The letter, it is said, was kindly received, and had a beneficial effect. Mr. B. thanks God for the happy opening of the year, and prays that it may be crowned with thousands of new-born souls. On the third, at Pittsford, Mr. Chapin, the missionary already spoken of, introduced a disputation on total depravity, which was very soon closed, as Mr. Badger demanded that he should either state his proposition in Scripture language, or definitely explain what he meant against human nature and the human race by the words he employed, alleging that neither the words nor the idea probably intended were contained in the Oracles of God. Thinking that Mr. B. was too severe in his demands, he desisted, with the accusation that he was unfair as a reasoner. It is but repetition to say that all these days were made golden by action, calm but incessant labor. Days and evenings his musical voice resounded on the holy themes of faith, reformation, charity, and peace on earth; many a time, as the still heavens sent down their nocturnal light and shed their holy influence all around, he returned from his precious victories over the hearts of his fellow immortals, pervaded by a love that accords with the silent glow of all that was above and about him. At his communion seasons he caused the sectary to mourn the rigidity of his creed, which did not allow him to come forward, to follow his heart, because of some dry, unvital difference in theological belief. He visits the sick, speaks occasionally in the private mansion of some friend, sometimes in the school-house, in the grove and open air, making the freest use of time and place, regarding them only as servants to his mission. At Avon, Mendon, Pittsford, Pennfield, and Lima, he continued his labors, at times administering baptism in the waters of the Genesee and its tributaries, on which occasions, as on every other where the attractions of an easy personal address give grace and impression to the scene, he was uncommonly gifted and happy. Some who had opposed him strongly, were so impressed by the solemnity of one baptismal scene, and by the remarks he there offered, as to retract, at the water's side, the hard words and speeches they had made. "I felt to forgive them," says Mr. B., "for all their unreasonable censures. At Avon I had excellent meetings the 8th, 9th, 10th and 11th; the 12th, had an excellent time at Pennfield; the 13th, returned to Pittsford," and omitting to notice the several appointments that fill up the days and evenings of the month, I would only transcribe from his pages, that "the last week of the month was spent at Lima, the 19th administered baptism, the 27th attended to the holy communion, whilst the glory of God cheeringly shone in our midst, and to the end of this month our meetings were full of interest and of feeling."