Judson centennial services : a compilation of the addresses, papers, and remarks given at the services ; together with extracts from letters received by the committee, etc.

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Lewis, J. Nelson

Judson centennial service:

1788. AUGUST Othi, 186

6.

'jODSON CENTENNIAL SERVICES.

A CON/[]PILAXION

OF THE

ADDRESSES, PAPERS, AID REMARKS,

GIVEN AT THESE SERVICES;

TOGETHER WITH

EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS RECEIVED BY THE
COMMITTEE, ETC.;

BY

REV. J. NELSON LEWIS, PASTOR,

OF

THE FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH,

MALDEN, MASS.

MYSTIC SIDE PRESS :
A. Q. BeOWN, STEAM FRINTEK.

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PREFACE.

It was but natural that the Baptist church, occupying the
field so distinguished as the birthplace of Adoniram Judson,
should make the memorable 9th of August, 1888, a day for
especial memorial services. At the first the more local observ-
ance was in mind, but as the matter was entered upon, the wide
significance of the day in the calendar of Baptist mission history,
and all mission history, led to a widening of the plan, until it
included in its invitations the churches in the immediate vicin-
ity, and officers of the National and State Baptist bodies, with
leading men of other faiths. Had it been less wide in its rep-
resentation, the service would not have called for an extended
report. But the correspondence of the Committee became so
interesting, the speeches of the visiting brethren were so able
and valuable, and so many choice things were crowded out for
want of time, that it seemed but justice to the church itself,
and to the denomination at large, that a full report of the pro-
ceedings should be made ; and more, that they should be made
in convenient and permanent form.

For these reasons we have issued the present pamphlet, and
trust that the labor of compiling may find its reward in a wider
impulse to foreign missions being given to the churches where
these pages shall come. In the make-up we have followed as
nearly as practicable the programme of the day.

J. NELSON LEWIS.
Pastor^ s Study, Maiden, I^ov. 1, 1888.

COMMITTEES ON JUDSON CENTENNIAL

GENERAL COMMITTEE.
REV. J. NELSON LEWIS, Chairman.

A. R. TURNER, Jr., Secretary.

W. C. LANGLEY, Treasurer.

SUB-COMMITTEES, with name of Chairman.

Speakers and Music, J. N. Lewis.

Invitation, Dea. J. H. Parker.

Reception, Dea. E. S. Converse.

Registration, Mr. C. C. Converse.

Church Arrangements, .... Mr. E. F. Bickford.

Decoration, Mr. Geo. C. Currier.

Reception at Birthplace, . . . Dea. David Hutchins.
Reception at Depots, . . . Mr. Arthur Leonard.

Collation, Mrs. Charles Watts.

Entertainment, Mr. Jesse Cudworth.

DECORATIONS AND DEVOTBKS.

IFrom Zion's Advocate.']

" The church was elegantly decorated for the occasion. On
the wall at the left of the pulpit is a marble tablet, placed there
many years ago by the late Dea. Charles Merrill, containing this
inscription written by S. F. Smith, author of " America : "

IN MEMORIAM,

REV. ADONIRAM JUDSON.

BORN AUG. 9, 1788.

DIED APRIL 12, 1850.

MALDEN HIS BIRTHPLACE,

THE OCEAN HIS SEPULCHRE.

CONVERTED BURMANS AND

THE BURMAN BIBLE

HIS MONUMENT.

HIS RECORD IS ON HIGH.

Above the tablet an oil portrait of Dr. Judson was hung.
On either side were red and blue silk pennants, while evergreens
and vines enclosed the tablet. Below was an open copy of Jud-
son's Burmese Bible adorned with flowers, and beneath, an
inscription, "• Rangoon, Mandalay, Ava, 1788-1888." On the
pulpit platform, at the left, resting on a bank of ferns, was a
beautiful floral representaion of the bark "Caravan," in which
Judson and his wife sailed from Salem, Mass., Feb. 19, 1812.
The hull was composed of white China asters, with a water line

/

8 JtJDSON 'CENfENNIAL.

('

of purple immortelles. On the right of the pulpit platform was
an old arm-chair, used by Dr. Judson while translating the Bible
into the Burmese language. It is the property of Rev. Dr. A. P.
Mason, and was a gift to him from Dr. Judson. On the wall
back of the pulpit were the words, ''America, Burma." There
was also on exhibition, in an open frame under glass, the first
letter written by Ann H. Judson after she became a Baptist.
It was addressed to Mrs. Jonathan Carleton, of Boston, and was
signed "Nancy Judson." In it she says: "We have found by
experience since we left our native land that the Lord is indeed
a covenant-keeping God, and takes care of those who confide in
Him. I have ever considered it a singular favor that God has
given me an opportunity to spend my days in a heathen land."
At the hour for the afternoon service, half-past two, the house
was crowded in every part. Missionaries, pastors, representa-
tives of churches, each wearing a white silk badge on which was
printed in blue, a sketch of Judson's birthplace, with an appro-
priate inscription, were there from all parts of the country, a
notable company, while on the pulpit platform were grouped
the various participants in the service.

A reception at the Judson birthplace, a description of which
is given in this pamphlet, immediately followed the afternoon
service, and the honored and widely-known son, Edward Jud-
son, D. D., here extended the hand of welcome, to the tribute
paying friends of the infant first sheltered by the same roof that
now sheltered the son.

CONDKNSKD HISTORY

OF THE

KiRST Baptist Church,

MALDEN, MASS.

Taken from Church Manual.

HE town of Maiden was incorporated in 1649. About
that time a Congregational church was formed, which
^ continued to be the only church at the Centre until 1803,
when the First Baptist church was organized.

For several years before the formation of this church, a few
persons in the town were known to entertain Baptist sentiments.
Various circumstances had led some of the more pious people to
examine the subject of believers' baptism. Not a few of the
members of the Parish church, admitted through infant baptism,
had become the active opponents of the great revival which was
then commencing in New England. An energetic protest to
the settlement of Mr. Judson, the father of our beloved Burman
missionary, had ])een entered on the records, because he was of
the " Bade Hopkintonian Principles." The opposition to what
was then so properly called " experimental religion," at length
prevailed, and Mr. Judson retired. But the eyes of many were
opened. They began to inquire whether the so-called " infant
believers' baptism " was the only authorized baptism ; and hence,
by that scriptural precedent to which all appealed, according to
which, baptism is required before the communion, those who
had not received believers' baptism were not suitable candidates
for the " table of the Lord." But while some professed their

10 JiJDSON CENTENNIAL.

convictions, and united with Baptist churches in this vicinity,
others remained waiting to see whereunto this thing would
grow. Meanwhile, there was in this town an alarming dearth
of spiritual religion. Such was the state of things when in 1797
Rev. Dr. Shephard, of Brentwood, N. H., visited Maiden, and
was invited to preach at the house of Mr. John Tufts. This
sermon, the first Baptist sermon ever preached in the town,
attracted immediate attention, so different was its whole spirit
from anything heard at the Parish church. Meetings were con-
tinued on the afternoon and evening of every third Wednesday,
Rev. Messrs. Shephard, Peak and Smith officiating. God blessed
the enterprise, and a revival of religion was the result. Sabbath
preaching began in the year 1800. The first person baptized in
Maiden was Mrs. Lois Tufts, who received the ordinance at the
hands of Rev. E. Smith.

In 1803, Rev. Henry Pottle visiting the place, was invited
to preach. He was a zealous and warm-hearted man, and under
his fervent appeals a very large number were awakened, about
fifty of whom he subsequently baptized. From the Centre school
house where services had been held, persecution soon drove the
little band. No other place could be found, except the barn on
Salem street, owned by Mr. Benjamin Faulkner. It was an
humble sanctuary, and there, undeterred by the winter storm,
or the opposition of their enemies, the little band enjoyed the
favor of their God.

Near the close of the year 1803, forty-two persons who had
been baptized, agreed, under the direction of Mr. Pottle, to form
a Baptist church. They met at the house of Mr. Phillips, and
Mr. Joseph Dyer was chosen clerk. A committee was appointed
to call a Council, that their proceedings might be regular in
form, and that the new church might be in fellowship with the
surrounding churches of their " Faith and Order." The Coun-
cil, composed of delegates from the Baptist churches in Boston,
Newton and Beverly, convened on the 27th of December, 1803,
in the barn, when the brethren and sisters, forty-two in num-
ber, were duly constituted and recognized as a church, under
the name of the First Baptist church in Maiden. Rev. Dr.
Stillman, of Boston, preached the sermon of recognition, from
1 Chron. 29: 5, '■'■Who is willing to consecrate this day his service

JUDSON CENTENNIAL. 11

unto the Lord ? " The Hand of Fellowship was given to the
representative of the new church by Rev. T. Baldwin, of Boston-
It will be seen that this church originated in a revival of re-
ligion, and this revival was induced, under God, by the study
of the scriptures. The stand taken by our fathers upon the
matter of baptism for believers only, was instrumental in call-
ing the public attention to the need in which men stood of
becoming, personally, believers. And the founders of this
church, and their successors, have alwaj^s insisted upon credible
evidence of personal piety before admitting any to the ordinance
of baptism.

The church thus constituted, continued to meet in the barn
until September, 1804, when their first house of worship was so
far completed that they could occupy it. It was built on Salem
street, on the ground now set apart as a rural cemetery, and
when finished, it was publicly dedicated to the service of God.
The sermon was preached by Rev. T. Baldwin, from 1 Sam. 7 :
12, '■''Hitherto hath the Lord helped us.^' The prayer of dedica-
tion was offered by Rev. E. Williams.

On the 10th of April following, the committee engaged Mr.
Pottle to be pastor for one year. In January, 1804, the Lord's
Supper was celebrated for the first time, when sixty-four per-
sons sat down to commemorate " the Lord's death," fifty-two of
them being recent converts.

The pastors of this church have been Rev. Mr. Pottle, 1804-
1807 ; Rev. William Bentley, 1807-1808 ; 1808-1816, no settled
pastor ; Rev. Ebenezer Nelson, 1816-1823 ; Rev. John Cookson,
1824-1826 ; Rev. J. N. Brown, December, 1826-January, 1828 ;
Rev. Avery Briggs. 1828-1832; Rev. Conant Sawyer, 1832-
1835 ; Rev. E. N. Harris, 1837, about one year ; Rev. Joseph
M. Driver, 1838-1840 ; Rev. Nathaniel W. Williams, 1840-1843 ;
Rev. John Cookson (2d time), 1843-1848; Rev. Charles B.
Smith, 1848-1850 ; Rev. William F. Stubbert, September, 1851-
1859; Rev. D. W. Faunce, D. D., May, 1860- August, 1866;
Rev. George F. Warren, June, 1867-November, 1869 ; Rev.
S. W. Foljambe, D.D., July, 1870-1887 ; Rev. J. Nelson Lewis,
October, 1887, present pastor.

NlKNIORIAIv HYIVLN,

Written for the occasion by Rev. S. F. SMITH, D. D.

AUTHOR OF "AMERICA."
Tune:— Duke Street.

What grateful mem'ries o'er us throng!

Like billows on the boundless sea,
Bursts of heav'n's mighty song,

Grand foretastes of eternity.

'Twas here the cradle song began,
'Twas here the pulse of life was stirred,

Of him, the great, th' heroic man,

Whose name round the whole world is heard.

What sounding honors shall we bring.
What hymns of holy triumph raise

To Him who plumed the infant wing
O'er distant lands lo waft His praise ?

Our eager hands with joy shall lift

The banner which be first unfurled, —

To myriad souls a priceless gift, —
The signal of a conquered world.

MHiMORIAL ADDRKSS,

BY

REV. J. N. MURDOCK, D. D., LL.D.,
Foreign Sec'y of The American Baptist Missionary Union.

Mr. Chairman., and Christian Friends : —

T WAS glad while in England to learn that this church, lo-
'f ' cated in the ancient town where Adoniram Judson was
] born, was making arrangements to commemorate the cen-
tennial of his birth. The public records verify this as the place,
and this 9th of August, 1788, as the date, of the birth of one of
the greatest men of his time. Maiden does itself honor in hon-
oring the memory and recalling the services of its most distin-
guished son. Though it fell to my lot more than thirty years
ago, as editor of the Christian Revieu\ to write an account of
Dr. Judson's life and work, in reviewing his memoirs by the
late President Wayland, and though I have so recently written
and published a centennial sketch, grouping the incidents of
his life around the two thoughts, that God selected him as the
Apostle of Burma, and kept Burma open for his coming, and
can therefore hardly expect to say anything very fresh on this
occasion, I gladly contribute what I can in carrying out your
most worthy design.

