"^"^^P '^S 
 
 THE 
 
 LIFE AND CHARACTER 
 
 ADONIRAM JUDSON 
 
 LATE MISSIONARY TO BURMAH 
 
 A COMMEMORATIVE DISCOURSE 
 
 
 DELIVERED BEFORE THE AMERICAN BAPTIST MISSIONARY^ 
 rNION, IN BOSTON, :M A Y 15, 1851. 
 
 WILLIAM HAGUE 
 
 PCBLISOED BY BEQUEST OF TOE IXIO.V. 
 
 (I 
 
 ( ' 
 
 BOSTON: 
 GOULD AND LINCOLN, 
 
 5 WASHINGTON S T U E E T . 
 
 1851. 
 
 re^rererCrererf^rCrer^re! 
 
Columbia ®nttJer^itp 
 
 intljfCitpoflfttjgork 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
THE 
 
 LIFE AND CHARACTER 
 
 OP 
 
 ADONIRAM JUDSON, 
 
 LATE MISSIONARY TO B U R M A II ; 
 
 A COMMEMORATIVE DISCOURSE 
 
 DELIVERED BEFORE THE AMERICAN BAPTIST MISSIONARY 
 
 UNION, IN BOSTON, MAY 15, ISJl. 
 
 BY 
 
 W I L L I A M H A G LI E . 
 
 I'UBU.S:iKD liV llE(iLi:,ST OF THE INION. 
 
 BOSTON: 
 
 GOULD AND LINCOLN, 
 
 fia WASHINGTON STREET. 
 
 ;'■■ .'•; i iliS-^ii;.-.; '. ■' 
 

 Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the 3'Car 1S51, bj' 
 
 GOULD Sf LINCOLN, 
 
 In the Clerk's OlTice of the District Conrt of the District of Massachusetts. 
 
 4-0-^aio 
 
 PnixTFO nv Gko. C. Raxd, 0. Crta\iiifjv.' T * * J J 
 
DISCOURSE. 
 
 ACTS XIII. 
 
 Yon David, after he had seuvkd his own oexekation by riiii; 
 WILL ov God, fell ox SLEEr. 
 
 Fathers and Bkiitiiren' of the Missionary Union : 
 
 The year that has passed since we, were last assembled 
 has been marked by two events, to each of which belongs the 
 dignity of an historical era. One of these events is the com- 
 pletion of the half century. While now, as from a " mount 
 of vision," we look back upon the scenes which it has 
 unfolded, we hail with joy new proofs of the fulfilment of 
 those promises which woke the lyres of ancient prophets, and 
 catch new glimpses of a profound plan for the redemption of 
 our fallen race which the Almighty is urging forward to a 
 glorious consummation. Never before, within as brief a 
 period, has man acquired so great a power over the elements 
 of material nature ; never before have those great truths, 
 which are the germs of auspicious changes in society and 
 government, been so widely spread among civilized nations ; 
 and never before has Christianity gained such substantial 
 conquests in those vast eastern realms where the supersti- 
 tions of Boodh and Brahma have brooded, for so many cen- 
 turies, over the minds of benighted millions. 
 
LIFK AND CHARACTER OF 
 
 It was a law of ancient Israel, that every fiftieth year 
 should bo hallowed as a jnbilee; and surely the Christian 
 Israel has never had more fitting occasion than that which 
 is furnished by the present time, to lift up the song of tri- 
 umph and of hope. At Ihe opening of this period, a "dark- 
 ness Ihat might be felt" covered the face of Europe; the 
 moral eartJKpiake, which convidsed France to its centre, 
 vibrated Uiroughout ('hristciulom ; the old world was rock- 
 ing on its foundations, ;\ud ihv. wisest of statesmen, phi- 
 losopiiers, and j)hihuithropists, despaired of the fortunes of 
 the race. But amidst those scenes of portentous gloom, 
 the Scripture was verified which saith, " Light is sown for the 
 righteous;" the spirit of missionary heroism was then kin- 
 dled afresh, as with the breath of the Almighty ; the churches 
 of Christ were then rallying for a concerted onset against the 
 powers of darkness in those lands where their sway had been 
 undisputed; the small beginnings that were the jeer and 
 mock of worldly wisdom have thriven into an enterpriser 
 which has won the homage of the world; a deep presenti- 
 ment of defeat has struck through the heart of heathenism, 
 and tiie Christians of Europe and America call to each other 
 in joyous songs, that celebrate the spreading victories of the 
 cross. 
 
 The otluT event, to which we have referred, is the death 
 of that distinguished leader of the missionary enterprise, 
 Adoniraim .Iudson, whose eyes were closed upon the sceiu's 
 of earth on April 12th of the last year, while on a voyage 
 to the Isle of Rovn-l)on, and whose mortal remains were tlien 
 consigned by friendly hands to an ocean grave. The narra- 
 tive of his career forms an important part of the early history 
 of the nineteenth century. His life and fortunes are identi- 
 fied with the rise and progress of American Christian mis- 
 sions. To him may be applied the words of God respect- 
 ing ihr ])atriarch Abraham — "I called him alone, and 
 blessed and increased him." As soon as he had welcomed 
 to his heart the ([uickening hopes which Christianity inspires, 
 he desired to impart them to the perishing heathen ; his 
 
ADONIUAM JUDSON, D. D. 
 
 desires were soon ripened into :i heroic pnrjiose ; jind, havinii^ 
 ■)crn blessed with talents eminently practical, he immediately 
 concerted measures for carry ini^ that purpose into ("Hect. 
 The prosecution of those measures was steadily carried for- 
 ward throuirh forty successive years; and then, havincf " scrv(>d 
 his generation by the will of God, he fell on sleep." His 
 works live after him. He has left a fragrant name, and his 
 biography is to us a priceless heritage. His life is an epoch 
 from wiiich a new missionary era is to be reckoned. Eighteen 
 centuries ago, when the Apostle of the Gentiles, having 
 heard the imploring cry of the Macedonian suppliant, " Come 
 and help us," embarked from the shore of Troas to obey that 
 call of Heaven, if a Livy or a Virgil, just arrivcnl from the 
 court of Augustus, had gazed on the vessel as she spread 
 her sails to cross tli(^ /Egean sea, neither of them would have 
 seen, in the fact l)ef()re him, any thing worthy of commemo- 
 ration in history or in song, although we, who survey tlu^ 
 past at a glance, can see, in that event, Christianity passing 
 over from Asia into Europe ; so, doubtless, when our own 
 Judson first left these shores on a missionary errand, his em- 
 barkation suggested nothing to the worldly poet or historian 
 deserving of special note, but to our retrospective view it 
 exhibits a glorious fact in human history — Christianity going 
 forth from her asylum in the new world, to react, with reno- 
 vating energy, on the old. Yes; we see that Christianity, 
 which has here turned the wilderness into a garden, looking 
 back to the continent whence she sprang, and moving forth 
 to repair the ancient wastes, to causi; the desolations of Asia 
 to rejoice in the- bloom and freshness of a new spiritual life 
 from on high. 
 
 Among the means of instruction which the T)iviii(> Spirit 
 has employed in the sacred Sc-riptures, biography holds an 
 important place. Of true history it has been well said, it 
 is "the biogi-aphy of nations." Tlx'rc are, too, distinguished 
 men, whose memoirs embody the life and spirit of a whole 
 people, or of a particular |)eriod. Biographies of great men 
 may be divided into two classes ; the first eml)raeing those 
 
6 I. I F E A N D C II A R A C T E R O F 
 
 who truly represent the sph'it of theh- age ; the second com- 
 prising only those who struggle for the triumph of truth 
 ag-ainst their age. To the first class belong the biogi'aphies 
 of such men as Peter the Hermit, or St. Bernard, at whose 
 beck nations rallied to engage in crusading wars ; the biogra- 
 phy of Napoleon, the representative of martial genius, and 
 the idol of millions ; the life of Thomas Jefferson, whose 
 words and deeds embodied the prevailing spirit of American 
 democracy. In the second class of biogi*aphies we may 
 properly place that of John de Wycliffe, whose course on 
 earth was a contest for one momentous truth — the suprem- 
 acy of God's word as the standard of faith ; that of Luther, 
 and of Melancthon, who struggled for the great doctrine of 
 justification by a living faith, instead of dead ceremonies ; 
 that of Roger Williams, whose commonwealth embodied 
 the clear conception of the universal right of man to religious 
 liberty, as an essential element of Christianity. This latter 
 class of men do not represent the spirit of their age, or the 
 opinions of a people ; they are prophets of the future ; they rep- 
 resent ideas which, struggling for mastery, become the prop- 
 erty of succeeding times. They identify their fortunes wiih 
 the success of a principle ; they enshrine in their hearts some 
 gi'cat truth, unwelcome to their generation, and feel themselves 
 impelled to go forth as its heralds, to conquer as its champions, 
 or die as its martyrs. Among the men of this higher order, as 
 far as the elements of character are concerned, Adoniram Jud- 
 son holds a distinguished place, although he was permitted by 
 the benignity of Providence to share the fortunes of the former 
 class. In the very prime of his manhood, he became a believer 
 in Christ; and then, looking abroad over the face of the earth, 
 his thoughts were engrossed by this one appalling fact, that 
 the majority of his species were gi'oping amidst the gloom of 
 paganism. In connection with this fact, he meditated deeply 
 on that last command of his risen Lord which made the 
 evangelization of the human race the gi-eat life-work of his 
 disciples. At once, the path of duty shone clearly before 
 him. To him the Awitten mandate was a call from Heaven, 
 
A D O N I R A M J U D S O N , D , 
 
 and his answer to it was as devout and prompt as was that 
 of the converted Saul to the voice which addressed him from 
 the skies. No angel's message, no vision of the night, no 
 new revelation, was needed to mark out his course ; the 
 wants of humanity moved his sympathies ; the Great Com- 
 mission gained the homage of his conscience ; and although 
 the drift of public sentiment, the prevailing opinions of the 
 chm'ch, and the counsels of human wisdom, supplied no 
 genial encouragement, it was enough for him to know that 
 he was treading in the footsteps of inspued apostles, and 
 walking in the light that beamed from the oracles of God. 
 
