ONE HOUR 
 
 By L. O. DAWSON, 
 Pastor Mt. Vernon Baptist Church , 
 
 0 THE CENTENARY OF MODERN 
 
 c\ I 
 
 UTiON 
 
 L'FSVjLLf.. 
 
 BAPraf^B©^ 
 
 ERN 
 
This little fragment is published at the request 
 of the Baptist Bible Institute of South East Ken¬ 
 tucky, before which it was read at Williams¬ 
 burg, August 5, 1891. The hesitation I feel in 
 giving to the public a work so imperfect is over¬ 
 come by the hope that it may be of some assist¬ 
 ance to those who have no money, time, nor 
 inclination to purchase and read the more elab¬ 
 orate missionary histories and biographies. 
 
 It will be observed that I have followed mainly 
 the Life of Judson , by Edward Judson ; also draw¬ 
 ing aid from Armitage’s History of the Baptists; 
 Hervey’s Story of Baptist Missions , and Hartley's 
 Lives of the Three Mrs. Judsons. 
 
 L. O. D. 
 
JXDONIRAM JUDSON was born at 
 Malden, Mass., August 9th, 1788, of 
 Congregational parentage, his father being 
 a minister in that denomination. It is re¬ 
 ported that he could read at three years of 
 age, and that he used to “play church” 
 with the children, himself being the 
 preacher. Even then his favorite hymn 
 was, ‘“Go preach my Gospel,’ Saith the. 
 Lord.” 
 
 From the very cradle he appears as one' 
 set apart. The Hand of God not only di¬ 
 rected the steps of the man, but formed 
 and guided the inclinations of the child. 
 
 He was early filled with high ambitions 
 which were fanned into a flame by his par¬ 
 ents and teachers, but which had to be 
 sacrificed on the altar of his love for Christ 
 when they had reached a point of almost 
 consuming intensity. The man can be 
 seen in the boy, for even in early youth 
 there could be noted that bold, active spirit 
 which was so characteristic of the Mis¬ 
 sionary. 
 
4 
 
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 He entered Providence College, which 
 afterwards became Brown’s University, in 
 the session of 1804, and showing remark¬ 
 able talents in all his studies, especially 
 in Greek and Mathematics, he graduated in 
 1807 with the highest honors of his class. 
 For a while after leaving college he taught 
 school, but soon joined a strolling band of 
 play actors, and led a wild, dissolute life. 
 Under the influence of a companion, a 
 year in advance of him, he had imbibed at 
 college notions of infidelity, and was led 
 to deny the God whose Gospel his father 
 preached. But as in the case of Paul, the 
 Saviour whom he despised had His hand 
 upon him, had him reserved for a purpose 
 from which he could no more escape than 
 he could from Mother Earth, who holds 
 with an unseen, but relentless grasp all her 
 children on her bosom. 
 
 One night while traveling alone through 
 the country he was shown to his room by 
 the landlord who apologized for placing 
 him next door to a dying man, but assured 
 him it was the best he could do that n ight. 
 All night Judson could hear the dying 
 groans, and the queerest fancies took pos- 
 
ADONIRAM JUDSON. 5 
 
 session of his mind. “Suppose it were 
 he ? What of his soul?” It was in vain 
 that he assured himself there was no God; 
 these thoughts kept coming in spite of 
 himself. He felt ashamed, and wondered 
 what his infidel friend would say if he 
 knew it. But for all that, he got no sleep 
 that night, and dressing next morning 
 with unrefreshed mind and body he went 
 to the office to ask about the man whose 
 groans had ceased in the early dawn, and 
 learned that he was dead. “Who is the 
 poor fellow?” Judson asked. “It is a 
 “Mr. E.” “Mr. E.! Great God ! is it pos¬ 
 sible?” Yes, it was possible, and none 
 other than his old-time infidel friend who 
 had gone to learn the reality of the terri¬ 
 ble fact which he had taught Judson to 
 regard as an idle fiction. 
 
 He had no more heart to travel, and 
 returned home a very miserable, but con¬ 
 siderably wiser man. There followed a 
 period of severe trial for his soul, the 
 agony of which I have neither time nor 
 language to describe. In this sad condi- 
 tion he entered Andover Theological Sem¬ 
 inary, but neither as a candidate for the 
 
■6 
 
 ONE HOUR WITH 
 
 ministry nor yet a professor of religion. 
 At last his troubled heart found peace in 
 the Saviour, and thenceforward “the Love 
 of Christ” became the theme of his life, 
 and was the song that engaged his dying 
 breath. 
 
 He joined the Congregational Church 
 May 28th, 1809. Having once acknowl¬ 
 edged Christ as his Master, like Paul, he 
 measured all his acts by the rule of God’s 
 pleasure. He wrote the sentence : “Is it 
 pleasing to God” on different articles of 
 furniture in his room, just as the Holy 
 Spirit had written it in deeper lines upon 
 the tablet of his heart. 
 
 The last thing in the world he would 
 have thought of as an ambitious youth, 
 was the life of a poor, despised mis¬ 
 sionary. But the Lord didn’t consult him 
 about it anv more than he did Paul on 
 the same subject when He said, “Depart, 
 I will send thee forth far hence to the 
 Oentiles.” The resistless current of God’s 
 providence bore him on in a* way he knew 
 not whither. Chance, some people would 
 say, put into his hands a sermon by 
 Dr. Claudius Buchanan, a former chaplain 
 
AD ON I RAM JUDSON. 
 
 i 
 
 of the East India Company, on the “Star in 
 the East.” There was nothing remarkable 
 in the sermon itself, but with some pecu¬ 
 liar power it attracted his mind to the 
 heathen of far off India, and he could not 
 rid himself of the impression that he ought 
 to go and declare to them the riches of 
 God’s Grace. 
 
