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 THE 
 
 CHRISTIAN HERO 
 
 or THE 
 
 IJinrtftntli Ctntnri|, 
 
 By E. H. gray, 
 
 PASTOR OF THE BAPTIST CHURCH, SHELBURNB 
 FALLS, MASS. 
 
 WITH AN INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 
 
 By S. F. smith, 
 
 PASTOR OF THE FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH, NEWTOK, 
 MASS. 
 
 SECOND EDITION. 
 
 CAMBRIDGE : 
 
 E. ROBBINS & J. FORD. 
 
 1852.
 
 EntereJ accorJin? to Act of Congress, in the year 1851, 
 by Eleazer Robbins, in the Clerk's Oflice of the 
 Di.Jtrict Court of the District of Massachusett^s. 
 
 CAMBRIDGE: 
 
 STEHEOTYPED BY METCALF AND COMPANY.
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 The following little book comprises the 
 substance of two discourses, which were origi- 
 nally delivered by the author to his own peo- 
 ple ; and a copy of which, in compliance with 
 their request, was furnished for the press. 
 The object of the author, in this work, is to 
 present a bird's-eye view of the most remarka- 
 ble events connected with the character, la- 
 bors, and sufferings of Dr. Judson, and pai*- 
 ticularly to give prominence to his change of 
 denominational sentiments. This incident in 
 liis life, which seems so providential, and has 
 so important a connection with the history of 
 Baptist Missions, appears, from some cause, 
 to have been studiously concealed, or very 
 lightly passed over in those works, when 
 we might reasonably have expected to see it 
 fully and prominently set forth. In this work,
 
 special pains have been taken, as far as the 
 scope of the work will permit, to give the 
 reasons which Dr. Jadson has himself as- 
 sii^ned for his change of sentiments. 
 
 For the many facts here embodied, I am 
 indebted to the Judson Offering, Gammel's 
 History of Missions, Memoirs of Ann II. 
 Judson, Br. Judson's Work on Baptism, and 
 to a variety of otlier sources. 
 
 The first edition having been exhausted in 
 a few months, and the demand still increas- 
 ing, the work has been revised and prepared 
 for a second issue. Such as it is, this little 
 volume is again submitted to the public, with 
 the ardent desire, that wherever its voice shall 
 be heard, it may prove at least a herald to 
 the forthcoming Memoirs of one of the most 
 remarkable men of his age. 
 Shelburne Falls, Nov. \st, 1851.
 
 RECOMMENDATIONS. 
 
 {From Rev. Dr. Pattison.) 
 "Eev. E. H. Gray,— 
 
 " Dear Brother : I thank you for a copy 
 of your excellent discourse on the character, 
 labors, &c., of the late Eev. Dr. Judson. It has 
 been intimated to me that you would issue an- 
 other edition, if thought best by your friends. 
 I can say truly that I deem it adapted, with- 
 out injury to the pecuniary interest of the 
 family of Dr. Judson, who justly rely on the 
 profits of a forthcoming memoir for the means 
 of education, to contribute essentially to the 
 advancement of the cause of Missions, in the 
 promotion of which the subject was so emi- 
 nent and honored an instrument. 
 
 "R.E. Pattison. 
 
 "Newton, Dec. IQth, 1851."
 
 KECOMMEXDATIOXS. 
 
 {From Rev. Dr. Prior.) 
 " I fully concur in the above. 
 
 "John Prior. 
 
 " Cambridge, Dec. 15th, 1851." 
 
 The following resolution was passed by the 
 Franklin County Baptist Association, at their 
 late meeting, Sept. 10, 1851 : — 
 
 " Resolved, That we have read the ' Chris- 
 tian Hero of the Nineteenth Century,' or a 
 brief sketch of the most important events 
 connected with the character, sufferings, and 
 labors of the Rev. Adoniram Judson, D. D., 
 Senior Missionary of the A. B. M. U., by 
 Rev. E. H. Gray, with deep interest, and 
 believe that the cause of Missions, and the 
 interest of the denomination, would be great- 
 ly promoted by its republication."
 
 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 
 
 Our Lord's last official act on earth was to 
 commission his disciples and followers to go 
 forth everywhere pi-eaching the Word. The 
 purifying, elevating, and ennobling influences 
 of the Gospel he desired to have diffused 
 among all mankind. And, by Divine appoint- 
 ment, this diffusion was to be effected through 
 human instrumentality. Hence he made it 
 the topic of his parting instruction to them, 
 that they should see to it, to have his will in 
 this respect fulfilled. 
 
 The normal and highest state of the human 
 race on earth exists only where Christianity 
 prevails. It is only under the influence of 
 Christianity that learning is diflused among | 
 all classes of society, the arts of life are culti- \ 
 vated, useful inventions are made, and the ' 
 benefit of them secured to the inventors ; men { 
 combine their efforts for the common good :
 
 INTKODUCTORi' ESSAY. 
 
 equitable governments are maintained ; equal 
 rights prevail ; and, the selfish maxim being 
 repudiated, men feel the obligation to live for 
 one another, and to promote one another's 
 highest welfiire, temporal and spiritual, pres- 
 ent and eternal; Hence the diffusion of Chris- 
 tianity should be undertaken as a matter of 
 philanthropy and benevolence, even if it were 
 not supposed to have any thing to do with the 
 spiritual welfare or the eternal salvation of 
 the heathen nations. The more widely Chris- 
 tianity prevails, the more will learning, com- 
 merce, art, science, and literature flourisli ; the 
 more will the .wealth of the world increase j 
 the greater will be the demand for the pro- 
 ductions of art which come from civilized 
 climes. So that the diffusion of Christianity 
 should be favored and promoted, if for noth- 
 ing better, even as a matter of worldly policy. 
 The bighest good of the world, in every re- 
 spect, will be promoted by it. 
 
 But we desii'e more than a mere external 
 Christianity with its benefits, — more than a 
 religion of forms and show. We desire to 
 extend to all nations a share in the reliecion of
 
 IXTKODUCTORY ESSAY. 
 
 the heart, because it Avill improve their out- 
 ward condition, promote intellectual culture, 
 refine the affections, elevate and purify the 
 soul, open new and higher sources of pleasure 
 to those who are now perverted, oppressed, 
 and degraded, and make this whole earth an 
 image of heaven. 
 
 This is the object contemplated in the Mis- 
 sionary enterprise. And the earth is now in 
 an eminent manner ripe for the efforts by 
 which such results are to be secured. Travel- 
 lers among the various heathen tribes inform 
 us that the heathen superstitions are growing 
 old, and that neither do the priests believe 
 in them nor the people respect them. The 
 forms of idolatrous worship are kept up, part- 
 ly through the selfishness of the priests, who, 
 by this craft, have their support 5 and partly 
 because human nature craves some religion, 
 and clings to a poor and imperfect system in 
 preference to none at all. 
 
 It is now many years since evangelical 
 Christians in different countries have under- 
 taken the work of promoting the conversion 
 of the world to God. It is an interesting
 
 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 
 
 question, Is it a merely human enterprise, a 
 plan originating in human foresight, and de- 
 pendent oil human sagacity ; or is it a Divine 
 plan, in which God is interested, which he 
 favors, and every part of the prosecution of 
 which hfe superintends ? -We affirm that the 
 Missionary enterprise is a Divine plan, that 
 God is deeply interested in the prosecution of 
 it, that he superintends, encourages, and aids 
 tlie work in its several steps, and that, beyond 
 all doubt, he will crown it in the end with the 
 most entire and glorious success. "We think 
 these points can be distinctly made out from 
 the testimony of the Scriptures, and from the 
 movements of Divine Providence. Judson is 
 not. Boardman is not. Comstock is not. 
 Clarke is not. But the God of Missions sits 
 in tranquil majesty, viewing and controlling 
 the coming and the receding waves ; and, in 
 due time, he will cause the wave of glory to 
 roll over the whole earth, and all flesh shall 
 see the salvation of God. " I, the Lord, Avill 
 hasten it in his time." 
 
 We shall defend the principle just stated by 
 showing the connection held by the Lord Jesus 
 Christ with the cause of foreign Missions.
 
 INTRODUCTOKY ESSAY. 
 
 1. He has favored the Missionary cause by 
 his own example. Christ was, emphatically, 
 a Missionary ; one sent, — sent from God. 
 Never did a human being submit to such sac- 
 rifices, for the sake of elevating the degraded 
 and the wretched, as Christ did, that he might 
 raise the ruined race of man from the degra- 
 dation of sin, and from the prospect of eternal 
 death. Never did a human Missionary leave 
 such scenes of comfort, joy, and blessedness 
 as Jesus did, when he left the bosom of the 
 Father, the glory of heaven, the adoration of 
 angels, and the sovereignty of worlds, and 
 came down to earth to suffer and to die for 
 man. And never did a human Missionary 
 suffer such self-denials and trials, ignominy 
 and persecution as Jesus did, when he under- 
 took the work of human redemption. When 
 Missionaries go to the heathen, they find them 
 idolaters, having no knowledge of the true 
 God ; with none of the refining and elevating 
 influences of Christianity ; degraded and, most- 
 ly, sunk in wretchedness, with no certain light 
 concerning a future state, and no hopes of a 
 glorious immortality. Christ found most of
 
 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 
 
 the human race in precisely this condition. 
 Even the Jews, his countrymen, though they 
 had the fonns of worship and of the service 
 of the true God, were in the most hopeless 
 state of heartless and supercilious formalism. 
 No string in their hard hearts vibrated to the 
 sound of his voice. No spirit of contrition 
 answered to his appeals, warnings, and in- 
 structions. Yet he was a Missionary in the 
 highest sense. The word apostle^ derived from 
 the Greek, and the word missionary^ derived 
 from the Latin, have precisely the same force, 
 and signify " one who is sent." Christ was 
 " sent " from heaven as a Missionary to lost 
 men, to teach the ignorant, to convert the 
 wicked, to lead men to the knowledge of God, 
 and to open up before them the way to heaven. 
 Precisely as men go now, — a man or a half 
 a dozen men to a great nation, — aiming to 
 subvert idolatry, and to plant on every hill, 
 and in every valley, the standard of Chris- 
 tianity, and to gain over the whole nation to 
 Jesus Christ ; and the men of the Avorld call 
 it " a forlorn hope " ; precisely so did Christ 
 come into this world. So he commenced his
 
 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 
 
 work. He achieved gloriously his first tri- 
 umph, when he rose from the dead and as- 
 cended to heaven. He left his followers an 
 example. And if any man, while he admires 
 the achievements of Christ, still doubts the 
 wisdom of our following, in this respect, the 
 example of our Lord, let him remember that 
 we are not alone and unaided in this work. 
 The same mighty Conqueror is still active in 
 it. He says, in regard to it, " Lo, I am with 
 you alway, even to the end of the world." 
 This is the promise. '" And they went every- 
 where preaching the Word, the Lord working 
 with them, and confirming the Word with 
 signs following." This is its fulfilment and 
 confii-mation. He tJiat sits in the heavens, 
 the Lord of heaven and earth, still acts the 
 Missionaxy, goes forth with his servant, works 
 with him, works for him, works before him, 
 confirming the Word with signs, following. 
 And when he works, to whom belongs all 
 power in heaven and in earth, where is the 
 folly of the Missionary enterprise, or how can 
 it be shown to be a forlorn hope ? 
 2. Christ gave the injunction to undertake
 
 INTRODUCTOIIY ESSAY. 
 
 the Missionary work, as his last command to 
 his Apostles, and, through them, to all then- 
 successors, till the work should be accom- 
 plished. How impressive must have been the 
 scene, when this injunction was laid upon the 
 Apostles ! He speaks to them of Avhat he 
 had done and suffered, announces his plans 
 for the conquest of the world, and finally 
 gives the direction, " Go ye into all the world, 
 and preach the Gospel to every creature." 
 What! " Into all the world ? " Yes. "Into 
 all the world, and preach the Gospel to every 
 creature." And these few men were thus 
 commissioned to perform such a task among 
 the learned Greeks, the polished Eomans, the 
 philosophers, poets, and orators, the states- 
 men, the warriors, and the heathen priesthood 
 of the civilized world, and among the tide 
 of northern barbarians, from Britain on the 
 west, to China on the east, from northern Eu- 
 rope, among that herd of fierce and deter- 
 mined men, to the southern limit of popula- \ 
 tion in Africa ; a task which, tradition says, j 
 they actually accomplished. Paul intimates as i 
 much, when he writes to the Colo^sians, that '
 
 IKTEODUCTORT ESSAY. 
 
 the Gospel had been " preached to every crea- 
 ture under heaven." And it is also written, 
 " they went everywhere preaching the Word." 
 Even Africa is said to have once numbered 
 thirty thousand Christian churches. 
 
 After Christ had uttered this last command, 
 he blessed his disciples, and while he blessed 
 them, he was parted from them, and a cloud 
 received him out of their sight. Mount Olivet, 
 from which the ascension took place, was the 
 same with the Mount of Olives, at whose foot 
 was the garden of Gethsemane. The spot 
 which witnessed the Saviour's deepest humili- 
 ation, witnessed also his highest exaltation. 
 Where he groaned in agony, sweating great 
 drops of blood, there he stood as a triumphant 
 conqueror, the Lord of heaven and earth, 
 stretching forth his hands and blessing his 
 disciples. And there he received their wor- 
 ship, as Luke says, " And they worshipped 
 him, and returned to Jerusalem with great 
 joy." Blessing his Apostles, and consecrating 
 them to thcii- warfare for the cause of truth 
 and righteousness, the Saviour left the earth 
 and ascended to glory. Could we have been
 
 I 
 
 Xvi INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 
 
 present, how would that injunction, given 
 under such circumstances, have impressed us, 
 as the hist words of our ascended Master ; 
 too precious to be trifled with ; too important 
 to be disregarded ; too obligatory to be dis- 
 obeyed. And the injunction was in harmony 
 with all that had gone before in his history, 
 with his own example and mission, with his 
 object in coming into the world, with the de- 
 sign of his death, with the promises made to 
 him by the Father, with the prophecies con- 
 cerning him in the Old Testament. If we 
 consider the terms of the injunction, the cir- 
 cumstances attending its announcement, its 
 manifest design, the character and the plans of 
 him who uttered it, or the manner in which 
 the immediate disciples understood it, and 
 acted on it, we shall be convinced that, be- 
 yond all question, the injunction looked to the 
 foreign Missionary enterprise, and the con- 
 version of the world. Had Christ designed 
 to be understood as referring to such an^- 
 terprise, in Avhat words could he have declared 
 it more plainly "? Here is, therefore, in another 
 point, the visible connection of Jesus Christ
 
 IXTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 
 
 with foreign Missions, and a token of the Di- 
 vine approval of the work. It is not of man, 
 but of God. 
 
 We need scarcely add, that many of the 
 commands under vviiich we live, under the 
 government of God, would lead us to fulfil 
 the injunction. The principle of reciprocity 
 involved in the golden rule, would engage us 
 heart and hand in the work of Missions. 
 
