The Magazine of the Trinitarian Society

Adoniram1788Judson1850 THE WORD OF GOD TO BURMA

‘…break down your pride, and yield to the Word of God’

PART TWO ‘…WE GLORY IN TRIBULATIONS ALSO: KNOWING THAT TRIBULATION WORKETH PATIENCE’1 by C.P.Hallihan

19 QUARTERLY RECORD - Issue Number 571 - April to June 2005 The Magazine of the Trinitarian Bible Society

CRISES AND COURAGE church of ten is collected, and a native Adoniram was imprisoned in Oung-pen- teacher is set over it, and then, if you HEREIN SUFFER la: forty by thirty by five feet high; no must go, we will not say nay… This reli- ‘W I ventilation; one hundred persons of both e left Judson translating the gion will spread of itself. The emperor TROUBLE, AS AN EVIL DOER, sexes and all nationalities, nearly all , preaching, at cannot stop it.’ Faced with such heroic EVEN UNTO BONDS; BUT naked, and half famished. He lay with fet- Wlast, in Burmese, and seeing discipleship Adoniram and Ann ters on legs and ankles weighing about Burmans returning to the Shepherd and remained in Rangoon. THE WORD OF GOD IS NOT fourteen pounds, the marks of which he Bishop of their souls. Perhaps because of BOUND.’ 4 carried to his death. At night a bamboo this he was so harassed by In this demanding hour God worked pole was placed between the legs and lift- mightily, their weakness the occasion of ed so that the shoulders were on the 2 His strength. Within five months seven n 1822 the Burman Emperor became ground, the feet high in the iron rings. Burmese were converted, including the aware of the medical skills of ‘Durance vile’ assumes a vile reality. hitherto sceptical Moung Shwa-gnong, Jonathan Price, a fellow labourer Judson in his diaries passed over the and the first woman, Mah-men-la. The I anguish, crudities and cruelties in a few with Judson, and summoned him to the church grew, but Ann’s state of health court. Adoniram determined to accom- modest words. We follow his example. Of caused fear for her life. Judson took her pany him. He asked leave to work in the more concern to him were the pages of to Calcutta, arriving on the 18th of city (a church in the heart of the empire his unfinished Burmese Bible—ten years August, 1820. They spent three months would be good!), and this time was of diligent, prayerful labour. at with the English , received favourably. Before settling in with marked improvement in Ann’s Ava he must await Ann’s return, Ann’s anxious care for her husband health. Adoniram was anxious about at Rangoon. During this wait he included the preservation and ‘those few sheep that I have left in the completed translation of the transmission of his text of the Burman wilderness.…Oh, may the New Testament into Burmese, Burmese Bible: a thrilling great Shepherd feed the little flock, and and prepared a synopsis of the episode in Bible history. She gather the lambs with his arm, and as an introduc- importuned all possible carry them in his bosom’. tion to the study of the New. helpers: governors, princesses, Ann returned December 5th, generals—none were ignored. Returning to their labours in Rangoon 1823. Rangoon had eighteen From having no access at all, early in 1821, concern over Ann’s converts, a chapel, printing she came by insistent stages to health was renewed, and Adoniram press and schools, with two have daily access to her hus- A page from the Burmese Gospel of John determined that she should return to couples from band. In the midst of this the U.S. This she did, via and America to take care of the she gave birth to a daugh- the authorities as to appeal to the England, arriving in America in work. Eight days after ter, Mary Elizabeth Judson. 3 Emperor at Ava, but ineffectually. September 1822. Her nine-months stay Ann’s arrival they set out With mother and tiny Greatly discouraged, he planned to in the country stirred great interest, for Ava, where they daughter sinking into move the mission to Chittagong, under especially through the book An account arrived January 23rd, smallpox and spotted protection of the British flag. Gathering of the American Baptist Mission to the 1824. By June, Judson fever, Ann administered converts and inquirers together, warn- Burman Empire. This was written and was in prison. what comfort and help ing them of the sufferings to which they published there in the States, and made she could to would be exposed, he declared his immediate impact. From this provi- The Emperor had given The Emperor of Burma. Adoniram. They dis- intent to leave the country. His converts dence, bringing Ann to America, alone Judson a plot of ground, cussed the problem of the stood firm, willing to suffer persecution, and in ill health, there followed a with assurance of royal protection. Then Scripture manuscripts: buried in the even death, rather than renounce renewal of prayerful interest, of finan- war broke out between Burma and ground they would not survive the rainy Christ. They begged him not to leave. cial support, and some new recruits to British-; the Judsons were once season. Ann determined to sew them into ‘Stay,’ they said, ‘at least until a little the work. more regarded as ‘enemy aliens’.5 a pillow, and there, under Adoniram’s