We can scared}^ fail to be reminded of the vast changes
that have taken place during the hundred years since Judson
entered into this earthly life. The rural community in which
he made his advent has become involved in a great metropolitan
centre. The town of Boston, which was then only a slightly

14 JUDSGN CENTENNIAL.

overgrown village, has become an imperial city, in which the
lines of commerce and the communication of thought converge.
The scattered and widely-separated nations, once so remote in
point of time and space, have become so connected by steam
and electricity as to constitute only a dense and vast commu-
nity. One hundred years ago there were less than 3,000,000
inhabitants of a new republic where there are now more than
65,000,000. Then, all the members in the evangelical churches
numbered less than 300,000 ; now there are more than 14,000,-
000. There was then no well-organized missionary society in
all the land, though John Eliot and David Brainerd had wrought
nobly for the conversion of some of the Indian tribes. The
church had not yet come to understand the command of her
Lord to "go into all the world and preach the gospel to every
creature." In fact, with the exception of the Moravian move-
ment of 1732, and the Halle-Danish Society, neither of which
had produced very marked results, there was not a sign of world-
wide evangelistic purpose. I do not mention the English Soci-
ety for the Propagation of the Gospel, for that was not designed
as an evangelizing agency. Now there are more than 150 mis-
sionary societies, employing 7,000 agents who are preaching the
gospel to the benighted peoples of the earth, and the foreign
missionary enterprise has become the centre and focus of the
Christian activities of the time. A hundred years ago, the
churches were indifferent or doubtful, while all the govern-
ments of the world, Christian as well as pagan, were arrayed
against missions to the heathen. Now, every spiritual church
in all the world is committed to the great work, while ^the pow-
ers of the earth are in active league with it, or are consenting
to it. When the babe of one hundred years ago was born in
yonder Puritan parsonage, there were a little over 40,000,000
Protestants in all the world ; now there are about 170,000,000.
What a century this dawning life began I If the next hundred
years shall go on in the same ratio of progress, the second cen-
tennial of Judson's birth will be kept amidst the dazzling glories
and jubilant songs of the millennial day !

It is not too much to say that the man, whom we have met
here to commemorate, contributed his full share to the marvel-
lous religious progress of the last hundred years. His life com-

JUDSON CENTKNNIAL. 15

prised only sixty-one years and eight months of the century we
are contemplating, but how great and far-reaching was the work
he did, and the agencies he set in motion. His share in the
constitution of the American Board was very considerable, if
it was not leading; and without a doubt he was the occasion of
calling the Baptist Board into existence and vigorous action.
When we reflect how vast and beneficent the issues of these two
societies have been, and how incommensurable are the possibili-
ties involved in their foundation, their missions, their mission-
aries, their thousands of converts, every one of whom is a mul-
tiplication of evangelistic force, their colleges and theological
seminaries, and other schools of various grades, all contributing
to consolidate the people into effective factors of future prog-
ress, we only get glimpses of the significance of the life which
opened a century ago.

We cannot account for the results to which we have alluded
by saying that the life of Judson fell on a period of dawning
light, and of an unfolding divine purpose. We sometimes say
that men are formed by the circumstances in which their lives
are cast. But circumstances do not make men. At the most
they only test the qualities of men, and show what their real
making is. All the great predestinated movements in society
are brought to pass through the instrumentality of predestinated
men, — men of giant mould and exceptional endowments. The
hour and the man are always matched in the providential plan.
Dr. Judson was a great man in the highest sense of that phrase ;
great in intellect, great in will, great in moral qualities, fertile
in resources, inflexible in purpose, and unswerving in integrity.
These endowments were informed and pervaded by a spiritual
consecration, which subordinated every faculty and power to
the obedience of faith. Here, then, was the hiding of his pow-
er. He accomplished the great results of his life, not from the
intensity of his love for humanity, not even under the fervors
of his love for Him whom he had deliberately accepted as his
Lord and Pattern, but from an overmastering and all-compre-
hending sense of Duty. From the day that he accepted Christ
as his Saviour, he also accepted the law of service. Having
been bought with a price, he belonged henceforth to his Master,
and gave himself up to obey His Word and do His will.

16

JUDSON CENTENNIAL.

This sense of loyalty to Christ led to the effort which he
made, in company with others, to organize a society for foreign
missions. The petition which he drafted for the General Asso-
ciation of Massachusetts, the interviews he held with the lead-
ing ministers of the Commonwealth, and the importunity with
which he followed them, all came from this lofty principle. This
sustained him in the face of difficulties, rendered him superior
alike to ridicule and reproach, and held him steadily to the one
end he had set before him, as at once the guide and inspiration
of his life.

See also the force of this supreme motive in enabling him to
sever the ties and surrender all the privileges and hallowed asso-
ciations of country and home and Christian fellowship, to go to
a land of darkness and barbarous customs, to dwell among, and
labor for a people whose tender mercies were cruel. He stood,
as a soldier of Christ, on a forlorn hope, not counting his life
dear unto himself, that he might finish the ministry he had re-
ceived of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of
God to the heathen. Closing his eyes to all the seductions of
home and friends, and the sanctified pleasures of Christian asso-
ciations, he went fortli, bound in the Spirit, to his divinely
appointed and accepted work. In spite of the doubts of the
majority of his brethren, the remonstrances of well-meaning
friends, and the jeers and contempt of a scoffing world, he reso-
lutely pursued his way, not knowing the things that would
befall him.

Moreover, we are able to see, in the light of this motive,
how he was borne on in the careful investigation which he
instituted, as to the grounds of the faith and practice which he
had received from the traditions of his fathers. Far be it from
us to refer to Dr. Judson's change of ecclesiastical relations in
any controversial or sectarian sense. It is only because the
change belongs to his history, and contributed so largely to
shape his subsequent life, that it is referred to here. He had
only one thought in beginning and prosecuting his researches,
which was to be sure of his ground, and to know the way of
duty. When Mrs. Judson begged him to desist from the inves-
tigations relating to the form and subjects of Baptism, in view
of the unhappy consequences to which they might lead, he re-

JUDSON CENTENNIAL. 17

plied that " his duty compelled him to satisfy his own mind,
and to embrace those sentiments which appeared most concord-
ant with scripture." Whatever we may think respecting the
soundness of the conclusions which he reached, no one can doubt
the bitter trial he experienced, at a time when tolerance of his
new views was immeasurably less than it is to-day, in severing
his connection with the church of his father and family, with all
his friends and co-laborers in the new missionary enterprise, with
the Board he had helped to organize, and in forfeiting, to all
human appearance, the prospect of support in his chosen work.
A less courageous man, a man of a less uncompromising sense
of duty, might have felt satisfied in stifling the convictions of
conscience, as many have done since his day in respect to doc-
trines more vital than that of baptism. But he gladly bore the
heavy and most unenviable cross involved in separation from
all whom he had loved, trusted and honored in his previous life,
and from all his fondly cherished hopes born of human relation-
ships and associations. For we must remember that his embar-
rassment arose, not only from the ties which he severed, but
also from the repulsions he would have to overcome. Mrs.
Judson, in the account she gave of the change, did not conceal
the aversion she had long felt to the followers of the newly
accepted faith, and there is no reason to suppose that Mr. Jud-
son's traditional prejudice was less than hers. In fact, it is
impossible for us, in these times of better acquaintance and
larger charity, to understand the mutual antipathies which the
Congregationalists and Baptists of those days entertained toward
each other. It must have been a sore trial to bear the reproach
of desertion from the old to the new and despised fold. Noth-
ing less than the bond of duty could have held the young mis-
sionary to such a sacrifice,

And then see how this motive influenced his course in the
face of the opposition, and even persecution, instituted by the
East India government. Fixed in the purpose to do the will of
God, he became clear-sighted in respect to his providential way.
He was sure that way did not lead to London, where the author-
ities tried to send him. He thought of the Dutch East India
Islands as a place of rest and a field of labor, but never for a
moment of turning back. Naturally gifted with remarkable

18 J UDSON CENTENNIAL.

insight, he was quick to find the heart of any problem which
rose in his path. He would temporize, he would wait, he would
hide himself for a little time, and bide the solution of events.
He had come forth on no holiday excursion ; there was no
touch of adventure or romance in his mind : he knew whom he
had believed and followed, and that the hand which had led
him so far would still guide and keep him. The present hori-
zon was very narrow, but around him and within him was the
light which shows the way, and cheers the heart of the man
whose chief aim and watchword is Duty. And so he went from
point to point to escape arrest, until he was providentially thrust
into Burma. This event was to him the solution of the ques-
tion as to where the Lord would have him go, and what he
would have him do. Many men would have settled the prob-
lem long before he did, by retreat and abandonment of the
enterprise ; but his vision was too clear, and his purpose was
too high, for that, and so he went right on till the goal was
reached, and his outward environment answered to the divine
foreordination that was in him.

The field which he reached at length, in a manner so mys-
terious, had been partially occupied in succession by two Eng-
lish Missionary Societies, the Baptist and the London ; but little
trace of their work was left behind them. He was obliged to
begin the mastery of the language without any reliable help. In
the great work of preparation for his mission was displayed
another remarkable quality on which his success so largely
depended, namely : his unrelaxing persistency of purpose. The
long and patient drill which he took in the structural forms
and tonal modifications of a most difficult language, the careful
arrangement of its grammatical inflections, and the production
of grammars and vocabularies, constituted his first work. Then
he made himself acquainted with the literature, including the
sacred books of the people, to a degree that no one has since
equalled. Then he investigated the natural history, the vege-
table productions, the mineral riches and the qualities of the
soil. He omitted nothing that could contribute to the fullest
preparation for the translation of the sacred scriptures into the
language of the people. All this work was done for this single
and holy end. When he was asked to arrange his vast collec-

JUDSON CKNTKXMAL. 19

tion of materials for publication in the interests of science, he
refused to entertain the proposition, and even objected to Mrs.
Judson's devoting any portion of her time for the purpose,
though large remuneration awaited the work. He was a man
of one idea and one work. He was ready to undertake any
service, however difficult, which tended to forward his great
aim, while he steadily refused to take any place, or engage in
any labor which diverged from the exact line of missionary ser-
vice. He could say, with Paul, " This one thing I do." And
he did his work so well as to secure the commendation of all
competent judges, because he never relaxed his grip of it, or
allowed his time or strength to be diverted into other channels.

During these stages of preparatory study, he maintained
daily preaching in his house or in zayats to those whom he could
induce to hear him. As soon as he was able to write the lan-
guage, he prepared tracts, setting forth the truths of Christian-
ity in a familiar way, made translations of portions of the New
Testament, and thus in season and out of season scattered the
living seed by the wayside, or spoke to the people the word of
life. He found many listeners, but few inquirers, during the
early years of his residence in Burma. But his persistency
never gave way ; he continued to give out line upon line, pre-
cept upon precept, here a little and there a little, in never-ceas-
ing streams of utterance. Some of the friends in this country
became anxious because no conversions were reported ; but he
pointed them to the promise of God, and worked on, and waited
six years to see his first convert put on Christ by baptism. This
confidence in God, and in the result of labor done in His name,
rises to the pitch of sublimity. What a picture this calm, plod-
ding, patient, ever-watchful, ever-active Christian worker pre-
sents, sitting amid the unbroken night, the unrelieved dreari-
ness of heathenism, sustained by the unshaken assurance that
having sown in tears, he would reap in joy. And the promise
of God did not fail.

Soon the work of translating the scriptures, for which he
had made such ample and conscientious preparation, became
the chief work of his life. Few men of modern times have
begun this vastly important work with such thorough qualifica-
tion as respects natural endowment and special culture. Line

20 JUDSON CENTENNIAL.

by line and word by word he went through the original text,
seeking to convey to his Burman readers the exact meaning of
the Spirit, till on the last day of January, 1834, he completed
his most responsible and exacting task, and holding the last leaf
in his hand, exclaimed : " Thank God, I can now say I have at-
tained." I seem to see the man of God bowing his knees beside
the rude table on which he has wrought during seventeen toil-
some and anxious years, with the last leaf of the Burman Bible
still moist with the traces of the well-worn pen, beseeching God
to pardon the errors of his work, and make it '•^ the grand instru-
ment of filling all Burma with songs of praise to our great God
and Saviour, Jesus Christ." Three times he reviewed and re.
vised his work. He states that the third and last revision, made
as the result of light acquired through the studies connected
with his Burman dictionary, cost him as much labor as the
original translation.

The last work which engrossed his thought and time was his
great Burman-English and English-Burman Dictionary. He
was loth to begin it ; he longed to preach the word which he
had transferred to the Burman language, in public places to the
people. It was for this that he had gone to the heathen, and
he desired most of all to preach Christ to the perishing as the
Way, the Truth and the Life. But his failing voice paved the
way for the conviction that, after all, God might have chosen
him for the work of the study and the closet, instead of the
open ways of life. Accordingly he entered on the work, and in
1843, on the twenty-ninth anniversary of his landing in Burma,
he writes : "• Notwithstanding my long-cherished aversion to the
work, I have come to think it very important. Having seen
the accomplishment of two objects on which I had set my heart
when I first came out to the East, — the establishment of a
church of converted natives, and the translation of the Bible
into their language, — I now beguile my daily toil with the pros-
pect of compassing a third, designed to facilitate the transmis-
sion of all knowledge, religious and scientific, from one people
to the other."

But the work was destined to a partial interruption. In
April, 1845, he was obliged to sail with Mrs. Judson and three
of their children for America, after a continued residence in a

JtJDSOK CENTENNIAL. 21

tropical climate of nearly thirty-three years. He had often been
urged by the society, and by missionaries, to take a home vaca-
tion, but he had steadily declined to do so, till the failing health
of Mrs. Judson made a change imperative. But he took two
native writers with him, and during the voyage, as well as the
greater part of his sojourn in this country, the work was stead-
ily advanced.

Who that has lingered over the heroic and touching story
of our missions has not heard of the incidents of this passage ?
The partial recovery of Mrs. Judson, and the arrangement for
her to pursue the voyage with the three children from the Isle
of France, while the husband and father was to return to Bur-
ma; the sudden relapse which overtook the wife, and her death
and burial on the rock of St. Helena, and the lonely journey of
the bereaved husband with his motherless children to this coun-
try, constitute one of the most pathetic passages in the check-
ered life of the great missionary.