 3. The Scriptures contain promises of 
 Christ to aid the Missionary work, and to 
 sustain those engaged in it. There is, espe- 
 cially, the notable promise pronounced in this 
 connection, and having reference to this very 
 work, " Lo, I am with you alway, even to 
 the end of the world," according to Matthew ; 
 and the memorable words, according to Mark, 
 " In my name shall they cast out devils ; they 
 shall speak with new tongues ; they shall take 
 up serpents ; and, if they drink any deadly 
 thing, it shall not hurt them ; they shall lay 
 hands on the sick, and they shall recover." 
 These promises are not sterile, meagre, nar- 
 row, specific ; but broad, sublime, and com- 
 prehensive. 0, what a treasure of riches do
 
 INTKODUCTORY ESSAY, 
 
 they contain ! What a world of blessing, 
 under all needy circumstances, do they em- 
 brace ! Wliat a wide ocean of good, illimita- 
 ble, unfathomable, do they pour out around 
 the Christian Missionary, and the cause of 
 Missions, and all who labor in that cause, — 
 who pray for it, or give to it, or interest them- 
 selves in it ! Who would not give himself up 
 to be " Jesus Christ's man," with such a pros- 
 pect, with such a Promiser, and with such 
 promises 1 
 
 This promise of our Lord is uttered in re- 
 spect to this particular work, first, on account 
 of its difficulties and trials ; secondly, because 
 he is particularly interested in the work. He 
 has taken it under his patronage, and has de- 
 termined to carry it through. By making 
 such promises in respect to it, he would have 
 men understand that he has taken the work 
 under his patronage, that he has pledged his 
 infinite power in regard to it, and that it is 
 his. The -wise men of this world may scoff 
 at it, and decline to engage in it, or to give it 
 their approval. But he owns it, and honors 
 it, and loves it, and helps it, and will ultimate-
 
 IXTRODUCTORT ESSAY. 
 
 ly give it complete success. When, therefore, 
 a person leaves home, and friends, and kin- 
 dred, and goes forth on the strength of this 
 injunction of our Lord, let him remember, 
 and let his friends remember, that he goes 
 itnder the protection of such a shield. The 
 banners of an almighty Leader, soon to be a 
 glorious Conqueror, v/ave around him. It is 
 not a forlorn hope, nor a mere project of hu- 
 man wisdom in which he embarks, but a pro- 
 ject which bears on its front the seal of the 
 divine Master. He is armed neither with the 
 sword of Goliath, nor with the armor of Saul, 
 but with the panoply of the Lord of hosts. 
 Carnal weapons may be shivered, and king- 
 doms may be brought to nought. But his 
 kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and his 
 dominion shall have no end. His engage- 
 ment to his Missionary servants assumes, so 
 to speak, the form of a covenant : " Do you, 
 on your part, go and teach all nations, bap- 
 tizing them in the name of the Father, and of 
 the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. And lo ! I, 
 on my part, am with you alway, even to the 
 end of the world." And he has ever been
 
 INTEODUCTOEY ESSAY. 
 
 faitloful to his covenant. Dr. Judson, lying in 
 the death prison at Ava; Boardman, sinking 
 into the grave in the presence of that rare 
 scene, the baptism of thirty Karen converts ; 
 Crocker, perishing by a sudden death in Africa ; 
 Henry Martyn, dying of the plague at Tocat ; 
 and Gordon Hall of cholera, crying, with his 
 sinking breath, " Glory be to thee, O God ! " 
 and Abbot, luxuriating in his almost Apostol- 
 ical success at Sandoway, all have been able 
 to affirm, " He is faithful that hath promised." 
 Thus Jesus Christ is the patron and supporter 
 of Missions. Who, in view of such facts, 
 Avould willingly oppose them, or doubt the 
 expediency of them, or shrink, through fear, 
 from engaging in them 1 
 
 Should any reader of this ai-ticle, therefore, 
 be intrusted with a share in this great and 
 honorable work, permit us to say, You see 
 what you are to expect. It may seem a sad 
 day, when you take your life in your hand, 
 to go far hence to the Gentiles; when you 
 relinquish the prospect of honor and station 
 among your early companions ; when you bid 
 adieu to the scenes of your childhood, and to
 
 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 
 
 the places dear to you by the associations of 
 your riper years. But consider who is the 
 great patron of Missions. Contemplate the 
 covenant into which Jesus Christ enters with 
 you, and how exactly, in all past time, he has 
 adhered to the terms of that covenant. The 
 trial may be great, but it is short, and the re- 
 ward is infinite. " The harvest of the earth 
 is ripe," and " he that reapeth receiveth wages 
 and gathereth fruit unto life eternal." 
 
 " He 'U shield you with a wall of fire, 
 With holy zeal your hearts inspire ; 
 Bid raging winds their fury cease, 
 And cahn the savage breast to peace. 
 
 " And when our labors all are o'er, 
 Then we shall meet to part no more, — 
 Meet, with the blood-bought throng, to fall, 
 And crown the Saviour, Lord of all." 
 
 4. The promises of God the Father to God 
 the Son, in respect to the success of the 
 Missionary cause, furnish infinite encourage- 
 ment to the enterprise. And, as the Son 
 accepted those promises, and acted on them, 
 they put both God the Father and God the 
 Son in the attitude of patrons of the Mis-
 
 IXTEODUCTOKY ESSAY. 
 
 sionaiy work. Promises of tins sort abound 
 in the Scriptures. Sometimes they appear 
 in the form of absolute promises ; some- 
 times in the shape of predictions. They are 
 familiar to all readers of the Divine Word. 
 As a specimen, take the second Psalm, espe- 
 cially the words, " Ask of me, my Son, and 
 I shall give thee the heatheir for thine inher- 
 itance, and the uttermost parts of the earth 
 for thy possession." Or, take the forty-fifth 
 Psalm, or the seventy-second, or the one hun- 
 dred and tenth. As a specimen out of the 
 Prophets, take many of the chapters of the 
 Book of Isaiah, where, in terms of no dubi- 
 ous import, is distinctly announced the sub- 
 jugation of the world to Christ. Christ re- 
 lied on these predictions and promises during 
 the sufferings of his incarnation. Perhaps 
 it was by bringing to his mind, and dis- 
 tinctly applying some of these very promis- 
 es, that the angel from heaven strengthened 
 lum, when, as a man of sorrows, he knelt 
 agonizing under the shadow of the olives 
 which clustered around the foot and along 
 the sides of that very mountain, on which
 
 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 
 
 lie stood a peerless conqueror, when the 
 scene of the commission and the ascension 
 transpired. When he contemplated his death 
 on the cross, with prophetic vision he saw its 
 connection with this result. Hence, when 
 he said, " And I, if I be lifted up from the 
 earth, will draw all men unto me"; in the 
 same connection he said, with the most 
 graphic delineation, as if his eye already pen- 
 etrated the future, and he saw the work com- 
 pleted, " I saw Satan, as lightning, fall from 
 heaven.'' 
 
 God has made such promises and engage- 
 ments to his Son. The Son relied upon them, 
 and acted on them. Thus he encouraged his 
 followers to rely upon them, and act on them 
 also. Thus Jesus Christ is involved, so to 
 speaJk, in the Missionary cause. He is, so to 
 say, accountable for the confidence we cherish 
 respecting it. If he was right, we are right ; 
 if he was safe, we are safe. And only if he 
 was wrong, are we wrong in our Missionary 
 interest, and in the expectations we cherish as 
 to the conversion of the world to God. But 
 God will not, cannot disappoint his Son, him-
 
 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 
 
 self, in this thing. If God has said, " Ask 
 of me, my Son, and I shall give thee the 
 heathen for thine inheritance," when he asks, 
 through the prayers of liis Churcli -which he 
 inspires, God will not be deaf to the request. 
 For the Lord has said, " Whatsoever ye shall 
 ask the Father, in my name, he will give it 
 you." 
 
 The Missionary laborers, then, who are sent 
 forth may be in themselves unworthy. Tlicir 
 efforts may be feeble and imperfect, interrupt- 
 ed by sickness, prematurely cut off by polit- 
 ical interference, apparently smothered under 
 the wickedness, and worldliness, and persecu- 
 tions of men. Some may prove false to their 
 Master, and abandon the cause. The laborers 
 are but earthen vessels. Some may just attain 
 the greatest ripeness for usefulness, and then be 
 caught up into heaven, to labor in a more use- 
 ful service, to grace a more honored sphere, 
 leaving the harvest-sheaves half gathered, 
 called off at noon, relinquishing their work 
 to others. Some may die in ripe manhood, 
 like Judson ; some in the vigor of youth, like 
 James and Thomas; some before they have
 
 INTKODUCTOllV ESSAY. 
 
 fully girded on their armor, like Biddlc. But 
 above all these seeming evils and disasters, 
 there stands the promise, "He shall reign 
 from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends 
 of the earth." 
 
 When the Missionary, laboring amid dis- 
 couragements in a heathen land, thinks of 
 Christ, and of his connection with the Mission- 
 ary cause ; when he thinks of the promises to 
 him, and of the prayers of the people of God 
 in his behalf, how his heart is encouraged, and 
 his soul leaps for joy. The faithfulness of the 
 divine Promisor is a thing never to be called 
 in question. The power of the promises is a 
 living force, always acting beneficially upon 
 the soul of the Gospel laborer. And there is 
 a sense in which, by virtue of the sustaining, 
 cheering energy of these promises, it may be 
 said with truth, " The Lord working with 
 them." This is the Lord working with them 
 by working in them. Why should men of 
 the world ever regard Missions as a forlorn 
 hope, when God has assured his incarnate Son 
 that they are not a forlorn hope, and that they 
 shall not prove a failure 1 Do they not know
 
 INTKODUCTORY ESSAY. 
 
 that God is a God of power and a God of 
 truth 1 " Hath he said, and shall he not do it ? 
 Hath he promised, and will he not make it 
 good ? " 
 
 5. To the influence of Jesus Christ we must 
 trace the success of all Missionary efforts in 
 every age. Every instance is only a fulfil- 
 ment of the promise, " Lo, I am with you al- 
 way, even to the end of the world." The suc- 
 cesses of modern times are only a repetition of 
 that which is related in the Gospel of Mark : 
 " They went everywhere, preaching the Word, 
 the Lord working with them, and confirming 
 the Word with signs following." It is but an- 
 other leaf in the same history, in the spirit of 
 the preceding pages. It is Jesus Christ who 
 is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever, 
 working always after the same model, and 
 producing from the like causes like results. 
 And whether we contemplate the Apostolic 
 successes, or the great revivals among the 
 American Indians in the time, and under the 
 labors of David Brainerd, or the numerous 
 conversions among the Karens, or any other 
 specimen, the whole is to be traced to the in-
 
 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. XXVll 
 
 terest of the Lord Jesus Christ in this cause, 
 to his constant regard for it, and superinten- 
 dence of it, and to his working with his ser- 
 vants, and confirming the Word by signs fol- 
 lowing. And it is because of that Divine co- 
 operation of Jesus Christ, that we anticipate 
 the ultimate and complete success of the Mis- 
 sionary enterprise. The time, we believe, is 
 not very far away, — every thing seems tend- 
 ing towards the consummation, when, through 
 the connection of Jesus Christ with the foreign 
 Missionary cause, the world will be reduced 
 to subjection to him. Then shall the wolf lie 
 down with the lamb, and the leopard with the 
 kid. And they shall no more say one to an- 
 other, Know the Lord, for all shall know him 
 from the least to the greatest. Then shall 
 men beat their swords into ploughshares and 
 their spears into praning-hooks. Nation shall 
 no more lift up sword against nation, and 
 they shall learn war no more. Then will 
 eveiy kindred, and tongue, and people, and 
 nation, unite in the anthem of Christian wor- 
 ship. The most degraded and cruel idolaters 
 will bear the meek, sweet spirit of Jesus
 
 i?;troductory essay. 
 
 Christ. The cold north and the sunny south, 
 the east and the west, the continents and the 
 islands will worship the same Father, trust in 
 the same Redeemer, with kindred desire strive 
 after the same heaven, and alike bring forth 
 fruit to the glory of God. 
 
 Our labors may contribute to secure this 
 object. Our contributions may share in ac- 
 complishing such a result. Our children may 
 be among those who shall witness the consum- 
 mation on earth. Our own eyes will sec from 
 heaven the whole earth made subject to the 
 Prince of peace, the King of kings, and Lord 
 of lords. The sons and daughters who are 
 in our schools, or whom we fondle and caress 
 at home, we may be nurturing to take an im- 
 portant pai't in the great work. While they 
 are laboring for the divine Master, even in 
 the vigor of their days, who can tell but the 
 gi'eat appointed day of triumph may come, 
 the darkness be dissipated, and the glory of 
 the Lord go forth to fill the earth even as the 
 waters cover the seas ? But a few men need 
 be raised up in the spirit of Luther, White- 
 field, Judson, Carey, Pearce, and Boardman ;
 
 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 
 
 but a few women in the spirit of Mrs. Judson 
 and her Missionary sisters ; but a few grand 
 onsets need to be made against the kingdom 
 of darkness, but a little patient, persevering 
 toil, and the kingdoms of this world will be 
 the kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus 
 Christ. 
 
 And in the whole progress of the work God 
 is interested. He gives it his daily superin- 
 tendence and aid. He is its patron and de- 
 fender. And Jesus Christ, who gave his own 
 example, who made it the theme of his last 
 command, who has promised to aid the Mis- 
 sionary cause and those who are engaged in it, 
 who has received the Divine pledge and prom- 
 ise, that he shall see o the travail of his soul 
 and be satisfied, and who is now daily prosper- 
 ing the work, — and our eyes see it, and our 
 hearts feel it, — may be trusted as the defender 
 and supporter of this cause. The unhealthy 
 climes where the Missionary travels, the self- 
 denials he endures, the persecutions to which 
 he is subjected, the wearing labors by which 
 he even shortens his days, all will be amply 
 compensated when he brings his sheaves with
 
 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 
 
 him rejoicing ; when the ripe harvest of the 
 earth is gathered, and he that soweth and he 
 that reaps shall rejoice together. The sublime 
 ceremonial of the coronation of Jesus Christ 
 as the prince of the kings of the earth, in the 
 presence of men of every clime, made bis 
 willing subjects, will set the seal of heaven's 
 approval to the Missionary enterprise, and 
 eternity will give ample testimony from its 
 crowns, and its thrones, and its everlasting 
 songs to the value, the reasonableness, and 
 the propriety of such an employment of hu- 
 man energies. 
 
 To these things we might add, that we find 
 great encouragement in this work from the 
 belief we confidently cherish, that there are 
 now among the glorified just great numbers 
 of Christian converts, the direct fruits of 
 Missionary effort, — once degraded, polluted 
 idolaters, now washed, and sanctified, and 
 justified, and glorified; not only exalted to 
 heaven, but also made meet to be partakers of 
 the inheritance of the saints in light. 
 
 The connection of Jesus Christ with the
 
 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY 
 
 Missionary enterprise, should teach his fol- 
 lowers how to think and act in respect to that 
 cause. The Missionary petition in the Lord's 
 prayer, " Thy kingdom come," is put first af- 
 ter the address and ascription of glory to God, 
 before the request for any temporal or spirit- 
 ual mercy for the offerer. The command to 
 his followers to go and teach all nations even 
 to the utmost limits of the world, is put at 
 the close of all his instructions on earth, the 
 last injunction of his lips, as if he would have 
 the echo linger in the world, undisturbed by 
 any after teachings. He makes this subject, 
 as it were, the Alpha and the Omega of his 
 instructions, the first and the last, the opening 
 and the close, as if it were the most impor- 
 tant of all. And that which intervened, — his 
 instructions, his institutions, and his atoning 
 death, these are the necessary means by whicii 
 the woi-k was to be accomplished. Did Christ 
 set the work on such a pinnacle in his interest 
 and his affections ? Then should vre exalt it 
 to an important place. Did he give, do, and 
 suffer so much for it ? We should be willing 
 to give, do, and suffer for the cause that lies
 
 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY, 
 
 SO near his heart. He has left us an example 
 that wc should walk in his steps. Whatever 
 Christ the Head is interested in, in that should 
 all his members be interested also. 
 
 "We should feel that we are under obliga- 
 tion to make a consecration of ourselves to 
 Christ in respect to this work. All the causes 
 of Christian benevolence are branches of the 
 same system. But we cannot fail to see that, 
 in a peculiar degree, the Missionary cause has 
 the seal of the Divine approval. Let every 
 reader, then, renew the consecration of himself 
 to God in respect to this work. God may need 
 some of us personally to embark in it. He 
 demanded the services of the first Apostles, 
 he has demanded the services of thousands 
 since in this department, and perhaps he may 
 wish to employ some of us, — reader, perhaps 
 yourself. Let us not withhold the sacrifice. 
 It may require self-denial and pain. But if 
 we yield to the monitions of his Spirit, and 
 go at his bidding to preach the Gospel among 
 the heathen, we may be sure of this, that he 
 will be with us alway, even to the end of the 
 world. Perhaps he may need our children or
 
 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 
 
 our friends. Let us not withhold them from 
 so honorable an office. Dr. Judson is no more. 
 But this, the Missionary age of the Church, 
 needs more Christian heroes. There are 
 places of trust and honor to be filled ; spheres 
 of wearing labor to be supplied ; dangers to 
 be dared ; difficulties to be met and conquered ; 
 persecutions to be endured, lives to be sac- 
 rificed. But he that falls in this service, falls 
 gloriously, and shall in no wise lose his re- 
 ward. 
 
 May the sketch of Dr. Judson which fol- 
 lows stimulate many young disciples to emu- 
 late his example.
 
 THE 
 
 CHRISTIAN HERO 
 
 OF THE 
 
 NINETEENTH CENTURY. 
 