 In the meantime, .the Spirit was at work 
 elsewhere. The same thing was in the 
 hearts of four boys in college at Williams- 
 town, who bore the now famous names of 
 Samuel J. Mills, Jr., James Richards, 
 Luther Rice and Gordon Hall. These 
 used to go out at night to an old haystack 
 near by—the place is now marked by a 
 monument—and wrestle with God con¬ 
 cerning the burden on their souls. They 
 knew nothing of Judson, nor he of them, 
 but God brought them together at An¬ 
 dover, and the spark on each heart attract¬ 
 ed that of the others, and burning all 
 together, consumed them with such a flame 
 of desire that they determined to go. 
 
 But how ? “How can they preach except 
 they be sent,” says Paul. They were 
 going as lambs among wolves, from whom 
 
8 
 
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 they must expect hate rather than love ; 
 destruction, not nourishment. So far as 
 they knew, there were none at home who 
 cared aught for the heathen, and there was 
 nobody to feed them while they preached. 
 And further, although Judson’s ambitions 
 are now crucified, his father's for him are 
 not, and who ever loved a father as Jud- 
 son did his, that would not shrink from 
 bringing a bitter disappointment to his 
 old age ? His mother’s and his sister’s 
 love—how could he break their hearts ? 
 Ah! me, how little we can appreciate 
 this. I pass it over in a few cold words, 
 but it has been almost a death struggle 
 with many a man and woman who left 
 home and native land for the Gospel’s 
 sake. If my old room-mate and comrade, 
 who is now in Japan, were here he might 
 make you understand what it means to get 
 letters blurred with tears and signed with 
 a trembling hand, “Your old broken¬ 
 hearted Mother.” 
 
 So there they were ! What could they 
 do with the sea in front, mountains of 
 difficulty on either side and an Egyptian 
 army of opposition behind ? Like the 
 children of Israel, they “went forward.” 
 
ADONIRAM JUDSON. 
 
 9 
 
 There being no missionary organization 
 in America to which they could appeal, 
 they wrote to the London Missionary So¬ 
 ciety and anxiously awaited a reply. Mean¬ 
 while the Congregational General Associa¬ 
 tion of Massachusetts met, and four of the 
 boys, including Judson, applied to them 
 for support while they preached in India. 
 It was an appeal which could not be re¬ 
 sisted, and in June, 1810, this Association 
 formed a Board of Foreign Missions. The 
 first ever appointed by any body of Chris¬ 
 tians in America. The Almighty rod was 
 stretched across the sea, and they were to 
 walk across on dry land. 
 
 On January 11th, 1811, Judson was sent 
 by the new Board to get the co-operation 
 of the London Missionary Society, for it 
 was feared that unassisted they would not 
 be able to support the missionaries. On 
 his journey to England the ship in which 
 he sailed was captured by a French vessel, 
 and the impatient young preacher had his 
 faith sorely tried by a tedious delay in 
 France, part of which was spent in prison. 
 
 I cannot stop to tell how he finally 
 reached London, nor why it was a blessing 
 
10 ONE HOUR WITH 
 
 to American Missions that his visit was 
 fruitless, but will meet him at his wed¬ 
 ding, February 5th, 1812. God had pre¬ 
 pared a helper for him. He had won her 
 heart and now coveted her hand. 
 
 Miss Ann Hasseltine,who that day added 
 u Judson” to her name, was one of the nob¬ 
 lest women God ever made, and was in 
 every way worthy of the princely man she 
 ' married. Judson was ordained next day at 
 Salem, and, on February 19th, set sail with 
 Mr. and Mrs. Newell for Calcutta, India. 
 
 But he is not yet prepared for his work. 
 Remember he is a Congregationalist, sub¬ 
 stituting sprinkling for baptism, and ad¬ 
 ministering that ordinance alike to un¬ 
 conscious babe and converted adult. On 
 that long voyage he had time for reflection, 
 and the question came, that if God con¬ 
 verted heathen hearts, must he therefore 
 baptize their children and servants as he 
 ought to do if baptism really took the 
 place of circumcision, according to the 
 teaching of his church. 
 
 Besides, he had to study the subject well, 
 for the Baptists of England had already 
 sent Carey, Marshman and Ward to India, 
 
AD ON IR AM JUDSON. 
 
 11 
 
 and they would call upon him to give a 
 reason for the faith that was in him. Yes, 
 he must study the subject. Must prepare 
 for war in time of peace. And he did. 
 Alone, with God and his Bible, on that 
 little ship sailing like a speck between the 
 boundless sky and apparently boundless 
 sea, he sought for the proof of his error, 
 but that same Power which was shaping 
 his life led him to the truth instead. He 
 became convinced that the Baptists were 
 right! 
 