It is not necessary to dwell on the sojourn of Dr. Judson in
this country. It is well known that he was ill at ease, and
longed to be gone from scenes which distracted his mind from
the work that had now become engrossing. The country was
strange to him after an absence of nearly a generation, the men
whom he met were personally strangers to him ; even those with
whom he had corresponded during the early clays of his resi-
dence in the East had gone to their rest, while few of those con-
nected with the American Board when he sailed from Salem
were alive ; he was somewhat averse to public meetings, in
which he could take no part on account of the weakness of his
voice ; the strain of eulogy and laudation, which was so com-
mon in all references to him and his work, was distasteful to
him ; he was not as free as he wished, to push on the work of
the dictionary, and he was eager to complete his arrangements
for the care of his children, and go back to the country of his
choice and the scenes hallowed by trial, suffering and holy com-
panionship, that he might finish the work which could be done
better in Burxna than anywhere else.

I need not relate the story of his marriage to the gifted lady
whose genius was exalted and refined by her association with
him. She commemorated him as her "Angel Guide " in one of

22 JtTDSON CENTENNIAL.

the sweetest domestic poems in the English language, and also
contributed some of the most valuable personal notices of his
character, opinions and work which enrich the pages of the biog-
raphies of President Wayland, and of his son, Dr. Edward Jud-
son. Nor need I dwell longer on the brief years spent in suf-
fering and toil, after the return to Burma. The wiry frame
was losing its tension, the step was becoming unsteady, the
strength of former years was wasted, but he would not rest, and
he could not die till the great work was in such a state of for-
wardness that his death could not diminish its value. And so
he worked early and late, until the spring of 1850 saw the dic-
tionary practically completed. Alas for us that his life and his
work were destined to close together ! He consented to take a
sea voyage in the hope of recruiting his wasted energies, but
they were too far spent. The light flickered faintly in the
socket, and finally, on the 12th of April, went out. So he liter-
ally died at his post, with the harness on. He died compara-
tively young, but if the poet was right when he said,

" That life is long which answers life's great end,"

his brief stage expands into immortality. He went to the East
to found a church of converted natives, and to translate the
Bible into their language. The church that he founded abides
on the Rock of Ages, and the Word which he translated for its
direction, upbuilding and sanctification, liveth and abideth for-
ever.

Most impressively are we reminded, by the career of Ado-
niram Johnson, how great a thing a human life may be when
consecrated to duty ; how lofty in aim, how grand in action,
how heroic in endurance, and how wide and high and beneficent
in results. What monument does he need ? His deeds will
keep his memory fresh through all coming generations. Judson
reared his own fittest memorial, of material more enduring than
marble. No words of eulogy can add to the measure of his
fame, which will grow with the lapse of years, while the results
of his work will go on augmenting to proportions which only
eternity can disclose.

RKMARKS BY N. O. CLARIv, IJ. D.,
Foreign Secretary of the " American Board."

As it was impossible, as he was from home, to get from Dr.
Clark a written form for his interesting and impressive re-
marks, we insert the report made of them by The Examiner, of
New York :

''Dr. Clark was called upon to speak forthe Congregational-
ists, and said it was very fitting he should do so, as, but for his
people, the Baptists might never have had Judson, and might
have been much slower in entering upon missionary work. He
claimed Judson for the whole world, as belonging to the best
Christian sentiment of mankind. The world looks to him as an
example of remarkably fine talent, of high, true spirit, — such
an example as they wanted to hold up to the young men of their
seminaries. He believed Judson one of the finest illustrations
of the plan of God, in raising up peculiar men for a peculiar
work. He would like to see a memorial in a hundred of the
finest young men gathered from the institutions of learning,
who should c'v.secrate themselves to such a life of self-sacrifice
as Judson's."

ADDRESS

ANDREW PEABODY, D. D., LL. D.

NEVER saw Dr. Judson, and yet I feel as if I had known
him intimately. His was liitle more than a vaguely hon-
ored name, when I undertook to write a review of " Gam-
m ell's History of Baptist Missions." I subsequently performed
the same oftice for Wayland's " Life of Judson." In these books,
and through every source of information that has been opened
to me, I have studied the life and character of Adoniram Jud-
son, and in the entire history of Christian heroism, I can recall
no other name which I should be so ready to place beside that
of St. Paul, whom I regard as the greatest man that God ever
made, and as having been empowered for his special work, not
by his Christlikeness alone, but by the capacities and endow-
ments that would have made him pre-eminent in any place or
sphere. Judson seems to have been arrested on the way, as Paul
was, by a call as truly divine as was the miraculous vision that
made the persecutor an apostle of the faith which he " once de-
stroyed." As I read the record of Judson's early life, I cannot
doubt that he might have reached the summit of his ambition
at the bar, in the senate, or in high official rank, and have won
a wreath, brilliant and long-enduring, though not unfading, of
such honor as the world can give, had there not been held before
him, by his Saviour, the crown of eternal glory awarded to those
who fight, endure and conquer in his name.

The record of Dr. Judson's labors, suiferings and achieve-
ments shows that there is nothing which a man has or is that

JtTDSOK CENTENNIAL. 25

may not be fully utilized in his life-work. Of that life-work,
saying and doing are the smallest part. They are a multipli-
cand of no great integral value, of which the aggregate of mind,
heart and soul that is put into them is the far greater multi-
plier, and determines both the quality and the quantity of the
product. As God so enshrines himself in his creation and prov-
idence that, with the inward eye fully opened, we should see
englobed in the leaf-bud or the grass-blade the very same attri-
butes that are revealed in the order of the heavens and the
march of worlds, so the true man of God puts his entire self-
hood into whatever department of service may be assigned to
him, — and he can put no more. This is signally true in the
missionary field, in which feeble, meagre, narrow piety, however
sincere, is a hindrance, not a help. If the world is to be evan-
gelized, and prophecy made liberty, it must be by the consecra-
tion of men of strong minds, rich souls, large hearts, — of those
to whom the five talents are given at the outset, and who have
the intensity of faith, of love and of will-power that can make
the five ten, and the ten twenty. I want, therefore, to have
Dr. Judson commemorated, not merely as among the foremost
in labor, hardship and tribulation for the cause of Christ, but as
a man who, with as consummate self-sacrifice as the world has
ever witnessed, devoted to that cause a vigor of intellect, a
tenacity of purpose, a range and compass of ability, a power of
influence, in which, within the century since he was born, he has
had few equals, and no superior.

My friends, you honor yourselves in thus honoring the bless-
ed memory of this man : and God grant that your tribute of
gratitude and love to him may awaken a more fervent zeal, and
a more efficient energy in the work for which Christ lived and
died, and ever lives.

POWER OK PERSONALITY.

Written for the Judson Centennial at Maiden,

BY

John W. Olmstead, d. d.

'T the close of President Wayland's "Memoir of Ado-
niram Judson," second volume (page 403-4), it is expres-
sively said:

'' When the kingdoms of the world shall become the king-
doms of the Lord, and of His Christ; when every pagoda shall
have been levelled, and every hilltop, from the Bay of Bengal
to the foot of the Himalaya, shall be crowned with a temple to
Jehovah; when the landscape shall be thickly studded with
schools, scattering broadcast the seeds of human knowledge ;
when law shall have spread the shield of its protection over the
most lowly and the most exalted ; when civil and religious lib-
erty shall be the birthright of every Burman, — then will the
spot where stood the prison at Oung-pen-la be consecrated
ground ; thither will pilgrims resort to do honor to the name
of their benefactor ; and mothers, as they teach their children
to pray to the eternal God, will remind them of the atheism of
their forefathers, and repeat to them the story of the life and
labors of Adoniram Judson. Such honor doth God bestow
upon holy, humble, self-denying and long-suffering love."

Mrs. Emily C. Judson, who survived all too briefly the de-
mise of her illustrious husband, was not with him when he died
and was buried at sea, April 12, 1850, thirty-eight years and
more since. But in memorable words she says, speaking of the
attendants on that occasion, and of the scene : "• They lowered
him to his ocean grave, and there they left him in his unquiet
sepulchre. * * * Neither could he have had a more fitting monu-
ment than the blue waves which visit every coast, for his warm
sympathies went forth to the ends of the earth, and included

JtJDSOK CEKTENNIAL. 27

the whole family of man." That was, indeed, a gracious as
beautiful conception, of a mind at once pious and poetic. The
"blue waves which visit every coast " are truly but the appro-
priate emblem of the great personality that we find enfolded in
the character and the career of Adoniram Judson. Think of
him at the age of but twenty-five years, enlisting in the, at the
time, disbelieved in, nay, the scoffed at, enterprise of making
known the gospel of the Son of God to the teeming yet dark-
ened millions of South-eastern Asia. Think of him with his
sainted young wife, Ann Haseltine, and his coadjutors, Nott and
Rice, embarking in such an undertaking as this, — to plant
Christian evangelizing missions among tribes and peoples dwell-
ing in darkness and the shadow of death ; far less civilized and
less humanized than they are to-day, even, — the very alphabet
of whose difficult language it was indispensable to acquire, as a
first preliminary to any successful labor on their behalf. Con-
sider that this enterprise, counted by so many in Christendom
as but visionary and chimerical, was a movement to bring to
these benighted ones not only a new religion, supplanting and
overthrowing idolatries and superstitions hoary with age, but
one to carry to them as well, in modes of life and of living, a
wholly novel civilization. Think of this modern Apostle to the
Gentile Pagan world achieving what he did so signally achieve
in thirty-five years of most active and exhausting toil, both as
preacher and as translator of the Sacred Scriptures, — the com-
pleted Bible rendered into the dialect of Burma being his crown-
ing accomplishment, — passing away to take his crown at the
age of but sixty-two years, and you must needs exclaim, in this
most comprehensive summary of the achievements of this one
great leader in the conquering army of Christ, " What hath
God wrought ! "

The power of great deeds in great men we see illustrated as
well in modern as in ancient history, in such as Washington,
and in our own times, of Lincoln and of Gladstone ; this in the
walks of statesmanship and of patriotism. Dr. Judson projected
his ideal of achievement for mankind along other lines than
these of the great ones of earth. Allying himself, first of all, to
the cause of his and of our Lord Christ, he put his whole con-
secrated energies upon this one altar of self-sacrifice. Tt was to

28 JUDSON CENTENNIAL.

gather gems for the Redeemer's crown from among the sin-
cursed millions of the far Orient, that, like his Divine Master
and Saviour, he literally and without reservation " gave him-
self." It was " a whole burnt offering," the incense of which is
in our hearts to-day. The results of the consecration who shall
compute, — the ripened fruitage of this one great personality, —

" In souls renewed and sins forgiven ; "

of a multitude in the past, and of a far greater multitude in the
future, as the distant East shall blend with the farthest West,
as the North and the South alike shall swell the ransomed host
of the whole earth, at last regenerated and redeemed? For
" the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it^

Those who are gathered in this old historic town of Maiden,
where, on the 9th day of August, 1788, the subject of our pass-
ing commemoration had his birth, are drawn together to pay
their due tribute to the memory of one eminent personality.
We remember, with reverent gratitude to God, that it is now
just one hundred years since Adoniram Judson was born.
Though he gave but little more than a third of a century to the
grandest life-work of which man or angel could conceive, what
an achievement for God and for his race did this one man accom-
plish ! It all came as the fruit of being girded throughout his
" earthly mission " with the high resolve of another great mis-
sionary, '•'■This one thing I do.'' What an example and illustra-
tion of the possibilities of one sacrificial Christian life, educated,
disciplined, animated and directed under the propelling power
of but one single dominating ambition and end. Dr. Judson's
monument stands before us all, full well revealed to-day. He
needs, for the "everlasting remembrance" in which he must
forevermore live, no sculptured marble, wrought out under the
design and the skill of the most cunning artificer. Before a
second century shall have ended since he was born, the long
ago prophecy must reach its fulfilment of Ethiopia, of India, of
China, of the islands of all seas, stretching forth their hands
unto God. Dr. Adoniram Judson's enduring monument is in
this transfigured consummation, toward the coming and toward
the perfection of which he bore such a part.

ADDRESS

OF

Edward O. Stevens,
At the Judson Centennial Celebration at Maiden, Mass.,
THURSDAY, AUGUST 9th, 1888.

Men., Brethren., and Fathers :

'WENTY-FOUR years ago, I appeared for the first time
on the same platform with Dr. Dean, the venerable gen-
X tleraan at my left. I never expected then to sit again on
the same platform with this veteran missionary. I could wish
that he might have been called upon to speak before me, for he
would be able to tell you of his remembrance of things in the
life of Adoniram Judson, which happened before I was born.
However, I will endeavor to perform the part assigned to me on
this occasion.

I am requested to tell you something as to my recollections
of Dr. Judson. Many reminiscences of him in Burma crowd in
upon my mind at this moment. I should be glad to describe
the auditorium of the old Maulmain Burman chapel, where I
used to hear him preach in Burmese. I could tell of the vestry
of that same chapel, where I heard his fervent prayers in the
English language at the missionary concert at sunrise, on the
first Monday morning of the month in 1844, and where, four
years later, he conducted a children's meeting, while our mothers
were assembled for prayer in the mission-house near by. But
five minutes will afford time for me to speak of only one inci-
dent.

30 JUDSON CENTENNIAL.

It was the month of April, 1850. A feeling of sadness
seemed to pervade everything in the Maulmain mission. Dr.
Judson's illness had been so protracted, the case had become so
serious, that few entertained any hopes of his recovery. But so
long as there existed a bare chance of his being benefited by a
sea voyage, he was anxious to try it. Thus on Wednesday,
April 30, he was carried in a palanquin on board of the French
barque, "-Aristide Marie,'* bound for the island of Bourbon.

