Adoniram Judson, Missionary to Burma

HE hung, his ankles tied together and fastened to a pole several feet above the floor. The pain was excruciating, unimaginably. The prison smelt vermin infested “death”. By dawn he was so stiff and numb, he could barely walk. Though separated from her husband, his wife managed to smuggle in food to him by bribing the guards. These efforts were curtailed, however, within no great time. His location was to be changed. The journey was gruesome. He was terribly weak from the confinement, and the gravel road, sharp, hurt his barefoot. Some of the other prisoners with him died along the road. The pain was unbearable, but he continued on, vowing to live if only for Ann and the baby. Two years later, his wife would die. Ten years from now, he would present this land of his persecution, the Kingdom of Ava (the land of the Burmese), the greatest gift they could ever receive: the Bible in the Burmese language.

A Skeptic turns to the Savior

Adoniram Judson was born on the 9^th of August, 1788, the son of a stern and humorless Congregationalist minister, in Malden, Massachusetts, USA. When sixteen, Adoniram left home and entered Brown University. Here he was greatly influenced by the Deistic beliefs of his friend Jacob Eames. On his return home, he announced to his shocked parents his rejection of Christianity and left for New York to take up a career as a playwright. But success in New York proved to be elusive. A reckless, vagabond life was what accompanied him throughout this time. Frustrated, he left New York one night silently and set out for his uncle’s home in Sheffield. Desiring to rest for the night, he stopped at an inn, and this, next door to a dying man. The agonizing cries and groans of this sick man wouldn’t allow him to sleep. A question arose in his heart: Is the man in the next room prepared for death? Then, was he himself? He was terrified. And he felt as one mocked at. What would his classmates at Brown say to these terrors of the night, who thought of him as bold in thought? What would Eames say – the clear-headed, intelligent, witty, skeptic Eames? He imagined Eames laugh and felt abashed.

When he awoke in the morning, the terrors were no more. He ran downstairs to the innkeeper and asked for the bill. Then, casually, he asked whether the young man in the next room was better. “He is dead,” was the answer. Judson inquired if he knew the man who he was. “Oh yes,” replied the innkeeper, “Young man from the College in Providence. Name was Eames, Jacob Eames.”

Shocked, depressed, and weary Judson arrived home. He joined the Andover Theological Seminary. Here, after several months, he came to know the Lord by dedicating himself to him. This commitment was followed by a pledge to serve God as a missionary – America’s first such. After reading a copy of “An account of an Embassy to the kingdom of Ava,” Judson purposed to preach the Gospel to Burma. Finance was a problem, and so the American board sent him to the London Missionary Society to raise support there. On the way, his ship was captured by a French privateer. But God was with him and helped him to miraculously escape from the French prison bringing him safe to London. On his return to the States, it was decided that the new mission would be funded exclusively by Americans, rather than jointly with the LMS.

To the Land of the Burmese

On 19^th February 1812, and so, Adoniram, his wife Ann (Nancy) together with another missionary couple – Samuel and Harriet Newell – sailed from Salem, Massachusetts on board the big Caravan; their destination, India. On the voyage, Adoniram continued a translation of the New Testament from Greek into English, and as he did so he became convinced that he Baptist position of baptism by full immersion was the Scriptural one. After arriving at Serampore, Adoniram and Nancy were baptized by William Ward, one of Carey’s assistants – the result, he had to resign from the Congregationalists and solicit the American Baptists for support, though as yet they had no missionary society.

But, Adoniram Judson’s heart burnt for Burma. Carey informed him, although, that Burma was not an easy field. His own son, William, had been there for four years and was on the brink of abandoning the attempt. The East India Company interfered and forced the Judsons to evacuate their territories. Knowing not, now, what to do they were exasperated until they finally decided to sail on to Java or Penang. The Company still bothered them. 1813, they reached Rangoon the capital of Burma. A land of Pagodas, Buddhist shrines, of the little eyed stiff-strong people; a land all too strange for them and they had nowhere to go. Nancy was ill and so was Adoniram. And most terribly enough, the Judsons knew no Burmese and the Burmese, no English.

Miracles and Missions

The miraculous hand of God, however, led them to a shack (which an Englishman once owned). The little girl living there knew some English to the Judsons’ comfort. In addition, she was hospitable, though poor. Adoniram was willing to pay anything for a little land and to avail of shelter. But the Burmese law wouldn’t allow for that so easily. Added to that, the Burmese officials were horribly corrupt. The Lord used their personal tragedy for good. Nancy, now took the initiation (They had just lost their second child, Roger). She went directly to the Viceroy’s wife and soon formed friendship with both the Viceroy of Rangoon and his wife assuring them some protection from the unscrupulous, petty officials. They were soon able to have land and to build a house. Amazingly, God provided Judson a tutor in the Burmese language. Very soon he picked on the language.

Soon he began printing tracts, with the arrival of the printing press with Mr. George H. Hough and his wife Phebe. He also began to print portions of the New Testament which he had patiently translated into the Burmese language. Evangelism was not an easy go here. Then an idea occurred. Why not build a Zayat – a Buddhist-style meditation room (open) on a main street where he could hold meetings and passers in their own way? The idea worked, and they had their first convert, Maung Nau after a toil of about six years! It must be noted that conversion was not legal in Buddhist Burma. Judson once even tried to petition the despotic Emperor to allow religious freedom by presenting an English Bible to him. The Emperor threw the Book and an undesired event would soon have followed as it often did when the Emperor got angry, except for the immediate exhibition of dancing girls. Judson failed and there was no respite for these new believers from persecution.

Tragedies: God Works Them Towards Good

Then the undesirable happened – the war with the East India Company. Adoniram was thrown into death prison, where we find him at the beginning of this story, along with the other foreigners. Those were days of pain and torture. In 1825, after nearly a year and a half, Adoniram was released in order to serve as an interpreter for the peace negotiations. He spent a little time with his wife and baby Maria, but was called back to service. This separation from his wife and baby was final. Ann (Nancy) soon died, little Maria following soon after.

Adoniram, in an effort to assuage his grief, poured himself into his translation work. But the fact and shock of his wife’s death affected him greatly. It was a time of despondency and unbelief; at least for forty days. In his letter to his in laws, he wrote: “God to me is the great unknown. I believe in him, but I find him not.”

Prayers and support of fellow missionaries helped bring Adoniram back from this paralyzing depression. As a matter of fact, God used this convalescence to strengthen and energize him as never before. In the years that followed, Judson completed his translation of the Old Testament and the Burmese Church continued to grow. In 1834, eight years after Ann died, he married Sarah Boardman, a widowed missionary. She bore to Judson eight children in less than ten years. And then she died in 1845. The following year, he met and married Emily Chubbock, a “secular” author, and less than half his age. Emily rose to the occasion and served effectively alongside her husband and delighted readers back home with her fascinating descriptions of primitive missionary work.

A Legacy

Adoniram Judson died on 11^th April, 1850, after four decades of active ministry. And when he died, he left behind one of the greatest possessions the world, especially Burma, could ever receive – the complete Burmese Bible translated from the original Greek and Hebrew, not from a translation. He didn’t convert a many of the Burmese, though he became a Burmese to win the Burmese. He suffered pains which he could choose not to suffer. Yet, he was not despaired and confused by them forever, because Truth was paramount. He never compromised. When he realized baptism by immersion was the right method, he obeyed not caring for the consequences. God honored this man – the first great American missionary, a faithful missionary.

© Domenic Marbaniang                                               
September 18, 2000
Central India Theological Seminary