 I When a great statesman or a distin- 
 
 ! guished hero of a country falls, the whole 
 
 ! nation is moved by the event. Legislatures 
 i 
 adjourn, courts of justice rise up from their 
 
 j sittings, badges of mourning are worn, flags 
 I fly at half-mast on our shipping, bells toll, 
 I processions are formed , and funeral orations 
 i are pronounced all over the land. A na- 
 tion is in mourning and gives forth demon- 
 strations of grief. Then how proper that 
 we, as Christians, should notice the decease 
 of a man of God, — a man endeared to the 
 1
 
 THE CilUI.vTlAX IIF-KO 
 
 affections of the whole American Church, — 
 and especially that we should notice hix 
 decease who, more than any other man of 
 his age, may justly claim the title of The 
 Christian Hero of the Nineteenth 
 Century ! 
 
 I know of no man in modern times, 
 whose life has been a more eventful one. 
 and which bears a stronger resemblance to 
 the character and sufferings of the Apostle 
 Paul, than that of Adoniram Judson. How 
 truly is the language primarily spoken of 
 the Apostle descriptive of his extraordinary 
 career : " /n labors more abundant, in stripes 
 above measure, in jmsons frequent , in cleatlu 
 oftr'' This will appear more striking as 
 we proceed to notice briefly some of the 
 more important events connected with the 
 history of this Pioneer of ximerican Mis- 
 sions.
 
 : 1 XKTEKNTH CENT UUY, 
 
 MK. JUDSON'S BIRTH, CONVERSION, 
 AND CONSECRATION TO THE 
 MISSIONARY WORK. 
 
 Adoniram Judson was born in Maiden, 
 Massachusetts, on the 9th of August, 1788. 
 And though the son of a Congregational 
 clergyman, and the subject of many prayers, 
 yet he grew up not only not a Christian, 
 l)ut not even a believer in Christianity. 
 lie graduated at Brown University, in 
 1807, an infidel. Soon afterwards he com- 
 menced making a tour through the United 
 States. But some Providential occurrences, 
 while on his journey, led him to doubt the 
 truth of those Deisticai sentiments with 
 which he was so strongly tinctured. His 
 mind became so deeply impressed with the 
 probable truth and Divine authenticity of 
 the Scriptures, that he relinquished his 
 journey, and returned to his father's house 
 for the express purpose of examining 
 thoroughly the claims of the Christian re- 
 liorion.
 
 THE CIIinSTIAX IIEKO 
 
 " While ling-erin^ in the city of Boston, 
 he happened one day to take down, from 
 the shelf of a private library, a volume 
 which, at that time, was a favorite house- 
 hold book among Christian readers. It 
 was ' Hurnan 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." * The result was, he became 
 convinced that the Scriptures are of Divine 
 origin, and that he himself was in a lost 
 condition, and must be renewed previous to 
 admittance into heaven. It now became 
 his earnest inquiry, ^^ what shall I do to he 
 saved V^ The Theological Seminary at 
 Andover was about this time established ; 
 but the rules of the Institution required 
 evidence of evangelical piety as a requisite 
 for admission. Mr. Judson was exceed- 
 
 * Dr. Hague's Discourse on the Life and Character 
 of Dr. Judson.
 
 OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 
 
 ingly desirous of entering this Seminary, 
 for the purpose of being benefited by the 
 theological lectures ; and upon making a 
 pressing application, notwithstanding the 
 absence of the required qualifications, he 
 was admitted ; and, in a few weeks, gave 
 satisfactory evidence of having become 
 savingly interested in the Great Salvation. 
 ilence his new relations to God put him into 
 new relations to everything else. His un- 
 derstanding, once so dark, is now filled 
 with an inundation of light, — he has be- 
 come experimentally acquainted with the 
 heretofore " Unknown God," his frigid 
 spirit has become a fervent spirit, and his 
 new views have made him a new man. 
 He now turned his attention directly to 
 those studies calculated to make him useful 
 in the ministry. 
 
 During the last year of his studies at 
 Andover, he met with Dr. Buchanan's 
 "Star in the East."* This first led his 
 
 * This was a celebrated sermon preached by Dr.
 
 THE CHRISTIAN HERO 
 
 thoughts to an Eastern mission. The sub- 
 ject harassed his mind from day to day, 
 and he felt deeply impressed with the im- j 
 portance of making- some effort to rescue I 
 the perishing millions of the East. He ; 
 communicated his feelings to various indi- ; 
 viduals, and they all decidedly discouraged 
 him. But his soul was not at rest, — he ! 
 could well adopt the following language, j 
 and say, — j 
 
 " I cannot rest ; there cornea a strange 
 And secret whisper to my spirit, like j 
 
 A dream of night, that tells me I am on 
 Enchanted ground. Why live I here 1 The vows ' 
 Of God are on me, and I may not stop 
 To play with shadows or pluck earthly Ilowera, 
 Till I my work have done and rendered up 
 Account. The voice of my departed Lord, 
 ' Go teach all nations,' from the Eastern world 
 Comes on the nightair and awakes my ear, 
 And I WILL GO ! " 
 
 He then wrote to the Directors of the 
 
 Claudius Buchanan before the Church of England Mis- 
 sionary Society, at Bristol, 1808; after having spent 
 twelve years in Lidia, as chaplain in the service of the 
 East India Company.
 
 OF TilK XIXETKICNTir CIINTCRV 
 
 London Missionary Society, explaining his 
 views and requesting information on the 
 subject of Missions. He received a most 
 encouraging reply, and an invitation also 
 to visit England and obtain in person such 
 information as he desired.* About this 
 time, Messrs. Nott, Newell, Hall, and 
 Mills became deeply interested in the sub- 
 ject of Missions, and they all resolved, to- 
 gether with Mr. Judson, to leave their na- 
 tive land and engage in the work of INIis- 
 sionary labor, as soon as Providence should 
 open the way. 
 
 At this time there was no Missionary 
 organization whatever in this country ; and 
 as these young men were Congregation- 
 alists, they looked of course to their own 
 denomination for encouragement and sup- 
 port. At a meeting of the Massachusetts 
 Association, convened at Bradford in June, 
 1810, the following document, drawn up by 
 Mr. Judson, was presented : — 
 
 * History of Burman Mi.;sion.
 
 THE CHKISTIAX HEKO 
 
 " The undersigned, members of the Di- 
 vinity College, respectfully request the at- 
 tention of their Reverend Fathers, con- 
 vened in the General Association at Brad- 
 ford, to the following statement and in- 
 quiries : — 
 
 "They beg leave to state that their minds 
 have been lop.g impressed with the duty 
 and importance of personally attempting a 
 Mission to the heathen ; that the impres- 
 sions on their minds have induced a serious, 
 and, they trust, a prayerful consideration of 
 the subject in its various attitudes ; partic- 
 ularly in relation to the probable success, 
 and the difficulties attending such an at- 
 tempt ; and that, after examining all the 
 information which they could obtain, they 
 consider themselves as devoted to this work ! 
 for life, whenever God in his providence 
 shall open the way. 
 
 " They now offer the following inquiries, 
 on which they solicit the opinion and advice 
 of this Association. Whether, with their
 
 OF THE XIXETEK^'Tll Ci:XTLKV. 
 
 present views and feelings, tliey ouglit to 
 renounce the object of Missions as visionary 
 or impracticable ; if not, \A'hether they ought 
 to direct their attention to the Eastern or 
 the Western world. Whether they may 
 expect patronage and support from a Mis- 
 sionary society in this country, or must 
 commit themselves to the direction of a 
 European society, and what preparatory 
 measures they ought to take previous to 
 actual engagement 1 
 
 " The undersigned, feeling their youth 
 and inexperience, look up to their Fathets 
 in the Church, and respectfully solicit their 
 advice, direction, and prayers. 
 
 " Adoniram Judson, Jr.. 
 Samuel Nott, Jr., 
 Samuel J. Mills, 
 Samuel Newell." 
 This important document, on its presen- 
 tation, was referred to a special committee 
 for consideration, who, in their report, rec- 
 ognized the imperative obligation and im-
 
 THE CHRISTIAN IIETIO 
 
 portance of Missions, expressed their con- 
 viction that the gentlemen who had thus 
 modestly set forth their views ought not 
 to renounce, but sacredly cherish their im- 
 pressions, and submitted the outlines of a 
 plan which, at that meeting', was carried 
 into effect, in the appointment of a Board 
 of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, for 
 the purpose of devising ways and means, 
 and adopting and prosecuting measures for 
 promoting the spread of the Gospel in 
 heathen lands.* 
 
 Such was the origin of the Missionary 
 Enterprise in this country, and we claim 
 uir Adoniram Judson the honor, under 
 God, of having led the way, and of having 
 been chiefly instrumental in the formation 
 of the first Missior«ary Society in America.f 
 
 * Life of Samuel J. Mills. 
 
 t This praise, however, by some, is attributed to 
 ;-'amuel J. Mills. See his Memoirs.
 
 OF THE VTIXETEEN-TII CEXTURY. 11 
 
 j MR. JUDSON'S VISIT TO ENGLAND. 
 
 I Mr. Judson, fearing that several years 
 i might elapse before a Missionary spirit 
 ! should be sufficiently excited in this coun- 
 : try to justify the appointment and support 
 ! of Missionaries abroad, determined at once 
 i to visit England to ascertain whether auy 
 • measures of cooperation could be concerted 
 , between the London Missionary Society 
 I and the friends of Missions liere, so that 
 ! assistance could be obtained in case the 
 ; Board in this country should be unable to 
 I sustain a Mission. 
 
 i He sailed in January, 1811, for England. 
 I Three weeks after sailing, the vessel was 
 , captured by a French privateer, where he 
 
 was detained for several weeks on board, 
 I and afterwards w^as taken on shore and 
 ', confined in a prison at Bayonne. At this 
 I time Napoleon Bonaparte was in the height 
 ! of his career of military glory ; and it so 
 
 happened that the building in which young
 
 12 THE CHKISTIAX IIEIIO 
 
 Judson was confined, overlooked the public 
 garden in which the Emperor used to walk 
 in all the proud consciousness of his power. 
 But now mark the contrast. The Emperor 
 and his Empire have long since passed 
 away ; but this captive young man, whose 
 name was then unknown to fame, and 
 whose cause, so far as it was known to the 
 world, was an object of contempt ; that 
 young m.an lias lived to see that cause fill- 
 ing the world with its blessing and renown. 
 How striking the contrast, also, between 
 the course of life pursued by these two 
 men and their influence upon mankind. 
 The one was supremely selfish and panting 
 after worldly fame ; the other disinterested, 
 and aspiring only to glorify God. The 
 one spent his life in destroying men ; the 
 other devoted all his energies to the work 
 of saving them. The one became the 
 scourge of nations ; the other the bene- 
 factor of his race. The one went rushing 
 with a giant stride across the world, tread-
 
 OF THE NINETEENTH CENTUKY. 13 
 
 in^ down nations at every step ; pressing 
 his way to empires through desolated coun- 
 tries, pillaged towns, and conflagrated 
 cities, and over the gory, lifeless bodies of 
 I slaughtered thousands. " How beautiful 
 ; upon the mountains are the feet" of the 
 ! other " that bringeth good tidings, that 
 i publisheth peace, that bringeth good tidings 
 I of good, that publisheth salvation, that saith 
 I unto Zion, thy God reigncth ! " The death i 
 I of the one was hailed by the people as an ' 
 '' era of emancipation from fear and of rest | 
 ! to the nations. The decease of the other 
 j is announced amidst the wail of the heathen, 
 ! and the mournful, desponding cry of Chris- 
 •; tendom, as if stricken by bereavement : 
 j " My Father, My Father, the cfaariots of 
 I Israel and the horsemen thereof! " 
 } Mr. Judson, by -the exertions of some 
 American gentlemen, was released from 
 prison, vv'ent to England, found that no con- 
 cert of measures could be effected, returned 
 to America, received an appointment from
 
 14 THE CHRISTIAN HERO 
 
 the Board of Commissioners as Missionary 
 to India, and prepared as speedily as pos- 
 Hsible to take 
 
 ^^ . HIS DEPARTUEE. 
 
 Sc>4n:after he had received his appoint- 
 ment, Mr. Judson was married at Bradford, 
 on the ^th of February, 1812, to Miss Ann 
 Hasseltine, '"whose subsequent life and 
 character have shown her to possess, in an 
 eminent degree, thp spirit of primitive 
 Christianity, and who, by identifying her 
 intererts with •«lhos£ of this adventurous 
 Missionary, hasV contributed to exert a 
 mighty influence ,and to pour a flood of 
 light upon tliB 'moral destinies of Asia, 
 which slj^ll flow on to the end of time, 
 Mr. Judson was ordained and consecrated 
 to the work of Missions, with appropriate 
 services, in the Tabernacle Church at Sa- 
 lem, February the 16th. 
 
 On the 19th of the same month, a vessel 
 was seen speeding its way out of the
 
 OF THE NIXETEEXTII CENTURY. 15 
 
 harbor of Salem, bound for the sunny 
 climes of India, freighted with the richest 
 boon that America had ever offered to that 
 luxurious and benighted land. On board 
 that vessel is a treasure far more valuable 
 than the richest of merchandise, — than the 
 spices or the gold of India, — it is the jfirst 
 Company of American Missionaries to 
 
 THE BENIGHTED IDOLATERS OF THE EaST.* 
 
 That was a day memorable in the annals 
 of Missions, and will be chronicled as a 
 most important event by the Christian his- 
 j lorian oXthe nineteenth century. On the 
 ' deck of that vessel stands a youthful ser- 
 I vant of God, who ii speeding his way to 
 the teeming millions of Burmah ; " the 
 land of lofty pagodas and countless idols," 
 and by whose instrumentality, in the lapse 
 of a few years, God shall make " the wil- 
 derness and the solitary place to be glad, 
 and the desert to rejoice and blossom as 
 the rose." 
 
 *Jud3on Offering.
 
 IG THE CIII:ISTIAN IJ.IirtO 
 
 One thing- there was connected with the 
 departure of this heroic band of Mission- 
 aries, wliich must have rendered their con- 
 dition exceedingly trying and affecting ; 
 and that was the fact that they were al- 
 most deserted when about to take their leave 
 of home and country. By many their zeal 
 was despised as fanaticism, and their self- 
 consecration to their holy work derided as 
 " wild extravagance and romantic folly.'" 
 Now hundreds assemble at the embarka- 
 tion of a Missionary ; and he sails away 
 amid the prayers of numerous friends ; and 
 the breeze that wafts him from the shore 
 bears on its wings the music of song, of 
 congratulation, and hope; and even after 
 the vessel fades away in the distance, it is 
 followed with a "God speed you" to the 
 shores of heathen lands. But far different 
 was the scene when these noble pioneers 
 embarked on their errand of love. No 
 thronging multitude accompanied them to 
 the ship, no minister of Christ was there
 
 OF THE XIXETEEXTH CENTURY. 17 
 
 to cheer them by his parting blessing, no 
 public, parting prayer was offered on the 
 deck, commending Judson and Newell, and 
 their devoted wives to the God of the winds 
 and the waves when they went on ship- 
 board. Says Dr. Judson, in an address* 
 delivered during his visit to this country, 
 and referring to the sailing of the first com- 
 pany of Missionaries : " When your Mis- 
 sionaries left your shores, very few were 
 v/illing to be known as approving of their 
 enterprise. Two young men about to go 
 from their homes to the heathen, on the 
 morning of their departure from their na- 
 tive land, were addressed by the Secretary 
 of a Missionary society as they sat at his 
 breakfast-table, as follows : ' Brethren, I 
 have business that demands my attention 
 to-day in a neighboring town ; you will 
 therefore have to excuse me from going 
 with you to your vessel ! ' Those young 
 
 * Address at the Cannon Street Baptist Church, New 
 York, November, 1845. 
 2
 
 18 TilK CHRISTIAN IIKKO 
 
 men went silently and alone ; and though 
 there was not a minister who was willing 
 to hazard his reputation by countenancing 
 what was regarded as an enthusiastic en- 
 terprise, yet when they threw themselves 
 on their knees in their lonely cabin, they 
 heard or felt a voice saying, ' you are not 
 alone ,for I am with you / ' " And yet this 
 band of noble men, of whom the world 
 was scarce worthy, did not shrijdc from ' 
 dutj. They could and did cheerfully tear i 
 asunder the tender and endearing ties which 
 bound them to country, and home, and ; 
 friends ; they renounced the comforts and j 
 privileges of a Christian land, — its so- i 
 cial enjoyments, its Christian sympathies, j 
 its holy Sabbaths, its solemn assemblies i 
 and sacred teachings, — all these they for 
 sook, and though left to embark alone 
 they could turn to the elements and ex 
 claim, — 
 
 " Bear us on, thou restless ocean, 
 Let the winds our canvas swell ;
 
 OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 19 
 
 Heave our hearts with warm emotion 
 While we go far hence to dwell : 
 
 Glad we bid thee, 
 Native land, farewell, farewell ! " 
 
 MR. JUD SON'S CHANGE OF DENOM- 
 INATIONAL SENTIMENTS. 
 