 And now, we who are assembled here, who have been ac- 
 customed from year to year to observe his doings, to sympa- 
 thize with his hopes and fears, to pray for his success, have 
 met as moiuners at his funeral. We say one to another, 
 " A great man is fallen in Israel." Although he lived far from 
 us, he was knit to our hearts by subtle ties far stronger than 
 those of family or kindred ; although Burmah was the land of 
 his adoption, we felt that, as by a spiritual presence, he lived 
 amongst us — that his form and countenance were as familiar 
 to our thoughts as if he had belonged to our own household 
 circle. Nevertheless, our sorrow for his loss is tempered and 
 elevated by the joy that springs from remembering what 
 great things he lived to accomplish ; so that, instead of calling 
 for a solemn and plaintive dirge to express the emotions 
 awakened by this occasion, we would rather unite in a song 
 of praise and thanksgiving for the guardian Providence that 
 so long watched over him, for the extraordinary gifts with 
 which the Divine Spirit enriched him, "for the good-will of 
 Him that dwelt in the bush, and for the blessing which came 
 upon the head of his servant, and upon the top of the head of 
 him that was separated from his brethren." 
 
 Desirous as we are, at this time, to commemorate the ser- 
 vices of our departed missionary, to treasure up in our 
 hearts the spirit of his great example, it shall be our aim, 
 so far as we may be able in the time allotted to this service, 
 to contemplate 
 
LIFE AND CHARACTER OF 
 
 THE PROMINENT POINTS OF HIS HISTORY THE CHARACTER 
 
 AVHICH IT DEVELOPED AND SEVERAL LESSONS WHICH IT 
 
 SUGGESTS. 
 
 Adoniram Judsoii was born at Maiden, in the neighborhood 
 of this city, on the ninth of August, 1788. He was the son 
 of a Congregational clergyman, and was favored, of course, 
 in the days of his boyhood, with the means of religious 
 knowledge. His early youth, however, furnished no evidences 
 of true piety ; so far from this, when he was graduated at Bro\vn 
 University, in the year 1807, he was not a believer in Chris- 
 tianity. If not an avowed Deist of any particular school, he 
 was sceptical as to the reality of divine revelation. The 
 first impulse of his mind tow^ard a better state appears to 
 have sprung from a calm conviction of the folly and the peril 
 of suspense in relation to a subject so momentous, on the 
 part of one who is neglecting the means of investigation. 
 On this account he devoted himself to a sober inquiry re- 
 specting the evidences of the Christian religion, of which the 
 result was a thorough change of his opinions. The way was 
 thus prepared for his conversion, by which we mean the cor- 
 dial submission of his heart to the teachings of the gospel. 
 This happy issue did not follow at once. While lingering in 
 this city, he happened, one day, to take down from the shelf 
 of a private library a volume, which, at that time, was a 
 favorite household book among Christian readers. It was 
 " Human Nature in its Fourfold State," by Thomas Boston, 
 a minister of Ettrick, in Scotland. The work was perused 
 by young Judson with profound attention, and from it he 
 derived new views of sin and of redemption. His spiritual 
 nature was now agitated to its very depths, and in this state 
 of mind, without having obtained the mental peace which 
 he craved, he sought admission to the Theological Seminary 
 at Andover, with the hope of receiving that knowledge of 
 the truth which maketh wise unto salvation. He was not 
 disappointed. His request having been complied with, after 
 
ADOXIRAMJUDSON, D. D. 9 
 
 a short period, the doctrines of the gospel were disclosed to 
 his view in all their divine simplicity, and the gloom of scep- 
 ticism gave place to an intelligent and joyous faith. 
 
 No one will wonder that after the experience of so great a 
 change, he should have wished to diffuse the light which he had 
 received, even unto the ends of the earth. Another book, 
 that now came in his way, was destined to exert a mighty 
 influence upon his life and character. The celebrated dis- 
 course of Dr. Buchanan, entitled " The Star in the East," 
 kindled the spark of Mr. Judson's missionary zeal into a 
 flame, intense and unquenchable. It imparted to his deep 
 and indefinite longings a practical aim, and seemed like the 
 voice of God summoning him to his field of action. At 
 such a bidding, he was ready, like Abraham, to go forth 
 alone, " not knowing whither " he might be led ; but in dis- 
 closing his views to others, he found in Samuel J. Mills, 
 Samu^el Nott, and Samuel Newell, congenial spirits, whom 
 tlie Head of the Church was preparing for the same exalted 
 destination. 
 
 At tliat time there was not an association of any kind on 
 the continent of America to which these young men could 
 look with an assurance of counsel or support. The churches 
 of this country had been planted by men who had fled as 
 exiles from European oppression, and their minds had been 
 engrossed in seeking security and freedom for themselves. 
 Some efforts had been made for the evangelization of the 
 Pagan natives in their immediate neighborhood, but there 
 had been no attempt to penetrate the vast realm of Heathen- 
 ism on the Old Continents, and there was but a dim concep- 
 tion of the enlarged, aggressive spirit of Christianity which 
 is breathed forth in the words of " the Great Commission." 
 No wonder is it, then, that Mr. Judson resolved to seek aid 
 and cooperation across the Atlantic. He openetl a corre- 
 spondence with the London Missionary Society, received 
 answers of encouragement, and was invited to visit England. 
 Nevertheless, a memorial in behalf of himself, and his youth- 
 ful coadjutors, was addressed to the Massachusetts Associa- 
 
10 LIFE AND CHARACTER OF 
 
 tion, at Bradford, in June, 1810, the result of which was the 
 formation of the American Board of Commissioners for 
 Foreign Missions. Under their dkection he sailed for Eng- 
 land, in the year 1811, in order to arrange a plan of coopera- 
 tion between the two societies. He was captured by a 
 French privateer, was imprisoned at Bayonne, was released 
 on parole, obtained an imperial passport, and proceeded to 
 London, for the prosecution of his errand. We have reason 
 to rejoice that no concert of action was effected ; that the 
 new society was urged to pursue an independent course, and 
 that hence, from the day of weak beginnings and of doubtful 
 existence, it has put forth an influence which now encircles 
 the globe like a zone of light, and has gathered a moral 
 strength by which it shall outlast the greatest of earthly 
 empires. 
 
 After Mr. Judson's return to America, he solicited an ap- 
 pointment from the Board, which met at Worcester, in Sep- 
 tember, 1811, having fuUy determined that if his request 
 were not granted he would enter the missionary field under 
 the patronage of the London society. The Board was im- 
 pelled to a decisive movement ; and, having concluded to 
 attempt a mission in Burmah, amidst many conflicting hopes 
 and fears, bestowed appointments on Messrs. Judson, Newell, 
 Nott, and Gordon Hall. It was a deed of unpretending 
 character, but never to be forgotten ; the capital link in a 
 chain of grand events whose memory coming ages shall " not 
 willingly let die." 
 
 And here, om- thoughts natm-ally revert to her whose name 
 wiU ever awaken the most refined and elevated conceptions 
 of a true womanly character, and of a sublime moral hero- 
 ism. It was at this time that Ann Hasseltine identified her 
 earthly fortunes with those of our adventurous missionary, 
 and by her own footsteps marked out that pathway, through 
 an untrodden field of enterprise, in which a noble company 
 of her countrywomen have since followed, and around which 
 they have shed an imperishable lustre. In abandoning the 
 sweet associations of a New England home which domestic 
 
A D O N I R A M J U D S O X , D . D . 11 
 
 affections, intellectual culture, and refined society, had in- 
 ^■ested with more than an ordinary charm, in order to carry 
 the blessings of the gospel to a distant land, to a sickly 
 clime, and a degraded nation of idolaters, she did not follow 
 at the beck of any high example, nor enjoy a gleam of light 
 from any honored precedent, but, like the companion of her 
 covenant, pursued her course over a trackless waste, guided 
 by faith alone ; " endured as seeing Him who is invisible," 
 assured that his providence would go before them as a pillar 
 of cloud by day and of fire by night. And so it was. 
 Although in the view of a cool worldly prudence she appeared 
 only as the victim of a poetical illusion, the sport of a wild 
 spirit of religious romance, the history of her life has proved 
 that she had formed a just conception of the work which she 
 undertook — of the means suited to its accomplishment ; 
 that she was animated not only by a lofty enthusiasm, but 
 also by a true practical wisdom, whose combined forces urged 
 her forward in her career, with an ardent energy " which the 
 natm-e of the human mind forbade to be more," and which 
 the dignity of the object " forbade to be less." One of the 
 finest tributes ever paid to the character of American 
 females has been drawn forth by our missionaries from 
 an eminent English prelate, the Bishop of Calcutta, who has 
 attested his high estimation of their virtues, their accomplish- 
 ments, their piety, and of the mighty influence which they 
 arc exerting on the moral destinies of Asia. They form an 
 order of women to whom, at some distant day, the pen of 
 history will do justice, as having been the glory of the nine- 
 teenth century : and at the head of that order, wTcathed with 
 unfading honors, will stand the name of Ann Hasseltine 
 
 JUDSON. 
 
