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
"On the first day of the week, I had, by the request of
several gentlemen, an appointment at the Square. A few
individuals, being such as they were, strove to effect a
disturbance, and in a glance you will perceive the
ingenuity of their plot. They hired an old man who once had
been a professed preacher at Dover, but who had been turned
out for his debaucheries, to enter the meeting-house before
me and to occupy the time with religious services. Although
it is said that the children of this world are in their
generation wiser than the children of light, it must be
owned that they sometimes get defeated. Even from eight
different towns the congregation was collected, the
appointment being quite generally circulated. As I rode to
the place, I heard the bell ring about ten o'clock, and
hastening as quickly as possible to the Square, the people,
who were coming from every direction, seeing me ride up,
thronged about me; some of them, having been in the church,
knew the attempted order of the day. One said, 'The devil
is in the pulpit;' another said, 'The devil has taken the
meeting-house before us, and you had best not go in.' I
answered that if the devil was in the house I was bound to
see him, and prevailed on the people to go in. As I entered
the door, I saw the rough clergyman standing with his hymn
book in his hand ready to open the meeting. As I ascended
the stairs he began to read the hymn. I sat contented until
he had finished the reading, then introducing myself to the
assembly, inquired concerning the time when my neighbor's
appointment was given out; the answers enabled me to say to
him kindly, 'As my appointment is previous to yours I
should esteem it a privilege to improve a part of the day.'
He roughly responded, 'You can speak after I have done;'
and then arose abruptly, placing himself in a position to
pray as soon as the singers had concluded the music. During
the repeat of the last line I asked of him the privilege of
speaking a word to the people on the circumstances of the
day, to which he answered, 'You must be short.' I then
apprised the audience, that as my appointment was
contravened by another, my meeting would in ten minutes
begin in Mr. Nealey's orchard; and bidding the gentleman of
the pulpit good morning, advanced to the pleasant grove
about fifteen rods distant, accompanied by all the assembly
save the clergyman and his five employers, to whom he read
the notes he had written. On leaving the church I began to
sing a popular hymn, in which I was joined by the choir who
accompanied me; and after a hasty but comfortable
arrangement of seats, with the azure heavens for my
sounding-board, and a large box for my pulpit, I spoke to
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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