The quality last named, for which the subject of these biographical sketches was so generally distinguished, is readily traceable to his father; and the same remark in regard to quickness of perception might also apply, but for the fact that the mind of the son was more intuitive, and that he possessed both the qualities spoken of in a greater degree. Joseph Badger, though at heart deeply imbued with the solemnity and importance of all that belongs to the Gospel of human salvation, was no anchorite in spirit, no desponding meditator on man or his lot; he wore no formalities of a pretending sanct.i.ty. He had the good fortune never to have lost his naturalness; and I think I never saw one in whose nature was treasured a greater fulness of social life. It was apparent that Major Badger had a memory that was strong even in advanced years; that he was a general reader, and had reflected very independently; that, though capable of tender emotions and kindness of heart, the intellect had pretty full ascendency over his sympathetic nature; and that, in social feeling, in affection, in fineness of nature, and in general sympathy, his son possessed the richer inheritance.

His mother was a Christian, and judging from her letters, was an affectionate woman, of good plain sense, and rich in sympathy and maternal care. Father, mother and son are now in the spiritual world.[1]

As there are several public men wearing the family name of Badger, and as there are different branches of the same original family that in an early day exchanged their home in England for the then comparative wilderness of New Hampshire and Ma.s.sachusetts, in obedience to the spirit of adventure that drew, in those times, the most earnest and enterprising persons to the New World, I have thought it proper briefly to present the lineage of Rev. Joseph Badger from the settlement of the first family of this name in Ma.s.sachusetts; in doing which I shall not rely on uncertain tradition, but on the published history of Gilmanton, N. H., and on the Memoir of Hon. Joseph Badger, both of which are now before me. From these authorities it appears that the Badger family is of English origin, that its founder was Giles Badger,[2] who settled at Newbury, Ma.s.s., previous to June 30, in 1643, only twenty-three years after the landing of the Pilgrims. His son, John Badger, a man of much respectability in his day, was by his first wife, the father of four children, only three of whom, John, Sarah and James, lived to arrive at years of responsibility, the first having died in infancy. His first wife, Elizabeth, died April 8th, 1669. By his second wife, Hannah Swett, to whom he was married February 23d, 1671, he had Stephen, Hannah, Nathaniel, Mary, Elizabeth, Ruth, Joseph, Daniel, Abigail and Lydia.

Both of the parents died in 1691. John Badger, Jr., a merchant in Newbury, married Miss Rebecca Brown, October 5, 1691; their children were John, James, Elizabeth, Stephen, _Joseph_, Benjamin and Dorothy.

Joseph was born in 1698.

Joseph Badger, son of John Badger, Jr., was a merchant, in Haverhill, Ma.s.s.,[3] and married Hannah, daughter of Col. Nathaniel Peaslee. Among his seven children was General Joseph Badger, whose usefulness and excellence of character are strongly expressed in the pages before me.

He married Hannah Pearson, January 31st, 1740; their children were twelve in number, among whom was Major Peaslee Badger, the father of the subject of this memoir, and the Hon. Joseph Badger, Jr., the father of Hon. William Badger, late Governor of New Hampshire. Several of this name have been distinguished for ability, and have held important positions of public duty. Some have been active in the defence of their country, some in the cause of education, the administration of justice, and the affairs of political life; and like the distinguished men of New Hampshire generally, they mostly seem to have had strong natures, with characters marked by native vigor and original force.

South of the White Mountains some fifty miles, and near the Lake and River Winnipiseogee, is the old town of Gilmanton. As the mind of Mr.

Badger, during his childhood in this place, was lastingly impressed by the society and instruction of his uncle, I have thought best to copy the presentation of his character as found in the published history of Gilmanton.

"In the early settlement of Gilmanton," says Mr. Lancaster, "no individual was more distinguished than Gen. Joseph Badger. He was born in Haverhill, Ma.s.s., Jan. 11, 1722; and was the eldest child of Joseph Badger, a merchant in that place, who was one of the wealthiest and most influential men of that town. In the time of the Revolution, he was an active and efficient officer, was muster-master of the troops raised in this section of the State, and was employed in furnishing supplies for the army. He was a member of the Provincial Congress, and a member of the Convention that adopted the Const.i.tution. He was appointed Brigadier General June 27th, 1780, and Judge of Probate for Strafford county, December 6th, 1784. He was also a member of the State Council in 1784, 1790, and 1791.

"He was a uniform friend and supporter of the inst.i.tutions of learning and religion. He not only provided for the education of his own children by procuring private teachers, but he also took a lively interest in the early establishment of common schools for the education of children generally. Not content with such efforts merely, he did much in founding and erecting the Academy in Gilmanton, which has been already a great blessing to the place and the vicinity. He was one of the most generous contributors to its funds, and was one of its Trustees, and the President of the Board of Trust until his death.