 This was an event in his life, which 
 neither himself nor his friends were pre- 
 pared to anticipate. The news that Mr. 
 Judson had become a Baptist, come like a 
 thunder-bolt upon his denomination ; and 
 indeed upon the whole country. But God 
 and truth, upon a thorough examination of 
 the subject, overcome, what Mr. Judson is 
 pleased to style his " strong prejudices," 
 and whenever and wherever truth was 
 presented to his mind, he was the man to 
 embrace that truth, though the " heavens 
 should fall." 
 
 I cannot do better on this point than to 
 present a few extracts from a letter * of his, 
 
 * Written from Rangoon, in 1S17.
 
 20 THE CHRISTIAN HERO 
 
 directed to the Third Church in Plymouth, 
 of which he was formerly a member, and 
 of which his father was then pastor, giving 
 some reasons which constrained him to be- 
 come a Baptist. 
 
 " You will readily believe me," says he, 
 " when I say that on leaving my country, 
 I little imagined that I should ever become 
 a Baptist. / had not, indeed, candidly ex- 
 amined * the subject of baptism ; but I had 
 strong prejiulices against the ' sect that is 
 everywhere spoken against.' 
 
 " It was on board the vessel, in prospect 
 of my future life among the heathen, that 
 I was led to investigate this important sub- 
 ject. I was going forth to proclaim the 
 glad news of salvation through Jesus Christ. 
 I hoped that my ministrations would be 
 blessed to the conversion of souls. In that 
 case, I felt that I should have no hesitation 
 
 * Are there not many Psedobaptists who take the 
 truth of this subject for granted, without ever having 
 " candidly examined " it ?
 
 OF TlIE NINETEENTH CI:NTUKY. 21 
 
 concerning my duty to the converts, it be- 
 ing plainly commanded in the Scripture, 
 that such arc to be baptized and received 
 into church fellowship. But how, thought 
 I, am I to treat the unconverted children 
 and domestics of the converts 1 xYre they 
 to be considered members of the Churcli 
 of Christ, by virtue of the conversion of 
 the head of their family, or not ? If they 
 are, ought I not to treat them as such?- ]f 
 they are not to be considered members of 
 the Church, can I, consistently, administer 
 to them the initiating ordinance of the 
 Church 1 * 
 
 " When I proceeded to consider cer- 
 tain passages," he continues, "which are 
 thought to favor the Psedobaplist system, 1 
 found nothing satisfactory. 
 
 * Tt appears that this glarin;? inconsistency had, for 
 the first time, preseiited itself to the iHind of Mr. Jud- 
 son. If baptized children are meniberj of th.e Church, 
 then why not allow them to come to the commutiion, 
 and enjoy all the privileges of the Church ? If they arj 
 not members, then why administer to them an ordinance 
 of the Church ?
 
 TllK CIIKISTIAX IMMO 
 
 "The declaration of St. Peter: 'The 
 
 promise is unto you, and to your children, 
 
 and to all that are afar off, even as many 
 
 as the Lord our God shall call ' (Acts ii. 
 
 39) appeared not to bear at all upon the 
 
 point in hand, because the Apostle docs 
 
 not command his hearers to have their chil- 
 
 ! dren baptized, or acknowledged as mem- 
 
 j hers of the Church), but to repent and be 
 
 I Ijaptized themselves. There is, indeed, a 
 
 I promise made to/iyeii; children, and to all 
 
 I others that shari.^all ; but it. does not fol- 
 
 j low that they wdre to procure the baptism 
 
 I of their children, or of those that were 
 
 ! afar off, unti)" they gave evidence that God 
 
 j had called them. , 
 
 j " When Christ said, concerning little 
 I children, that ' Of such is tlie kingdom of 
 heaven ' (Matt. xix. 14), it appeared to 
 me that his cornparison had respect, not to 
 the age or size of little children, but to 
 the humility and docility which distinguish 
 them from adults. This seemed to be put
 
 OF TflE NIXETEEXTII CKXTURY, 23 
 
 beyond a doubt, by his own explanation, 
 in a similar passage, in which he says : 
 ' Except ye be converted and become as 
 little children, ye shall not enter the king- 
 dom of heaven.' (Matt, xviii. 3.) 
 
 "The baptism of households, which is 
 mentioned in three instances, I could not 
 consider as affording any evidence one way 
 or the other, because in a household there 
 may be infants and unbelieving domestics, 
 and there may not. Besides, I discovered 
 some circumstances in each of the cases, 
 which led me to conclude that the mem- 
 bers of the households were real believers, i 
 They are expressly said to be so in the j 
 case of the jailor (Acts xvi. 34), and the j 
 same is evidently implied in the case of | 
 Stephanas, when it is said that ' they ad- | 
 j dieted themselves to the ministry.' (1 Cor. 
 xvi. 15.) 
 
 " In a word, I could not find a single 
 intimation in the New Testament, that the 
 children and domestics of believers were
 
 -4 THE CHRISTIAN HUUO 
 
 members of the Church or entitled to any 
 Church ordinance, in consequence of the 
 profession of the head of their family. 
 Every thing discountenanced this idea. 
 j When baptism was spoken of, it was al- 
 i ways in connection with believing. None 
 { but believers were commanded to be bap- 
 tized ; and it did not appear to my mind 
 that any others were baptized. 
 
 '■ There was another thing which great- 
 ly contributed, just at this time, to driA'e 
 rr.G to an extremity. I knew that I liad 
 been sprinkled in infancy, and that this 
 had been deemed baptism. But through- 
 out the whole New Testament, I could find 
 notiiing that looked like sprinkling in con- 
 nection with the ordinance of baptism. It 
 appeared to me, that if a plain person 
 should, without any previous information 
 on the subject, read through the New Tes- 
 tament, he Vv'ould never get the idea that 
 baptism consisted in sprinkling. He would 
 find that baptism, in all cases particularly
 
 OF THE NINETEENTH CENTL'iiY. 1!.J 
 
 described, was administered in rivers, and 
 that the parties are represented as going 
 down into the loaier, and coming vp out of 
 the water, which they would not have been 
 so foolish as to do, for the purpose of 
 sprinkling. 
 
 " In regard to the word itself, which is 
 translated baptism, a very little search con- 
 vinced me that its plain, appropriate mean- 
 ing was immersion or dipping ; and though 
 I read extensively on the subject, I could 
 not find that any learned Psedobaptist had 
 ever been able to produce an instance from 
 any Greek writer, in which it meant 
 sprinkling, or any thing but immersion ; 
 except in some figurative applications, 
 which could not be fairly brought into 
 question. The Rev. Professor Campbell, 
 D. D., of Scotland, the most learned Greek 
 scholar and biblical critic of modern times, 
 has the candor to declare (though he was 
 no Baptist, and therefore not to be sus- 
 pected of partiality to the Baptist system),
 
 26 THK CHKISTIAX HKRO 
 
 that the word was never, so far as he 
 knew, employed in the sense of sprinkling, 
 in any age, sacred or classical. (See Note 
 on Malt. iii. 11.) 
 
 " Suffice it to say, that, whereas a con- 
 sideration of the nature of the Church con- 
 vinced me that I had never received Chris- 
 tian baptism, so also a consideration of 
 the nature of baptism convinced me that 
 I had never been baptized at all, — nothing 
 being baptism but immersion. 
 
 " Reduced to this extremity, what, dear 
 brethren, could I do ? I saw that in a 
 double sense I was unbaptized ; and 1 felt 
 the command of Christ press on my con- 
 science. Now if I quieted my conscience 
 in regard to my own personal baptism, and 
 concluded that on account of my peculiar 
 circumstances, it was best to consuh my 
 own convenience, rather than the command 
 of Christ, still the question would return 
 with redoubled force, How am I to treat 
 the children and domestics of converted
 
 OF THE NINETEENTH CENTUKY. 27 
 
 heathen? This was the beginning of all 
 my difficulties, and this, on Pasdobaptist 
 principles, I could not resolve by the Bible 
 or by any books that I consulted. 
 
 "Must I then forsake my parents, the 
 Church with which I stand connected, the 
 society under whose patronage I have come 
 out, and the companions of my IMissionary 
 undertaking 1 Must I forfeit the good opin- 
 ion of all my friends in my native land, 
 occasioning grief to some and provoking 
 others to anger, and be regarded henceforth 
 by all my former dear acquaintances as a 
 weak, despicable Baptist, who has not sense 
 enough to comprehend the connection be- 
 tween the Abrahamic and the Christian 
 systems ? All this was mortifying, — it 
 was hard to flesh and blood. But I thought 
 again ; it was better to be guided by the 
 opinion of Christ, who is the Truth, than 
 by the opinion of men, however good, 
 whom I know to be in error. The praise 
 of Christ is better than the praise of men.
 
 23 Tlli; CHKISTIAN HKllO 
 
 Let me cleave to Christ at all events, and ' 
 prefer his favor above my chief joy." I 
 
 It may be interesting- to introduce two 
 or three extracts here, to show how Mrs. 
 Judson's mind was affected by the exami- 
 nation of this subject. \ 
 
 In writing- to her parents and sisters, ' 
 g-iving some account of her change of sen- > 
 timents, she says: "Mr. Judson's doubts • 
 commenced while on our passag-e from ' 
 America. While translating the New ■ 
 Testament, in which he was engaged, he : 
 used frequently to say that the Baptists l 
 were right in their mode of administering ' 
 the ordinance. Knowing that he should 
 meet the Baptist Missionaries at Seram- 
 pore, he felt it important to attend to it ' 
 more closely to be able to defend his sen- 
 timents. 
 
 " 1 was very fearful he would become a 
 Baptist, and frequently suggested the un- 
 happy consequences if he did. 1 tried to : 
 have him give it up and rest satisfied with
 
 OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 29 
 
 his old sentiments, and frequently told him 
 j if he did become a Baptist / ivould not. 
 ! He always answered, that his duty com- 
 ! pelled him to examine the subject, and he 
 \ hoped he should have a disposition to em- 
 brace the truth, though he should pay dear 
 for it. 
 i " I now commenced reading on the sub- 
 I ject, with all my prejudices on the Paedo- 
 ; baptist side. I confined my attention al- 
 i most entirely to the Scriptures ; compared 
 [ the Old with the New Testament, and tried 
 j to find something to favor infant baptism, 
 ! but was convinced it had no foundation 
 j there.* We had with us Dr. Worcester's, 
 I Dr. Austin's, Peter Edwards's, and other 
 Psedobaptist writings. But after closely 
 examining the subject for several weeks, 
 we were constrained to acknowledge that 
 
 * If persons, in the examination of this subject, 
 should confine "their attention almost entirely to the 
 Scriptures," the result, in all cases, would probably be 
 the same.
 
 30 THE CHRISTIAN HEliO 
 
 the truth appeared to lie on the Baptist's 
 side." 
 
 I find the following entry in her Journal 
 during her investigation of this subject : — 
 
 " September 1st. I have been examin- 
 ing the subject of Baptism for some time 
 past, and, contrary to my prejudices and 
 my wishes, am compelled to believe that 
 believers' baptism alone is found in the 
 Scriptures. If ever I sought to know the 
 truth, if ever I looked up to the Father of 
 Lights, if ever I gave up myself to the 
 inspired Word, I have done so during this 
 investigation. And the result is, that, lay- 
 ing aside my former prejudices and sys- 
 tems, and fairly appealing to the Scriptures, 
 I feel convinced that nothing really can be 
 said in favor of infant baptism or sprinkling. 
 We expect soon to be baptized. O may 
 our hearts be prepared for that holy ordi- 
 nance ! But in consequence of the perform- 
 ance of this duty, we must make some very 
 painful sacrifices. We must be separated 
 
 J
 
 OF THE XIXETEENTK CENTURY. 31 
 
 from our dear Missionary associates, and 
 labor alone in some isolated spot. We 
 must expect to be treated with contempt 
 and cast off by many of our American 
 friends, — forfeit the character we have in 
 our native land, probably have to labor for 
 our own support v/herever we are stationed. 
 O, our Heavenly Father, wilt thou be our 
 friend?"* 
 
 Consequently, Mr. and Mrs. Judson were 
 baptized in Calcutta, on Lord's day, Sept. 
 27th, 1812, by Rev. Mr. Ward of the 
 English Baptist Mission, on which occa- 
 sion Mr. Judson preached a sermon on 
 Baptism, which Dr. Carey, in a letter to 
 Dr. Staughton, says, is " the best sermon 
 I ever heard on that subject." f 
 
 The plan of that sermon, is as follows : 
 He raised two inquiries. First, " What is 
 Baptism? Second, To whom is Baptism 
 
 * Memoir of Ann H. Judson, Chap. IV. 
 t Five editions of this sermon have been published in 
 Boston.
 
 32 THE CHRISTIAN IlEKO 
 
 to be administered'^ " Under the first head 
 he proceeds to show that baptism consists 
 only in immersion. This he proves, first 
 from the signification of the term, which 
 is immersion ; second, from the places se- 
 lected for administering the ordinance ; 
 they were " rivers," " much water," &c. ; 
 third, from the fact that baptism is re- 
 peatedly compared to a burial^ which could 
 have no meaning in case of sprinkling ; 
 fourth, from the almost universal practice 
 of the Christian Church immersing for the 
 space of thirteen hundred years. Under 
 the second head he shows, after a long and 
 elaborate investigation, that there is no au- 
 thority whatever derived from the Scrip- 
 tures for administering the ordinance to any 
 except believers. The baptism of house- 
 holds, he contends, afford no evidence of 
 the baptism of infants, because the pre- 
 sumption is, they contain none ; the bap- 
 tism of infants cannot be derived from cir- 
 cumcision under the Abrahamic covenant,
 
 OF THE NIXETEEXTII CENTURY. 33 
 
 because the two covenants are essentially 
 different ; and also the former covenant has 
 been abolished, that the latter might be in- 
 troduced ; and hence he is compelled to 
 conclude that there is " no precept or prece- 
 deyit in Scripture for infant baptism^ 
 
 If ever a change of opinion was made 
 deliberately and consistently, it must have 
 been in this case. For every possible mo- 
 tive, but the fear of God and the power of 
 truth, must have impellqxl them in an op- 
 posite direction. It was a step directly 
 against all the prejudices of their early ed- 
 ucation and associations, and contrary to 
 all their present interests and engagements. 
 It would inevitably separate them from the 
 sympathies of their friends ; it would dis- 
 solve their connection with the Board by 
 whose appointment they were sent out, and 
 on whose funds they were dependent for 
 support ; it would connect them wdth a de- 
 nomination to whose members they were 
 strangers, and who had, as yet, no Mis-
 
 34 THE CHRISTIAN HERO 
 
 sionary organization, and who, indeed, had 
 manifested but little interest in Missions ; 
 in view of all these circumstances, their 
 change of sentiment is not only singular 
 and remarkable, but presents an act of 
 moral grandeur unequalled since the days 
 of the Apostles and Martyrs. 
 
 MR. JUDSON'S SETTLEMENT AT 
 RANGOON. 
 
 When the little band of Missionaries 
 reached the shores of India, they were 
 destined to meet discouragements, such as j 
 might well have appalled any but the most j 
 unshaken and resolute faith. The country | 
 to which they had come was under the \ 
 government of the British East India Com- I 
 pany, the Directors of which, at that time, | 
 were unfriendly to the introduction of j 
 Christianity among the heathen, and who, i 
 at all events, determined not to permit the I
 
 OF THE NINETEENTH CENTUKT. 35 
 
 presence of American Missionaries within 
 their jurisdiction. Hence they had scarcely 
 touched their shores, when they were in- 
 formed, by an order of the government, 
 that they must return without delay to the 
 United States, and that the captain of the 
 ship who had brought them to Calcutta 
 would not receive a clearance, unless he 
 would engage to take them back. Thus a 
 dark cloud suddenly gathered over their 
 heads, and threatened to blight all their 
 expectations of usefulness to the benighted 
 heathen. They however obtained permis- 
 sion to embark in a vessel bound to the 
 Isle of France, in hope that they might 
 there establish a Mission. But the vessel 
 could accommodate only two passengers ; 
 and Mr. and Mrs. Newell took passage, 
 the others remaining behind, anxiously 
 waiting the departure of another vessel. 
 At the end of three months, another order 
 from government was issued, ordering Mr. 
 Judson and his wife immediately to take
 
 36 THE cnRiSTiA>r hero 
 
 passage in one of the Company's ships 
 bound to England, and caused their names 
 to be printed in the official list of passen- 
 gers in a vessel about to sail ; at the same 
 time sending an officer to their residence 
 commanding them not to leave the house 
 without permission. 
 