But much difficulty was experienced in getting out to sea.
No steamer was available for towage, and the north-east mon-
soon had nearly died away, so that five days were occupied in
doing what, in favorable circumstances might have been accom-
plished in a few hours. Mrs. Judson, learning of this detention,
twice dropped down in a row-boat to see him. As I remember
it, she was accompanied by my mother. Once, as a special fa-
vor, I was permitted to go too. On that occasion, the two ladies
were escorted by Rev. Lyman Stilson. This was probably Sat-
urday, April 6th.

As I was a boy, only about eleven years of age, I was made
to feel that I must be careful not to make a noise or be in the
way. Hence I kept mj'^self on the poop-deck, seeking a cool
place, for the weather was extremely hot, and scarcely a breath
of air was stirring. Leaning over the bulwarks, 1 watched the
eddies in the dark waters in the Maulmain River, as the tide
swept by on its way to the Gulf of Martaban. I looked for
some object of interest on the banks, but they were low and
swampy, and to the water's edge covered with a dense jungle
of wild ratan and the nipa palm. As the Captain and seamen
were French, I found no one in the ship's crew with whom I
could converse.

"All the air a solemn stillness held."

There seemed to be nothing to relieve the sense of oppression
which weighed down my spirits at the thought that probably I
should never see Dr. Judson again.

After dinner, Mr. Stilson called to me in an undertone, say-
ing, " Come, Eddie, it is nearly time for us to return. Go down,
now, and say good-by to Dr. Judson." I obeyed, and stepping

JUDSON CENTENNIAL. 31

softly, ventured within the doors of the cabin to take a last
look of one whom I had always been taught to love and revere.
There he lay, his thin hair brushed back from his ample fore-
head ; his face wore a sallow, distressed look, — in short, lie
appeared to be very ill. Mrs. Judson was sitting by in a chair,
fanning him. Observing some one enter, he turned his eyes
toward me, and languidly extending his right arm, gently took
ray hand in his. "• Well, Eddie," was all he could say before I
turned away to hide my grief.

Perhaps his memory reverted to the day when he first saw
me, an infant in ray raother's arms ; to the hour when, at the
request of my parents, in the old Hancock house in Maulmain
(where he himself subsequently lived), he offered the prayer by
which I was solemnly dedicated to God. But if he did recollect
it, the pain with which he was tortured was so severe that his
mind could not dwell long on any one thing. It appears that
even to Mrs. Judson, in that last sad hour of parting, he was
able to say very little.

It was not necessary that he should give me a dying charge,
to live in a manner consistent with the profession which I had
made nearly eighteen months before. His life of devotion to
the cause of Christian missions had already made a deep impres-
sion on my young heart. There it was inscribed in indelible
characters, that it was the sufferings which he had endured in
the death-prison at Ava, and in the lion's cage at Oung-pen-la,
that had finally broken him down, and made him prematurely
old, at the age of sixty-one. I well knew that the scars of the
five pairs of fetters he had worn, when subjected to the cruelty
of the Burman jailers, were still to be seen on his now weak and
swollen ankles.

Adoniram Judson has had more influence under God in
moulding my character and determining my life-work, than any
other man, except my own dear father of blessed memory. By
means of this influence, " he still lives," " By it, he being dead
yet speaketh." It may be that few, if any of us could equal
him in mental acumen, or in the ability to master a foreign
tongue. But is it not the privilege of every one of us to be as
faithful and as enthusiastic as was he, in the discharge of duties
to God and our fellow-men ?

32 JUDSON CENTENNIAL.

The Christians connected with our missions in Burma are
not content to say, " We and the Burman Bible are Teacher
Judson's monument." They desire that a church edifice may
be erected at Mandalay to his memory. Dr. Murdock, the Cor-
responding Secretary, is of the opinion that $10,000 will be re-
quired for such a memorial building. One Burman Christian
widow, baptized by Dr. Judson himself, has contributed more
than one-tenth of this amount. We would that the sound of a
bell calling to worship on the Lord's Day may be heard in the
vicinity of those prison-pens, where in former times were heard
the shrieks of men under torture, or the roars of the King's
hungry lion, to which it was proposed to give Judson and the
other white captives to be devoured.

I have met with hundreds in America, who have expressed
the wish to be allowed to join with the Burman and Karen
Christians in putting up this Memorial Chapel at the capital of
Upper Burma. We have just heard it said that Adoniram Jud-
son belongs, not to one denomination of Christians only, but to
the whole world. Let all the world, then, have a share in con-
tributing the necessary funds. Thus far, none have given in
this country, except Baptists and Episcopalians. How could
we more fittingl}/ celebrate this day, than by making a hand-
some contribution wherewith to reduce the amount remaining
to be raised for the Judson Centennial Memorial Chapel at
Mandalay ? *

Note. — In the evening a collection for the Mandalay Chapel was taken
amounting to ^531.

JUDSON'S BIRTHPLACK.

I. H. FARNHAM, MALDEN.

•.T.

HE Jiidson house is situated south-east from the cen-
tral business portion of the city, on the main street
^ leading from Maiden to Everett and Boston. The
house is a somewhat old style two-story structure, back from
the street, with pitched roof, two huge chimneys, one on either
side of the hall which divides the house centrally. The front
view is as pleasant as any, showing through the numerous trees
the porch and front door in the centre, two windows on each
side, and five in the second story. The roof is broken in its
plainness by two gothic windows and the substantial chimneys.
An ell extends back from the street, and is not seen from the
front gate. The yard is deep and wide, and contains many
large and smaller trees. There are huge elms and evergreens,
which doubtless were growing at the time of Judson's birth.
The lawn is separated from the street by a substantial, and
rather ornamental, broken stone wall. It is said by the older
inhabitants of the neighborhood that little or no change has
been made in the century now past. The farm once connected
with the house, however, is fast being cut up into house lots ;
and year by year the carpenter's hammer is heard approaching
nearer and nearer the quiet, restful spot. We hope no rude
hand will disturb, for many years, this tangible reminder of the
great man and his noble work.

"In the valley just adjoining the house on the south, flour-
ishes an extensive rose culture, owned and operated by the
present occupant of the homestead, which supplies the markets
in Boston with rich perfume during every month in the year.

36 JUDSON CENTENNIAL.

Across Main street, to the west, rises a rocky hill, where, in
Maiden's early history, was suspended from huge sheers the
church bell. The hill still retains the name Bell Rock, and one
of the seven railroad stations of Maiden takes its name from
the hill. Just south of the hill still bubbles up a natural spring
of pure water, to which Judson's tender feet used often to stroll
with his devoted mother.

" It is not assuming too much to say that such a beautiful
home and surrounding country scenery, with the spires of Bos-
ton in the distance, must have had a helpful influence, not only
directly on the child Judson, but indirectly through his mother.
Maiden, as a city, remembers her noted son by naming for him
a street and a square."

li—

JUDSON'S LIXKRARY LABORS.

BY L. A. W. SMITH, D. D.

N contemplating the literary remains of Dr. Jiidson, one is
easily reminded of the expression on Goldsmith's tomb-
stone :

" Nihil tetigit quod non ornavit."
He used to say of himself that one of his failings was a " lust
for finishing;'' which meant for him, at least so far as the trans-
lating of the Bible was concerned, a something to be ever pur-
sued, and never, while life should last, overtaken. The edition
of the Burmese Bible which is now going through the press in
Rangoon, the third edition of the whole Bible, contains his
last emendations of the Old Testament, — only just now finished
at the end of nearly forty years since his death, and yet finished
at last. " He rests from his labors, but his works do follow
him."

Dr. Judson's first literary effort was a grammar of the Bur-
mese language for the use of the missionaries, completed in
1816, three years after his arrival in the country, but not
printed until 1842 ; waiting, no doubt, for the finishing touches,
and yet, when finished, well worthy of the years of labor
bestowed upon it. Of this work, a writer in the Calcutta
Review speaks as follows : — " He published another work, a
grammar of no pretensions, and of very small dimensions, yet a
manual which indicated the genius of the man perhaps, more
strikingly than anything else, except his Bible. He has man-
aged, from a thorough knowledge of the language, to condense
into a few short pages (76), a most complete grammar of this
difficult tongue^ and as the student grows in knowledge, pari

38 JtTDSON CENTENNIAL.

passu, this little volume rises in his estimation ; for its lucid
comprehensive conciseness becomes more and more manifest,
In our limited acquaintance with languages, whether of the
East or West, we have seen no work in any tongue which we
should compare with it for brevity and completeness."

I remember the late Mr. Crawley, who became an accom-
plished scholar in the Burmese language, according to this work
the same kind of praise. He considered it, he once told me a
very elementary work, when first placed in his hands ; but his
sense of its value and inexhaustibleness grew with his own
knowledge of the language.

Dr. Judson's tracts were no less remarkable than his gram-
mar. They have been in great and constant circulation for
more than fifty years, and are as fresh and appropriate to-day,
as when first printed. One of them, perhaps the most striking,
at any rate the most popular, is the Golden Balance, a transla-
tion of which appears in the appendix of the second volume of
Dr. Wayland's memoir of Dr. Judson. A single illustration out
of scores that might be furnished, will indicate the esteem in
which that tract is held. A few years ago, a man on board a
river steamer, on his way to Rangoon, was so anxious to secure
a copy, that he offered a rupee to a man who had it, hoping
thus to induce him to j)art with it. Failing in this, he got per-
mission to make a copy of it. On reaching Rangoon, he made
some inquiries as to where the tract could be procured, but be-
ing a stranger, was unsuccessful. Great was his joy therefore,
when, a few days later, he went on a worship day to the Shway-
dagon pagoda, to fall in with old Mr. Abrahams, an Arme-
nian convert, who had gone thither with a supply of tracts, the
Crolden Balance among them, to distribute among the Buddhist
worshippers.

Dr. Judson contributed three hymns to the Burmese Hymn-
Book. The first hymn ever written in the Burmese language,
had Dr. Judson for its author. It is a curious circumstance
that none of the early missionaries to Burma could sing, and
when the late Mr. R. B. Hancock, who arrived in the country in
1833, twenty years after the commencement of the mission,
sought to introduce singing as part of the worship, the disciples
resented it as an innovation, until they had been reassured by

JUDSON CENTENNIAL. 39

Dr. Judson. The contribution of a few hymns from his own
pen would serve still further to support the new missionary in
the alleged innovation.

Passing over for lack of time with the bare mention, the
Burmo-English and English-Burman dictionaries, the crown-
ing work of his life was the translation of the Bible into the
Burmese language, which was commenced in 1817, and finished
in 1834. In a postscript to his letter to the Cor. Secretary, of
Jan. 31, 1834, he writes : —

" Thanks be to God, I can now say, I have attained, I have
knelt down before Him, with the last leaf in my hand, and im-
ploring His forgiveness for all the sins which have i:)olluted my
labors in this department, and His aid in future efforts to re-
move 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 Burmese tongue, the grand instrument
of filling all Burma with songs of praise to our great God
and Saviour, Jesus Christ."

No missionary, since Dr. Judson, has learned the language
with so little to help him. Perhaps the very difficulties con-
tributed to the superior excellence of the results. That his
ability in the use of the language was remarkable, even at the
early date when he commenced work on the New Testament, is
manifest from an incident which occurred in 1818, on his way
to Madras. Stopping at Cheduba, and himself unable to go
ashore, he took the opportunity of sending a tract by the boat.
It happened to be conveyed immediately to the governor, and
he ordered it to be read in his presence. When, soon after, the
captain had an audience, the governor inquired after the writer of
the tract, who he was and how long he had been in the country.
The captain, fearing detention, merely stated that the writer was
a foreigner who had resided in Rangoon about four years.
'' No," replied the governor, " that is not to be credited. You
cannot make me believe that a foreigner, in so short a time,
has learned to write the language so well. It must have been
written by some other person."

The Burmese language, re-inforced and enriched as it has
been by the Pali, a dialect of the ancient Sanscrit, lias a wide

40 JUDSON CENTENNIAL.

range, and there is great room for choice in words and modes
of expressions. Dr. Judson has exhibited the skill of a master,
and it is the unanimous opinion of all who are competent to
have an opinion, that, so far as the beauty, vigor and purity of
diction are concerned, the Burmese Bible holds the same exalted
position in that language which is held by our own matchless
Bible in respect to the English language. It is not a transla-
tion from the English, but from the original Hebrew and Greek ;
and in the work of Karen Bible revision, in which, for the past
year, Mr. Thomas and myself have been engaged, it has been a
matter of constant remark between us, that both the Karen and
Burmese translations have anticipated the changes in the re-
cently revised English scriptures in almost every case. And so
it has come to pass, that for the past fifty years, thanks to the
scholarship and fidelity of Dr. Adoniram Judson and Dr. Fran-
cis Mason, the Burmans and Karens have had a Bible more
faithful to the original than we have had, — than the Anglo-
Saxon race has had ! And this leads me, in closing, to dwell a
moment on the occasion we have to thank the God of missions
and the God of the Bible for his great goodness in raising up,
successively, chosen men, picked men, for the great work of
Bible translation. It may be true of other missions, also, but
it is pre-eminently so of Burma, which has had Dr. Judson for
the Burmese, Dr. Mason for the Karen, and Dr. Gushing for
the Shan, all of whom have, with great ability and fidelity, made
original translations.