 It was a most uncomfortable and dan¬ 
 gerous conclusion. It was against all his 
 childhood training and Seminary study. 
 His father was still preaching and prac¬ 
 ticing the doctrine of infant baptism, and 
 worse than all, his wife, herself a bold 
 and independent thinker, declared she 
 never would be a Baptist. Then, how could 
 he separate from those boon companions 
 in the missionary work, for whom he enter¬ 
 tained a love necessarily peculiar, warm, 
 and deep ' Moreover, it was a question of 
 meat and bread. If he severed his connec¬ 
 tion with the Board which he had called 
 into existence in America, who would sup- 
 
12 
 
 ONE HOUR WITH 
 
 port him? The Baptists there were still 
 busy beginning at Jerusalem, and had no 
 time to go over and help Macedonia. 
 
 At this time he was tempted to believe 
 that after all, these matters were not so 
 important, and that holding them as his 
 own private views, and remaining a mem¬ 
 ber of the Congregational Church, he could 
 draw support from it, and at the same time 
 spare the feelings, and save the friendship 
 of his loved ones at home, to say nothing 
 of keeping peace and harmony in his own 
 family. 
 
 We may realize the strength of this trial 
 when we remember the great number who 
 are convinced that the Scriptures do not 
 teach sprinkling and infant baptism, and 
 yet, rather than be disturbed in the various 
 relations of life into which their religious 
 beliefs enter, not only refuse to correct 
 their own error, but give countenance and 
 support to its practice upon others. They 
 convince themselves that it is unimportant, 
 and so find ease of conscience. There is 
 much to excuse, but nothing to justify 
 them, and it was the knowledge of this 
 that brought Judson out of the fiery temp- 
 
ADONIRAM JUDSON. 13 
 
 tation with his garments unsinged, and his 
 countenance “like the morning.” 
 
 Soon after this his wife yielding to 
 the plain teaching of the Scriptures re¬ 
 nounced the error of her fathers for the 
 truth of her God, and when they landed in 
 Calcutta, it was the feet of Baptist Mis¬ 
 sionaries that pressed the soil of “India’s 
 Coral Strand.” 
 
 . In prompt obedience to their Lord’s 
 commands, they sought and obtained bap¬ 
 tism at the hands of the Baptist Mission¬ 
 aries. To my mind, this is one of the most 
 important and sublime events in the his¬ 
 tory of the world. Let us see. There they 
 go with the Missionary “down into the 
 water ” as the Eunuch went with Phillip. 
 What does it mean to them?. They are 
 alone, strangers in a strange land, among 
 a people who know not how to bless, and 
 who mutter their curses, or express their 
 contempt in an unknown tongue. An 
 ocean and a continent stretch between 
 them and all who love them, and by this 
 voluntary act they are fixing with their 
 own hand a yet more impassable gulf be¬ 
 tween them, while starvation stares them 
 
14 
 
 ONE HOUR WITH 
 
 in the face. But it had been commanded, 
 and they had no alternative but obedience. 
 So, with calm, unfaltering, unhesitating 
 hearts, they are baptized in the name of the 
 Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and “come 
 straightway up out of the water.” No one 
 saw the Spirit descending, nor heard the 
 voice in the air, but they felt His power 
 in their peaceful hearts, and their souls 
 caught the whisper, “Ye are my beloved 
 disciples, in thee I am well pleased.” 
 
 Their work of preparation is done. They 
 are ready now for their task. 
 
 One of his College companions, Luther 
 Bice, had also reached India on a different 
 ship from Judson, and during the voyage, 
 had like him become a Baptist. Evidently 
 a sea voyage did not agree with the Mis¬ 
 sionaries. It was hard to believe in 
 sprinkling with a Baptist Bible in mid¬ 
 ocean. It made one think too much of 
 Enon, and the one who chose it as a place 
 of baptism because “there was much water 
 there.” 
 
 Bice returned to America to carry the 
 news to the Baptists that God had thrust 
 upon them this great mission work, and 
 
ADONIRAM JUDSON. 15 
 
 its announcement electrified them from 
 Maine to Alabama. They at once took up 
 the long neglected duty and formed plans 
 for the support of the Judsons. And this 
 marked an era in their growth at home. 
 
 I need hardly mention, in this connection, 
 the well known fact that those denomina¬ 
 tions which have shown the greatest zeal 
 in sending the Gospel to foreign lands have 
 had the largest growth at home. And what 
 is true of denominations at large, holds 
 equally true with individual churches. 
 To disregard the last great command seems 
 to bring on a church the Saviour’s curse, 
 and like the fig tree it withers away. I once 
 heard Dr. Jno. A. Broadus say, that when 
 Christianity ceases to grow at the circum¬ 
 ference it begins to decay at the centre. 
 The most casual glance at history demon¬ 
 strates the truth of his statement. 
 
 The ever present and busy hand of God 
 was seen, not only in arousing His slum¬ 
 bering people at home, but in the way He 
 located the Missionaries, without consult¬ 
 ing them one way or the other. After 
 much wandering and anxiety, Judson went 
 to Madras to work where he could expect 
 
16 
 
 ONE HOUR WITH 
 
 the protection of the English government 
 which had possession of India. But the 
 East India Company, which had control of 
 matters and were at work there for money, 
 did not want the natives disturbed by the 
 teacher of a new religion, and so ordered 
 him to leave. There was only one of two 
 ways. He must go to England, and give 
 up his work altogether, or to Rangoon in 
 Burmah, a country governed by a heathen 
 tyrant who could take the life of any one 
 in his kingdom whenever he chose—and 
 the trouble was, he was always choosing. 
 It was clear he could not go to England. 
 So the only thing left was to go to Ran¬ 
 goon. With the Bible in one hand, and 
 their lives in the other, the man and his 
 wife followed on, not knowing where they 
 were being led. “God having drawn 
 around them the relentless cord of His 
 Providence,” soon showed them that the 
 place was selected with a wisdom which 
 they did not possess. For, as Dr. Edward 
 Judson says, Rangoon was the center of 
 Burman commercial life and the key to 
 that part of Asia. 
 