 At this crisis their last hopes appeared 
 to be cut off. But just at this time, Mr. 
 Judson learned that a vessel was about to 
 sail to the Isle of France ; they applied to 
 the magistrate for a pass, but were refused. 
 Still the captain consented to take them 
 without the usual papers from government 
 if they chose to incur the risk. They em- 
 barked at twelve o'clock at night, and con- 
 tinued for two days to proceed on their 
 voyage, when they were overtaken by a 
 government despatch, forbidding the ves- 
 sel to proceed, as there were on board pas- 
 sengers who had been ordered to England. 
 They were obliged, therefore, to disembark. 
 With heavy hearts they went on shore, —
 
 OF THE NIXKTEEXTTI CENTUKY. 37 
 
 it was unsafe to remain there ; hence they 
 made use of every possible inducement 
 they could offer to the vessels passing to 
 take them on board, but without success. 
 I After remaining on shore four days in a 
 I state of great anxiety and danger, a letter 
 I from some unknown friend was brought to 
 Mr. Judson, containing permission to go 
 on board the ship they had so lately been 
 compelled to leave ; but which, if she had 
 not already gone to sea, was lying at the 
 Saugar roads, a distance of at least seventy 
 miles. They set out at once, and, amid 
 the darkness of the night, pursued their 
 course, rowing an open boat, and before 
 the night of the next day, to their inex- 
 pressible joy, succeeded in reaching the 
 ship, and proceeded on their voyage to the 
 Isle of France. 
 
 After a residence of three months on this 
 island, Mr. Judson embarked for Madras ; 
 here, also, he encountered new proofs of 
 violent opposition to JMissionary labor from
 
 38 TUB CHRISTIAN IIBRO 
 
 the Directors of the government of India. 
 The Rev. Messrs. Hall and Nott, in a 
 neighboring presidency, had just been or- 
 dered to embark for England, and Mr. Jud- 
 son had reason to suppose, if his arrival 
 should be known, a similar order vi^ould be 
 issued for his departure. His first object, 
 therefore, was to ascertain what ships were 
 I lying in harbor ready for sea. He found 
 j only one, and that was bound to Rangoon, 
 i the chief port of the Busman Empire, and 
 1 without delay he secured a passage for that 
 j place. 
 
 j The passage from Madras to Rangoon 
 I was a boisterous and dangerous one, and 
 I more than once the ship came near being 
 , cast upon some of those hidden reefs which 
 I line t]ie coral shores of the Indian seas. 
 j After a passage of three weeks, they at 
 I length came to anchor in the harbor of 
 i Rangoon, and gazed for the first time upon 
 I the pagodas of this ancient town, with their 
 j lofty spires and pointed minarets standing 
 ' against tlio sky.
 
 OP THE NIXETEEXTH CEXTUKY. 39 
 
 Thus nearly seventeen months had elapsed 
 since Mr. Judson sailed from Salem, and 
 how checkered and eventful had been his 
 career thus far ; how mysterious the way 
 in which God had led him, — defeated in 
 every plan he had formed, driven from the 
 countries he had entered, harrassed and 
 perplexed by the men who ought to have 
 encouraged and befriended him, separated 
 by change of sentiments from those with 
 whom he had always been associated, and 
 having met scarcely any thing but disaster 
 and disappointment at every step, here at 
 length the cloudy pillar rested. Other 
 fields of labor had been closed against him, 
 and Burmah, with its thousands of idola- 
 ters, seems alone to have been the land 
 which Heaven had selected as the scene 
 of his future labors!
 
 40 THE CHRISTIAN HERO 
 
 THE riEST CONVERT. 
 
 About four years had passed away, dur- 
 ing which time this devoted servant of God 
 and his companions, had been going " forth 
 weeping and bearing precious seed." He 
 had toiled, and prayed, and preached, month 
 after month, and year after year, uncheered 
 by a single instance of conversion ; and all 
 this time was regarded by the millions of 
 perishing heathen around him only as an 
 object of idle curiosity, of sovereign con- 
 tempt or utter indifference. Here was the 
 trial of his faith ; how many would have 
 abandoned such a field of labor as imprac- 
 ticable? But God now appeared for the 
 encouragement of his servant. " They that 
 sow in tears, shall heap in joy ! " 
 
 " As I was sitting," says Dr. Judson,* 
 " with my teacher us usual, a Burman of 
 respectable appearance, followed by his 
 
 * Litter to Correspoiidiiig Secretary, March, 1817.
 
 OF THE NINETEEKTII CENTURY. 41 
 
 servant, came up the steps and sat down 
 by me. ' How long-,' he inquired, ' will it 
 take me to learn the religion of Jesus 1 ' 
 That question, I replied, cannot be an- 
 swered. If God give light and wisdom, 
 the religion of Jesus is soon learned. But 
 without God, a man may study all his life 
 and make no proficiency. But, I contin- 
 ued, how came you to know any thing of 
 Jesus ? Have you been here before 1 ' No.' 
 Have you seen any writings concerning 
 Jesus'? 'I have seen two little books.' 
 Who is Jesus'? ' He is Son of God, who, 
 pitying creatures, came to this world and 
 suffered death in their stead.' Who is 
 God? ' He is a Being without beginning 
 or end , who is not subjected to old age or 
 death, but always is.' 
 
 " I cannot tell," says Dr. Judson, " how 
 I felt at that moment. This was the first 
 acknowledgment of an Eternal God that I 
 had ever heard from Burman lips." 
 
 This is the first inquirer, who, after 
 
 4
 
 42 THE CHRISTIAN HERO 
 
 about four years of toil, and tears, and 
 prayers, and hope deferred, asked about 
 Jesus Christ and his religion. 
 
 And yet it is not till nearly two years 
 afterwards that he is permitted to rejoice 
 over the first convert. A young man had 
 frequently been present at his place of wor- 
 ship, concerning whom Dr. Judson makes 
 the following entry in his journal : — 
 
 " Moung Nau has been with me several 
 hours, and I begin to think that the grace 
 of God has reached his heart. He ex- 
 presses sentiments of repentance for his 
 sins and faith in the Saviour. The sub- 
 stance of his profession is, that from all the 
 darkness and sins of his whole life, he has 
 found no other Saviour but Jesus Christ ; 
 nowhere else can he look for Salvation ; 
 and therefore he proposes to adhere to 
 Christ and worship him all his life. 
 
 " It seems almost too much to believe 
 that God has begun to manifest his grace 
 to the Burmans ; but this day I could not
 
 OF THE NIXETEEXTII CENTURY. 43 
 
 resist the delightful conviction, that this 
 is really the case. Praise and glory be 
 
 TO HIS NAME, FOR EVERMORE ! " 
 
 After a faithful and thorough examina- 
 tion of this first convert, it was decided 
 that he should be baptized on Lord's day, 
 June 27th, 1819. All the preparatory ex- 
 ercises were performed in the zayat, in- 
 cluding the baptismal prayer. They then 
 repaired to a pond, on the bank of which 
 stood an enormous image of Gaudama, and 
 there Mr. Judson administered baptism to 
 the first Burman convert. This was a day 
 of unutterable joy to the Missionaries, — 
 " the chain of caste was broken, and who 
 should be able to mend it? " A pillar is 
 struck down in the dark temple of idolatry, 
 and who shall be able to set it up. " Ye 
 gods of wood and stone, did ye not tremble 
 when, in the name of the Father, Son. and 
 Holy Ghost, one of your votaries shook 
 ' you as dust from his feet ! " * 
 
 * An exclamation of Mr. Ward, at the baptism of 
 Krishna Pal in the River Gancres.
 
 44 THE CHRISTIAN HEKO 
 
 And though no wondering crowd crowned 
 the overshadowing bank, and no hymn of 
 praise expressed the exultant feelings of 
 joyous hearts ; still, no doubt, hovering an- 
 gels with deep interest took note of that 
 event, and God looked smilingly down, as 
 he did upon a baptism eighteen hundred 
 years ago, and said, " These are my ser- 
 vants with whom 1 am well pleased ! " 
 
 DR. JUDSON'S SUFFERINGS AKD 
 IMPRISONMENT. 
 
 Five years had nearly rolled away since 
 the baptism of the first convert. In the in- 
 terval, many events of interest and impor- 
 tance had transpired in connection with the 
 Mission. Clouds and sunshine, and sun- 
 shine and clouds, had followed each other 
 in quick and rapid succession. Other la- 
 borers had arrived, — the New Testament 
 had been translated into the Burman Ian-
 
 OF THE XIXETEEXTH CEXTURY. 45 
 
 guage and the little band of disciples had 
 increased to the number of eighteen. Mr. 
 Judson had removed from Rangoon to Ava, 
 the capital of Burmah. The Mission was 
 now in a prosperous condition, and prom- 
 ised increasing success. 
 
 But all at once, rumors of war between 
 Britain and Burmah were heard, like the 
 hoarse mutterings of approaching thunder. 
 These rumors were immediately succeeded 
 by the arrival of 6,000 British troops at the 
 mouth of the river. In the consternation 
 which this intelligence created, the govern- 
 ment issued an order, that all persons in 
 Rangoon wearing a hat should immediate- 
 ly be arrested. Among other European 
 residents, Messrs. Hough and Wade were 
 seized, hurried away to prison, loaded with 
 heavy fetters, and placed in close confine- 
 ment, under the charge of armed keepers. 
 On the following morning, the fleet arrived 
 just below Rangoon, and the keepers were 
 ordered to put all these prisoners to death
 
 4G THE CHIIISTIAN HERO 
 
 the moment the first gun should be fired 
 upon the town. But no sooner did the 
 firing commence, then the keepers immedi- 
 ately fled, having taken the precaution to 
 make the prison doors fast, to prevent the 
 escape of the prisoners. After the firing 
 ceased, the prison was entered by fifty Bur- 
 mans, who stripped the wretched captives 
 of most of their clothing, bound them with 
 cords, dragged them out of prison, and 
 hurried them away, goading them on with 
 the points of their spears, to the place of 
 execution. Here they were placed in a 
 kneeling posture, with their faces bent to 
 the ground, and the executioner, who stood 
 with his knife in hand, was ordered to pro- 
 ceed. It was a critical moment. The exe- 
 cutioner lifted his huge knife to strike 
 off the head of the prisoner nearest him. 
 When Mr. Hough begged for a moment's 
 delay ; and proposed that the execution 
 should be stayed, and one or two of the 
 prisoners be sent on board the frigate, to
 
 OF THE NINETEENTH CENTUKY. 47 
 
 entreat the English commander to cease 
 firing upon the town. Just at this mo- 
 ment, an awful roar of cannon was heard, 
 and the shots fell thick where they were 
 assembled. This so frightened the whole 
 company, officers and all, that they in- 
 stantly dispersed, and took refuge under 
 a neighboring tank, leaving the Missiona- 
 ries still on their knees, with their necks 
 bared, awaiting the fatal stroke of the ex- 
 ecutioner's knife. The petition of Mr. 
 Hough, however, was renewed, and he was 
 commissioned to go at once to the English 
 general to negotiate, while Mr. Wade and 
 the other prisoners were consigned to a 
 miserable dungeon, with strict orders to 
 have them all put to death in case Mr. 
 Hough did not succeed in putting an end 
 to hostilities. 
 
 On the morning following, a party of Bur- 
 mans came to the prison, evidently with 
 the design of putting them to death ; but 
 just at this moment, some one from without
 
 48 TIIK CHRISTIAN IIEKO 
 
 exclaimed, "The English are coming!" 
 Instantly the whole number fled in the 
 greatest alarm, and soon after, the priso- 
 ners were released from their prison and 
 chains by British soldiers. 
 
 The intelligence of the fall of Rangoon 
 reached Ava (the place of Mr. Judson's 
 labors) about two weeks after its capture. 
 All was confusion and excitement at the 
 capital. The king immediately ordered 
 the foreign teachers to be arrested. 
 
 While Mr. and Mrs. Judson were at 
 dinner, a company of fierce-looking Bur- 
 mans, attended by a " spotted-faced son of 
 the prison," * rushed into the house, seized, 
 and violently threw the unresisting Mis- 
 sionary upon the floor, drew forth a small 
 cord for pinioning prisoners, and, with 
 hellish cruelty, proceeded to tighten the 
 torturing cords around the suffering victim. 
 
 * The executioners in Burmah are reprieved felonf. 
 bound in service to the prisons. Tliey are marked by a 
 tattooed circle on their cheeks, on account of which they 
 are termed " spotted- faced son"? of the prison."
 
 OF THE XINETEEXTH CENTUKY. 49 
 
 "Stay!" exclaimed the agonized and 
 suffering- wife, " O have pity, and loose 
 that torturing cord, and I will give you 
 money! " But the spotted-face, as if the 1 
 infliction of pain were a greater pleasure j 
 than the acquisition of mone^v, spurned the \ 
 offer of silver, and dragged the suffering j 
 Missionary some distance from the house, j 
 then threw his helpless victim on the 
 ground, and, placing his knee upon his 
 back to increase the purchase, he drew the 
 cords with the utmost of his strength, so 
 as almost tfo deprive him of the power to 
 breathe. 
 
 " Now give us silver," said the apotted- 
 face, " and the cords shall be loosed ! " 
 
 " Is there no one who knov/s me," cried 
 the tortured Missionary, " is there no one 
 who pities me, and who will become se- 
 curity for the m.oney till the messengers 
 return ? " 
 
 There was none. A messenger, how- 
 ever, soon arrived with silver, upon which
 
 i 50 THE CHRISTIAN HEKO 
 
 the arms of the sufferer were somewhat re- 
 lieved, so as to allow him to breathe more 
 freely. He was then taken a distance of 
 nearly two miles, three pairs of fetters 
 placed upon his limbs, then fastened to 
 a bamboo pole, and thurst into the death 
 prison ! 
 
 The horrible sensations and sufferings of 
 this man of God, shackled like a common 
 felon, and under the guard of executioners 
 during the long hours of night in the death 
 prison, I will not undertake to describe. 
 
 And what a night, also, for his poor, 
 agonizing wife, Who was left behind, igno- 
 rant to the fate of her husband ! She, also, 
 was a prisoner, being guarded by the offi- 
 cers of government, and not permitted to 
 leave her house. On the third day, how- 
 ever, by a bribe of about one hundred dol- 
 lars, she obtained the melancholy privilege 
 of visiting her husband at the door of the 
 prison. But what a meeting ! The fet- 
 tered sufferer crawled to the door of the
 
 OF THE XINI^^EXTII CEXTURY. 51 
 
 prison, — for Mrs. Judson was not per- 
 mitted to enter, — and a few words of sad 
 endearment passed between them only, 
 when she was rudely ordered to depart. 
 
 By the exertions of this Christian he- 
 roine, the Missionaries were soon after re- 
 moved from the death prison to an open 
 shed in the prison inclosure, and here she 
 continued to visit them, daily bringing- 
 them food, for seven months. Then, in 
 the midst of these labors and sufferings, 
 and while the agonized father was chained 
 in his prison, she gave birth to a little 
 daughter. But in a few days she was en- 
 abled by the good hand of Providence to 
 resume her daily visits to the prison again. I 
 
 About two months after the birth of her ' 
 little daughter, a message was brought to . 
 Mrs. Judson, that her husband and the other 
 white prisoners, v;ere again thurst into the 
 horrible death prison, and that two addi- 1 
 tional pairs of fetters, making five in all, { 
 had been put upon their galled and wearied |
 
 52 THE CIIKISXIAN IlKRO 
 
 limbs. Tlie cause of this additional rigor 
 was the defeat of the Burman general and 
 the advance of the British troops up the 
 river. 
 