 Soon after he had received his appointment, IVIr. Judson 
 was married at Bradford on liie fifth of February, 1S12 ; on 
 the sixteenth, was ordained in the Tabernacle Church at 
 Salem ; and in company with his wife, together with Mr. 
 and Mrs. Newell, embarked at tliat port in the brig Caravan, 
 under the command of the generous-hearted Capt. Heard, 
 
12 LIFE AND CHARACTER OF 
 
 on the nineteenth of the same month. Their voyage was 
 prosperous ; they soon became naturalized to the sea, and 
 were able to employ all their time in studious preparation for 
 their work. The cabin of the Caravan became a consecrated 
 and memorable place, and may be properly called tlie^ cradle 
 of the American Baptist missionary enterprise. There, 
 amidst much devout study and many prayers, occurred that 
 remarkable change in ]VIr. Judson's opinions as to the consti- 
 tution of the Christian church, which brought him into im- 
 mediate connection wdth the Baptists of this country. Going 
 forth from his native land to rear Christian churches where 
 no foundation had been laid, and where he could not pro- 
 ceed "in another man's line of things made ready to his 
 hand," it seems not strange that he should have sought 
 light from the oracles of God, and should have studied with 
 profound attention the principles, the teachings, and the 
 practices of the inspired apostles. Expecting, as he did, to 
 meet at Calcutta the venerated Dr. Carey, and Marshman, 
 and Ward, the pioneers of Christian missions in India, it is 
 not wonderful that their distinguishing sentiments should 
 have aiTested his attention. What he regarded as apostolic 
 baptism, they treated as an innovation of later times. He 
 had been charged to baptize converted heathen and all their 
 infant offspring ; they would administer the solemn rite of 
 dedication to none but believers on a professio)i of personal 
 faith. Accustomed as he was to habits of independent 
 thought, revering the Scriptures, too, as the only and suf- 
 ficient rule of faith, we do not wonder that he resolved to 
 examine these questions thoroughly, and to follow with un- 
 faltering step whithersoever Truth should lead the way. His 
 investigations led him to embrace the doctrines which we 
 profess ; his reasons have been published to the world, and, 
 whatsoever may be thought of them, none can doubt that 
 his conduct in this instance illustrated the purity of his 
 motives, and exemplified that lofty conscientiousness which 
 is an essential element of true Christian heroism. 
 
 Mr. Judson and his company arrived at Calcutta on the 
 
ADONIRAJM JUDSON, D. D. 13 
 
 eighteenth of June, and accepted the hospitalities of tlie 
 missionaries at Serampore, with whom they entered into 
 friendly dehberations as to the field which they should oc- 
 cupy. Their counsels, however, were suddenly embarrassed 
 by their receiving from the local government an order direct- 
 ing them to return immediately to the United States. The 
 East India Company, a body of merchants which had 
 received its first charter of incorporation from Queen Eliza- 
 beth, on the last day of the sixteenth century, had gradually 
 acquired a vast territorial influence, and was now holding in 
 its hand the political destinies of India. Intent only on the 
 establishment of its power, it was jealous of the humblest 
 effort to diffiise Christianity among the native population ; 
 and, although a benign Providence has rendered its prosperity 
 subservient to the progress of true religion, it has at various 
 times committed the moral errors which are ever incidental 
 to the policies of men whose highest law of action is derived 
 from the oracles of Mammon, and who honor commerce as 
 the supreme interest of humanity. 
 
 In these trying circumstances, our missionaries petitioned 
 the government to modify its order so as to allow them to 
 go to the Isle of France, which is often called by its older 
 Dutch name, Maiu-itius ; an island of almost circular form 
 in the Indian sea, somewhat less than fifty miles in diam- 
 eter, and inhabited chiefly by the descendants of old French 
 families. It had lately fallen into the possession of England ; 
 but at the period of which we speak the English claim to it 
 had not been confirmed, as it was afterward, by a treaty 
 with the government of France. Here it was that the little 
 group of persecuted missionaries, after many perils, and 
 many interpositions of a guardian Providence, found their 
 first field of labor in the eastern world. The island arose 
 before their view in the "great wide sea" as a welcome 
 refuge, like that hillock, in a wider waste of waters, where llie 
 wandering dove of Noah rested "the sole of her foot" and 
 plucked the leaf of olive which was a presage of better 
 days. 
 
14 LIFE AND CHARACTER OF 
 
 But although at the Isle of France they were treated with 
 great kindness, although they were ui-ged to make it a per- 
 manent residence, and received a promise from the Governor 
 that he would befriend and patronize the mission, yet they 
 could not regard it as a field suited to their wislies. They 
 desired to preach Christ to pagans who had never heard of 
 hhn, and to occupy some moral centre whence the light 
 might radiate afar. With these views, IVIr. and Mrs. Judson 
 left the island, which had become associated with tender recol- 
 lections, especially as the burial-place of Mi*s. Harriet Newell, 
 who fell a victim to the incidental hardships of her voyage 
 thither, in the very prime and bloom of her life. They em- 
 barked for Madras with the hope of obtaining a passage to 
 Pinang ; but as Madras is the seat of one of the Presi- 
 dencies of Hindostan, they fled from it in haste, driven by 
 the fear that the order for their return to America would be 
 renewed. The first opportunity of escape from the dreaded 
 dominion of the East India Company was furnished by an 
 old unseaworthy vessel bound to Rangoon ; in this they 
 ventured, and, after a perilous voyage of twenty-two days, 
 arrived safely at this chief port of the Burman empire. Thus 
 were they led in a mysterious manner to the land of then- 
 original destination ; all friendly counsels and all hostile op- 
 positions were rendered alike subservient to their earliest 
 wishes, that they might bear the light of truth to the most 
 deeply necessitous, and raise the standard of the cross in 
 some chief citadel of oriental heathenism. 
 
 The American missionaries, having taken their position 
 beyond the bounds of British India, now breathed more 
 freely ; they enjoyed the favor of the Viceroy, and devoted 
 their whole energy to the acquisition of the Burman and 
 Pali languages. In the course of the following year, intense 
 exertion had impaired the health of each of them ; but 
 neither medical skill, nor rest, nor change of air and scene, 
 imparted an influence so balmy and reviving as did the intel- 
 ligence received from this country, that our churches had 
 answered to their appeals, and that the Baptist General Con- 
 
A D O N I n A ?il J U D S O N , D . D . 15 
 
 vention for missionary purposes had been formed under 
 auspicious circumstances. There are many amongst us here 
 who remember "what a genial enthusiasm was awakened, 
 from Maine to Georgia, ^vhen Luther Rice returned to his 
 native land to aid in organizing om' missionary operations. 
 He, too, had been a student at Andover, had joined the Jud- 
 sons in Calcutta, had united with them in their change of 
 sentiments and of ecclesiastical relations, and had left them 
 in the Isle of France on this new mission of love to the 
 Baptists of the United States. His labors were not in vain ; 
 he was hailed with a universal welcome, and in recalling 
 that period of his ministry, he had reason to say to many a 
 chui'ch, in the language of an apostle, " Ye received me even 
 as an angel of God." 
 
 The reenforcement of the Bm-man mission, three years 
 after its establishment, gave a fresh impulse to the mind of 
 Mr. Judson. At first, when he had found himself surrounded 
 with people of the Mongolian race who had never been 
 touched, as yet, by the slightest influence of European civili- 
 zation, a strange gloom invested every scene ; this, however, 
 was gradually dispelled by an engTOssing interest in his 
 labors and by indications of success. The arrival of Mr. 
 Hough, caiTying with him a printing press which was a pres- 
 ent from Dr. Carey and the brethren at Serampore, shed new 
 light over his prospects. It is difficult for us adequately to 
 conceive of the profound delight with which the solitary 
 preacher at Rangoon hailed the accession of a fellow-worker, 
 and also of that mighty instrumentality of which he was 
 wont to say, " every pull of the press sends a ray of light 
 through the empke of darkness." 
 
 From that time Mr. Judson pursued his daily work with 
 renovated energy under the inspiration of briglit<Miing hopes. 
 Judging from the tone and spirit of his letters, "the moun- 
 tains and the hills were breaking forth before him into sing- 
 ing." He had favor with the rulers and the people. A spirit 
 of inquiry was spreading itself around him. Even the Em- 
 peror, who had come into collision with the priesthood, liad 
 
16 LIFE AND CHARACTER OF 
 
 been heard to ask for light respecting " the new religion." 
 Although no conversion had occurred, yet while the press 
 was pouring forth editions of tracts, catechisms, and gospels, 
 the heart of the missionary was elate with confidence. It 
 was early in the year 1817 that he first heard fr6m the lips 
 of a Burman, and that, too, an intelligent and respectable 
 man, the acknowledgment of an eternal God. " I cannot 
 tell," said he, " how I felt at that moment." This first gleam 
 of intellectual conviction, touching the great error of Boodh- 
 ism, he welcomed as the harbinger of that full effluence of 
 light which is yet to irradiate the moral firmament of Burmah. 
 
 In spite of many difficulties arising from Mr. Judson's un- 
 fortunate detention while absent on an errand to Chittagong, 
 and also from the recall of the friendly Viceroy of Rangoon 
 by the court of Ava, the good work went fonvard, slowly, but 
 surely. The thirtieth of April, 1819, became memorable in 
 the history of the mission. Until then, the missionaries had 
 lived in comparative seclusion, and had put forth no efforts of 
 a public character. On that day a new step was taken involv- 
 ing new hazards. A zayat was opened for preaching and 
 worship. There, about two months afterward, a small assem- 
 bly was gathered to witness the reception of the first Burman 
 convert into the Christian Church. Moung Nau, a man who 
 was thirty-five years of age, openly renounced Boodhism, 
 made a satisfactory confession of his faith in Christ, then 
 left the zayat, proceeded with the company to a small lake, 
 on whose margin stood an immense image of Gaudama, 
 and there, in the rite of baptism, "witnessed a good pro- 
 fession." On the following Sabbath, the fourth of July, this 
 first Burman disciple received the Lord's Supper, which 
 was then, for the first time, administered in two languages. 
 Moung Nau adorned his profession, rendered to the church 
 much valuable service, and remained faithful unto death. 
 
