Memoir of Rev. Joseph Badger: Fourth EditionHolland, E. G. (Elihu Goodwin)
History
Memoir of Rev. Joseph Badger: Fourth Edition
Holland, E. G. (Elihu Goodwin)
Badger, Joseph, 1792-1852
Having completed a well-executed volume, for whose pages over one
hundred correspondents had written, Mr. Badger regarded his periodical,
surrounded as it was by increasing encouragements, as being established;
and, though pledged to the vindication of sentiments some of which
provoke the thunder of theological strife, he calmly takes the motto,
"Fear not! the good shall flourish in immortal youth,
Unhurt amidst the war of elements,
The wreck of matter, and the crush of worlds."
May, 1833, the second volume of this publication commenced; and until
its removal, by the united compromise of the east, the north, the south
and the west, to the town of Broadalbin, Montgomery County, N. Y., in
the spring of 1834, it was issued monthly from the press of Marshall &
Dean, at Rochester; and with such ability and interest was it conducted
that the General Convention at Milan, N. Y., October, 1833, resolved,
under the name of the "Gospel Palladium," to establish a weekly paper,
of which Mr. Badger was unanimously chosen editor.[47] As we glance over
the pages of this volume, we notice the discussion of some very
important themes, such as the natural immortality of man, the doctrine
of the Trinity, the freedom of the human mind, the basis of
Universalism, the derived existence of Christ, the subject of Christian
liberty and union, the reasons for ministerial ordination, and themes of
similar weight, with journals and letters of religious intelligence in
large number. It were a lengthy task to present a paragraph or two from
all the editorials; his replies to his opponents, his strictures on the
Monroe Baptist Association, his views of ordination in reply to Mr. Kay;
all these are accessible to those who own his monthly; we only say they
are usually such as _he_ only could have written.
In an article on the "Deformities of Sectarianism," he indulges in great
plainness of speech, using language which at times has the sharpness of
satire, yet the candor of honest belief. Looking at the sectarian
phenomena, he says:
"What a compound of spite and piety! at war with all
dissenters, and at war with themselves! In many instances,
'They preach, and pray, and fight, and groan
For _public_ good, but _mean_ their _own_.'
"'How has the fine gold become dim! How has the salt lost
its savor! How are the mighty fallen!'"
We omit the strictures given on the different systems and organizations
of the times.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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