 And now began a long period of toil 
 
ADONIRAM JUDSON. 17 
 
 with no visible result to encourage. Any 
 of us can work when our eyes are glad¬ 
 dened now and then by the fruit of our 
 labor, but when it comes to years and 
 years of unbroken effort to no apparent 
 purpose, the stoutest among us get dis¬ 
 couraged and weep with Elijah under the 
 Juniper. 
 
 Judson had no language. He had no 
 help in learning the Burman tongue, and 
 they had no care to know his. God gave 
 him a child in September, and then crushed 
 his heart by taking it away in May. After 
 a long while his health failed, and he had 
 to take a voyage to save his life. But 
 without receiving the benefit he expected, 
 he returned home after months of agoniz¬ 
 ing toil and travel. 
 
 Worst of all, the Brethren at home, who 
 could not appreciate the difficulties of his 
 situation, began to complain that there 
 were no converts. They forgot that Jud¬ 
 son had no power to hurry the Holy Spirit 
 in His work. He wrote to a friend at 
 home, “If nothing can satisfy them, beg 
 them to give us bread. If they are unwil¬ 
 ling to give us bread, beg them not to 
 
18 
 
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 hinder others who will; and if we live 
 twenty or thirty years they may hear from 
 us again.” Alas, if Judson were the only 
 man wounded, and his the only work 
 injured by our impatient demand for 
 visible results, it would not be so bad. In 
 our forgetfulness of the Missionary’s dif¬ 
 ficulties, and of the fact that he can only 
 labor while God’s spirit gives the increase, 
 we have left too many noble men without 
 sympathy on fields where they needed all 
 we could have given. It is hard for a man 
 to sacrifice all the world for a work so 
 onerous that he staggers under it as one 
 who bears a grievous burden, and then to 
 feel the dagger of criticism, pointed and 
 poisoned by the complaints of his brethren, 
 driven into his heart by hands that should 
 have given aid. My soul is stirred with 
 joy and praise by the glad news God 
 allows some of our workers to send of 
 conversions and baptisms, but a yet deep¬ 
 er chord is touched by those patient toilers 
 who report— u we have but few results to 
 show; yet our hopes are as bright as the 
 promises of God.” Brother, if you will 
 not give them bread, do not hinder those 
 who will! 
 
ADONIRAM JUDSON. 19 
 
 But Judson’s sky grows darker yet. 
 By his judicious conduct he had made 
 friends with the Governor of the Rangoon 
 Province, but while he was making the 
 unfortunate journey already mentioned, 
 the King put another in his place who 
 ordered all white people to leave the 
 country at once. One by one the ships 
 in Rangoon harbor sailed away till only 
 one was left. Mr. Hough and his wife, 
 who had been sent to help the Judsons, 
 went aboard this to save their lives. 
 After much persuasion they prevailed on 
 Mrs. Judson to go with them. But she 
 could not bear the idea of her husband’s 
 returning and finding her gone, so she 
 went back alone to wait for him, and, if 
 necessary, to die at her post, the only white 
 person that dared the wrath of the bloody 
 Governor ! At last her companion came, 
 and in a way I have no time to tell, God 
 kept them from death. 
 
 At length, after six long years of wait¬ 
 ing, working and praying, God’s Spirit 
 quickened the soul of a heathen by the 
 name of Moung Nau. Starvation, death 
 and persecution threatened him on every 
 
20 ONE HOUR WITH 
 
 side, but when he heard the voice of Jesus, 
 he rose up and followed after. 
 
 For the toiling Missionaries day was 
 dawning. They beheld the “Sun of Right¬ 
 eousness arising with healing in his 
 wings.” They had waited patiently on the 
 Lord and he had performed it. The same 
 God who said, “Go and preach,” said also, 
 “Wait and know that I am the Lord.” So 
 they went, preached and waited. 
 
 In November two others were converted 
 and persecutions began in earnest. 
 
 Judson thought it best to take his little 
 band to Chittagong, where he could get 
 protection from the English Government. 
 But Providence interposed again, this 
 time through the three new-born souls, 
 who refused to flee, and remained to en¬ 
 dure suffering like good soldiers of the 
 Cross. “In that dark hour the Spirit of 
 God worked mightily,” and seven more 
 passed from death unto life. There follows 
 a long period of trial and busy work with 
 hundreds of people, who, for fear of death, 
 stole in by night to seek the way of salva¬ 
 tion. But we must pass it by. And yet, 
 though we do but glance at this man, busy 
 
ADONIRAM JUDSON. 
 
 n 
 
 with inquiring souls, he makes a picture 
 which can never be forgotten. He had 
 kindled a strange, new light in that mid¬ 
 night land,and above the discordant sounds 
 from the jungles of outer darkness, rang 
 his clear, sweet call to life. Some, like 
 beasts of prey, attracted by the wondrous 
 sight, drew near and gnashed upon him 
 with their teeth, but dared not enter the 
 charmed circle to do him hurt. Others 
 entered and lingered for awhile with timid ‘ 
 hesitation in the dim borderland of twi¬ 
 light, and then, with stealthy step and 
 furtive glance, shrank back into the black¬ 
 ness of despair. Still, others, chained by 
 the music of the calling voice and the 
 matchless beauty of the Light, came under 
 the full blaze of its Glory, and found peace 
 and safety for their souls. 
 