20 21 QUARTERLY RECORD - Issue Number 571 - April to June 2005 The Magazine of the Trinitarian Bible Society head, they survived his time in Oung- ‘…And I am left alone in the wide world. work tracts and outlines were produced Ethno- pen-la. The pillow was once stolen by a My own dear family I have buried; one in and distributed—or demanded! ‘Teacher, jailer, but restored because it was too Rangoon and two in Amherst. What are you asleep? We want a writing to learn Linguistic hard. The foreign prisoners were sudden- remains for me but to hold myself in by heart.’—‘Sir, we have seen a writing Map of ly moved, Ann knew not where, nor what readiness to follow the dear departed to that tells about an eternal God. Are you Burma had become of the precious pillow. One that blessed world—Where my best the man that gives away such writings?’— of the Burman disciples went to the friends, my kindred, dwell, Where God, my ‘Are you Christ’s man? Give us a prison compound, hoping to see the pil- Saviour, reigns?’ writing that tells about Jesus Christ.’ low; instead he found the Scripture pages. Twenty thousand tracts were printed for A jailer had wanted the pillow case, but During Judson’s absence from Amherst use at a Buddhist festival, and Adoniram had thrown away the too-hard stuffing! Mr. and Mrs. Wade had arrived there— speaks of distributing almost ten thou- Mrs. Wade caring for his motherless child. sand tracts, ‘giving to none but those who ‘… ALL THINGS BUT Two months later Mr. and Mrs. ask’. In 1831, 217 people were baptized. LOSS…’ Boardman joined them,6 strengthening In September that year Adoniram jour- the work. They resolved to move the neyed amongst the , hrough many dangers, toils and mission to Moulmein, where it was and baptized the first tribal believ- snares, the sufficient Grace of God centred for the rest of Judson’s life. First ers. The ministry among the Karen Tsustained the Judsons, and at last they had the bitter-sweet task of burying, people was an enduring one, and a they were able to return together to beside Ann and Maria Judson, Mah-men- Karen Church exists still today, albeit Rangoon in March 1826. They found the la, the first woman convert. They also sorely tried and persecuted. workers scattered and mission property learned at Amherst of the death of destroyed. Famine, anarchy, an infestation senior in Massachusetts, When the first serious enquirer had of wild beasts, all convinced Adoniram to aged seventy-five. Not surprisingly the approached Judson in 1817, all that he relocate the remaining believers to forty-year-old Adoniram reveals a great had was two and a half pages, the first Amherst, and continue the mission work sense of loneliness at this time in his letters, chapters of Matthew. Now the whole in greater safety there. In September sharpened by sorrow over the seeming Bible was complete, in draft. Amidst all Adoniram had to go to Ava, scene of his tardiness of support from America. the toil and trial, anguish and affliction, loathsome imprisonment, to help the this work had groaned on. I say British negotiate a treaty there. During his ‘groaned’ advisedly—because MOULMEIN. oppo- absence Ann sank again into a fevered dis- Adoniram was the exact site of Henry Martyn in ease, and on the evening of October 24, THE SCRIPTURES this. Martyn saw preach- 1826, crying out one last time in Burmese, COMPLETED Karen Tribesmen ing as taking him from the she died, thirty-seven years old. On enduring work of transla- November 24th Adoniram at last received he congregation at Moulmein tion; but still he this trying news in Ava; on January 24th included inquirers and nineteen preached. Judson saw (1827) he returned to Amherst; on April Tscholars, a splendid nucleus for translation as hindering 24th the work in four scattered ‘zayats’, or ‘reading 7 his calling to tell the daughter, Maria rooms’. Soon the first convert was bap- Good News face to face Elizabeth, his tized and others followed. Renewed by with his beloved earthly comfort, this joyous labour Judson resumed his Burmans; but still being bereft of translation work in the Old Testament, he translated. Ann, also died, still the only person able to do so. He Both yielded themselves age two years had begun with thirty Psalms, perhaps utterly to the guidance and three needing the consolations of the sweet of the Living God, months. psalmist of Israel. Alongside the Bible Rangoon, Today it is a curious mixture of Modern and Colonial buildings 22 23 QUARTERLY RECORD - Issue Number 571 - April to June 2005 The Magazine of the Trinitarian Bible Society mortifying their own desires and even authorities came to require that all such ting to the press the last sheet of the new SARAH’S FAILING HEALTH gifts, and displaying the Apostolic spirit, establishments be ‘conducted on the plan edition of the Burmese Bible’. 8 ‘Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?’ of Mrs. Boardman’s schools at Tavoy’. n March 1841 Sarah gave birth to a Prevented from ministering among the Adoniram Judson found in Sarah Adoniram and Sarah continued their stillborn boy, Luther Judson, and her gospel-hungry Karens by the constraint Boardman a kindred spirit, who wept as ministry among the Taling people own health never fully recovered. of translation he groans, ‘the tears flow as she read the handwritten pages of the around Moulmein. Sarah addressed her- I Serampore was again chosen to be sana- I write’. The Bible was essential to the Burmese Bible. Perhaps, as well as the self to learning the language, tract torium for Adoniram and Sarah and the continuance of the Burman churches, sufferings of Christ and the Glory that translation and preparation. Adoniram four children. The sea journey afforded and at last in 1834, Judson recorded, should follow, she saw the fellowship of met daily with the Taling disciples before some relief, but no real recovery. To com- ‘Thanks be to God, I can now say I sending them out to the work, and con- pound the anguish Henry died there, just have attained. I have knelt down before ducted meetings in the zayat. The birth nineteen months old. Their journey back him with the last leaf in my hand, and of their sons, Adoniram Brown in 1837, across the assumed night- imploring his forgiveness for all the sins Elnathan in 1838 and Henry in 1839, mare proportions, yet in the worst storms which have polluted my labours in this meant that Sarah must concentrate more of all Adoniram’s experience, God blessed department, and his aid in future upon the children, and also upon him: nineteen seamen professed faith in efforts to remove the errors and imper- Adoniram’s health. In the fiftieth year of Jesus Christ, seventeen of whom he sub- fections which necessarily cleave to the his life, twenty-fifth in Burma, he was sequently deemed to have endured. They work, I have commended it to his troubled by an illness which affected his returned to Moulmein in December mercy and grace; I have dedicated it to lungs. This brought intense pain and loss 1841, and in July 1842 another baby boy his glory. May he make his own of voice, and once more a restorative sea was born, named Henry in remembrance inspired word, now complete in the voyage was thought to be needed. of the son buried at Serampore. Burman tongue, the grand instrument Adoniram sought the comforting fellow- of filling all Burma with songs of praise ship of the Serampore Mission once Sarah attended to the needs of her family, to our great God and Saviour Jesus Looking out across Moulmein () again, and found some relief. and worked steadily at a Burmese transla- Christ. Amen.’ And let all Bible-lovers tion of Pilgrim’s Progress. Two more sons say, ‘Amen!’ hisGreat sufferings Mirror Photo’s in the sacrificial labours of Having laboured to complete the were born, Charles in December 1843 Ann and Adoniram Judson in those cost- Burmese Bible, another daunting task and Edward in December 1844. Sarah ly pages. In April 1834 the thirty-one- was laid upon him by the Mission Board, was utterly worn out, prone to any dis- A SECOND MARRIAGE year-old widow married the forty-five- to write the first English-Burmese dic- ease. She took short journeys along the AND A PRINTED BIBLE year-old widower. In November 1835 tionary. He had long shrunk from this. coast, with no lasting benefit. The situa- their daughter Abigail Ann Judson was He longed to be engaged in directly tion shocked Adoniram into seeking leave eorge Boardman had died in born. declaring Christ to needy souls, and had to bring her to America. ‘The hand of 1831. His indefatigable labours no relish for the secluded work which God is heavy upon me,’ he wrote to the Gto carry the Gospel to regions Adoniram’s burden now was the labori- lexicography required. He thought it an Board. ‘The complaint to which Mrs. beyond in Central Burma, leading inex- ous work of revising his full draft of the ‘un-missionary’ task, but, again, no one Judson is subject has become so violent orably to ill health and death, is another Bible. He had a passion for improving, else was adequate to it, and the failure of that nothing but a voyage beyond the soul-stirring testimony. His wife, Sarah, reluctant to leave any task before he con- his voice prevented all preaching. The tropics can possibly protract her life had been an heroic fellow-labourer, and sidered it ‘finished’. He tells us that he young man who had thought true reli- beyond a period of a few weeks… She is now as his widow she continued the never read a chapter without pencil in gion and a Personal God to be willing to die, and I hope I am willing to work among the Karens at Tavoy. This hand, the original language text beside unreasonable, here in his maturity brings see her die, if it be the divine will… She is intrepid woman put aside the appeals of him, a dictionary close by. His object was every thought captive to the obedience of now so desperately weak, and almost friends in America to return home with ‘to bring the translation to such a state Christ, the God of his father, and faith- helpless, that all say it would be nothing her little boy. Instead she made long mis- that it may be a standard work’, and it fully takes up a work which was to but savage inhumanity to send her off sionary trails into the Karen jungles, con- was printed in 1835. In 1840 he notes ‘I occupy the greater part of the rest of his alone. The three younger children, the ducting her ‘schools’ so well that the enjoyed the great happiness of commit- life. youngest but three and a half months old,

