By Paul Borthwick
(This article is based on a transcript of the address presented at the February 6, 2012 Bicentennial Celebration, Salem, Massachusetts, USA - Courtesy: Blessing Youth Mission November 2012 issue)
As we celebrate the 200th anniversary of Adoniram Judson and his wife Ann Judson’s sailing from Salem, Massachusetts to India and later to Burma (in November 2012), we are not merely celebrating a critical early event in the north American Mission movement. We celebrate the life of a devoted follower of Christ Jesus whose life and ministry personified the long-term impact of endurance, perseverance and tenacity. To begin, however, join me on a ministry trip to Burma (Myanmar) several years ago. Under the auspices of the World Evangelical Alliance and the Myanmar Evangelical Fellowship, my wife and I traveled to Yangon, Myanmar (Rangoon, Burma) to speak to you and youth workers. To connect our trip with missions’ history, we decided to re-read the biography of Adoniram Judson, pioneer to Burma, during our trip. Judson and his wife, Nancy (also called Ann) Heseltine Judson, went out as one of the first North American missionaries, sailing in 1812 from Massachusetts.
The Burmese capital city, still dominated by the overwhelming Shwe Dagon Pagoda, looked much like the city Judson described to supporters at home. With the exception of signs and technological development and the increased population, we could easily imagine the Judsons sailing up the Irrawaddy River facing unknown challenges and what we know now as unimaginable hardship.
Indeed, the most striking aspect of the Judson-Burma story is endurance in spite of suffering. From start to finish, his biography describes hardship. He, his family, and his co-workers lived lives of affliction almost unparalleled in modern mission history.
Lest we forget, however, Judson pursued his calling knowing full well that suffering lay ahead – a significant lesson in itself to us, Christians, 200 years later whose first question is often, “Is it safe to go there?”
In writing to Ann Heseltine’s father for permission to marry her, Judson wrote:
“I have now to ask you can consent to part with your daughter early next spring, to see her no more in this world. Whether you can consent to see her depart to a heathen land, and her subjection to the hardships and sufferings of a missionary life? Whether you can consent to her exposure to the dangers of the ocean; to the fatal influence of the southern climate of India; to every kind of want and distress; to degradation, insult, persecution and perhaps a violent death? Can you consent to all this, for the sake of perishing immortal souls; for the sake of Zion and the glory of God? Can you consent to all this, in hope of soon meeting your daughter in the world of glory, with a crown of righteousness brightened by the acclamation of praise which shall redound to her Savior from heathens saved, through her means, from eternal woe and despair?”
His anticipation of the hardships ahead almost all came true. Their tribulations began on the sail to India (his first anticipated destination) from Salem, Massachusetts.
A devout Congregationalist, Judson had not resolved the issue of immersion baptism, so he set his sights on studying the issue of the three month sail. On the journey, he decided that the Baptist perspective was the correct one, and he and Nancy were baptized upon arrival. He wrong to his Congregationalist supporters in Massachusetts, provoking the first crisis. They immediately cut all of their support.
Support from Baptists came, but not without some very uncomfortable weeks. But this problem was only the beginning. The Judsons encountered visa difficulties in India, and their first years took them from India to Mauritius (Isle of France) to Malaysia, while considering both Ceylon and Java. They reluctantly ended up in Burma in 1813.
As hard as it is to believe, these struggles pale in comparison to the amount of personal grief that surrounded the Judson mission. Reviewing the detailed account of Judson’s life in “To the Golden Shore“illustrates the Biblical teaching that “unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains by itself alone. But if it dies, it bears much fruit” (John 12: 24).
Statistics are not clear, but it seems that there were between a dozen and twenty-five enduring Burmese converts at the time of Judson’s death. No matter what the statistics, the Judson-mission-deaths seem to have equaled or exceeded the number of converts.
But one mission had been completed. The Burmese had the Bible in their own language – with a Burmese-English dictionary completed as well.
Leave the Judson saga and return with my wife and me to our visit a few years ago. In a meeting with youth and youth leaders, we picked up a copy of the Burmese Bible. The Burmese script was unintelligible to us, but we noticed one English sentence on the title page: “Translated by the Reverend A. Judson.”
A Bible translation that had stood the test of time – over 150 years! It stands as a testimony to Judson’s scholarship and meticulous linguistic study.
I took the Bible over to our host, the head of the Evangelical Fellowship. “Matthew,” I asked, pointing to the English sentence, “Do you know who this man is – Judson?”