 In the meantime, the Baptists at home 
 were growing cold and needed something 
 to stir them up to send recruits for the 
 work that had grown too large for Judson 
 to manage. Nobody here would do it, 
 Judson could not leave his work, and 
 Mrs. Judson would not desert him. What 
 was to he done ? Only this—God took away 
 
ONE HOUR WITH 
 
 y 22 
 
 the wife’s health and forced her back home. 
 She was gone a little over two years and 
 returned with two more Missionaries, 
 Mr. and Mrs. Wade, after having deeply 
 stirred the Brethren in America. 
 
 While she was gone, Judson, in com¬ 
 pany with a Dr. Price, visited the King, 
 whose capital was at Ava, to get some re¬ 
 lief for the persecuted Christians. To 
 their joy and surprise they were not only 
 graciously treated, but received the gift of 
 a lot in Ava, on which to build another 
 mission house! With joyful and thankful 
 hearts they returned to Rangoon to make 
 preparations for entering this open door. 
 The Wades were to take charge of the 
 church in Rangoon, while the Judsons oc¬ 
 cupied the new field in Ava. 
 
 But a year passed before they could 
 complete their arrangements, and when 
 they reached Ava again they found the 
 King surrounded by a new set of coun¬ 
 selors, who knew and cared nothing for 
 Judson. The worst came soon after when 
 war broke out between England and Bur- 
 mah, and all white men in Ava were thrown 
 into prison as spies. It was in vain that 
 
ADONIRAM JUDSON. 
 
 23 
 
 Mrs. Judson tried to show that her hus¬ 
 band was an American and in no wise con¬ 
 nected with England. The Burman Mon¬ 
 arch was too dull to see any difference be¬ 
 tween one white skin and another. 
 
 Mr. Judson was cast into the death- 
 prison and shackled with live pairs of 
 irons. His wife was allowed her liberty, 
 but all her property was taken from her. 
 She was left in extreme poverty, and for¬ 
 bidden the privilege for which she begged 
 so hard—the comfort of seeing and minis¬ 
 tering to her suffering husband. He was 
 in a foul, loathsome, filthy place which 
 was full of vile odors and poisoned air. 
 In here were prepared tortures which 
 reached the limit, not only of the body to 
 endure, but of the human eye to behold. 
 Consequently, as if in fear that the heart 
 of even the savage executioner would fail 
 him, as he inflicted the dreadful pangs, 
 they named the place, “ Let-ma-yoon,” 
 which means, “Hand, shrink not.” 
 
 Judson has very little to say about this 
 period of his life. One of his fellow suf¬ 
 ferers thus describes the prison : “It had 
 never been washed, or even swept since it 
 
24 
 
 ONE HOUR WITH 
 
 was built. This gave a kind of fixedness, 
 or permanency to the fetid odors until the 
 very floors and walls were saturated with 
 them, and joined in emitting the pest. 
 Putrid remains of animal and vegetable 
 stuff which needed no broom to make it 
 move on — the stale fumes from thou¬ 
 sands of tobacco pipes—the scattered ejec¬ 
 tions of the pulp and liquid from their 
 everlasting betel, and other nameless 
 abominations still more disgusting, which 
 covered the floor, made it impossible to 
 say what it was like, and generated creep¬ 
 ing things that very soon reconciled me to 
 the plunder of the greater portion of my 
 dress. ” 
 
 In this fearful place, without wholesome 
 food, or air, or light, Judson lay in irons, 
 sometimes strung with other prisoners on 
 a bamboo pole, which left his back on the 
 ground and lifted his feet in the air. It is 
 not strange that a naturally neat and sensi¬ 
 tive man should have taken the prison 
 fever. He would have died, but that the 
 Lord gave his faithful wife favor with the 
 Governor of the North Gate. She had 
 been busy all this while in his behalf. 
 
ADONIRAM JUDSON. 
 
 25 
 
 Amid insults and injuries, neglect, indif¬ 
 ference, tantalizing hopes and wretched 
 fears; with aching head and limbs and 
 heart, she had flitted like a shadow between 
 the palace, to beg for her husband, and her 
 hut, to weep over her failure. At last her 
 eloquence of speech, powerfully reinforced 
 by the sublimer eloquence of her beautiful 
 life, touched the heart of the North Gov¬ 
 ernor, and, although he had no power to 
 release the prisoner, he gave her permis¬ 
 sion to remove him to the outer prison, a 
 place not quite so bad as the death hole, 
 and to this measure of mercy he added the 
 privilege of his being nursed by his wife. 
 The Governor three times received inti¬ 
 mations to kill the white prisoners, but on 
 account of Mrs. Judson he refused to do it. 
 
 While the Missionary was slowly re¬ 
 covering, his wife, who was constantly by 
 his side, received a summons one day to 
 appear immediately before the Governor. 
 In great fear and dread she went, but to 
 her surprise she found the haughty official 
 in an excellent good humor. He detained 
 her in the palace for some time until a 
 servant came in and said,‘‘They are gone.” 
 
ONE HOUR WITH 
 
 26 
 
 He then informed the puzzled wife that 
 orders had been given to remove the pris¬ 
 oners, and he had sent for her that she 
 might be spared the pain of the sight. 
 