 We have now ti-aced the course of Dr. Judson from the 
 scenes of his youth to those of his riper years; from the 
 time of his first aspirations after a missionary life to the 
 successful establishment of the mission in Bmmah. The 
 
ADONIRAINI JUDSON, D. D. 17 
 
 subsequent portion of his history is more crowded with stir- 
 ring incidents, with vivid contrasts, with narratives of daring 
 and endurance, of perils and escapes, such as are fit materials 
 for an epic poem ; but that part wliich has passed in review 
 before us discloses most clearly his principles of action, his 
 cherished aims, the force of his genius, the ruling spirit of 
 his life, the leading qualities of his mind and heart. It will 
 be sufficient for om* purpose, therefore, to glance hastily at 
 the course of events from the period which we have reached 
 to the close of his earthly career. 
 
 Previous to the opening of the zayat in Rangoon, two 
 young men of Boston had joined the mission. These were, 
 IVIr. Wheelock, of the second church, under the pastoral care 
 of the Rev. Dr. Baldwin, and IVIr. Colman, of the third church, 
 under the care of Rev. Dr. Sharp. Within a single year, Mr. 
 Wheelock fell the victim of a fatal disease. Within three 
 years, Mr. Colman followed his friend to the tomb ; but in 
 the beginning of the year 1820 he was Dr. Judson's com- 
 panion to the imperial com-t at Ava. A strong impression 
 prevailed at Rangoon that a friendly visit to the Emperor 
 might incline him to favor the new religion and to protect 
 the converts from persecution. The drift of events during 
 several years had fostered in the breasts of the missionaries 
 the most sanguine hopes of this result. They performed, 
 therefore, a tedious voyage up the Irrawaddy wdth the utmost 
 cheerfulness, and their elated expectations invested all the 
 scenes of nature with an aspect of beauty and loveliness. 
 Nothing that ever came from Dr. Judson's pen was written 
 in a more animated style than were the pages of his journal 
 while on the way to Ava. But when the visit had proved to 
 be an entire failure, when the Emperor had dashed to the 
 ground with deep disdain the printed leaf which proclaimed 
 an eternal God, and had bidden the splendid volumes which 
 they offered away from him, their spirits sunk to a depth 
 corresponding to their former elevation, and they were for 
 a time paralyzed by the chill of disappointment. Tiiey 
 imagined that no Burman would dare avow a religion which 
 
18 LIFE AND CHARACTER OF 
 
 " the golden feet " had spurned, that further labor would be 
 wasted, and that a more hopeful field must be sought. One 
 of the most instructive spectacles in the history of missions 
 occm-red at Rangoon, when the Burman disciples, instead of 
 shrinking from the company of the missionaries, as it was 
 supposed they would do, rallied around them, encouraged 
 them, pointed out the brighter aspects of the enterprise, and 
 besought them with tears and arguments not to forsake a 
 post to which God himself had so evidently led them. The 
 counsel of the Burman Christians prevailed, and their faith 
 saved the station from abandonment. This was " after the 
 manner of God," Avho honors the zeal of his people more 
 than the patronage of kings, and was in analogy with the 
 ways of Him who committed the destinies of his cause on 
 earth to the lowly fishermen of Galilee, but who, when 
 invited to appear at the court of Herod, tm'ned his back on 
 majesty and left the royal sinner to his doom. 
 
 The following year, a Christian physician. Dr. Jonathan 
 Price, joined the mission. He visited Ava in his professional 
 character, and was favorably received by the Emperor. This 
 event opened the way for Dr. Judson to go to Ava as a 
 missionary ; and when Mr. and Mrs. Wade arrived at Ran- 
 goon, it was decided that they should remain there, and that 
 he should fix his residence at the capital. The state of the 
 mission was now more hopeful than ever. On all sides the 
 signs of the times indicated prosperity. But these bright 
 skies were soon overcast with clouds and tempests. For 
 many years the British power in Hindostan had been 
 making constant progress amidst the storms of war, and 
 now it was destined to establish itself in Chin -India. 
 When it became evident that the Burman Emperor was 
 making preparations to invade Bengal, it was resolved to 
 anticipate the blow; and an army of ten thousand men, 
 under the command of Sir Archibald Campbell, attacked 
 and seized Rangoon. Messrs. Hough and Wade, then re- 
 siding at that station, were imprisoned under armed keepers, 
 who had been charged to massacre our brethren as soon as 
 
ADONIRAJM JUDSON, D. D. 19 
 
 the first shot should be fired. But the panic created by that 
 shot was so intense that the keepers fled, and by this means 
 alone were the lives of the prisoners saved. When the news 
 of that deliverance reached this country, our temples re- 
 sounded with the strains of thanksgiving, chastened and 
 subdued, however, by the fearful suspense which remained 
 as to the fate of our friends in Ava! For two years that 
 suspense was unbroken, and became more agonizing by the 
 lapse of time. At last the welcome news arrived that the 
 fives of the missionaries had been preserved. But who can 
 adequately describe the profound and mingled emotions 
 which SAA^elled the hearts of American Christians, the smiles 
 and tears, the fervent prayers and hymns of praise, tokens 
 of sympathy too deep for words, which distinguished our 
 assemblies at that period when the revolting scenes at Ava 
 were fully disclosed ? Every form of evil which the most 
 lively imagination had suggested, except that of death itself, 
 had been bitterly realized by Dr. Judson and his companions 
 in son-ow. Loathsome prisons, galling fetters, famine, tor- 
 tmres, barbarous insults, the separation of husband and wife, 
 the confiscation of goods, exhausting sicknesses, and bloody 
 tracks of lacerated feet over burning sands — these are the 
 leading features that mark the picture of missionary life in 
 Burmah during the progress of the Engfish war. And yet, 
 amidst the peltings of the storm, these Christian martyrs 
 could encourage each other to calm endurance ; their souls 
 rose superior to the overhanging clouds charged with the 
 elements of destruction, like those birds of the tropical cfimes 
 which are observed to soar above the sweep of the passing 
 hurricane, and to pour forth their sweet songs in the serener 
 regions of the upper atmosphere. 
 
 A tribute of honor is due to Sir Archibald Campbell for 
 his generous treatment of oiu* missionaries at the close of 
 the war. In the treaty of peace which followed, he de- 
 manded their surrender at the hands of the Burman Emperor, 
 who, having become sensible of the value of Dr. Judson's ser- 
 vices as a translator and interpreter, had expressed an intention 
 
20 LIFE AND CHARACTER OF 
 
 to retain him. The English General not only welcomed him to 
 the hospitalities of his camp and table, but presented him with 
 an eligible site of land for a missionary station at Amherst, 
 the chosen seat of the English Government in Burmah ; and 
 afterward, when Mi-s. Judson died and was buried there, he 
 expressed a sense of her extraordinary worth, and his sym- 
 pathy with her bereaved husband, in terms which reflect 
 more honor on his character than the victories acquued by 
 his arms. In the retrospect of life, it must have seemed to 
 Dr. Judson an occasion of gratitude to God that the British 
 power, wliich had driven him from India, was now wielded 
 by one who was disposed to throw around him its protecting 
 shield. 
 
 After the restoration of peace. Dr. Price returned to Ava. 
 He was favorably received as a physician, and became, also, 
 the tutor of several youths belonging to royal and to noble 
 families. His hopes were sanguine as to his future useful- 
 ness, but in the year 1828 he died of pulmonary consumption. 
 Of him no memoir has been published, and the entire de- 
 struction of his papers during the Burmese war has rendered 
 it difficult to supply the deficiency. To the mission liis loss was 
 irreparable. He was a man of extensive attainments and of 
 remarkably fine address. At Ava he engaged the confidence 
 of the Court, and of him, in connection with Dr. Judson, it 
 was attested by Mr. Crawfurd, the Enghsh Envoy, that " it 
 was in a great measure through their influence, in surmount- 
 ing the unspeakable distrust, jealousy, and it may be added, 
 incapacity of the Burman chiefs, that the peace was ulti- 
 mately brought about." * 
 
 During several succeeding years Dr. Judson was busily 
 engaged at Amherst and Maulmain in the work of transla- 
 tion, in the revision of the Burman Scriptures, in the prepa- 
 ration of a Burman-English dictionary, and in public teaching 
 at the zayat. At this time, when Burmah proper was closed 
 against him, a new field of missionary influence was unex- 
 
 * Crawfurd's Embassy, Vol. 1, p. 160. 
 
ADONIRAMJUDSON, D. D. 21 
 
 pectedly opened to his view. Early in the year 1828 the 
 church at Maulmain received Moung Thah-byu as a candidate 
 for baptism. As IVIr. Boardman, who had lately joined the 
 mission, was about to establish a station at Tavoy, an old 
 Burman town on the Tavoy river, containing a population 
 of about nine thousand, he took this young convert with him, 
 and baptized him there. Although the name of this man 
 sounds to our ears like the name of a Burman, yet he was 
 of another race — the Karens — a people as nomadic as the 
 Arabs in their habits," scattered abroad through the rural 
 districts, the mountains and the jungles of Burmah and Siam. 
 Their condition is singular. They have no written language, 
 no priests, no temples, no ritual, and although some of them 
 are Boodhists, the gi'eat majority of them believe in the 
 existence of an Eternal God, sing hymns to liis praise, and 
 in the scale of moral virtues are superior to the heathen 
 around them. According to the testimony of INIr. Mason, 
 who has thoroughly mastered all that may be known of their 
 history, they have been long walking after the traditions of 
 their fathers, which had nourished in then* breasts the expecta- 
 tion that teachers would come from afar to instruct them in 
 the true religion. The hopes of the church in Maulmain, 
 that the convert whom they had received to their fellowship 
 would be among the first fruits of a spiritual harvest gathered 
 from the Karens, have been amply realized. They seem to 
 have been " a people made ready for the Messiah." The 
 annals of modern missions exhibit no instance of a more 
 rapid and amazing triumph of the gospel ; for it is with a 
 feeling of grateful joy that we record the fact, that Dr. Judson 
 lived to see the day when there was reason to believe tliat 
 eleven thousand Karens had embraced the faith of Clu-ist 
 " in spirit and in tnith." 
 