“O Yes!” he exclaimed. “Whenever someone mentions the name “Judson”, great tears come to our eyes because we know what he and his family suffered for us. “ He went on with great emotion, “We know about the sicknesses they endured. We read about the Death March and the Death Prison. We know about the wives, who died, and the children who died, and the co-workers who died. But today, there are over 2 million Christians in Myanmar and every one of us tracts our spiritual heritage to one man – the Reverend Adoniram Judson.”
Later in the 19th century, one of Adoniram’s only surviving sons, Edward, speaking at the dedication of the Judson Memorial Church in New York City, summarized his father’s story:
“Suffering and success go together. If you are succeeding without suffering, it is because others before you have suffered; if you are suffering without succeeding, it is that others after you may succeed”.
Judson probably illustrated this truth as much as any man who ever lived. Probably, the greatest lesson we can learn from the life of this great man is that we have to trust in the work of God, even if our efforts seem fruitless and wasted. Judson’s life is proof that God is faithful in bringing about His work in due time, and we simply need to remain faithful and trusting in Him.
When Adoniram Judson died on April11, 1850, he had not seen vast numbers saved directly through his ministry. He will be remembered, however, for his role in the establishment of US Missions, his outstanding translation of the Bible into Burmese and his foundational work amongst the Burmese people.
A glance….Anguish and struggles in Burma included:
Language learning – more than two years to learn Burmese, in a country where no English was spoken. Resistance to conversion – six years to the first Christian covert, Maung Nau in 1819. The torture of young Burmese Christians by the government in 1819. Suspicion of him being a spy during Civil War with Britain, followed by a torturous stint in the “Death Prison” (1824-25), which included being hung every night upside down in leg-irons as well as a “death march” that nearly killed him. A temporary loss of his accumulated translation work in 1824 (It was eventually recovered.) Severe depression (what we would call clinical depression, verging on insanity) in 1828 that followed Nancy’s death; Judson sat for months by her grave, contemplating her decaying body and writing, “God to me is the Great Unknown; I believe in Him, but I cannot find Him.” The falling-away of new Burmese believers.
And a lifetime devoted to one primary task: to give the Burmese a Bible in their own language.
1812 - The Judsons and the Newels set sail to India. Harriet Newell and her child die at sea, en route to Mauritius.
1814 – A European woman employed by the Judsons in Mauritius dies. Nancy gives birth to a still born child at sea, en route to Burma. Potential co-worker, Felix Carey, departs Burma, sailing up the Irrawaddy River; the boat capsizes and Felix’s wife and two children die.
1816 - The Judson’s first son, Roger Williams Judson, dies in his second year of life.
1819 – Co-worker Edward Wheelock dies.
1821 – Mr. Newell (husband of Harriet) dies in Bombay.
1826 – Judson’s beloved partner and true soul-mate, Nancy, dies in October. Mrs. Price, wife of medical co-worker Dr. Price dies three days after Nancy. Mr. Rodgers and Mr. Hall, Christian friends in Burma, die; Rodgers as a result of the Death Prison.
1827 – Dr. Price dies. Less than 6 months after Nancy’s death, their baby Maria dies at 2 years, 3 months on April 24.
1830 – Judson Wade Boardman, son of George Boardman, who had been recruited as a church planer in the north, dies.
1831 – George Boardman dies and leaves his young wife, Sarah, and the rest of their family alone, north Rangoon.
1834 – Judson marries Sarah Boardman, widow of George.
1836 – Luther Rice, a friend and promoter of the work in Burma, dies.
1841 – Sarah gives birth to a stillborn son, Luther Judson. Henry Judson dies, at age 1 year, 7 months. Charlie Judson dies, age 1 year, 6 months.
1848 – Judson travels to the United States, meets and marries, his third wife, Emily.
1850 – After completing his translation and the Burmese-English dictionary, Judson sails into the Indian Ocean in hopes of clearing his lungs from ongoing tuberculosis. He dies at sea and is buried in obscurity. Charles Judson, son of Adoniram Judson and Emily Judson, dies at birth on April 22.
1854 - Emily Judson dies of tuberculosis on June 1.
In 1812, Adoniram Judson and Nancy Judson along with Samuel and Harriett Newell sailed for India. By 1850, all were dead. Judson himself died in obscurity, leaving few surviving children and only a few Burmese believers.