 In meantime, the wretches, more dead 
 than alive, were chained together, two and 
 two, and were being driven like hogs along 
 toward Oung-pen-la. It was the first time 
 they had seen the sky in eleven months. 
 They did not go more than a half mile be¬ 
 fore their bare feet were blistered, and 
 very soon they were walking simply on a 
 mass of raw flesh, to which the sand and 
 rocks, over which they were trudging in 
 the hot sun, felt like a bed of burning 
 coals. It is no wonder that Judson wanted 
 to lie down and die in the cool water of a 
 river through which they were driven, but 
 he repented of the thought and staggered 
 on. One of the poor fellows fell down on 
 the road side and died. Judson leaned on 
 his companion in chains till both were ex¬ 
 hausted ; then a slave helped him along 
 till he could go no farther, and he too 
 gave up the struggle. For some strange 
 reason he was put into a cart and carried 
 on—I say strange reason—it was because 
 
ADONIRAM .TUDSON. 
 
 27 
 
 God had yet other work for him to do. 
 When they reached Oung-pen-la they were 
 put into prison, and their feet again 
 strung up on bamboo poles until mid¬ 
 night, with no way to get rid of the 
 swarms of mosquitoes which inflicted 
 upon the raw flesh of their feet the most 
 excruciating torture. 
 
 I cannot tell of the agony of suspense 
 that possessed the wife, as she went from 
 one to another, begging to know the desti¬ 
 nation and fate of her husband. It was 
 the day in which she probably felt the 
 keenest anguish of her life—but the record 
 of her suffering is in the Book of Accounts 
 —and that is enough. With the greatest 
 difficulty she at last learned whither they 
 had taken Mr. Judson, and followed. After 
 a tortuous journey she reached Oung-pen- 
 la and rented a little room near the prison 
 where she 1 resumed the nursing of the suf- 
 fering and almost dying preacher. To 
 this burden, which was both heavy and 
 light, because she loved him, was added 
 the care of their little daughter, who was 
 now stricken with small pox, a malady 
 to which she herself very soon succumbed. 
 
ONE HOUR WITH 
 
 28 
 
 It was more than flesh and blood could 
 stand, and they must have all died, had 
 not God raised them up a friend in the 
 person of a native cook, who cared for 
 them till all were better. 
 
 The war was drawing to a close and the 
 English were everywhere victorious. To 
 save himself, the cowardly King got the 
 very man, whom, for no cause on earth, 
 he had punished so terribly, to come and 
 assist him in his negotiations for peace. 
 So, after lying in Oung-pen-la prison for six 
 months,. Judson went to the palace of the 
 King to act as his interpreter, and later as 
 one of the Commissioners of Peace. He re¬ 
 membered One who had prayed, 64 Father, 
 forgive them, they know not what they 
 do,” and with undiminished love for the 
 souls of his persecutors he undertook their 
 case, and showed that same wisdom in 
 dealing with the affairs of a nation that he 
 had exhibited in guiding the fortunes of 
 a struggling church. 
 
 When everything was quiet again, he 
 was offered a position of honor and trust 
 under the English Government with a 
 salary of $3,000 per year, but he had gone 
 
AD OK IK AM JUDSON. 29 
 
 to Burmah for souls—not dollars—and it 
 cost him no effort to decline what would 
 have been to some a tempting offer. 
 
 Beginning his mission work anew with 
 unabated vigor, he found that the wolves 
 had scattered his little flock at Rangoon. 
 Getting them in the best shape he could, he 
 made his headquarters now at Amherst. 
 
 It was here the great sorrow of his life 
 came. With a heart full of yearning for 
 his Burman churches he had gone on an¬ 
 other dangerous journey to Ava, to pro¬ 
 cure for them relief from persecution. 
 While carrying on for the English negoti¬ 
 ations for a commercial treaty, to which 
 was attached the clause granting religious 
 toleration, his patience and faith were put 
 to a severe test by the rejection of the 
 very part of the treaty about which he was 
 most anxious. He made every effort to 
 finish the tedious work and hurry back to 
 his wife, who was writing by every op¬ 
 portunity of her work in the Mission, 
 which she still carried bravely on. One 
 day, while in high hopes that he would 
 soon see her again, a sealed letter was put 
 in his hand, bearing the tidings that she 
 
30 one hour with 
 
 had gone from him forever. The strain of 
 their prison life had undermined her 
 health, and while toiling like a heroine at 
 her post during her husband’s absence, she 
 was stricken with fever again, and sur¬ 
 rounded by friends—yet lonely without 
 her beloved—she. went to her reward, Oc¬ 
 tober 24th, 1826. Let us not intrude on 
 his sorrow. There are some things too 
 sacred to be gazed upon or talked about. 
 
 Mrs. Judson was greatlv beloved bv the 
 Burmese Christians. It was a sight to 
 engage the attention of angels—these once 
 idolaters and savages consoling them¬ 
 selves with the thought that they would 
 meet their “White Mother” again at the 
 feet of Jesus ! 
 
 Soon after this his little daughter Maria, 
 his only remaining comfort, died, and 
 about six months later he received news 
 that his aged father had passed away, in 
 America. Thus, at the age of thirty-nine, 
 he had learned the true meaning of the 
 Scripture—“Whom the Lord loveth, he 
 chasteneth.” 
 
 He sought to forget sorrow in his work, 
 and reinforcements coming from America, 
 
A DON I RAM JUDSON. 
 