Instructed in his childhood, by pious parents, in the principles of religion, he early appreciated the blessings of the Christian ministry. Having become the subject of divine grace, he publicly professed religion, and espoused the cause of Christ. As he was a generous supporter of the inst.i.tutions of the Gospel, so to his hospitable mansion the ministers of religion always found a most hearty welcome. While the rich and great honored him, the poor held him in remembrance for his generous liberality. His whole life was marked by wisdom, prudence, integrity, firmness, and benevolence. Great consistency was manifested in all his deportment. He died April 4th, 1803, in the 82d year of his age--ripe in years, ripe in character and reputation, and ripe as a Christian. The text selected for his funeral sermon was strikingly characteristic of the man. 'And behold, there was a man named Joseph, a counsellor, and he was a good man and a just.'"

Rev. Joseph Badger had indeed a n.o.ble ancestry; and, in natural ability, in creative and executive intellect, in force of character and in general usefulness, he is probably unexcelled by the worthy examples that in past time may have shed honor upon the name. I have dwelt thus long on the parentage and ancestry of Mr. B., not because I regard the tenacity of the Jewish race on the subject of lineage, nor the general excess of oriental homage to departed fathers, but because we appreciate the law of cause and effect, as it is manifested in the course of hereditary descent, which forbids that any man's written history shall begin like the priesthood of Melchizedek, successionless and without descent.

In approaching another chapter, the early life of Mr. Badger, perhaps nothing is more strikingly appropriate to the reader than the exclamation which stands as the first line of an old ma.n.u.script from his own pen, with which he begins his personal narrative, viz.: "_What a mystery is Life!_" Ah! who can wrestle with this wonder so as to exhaust it of its marvellousness? Who can explain the innate genius, and impulse, with the endless play of outward circ.u.mstance, that so constantly drive these human myriads on to their various destiny?

Scribes can record what outwardly transpires; and even the reason can do nothing more than to look through the cl.u.s.ter of outward development we call man's history, to its centre in the inward life, where, though it may see the harmonious relationship of the facts to the soul whence they have flown; where, though it may perceive the combination of mental and moral qualities that make up the man, it is at last obliged to own the impenetrability of the veil that hides the _genius_ that has taken individual form for some end of its own; and through the whole drama of man it owns that life is enacted in the temple of mystery. Mr. Badger's written journal, among its opening paragraphs, has the following quotation:

"'Tis Heaven's decree, in mercy, that mankind Should to their future destiny be blind; Impatient man rejects his present state, With eager steps to meet approaching fate, Yet would the future, in perspective cast, Display the exact resemblance of the past; When o'er the stage of human life we range, The _scenes_ continue but the _actors_ change."

CHAPTER II.

CHILDHOOD.

The town of Gilmanton, which is only forty-five miles from Portsmouth, sixteen from Concord, and eighty from Boston, is, to a great extent, of rocky and hilly surface, having within its limits a chain of eminences that vary in height from three hundred to one thousand feet, called the Suncook Range, which commences at the northern extremity, near the Lake, and extending in a south-easterly direction through the town, divides the head-springs of the Suncook and the Soucook rivers. These fruitful highlands, covered in their early state with various kinds of hardwood, interspread with ever-welcome evergreens, have some commanding positions; especially the one called Peaked Hill, from whose summit the observer discovers within the area of his extended prospect the State House of Concord, the Grand Monadnock,[4] in Jaffrey and Dublin, the Ascutney,[5] in Windsor, Vt., the Moosehillock, in Coventry,[6] Mount Major, the highest summit in the town of Gilmanton,[7] and Mount Washington,[8] which is the highest of the White Mountains. It was amidst scenery like this that the early unfolding of the mind of Joseph Badger occurred, where the spirit of beauty which everywhere finds mediums of influence and approach to man, found some romantic symbols of her presence, with which to impress the tender mind. Nature, which is everywhere the hundred-handed educator, is an agency not to be omitted even in speaking of childhood, for children see it from the heart and learn from it unconsciously. But entering the field of personal incident, let us listen to his own recorded memories.

"I cannot describe, as some have attempted to do, what transpired when only two or three years of age; but when four or five, I most distinctly remember going with my sisters on a visit to my grandsire's, Gen. Joseph Badger.

It was but a few miles, and there being a school near, I consented through much persuasion to remain and attend it.