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we must leave behind us, casting them, as stanzas:- it were, on the waters, in the hope of finding them after many days. The three My tears fall fast for thee, love; T IMELINE elder, Abby Ann, Adoniram, and How can I say Farewell! Elnathan, we take with us, to leave in their But go; thy God be with thee, love, 1812 Judson married Ann Hasseltine 1835 Abby Ann Judson born. parents’ native land.’ Thy heart’s deep grief to quell. in Bradford, Mass., and embarked for 1837–41 Martin Van Buren, U.S. President. Calcutta. 1837–1901 Victoria, Queen of England. … Napoleon begins retreat from 1837 Adoniram Brown Judson born. ‘Digest of TO AMERICA… Then gird thine armour on, love, Moscow. Scripture’ in Burmese finished. Nor faint thee by the way, 1812–14 USA and Britain at War. 1838 Elnathan Judson born. n April 26, 1845, the Judsons Till Buddh shall fall and Burma’s sons 1813 The Judsons arrived in Rangoon, 1839 Henry Judson born. with the three elder children Shall own Messiah’s sway. in connection with Felix Carey. 1841 William Henry Harrison, U.S. President. Otook ship for London, Adoniram 1814 American Baptist Board of Foreign Missions 1841 Luther Judson still-born. Henry Judson intending to spend a portion of each day They arrived in Boston, October 15, established. died. working on the Burman dictionary. This 1845. Judson was ill-prepared for the 1815 Judson’s son, Judson, 1841–45 John Tyler, U.S. President. voyage was so rough that the captain greeting that awaited him. He was not born. 1842 Henry Hall Judson born. Adoniram’s determined to put in at the Isle of well, could scarce speak above a whisper, 1816 Roger Williams Judson died. mother died, age 83, Plymouth, Mass. France. On July 5 the ship arrived at Port and his very English was become strange 1817–25 James Monroe, U.S. President. 1843 Charles Judson born. 9 1817 Judson’s in Burmese. 1844 born. Louis. Sarah was improved in health and rusty to him. But all wanted to hear 1819 Judson began public ministry in 1845 Embarked for journey to America. Sarah and they discussed separating, thinking him, and so he addressed audiences with a . First Burmese Boardman Judson died and was buried that she would now be able to continue helper beside him to repeat his whispers. convert. at St. Helena. the voyage to America alone, Adoniram Some were disappointed that he would 1820–30 George IV, King of England. Charles Judson died in Burma. returning to the work in Moulmein. It rather speak of Christ than tell of his own 1821–23 Ann visits U.S. for health reasons. 1845–49 James Polk, U.S. President. was not to be. Sarah suffered a severe labours. Visiting Ann Judson’s home- 1823 Judson’s New Testament in Burmese 1846 Adoniram Judson married Emily relapse. Finding another ship about to town, Bradford, he there learned of the completed, with an outline of the Old Chubbock at Hamilton, NY, and returned sail directly for the , the death of Charlie, one of the younger Testament. to Burma. Judsons sailed on July 25th. One month children left at Moulmein. 1824–26 The first Anglo-Burmese war. 1847 Emily Judson writes memoir of Sarah later the ship was at anchor in St. James Judson Imprisoned. Judson. Emily Francis Judson born. 10 1825 Maria Elizabeth Butterworth Judson 1849–50 Zachary Taylor, U.S. President. Bay, St. Helena. In the pre-dawn of …AND BACK TO BURMA. born. 1849 English and Burmese Dictionary September 1 Sarah Judson died, and, as 1825–29 John Adams, U.S. President. finished. dictated by the climate, was buried the nn Judson’s story was already an 1826 died. Adoniram 1850 Millard Fillmore, U.S. President. same day. The forlorn husband and chil- inspiration to many in the U.S., Judson senior died. 1850 Adoniram Judson died, April 12th. dren were at sea again the same evening. Aand amongst those moved was 1827 Maria Judson died. Charles Judson born and died the same When they had talked of parting at Port Emily Chubbock, 1829–37 Andrew Jackson, U.S. President. day. Louis in July, Sarah had penned some who had pro- 1830–37 William IV, King of England. 1854 Emily Chubbock Judson died. valedictory verses for her husband— fessed faith 1831 TRINITARIAN BIBLE SOCIETY. with what emotion he would in Christ 1833 The Oxford Movement began. 1834 William Carey died. now read 1834 Judson finished translating the Old them. I Testament. Married the widow Sarah give just Boardman. two