 HI 
 
 lie enlarged it, till his eye was gladdened 
 by several active churches. Rangoon, his 
 first love, gathered itself together under a 
 native preacher, and, although people 
 thought it was utterly blotted out from 
 the face of the earth, it grew out of its 
 ashes until it became one of the most 
 flourishing of all the Burman Churches. 
 Ten years ago this Mission had 89 churches 
 with 3,700 members. This was only fifty- 
 five years after the time when neither 
 anxious friend nor hating foe could find 
 the slightest trace of its existence. 
 
 In 1827 Judson made Maulmain his cen¬ 
 tral station, where in the face of bitter op¬ 
 position he gathered a band of believers 
 who endured persecution like the Saints 
 of old, and died, some of them, rejoicing 
 in Christ. 
 
 I must pass that period of his life given 
 to evangelizing the “wild men”—called in 
 their tongue Karens—-and to carrying the 
 Gospel to Central Burmah, and will only 
 mention that the need of men was so great, 
 and the Brethren were so tardy in supply¬ 
 ing the needs of the Mission that he gave 
 all the money he had to the work, while 
 
32 
 
 ONE HOUR WITH 
 
 those who ought to have done it, sat in 
 their ease at home with ears deaf, alike to 
 the pitiful cry of the lost, and to the com¬ 
 mands of the Lord. Let us not say too 
 much about it. So many of us are in glass 
 houses. 
 
 It is impossible to describe his busy life 
 at this period. He was wanted and called 
 for everywhere. Wild Karen and bigotted 
 Burman alike, aroused by the Spirit of 
 God, came to him asking, 4 • What must we 
 do to be saved?” and through him the Lord 
 led hundreds to the Cross. 
 
 In 1834, about eight years after the 
 death of his wife, he married the widow of 
 George D. Boardman, his beloved fellow- 
 worker who had died several years before. 
 
 He finished this year, what is, possibly, 
 the most important work of his life, that 
 had been faithfully and carefully carried 
 on all this weary while. His scholarly 
 attainments must not be forgotten. When 
 the time came to give the Burman the 
 Bible in his own language the Lord had 
 the man ready to do the work. I have no 
 time to make you appreciate the difficul¬ 
 ties of this herculean task. He gave the 
 
ADONIRAM JUDSON. 
 
 33 
 
 books out to the heathen by sections, as 
 they would be finished, and in 1834 they 
 had it all, together with many tracts, trea¬ 
 tises and catechisms, designed for their 
 instruction. 
 
 It is an epoch in the history of any na¬ 
 tion when the Bible is printed in its own 
 tongue. 
 
 But Judson’s chief delight was in preach¬ 
 ing, and nothing but its tremendous im¬ 
 portance ever held him to the tedious work 
 of translating. The paper that bore the 
 record of his determination to do it was 
 found blotted with tears. When it was 
 finished, he felt like a bird out of its cage. 
 “Thanks be to God,” said he, “I can now 
 say that I have attained.” Falling on his 
 knees, and imploring forgiveness for all 
 the sins that had marred it, he dedicated 
 the precious volume to the Glory of God. 
 
 But to his sorrow he found that his 
 work in this line was not yet done. In 
 order that the finished Bible, and the lan¬ 
 guage he had so perfectly mastered, might 
 be used to their full advantage, the neces¬ 
 sity of a Burmese dictionary was urged 
 upon him. This, for a long time, he flatly 
 
84 ONE HOUR WITH 
 
 refused to make. He was literally pos¬ 
 sessed by the desire to preach. What was 
 to be done? The dictionary was a necessity, 
 and the only man capable of making one 
 would not stop preaching long enough to 
 do it. The Lord arranged the matter in 
 His own way. He took away Judson’s 
 voice, and the almost speechless preacher 
 just had to do the work required of him. 
 Oh! Mysterious Providence, how hard and 
 how useless for weak mortals to “kick 
 against the pricks. 1 ’ 
 
 With a disappointed, though cheerful 
 heart, he now undertook the much dreaded 
 work, and at the time of his death had it 
 so nearly finished that others had no diffi¬ 
 culty in completing it. 
 
 Judson had been frequently urged to 
 visit America in the interest of his Mis¬ 
 sion, and, although his heart yearned for 
 the sight of his native land, he felt as if 
 he could not leave his post. At length, 
 after an absence of thirty-two years, it 
 seemed as if the Lord’s time for him to go 
 had come, and so He laid Mrs. Judson on 
 a bed of sickness, and in hope of saving 
 her life, Mr. Judson was under the neccs- 
 
ADON1RAM JUDSON. 
 
 85 
 
 sity of taking her to her far-off home. On 
 their homeward journey their vessel put 
 in at the Isle of France, where Mrs. Jud- 
 son grew so much better that they deter¬ 
 mined to endure the trial of separation, 
 she going on to America alone, and he re¬ 
 turning to his work. But the hand of the 
 Lord again interposed. The wife relapsed, 
 and they both pursued their journey to¬ 
 gether. As the ship proceeded she grew 
 worse, and, approaching St. Helena, she 
 died September 1st, 1845, and was buried 
 in that Island Rock, famous to the world 
 as the great Napoleon’s prison, but known 
 to the angels as the resting place of the 
 more truly great Sarah B. Judson. I 
 would love to tell you something about 
 her beautiful and heroic life, but 1 must 
 go on to America with her • grief-stricken 
 husband. 
 