 It was now the commencement of the hot 
 season, and the situation of the fettered 
 prisoners, shut up in a close and filthy 
 apartment, was dreadful beyond descrip- 
 tion. After continuing in the inner prison 
 about a month, Mr. Judson's health gave 
 way ; he was seized with an alarming fever, 
 and probably his life would have been sac- j 
 rificed, had it not been for the energy and ; 
 assiduity of his heroic wife. In order to i 
 be near him, she erected a bamboo room in j 
 the governor's inclosure which was nearly 
 opposite the prison gate. And there she 
 continued to watch over her suffering hus- 
 band and to besiege the governor with her 
 incessant entreaties, till at length, worn 
 out with her " continual coming," he gave 
 orders that Mr. Judson should be removed 
 to more comfortable apartments, and grant-
 
 OF THE XIXETEEXTII CENTURY. 53 
 
 I ed her permission to go in and out at all 
 ' times a day, to administer the necessary 
 
 medicine and nourishment. 
 j But this state of comparative happiness 
 ! lasted but two or three days ; Mr. Judson, 
 j together with the other prisoners, was or- 
 j dered to be removed to the prison of Oung- 
 I penla, a distance of eight or nine miles. 
 I The sufferings of the prisoners attendant 
 i upon this journey are most heart-rending. 
 i They were obliged to travel with naked 
 I feet upon the scorching sand and sharp 
 ! gravel, their limbs were stiffened and 
 j bruised with the fetters they had worn so 
 I long, their bodies were emaciated wijh the 
 j privations and sickness of their protracted 
 j and painful imprisonment, and then, in 
 addition, they were compelled to make the 
 journey under a burning sun in one of 
 the hottest days in the year. They had 
 proceeded only about half a mile, when 
 Mr. Judson's feet became dreadfully blis- 
 tered. They had then eight miles to walk ;
 
 5-4 THE CHRISTIAN HERO 
 
 the sand and gravel were like burning coals 
 to the feet of the prisoners, which soon be- 
 came perfectly destitute of skin ; and in 
 this condition they were goaded on by 
 their unfeeling drivers, leaving at every 
 step the bloody tracks of their raw and 
 lacerated feet. 
 
 The debilitated state of Mr. Judson ren- 
 dered him less capable of bearing such 
 hardships than the other prisoners. When 
 about half way, Mr. Judson requested the 
 officer to allow him to ride on his horse a 
 mile or two, as he could proceed no farther 
 in that dreadful state. But a malignant 
 look was all the reply he received. He 
 then requested Captain Laird, who was 
 tied with him, to allow him to take hold 
 of his shoulder, as he was fast sinking. 
 This Mr. Laird kindly granted for a mile 
 or two, but found the additional burden in- 
 supportable. Just then, a Bengalee servant 
 coming up and seeing the distress, took off 
 his headdress, which was made of cloth,
 
 OF THE NIXETKENTII CEXTUrvY. 55 
 
 tore it in two, gave a part to Mr. Juclson, 
 which he wrapped round his wounded feet ; 
 and tlie servant offering- his shouklcr, Mr. 
 Judson was almost carried by him the re- 
 mainder of the way. 
 
 About two hours after the arrival of the 
 prisoners, who should Mr. Judson see but 
 his noble and heroic wife, coming with her 
 babe three months' old in her arms. She 
 had found out the destination to which her 
 husband had been driven by cruel and 
 bloody men, and love had lent her wings 
 to traverse the burning sands of the desert, 
 and she had flowm on those wings, with 
 her sad-hearted babe at her breast, to the 
 side of her beloved companion. 
 
 At this place they were destined to re- 
 main six long months in sufferings, quite 
 as memorable as the fiery furnace of Baby- 
 lon to the Jewish worthies, as the den 
 of lions to Daniel, or as the prison at 
 Philippi to Paul and Silas, with their 
 feet made fast in the stocks. Certain it
 
 56 THE CIIPvISTIAX HERO 
 
 is, that the sufferings of this six months 
 endured by this devoted Missionary and 
 his wife are beyond either enunaeration or 
 description. 
 
 Here Mr. Judson's fever continued, and 
 his feet were so dreadfully mangled by the 
 horrible march from Ava, that for several 
 days he was utterly unable to move. While 
 his heroic wife was making preparations to 
 attend upon her husband, the next morning 
 after her arrival, her eldest daughter was 
 taken down with the smallpox ! Now her 
 condition was most trying, — her husband 
 in prison, with a fever upon him, and in a 
 mangled condition, her little daughter with 
 the small pox in a shed outside the prison, 
 which she had been permitted to occupy, 
 and her famishing babe at the breast seeking 
 almost in vain for that nourishment, which 
 excess of sorrow, weariness, and suffering 
 had nearly dried up. 
 
 But her cup of suffering is not even yet 
 full. No sooner is her child recovered,
 
 OV THE NiyETEKXTII CKXTURY. 57 
 
 than she herself is seized with a distressing 
 and dangerous sickness ; and thus she is 
 deprived of the power of ministering unto 
 others, and with none to minister unto her. 
 In this debilitated and distressing condition, 
 she set oiF in a cart to Ava for medicine 
 and suitable food ; while absent she became 
 so much worse, that she had no hope of 
 recovery left, and desired only to be able 
 to return to die near the prison. She did 
 return, and was confined to her shed more 
 than two months before she was able to 
 resume her accustomed duties again. 
 
 The prisoners, it afterwards appeared, 
 had been removed to this prison, by the 
 orders of the Burmese geneial, for the pur- 
 pose of being offered there as a sacrifice to 
 the gods. They were destined by him to 
 the horrible death of burning alive! But as 
 he was about to consummiate this diabolical 
 purpose, he suddenly fell into disgrace, was 
 charged with treason, and executed at an 
 hour's notice. Thus God sent his angel
 
 58 THE CIIKISTIAN HERO 
 
 from heaven to shut the lion's mouth, and 
 save his servant from the fate which hung i 
 over him. Hence he, together with the | 
 other prisoners, was left at the prison of ; 
 Oung-penla uncared for, till the near ap- ' 
 proach of the English to the capital in- 
 duced the king to send for Mr. Judson to 
 accompany the embassy to the English 
 camp, to negotiate a treaty of peace. 
 
 Thus ends a single scene of suffering in 
 the tragical life of this remarkable man. 
 How peculiarly appropriate is the language 
 of the text to this portion of his life : " In 
 labors more abundant, in stripes above 
 measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths 
 oft." He had been in most imminent dan- 
 gers in repeated instances from the hand 
 of the executioner, from alarming sickness, 
 and from sufferings in prison one year and 
 seven months, nine months in three pairs 
 of fetters, two months in five, six months 
 in one, and two months a prisoner at large. 
 And yet God had delivered him out of them
 
 OF THE XIXETEEXTII CENTURY. 59 
 
 all, for his work was not done ; — and God's 
 people are immortal till their work is 
 
 DEATH OF DR. JUDSON'S FIRST 
 WIFE AND CHILD. 
 
 On the conclusion of the treaty of peace 
 between Burmah and England, Mr. Judson 
 established a Mission at Amherst ; and, 
 having got matters fairly settled, he was 
 solicited to accompany, as translator, an 
 embassy to the court of Ava, for the pur- 
 pose of negotiating a commercial treaty 
 with the government. This he at first de- 
 clined, but having the assurance that an 
 effort should be made to have a clause in- 
 serted securing religious toleration ; he 
 finally consented to accept the office and 
 join the embassy. 
 
 Soon after he left, a remittent fever 
 seized upon the constitution of Mrs. Jud- 
 son, welinigh broken down by suffering and
 
 60 THE CHRISTIAN IIEKO 
 
 disease. Now she, who had so assiduously 
 and tenderly watched over and ministered 
 unto others, by the providence of God, is 
 to sicken and die alone. There are none 
 to cool the burning brow and soothe the 
 anguish of that heroic sufferer, and in her 
 native tongue to whisper words of tender- 
 ness and love ; yet pitying hearts were there, 
 annong those dark-browed daughters of Bur- 
 mah, and eyes that wept at the anguish of 
 the dying Missionary, and voice«s that whis- 
 pered accents of love, though in a foreign 
 tongue. From day to day the malady 
 makes slow, but constant progress. At 
 length delirium ensues ; and she gives ut- 
 terance to her broken thoughts. " the 
 teacher is long coming ! The new Mis- 
 sionaries are long coming ! I must die 
 alone and leave my little one ! Tell the 
 teacher the disease was violent ! Tell him 
 I could not write ! Tell him how I suf- 
 fered and died! Tell him all you see ! " 
 And then she sinks into the lethargy of 
 approaching death.
 
 OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 61 ' 
 
 All is still, and no sound is heard except [ 
 the quick and shortened breathing of the j 
 sufferer. An infant cry breaks the still- ] 
 ness of the apartment. That sound vibrates j 
 upon that maternal heart whose throbbing-s j 
 had wellnigh ceased. The eyes of the dy- j 
 ing mother once more open ; she speaks, ' 
 it is a gentle whisper from the bed of death : ; 
 " Nurse be kind to my darling child, in- i 
 dulge it in every thing till its father comes 
 home, precious, precious baby ! " 
 
 " She made a sign 
 To bring her babe, — 't was brought and by her placed, 
 
 Slie looked upon its face and laid 
 
 Her hand upon its little breast, and sought 
 From heaven unutterable blessings, — such 
 As God to dying parents only granted 
 For infants left behind them in the world. 
 ' God keep my child,' we heard her say, 
 And heard no more." 
 
 She died October 24th, at eight o'clock 
 in the evening. Her " record is on 
 HIGH ! " 
 
 While Mr. Judson was pursuing the
 
 62 THE CHllISTIAN HERO 
 
 object of his visit at the capital, a letter 
 was one day handed him sealed with a 
 black seal. He tore it open and read with 
 feelings of anguish and desolation, which 
 it would be presumption to attempt to de- 
 scribe, the following words : " Dear Sir, to 
 one who has suffered so much, and with 
 such exemplary fortitude, there needs but 
 little preface to tell a tale of distress. To 
 sum up all the unhappy tidings in a few 
 words, — Mrs. Judson is no more. ^^ 
 
 But his cup of sorrow was not full. He 
 was widowed but not childless. He had 
 still left his little daughter, who had been 
 ushered into the world while her father 
 was in fetters in the death prison. That 
 little one the stricken mourner had already 
 begun to hope might yet supply, in some 
 degree, the vacancy occasioned by the loss 
 of the tenderest of mothers and the best 
 of wives. But just six months after the 
 death of its mother, angels bore that little 
 spirit to be reunited with hers in heaven.
 
 OF THE NIXKTEKXTH CEXTUKT. 63 
 
 " Thus I am left alone in the wide world," 
 writes Mr. Judson, " my father's family 
 and all my relatives are separated from me 
 by seas which I shall never repass. They 
 are the same to me as if buried. My own 
 dear family I have actually buried. What 
 remains for me but to hold myself in 
 readiness to follow the departed to tliat 
 blessed world, 
 
 ' Where my best friends, my kindred dwell, 
 Where God my Saviour reigns ! ' " 
 
 TRANSLATION OF THE BIBLE 
 INTO BURMx\N. 
 
 Immediately after the grave had closed 
 over the last of all his family, he betook 
 himself to the great work of giving the 
 Bible to the millions of Burmah. A work 
 in which the bereaved Missionary toiled 
 solitary and alone for nearly seven long 
 years. He first was employed for a time
 
 64 THE CHRISTIAN HERO 
 
 in revising the New Testament, He then 
 began his labors in the Old Testament, by- 
 translating the Psalms. Just as he com- 
 menced this work, he received a pressing 
 invitation from the Board to visit his native 
 land ; but this invitation he resolutely de- 
 clined, for he felt that his duty to God and 
 the perishing heathen forbade it. The 
 WHOLE Bible was not yet given to Bur- 
 mah. Here we see manifested a most no- 
 ble and heroic spirit of self-denial, delib- 
 erately preferring continued labors to a 
 season of relaxation, and the good of the 
 heathen above any gratification of meeting 
 friends and kindred. 
 
 From this time onward, he devoted near- 
 ly all his time and energies to the great 
 work of giving the Bible to Burmah. In 
 June, 1831, he speaks of Genesis, Psahiis, 
 Solomon's Song, Isaiah, and Daniel as ' 
 completed. Two years and a half longer • 
 of hard study and patient toil, the laborious, 
 but welcome task drew near its completion.
 
 OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 65 
 
 Under date of December 31st, 1833, he 
 says : "I did hope, at this time, to have 
 been able to insert a notice of the comple- 
 tion of the translation of the Old Testa- 
 ment, but though I have long devoted near- 
 ly all my time to that viork, I have found 
 it so heavy, and my health so poor, that 
 though near the goal, I cannot yet say I 
 have attained." 
 
 A single month longer, and the noble 
 work was done ! On the 31st of January, 
 1834, Mr. Judson wrote the last page of 
 his translation of the Bible into the Bur- 
 man tongue. It was a work which he had 
 prosecuted amid the changes of many j^ears, 
 often in solitude, in sickness, and in sorrow. 
 Poets, historians, and moralists have all 
 recorded the feelings of exultation, with 
 which they have completed some great 
 work which they imagined the world 
 would not willingly let die. But here is 
 a sight which angels might have stooped 
 down from heaven to gaze upon with the
 
 66 THE CHRISTIAN HERO 
 
 deepest interest, to see that devoted man 
 of God, after his long^ years of toil, on 
 his knees in that room, where he had so 
 long studied, and wept, and prayed over 
 this work, with the last leaf of Burmah's 
 Bible in his hand, and to witness the thrill 
 of holy rapture which glowed in every fea- 
 ture, as, rising from his knees, he seized 
 his pen and wrote the following memora- 
 ble record in the history of Burmah : — 
 "Thanks be to God, I can now say I 
 HAVE ATTAINED ! I havo knelt down be- 
 fore him with the last leaf in my hand, 
 and imploring his forgiveness for all sins 
 which have polluted my labors in this de- 
 partment, and his aid in future efforts to 
 remove the errors and imperfections which 
 necessarily cleave to the work, I have 
 commended it to his mercy and grace ; 
 I have dedicated it to his glory. May 
 
 HE MAKE HIS OWN INSPIRED WoRD, NOW 
 COMPLETE IN THE BuRMAN TONGUE, THE 
 GRAND INSTRUMENT OF FILLING ALL BuR-
 
 or THE XIXETEENTH CENTUKY. 67 
 
 MAH WITH SONGS AND PRAISES, TO OUR 
 
 GREAT God and Saviour, Jesus Christ ! 
 Amen." 
 
 Let the despisers of the Bible and of the 
 Cross look here ; contemplate the spectacle 
 here presented. Here is a man upon whom 
 the heathen have inflicted tortures, and 
 fetters, and bonds, and imprisonment, and 
 he has given them in return the Bible, — 
 the richest boon of Heaven to man, the 
 leaves of which are for the healing of the 
 nations! Such an act, indeed, reflects 
 great honor on the man, but it reflects a 
 greater glory on his religion which prompt- 
 ed him to undertake, and enabled him to 
 complete, so noble and God-like a work ! 
 
 DR. JUDSON'S RETURN TO 
 
 AMERICA. 
 
 From the date of the completion of the 
 
 Burman Bible in January, 1834, till the 
 
 embarkation of Dr. Judson for the United
 
 68 THE CIIKISTIAN^ HERO 
 
 States, his history is not fraught with any 
 such startling and extraordinary incidents 
 as is found in other portions of his life. 
 He was married on the 10th of April, 1834, 
 to Mrs. Sarah B. Boardman, with whom, 
 for eleven years, he lived with an interest- 
 ing family of children growing up around 
 him, in the enjoyment of as large a share 
 of domestic happiness as often falls to the 
 lot of any Missionary of Christ. 
 
 After printing the first edition of the 
 Bible in Burmah, Dr. Judson soon discov- 
 ered the necessity of a thorough revision 
 of the whole work, and five years more of 
 his life were chiefly devoted to this im- 
 portant, but laborious task. This revision 
 of the work, he says, cost him " more 
 labor and time even than the first trans- 
 lation." 
 
 About one year and a half after the pub- 
 lication of the revised edition of the Bible, 
 at the earnest and repeated solicitation of 
 the Board, Dr. Judson commenced the la-
 
 OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 69 
 
 borious task of writing a complete Dic- 
 tionary of the Burman language. This 
 work he hoped to be able to put to press 
 as soon as the end of the year 1845. But 
 this hope was frustrated by the dangerous 
 sickness of Mrs. Judson, which rendered 
 a long voyage and an entire change of cli- 
 j mate necessary, as the only hope of pre- 
 serving her valuable life. 
 
 A voyage to the United States was de- 
 cided upon as the only thing that would 
 insure the life of Mrs. Judson ; and as it 
 would be cruel to send her alone in her 
 enfeebled state of health, he determined to 
 accompany her. They embarked in April, 
 1845, taking with them their three eldest 
 children to remain in this country, and 
 leaving their three youngest behind ; the 
 youngest but three and a half months old. 
 