 Eight years after he had buried the wife of his youth, Dr. 
 Judson became united in marriage to Mrs. Sarah Boardman, 
 widow of the Rev. George Dana Boardman, who liad f;dhMi 
 by the hand of death four years before, while in the prime 
 of manhood and in the midst of his usefulness. This union 
 
22 LIFE AND CHARACTER OF 
 
 was in all respects a happy one. The qualities of her mind 
 and heart, her thorough education, her congenial tastes, her 
 aptness to teach, her elegant Burmese scholarship, the strength 
 of her domestic affections, and withal, her love to the mis- 
 sionary work, well fitted her to be the companion and the 
 wife of one whom she honored as " first among the best of 
 Christians and of men." In the discharge of daily duties, in 
 the endurance of trials, in literary studies, in counsel and in 
 action, they were mutual helpers, and for a series of years 
 enjoyed a degree of happiness far beyond what their peculiar 
 circumstances might have furnished reason to anticipate. 
 But in the year 1845, Mrs. Judson's health became impaired ; 
 a voyage beyond the tropics was ordered by the physicians, 
 and after a painful deliberation, her husband resolved to 
 accompany her to her native land. 
 
 They had not been long at sea before every hope of her 
 recovery was blasted, and he recoiled from the prospect 
 before him of committing her remains to an ocean grave. 
 But he was spared that trial. Mrs. Judson died while the 
 vessel Avas lying at the Isle of St. Helena, where a large circle 
 of Christian friends folbwed her to the tomb, and sought in 
 every way which sympathy could suggest to soothe the heart 
 of the bereaved missionary. 
 
 There are few, if any, of those who are assembled here 
 who do not remember with what a thrill of joy the arrival of 
 Dr. Judson in this city was welcomed. On the 15th of 
 October, 1845, he stepped ashore, and at once the intelligence 
 flew as on electric wings. His friends were invited to meet 
 him at the Bowdoin Square Church on the evening of the 
 second following day, and that large edifice was crowded 
 with men and women eager to behold the form and coun- 
 tenance of the veteran wamor retm*ned from the field of 
 his conflicts. A scene of equal interest is rarely beheld 
 more than once in any man's lifetime, and an exact parallel 
 to this cannot recur wdthin the period allotted to the present 
 generation. 
 
 The gi-ecting which Dr. Judson here received was a fair 
 
A D O X I R A M J r D S O X , D . D . 23 
 
 example of what awaited him in other places ; it was but 
 the first touch of a sympathetic chord whose vibrations were 
 felt throughout the whole country. Thousands who had 
 been born since he had left his native land hastened to grasp his 
 hand, and addressed him as one whose name had always 
 been familiar to their lips. He who had gone forth weeping, 
 " bearing precious seed," while worldly wisdom pronounced 
 his errand a chimera, and predicted that his mission would 
 be a failure, had now returned, amidst universal acclamations, 
 with the laiuels of victory upon his brow. His journey was 
 a triumphal march. It indicated a state of the public mind 
 which he had never before witnessed. It was not the 
 response of a great people to a benefactor who had blessed 
 theni^ but it was a spontaneous tribute of honor to a moral 
 hero who had given up his life to bless others ; it was the 
 gi-and expression of a public sentiment towards the cause of 
 Christian Missions which he himself had done so much to 
 create. 
 
 During Dr. Judson's stay in this country, he evinced a fine 
 susceptibility of deriving enjoyment from everything around 
 him. From reminiscences of the past, from scenes of nature, 
 from social intercourse, from the study of men, manners, 
 customs, and society, he drew incentives to thought and 
 subjects of conversation. His power of observation was 
 quick and comprehensive, and nothing seemed to be too 
 great or too minute to minister to his mental activity and 
 his happiness. It was evident to those who were favored 
 with the opportunity of associating with him, that his long 
 delay to revisit the home of his youth had not arisen from 
 anything like coldness or stoicism in his nature, but simply 
 from devotion to his great object. Nothing here, however, 
 could wean his alTections from the churciies of Bnrmali, and 
 he soon became impatient to return to the sphere of his daily 
 toils. He desired to make every visit, every event, subservi- 
 ent to his life-work. While sojourning in Pliiladelpliia, he 
 became favorably impressed with the character of tiiat gifted 
 lady whose graceful pen he wished to employ in writing a 
 
91 
 
 LIFE AND CIIARACTKR OF 
 
 memoir of his lately deceased wife, and the result was a 
 proposal of marriage, which, on her part, was considerately 
 accepted, and which, as the course of events has shown, 
 received the approbation of Heaven. 
 
 After Dr. Judson's return to Burmah, he resumed the labors 
 which had been interrupted by his absence, and pursued them 
 during the three following years, until his health became en- 
 tirely broken down. A change of climate was necessary, and 
 he resolved to embark for the island of Bom'bon. It was im- 
 practicable for Mrs. Judson to accompany him, and to her the 
 pang of parting was rendered especially painful by the fear 
 that he would never return. The native Christians of Maul- 
 main were all opposed to his departure, expressing the gloomy 
 presentiment that their beloved teacher would be buried in 
 the sea, and also the wish that his grave might be made 
 where they could visit it. In those fears Dr. Judson did not 
 participate, but in the end they were all realized. He 
 regarded himself as being constitutionally tenacious of life, 
 and longed to inhale the ocean air, believing that he might 
 yet be restored to complete his literary tasks, and then to 
 devote succeeding years to the ministration of the gospel. 
 
 But God had otherwise ordained. The pangs of disease, 
 which became gradually more intense, were soon revealed in 
 their true character as heralds sent from Him to summon a 
 faithful servant from his toil to his reward. Thus far he had 
 been borne onward triumphantly through a long and arduous 
 career ; only one more contest now remained, only one more 
 victory, and that the victory over Death. For this he was 
 prepared. In anticipation of protracted tortures aggravated 
 by a quick nervous sensibility, he could pray, like his Divine 
 Master, " Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me ;" 
 still, it was his to welcome the bitter draught with the smile 
 of resignation, and thus, "although he were a son, yet learned 
 he obedience by the things he suiFered." 
 
 Soon after the vessel had set sail, and while in sight of the 
 Tenasserim coast, there was a relief from pain, and a slight 
 resuscitation which threw a gleam of light over the prospect 
 
A D O N I R A M J U D S O .\ , D . D . liD 
 
 of recovery. But this was only like a calm in which, some- 
 times, the devastating storm gathers its energies. Racking 
 pangs followed in quick succession. To ]\Ir. Ranney, his 
 coadjutor in the mission and his faithful companion in this 
 trying scene, he said a few words expressive of the gi-atifica- 
 tion afforded by the presence of a Christian brother. INIr. 
 Ranney answered, " I hope you feel that Christ is now near, 
 sustaining you." " O, yes," he replied, " it is all right there. 
 I believe that he gives me just so much pain and suffering as 
 is necessary to fit me to die ; to make me submissive to his 
 will." After this expression there was a period of more than 
 forty hours replete with mortal agonies. It was followed by 
 a placid calm, in which, without a sigh or sign of suffering, 
 he expired. The manner of his death was in keeping with 
 the sublime spirit and style of his life, and sheds a lusti'e over 
 the retrospect of his whole career, — just as the setting sun 
 (lings back his splendors over the eastern sky, gilding every 
 cloud and mountain height of the broad landscape with a 
 mild, celestial glory. 
 
 Fathers and brethren, you will doubtless unite with me in 
 the expression of the sentiment, that in the review of our 
 course on earth, it will appear to us an inestimable privi- 
 lege to have been permitted to live in the same age with such 
 a man as Adonirara Judson, to have been co-workers in 
 an enterprise so worthy to fill a mind and heart like his, 
 lo have been called to commemorate a life so fruitful in 
 immortal deeds, and to contemplate a character so rich in tlic 
 elements of moral greatness. Sensible, as I am, how in- 
 adequate must be any effort of mine to portray that character 
 in few words, so as to realize your own conceptions of what 
 he was, yet I am impelled to undertake it, because ihe occa- 
 sion demands of us such a tribute to his memory as it may 
 h(* ill our ])o\ver to offer, because from the abundance of the 
 heart liie mouth will speak in spite of conscious weakness, 
 and because it becomes us to hold up to the view of all so 
 bright an example of llic graces which dignify our nature, 
 of the heroism wiiich ivwv. religion insjiires, of the moral 
 
26 L I r E A .\ D CHARACTER OF 
 
 grandeur with which an enlightened faith invests our poor 
 fallen humanity. 
 
 To a philosophical and an observing mind there is much 
 that is interesting in the study of human character, under 
 whatever phase or form it may appear, whether in the bad 
 or the good, in the pirate or the saint, in the monarch or the 
 beggar ; just as in the realm of natural history the inquiring 
 eye will find a lesson in the structure of an elephant or a 
 worm, in the life and habits of the eagle that soars toward 
 the sun, or of the insect that lies couched in the bosom of a 
 flower. But then, in looking over the wide domain of human 
 history, the boundless landscape embracing myriads of active 
 beings like ourselves, it is only here and there, at distant 
 intervals, that we see looming up to view a character of 
 marked individuality which forcibly arrests our attention, con- 
 centrates our thoughts upon itself, challenges our homage or 
 our hate, and by its great achievements kindles within us an 
 eager curiosity to search out the secret of its movement, to 
 explore the interior springs wherein its strength has lain. 
 Prophets, apostles, martyrs, lawgivers, reformers, projectors, 
 discoverers, and successful leaders in the path of enterprise, 
 constitute a class of heroic men whom nations delight to 
 honor ; and if all of these who have appeared in the course of 
 ages w^ere gathered into a single company, they would seem 
 but as a diminutive group compared with the teeming popu- 
 lations of the globe. Each one of them who serves his race 
 faithfully finds his place of eminence, not by courting fame, 
 but by doing his own life-work in that spirit of self-forgetful- 
 ness which is essential to true humility ; and then, when 
 he is seen to have coped with appalling difficulties, to have 
 trampled down great temptations, to have baffled mighty 
 adversaries, and to have accom})lished what sages pronounced 
 to be impossible, the power of his character is felt universally, 
 and his example rises like a star in the moral firmament to 
 shed its radiance on the path of succeeding generations. 
 