The departure of my sisters was to me the severest trial I had known, one of whom however remained to comfort me. Here new and strange things, of which I had never before heard, presented themselves to my mind. At evening the family and servants were all called in. I was much surprised at the gathering, and inquired the cause. My sister told me that we were about to attend prayers. My young expectations were raised to see something new, as before this I had never heard of anything of the kind. Whilst we were a.s.sembled, the old gentleman with the greatest solemnity leaning over his chair with his face to the wall prayed some time. I knew not what he said, nor to whom he spoke. His speaking with his eyes shut, and all the rest standing in profound silence, excited much anxiety in me for an explanation. As soon as this new scene had closed and we had retired, I remember having asked my sister to whom it was that my grandsire had been speaking. This to me was a mystery, as I saw no other standing by him. She told me that he spoke to _G.o.d_. I saw at once from her description that I was wholly ignorant of such a Being. She also told me that there was a place of happiness and misery, that all the good people went to heaven, and that the wicked must be burned up. I thought my sister Mary the happiest person in the world, because she knew so much about those great things; and young as I was, the story she told me filled my mind with solemnity; whilst the view she gave me of the certain doom of the wicked caused me to weep much, for I thought that I was one of that number. Impressions there made, and ideas there formed never wore off my mind.

"But another scene opened to my view, which also much surprised me. As there were several small children about the house, they were all called up at evening to say their prayers. They repeated the Lord's prayer, with some additions. This made my young heart tremble, as I thought they were all Christians, and I knew _I_ never prayed in my life; and further, I knew not what to say. After all the rest had gone through their prayers, I was called up. My grandmother asked me if I ever prayed. I answered that I never did. She then told me to say the words after her, which I refused to do, from the feeling in my mind that the name of G.o.d was so holy and so great that I could not speak that word. I wept aloud as she enjoined on me this practice, and was finally excused. I very much dreaded to have night come again. For several nights I was excused, and listened to the others; but finally she insisted on my praying, telling me plainly that I should be _made_ to pray. That night she prepared a large whip and applied it to me severely several times before I would submit. At length I repeated the prayer, and from that time adopted the practice regularly. Through the influence of my sister, I was afterwards induced to thank my grandmother for the whipping, though I now think some milder measures had done as well."

In those stern Puritan days, the whip was far from being an idle instrument in teaching the rebellious young the _fear_ of the Lord.

Whatever was accepted as duty in religion, had no compromise with the diversity of taste and inclination in the families of the faithful. The reader, I think, will be unable to withhold his admiration from the naturalness of the question which the child asked in relation to _whom_ it was that the praying man was speaking; and he will hardly fail to see the difference between his first religious devotions and the free appeal of ancient Scripture in saying, "Choose ye this day whom ye will serve,"

as the choice was made for him, and the rod was virtuous enough to see it enacted. He remained at this place about two years, making considerable proficiency in learning, and, as he thought, some in religion. Among these, his childhood's musings, was the wonder that he never heard his father pray, and why his brothers, who were older and of more understanding than himself, never talked about G.o.d. "It is still a great cause of lamentation to me," said he in riper years, "that men of understanding dwell no more on the glories of the great Benefactor. In my opinion, a sense of religion should be early awakened, as first impressions are lasting, whether for good or for evil, and often appear in future years as the governing influence, as the foundation of future action. Ask the vilest man that whirls along in his career of evil, if he never thinks of the warnings, instructions and prayers of his fond parent in early days, and if he answers candidly he will say that they often arise to his condemnation. The destinies of different men are always teaching the worth of that holy wisdom which said, 'Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.' In glancing back at the religion of my childhood, I find that I was unconsciously Pharisaical, and leaned on the virtue of my prayers and good works, although in the mixture there was a great degree of sincerity and of heartfelt repentance. Although I was wholly ignorant, probably, of the true love of G.o.d, I have always thought that, had I then departed this life, I should have been happy."

I have alluded to the fact that Major Peaslee Badger was not a pietist, and that in his family were no religious forms. At this time, and some years after, his mind, revolting from the ordinary theological teaching of the day, was inclined to a degree of general religious unbelief. The minds of the children were not softened and controlled by religious reverence, the absence of which is usually followed by a degree of rudeness in regard to all religious form. But, following the child Joseph to his own home, now that he had learned to love the voice of prayer, we find him for a time determined in the way he had learned.

"On my return home," says he, "I missed my praying grandfather and his religious instructions, which had been frequent and impressive. I also missed my devoted grandmother, by whose side, as the silence of night came down, I had kneeled in prayer. Here I was lost, as our family had no form of religious worship, and their minds were on different subjects. For a long time I kept up my form of prayer, but at last, from two reasons, fell from my steadfastness, which were, that my school-mates none of them ever prayed, but made much fun of me for this practice; and my elder brothers, on knowing that I could pray, used to coax and hire me to do so, and then subject me to much laughter and derision for doing it. Here I left my religious exercise, which had served to keep my mind in a good moral state; and a reaction soon followed, that found me a noted swearer, using the most extravagant expressions that one of my age could easily command; a course in which I was encouraged by my father's hired men, who used to reward me with much praise and laughter. I well remember, when eight years old, of being in the company of several of Mr. Page's boys, who lived near my father's.