 To prevent an interruption in the work 
 of the Burman Dictionary, he engaged 
 two assistants to accompany him, with the 
 design of prosecuting the work while in
 
 70 TIIE CHRISTIAN IlEKO 
 
 this country. But the heahh of Mrs. Jud- 
 son had so much improved during the 
 former part of the voyage, that her hus- 
 band resolved to return to Burmah, and 
 allovv'^ her to pursue her voyage to the 
 United States with the children. And on 
 their arrival at the Isle of France, the 
 prospect of Mrs. Judson's recovery con- 
 tinued so favorable, that the native assist- 
 ants were sent back, and Dr. Judson in- 
 tended soon to follow them. It was here 
 that those most beautiful and affecting lines 
 were written by Mrs. Judson to her hus- 
 band, commencing thus : 
 
 " We part on this gresn islet, love, 
 Thou for the Easlcni main, 
 I for the setting sun, love, 
 O when to meet again ! " * 
 
 But before the vessel proceeded on her 
 voyage, and after the return of the native 
 assistants, Mrs. Judson was seized with a 
 relapse, and her husband resolved not to 
 
 * Judson Offering, p. 227.
 
 OF THE yiXETEEXTII CENTURY. 71 
 
 leave her. The following account of her 
 last sickness is from the pen of Dr. Judson : 
 " On our passage homeward, the strength 
 of Mrs. Judson gradually declined, and I 
 expected to be under the painful necessity 
 of burying her in the sea. But it was so 
 ordered in Divine Providence, that when 
 the indications of approaching death had 
 become strongly marked, the ship came to 
 anchor in the port of St. Helena. For 
 three days she continued to sink rapidly. 
 Her mind became liable to wander ; but a 
 single word v/as sufficient to recall and 
 steady her recollections. On the evening 
 of the 31st of August she appeared to be 
 drawing near to the end of her pilgrimage. 
 The children took leave of her and retired 
 to rest. I sat alone by the side of her bed 
 during the hours of the night, endeavor- 
 ing to administer relief to the distressed 
 body and consolation to the departing soul. 
 At two o'clock in the morning, wishing 
 to obtain onq more token of recognition, I
 
 72 THE CHRISTIAN IIEllO 
 
 roused her attention, and said, ' Do you 
 still love the Saviour 1 ' ' O yes,' she re- 
 plied, ' I ever love the Lord Jesus Christ ! ' 
 Another hour passed, life continued to re- 
 cede, and she ceased to breathe. For a 
 moment I traced her upward flight and 
 thought of the v^'onders which were open- 
 ing to her view. I then closed her sight- 
 less eyes, dressed her hair for the last 
 time in the drapery of death, and, being 
 exhausted with many sleepless nights, 
 threw myself down and slept. 
 
 *' On awaking in the morning, I saw the 
 children standing and weeping around the 
 body of their mother, then, for the first 
 time, inattentive to their cries. In the 
 course of the day, a coffin was procured 
 from the shore, in which I placed all that 
 remained of her whom I had so much 
 loved. After prayer had been offered, by 
 a dear brother minister from the town, 
 Rev. Mr. Bertram, we proceeded in boats 
 to the shore. A grave had been prepared
 
 ! 
 
 OF TJIE XIXETEEXTII CEXTURY. 73 
 
 ia a beautiful, shady spot, contiguous to the 
 f^rave of Mrs. Chater, a Missionary from 
 Ceylon, who had died in similar circum- 
 stances on her passage home. There I saw 
 lier safely deposited ; her body had attained 
 I the repose of the grave, and her spirit the 
 ' repose of paradise." 
 
 I Dr. Judson was obliged to hasten on 
 j board the ship, which immediately went to 
 j sea. And who does not sympathize with 
 I the feelings which prompted the following 
 ; record: ''On, the following morning, no 
 j vestige of the island was discernible in the 
 j distant horizon. (How would he strain his 
 I sight to catch a glimpse of the last resting- 
 I place of his beloved companion !) For a 
 j few days, in the solitude of my cabin, with 
 I my poor children crying around me, I 
 I could not help abandoning myself to heart- 
 I breaking sorrow. But the promises of the 
 I Gospel came to my aid, and faith stretched 
 I her view to the bright world of eternal 
 j life, and anticipated a happy meeting with
 
 74 THE CHRISTIAN HERO 
 
 beloved beings, whose bodies are moulder- 
 ing at Amherst and at St. Helena." 
 
 Thus a second time is this stricken 
 mourner bereaved of a companion, and 
 left alone. Yes : 
 
 " Precious dust," he has " laid, 
 By the Hopia tree ; 
 And treasure as precious 
 In the rock of the sea." ♦ 
 
 Six vs^eeks from the grave of his wife at 
 
 St. Helena, Dr. Judson arrived in Boston 
 
 on the 15th of October, 1845. The arrival 
 
 of this devoted and suffering Missionary in 
 
 j his native land produced a thrill of emotion 
 
 I in the hearts of thousands, which may be 
 
 I imagined, but never described. Word was 
 
 j circulated verbally, in order to prevent 
 
 I publicity, that the friends of Missions would 
 
 meet him in the evening at the church in 
 
 Bowdoin Square, to welcome his return. 
 
 The house was densely filled, all eager to 
 
 see and grasp the hand of the long-loved 
 
 * H. S. Washburn.
 
 or THE NINETEENTH CENTUKY. 
 
 and toil-worn man of God, the oldest sur- 
 viving American Missionary to the East, 
 and the first who gave himself personally 
 to that work, — the man who had been 
 brought before kings and councils for the 
 testimony of the Lord Jesus, — who had 
 been in bonds, in dangers, and in chains; 
 who had been led away to be sacrificed to 
 heathen gods, but delivered out of their 
 hands by the God of heaven ; and whose 
 fortitude no terrors of martyrdom could 
 shake ; whose love for the heathen no in- 
 gratitude, nor cruelty, nor fear could quench. 
 This was the man whom God had delighted 
 to honor as "Jesus Christ's Man,"* 
 and around w-hom thousands rushed to 
 greet and welcome to the land of his youth. 
 During the services of the evening, a 
 man was suddenly seen to pass rapidly up 
 
 * This phrase is one made use of many years ago by 
 a poor heathen, who had travelled far to find a IMission- 
 ary, and meeting Mr. Judson, eagerly inquired, ''Are 
 you Jesus Christ's man ? "
 
 76 THE CHRISTIAK HERO 
 
 the aisle into the pulpit, and to embrace 
 Dr. Judson with uncommon ardor, and 
 which was as ardently reciprocated. As 
 this gentleman was a stranger to the audi- 
 ence, every one was extremely anxious to 
 know who he was. He was soon intro- 
 duced to the audience, as the Rev. Samuel 
 Nott, Jr., the only surviving member, ex- 
 cept Mr. Judson, of that first company of 
 Missionaries sent out from this country by 
 the American Board. He was compelled, 
 after a few years labor, to return to this 
 country, and is now pastor of a Congrega- 
 tional Church in Wareham in this State. 
 As soon as he heard of the arrival of Dr. 
 Judson, he set out with all speed for Bos- 
 ton to greet him ; and, learning that he 
 was at Bovvdoin Square Church, he has- 
 tened there to take him by the hand. Here, 
 after thirty-three years of separation, these 
 two pioneer Missionaries unexpectedly meet 
 in their native land, and with what emotion 
 you can better imagine than I describe.
 
 OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 77 
 
 Similar greetings were also offered Dr. 
 Judson in other cities which he visited, and 
 in every part of the country he was re- 
 ceived with great interest and respect, such 
 as are seldom recorded to any person of a 
 mere private station. These manifestations 
 of regard were not confined merely to the 
 denomination to which he belongs. Chris- 
 tians of every communion, and citizens of 
 every rank, were eager to honor the man 
 who possessed so many claims to public 
 veneration and gratitude, who had toiled 
 and suffered as none of the present genera- 
 tion have for the benefit of his race and 
 the diffusion of the Gospel among the na- 
 tions of the earth. 
 
 Dr. Judson remained in the United States 
 till the following July. In June, 1846, he 
 was married to Miss Emily Chubbuck of 
 Hamilton, New York; and, on the 11th 
 of July, he set sail from Boston on his 
 return again to his field of Missionary labor 
 in Burmah, where he arrived on the 5th of 
 December following.
 
 70 THE CPIRISTIAN IIEllO 
 
 He again addressed himself with his ac- 
 customed devotion to his Missionary labors ; 
 but his work was nearly finished. His 
 health began to fail in November, 1849, 
 But the decline was so gradual, that no 
 danger was apprehended till January, when 
 he went down to Mergui for the benefit of 
 his health, and returned, as was supposed, 
 with his health improved. But he soon 
 again began to fail. He next spent a 
 month at Amherst, but without benefit. 
 His decline now became so apparent, that 
 his friends became alarmed, and a voyage 
 to sea was proposed as the only possible 
 means of saving his life. A passage was 
 immediately procured in a vessel bound 
 for the Isle of Bourbon. He became so 
 weak before he left, that he was obliged to 
 be carried on board in a litter. The vessel 
 was most unfortunately delayed six days in 
 the river before she went to sea ; during 
 which time Dr. Judson was constantly 
 sinking. He became so low before the
 
 or THE XIXKTEENTII CENTURY. 79 
 
 assistants who accompanied him down the 
 river left him, that they entreated that he 
 might be taken back to Mauhnain. For 
 they were confident that he was near his 
 end, and they could not bear the thought of 
 his being buried in the sea. " We want 
 his grave," said they " where we can look 
 upon it." When the pilot left the vessel, 
 Mr. Ranney, who accompanied Dr. Judson 
 on his voyage, wrote Mrs. Judson that her 
 husband requested him to say, that " Ae 
 went out to sea with a strong feeling that 
 he should recover.'''' But notwithstanding, 
 he continued to fail, suffering for the 
 greater part of the time exceedingly, till 
 four o'clock on Friday afternoon, when he 
 breathed his last. " His death," says Mr. 
 Ranney, "was like falling to sleep. Not 
 the movement of a muscle was percepti- 
 ble, and the moment of the going out of 
 life was indicated only by his ceasing to 
 breathe." 
 
 They were admonished of the necessity
 
 80 THE CHRISTIAN HERO 
 
 of making- immediate preparations for the 
 burial of the body. A strong plank coffin 
 was constructed to receive the remains, and 
 into which were poured several buckets of 
 sand to make it sink. At eight o'clock 
 the crew assembled, the larboard port was 
 opened, and, in perfect silence, broke only 
 by the voice of the captain, the remains 
 were committed to the deep ; nine days 
 after their embarkation at Maulmain, and 
 scarcely three days out of sight of the 
 mountains of Burmah. 
 
 Thus Adoniram Judson, D. D., the 
 Senior Missionary of the American Baptist 
 Union, departed this life at sea, in the 
 sixty-second year of his age, and of his 
 Missionary labor the thirty-eighth. And 
 though his silent funeral, and his nameless 
 tomb are not such as we would have chosen, 
 yet that God, who hid the body of Moses 
 from the eyes of Israel, and by his provi- 
 dence concealed the burial place of Peter, 
 lest their graves should become the occa-
 
 OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 81 
 
 sion of idolatrous reverence, has now bid- 
 den the sea unveil its bosom and take this 
 new treasure to its trust. And though man 
 can build for him no garnished sepulchre, 
 and bid no storied marble rise, yet 
 
 The waves shall roll for him 
 
 A ceaseless, solemn dirge, 
 The low winds chant his requiem 
 
 And rock him with the surge. 
 
 And, indeed, Adoniram Judson needs no 
 costly mausoleum at our hands. He has, 
 by his sacrifice and labor for the salvation 
 of the heathen, embalmed his memory in 
 the affections of his race, — he has erected 
 for himself a noble monument, not of 
 crumbling marble or corroding brass, but 
 of immortal spirits, on which, as on im- 
 perishable tablets, he has inscribed his own 
 epitaph, which shall be read on earth and 
 acknowledged in heaven. 
 
 When we place all the noble acts and 
 great events of his life in juxtaposition and 
 trace out his remarkable history, commenc-
 
 82 THE CHRISTIAN HERO 
 
 ing with the infidel young man at Brown, 
 then becoming a Christian and consecrating 
 himself to the work of Missions at Ando- 
 ver, there writing, and as one of signers 
 presenting the first appeal to the Churches 
 in behalf of this work ; in the solitude of 
 his closet maturing plans when he could 
 derive no aid from the counsels of age and 
 experience, with no sympathy of public 
 sentiment to quicken the pulsations of his 
 heart, — but, like another Columbus, going 
 forth in the night of adversity, guided only 
 by the "lights oP heaven," and shaping 
 his course by the stars of the moral firma- 
 ment that threw their gleams along a path- 
 less waste ; forsaking home, kindred, and 
 friends for the love he bore to souls ; chang- 
 ing his sentiments in obedience to the power 
 of truth and the command of God ; thus 
 separating himself from the sympathies of 
 friends, and dissolving his connection with 
 the Board upon which he was dependent 
 for support ; stirring up the American
 
 OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 83 
 
 Baptist to the great work of preaching the 
 Gospel to the heathen, which has resulted 
 in their enlargement and prosperity ; mas- 
 tering languages without vocabularies and 
 qualified teachers ; translating the Holy 
 Scriptures, and writing nearly to comple- 
 tion a dictionary ; suffering imprisonment, 
 in bonds, in dungeons, and chains ; signal- 
 izing a whole life, which spans the history 
 of American Missions, by an indomitable 
 strength of purpose, and apostolic energy 
 of faith, and ardent zeal for the glory of 
 Christ, devoting youth, manhood, and vig- 
 orous old age to the conversion of the 
 world ; and finally dying with the harness 
 on, and leaving to posterity a name which 
 must be a watchword for the successive 
 ranks of " the sacramental host of God's 
 elect," till they have won their last victory, 
 and " the kingdoms of this world have be- 
 come the kingdoms of our Lord and his 
 Christ ! " In view of all this, I appeal to 
 you ; I appeal to the world, if to him does
 
 84 THE CHKISTIAN HERO 
 
 not properly, if not exclusively belong the 
 title of " The Christian Hero of the 
 Nineteenth Century?" 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 By the trials, and sacrifices, and success 
 of this pioneer Missionary, God has taught 
 us what sort of Christians are needed for 
 the conversion of the vv^orld. 
 
 1st. We must have Christians for this 
 w^ork who have a passion for souls. 
 
 Desire is one thing, and desire inflamed 
 to a passion, and manifesting itself in earn- 
 est and appropriate action, is quite another. 
 The one ambitious, but in how few cases 
 has that feeling become an all absorbing, 
 master passion, like that of Caesar and Na- 
 poleon. So, also, we desire the salvation 
 of the world ; but in how few of us does 
 this desire acquire the majesty and effi- 
 ciency of a ruling passion, transporting us 
 beyond ourselves, and carrying along with
 
 OF THE NINETEKXTIl CKXrum'. 85 
 
 it all the impulses of our nature. Now 
 this inflamed and overmastering desire is 
 what is needed. The xlpostle Paul pos- 
 sessed this. Perhaps no man ever lived 
 whose occupations were more diversified 
 than those of Paul ; now compassing the 
 earth hy land ; now ploughing the deep ; 
 now working as a tent-maker ; now thun- 
 dering before kings, and, in a word, doing 
 every thing, and seeming almost to possess 
 ubiquity ; yet amidst all he says, " On.e 
 thing I do!^' one great absorbing desire 
 monopolized his heart. It was the salva- 
 tion of the world ; not the Jewish world 
 only, but the Gentile. And no soldier, bent 
 upon carrying a citadel, was ever more en- 
 grossed by a single object. No mariner 
 on the open sea, struggling with winds and 
 waves and longing for port, was ever more 
 tenacious of a single purpose. The sal- 
 vation of the world, this girded him for 
 every conflict and cheered him on amid 
 every discouragement.
 
 86 THE CHRISTIAN HERO 
 
 So with the Apostles ; they had a passion 
 for souls, and they came down like thun- 
 derbolts upon the conscience of a sleeping 
 world. Imprisonment, confiscation, and 
 sanguinary death were nothing to these 
 men. They had a passion for souls, — a 
 passion kindled at the altar of God and 
 baptized in fire, — a passion nourished and 
 made intense by the concentrating influ- 
 ences of three worlds. Hence they acted ; 
 passion made them eloquent, rendered their 
 voice, demeanor, and action, all instinct 
 with energy, and gave them a resistless 
 power in bearing away the thronged audi- 
 ences of the synagogue or the temple, of 
 the market or the forum. The passion 
 they had for souls transported them above 
 the fear of danger or of death ; and the 
 fishermen of Galilee became more than a 
 match for all the legalized wickedness of 
 the world. 
 