 Now, in looking back upon the course of the half-century 
 which has just been completed, our eyes rest on Dr. Judson 
 
A D O N I R A M J U D S O X , D . D . 27 
 
 as a distinguished character ; and he first draws our attention 
 while in the prime of life, as a Christian philanthropist rising 
 superior to the prevailing spirit of his times, to the opinions 
 both of the church and tlie world around him, proposing to 
 himself an object which but few could then appreciate, and 
 pursuing it with a steadiness of purpose commensurate with 
 its dignity. Scarcely had he received Christianity as a divine 
 revelation ere he saw that Christ had committed the evan- 
 gelization of the heathen world as a sacred trust to his 
 disciples ; and no sooner had he admitted this conviction 
 than he hastened to realize it in action. The recorded words 
 of Christ's last commission swayed his decisions as effect- 
 ually as if he had stood with the Eleven on Mount Olivet, 
 as if he had heard them pronounced with the voice of 
 authority, and had fallen prostrate in worship at the feet of 
 the heavenly majesty. Had he, like John at Patmos, been 
 visited by an angel directly from the skies, flashing celestial 
 splendors around him, and repeating the -s^Titten mandate as 
 with the trump of God, he could not have felt more strongly 
 the obligations that rested upon him, he could not have 
 obeyed with more alacrity, nor moved forward in his rugged 
 pathway with a step more unfaltering. 
 
 It is not wonderful, therefore, that to the eye of a distant 
 observer he should have appeared simply as a " man of 
 faith," pressing forward in his adventurous race of life under 
 the impelling power of that one mighty principle. But a 
 clearer view of his history, a comparison of one part with 
 another, will make it evident that he was distinguished not 
 so much by the simplicity and strength of his faith, although 
 that faith acted with an intensity which kindled his affections 
 into a glow of enthusiasm, and subordinated all the passions 
 of his nature to itself, as by the combination of his faith with 
 a cool practical judgment, whidi qualified him wisely to 
 select the means adapted to his chosen ends ; and also, by 
 the union of that faculty of judgment to a strong executive 
 will, which enabled him to carry out his far-reaching plans 
 to their issues, with a determination that no obstacles could 
 
28 L I F E A N D C }1 A R A C T E R O V 
 
 daunt, with a patience that no disappointment could exhaust. 
 As it has been justly said of Napoleon, that he united in him- 
 self the calm, calculating power that belongs to the Northern 
 temperament with the enthusiastic ardor and fervid imagina- 
 tion that belong to the Southern, so that his style of action 
 was in keeping with the grandem- of his conceptions, it may 
 be said with equal ti'uth of our venerated leader in the 
 missionary warfare, that he combined the enthusiasm of faith 
 with such a clear, serene judgment, and with such a manly 
 energy of will, as fitted him to gi-apple with seeming 
 impossibilities, to " speak of things which were not as 
 though they were," and to bring to an undertaking which 
 required for its success the interpositions of Omnipotence the 
 same apt and careful forethought as would befit the cabinet 
 of the statesman, the camp of the warrior, or any arduous 
 work that lay within the scope of human enterprise. 
 
 Wherever these interior elements of character become 
 subordinate to some one grand conception, they always pro- 
 duce that degree of perseverance amidst difficulties, which, 
 in the retrospect of a long series of actions, gives an im- 
 pression of dramatic unity to the life, and awakens in us the 
 emotion of sublimity. In every age the epic muse has found 
 her choicest themes in the struggles of the good and brave 
 who have pursued some noble aim against adverse fortunes, 
 and have 
 
 " plucked success 
 
 Ev'n from the siiear-proof crest of rugged danger." 
 
 When we pore over the story of Christopher Columbus, 
 who, in his early solitary musings, vividly conceived of this 
 new world as lying beyond unknown seas, and resolved to 
 seek it, that he might rear upon it the banner of the cross, 
 how deeply are om* hearts stirred within us while we see the 
 constancy with which he " watched thereunto with all perse- 
 verance ; " how he met the objections of titled ignorance ; 
 how he bore ridicule ; how he rendered misfortune subser- 
 vient to his work ; how he sustained the rebukes of priestly 
 
A D O N I R A M J U D S O X , D . D . 29 
 
 pride and com'tly arrogance ; how he sought aid from princes 
 and welcomed the sympathy of the poor ; how he prayed for 
 help from on high and cast himself on the care of Providence 
 as he steered his bark through many a tedious vigil of the 
 night across the boisterous deep ! He appeared like other 
 men in scenes of business, in conversation, and in action, but 
 his one great object was ever present to his thoughts, and in 
 spite of neglect, of disappointment, of ingratitude, in spite 
 of opposing storms and threatening death, he persevered and 
 conquered. His eyes beheld the promised land, and his great 
 mission for manldnd was accomplished. Not less worthy of 
 admiration for his dauntless perseverance is he who left the 
 home of his youth to plant the standard of the cross in the 
 sti'onghold of Gaudama ; who formed his plans in the soli- 
 tude of his closet ; who derived but little aid from the coun- 
 sels of experienced age ; who felt no genial sympathy of 
 public sentiment quickening the pulsations of his heart ; but 
 who, like another Columbus, went forth in the night of 
 adversity, guided only by the lights of Heaven, and shaping 
 his course by those eternal truths which God had set as stars 
 in the firmament of revelation to tlu-ow their gleams along a 
 pathless waste. 
 
 And here it becomes us to acknowledge with devout grati- 
 tude his habitual reverence for the authority of God's word; 
 the great controlling power which was exerted over a mind 
 of such mighty energies, by its clear apprehension of the 
 momentous principle that the Bible alone is the supreme 
 and sufficient rule of faith for all in matters of religion. For, 
 that religious sentiment which is an essential element of 
 human nature, when it predominates in a man of strong 
 character, becomes an impulsive force that works out im- 
 mense results of good or evil, according to the direction 
 which it takes; and, unless it be enlightened and guided by 
 the oracles of God, is likely to render any one who po.<sesses 
 more than ordinary intellect and passion a prodigy of super- 
 stition or fanaticism. Its etlects are varied by the opinions 
 and spirit of the times ; in one age it produces monasticism, 
 
30 MFE AND CHARACTER OP 
 
 in another crusades, in another inquisitions ; now it forms its 
 votary into a Simon Stylites earning heayen by penance and 
 beggary, now into a Peter the Hermit summoning the faith- 
 ful unto battle, and now again into a Torquemada purging 
 the earth from heresy by fire and blood. In studying the 
 lives of men, we are often astonished to see how an obscure 
 event becomes a crisis of history. The flight of a bird from 
 the mouth of a cave, saving Mahomet from the sword of his 
 enemies, affected the destiny of millions ; and but for the 
 seemingly accidental conversations of Loyola at Paris, the 
 renowned Xavier would probably have yielded to the power 
 of Luther's influence, and have become a champion of the 
 Protestant faith. Who can tell how different from what it 
 was would have been the earthly career of Dr. Judson, how 
 different the color and complexion of his character, had he 
 not been led in the very prime of his manhood to form just 
 conceptions of the religion revealed in the New Testament, 
 to yield his whole soul to its supreme authority, and to cling 
 with all the affections of his ardent nature to " the simplicity 
 that is in Christ ? " A soul like his, touched with a spark of 
 som3" strange fire," and inflamed with zeal for some false 
 system, might have become another St. Francis founding a 
 new order of ascetics, or another Loyola training a new 
 school of courtly propagandists, or another Xavier traversing 
 India with a lofty martyr-spirit to preach the crucifix rather 
 than the cross, to convert nations by sacraments rather than 
 the gospel. But we have reason, on this occasion, to bless the 
 Father of lights for the grace bestowed on his servant, that in 
 the day of doubt and inquiry, when he was feeling after truth, 
 if haply he might find it, the word of inspiration was made 
 known to him as a divine counsellor, the oracle of his faith, 
 the conservative and guiding rule of his conduct; that he 
 "rejoiced in its testimonies more than in all riches," and 
 that he counted nothing dear to him, so that he might give 
 to pagan millions those recorded messages which are as 
 leaves from the tree of life for the healing of the nations. 
 If, in a coming age, some Allston should wish to employ his 
 
A D O \ I R A M J I D S O X , D . D . 31 
 
 pencil in picturing forth a single action that should express 
 at once the gi-eat aim, the chosen means, and the true spirit 
 of the modern missionary enterprise, he could scarcely select 
 a more fitting scene than that which Heaven witnessed with 
 a smile, when Adonham Judson was seen kneeling by the 
 side of that table over which he had long bent his frame in 
 studious application, holding in his hand the last leaf of the 
 Burman Bible, with his eyes uplifted, and with a counte- 
 nance radiant with joy, thanking God that his life had been 
 spared to achieve this work, and imploring the Divine Spirit 
 to make the silent page a messenger of life to many. 
 