The last two, however, have enjoyed the advantage of being
able to refer to the Burmese, a kind of advantage not enjoyed
by Dr. Judson. To him, therefore, and to his work, must always
be given the highest place among the Bible translators for the
races of Burma.

ADDRKSS.

The Relation of Theological Learning to Missionary Work.
ALVAH HOVEY, D. D., LL. D.

TT would be a mistake for me to assume that any of you are
in doubt concerning the relation of theological learning to
missionary work ; for such an assumption could only be
made by one who believed you to be unacquainted with theolo-
gy or with missions, while I am sure that you are intelligent
friends of both. Indeed, such has been the history of missionary
work in our denomination, that it seems to me impossible for
any well-informed supporter of foreign missions to be indiffer-
ent to theological education. The name of our great pioneer
missionary, who was born a hundred years ago in this town, is
an argument for the value of theological learning to one who
preaches Christ to the benighted ; and a similar argument is
enfolded in the names of Mason and Wade, of Vinton and Has-
well, of Binney and Stevens, of Abbott and Beecher, of Thomas
and Carpenter, of Crawley and Johnson, of Jones and Brown,
of Goddard and Knowlton, not to mention the names of many
more who have finished their course below the stars, or of an
equal number who still remain to bear the burden and heat of
the day. Nor can I forbear to place on this roll of honor the
name of one who is so often called " the sainted Boardman,"
though his theological learning was not obtained in a seminary,
and though his brief term of service in the foreign field did not
allow him to pour out all the stores of Christian truth which
he had gained.

Not, then, for the sake of argument, but simply to remind
you of what may sometimes be forgotten, I will venture to show
the relation of theological learning to missionary work. The-
ology is the doctrine of God, our heavenly Father, the Supreme
Ruler of mankind. To learn the truth, or even part of the truth
concerning him, — concerning his being, his perfection, his pur-

42 JtJDSON CENTENNIAL.

pose, his providence, his grace, his redemption,- — concerning his
Son, his Spirit, and his church, is to learn theology. In this
study, we endeavor to see the universe in its relation to God
and to ascertain his method of bringing men out of nature's
darkness into his marvellous light.

And the sources of truth respecting God and his will are
manifold and inexhaustible. All the wonders of nature testify
of him to an earnest student of theology. Unseen elements and
forces, — heat, electricity, magnetism, gravitation, — all the in-
stincts and sagacities of beast or bird, all the faculties of mind
and heart in man, all the lore of the past and all the science of
the present, speak of God and his ways to the reverent soul.
For " the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof," and " the
invisible things of Him since the creation of the world are clearly
seen, being perceived through the things that are made, even
His everlasting power and divinity."

But a radical acquaintance with the Word of God is the
principal element in theological learning. Such an acquain-
tance means much more than familiarity with the language of
scripture, or facility in repeating its choicest sayings. It means
a trained ability and habit of searching after the inmost sense
of the record, of penetrating to the unseen heart of truth, out
of which its vital currents rush and throb through all the arte-
ries of the Word, of digging down to the bed-rock of ultimate
principle that underlies the ever-changing and beautiful land-
scape of divine revelation, and there resting secure on the eter-
nal foundations. To form this habit, and to acquire this ability
of dealing thoroughly with the Word of truth, is the best part
of theological learning. It brings one into closest contact with
" the lively oracles." It enables one to wield with better judg-
ment and effect " the sword of the Spirit." It prepares one to
translate the divine message from the original languages into
other tongues, and it helps one to see God in the face of Jesus
Christ with more distinctness, — a vision which imparts courage
and hope to the soul. By this learning, the missionary preacher
is assisted in his work, and it is well-nigh indispensable to the
missionary teacher. Dr. Judson's translation of the Bible into
the Burman language is indebted to his theological learning
for some part of its accuracy and excellence. Dr. Mason's

JUDSON CENTENNIAL. 43

Karen version of the scriptures owes much to his persistent
studies in Newton ; and I am convinced that if the whole influ-
ence of theological learning upon missionary work, as conducted
by Protestant Christians in modern times, could be exactly
ascertained, it would prove to have been very great and very
benehcent.

Consider also, in this connection, the fundameutal quality
of missionary work, — how a pioneer in this service, like Dr.
Judson, wins the first converts, forms the first churches, writes
the first covenants, trains the first native preachers, prints the
first tracts, administers the first acts of discipline, and in a word,
sets in motion the whole system of Christian living. Almost
everything depends upon his intelligence and discretion. If he
is ignorant or rash, disaster must follow. If he is well instructed
in the truth, and discreet in the application of Christian princi-
ples, his work will stand.

But it must be freely admitted that no amount of Biblical
knowledge will compensate for a lack of good sense or earnest
piety. Sincerely as I believe in the blessed influence of theol-
ogical learning, and grateful as I am for the privilege of help-
ing young men to secure it for the purpose of rendering greater
service in " the high places of the field," I have never dared to
look upon it as a chief qualification for missionary work. Every-
thing in its rank and place. I have been accustomed to arrange
the qualifications for mission work in the following order :
Devotion to Christ, good judgment, steadiness of purpose, hope-
fulness, physical health, linguistic capacity, suitable education,
and suitable age. You will observe that education or learning
is named next the last in a list of eight qualifications. But do
not, therefore, imagine that I deem it of small importance.
Every one of these qualifications is well-nigh, if not absolutely,
essential. No one of them can be wanting in a missionary with-
out serious detriment to his work.

I esteem it a most auspicious sign of the times that so many
theological students are pondering the question of missionary
service. Year by year a greater proportion of these choice men
is seen to pause on the threshold of public life to consider the
claims of Christ upon their ministry on heathen shores. Year

44 JUDSON CENTENNIAL.

by year their teachers are offering to them ampler instruction
as to the principles, the demands, and the prospects of this holy
enterprise. To these students the friends of missions are look-
ing for other Judsons and Boardmans to bear the gospel to
those who sit in darkness. When they pray, as doubtless they
sometimes do, to the Lord of the harvest to send forth laborers
into his harvest, I opine that their eyes often turn with longing
expectation to Newton or Hamilton, to Rochester or Morgan
Park, to Crozer or Louisville, for they judge, not without reason,
that theology and consecration go hand in hand, that the spirit
of God will admit some of these educated young men to gird
up their loins and go far hence to the Gentiles. The thing that
has been is the thing that will be. If prayer is offered, it will
be answered. If young men, whose minds are enriched with
sacred learning, are called by Jesus Christ to self-denying ser-
vice in foreign lands, they will hearken to the call. The learn-
ing of Moses, the culture of Isaiah, the education of Paul, were
embraced in their qualifications for the work to which they were
divinely appointed ; and the conditions of efficiency in religious
leadership remain the same as of old.

How vast and complex is the network of means by which
the divine purpose is carried into effect I How silently and
skillfully does the grace of God ally itself with the powers of
men, and turn their early training to the best possible account !
How patiently does the Prince of Mansoul adjust his holy influ-
ence to the native capacity, the youthful discipline, and the per-
sonal experience of ten thousand free agents, leading them all
by various paths into the same loving ministry for the weal of
mankind I How swiftly are the discoveries, the inventions and
the ceaseless activities of modern life brought by the supreme
Ruler to further the spread of his gospel ! Do you say that
there is another side of this shield ? That from Satan's stand-
point all these activities are drawing away from God? To
some extent this is true. Everything good is liable to abuse.
But I have an abiding faith that Christ is stronger and wiser
than Satan. I believe that this world belongs tq him. The
Lord is King, and he will reign until he has put all things
under his feet. And in putting all things under him human

JUDSON CENTENNIAL.

46

agency will be employed : natural and acquired powers will be
utilized ; men, young and strong, educated and consecrated,
will go into the fields, white for the harvest, and reap. Thus
theological learning is closely related to missionary work, and
in praying for the schools you are praying for missions ; while
in praying for missions you are, less consciously, perhaps, pray-
ing for the schools. For the present, at least, by the will of
God, they are one and inseparable. Let them work for the
same Master and the same end, with the same spirit, and there
will be joy in the highest at the increase of peace on earth.

r"" — I

''*. . --^' j^^---- .".^''^'V

KOUR KOOIvISH YOUNO PKOPLE.

The following extract is from a letter written by a promi-
nent citizen of Haverhill, Mass., to a gentleman then in Lisbon,
Portugal. It sounds queerly at the present time. Only God
can see the end from the beginning. It is dated February 12th,
1812.

" I think of nothing interesting to add. I will, however,
just observe that religious enthusiasm still continues to prevail
here. Believe me, unaccountable as it may appear to you, that
what I am about to repeat to you is true. A daughter of the
late Moses Atwood, deceased, by the name of Harriet, and a
young Miss Hazeltine, of the Hazeltine family of Bradford,
young (about seventeen or eighteen years old,) and totally in-
experienced in the school of human nature, are about to embark
with their companions (to whom they have but yesterday allied
themselves by marriage) — yes, I say that these four foolish and
inexperienced young people are about to emhark, and will actually
sail for the far-distant shores of JTindoostan, and, marvellous to
tell, to teach that 7iumerous and ancient people the right way to
Heaven! Why disturb that or any other people about their
religious opinions ? We, like all other people under heaven,
are tenacious of our own religious opinions. It is of no conse-
quence whether my neighbor believes in ' one God or twenty
gods,' so long as he does not rob my pockets. It is unnecessary
for me to dwell longer on this subject, as you can easily antici-
pate what further might be added."

Observe : " These four foolish and inexperienced young
people" are now known to the world under the following illus-
trious names : Adoniram Judson, Ann Hazeltine Judson,
Samuel Newell and Harriet Atwood Newell.

EDWARD JUDSON, D. D.

ADDRKSS AT MALDEN,

AUGUST gth, 1888.

BY REV. EDWARD JUDSON, D. D.

Mr. President., brethren and sisters : —

I think you will agree with me that there is a deep undertone
of feeling in this assembly which fails to find expression. We
most nearly gave expression to it when we united our hearts
and voices in singing Dr. Smith's graceful and glowing lines.

I would be glad to contribute to the interest of this heart-
stirring occasion a rich store of personal reminiscences, but in
the nature of the case my personal acquaintance with my father
was very slight, and my remembrances are correspondingly
meagre. I was only four months old when he took his depar-
ture for America, accompanied by mother and the three older
children, leaving behind myself and my two little brothers. You
know the result of that voyage. How, when they came to the
Isle of France, my mother's health seemed so far restored that
my father decided to return to Burmah. It was on this occasion
that my mother penned those never-to-be-forgotten stanzas :

" We part on this green islet, love, —
Thou for the eastern main,
I for the setting sun, love.
Oh ! when to meet again ?

" My heart is sad for thee, love,
For lone thy way will be ;
And oft thy tears will fall, love,
Tor thy children and for me.

48 JUDSON CENTENNIAL.

"The music of thy daughter's voice
Thou'lt miss for many a year ;
And the merry shout of thine elder boys
Thou'lt list in vain to hear.

" Yet my spirit clings to thine, love,
Thy soul remains with me,
And oft we'll hold communion sweet
O'er the dark and distant sea.

"And who can paint our mutual joy,
When, all our wanderings o'er,
We both shall clasp our infants three,
At home on Burmah's shore ?

" But higher shall our raptures glow,
On yon celestial plain,
When the loved and parted here below
Meet, ne'er to part again,

" Then gird thine armor on, love.
Nor faint thou by the way,
Till Buddh shall fall, and Burmah's sons
Shall own Messiah's sway."

My mother's health again failed, so that my father's purpose
of going back to Burmah was relinquished. Little by little she
declined, until, as the vessel entered the port of St. Helena, she
died at early dawn. On the same day she was buried at St.
Helena, and my father continued his voyage to America.

During his stay in this country, one of my little brothers
died, and on his return, bringing me a new mother, I was barely
two years old. When I was a little over five years old, he went
on board ship to take a sea voyage, which presented the only
hope of the recovery of his health. Within four days of the
time of sailing, he died, and was buried in the ocean, and it was
four months before the intelligence of his departure came to
the little family at Maulmain. So you see that my personal
acquaintance with him covers only a few short years of my
early childhood. The recollections of childhood are vivid, but
of narrow interest. In the case of missionaries' children, the

JUDSON CENTENNIAL. 49

ocean voyage serves, indeed, as a dividing line, making the
earliest recollections more vivid; but such reminiscences are
circumscribed by the horizon of childhood, and possess no gen-
eral interest. What interest would people in general take in
my remembrance of how my father used to wake me up early
in the morning, with the joyous intelligence that a rat had been
caught in the trap the night before ? Of what general interest
would be my recollection of his comforting and soothing caresses
during hours of illness ? Well do I remember the day when
the dreadful news came of his death. My mother gathered
then our little family together, — my little brother three years
older than I, my half-sister three years younger, and myself, —
and brought us to this country. Only to-day, I received a letter
from that half-sister, who would have been with us only for
severe illness in her own family, — the one about whom was
composed that beautiful lyric, called " My Bird " :

" Ere last year's moon had left the sky,
A birdling sought my Indian nest;
And folded, oh, so lovingly !
Her tiny wings upon my breast.

" From morn till evening's purple tinge,
In winsome helplessness she lies ;
Two rose leaves with a silken fringe,
Shut softly on her starry eyes.

'"• There's not in Ind a lovelier bird ;

Broad earth owns not a happier nest ;
O God, Thou hast a fountain stirred,
Whose waters nevermore shall rest."

There are many points of view from which a human life may
be considered. How much interest belongs even to the hum-
blest career !