 So with Mr. Judson ; he saw the heathen 
 perishing, the fields were already white
 
 or THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 87 
 
 and ready for the harvest ; there were no 
 reapers ; his soul, like Paul's, was stirred 
 within him, and he must go, and did go to 
 their rescue, and labored and braved danger 
 and suffered and died for the heathen ; and 
 to-day he is wearing a crown all radiant 
 with gems gathered out of the dark realms 
 of heathendom. 
 
 Such is the sort of men we need now for 
 the world's conversion. A few such men 
 of passion, burning with Apostolic fire, 
 would shake thrones, agitate kingdoms, 
 and carry victorious war even to the gate 
 of the enemy. 
 
 2d. Another trait of character eminent- 
 ly exhibited in the life of Dr. Judson, and 
 which Christians must possess in order to 
 fit them for their work, is a spirit of faith 
 
 AND INDOMITABLE PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 Dr. Judson was not to be discouraged in 
 his work by any difficulties, however great, 
 which might present themselves. "He 
 believed, therefore " he acted.
 
 83 THK CHRISTIAN HERO 
 
 " If any ask what success 1 met with 
 among the natives," writes Mr. Judson to 
 Mr. Rice, who had returned home to stir 
 up the Churches to this work, " tell them 
 to look at Otaheite, where the Missionaries 
 labored nearly twenty years, and, not meet- 
 ing with the slightest success, began to be 
 neglected by all the Christian world ; and 
 the name of Otaheite was considered a 
 shame to the cause of Missions ; but now 
 the blessing begins to descend. Tell them 
 to look at Bengal, also, where Dr. Thomas 
 had been laboring seventeen years before 
 the first convert, Krishno, was baptized. If 
 they ask again what prospect of ultimate 
 success is there? Tell them as much, as 
 that there is an Almighty and faithful God 
 who will perform his promises and no more. 
 If this does not satisfy them, beg them to 
 let me stay and make the attempt, and let 
 you come and give us our bread ; or if they 
 are unwilling to risk their bread on such a 
 forlorn hope, as has nothing but the Word
 
 OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 89 
 
 of God to sustain it, beg of them at least 
 not to prevent others from giving us bread. 
 And if we live some twenty or thirty years 
 they may hear from us again." 
 
 Here was faith, — faith in God; a faith 
 that moored itself to the throne of the 
 Almighty, determined to abide any con- 
 sequences. This servant of God knew that 
 he stood upon no Serbonian bog, which 
 trembles beneath your tread ; but he stood 
 on God's unfailing Word ; we have as 
 " much encouragement,^'' says he, "as that 
 there is an Almighty and faithful God ivho 
 will perform his promises.'" And then he 
 was resolved to persevere, and, by the grace 
 of God, has persevered ; and what report 
 at the end of "twenty or thirty years" 
 is this indomitable, persevering servant of 
 God able to make 1 He can tell of sixty 
 or seventy Churches gathered in the great 
 Burman Empire, each flinging the light of 
 heaven upon the midnight darkness of the 
 East ; he can tell of at least seven thou-
 
 90 THE CHRISTIAN HERO 
 
 sand Christians, wrested from the idola- 
 trous worship of Boodh, and made the sons 
 and daughters of the Ahnighty ; he can 
 tell of the Bible faithfully translated ; of 
 " a wilderness and solitary place which are 
 g-ladj'and of deserts which rejoice and blos- 
 som as the rose." He " went forth weep- 
 ing bearing precious seed," and toiled on 
 amid disappointment and discouragement 
 almost six years, before he saw any fruit 
 appear ; and then the seed sprung up, 
 first " the blade, then the ear, and then the 
 full corn in the ear"; for we have seen 
 him " come again with rejoicing and bring- 
 ing his sheaves with him." 
 
 So now we need Christians who will be 
 men of faith and perseverance, who will 
 work on amid disappointment, persecution, 
 imprisonment, in the face of kingly edicts 
 and death if need be, exclaiming, " None of 
 these things move me, neither count I my 
 life dear unto myself, so that I might finish 
 my course with joy." And to do this.
 
 OF THE XIXETEEXTH CENTURY. 91 
 
 Christians must feel their responsibility ; 
 they are standing in Christ's stead ; they 
 are acting as his representatives on earth. 
 He has made tliem " the light of the world 
 and the salt of the earth." Hence it is no 
 time for us to be faint-hearted or discour- 
 aged or to theorize ; but to act. We are 
 like men on the firm coast, where a broken 
 wreck, teeming with living multitudes, 
 lies dashing in the foaming surf. Each 
 is bound to save some. See, millions on 
 millions are exposed to the death that 
 never dies. Each succeeding wave bears 
 off some. Yes, among the heathen alone, 
 there die ecery year seven millions and a 
 half, — twenty thousand every day, eight 
 hundred and fifty every hour, and fourteen 
 every minute ! Thus it has been from gen- 
 eration to generation, while the Christian 
 Church has been unbelieving and faint- 
 hearted, and when urged forward to the 
 work, she has cowardly exclaimed in justi- 
 fication of her supineness, there are " giants
 
 92 THE CHRISTIAN HERO 
 
 in the land." O, shall Christians fail to 
 persevere while a current of souls is sweep- 
 ing by, and discharging itself into the 
 burning lake at the rate of twenty thou- 
 sand a day 1 Shall we fail to act decided- 
 ly and vigorously while the world on we 
 stand is lashed by the rising surges of 
 hell beneath our feet, and while the beat- 
 ing tempest of wrath is over our heads 1 
 
 3d. To accomplish the world's conver- 
 sion, Christians must possess, in an emi- 
 nent degree, a self-denying and sacrifi- 
 cing SPIRIT. 
 
 Nothing great or good has ever been 
 effected without it. Before the redemption 
 of man could be wrought out, " He who 
 was rich" must become poor; the second 
 person in the mysterious Godhead "must 
 humble himself," and descend to our res- 
 cue, and descend from one depth of humili- 
 ation to another, till the cross arrested his 
 farther descent and made it impossible for 
 Divine condescension itself to stoop lower.
 
 OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 93 
 
 Before the world could be saved, God must 
 sacrifice his Son. 
 
 If we look back to the Patriarchal age, 
 we behold the same self-denying and sac- 
 rificing spirit demanded and exhibited in 
 the martyr piety of Abel, the dauntless 
 fidelity of Enoch, the persevering obedi- 
 ence of Noah, the Missionary pilgrimage 
 of Abraham, and later still, the sacrificing 
 zeal of Moses. And as we pass along 
 down the long line of martyrs and confes- 
 sors, we see God requiring, and his people 
 actually making, great sacrifices for the 
 good of mankind. We find men nerving 
 themselves up to a courage which should 
 cower before no danger, and shrink from 
 no conflict, — cultivating an enlarged be- 
 nevolence, which set no limits to its plans 
 and toils and trials for the welfare of man, 
 — and attaining to a spirit of self-abandon- 
 ment, which should swear eternal devo- 
 tions to Christ, though in the presence of 
 stakes and gibbets and flames prepared for
 
 94 THE CHRISTIAN HERO 
 
 its martyrdom. These, indeed, were the 
 world-benefactors, who bravely consecrated 
 their entire energies to the service of their 
 race. They are champions, who appear 
 at fitting intervals, as if Providence espe- 
 cially designed, by the mercifulness and 
 durability of their influence, to remind the 
 world of what is most characteristic of his 
 own Eternal Throne. They are the fore- 
 shadowing also of infinite harvests, for, 
 though persecution may seize and " drag 
 them into fame," and " chase them from 
 the world," yet they always leave the 
 world better than they found it. They 
 are battling for God and truth ; between 
 recreancy to truth and the sacrifice of life 
 they hesitate not a moment to choose. 
 And hence if they fall in their sublime 
 career, they " fall chanting the Marseil- 
 laise of the world's march toward the final 
 victories " of God and truth ! 
 
 So we shall find the same spirit required 
 and manifested in many of our Mission-
 
 OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 95 
 
 aries. Dr. Judson has paid ten thousand 
 DOLLARS into the Missionary treasury, and 
 this was all he possessed on earth, and 
 also in addition, he gave himself to the 
 work of Missions ; and what a gift w'as 
 that for the world ! Yes, Judson and his 
 compeers in their work have shown them- 
 selves to be honest and true-hearted, ready 
 to go where God commands, and act where 
 he directs, with a firm reliance on the arm 
 that bears the "pillars of heaven" up; 
 and when they are opposed by sanguinary 
 laws and kingly edicts, they calmly meet 
 the storm and brave the horrors of martyr- 
 dom, rather than share the infinitely more 
 frightful horrors of recreancy to truth and 
 treason against heaven. The puny and 
 selfish potentates of earth may sue for 
 slavedoms and kingdoms and win them, 
 but benefactors like these are the true 
 heroes of the world, and they will live in 
 perpetual, augmented glory, when "ty- 
 rant's crests and tombs of brass " have 
 passed away.
 
 96 THE CHKISTIAN HERO 
 
 Thus God is teaching the piety of his 
 people to be diffusive, and training his 
 Church for that " bolder flight which shall 1 
 eventually sweep the horizon of the world." 
 0, Christians, have we caught the spirit of 
 Christian self-denial and sacrifice from 
 these " mighty men of war ? " Are we at 
 our post acquitting ourselves like men in 
 this great contest? Have we made the 
 wants and the woes of the world our ovi^n, 
 so that we cannot count the work complete 
 till they have removed? On this cause 
 all the treasures of the universe have been 
 lavished ; all creation is groaning and 
 travailing in pain together for want of it, 
 and all the voices of heaven and earth 
 command you to take part in it. What 
 are you doing for its promotion? Does 
 the utmost extent of your instrumentality 
 for the world's conversion consist in a 
 small donation of money, and in an occa- 
 sional languid prayer? 
 
 When the Spartan band at Thermopylas
 
 OF THE XINETEENTII CEXTLRY. 'J/ 
 
 prepared themselves to die for the salvation 
 of Greece, they inscribed upon the over- 
 hanging- crags of that famous pass these 
 words : " Traveller, go tell Sparta tliat we 
 die here in obedience to her sacred laws ! " 
 O, Christians, how many of us are ready to 
 imitate the example of this heroic band, to 
 bind garlands upon our brows as ready sac- 
 rifices, and throw ourselves in the Tiier- 
 mopylai of the moral world, to die there for 
 the salvation of God, and in obedience to 
 HIS " sacred laws'? " 
 
 Finally, we are not without encourage- 
 ments to labor for the world's conversion. 
 
 And this we may see from the labors and 
 success of Dr. Judson. The life of this 
 devoted man has taught us what Christian 
 heroism, by the grace of God, can accom- 
 plish. And when the history of Adoniram 
 Judson is truly written, it will be found one 
 of the most conclusive arguments in favor 
 of the feasibility of Missions among the 
 heathen ever presented to the mind of man. 
 
 9
 
 98 THE CHRISTIAN HERO 
 
 And further, not only do we find indi- 
 vidual cases of devotion to this work, but 
 the Church is waking up to a sense of her 
 responsibility in relation to the recovery of 
 man. She has gone up into the mount of 
 vision ; she is beginning to look out over 
 the world as the field ; she is beginning to 
 entertain no less design than the ameliora- 
 tion of the entire race of man ; she is be- 
 ginning to see that her appropriate type is 
 an " angel flying through the midst of 
 heaven, having the everlasting Gospel to 
 preach to them that dwell on the earth." 
 And she is making it her aim to carry the 
 torch of truth into the shadow of death ; 
 to prepare the savage for society ; to make 
 the idolater a true worshipper ; to hush 
 the discord of war ; to restore the various 
 branches of the human race to each other, 
 by restoring them to God ; and to see all 
 the crowns of the world at the feet of 
 Christ. These are beginning to be her 
 daily thoughts and her most familiar de-
 
 OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 99 
 
 signs. And, indeed, the Church is actually 
 marshalling for the work. She is already 
 consecrating to the Missionary work her 
 best talent and most marked and devoted 
 piety ; and as an earnest of her designs, 
 she now raises annually in Christendom, 
 for Missionary purposes, two millions five 
 hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars ; 
 she has already in the field about fifteen 
 hundred Missionaries, occupying about 
 twelve hundred different stations, and has 
 already gathered about two hundred thou- 
 sand converts into her Churches, and two 
 hundred and fifty thousand children and 
 adults into her schools. These preparatory 
 efforts, like the repeated " flights of the 
 dove of the deluge," show that there is 
 shut up in the '* Ark of the Church " a 
 principle of activity, which is impetuous 
 to be free, and which promises, when op- 
 porLuT»;ty QPvves. to traverse the globe. 
 
 Then the moral aspect of the world is 
 presenting most encouraging symptoms.
 
 100 THE CHRISTIAN IIKRO 
 
 Tiie great systems of error which have 
 for ages held the nations bound are re- 
 laxing their grasp and give forth signs of 
 having reached their dotage. The fanati- 
 cal zeal of the Mahometan is burning out ; 
 the priestly power of the Brahmin is broken 
 and his demons wait in vain for their pre- 
 scribed libations of blood ; the altar of the 
 Chinese is standing empty waiting to wel- 
 come the advent of an " unknown God " ; 
 the South African chief comes from a re- 
 mote interior and offers his herds for a 
 Christian teacher ; the vast kingdoms and 
 islands beyond the Ganges we know are 
 waiting to receive any number of Mission- 
 aries. In one quarter we see idolatry losing 
 its hold on millions ; in another the savage 
 is awaking from his sleep of centuries ; 
 and, look in what direction we will, the 
 horizon of hope enlarges and brightens ; 
 everywhere are to be sspn nn imj^aiience 
 of the present, a deep presentiment, and a 
 spirit of inquiry, anticipation, and change
 
 OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 101 
 
 looking out on the future. And now is the 
 time for the Church to proclaim in the ear 
 of the nations, " Behold your God ! " * 
 
 But the chief encouragement we have in 
 this work is derived from the fact that the 
 cause of Missions is the cause of God. For 
 our success we are dependent upon God. 
 But he will give success to his own cause. 
 For this his word stands pledged. " Ask 
 of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for 
 thine inheritance and the uttermost parts of 
 the earth for thy possession." Then " let 
 the heathen rage and the people imagine a 
 vain thing, let the kings of the earth set 
 themselves and the rulers of the earth take 
 counsel together against the Lord and 
 against his anointed," what matter? They 
 cannot bind the word of God. The cords 
 they cast about it will be like Sampson's 
 green withs, and like the tow when the 
 fire toucheth it. " All power in heaven 
 
 * Harris's Great Commission.
 
 102 THE CIIKISTIAX HERO 
 
 and in earth is given " to Christ, and this 
 renders the triumph of his Gospel certain. 
 
 Be encouraged, then, O Christians, and 
 prepare yourselves ; gird on your armor 
 for the world's conquest. On whom shall 
 the mantle of the sainted Judson fall? on 
 whom? Let every blast of the " Apoca- 
 lyptic trumpet " ring through the Churcli 
 as a summons to universal action ! Let 
 every soldier of the Christian army demean 
 himself as if " an angel fought at his side," 
 and infinite issues were waiting the result ! 
 Though God comes and takes av/ay a mas- 
 ter-workman, still the work will go on, — 
 it must go on. The shadow on the w^orld's 
 dial-plate cannot be turned back ; the rock 
 cut out of the m.ountain without hands can- 
 not be arrested in its course ; the wheels 
 of God's providence are rolling onward ; 
 those wheels are high and dreadful, noth- 
 ing can oppose them. 
 
 This cause must triumph, — it has tri- 
 umphed; it triumphed in Egypt, — it tri-
 
 OF THE NINETEKXTII CENTUUV. 103 
 
 umphed in Palestine, — at the tomb of Jo- 
 seph, — in Germany, — in England, — in 
 America, — and at this moment its tri- 
 mnphs are spreading "from sea to sea," 
 and " from the rivers to the ends of the 
 earth." Be hushed, then, the language of 
 unbelief and the moanings of complaint. 
 Islands of the sea, ye shall not wait in 
 vain for his law ! Africa, there is hope 
 in thine end, the hands of thy children 
 shall be stretched out to God ! India, thy 
 swarming myriads shall rejoice in the true 
 incarnation, " God manifest in the flesh ! " 
 And China, thy walls shall be salvation 
 and all thy gates praise ! Kalee, Vishnoo, 
 and Juggernaut, your shrines are doomed, 
 your days are numbered, and your end 
 draweth nigh ! For unto Shiloh shall the 
 gathering of the people be. 
 " EvEX so COMB Lord Jesus, — cons q,uiciclv ! " 
 
 " And adtletl to thy many crowns 
 Receive yel onCj the crown of ail ihe earth ! "
 
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