 The leading features of Dr. Judson's character, when we 
 regard him as a public man, have an aspect of such stern and 
 simple gi-andeur that they throw into the shade those delicate 
 traits which disclosed themselves to the eyes of all who knew 
 him in social and domestic life. Indeed, the higher qualities 
 of which we have spoken are rarely found in intimate union 
 ^^^th the gentler vhtues, with that childlike tenderness, that 
 genial sympathy, that nice regard to the sensibilities of 
 others, which throw a charm around the scenes of home and 
 the circles of friendship. We are never sm'priscd to learn 
 that these are utterly wanting in men of u-on sinew, formed 
 for daring and endurance. Just as when we have gazed on 
 some lofty mountain that towers sublimely to the sides, it 
 seems not strange, if, on a close survey, the fine proportions 
 and the beauty of outline shall have vanished, so that we can 
 touch nothing but rugged rocks and tangled thickets. But to 
 find the ascent of an Alpine height enriched with fruits and 
 flowers, with sheltering vines, refreshing springs, and singing 
 birds, must fill the breast of every beholder with a sentiment 
 of pleasing wonder. A kindred emotion has, doubtless, been 
 awakened in the hearts of many who have long contem- 
 plated Dr. Judson from a distant point of view, and have 
 afterward been favored with oi)portuiii(ies of personal int(M-- 
 course. Then it has been seen that i\\c clcincnts ot' his 
 nature were admirably balanced, tiiat his social allcctions 
 were commensurate with his intellectual powers, and that 
 
32 LIFE AND CHARACTER OF 
 
 his many-sided mind filled a wide sphere of being. Of him 
 it conld not be justly said, as it once was of an eminent 
 moral philosopher, that he loved man in general, but no 
 human being in particular ; nay, his heart was a well-spring 
 of tender affections, his eye took within its scope the whole 
 Avide range of human relationships, and he was sensitively 
 alive to the happiness of all around him. In this respect he 
 resembled his Divine Master, who, whilst on earth, although 
 he was employed in a mission that involved the eternal des- 
 tinies of a fallen race, could find congenial joys in the friend- 
 ship of Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, and who, amidst the 
 agonies of the cross, could commend the temporal welfare of 
 his mother to " that disciple whom he loved." 
 
 In this connection it may be proper to observe that in 
 regard to the social qualities of Dr. Judson, his susceptibility 
 of the pleasures of friendship, his powers of conversation, his 
 combination of mental energy with the most winning gentle- 
 ness of expression, many of us received impressions, during 
 his sojom-n in this country, which could have been imparted 
 by no study of his history, by no sketch, however vivid and 
 graphical. Whensoever we see a man who is distinguished 
 for singleness of aim, we are often struck with a certain 
 eloquence of manners which cannot be described, and which, 
 wdien found to be in keeping with the tenor of his life, dis- 
 closes the heart more ti'uthfuUy than the best efforts of the 
 pencil or the pen. The Evangelist Luke seems to aUude to 
 the impression of character made by the personal appearance 
 of our Lord, in a single phrase Avhich Dr. Campbell has 
 translated, " he was adorned with a divine gracefulness." 
 The soul reveals itself not only in words, but in the tones of 
 the voice, in the animated countenance, in the kindling eye, 
 in every feature, in every movement. Although it may not be 
 safe to judge of men by the outward appearance merely, yet 
 there are signs of character which are seldom mistaken, which 
 no art can counterfeit, and which make impressions that we 
 can neither resist nor erase. And no one, probably, has been 
 permitted to enjoy Dr. Judson's society, and especially to 
 
A D O N I R A M J U D S O N , D . ]) . 33 
 
 kneel with him while conducting the worship of a family, 
 who has not left his presence with some new conviction 
 of the depth of his piety, of the breadth of his philanthropy, 
 of his childlike humility as a Christian, and of his real great- 
 ness as a man. 
 
 Nor can we omit to notice, while we consider the variety 
 of situations in which om' departed missionary was placed, 
 the versatilitjj of his talents, which enabled him to be at ease 
 and at home in every position which he was called to occupy. 
 Every one who has considered the subject is well aware that 
 the qualifications requisite for a translator of the Scriptures 
 into a foreign language embrace a wide sphere of acquisi- 
 tions. As a scholar and a critic. Dr. Judson did not allow 
 himself to fall behind the advancing spirit of his times ; and, 
 if we may credit the testimony of IVIi*. Crawfurd, the English 
 Envoy to the Court of Ava, Avho had ample means of judg- 
 ing, he had no superior in the Empire as a thorough master 
 of the Burman language and literature. At the same time, 
 his knowledge of the world, of men and things around him, 
 his wide scope of thought, and his powers of communication, 
 gave a particular value to all his opinions on matters of secu- 
 lar interest, and commanded the respect of the most distin- 
 guished men with whom he was led to associate in private 
 and in public life. 
 
 Notwithstanding repeated attacks of disease, it was his 
 cherished hope, as it was also that of his friends, that his 
 days would have been prolonged, that he would have been 
 permitted to finish the works which had long tasked his pen, 
 and give himself to the ministry of the word without inter- 
 ruption. Whensoever we iiave thought of his ripe experi- 
 ence, his familiarity with the language, customs, and mental 
 habitudes of the Burman people, we had fondly imagined 
 with what zeal and ellect he would consecrate his advancing 
 age to the work of oral teaching. But this pleasing picture, 
 which glowed before the imagination in such lively colors, 
 has been suddenly marred. In the sight of God iiis work 
 was done, ond he was called to his rest. Yet, so intent was 
 
34 LIFE AND CHARACTER OF 
 
 his soul upon that work, that the voice of the summons which 
 bade him away fell upon the ears of anxious friends sooner 
 than upon his own. But when it was heard by him, how 
 cordially was it welcomed ! He was ready. To him, death 
 came not as the " king of teiTors," but as a commissioned 
 servant to conduct him home. He has fought a good fight, 
 he has finished his course, he has kept the faith, he has died 
 in triumph. The veteran soldier sleeps in his chosen sepulchre. 
 They laid him in the ocean-bed where none can break his 
 repose. They could write no epitaph, they could raise no 
 memorial, but they 
 
 "left him alone in his glory," 
 
 where the winds shall moan his requiem until the last trump 
 shall sound, and the sea shall yield up its treasured trusts. 
 
 And now, fathers and brethren, while we commemorate 
 the life and character of our venerated missionary, let us 
 open our hearts to the lessons suggested by this occasion ; 
 and especially let it be ours to apprehend more vividly the 
 NATURE OF THAT MORAL HEROISM wMch lie SO iiobly exem- 
 plified, and which befits the period in which we live. In the 
 classic ages of the past, the epithet heroic was applied only 
 to those who achieved deeds of martial valor. The verse of 
 Milton has well expressed that truth : 
 
 " Conquerors who leave behind 
 Nothing but ruin wheresoe'cr they rove, 
 And all the flourishing works of peace destroy. 
 Then swell with pride, and must be titled gods, 
 Great benefactors of mankind, deliverers, 
 Worshipped with temple, priest, and sacrifice." 
 
 The usages of language illustrate mental history, and the 
 application of the idea of heroism to grand projects of benev- 
 olence, to the champions and martyrs of Truth, designates 
 the era of Christianity. The thought gleamed on the mind 
 of Napoleon amidst the reflections of his exile, and was 
 uttered in those weighty sentences which he addressed to 
 the Count de Montholon while at St. Helena. " The religion 
 
A D O N I R A M J U D S O N , D . D . 35 
 
 of Jesus Christ is a mystery which subsists by its own force, 
 and proceeds from a mind which is not a human mind. We 
 find in it a marked individuality, which originated a train of 
 words and actions unknown before. Jesus is not a philoso- 
 pher, for his proofs are miracles, and from the first his disciples 
 adored him. Alexander, Ca3sar, Charlemagne, and myself, 
 founded empires ; but on what foundation did we rest the 
 creations of our genius ? Upon force. Jesus Christ founded 
 an empire upon love, and at this hour millions of men would 
 die for him ! I die before my time, and my body will be 
 given back to the earth, to become food for worms. Such is 
 the fate of him who has been called the great Napoleon. 
 What an abyss between my deep mystery and the eternal 
 kingdom of Christ, which is proclaimed, loved, and adored, 
 and is extending over the whole earth !" Wonderful words 
 to be spoken by those imperial lips ! They reveal the truth 
 of things as it must appear in the light of eternal realities. 
 Is it not possible, think you, that the martial hero who uttered 
 them may have wished, as he awoke to a calm retrospective 
 view of his course, that he had acted a more Christian part 
 in the great drama of life, and that other words than these 
 had sounded the key-note of his moral history ? Whatever 
 may have been his secret wish, we welcome his testimony as 
 a tribute of honor to the enterprise which unites our hearts, 
 to the heroism which true philanthropy inspires, and to the 
 character of a man like him whose aims and deeds we here 
 devoutly celebrate. 
 