 Arrived at home, he traveled over the 
 country and was received everywhere with 
 the greatest respect and love. No con¬ 
 quering hero could have had greater honor 
 shown him. By his presence, his weak 
 voice, and, above all, the sight of the 
 marks of Jesus Christ which he bore about 
 
36 
 
 ONE HOUR WITH 
 
 in his body, and the more thorough knowl¬ 
 edge of his great work, he aroused the en¬ 
 thusiasm of the people to a high pitch, 
 and the cause of missions took on new 
 life. At last his heart turned to his real 
 home in Burmah, and in less than a year 
 after his arrival in America we find him 
 on his way back, embarking July 1.1th, 
 1846, having married, on the 2nd, 
 Miss Emily Chubbuck—better known at 
 that time as the spicy authoress,FannyFor- 
 rester. This match dissatisfied everybody 
 on both sides, but it turned out for the 
 best, for she was an excellent woman, in 
 every way worthy of the two great women 
 whose successor she was. 
 
 Reaching Burmah, he took up his work 
 with unabated energy in Maulmain and 
 Rangoon, but-suffered agony in the latter 
 place from sickness in his family, and no 
 physician to relieve it. At the same time 
 the government oppressed him sorely, and 
 Catholic priests persecuted him bitterly, 
 from neither of which he could escape, for 
 the monsoon was raging and no ship dared 
 sail from the harbor. 
 
 Nothing daunted, he was determined to 
 
ADONIRAM JUDSON. 
 
 get relief and enlarge his work by visiting 
 the King in Ava again, but from a strange 
 source his plans were destroyed. The 
 Baptists at home diminished their contri¬ 
 butions and he had to abandqn his purpose 
 and work in narrower limits. This, too, 
 at a time when, night after night, crowds 
 of people, at the risk of their lives, were 
 coming to learn of One who they were 
 told could save them from perdition. Oh! 
 Brethren, L fear in some way or other God 
 will make us suffer for the way we treat 
 those poor souls who cannot hear of Christ 
 * except we send them preachers. * 
 
 Money was afterwards sent, but it was 
 near his death and too late to accomplish 
 his purpose. 
 
 Returning to Maulmain, he toiled on till 
 he came to his last illness, and on that bed 
 of death it is not strange to hear him say 
 he was “at peace.” “The love of Christ” 
 was more than ever his theme, and as he 
 would lie thinking of it, happy tears would 
 steal down his cheeks. When too feeble 
 to talk, he would look up at his wife with 
 a smile on his lips and whisper, “Oh! the 
 love of Christ, the love of Christ.” 
 
QQ 
 
 f)0 
 
 ONE HOUR WITH 
 
 “He had rare! visions of Glory,” says 
 his son, “than are usually given to mor¬ 
 tals.” Yet, bright as they were, he longed 
 for a few more years of work. “ 1 will not 
 miss them,” said he to his wife, “from my 
 eternity of bliss, and I might very well 
 spare them for your sake and the hea¬ 
 then’s.” Unsurpassed consecration, that 
 was willing not only to give the world for 
 Christ, but part of heaven too! 
 
 As a last hope he was sent on a voyage 
 to the Island of Bourbon, his wife not be¬ 
 ing allowed to accompany him on account 
 of her own dangerous illness. His suffer- ' 
 ings for a while were intense, but subsided 
 in death, and, while still on shipboard, he 
 fell asleep, April 12th, 1850, and was 
 buried in Lat. 13° N., Long. 93° E. “His 
 sepulchre was the ocean, which, like his 
 sympathies, visited every shore on earth.” 
 
 I will not detain you by making an ex¬ 
 tended estimate of his character. You 
 must have noticed his absorbing love for 
 Christ and immortal souls, which led him 
 to such lengths of self-sacrifice. His ca¬ 
 pacity for suffering is no less marked. He 
 was possessed of enormous will power, 
 
ADONIltAM JUDSON. 
 
 39 
 
 and yet, he was in the hands of God, like 
 clay in the hands of the potter, and a fitter 
 vessel for His glory was never moulded. 
 The stream of his life flowed according to 
 its own sweet will along its channel, but 
 the finger of God went before him tracing 
 that channel and directing its course to 
 His own ends. 
 
 He was scholarly, broad, wise and pru¬ 
 dent. His patience and his persistence 
 were beautifully matched and balanced. He 
 waited on the Lord with calm resignation, 
 but he worked while he waited with un¬ 
 tiring energy, and the Lord rewarded him 
 here, as well as in Heaven, by making him 
 a founder and a builder. His was a work 
 of construction. He had prayed to give 
 the Bible to Burmah in her own language 
 and to build a church of one hundred 
 members. God allowed him not only to 
 make the Bible, but the most difficult part 
 of the dictionary, and blessed his eyes 
 with the sight of sixty-three churches, in 
 which seven thousand happy converts wor¬ 
 shipped the true God with a constancy 
 worthy of our emulation. There are now 
 in Burmah ninety-eight missionaries, one 
 
40 
 
 ONE IIOUK WITH 
 
 hundred and eighteen native preachers and 
 twenty-five thousand three hundred and 
 seventy-one members. 
 
 His effect on American churches was no 
 less important, for it was through him 
 that God called into existence all their 
 missionary agencies which now support 
 preachers in all parts of the world. I know 
 of no human source whence flow sweeter 
 waters than from the wellspring of this 
 godly life.