Dawn in the Batang Valley, St. Helena awfulsara/Flickr!

26 27 QUARTERLY RECORD - Issue Number 571 - April to June 2005 The Magazine of the Trinitarian Bible Society when eight years old. Writing under a 3rd, 1850, he resorted to the and Karens publicly bap- nom de plume she had good standing in well tried tonic of a sea voyage. tized upon the profession literary America, and Adoniram saw some On April 12th he died, and was of their faith) numbered of her work in a friend’s home. He buried at sea. The dictionary was over seven thousand. expressed regret that a person of such half done (English- Besides this, hundreds obvious gifts should devote them to the Burmese), and the throughout Burma had writing of light literature. ‘I should be glad second part died rejoicing in the to know her,’ he remarked. ‘The lady who (Burmese-English) Christian faith. He had not writes so well ought to write better. It is a would need anoth- only finished the transla- pity that such fine talents should be er hand to tion of the Bible, but had employed on such subjects.’ In January complete it. On accomplished the larger 1846 when they met, Emily agreed to April 22nd Emily, and the more difficult part write a sketch of the life of Sarah Judson. unknowing of her of the compilation of a The Notice Board of Judson Baptist Church in In June, Emily being two months short of husband’s death, Burmese dictionary. At the twenty-nine, they married.11 In July, with gave birth to a son, time of his death there were sixty-three were under the oversight of one hun- other helpers for the Mission, they Charles, who died the Emily Chubbock Judson churches established among the dred and sixty-three , embarked for Moulmein. In November same day. Soon after Burmans and Karens. These churches native pastors, and assistants. He had they arrived, Emily becoming mother to Adoniram’s death Emily returned to the laid the foundations of Edward12 and Henry. United States, and she died in June 1854, deep down in the Burman heart, where in Madison County, New York. they could never be swept away. Adoniram, still labouring with the dic- tionary, and still burdened to reach into Let Edward Judson, Sarah’s son, give the the heart of Burma with the Gospel, review:- IN MEMORIAM decided to cross the Gulf of Martaban to [His] achievements far transcended Rangoon once more. Burma was now the wildest aspirations of his youth. REV. ADONIRAM JUDSON ruled by a king more cruelly intolerant During the early years in Rangoon, than ever, whose opposition to when the mighty purpose of evangel- BORN AUG. 9, 1788 Christianity meant that missionary work izing Burma began to take definite DIES APRIL 12, 1850 must be done in utmost secrecy. During shape in his mind; even before the the day Judson worked on his dictionary; first convert, Moung Nau, was bap- MALDEN, HIS BIRTHPLACE. at night in his home he saw the local tized; when, indeed, the young THE OCEAN, HIS SEPULCHRE. Christians, risking their lives to meet him. missionary was almost forgotten by CONVERTED BURMANS, AND The stress, inadequate diet, continued his fellow-Christians at home, or sickness in his family and the intolerance merely pitied as a good-hearted THE BURMAN BIBLE of the king compelled him to withdraw to enthusiast, the outermost limit Judson’s Memorial, Plymouth, HIS MONUMENT. Massachusetts Moulmein. He had hoped that the home reached by his strong-winged hope HIS RECORD IS ON HIGH. Board would authorise him to go and face was that he might, before he died, A memorial stone inscribed with the names this fierce king; but ‘the timid and narrow build up a church of a hundred con- of Adoniram, Ann, Emily and Abigail Judson policy of his brethren in America’ did not verted Burmans, and translate the allow it. whole Bible into their language. But far more than this was accomplished In December 1847 Emily Frances Judson during the ten years in Rangoon, the was born. Judson, from sad experience, two years in Ava, and the twenty-three feared for his wife’s health, but it was he years in Moulmein. At the time of his who went into severe decline. On April death the native Christians (Burmans