 Yet, let us remember that it belongs not to the Missionary 
 alone to cherish and develop this heroic spirit in some 
 distant land or some conspicuous sphere. In the early ages 
 it gave a lofty tone to whole communities of Christians ; it 
 was breathed forth in their social intercourse, in tlieir daily 
 pursuits, in their style of life and conduct. But in our time 
 Ihe genius of enterprise, even among "the sons of the 
 church," needs a new baptism from on high. Their hardy 
 courage, their spirit of adventure and of self-denial, must 
 be hallowed by a loftier aim. In the pursuit of ix'rishable 
 
36 L I F E A N D C II A R A C T E R OF 
 
 wealth they put forth mighty efforts which would take on an 
 aspect of heroism, if they were subordinated to a worthy 
 moral object. For the sake of gain they are willing to 
 become exiles from home, to undertake the most arduous 
 pilgrimages, to brave the perils of the stormy deep or gloomy 
 desert, to dare the blasts which sweep over the icy solitudes 
 of the North, if they may but rob wild beasts of their costly 
 furs, or risk life amidst the naalaria of Africa if they may 
 but pick up gold dust from her bui'ning sands. In the 
 pursuit of wealth the mind emboldens itself to meet the 
 march of pestilence, and infection seems to have been dis- 
 armed of its terrors. For this end families, too, are broken 
 up and scattered over the earth ; one makes his home on the 
 ocean, another in Lidia, another in the mines of California, 
 and a fourth seeks his fortune in the new ports of the Pacific. 
 With "what inflexible will do they \ATestle with difficulty, 
 with disease, with the pains of absence, with bitter disap- 
 pointments ! and O, hoAV elevated and ennobled would be 
 the elements of such enduring character if they were triffy 
 consecrated to the interests of the Messiah's kingdom, and 
 were thus made subservient to the real progress of humanity I 
 And surely, in these latter days, while " the signs of the 
 times" beckon us on to bolder attempts in the great battle 
 which has long been waged with the powers of darkness, 
 " with spiritual wickedness in high places," now, when 
 mountains fall and valleys rise before the march of Science, 
 so that our antipodes become our neighbors — -now, ^vhen 
 America, which was but lately at the very " ends of the 
 earth," is rising up to be a great central power, stretching 
 forth her gigantic arms to reach the continent of Asia on the 
 one side and the continent of Europe on the other, the 
 chief want of the times is a manly, generous, Cliristian 
 public spirit, which shall perform heroic deeds amidst the stir 
 and din of secular business, and aim to subordinate the 
 realms of Agriculture, of Commerce, of Ai-t, of Literatm*e, 
 and of Labor, to the grand design of Christianity in the 
 renovation of our fallen world. 
 
A D O N I R A M J U D S O N , D . D . 37 
 
 Last of all, let us resolve, with a firm faith in the prom- 
 ised agency of the Divine Spirit, to carry forward the work 
 ivhich has been so ivell begun by those ivho have gone before 
 us. Let it be om- prayer, that the mantles of the ascending 
 prophets may fall on worthy successors, until that favored 
 generation come who shall celebrate the universal triumph of 
 the Redeemer. 
 
 It is deserving of remark that, after a long lapse of ages, 
 it has devolved on the men of the last century to push for- 
 ward the conquests of the cross among the older nations of 
 the world, beyond those eastern lands which had bounded 
 the progress of Christianity in the days of the Apostles. 
 Wonderful as were the victories of our religion in the first 
 century, they scarcely reached beyond the dominion of the 
 Caesars, which was then called " the whole world." Yet 
 far beyond it, stretching eastw^ard, lay the older Pagan 
 countries overspread by Boodhism and Brahminism ; and 
 these were left, as they had been long before, from time im- 
 memorial. Afterward, when Constantine estabHshed Chris- 
 tianity as the religion of the State, it became a territorial 
 creed, hemmed in by the boundaries of the empire. And 
 thus it has, in a great degree, remained, until the missionary 
 spirit of modern times took up the work nearly at the point 
 where it was left by the last of the Apostles, and won new 
 trophies in those old domains of Boodh and Brahma. 
 
 With this fact in view, we cannot but be struck with an 
 analogy between the progress of science and Christianity. It 
 was at the close of the first century of the Christian era that 
 the Emperor Trajan, having beaten back the northern barbari- 
 ans beyond the Danube, engaged in the work of extending 
 the improvements of civilization and the arts of peace in 
 those dreary regions. Among the memorials of his reign, 
 travellers have beheld with admiration the remains of a ship 
 canal, cut through the solid rock, around the rapids of that 
 noble river. But at the death of Trajan the work was left 
 unfinished, and for seventeen hundred years lias remained in 
 that condition. The empire had then reached its culminat- 
 
38 ADONIRAM JUDSON, D. D. 
 
 ing point ; its energies were spent ; it had begun to decline 
 and fall, and it had no power or resources adequate to the 
 completion of the plans which Trajan had projected. Be- 
 neath the tramp of barbarian hordes Roman civilization lay 
 crushed during revolving centuries, and the chiselled rocks 
 bore witness of a fallen empire unable to finish what it had 
 begun. But under the auspices of Christianity, art and 
 science have plumed their wings anew, to go forth and 
 repair the old and desolate wastes. Within the memory of 
 living men, an impetus has been given to the world's affau's 
 by means of which the enterprise of Trajan has lately re- 
 ceived its finishing stroke. That impulse came forth, not 
 from the banks of the Tiber, but of the Hudson ; and 
 the invention of Robert Fulton has achieved the significant 
 result. Thus, too, has it been in the history of Christianity. 
 The men of our own times have been called to set their 
 hands to the work of God, just where its early heralds 
 left it, and have m-ged forward the triumphs of our reli- 
 gion beyond those borders which marked the termination 
 of her first victorious career. The new impulse has pro- 
 ceeded, not from Rome, or Constantinople, but from London, 
 from New York, from Boston, and from the chief seats of 
 Christianized Anglo-Saxon power. 
 
 Seeing, then, that brightening signs indicate an accelerated 
 progress of the Messiah's kingdom — that the voice of Prov- 
 idence is summoning us renewedly to be co-workers in this 
 glorious cause — let us devoutly aim to do our life-work 
 faithfully, to follow in the steps of those " who, through faith 
 and patience, have inherited the promises." Let it be ours 
 to bear a part in the fulfilment of those old prophecies which 
 have long shed hopeful gleams across the night of ages, that 
 thus we may be prepared to vmite in those heavenly anthems 
 that shall celebrate the final triumph of the Redeemer, unto 
 whom " shall the gathering of the people be." 
 
MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE. 
 
 It has been well said, that, " to imbue men thoroughly with the missionary spirit, we must acquaint 
 them intimately with the missionary enterprise." 
 
 The following valuable works contain just the kind of information needed, for all who desire to become 
 fully acquainted with the toils, sufferings and successes of the heralds of salvation who have gone forth to 
 heathen lands. 
 
 MEMOIR OF ANN H. JUDSON, 
 
 Late Missionary to BurnuOx. By James D. Knowles. With a Portrait. ISmo., cloth. Price 58 cents. 
 
 " This is one of the most interesting pieces of female biography which has ever come under our notice. 
 No quotation, which our limits allow, would do justice to the facts, and we must, therefore, refer our read- 
 ers to the volume itself. It ought to be immediately added to ererjr family library."— £o«do« Miscellany. 
 
 MEMOIR OF GEORGE DANA BOARDMAN. 
 
 Vith an Introductory Essay. By W. E. Williams, D. D. Xeic Edition. 12mo., cloth. Price 75 cents. 
 
 " Mr. Boardman wag a man of rare excellence, and.his biographer, by a just exhibition of that excellence, 
 has rendered an important service, not only to the cause of Christian missions, but to the interests of per- 
 sonal godliness." — Rev. Dr. Stow. 
 
 Dr. Williams' Introduction alone," says a reviewer, "is well worth the price of the book." 
 
 MEMOIR OF HENRIETTA SHUCK, 
 
 First Female Missionary to China. With a Portrait. By Per. .7. B. Jeter. ISmo., cloth. Price 50 cents. 
 " We have seldom taken into our hands a more beautiful book than this. It will be extensively read and 
 eminently useful, and thus the ends sought by the author will be happily secarei."— Family Visiter. 
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM G. CROCKER, 
 
 Lute Missionary in West Africa, among the Bassas. Includimj a History of the Mission. 
 
 By R. B. Medberry. With a Portrait. \%mo., cloth. Price 63 cents. 
 
 " This interesting work contains much valuable information in relation to the present state and prospects 
 
 of Africa, and the success of Missions in that interesting country, which has just taken a stand among the 
 
 nations of the earth." — Watchman and Reflector. 
 
 A HISTORY OF AMERICAN BAPTIST MISSIONS, 
 
 In Asia, Africa, Europe, and Xorth America, from their earliest commencement to the present time. 
 By Prof. William Gammell. With seven Maps. 12»!0., cloth. Price To cents. 
 ear Letters have been received from Missionaries now in the field, who are the best qualified to judge of 
 its accuracy, giving tlieir unequivocal testimony to the fidelity of the work. 
 
 THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE; 
 
 A Collection of Discourses on Christian 3Iissio»s, hy American Authors. Edited by Baron Stow, D. D. 
 12mo., cloth. Price S.^ cents. 
 
 " This work contains fifteen sermons on Missions, by Rev. Drs. W.iyland, Griffin, Anderson, AVilliams, 
 Beecher, Miller, Fuller, Beman, Stone, JIason, and by Rev. Messrs. Kirk, Stow and Ide. It is a rich treas- 
 ure, which ought to be in the possession of every American Christian." 
 
 THE GREAT COMMISSION; 
 
 Or, the Christian ChurchconMitutcdand chanjed to convey the Gospel to the World. By .John Harris, D. D. 
 With an Introductory Essay, by W. R. Williams, D. D. \imo., cloth. Price il 00. 
 " His plan is original and comprehensive. In filling it up the author has interwoven facts with rich and 
 glowing illustrations, and \^ith trains of thought that are sometimes almost resistless in their appeals to the 
 conscience. The work is not more distinguished for its arguments and its genius, than for t)ie spirit of 
 deep and fen-cnt piety that pervades it." — The Dayspriny. 
 
 THE KAREN APOSTLE; 
 
 <Jr, Memoir of Ko-Tltah-Byii, the first Karen convert, with notices concerning his Xation. By Rev. 
 Francis Mason. Edited by Prof. H. J. Ripley. \imo., cloth. Price 25 cenU. 
 •.'" This is a work of thrilling interest, containing the history of a remarkabfe man, and giving, 
 also, much information respecting the Karen Mission, heretofore unknown in this country. It r.aist 
 be sought for and read with avidity hy those interested in this most interesting mission." 
 
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