Amidst my swearing, they, being very steady, began to rebuke me and to warn me of my danger. At first, I resisted their discourse, but the force of their arguments was such that I was compelled to yield. This restored me from my wicked habit, brought back my former feelings, and many a time did I think of it afterwards. It was also very remarkable that in 1815 I should preach in the same place and administer baptism to one of those young men. During this dark interval of which I have spoken, there were times in which I had solemn reflections; sickness and death, when I heard of them, brought to my mind my former promise, and my thoughts always arose to my Creator whenever I heard the voice of thunder.

"When I was eight or nine years of age, I attended a singing-school, in which I made rapid progress in the art, sharing as I did, in common with our family, all of whom were natural singers, a pa.s.sionate love of music. With this new employment I was greatly pleased. In the summer after I was nine, I remember going to the Friends' meeting. There was a small society in town, much despised by the popular.

Their dress and manner were new to me. It was thought in those days a dreadful thing for a woman to speak in public; and this was the first time that I had ever listened to a female voice in meeting; and notwithstanding the prejudice through which education had taught me to view them, the persons who spake left on my mind the impression of their sincerity. Not far from this time, I went to the Congregational church to hear Mr. Smith. My father inquired, on my return, if I remembered the text, to which I replied in the negative. He then asked me if I could give him one word the minister had spoken, to which I responded that he said several times '_rambling wolves_,' a part of the discourse that I could not have forgotten, as I had heard stories of wolves and was afraid of them. I inquired his meaning, when some of the family replied that he spoke of the Freewill Baptists, who he said went about like wolves, and much disturbed and deluded many good and honest people. The occasion of this a.s.sault, as I afterwards learned, was the great success which attended the preaching of Elder Kendall and other of Christ's ministers in Gilmanton and the adjoining town, where the happy effects of the Gospel were being seen and felt."

It is indeed an old story in history, that the powerful and established party in religion, medicine, science and politics becomes proscriptive toward the new and the weaker organizations, a fact which cannot be ascribed usually to the erroneousness of any one form of faith, so much as to the natural proclivity of human nature to lord it over the weak when put into possession of influence and power. Thus the persecuted parties turn persecutors as soon as they win the summit of command; and they who have tyrannized without a scruple, will at last plead for the sanct.i.ty of individual rights as soon as they are the subjects of the same oppression. But even these fierce winds of bigotry are able in some degree to purify. The young and proscribed sect gets humility and earnestness. A zeal and an enthusiasm also spring up that give them power over the hearts of men. They grow n.o.ble through their sacrifices and reliance on G.o.d.

"Not long after this several of the young people went to hear the _Freewillers_, as they were at that time styled. I accompanied them to the meeting, which was held in a private dwelling, in a retired neighborhood, and composed apparently of poor people. I thought they must be as bad as I had heard them represented. They prayed, they wept, they exhorted with much fervor and pathos, and notwithstanding I so much hated their manners, something reached my heart that robbed me for the time of all lightness and irreverence. Robinson Smith was the minister who spoke at this meeting, a strong, healthy man, of unusually clear and commanding voice. He spoke with power. Some of our company returned in solemnity of spirit, whilst others derided the scene we had witnessed. Shortly after this, among my early reminiscences of Gilmanton, was a weekly conference, in which various persons spoke, offered prayers, and related their experience in things pertaining to religion--a meeting to which I was led sometimes from the examples of others, sometimes from curiosity, and sometimes from an inward desire to possess what Christians said they enjoyed.

Thus was my early nature swayed by strong emotions, sometimes to good and sometimes to evil."

These pages, quoted from a private journal, written more than thirty years ago, nearly conclude all that pertains to his early life in Gilmanton. I have lingered thus long on these early years, because every man is indicated by his earliest development--certainly that part of him which may inhere in the natural character. It is true that man's latest period contains all his previous stages, somewhat as the earth we now inhabit contains the marks and proofs of all its previous states; yet, it is not given us to see the historical succession in man from a glance at the matured result. We follow the steps of nature, in whose procedure childhood and youth are not only ill.u.s.trations of the substantial genius, temperament, and character, but are powerful _causes_ in the performance of the remaining acts of life's drama. In these early years of Joseph Badger, a strong emotional nature is exhibited--a nature that could not be inactive--one that was easily reached by earnest moral and religious appeal, and one that overflowed in a wild excess of energy whenever the finer restraints of reverence were cast aside.