" Between two breaths what crowded mysteries lie ;
The first short gasp, the last and long-drawn sigh ! "

My father's life, when viewed from his own standpoint and
even that of his contemporaries, must often have looked like
failure. It was so with the life of Christ. He said : •' I thank

50 JUDSON CENTENNIAL.

thee, O, Father, Lord of heaven and earth !" or, as it should be
more correctly rendered, " I fully confess to Thee. I make a
clean breast of it to Thee ; that Thou hast hid these things from
the wise and prudent," or, in other words, that " I have made
no impression upon the society about me. I have not succeeded
in reaching persons of social and intellectual importance, and
have only gathered together a few people, a few simple and
ignorant people, — mere babes." The whole passage is a sub-
lime confession of signal failure. He acknowledges his failure,
and seeks comfort in resignation to his Father's will, and in
hope that looks far into the future. Such has been the case
with many of his followers. How much of my father's life must
have seemed to him a failure !

Far back in 1812, he and his associates had to embark al-
most by stealth, so mad and quixotic did the enterprise appear,
and so great was the popular contempt and indignation against
the whole undertaking. * For seven years he labored, without
winning a single convert, and it was during that time that he
pencilled the following lines on a fly-leaf of his grammar : —

'* In joy or sorrow, health or pain,
Our course be onward still;
We sow on Burmah's barren plain,
We reap on Zion's hill."

You remember the words he wrote to Luther Rice about
Christians and home : " If they are unwilling to risk their bread
on such a forlorn hope as has nothing but the Word of God to
sustain it, beg of them, at least, not to prevent others from giv-
ing us bread, and if we live some twenty or thirty years, they
may hear from us again." At the end of ten years he had a
little church of eighteen members. Then came the war, and
while enduring suffering which he regarded as utterly profit-
less, he must have felt that his life-work was all going to pieces.
It was then he used to comfort himself, repeating Madame
Guyon's refrain :

" No place I seek but to fulfill
In life and death Thy lovely will;
No succor in my woes I want,
Except what Thou art pleased to grant.

♦ Vide p. 46.

JUDSON CENTENNIAL. 51

" Our days are numbered — let us spare
Our anxious hearts a needless care ;
'Tis Thine to number out our days,
And ours to give them to Thy praise."

Then when the war was over, he returned to Rangoon and
found his church scattered. There were only four members
that could be found. He then went to Amherst, and there
experienced a disastrous failure, because the seat of Govern-
ment was soon to be transferred to Maulmain. Here, indeed,
he saw some precious fruits of his labor, but then came sickness
and sorrow, a necessary return to this country, and when he
again found himself in Burmah, he longed to go to Ava. His
acquaintance with the language, and prolonged missionary expe-
rience, fitted him for such an aggressive movement, and all
Providential intimations seemed to point in that direction.
How bitter, then, was his disappointment, when the policy of
retrenchment at home caused him to retreat instead of advanc-
ing. He felt then that he had been forgotten by the Christians
at home, and declared that the Baptists were far behind in mis-
sionary enterprise. " The Baptist missions," he writes, " will
probably pass into the hands of other denominations." Little
did he dream that there was so near at hand a time such as
Faber describes in his exquisite lines.

" Far, far away, like bells of evening pealing,

The voice of Jesus sounds o'er the land and sea,
And laden souls by thousands meekly stealing,
Kind Shepherd turn their weary steps to Thee."

How many great souls have drank of the cup of present dis-
appointment, without feeling an intimation of the glorious re-
sults which were to come afterwards ! How many live only
long enough ''to hear the world applaud the hollow ghost which
blamed the living man I "

The law seems to be that the real builders of social institu-
tions have slow work, and often dwell in the sorrowful con-
sciousness of failure. If a man does not know by experience
what failure is, it is because he is only manipulating social

52 JUDSON CENTENNIAL.

force which have been brought into being by the blood and
sweat of others. " My Dear Philosopher," a lady writes to
Voltaire, "• it is easier to write on paper than on human flesh."
You, who know what it is to co]3e with failure, to whom it often
seems that you are pushing your way through a patch of bur-
docks and briers which are constantly pulling you back, so that
you seem sometimes to have leaded feet, as in a nightmare, and
to be able, with the greatest struggling, to make no real advance,
what encouragement can you take from the lives of those who
have accomplished the most for humanity ; who, while they
lived, were ignored, and died without entering into the prom-
ises ? But what is to be the practical upshot of this occasion ?
This is an age of memorials and jubilees. Let not our virtues
evaporate in admiration of distant feats of heroism which we
are unwilling to undertake ourselves. Otherwise, shall we not
incur our Lord's reproach ? " Woe unto ye Scribes and Phari-
sees, hypocrites, for ye build the tombs of the Prophets, and
garnish the sepulchres of the righteous." Let us put ourselves
where there is the greatest strain.

" High deeds haunt not the friugy edges of the fight,
But the pell-mell of men."

How can we best help the cause of missions ? Not by per-
suading others to go. What good results from great mass
meetings, where the enthusiasm runs high and impressions are
created which do not crystalize into definite purposes? Heated
addresses, which conceal the dangers and difficulties of mission-
ary life, and describe only the romantic features, may secure
men, but they will not be of the right kind.

A she-wolf, who had a large family, used to taunt a lioness
who had only one cub, but the lioness fitly replied, "Unum,
sed leonem," — one, but a lion. Better fewer men, provided
that they are of the right sort.

General Gordon rebuked an officer once in the words,
" Never order a man to do what you are afraid to do yourself."

During the war it was not the fire-eaters, either at the North
or at the South, who were at the front. But let us see that
those who go are amply sustained. If we cannot go ourselves.

JUDSON CENTENNIAL. 53

the least we can do is to support the cause. I was told the
following story about Stonewall Jackson :

" It was at the time of the battle of Second Bull Run, and the coun-
try in the neighborhood of that battle was just quivering with excite-
ment. The telegraph wires were down ; the people seemed to feel in
the air that there had been a great battle, but they could not get the news
as to what the issue of the fray had been. In the town where Stonewall
Jackson had lived, Lexington, it was found that there was in the post
office a letter in his handwriting, addressed to the pastor of the church
he attended, and it was known that that letter came right from the field
of battle. The little town was roused, and the citizens gathered around
the post office. Dr. White, the pjistor, appeared, and they put him on a
dry goods box and gathered around to hear that letter from Stonewall
Jackson, written on the field of battle, and the minister tore it open and
read something like this :

My Deak J'astor :

1 remember that this is the day for the collection usually taken up
in our church for foreign missions. Please find enclosed ray check for
dollars. I remain, yours truly, T. J. JACKSON,

That great general, on the decisive field of battle, remem-
bered that there was another battle going on ; that that battle,
important as it was, was not the only fray that he was engaged
in ; but there was still greater war pending, and he was not un-
mindful of his duty.

Let the memory of the sainted dead spur us on to nobler
endeavor. The legend has it that after John, the beloved disci-
ple, had been buried, the grave mound still rose and fell with
his breath. You cannot bury a saint so deep that he will not
affect the lives of those who walk over his grave. Let us share
in the spirit of him whom we admire, and so shall we be like
one whom my father describes in the following words :

'' It is all one whether he is in a city or in a desert, among relations
or among savage foes, in the heat of the Indies or in the ice of Green-
land; his Infinite Friend is always at hand. He need not fear want or
sickness or pain, this Best Friend does all things well. He need not fear
death, though he come in the most shocking form, for death is only a
drawing of the veil which conceals his dearest Friend."

LKTTERS AND EXTRACTS.

[ The widespread influence of Judson's life is well illustrated in the
following letters and extracts. Coming from all parts of the United
States, they also represent the interest which this centennial year of
pioneer mission work holds in every Baptist church in our land, — an
interest that should culminate in most munificent liberality for the wider
teaching of the blessed gospel. ]

To the First Baptist Churchy Maiden^ Mass.

Dear Friends in Christ, — I wish that the many miles
that separate Minneapolis from Maiden could be eliminated
today, and that I could be with you on this centennial of the
birth of my father. My heart and soul are with you, and I
thank our God that he has put it into your hearts to celebrate
this anniversary.

Adoniram Judson has been alive one hundred years. Nearly
two-thirds of this time he dwelt here in the flesh, and labored
with untiring energy for the King of Glory. The remaining
years of this century of existence he has dwelt in the land of
souls. But he is not idle there. He is not dead ! The same
spirit of self-sacrifice, the same energy of nature, the same force
which made him the pioneer missionary here, the same burning
love for his fellow creatures, the same devotion to the Infinite
Source of all being, characterize him there as here, for they
formed the essential elements of his nature. Though eternal
ages will bring added development, he will always be the indi-
vidual spirit that we know him here. And one day, if we are
akin to him in aspiration, we shall meet him there. Let us im-
itate him in all the points in which he resembled the Divine
Son of God; and so we shall be welcomed to his ennobling
society when God shall call us to his heavenly home.

With love to the great cause of Foreign Missions, and with

love to all who are one in the spirit of Jesus Christ,

I am, your sister in faith,

Abby a. Judson.
Minneapolis., Minn.

JtTDSOIf CENTENNIAL. 55

Reverend and Dear Brother :

I take pleasure in accepting the invitation to take part in
the celebration of the anniversary of the birthday of Dr. Judson.
Such a celebration is eminently fitting. The world's heroes are
honored by memorial rites, celebrating the day of their birth ;
how much more ought we to honor those " of whom the world
was not worthy ? "

I have reason to feel a special regard for Dr. Judson, In
the days when I was yet a student in theology at Andover, he
wrote me, — I know not how my name had ever reached him, —
signing his letter, not with his own name, but " Ish Mizar," —
alluding to the passage in the forty-second psalm : " Therefore
will I remember thee."

His letter announced that about the time of my receiving it
a fund of ten thousand dollars would be put in bank to ensure
my support as a missionary in Palestine. As he did not give me
his name, I could only conjecture who was my unknown corre-
spondent. But he left " the leaven " to work in my mind, be-
lieving that it would not be in vain, — if God was in it, and if
God's plan favored it.

He was always interested in the Jews. The old men of his
father's age used to pray for their conversion. He never lost that
feeling of interest, as an occasional item in his history testifies.

During his farewell visit to this country he visited my house-
He sat and conversed with me in my study. His presence hal-
lowed the place. The thought that he had been there was ever
a joy and an inspiration.

Years ago I went alone to visit the house in which he was
born, and the chamber where he first saw the light, and was
treated most cordially by the tenants of the distinguished dwell-
ing. I have stood on the hill in Plymouth whose summit bears
the cenotaph recording his revered name, with those of his fa-
ther and brothers, and the grave, near by, of his sister. I re-
joice that another memorial is, through you, to be reared, not in
perishable marble, but in immortal words and hymns and prayer
and praise. May God prosper the blessed ceremonial.

Faithfully yours, S. F. Smith.

Newton Centre, Mass.

56 JtJDSON CENTENNIAL.

Rev. J. Nelson Lewis :

Dear Brother, — T have just received, through iny brother
Edward, your kind request to write something for your account
of the Judson Centennial

As a delegate from the Berean Church, of this city, I take
this opportunity to express my sense of the charming hospital-
ity and Christian zeal which marked the Maiden celebration.

As a son of the missionary whose birth we met to celebrate,
I could say but little, except to express a longing, in common
with my Christian brethren, for divine help in renewed efforts
to imitate the devotion to duty which marked my father's life.
Yours, in Christian love,

Adoniram Brown Judson.
Madison Square, New York.

A. R. Turner., Jr.., Maiden :

Dear Sir, —

If the anniversary of birth of poet, philosopher, or philan-
thropist is celebrated, why should that of the pioneer mission-
ary be forgotten ? What life of civilian, scholar, or statesman
has been resplendent with more promise for the human race,
and the establishment of the kingdom of heaven on earth, than
that of Adoniram Judson? American Baptists over the conti-
nent will be present in spirit at the Maiden Centennial. His
exceptional talents, consecration, and suffering, in founding the
Burman mission, have won the admiration of civilians as well
as of Christians on both sides of the sea. That was a touching
tribute to Dr. Judson's worth, offered a few years ago by the
Moderator of the Presbyterian Assembly, at Saratoga, — him-
self a foreign missionary, — that if he reached heaven, next to
the Divine Master, he should wish to meet the sainted Judson.
Such attribute, from such a man ! Let, then, that memorial
building rise in the American metropolis, a symbol of the affin-
ities of evangelization at home with missions abroad, and of
the devotion of American Baptists, alike to the evangelization
of their own country and Christianizing heathen nations. As

JtTDSOlSl CENTEKNIAL. 67

it will enshrine in its structure and in its ministry the name
all Baptists throughout the world should especially delight to
honor. May Baptists, east and west, north and south, by their
contributions hasten the completion and furnishing of the Jud-
son Memorial Church Building, on Washington Square, New
York City. W. W. Everts, D. D.

Chicago, III.

" I hardly need say that I deem it a special privilege, as well
as a great honor, to have been invited to participate in the
commemoration. A special privilege, because, although not
my sire by blood, he was to me all that the best of fathers could
have been ; and also a great honor, because he it was, who, by
his greatness and his goodness, largely shaped the mould for
modern missions and American missionaries. May the spirit of
Adoniram Judson pervade and inspire the church till the return
of Him who is, in the truest sense, Jehovah's Foreign Mission-
ary. Yours, in the Goodly Brotherhood,

Geo. Dana Boakdman.
Philadelphia.