The view from Mandalay Hill 28 29 QUARTERLY RECORD - Issue Number 571 - April to June 2005 The Magazine of the Trinitarian Bible Society

where Judson could not fail to find it, Endnotes knowing that he would not be able to resist

1 sitting and reading aloud until someone Romans 5.3 came to discourse with him. It worked! 2 2 Corinthians 12.9 8 Acts 9.6. I cannot forbear a pastoral 3 Ann was away from Adoniram for almost aside—how refreshing to see this spirit, twenty-eight months because of the travel- when today some with the shadow of a ling. Some of his letters at this time reveal the grain of a gift insist on the ‘right’ to use it cost of the separation, especially as he did not regardless of order, need or guidance. receive anything from her for the last ten 9 For a sharp taste of déja vu, see Part I, months of his anxious waiting. Quarterly Record No. 570, page 18. 4 2 Timothy 2.9 10 Napoleon had died there in1821. 5 See Quarterly Record No. 570, page 18. 11 The marriage offended the literary and 6 Boardman had arrived just in time to con- the religious world. The one thought that struct the coffin for little Maria, and later the brilliant ‘Fanny Forester’ was throwing recorded, ‘After leaving the grave we had a herself away on ‘an old missionary’; the delightful conversation on the kindness and other feared that the missionary cause was tender mercies of our Heavenly Father. compromised by an alliance between its Brother Judson seemed carried above his founding father and a writer of fiction. grief.’ 12 Edward, perhaps benefitting from his 7 Zayat: a public hall for meeting or shelter. stepmother’s tutelage, wrote a most affec- There is a delightful anecdote that one of tive life of his father, published in 1894, Judson’s disciples at this time, wishing to and available in full (a 72-page pdf file) on draw the Teacher back from his sorrows and the Wholesome Words Web site at to the teaching, had erected a zayat overnight www.wholesomewords.org.

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