Proceeding by the way of New York, where he preached four sermons to Mr. Clough's congregation, he arrived at Boston on September 28th, where he received the cordial welcome and generous hospitality of his friend William Gridley, a man of noble spirit, good ability, and useful activities in the Christian cause. On the 30th, Mr. Badger preached three sermons in the Summer and Sea street Chapel, having, as he states, congregations that numbered about 400 in the morning, 800 in the afternoon, and 600 in the evening. Surveying the new field before him, he says, though informed by his friends that it was a low time, that "the prospect is good." Though Mr. Badger's letters do not state the exact time of his residence in this city, I find in a passing notice from the able and truthful pen of John G. Loring--a man whose life, precepts, intelligence, and uniform fidelity to religion, rendered him one of the best citizens of Massachusetts--that the time spent there was about one year.
In narrating the history of that society about the time that Mr. Morgridge left them, Mr. Himes observes--"Some time now elapsed in which they had no stated pastor. They procured, at length, the services of Elder Joseph Badger; he labored with them between one and two years. Much good was done. The church and society were built up, and sinners were converted."[40] This statement is the same that the people of Boston who attended his ministry have, so far as my recollections serve, invariably made; the common opinion is, that the church and society were never more uniformly prosperous, that the meetings were never better attended, and that the mind and heart of the audience were never more satisfactorily influenced and edified than they were under his ministry. The strong and stable men who were _then_ the pillars of strength in that society have been its pillars ever since;[41] and though additions of value at different times have been made, it is certain that there was a largeness and nobility to the timbers of the olden forest that it might be difficult to surpass in more recent growths.
As a pastor, Mr. Badger was attentive to the wants of his flock, for whom he cherished a tender care. "Though the situation is a trying one," said Mr. B., in a letter addressed to his wife, "I feel in duty bound to stay for the present, for this church must not perish. All my days and evenings are taken up by the duties of my present station." Writing from Ballstown, N. Y., June 8, 1828, where he was attending a general meeting, after he had been at Boston for more than six months, and at his home in Mendon about two, he said--