Mr. A. R. Turner., Jr.:

My Dear Sir. — Although the father of the great mission-
ary was pastor of the First Church in Maiden for only a brief
time, our Church has reason to be proud of its historic connec-
tion with the honored name of Adoniram Judson, and our whole
denomination should unite with yours in commemorating his
grand life. Very sincerely yours,

J. W. Wellman, D. D.
Maiden, Mass.

A. R. Turner, Jr., Esq.:

My Dear Brother. — I like exceedingly the idea of thus
perpetuating the memory of our departed soldiers of the cross.
They fought the warfare of Faith against the Powers of Dark-
ness, and illustrated the true spirit of Christian heroism. They
have left to us the examples of noble lives to stimulate our zeal

58 JUDSOl^ CENTENKIAL.

in the cause for which they died. " Thou shalt love thy neigh-
bor as thyself" is nowhere exemplified so forcibly as in the
lives of these Christian martyrs.

I pray that your " Centennial Anniversary " may be blessed
of God, in kindling anew the missionary enthusiasm of your
people, and that its influence may extend over our entire land.
Very sincerely yours, Jno. H. Weight.

Si(ff(jlk, Va.

COPY OF TELEGRAM RECEIVED DURING THE SERVICES.

To A. R. Turner^ Acorn Street:

San Francisco Baptist Ministerial Union honors memory of
Adoniram Judson. Sends centennial greeting.

BuNYAN Spencer, President,
W. C. Spencer, Secretary,
G. S. Abbott,

Committee.

Oakland, Col.

Mr. A. 11. Turner, Jr. :

Dear Brother, — Adoniram Judson stands in the front
rank of great and heroic men. His Christian devotion was
matched by such imperial integrity and consummate wisdom
that no sneering skeptic dares despise and deride him. He was
every inch a man, and the world knows it. Our knowledge of
him makes belief in the historic existence of St. Paul easy.
Indeed, Mr. Judson is an unimpeachable witness for Jesus
Christ, for without Jesus Christ there could not have been a
Dr. Judson.

Sincerely yours, Cephas B. Crane.

Concord, N. II.

JUDSON CENTEKNIAL. 59

Dear Sir. — No devout soul, in any degree conversant with
the heroic devotion of the noble servant of God, who, in agony
and privation, in the darkness of apparently unrequited labor,
for the present reward of manacles, stripes, bereavements, and
incomprehensible afflictions, delved patiently, persistently and
cheerfully through the mire of heathen degradation, to reveal,
for a foundation of a new faith, — the crucified Cluist, — can
fail to swell with joyful thanksgiving at the marvellous results
that God has begun to manifest as a seal to his service. Such
a name may well be revered with the names of Moses and of
Paul, and should never cease to be an incentive to fresh en-
deavor and fresh achievement.

Fraternally, J. W. Burdette.

Burlington, la.

Mr. A. R. Turner, Maiden., Mass.:

My Dear Brother. — " Judson, the first American mission-
ary, is the typical 'Jesus Christ's man ' of foreign missions, of
this century."

If I have a primary conviction, it is that foreign mission

work comes the nearest to apostolical zeal, of all Christian work

in the world.

Yours, in kindred work,

Granville S. Abbott.
Oakland, Gal.

Mr. A. R. Turner, Jr., Maiden, Mass.:

Dear Brother — No man has ever been born in America
to whom such remembrance can be more worthily given; and
yet union in such a demonstration is but a small privilege com-
pared with that of emulating his heroic sacrifices for his fellows
and for the truth of God. The memory of Judson should ever
form a mighty influence in the heart of every Christian, and
especially every Baptist, stimulating to unmeasured labor and
sacrifice for Christian missions.

Yours fraternally, James N. Boyce.

Louisville, Ky.

Facsimile of the City Clerk's Copy of the Records
OF adoniram Judson's Birth,

City of Malden,

City Hall,

August 9, 1888.

To all whom it may concern :

This is to certify that I am City Clerk of the city of Maiden,
and as such clerk have the care and custody of Town and
City Records. By such Records, Book 2, page 39, I find that
"Adonirum Judson, son of the Rev'd Adonirum and Abigail
Judson, Born Aug't ye 9th, 1788."

Attest : A true copy of Record,

Leverett D. Holden,

City Clerk.

JUDSON CENTENNIAL. 61

My Dear 31 r. Turner :

I have just read your kind invitation to attend the Centen-
nial Anniversary of the birth of Dr. Judson, at the First Bap-
tist Church, Maiden, Mass., U. S. A., August 9th.

You say " You are requested to send your pastor and at
least two other delegates." If we were to accept this invitation
those whom 1 would take would be Moung Eng Tah, a Shan,
who became a believer in the true God more than seven years
ago, now pastor of the Shan and Toungthoo Church in Thatone.
Delegates, first, Moung Gyee, a Dooroo by race, from the Shan
country, by the Spirit of God turned from heathenism and
made an humble, devoted follower of the Lord Jesus. Second
delegate. Old Pah Gyee, a Toungthoo by race, from the Shan
country, instructed and baptised by Dr. Judson, more than
forty years ago. He and his wife, with some few other native
Christians, he says, lived for some time on Dr. Judson's com-
pound, and received instruction from the books. He has a
great reverence and love for the memory of Dr. Judson, of
whom he frequently speaks. So much for my pastor and del-
egates.

Now, if we accept the invitation it would take some days
to get there. It would cost some I And, too, we would get
there to find ourselves too late for the meeting ! So we had
better content ourselves with our own meetings, in our heathen
jungle town, and get all the pleasure we can from the thought
that anyway we've had an invitation to that far-away Maiden
meeting in the western world ! Dr. Judson's work laps over
ours, as we daily read and teach from his translation of the
Bible.

The " romance of missions," in his time, has gone ; but the
same difiicult, plodding work of laboring with heathen ignorant
idolators to turn to the true God, still remains.

Last Sunday three Shans were baptised here. After the
meetings at the chapel we repaired to a mountain stream in the
jungle, where, with solemn prayer and singing in Burmese,
three souls were baptised into the name of Christ. O, pray,
please, that they may be his true followers.

Very sincerely yours, Jennie B. Kelley.

Thatone, Burmah,

EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS RECEIVED.

'' The Holy Spirit * * * sent forth Judson, and led him
all his journey through." Howard Osgood, D. D.

Rochester, N. Y.

" The birth of Judson was a more important event than the
birth of Washington." J. H. Griffith, D. D.

Buffalo, N. Y.

" The career and work of Dr. Judson will grow in lustre as
the centennials shall come and go, and shall be appreciated in
full only when we all see the eternal books opened."

Donald D. MagLauein.

Minneapolis , Minn.

"" The century is marked that gave birth to the Apostle of
Baptist Foreign Missions. A century of missions to the heath-
en, of the abolition of African slavery in the civilized nations of
the world, and the establishment of a Christian Free State on
the Congo, in the heart of Central Africa."

R. DeBaptiste.

Galesburg, III.

" To be a messenger of the King of Kings seems to me to be
the highest position to be attained by man. And it seems as
fitting for us to celebrate the birth of Judson as that of Wash-
ington or Longfellow." Mrs. G. G. Manning.

Peru, Ind.

" The name of Adoniram Judson is indelibly inscribed upon
the pages of history as that of one of the grandest and most self-
sacrificing lives that has ever been known."

Wm. M. Bushnell.

JUDSON CENTENI'IIAL. 63

" Whose (Judson's) devotion to and service in the cause of
Foreign Missions, renders his name dear to every Christian
heart, and his life a conspicuous example for emulation, for all
time.'' Hon. Jno. K. C. SleepePw

Maiden, Mass.

ONE BAPTISED BY JUDSON.

" I had hoped that our deacon, John H. Eaton, might also
be able to attend, but cannot, chiefly on account of infirmities.
Brother Eaton was baptised by Dr. Judson, in Maulmain, in
February or early March, 1838. He was a sailor on the barque
Isabella, that took out Messrs. Stevens, Brayton, and Stetson, I
believe, and was converted during the passage. The ship lay
in Maulmain a month, arriving February 19, 1838, and during
that time Brother Eaton was baptised, in company with a Bur-
mese woman." Rev. George D. Reid.
Orange, Mass. »

" The names of Adoniram Judson and the peerless Anne
Hazeltine, from earliest childhood were synonymous of good-
ness and greatness, nor have their virtues faded as I have be-
come more capable of understanding them."

Mrs. a. M. Bacon.

Chicago, III.

" The name of Adoniram Judson was a household word in

my father's house, from my earliest recollection. The memory

of liis gifts and graces, and of the noble work he did, belongs

to the common heritage of American Baptists."

John C. Broadus.
Louisville, Ky.

LETTER FROM MRS. ANN H. JUDSON.

[Reprinted from Baptist Missionary Magazine.]

In this centennial year of the birth of Adoniram Judson, and
the seventy-fifth year of the establishment of our Ameiican
Baptist foreign missions by Dr. Judson and his wife, Ann Has-
seltine, everything pertaining to the Judsons is of interest.
We take great pleasure in presenting the first letter sent by
Mrs. Judson to one in this country outside of her own family.
It has not been published before, and is of great interest as
showing her feelings just after the conversion of her husband
and herself to Baptist views. It was addressed to Mrs. Jona-
than Carlton, of Boston, Mass., with whom she was acquainted
before leaving America. Mrs. Carlton was greatly interested
in mission work ; and it was the small social meetings, held in
consequence of this letter, which resulted in the formation of
the General Convention for Foreign Missions, now the American
Baptist Missionary Union. Mrs. Carlton's daughter became the
wife of Rev. Luther F. Beecher, D. D., now of Brookline, Mass.,
by whose kindness a copy of this letter has been furnished.

Calcutta, Oct. 21, 1812.
My Dear Mrs. C. — A recollection of the intimacy which
once existed between us, and which has for a few years been
discontinued on account of our local separation, strongly urges
me to wish its revival, and now induces me to write. Although
that intimacy was sweet, and free from those bitter feelings of
which a difference of sentiment is generally productive, yet a
little restraint was felt, which, I am happy to say, is now re-
moved. You will probably hear before the reception of this
of the change which has taken place in Mr. Judson and my-
self, relative to baptism. As Mr. Judson has written the par-
ticulars respecting our change to Dr. Baldwin, it is unneces-

JUDSON CENTENNIAL. 65

saiy for me now to relate them to you. The severe trials occa-
sioned by such an event can be realized by those only who are
in similar circumstances. The anticipated disapprobation of
friends we love and respect, the loss of the patronage of the
Board of Commissioners, together with the privation of the
society of our dear missionary associates, exceedingly depressed
our spirits. We felt we were alone in the world, no friend but
each other, no one on whom to depend for protection and sup-
port but our heavenly Father. Thus circumstanced, think, my
clear Mrs. C, how gratifying to our hearts the prospect of hav-
ing one of our brethren to join us. Soon after we were baptised,
brother Rice, compelled from a sense of duty, began to examine
the subject more thoroughly than ever before, although he has
had his doubts respecting it for some time. I think he is con-
vinced of the truth of the Baptist system, and will join us in a
mission in some part of the Eastern world. Mr. Rice and Mr.
Judson at present contemplate a mission to Java. Mr, Rice is
engaged to a lady in America, who he hoped would accompany
him to India ; but she had so little time to prepare for so impor-
tant an undertaking, she concluded not to come. Since our
arrival here, and change of sentiment, and since it is probable
I shall be the only female in the mission, we have written ur-
gent letters to have her follow us as soon as an opportunity
offers. As it is expected the Commissioners will refuse to sup-
port us on account of our becoming Baptists, letters have been
written to several Baptist ministers in America to form a society
and support missionaries in this country. Should this take
place, it will be some time before a society is formed and funds
sufficient to defray the expenses of a mission be procured.
While this society is forming will you not, my dear sister, make
some exertion to collect a small sum among yonn: female friends

sufficient to defray the expenses of Miss 's voyage, should

she conclude to come ? Will those females who are surrounded
with all the comforts and even the luxuries of life, refuse to
contribute to the happiness of a solitary female in a strange
land, without a mother, sister, or female friend ? No. I know
they will rejoice to have the opportunity of doing something
for the cause of the Redeemer, for the souls of the heathen, and

66 JUDSON CENTENNIAL.

for the comfort of those who have left their native land for the
spread of the gospel. I know you will use your influence
among your friends to make this collection, when you reflect
how much I shall need a female to assist in the mission, and
when you are informed how useful females are in this country.
Schools are needed extremely ; and unless there are two females
in a mission, a school cannot be attended. If there can be suf-

cient collected to pay Miss 's passage, will you take the

trouble of writing to her immediately, as she may probably
delay coming on account of there being no society to bear the
expense of her passage ? I intend writing to Mrs. Bolles, of
Salem, on the subject, if I have time before this vessel sails. If
I do not write, be so kind as to request her to make the same
exertions among her female friends, with yourself. I leave this
affair with you, my dear Mrs. C, in the hands of God, who has
the entire disposal of his creatures. We have found by expe-
rience, since we left our native land, that the Lord is indeed a
covenant-keeping God, and takes care of those who confide in
him. I have ever considered it a singular favor that God has
given me an opportunity to spend my days in a heathen land.
Though he has made it my duty to give up endearing connec-
tions, and suffer many privations, yet he has made me feel that
he is my portion ; and I am happy in the prospect of spending
my days in instructing those who have never yet heard of Jesus.
If I may be instrumental in leading some infant female to lisp
the praise of God, I shall rejoice in the sacrifice of country,
reputation, and friends. You can form no idea of the melan-
choly state of the heathen in this part of the world. Heathen,
idolatrous temples are everywhere erected, and the ignorant
multitudes pay their devotions to the most odious figures of
their own making. But their devotions and maxims are not
calculated to reform the heart of life. It is all outward show,
without the least appearance of solemnity or holy devotion.
How unlike the religion of the meek and holy Saviour ! How
opposite its effects and consequences ! Who would not be will-
ing to sacrifice worldly comfort to communicate the news of
salvation to the benighted pagans? And what Christian in our
native land but will rejoice to have an opportunity to contribute

JUDSON CENTENNIAL. 67

his mite for this glorious object? O, my dear Mrs. C, pray-
much for us in this infant mission. Pray that we may be spir-
itual and holy; and, when your little social circle meet for
prayer and praise, remember these poor, ignorant females in a
heathen land, who know no such joys, who have no animating
hopes to comfort their hearts in the dreary hour of death.

I shall write you all the particulars of the mission when we
are settled. Write me every opportunity, and be assured your
letters will be a cordial to the heart of,

Your still affectionate, - Nancy Judson.

Brother and sister Newell are gone to the Isle of France. 1
have not heard of them since they went. The missionaries at
Serampore are still successful. They have constant additions
to their church. Mr. Judson and myself are residing at a Mr.
Polt's in Calcutta, where we are very kindly treated. Let me
once more request, my dear Mrs. C, you will do all in your

power toward having Miss ■ come to us. She is eminently

qualified to be in a mission. But I need not be so urgent with
you, who have the cause of God so near your heart ; yet let rae
again ask you to write her and encourage her coming.

The LoKb5' Frvkyer in Burme5e.

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THK MISSIONARY'S BRIDE.

AN INCIDENT IN THE LIFE OF ADONIRAM JUDSON, D. D.

Dr. Judson was three times married. His first wife was
Ann Hazeltine, one of that band of pioneer missionaries who
left this country in 1812. She was a woman of wonderful
energy and fortitude, and sustained, as few could have done,
the hands of her husband the first twelve years of his eventful
life. His second wife was Sarah Boardman, the widow of
George D. Boardman, his associate in the mission work. She
was a lady of great purity and sweetness of character, and
walked by his side for a score of years, ministering tenderly to
his necessities in all time of his trial and adversity. She died
at sea, and was buried at St. Helena, when returning with her
husband to their native land in 1845. His third wife was Emily
Chubbuck, a young lady somewhat celebrated at the time in
literary circles, as a writer of works of fiction, and a contributor
to the magazines of the day, under the nom de plume of Fanny
Forrester. The great disparity in their ages, and the fact that
she was but little known in the religious world, caused the
engagement to be sharply criticised. Especially did it bring
grief and amazement to some of Dr. Judson's cherished and life-
long friends. The wisdom of his choice, however, was soon
apparent to all, and to-day her memory is embalmed in the
affections of thousands of Christians of all lands, as one of the
illustrious trio of women, who shared in the labors and suffer-
ings of this eminent servant of the cross.

An incident which occurred in his courtship with this last-
named wife forms the subject of the following poem :

A young man in the Pagan world

The banner of the Cross unfurled ;

Where Christian foot had seldom trod,

He bore aloft the ark of God ;

And published, through contempt and shame,

The Gospel in Jehovah's name.

JtJDSON CENTENNIAL. 69

To his commission, so sublime,
He gave the wealth of manhood's prime ;
The added strength of later years,
When faith had triumphed over fears;
The seed he scattered, fruitage bore.
Which nerved him for new trials more ;
Through graee he overcame his foes;
The desert blossomed as the rose, —
When, weary, with his staff in hand,
He turned toward his native land,
He left beneath the hopia tree.
The bride he bore across the sea;
And laid within an ocean grave
Another just as true and brave;
Then trod, his weary wanderings o'er,
An aged man, his native shore.

Oh ! never round the hero's brow

Were greener laurels wi'eathed than now;

Old age embraced, the young man pressed.

With welcomes warm, the honored guest.

His courtly bearing, quiet air.

Bespoke the man of culture rare ;

And crowds, charmed by his broken tongue,

Upon his speech delighted hung ;

And Zion clasped him to her breast.

And bade her weary servant rest.

But Time a wondrous change had wrought,
And few remained of all he sought;
And tarrying for a while, anew.
He longed his mission to pursue;
Yet not alone, — he still must share
The love of gentle woman there;
Some hand must hold till set of sun.
Till his great work of life were done.

So, artless as a child at play,
He wandered up and down the way.
And caught at last a pleasant smile
From one who could his hours beguile;
And acted o'er the lover's part.
And offered to the maid his heart.
Then, rumor in an old man's ear
Whispered a tale of doubt and fear;

70 JtlDSON CENTENNIAL.

An Elder, earnest, honest, wise, —
The story filled him with surprise.
A pupil of the olden school,
He made the law of Christ his rule;
All plans and projects he abhorred.
Which had not a " Thus saith the Lord."
Should his dear brother, growing gray.
To Cupid's arrow's fall a prey ?
Should one without a call from God,
Tread by his side the paths he trod ?
Should gossips sport with Judson's name,-
With scandal tarnish his pure fame ?
Would the thrice-uttered vow, if given,
Meet the approving smile of heaven ?

His duty seemed as clear as day,
And conscience counseled no delay;
So, gathering courage as he went,
With solemn mien, and look intent.
He to the village damsel spoke.
And thus to her the matter broke:

"A rumor, child, has come to me,
That you will Mrs. Judson be ;
Pray tell me, ere that Dr. J.,
Loved of the Lord, passed oh this way,
Were you impressed it was God's will
That you should such a station fill ?
That you should to the heathen go.
And lift them from their shame and woe ?
And as His herald, should declare
The tidings of salvation there ?
Had you conceived of such a life.
Till Judson sought you for his wife ? "

" Now, Father Peck," Ihc maiden said.
As modestly she dropped, her head,

" 1 trust the Lord is guiding me
To do His will on land or sea.
You say the Spirit should decide
The question, Shall I be his bride ?
I do not know how this may be,
But one thing was revealed to me;
When I was pressed for yes or no,
A voice spoke very plainly, 'Go.' —

JUDSON CENTENNIAL. 71

So plain, my trusting heart spoke out
That simple Yes, without a doubt.
And now I hope that you, and all,
Will see I've had a special call."

The aged father naught could say
To her reply, but, " Let us pray; "
And, bowing with the maiden there,
He wrestled with his God iu prayer.
He prayed for Zion, that her light
Might pierce the dreadful shade of night;
That the poor Pagan yet might see
The Sacrifice on Calvary;
That God would stay his brother's hands
When toiling in those far-off lauds ;
That she, his chosen one, might bless,
With woman's tenderest caress.
The evening of so grand a life,
And be the good man's loving wife.

And so they mated, — you have seen,
When summer dressed the hills in green.
The giant oak, pride of the land.
Alone in simple grandeur stand;
And you have seen the graceful vine
Round the old trunk itself entwine.
And lend to age a charm and grace
The painter's pencil loves to trace.
So she, fair daughter, gentle, true.
Sweet child of genius, fairer grew.
As day by day she fondly flung
Her arms around his neck, and clung
To him, his all, whate'er betide,
The missionary's angel bride.

Morn broke in beauty o'er the bay;
The islands of the harbor lay
Like gems upon the water's blue;
From out the West a fair wind blew;
A bark, with all her sails unfurled.
Is starting for the Eastern w^orld;
Upon the clear, still morning air.
Comes up the voice of earnest prayer;
And tears, how free and fast they fall.
As, " Loose the cable," is the call !

72 jtJDSON CENTENNIAL.

While they, the loved, the young bride fair,
And he with thin and frosty hair,
Wave to us one long, last adieu.

0 memory, how comes back that view !

1 see them standing on the deck,

As the brave ship becomes a speck, —
Till coast and headland, native shore.
Return their farewell glance no more.

And so I muse: There is some heart

Ready to bear with us a part

Of burdens that are on us cast, —

Some one to love us to the last;

Some hand to smooth life's rugged way;

Some smile to cheer us day by day;

Some angel with a radiant brow

Is walking with us even now.

DR. JUDSON AS A PREACHING MISSIONARY.

" Personal reminiscences " are, of course, out of the question,
even for one who, like myself, was born in Burmah, my parents
only arriving in the country to learn of Dr. Judson's death
at sea, in 1860. Tbe writer may, however, claim to be an
illustration of Judson's posthumous influence, inasmuch as his
visit to Brown University, in 1845, seems to have had a deter-
mining influence on my father's life, and through him on me.
I have been asked, however, to dwell more especially, on Dr.
Judson's posthumous influence as a pioneer preacher of the
gospel to the heathen. From all I can gather, I have no hesi-
tation in saying that his influence in this direction is greater
than in any other. Great as was his literary work, chief among
which was his peerless version of the Scriptures, it is evident
from all the reminiscences that can be gleaned of his life that
he regarded it as secondary to the still greater work of preach-
ing the gospel. While the Maulmain reminiscences gather
chiefly around the literary work which necessarily detained him
there so many years, all the other parts of Burmah which are
fragrant with his memory are associated with his work as the
pioneer preaching missionary. Even in Maulmain I was struck
by reading, in his life by his son, of his preaching tours among
the heathen Karens in their native fastnesses, before the days
of Abbott and the Vintons, — records reminding one of the fact
that it was by a mere accident that it was Boardman at Tavoy,
and not Judson at Maulmain, who baptized Ko Thah-byu, the
first Karen convert, who was ransomed from his heathen mas-
ters by a Burman Christian under Judson's influence. As for
the other places of Dr. Judson's residence, so much are they
identified with his work as a preaching missionary that I cannot
better describe the latter than by answering a question often
asked us, " Where have you crossed the pioneer missionary's
track in the land of the Judsons ? "

74 JoDSOtSr CENTENNIAL.

In answering this question I regret to say that it has never
been my privilege to witness the scene of Dr. Judson's greatest
sufferings in Upper Burmah, especially as it was solely his desire
to preach to the best advantage that led him to choose that Mecca
of Buddhism as his place of residence. I have no hesitation,
however, in taking you in imagination with me to Rangoon, as the
scene of his greatest triumph as a preaching missionary. Here
was set that great example which has been an inspiration to so
many weary workers since, of praying for and laboring with so
many " Buddhist philosophers " without any apparent result,
until at length the truth found a lodgment in the heart of
Moung Nau. All that is needed to bring those weary years
vividly to mind is to search among the white clothes of the
dhobies\ or washermen's quarter, in Rangoon, for the site of
the first za^/at or wayside preaching rest-house, in front of where
the Judson's lived, or to witness a baptism, as I have done, in
the Royal Lakes at the base of Shay-da-gone, the great golden
pagoda of Rangoon, where Moung Nau was baptized by Dr.
Judson, contrary to Buddhist law, by the pale light of the
moon.

The next place we would fain take you is where we first
crossed Dr. Judson's track by being born. We refer to Hen-
zada (or Henthada), 150 miles up the Irrawaddy River, where
Judson was wont to stop and distribute tracts on his tedious
iourneys by boat up and down the River on bis way to and from
the court of Ava to plead for the privilege of preaching the gos-
pel in the domains of the Burmese king. May not the seed
then sown account for the precious harvest of souls which
awaited the sainted Crawley and Thomas who afterwards
founded this Mission ? At any rate, Syah Oo Aing, the dear
old ex-pastor of the Burman Baptist Church in Henthada, still
tells a thrilling story of having assisted in throwing stones at
Dr. Judson in Prome, at the time when he was forced to relin-
quish that station which he attempted to hold after the first
Burmese war. That stoning, however, seems to have operated
like the "laying of the witnesses' clothes" at the feet of another
young persecutor, for the course of years saw this Burman

JUDSON CENTENNIAL. 75

relating liis experience through a Karen Christian, as an inter-
preter to my father, who in turn translated it into English for
the sainted Crawley who had recently arrived in the country,
and who was thus early cheered by the reception of this " first
fruits of Henthada into the earthly church."

The above allusion to Prome leads us to mention a remark-
able prophecy uttered by Pr. Judson as he was forced to aban-
don tliat great city where he so longed to preach all his life.
It seems that he found temporary shelter during his stay in that
city under the shadow of the great Shay-san-daw pagoda, to
which we, like all strangers in Prome, were conducted. Imagine
the effect, upon one standing at the base of that pagoda, of Dr.
Judson's apostrophe as it is repeated by the Burman Christians
to this day : " O Shway-san-daw, Shway-san-daw, the day is
coming when thy shadow, fall where it may, shall not fail to
fall on the home of a Christian ! " The most remarkable thing
about the prophecy is that it has been literally fulfilled. May
God hasten the fullfilment of that other prophecy, published in
his first tract, entitled, "A View of the Christian Religion," to
the effect that within the next hundred years or so. Buddhism
shall be numbered with the effete religious systems of the world.

But time would fail us to tell of his living, much less of his
posthumous influence on the work of evangelizing the world by
the apostolic method of preaching. We would fain point to
his desire, expressed in the public meeting of the Triennial
Convention, to go to Arakan where we expect so soon to go,
rather than see it abandoned, as was then so shortsightedly
mooted, provided the board would release him from his literary
labors. We would simply close with the picture of Judson
laboring with more than one of our earlier missionaries, whose
predilections were more in an educational than in a strictly
evangelistic direction, suggesting that not only in point of time,
but in missionary methods as well. Dr. Judson was not only
"the apostle of Burma," but the foremost missionary of modern
times. W. F. Thomas.

Boston, Aug. 27, 1888.

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