Surviving the desolation of bereavement
2. Facing Great Obstacles
Venturing into an unknown world was extremely daunting for these young missionaries. Little did they expect that the first obstacle to their work was not paganism, but rather the greed of what we would now call “the Western World.” Great Britain was already expanding its empire. We will now see how formidable this barrier was to be.
Penetrating the steel curtain of the British East India Company
Without faith it is impossible to please God. Without faith the venture to reach Burma would not have seen the light of day, for the simple reason that the first barrier was humanly impenetrable. But with God all things are possible. The British East India Company possessed both the will and the power to keep out all missionaries from the territory where they had jurisdiction.[14] It was for this reason that William Carey had to work out of Serampore, a tiny enclave owned by the Danes. The Company did not want the natives to learn Western ideas, whereby they would imbibe false notions of equality or notions which would destabilize the current situation, which was of great commercial profit. A seemingly impenetrable steel wall was cast round the areas of self-interest. The effectiveness of this barrier was soon discovered by the young couple. As soon as they landed at Calcutta, they were ordered by the East India Company to return home.
On the five months’ sea voyage Adoniram gave himself to an in-depth study of baptism. He was prompted by the question of what procedure he would employ with converts. He was also concerned as to how he would defend paedobaptism[15] when he was with the British Baptist missionaries at Serampore, who practiced believer’s baptism. In fact, it was the policy of the Baptist missionaries at Serampore not to contend with missionaries of opposite views on this subject. Adoniram read everything he could find on both sides of the subject. Ann resolutely declared that nothing would change her views. She used every argument she could to dissuade Adoniram from changing his position. But eventually she came to the Baptist position herself. This was seismic in its outcome. It spelled the end of all their support. They had no idea of what help might come from Baptist sources. Adoniram and Ann applied to the British missionaries for baptism. Two days after the ordinance Ann wrote to her parents, “A renunciation of our former sentiments has caused us more pain than anything which ever happened to us through our lives.”[16] In a letter to a friend, William Carey wrote, “Since their arrival in Bengal, Brother and Sister Judson have been baptized. Judson preached the best sermon upon baptism that I have ever heard on the subject, which we intend to print.” [17]
In the meantime the East India Company hounded the Americans. The only way to escape an enforced return either to England or America was to sail to Mauritius. After a seven week voyage they arrived to hear the terrible news that Harriet, aged 18, had died together with her first infant.
Luther Rice, known as the strongest protagonist for paedobaptism, had also re-examined the subject. He had changed his views and been baptized as a believer. Suffering from liver disease, he was constrained to return to America. There he became the indefatigable supporter of missions. His impact on the Baptist denominations of America was immense. Rice was an extremely effective preacher and versatile traveler. He swam rivers, braved snowstorms, endured heat waves, escaped bandits and wild Indians, and constantly expended his energies for the missionary cause. He broke, by three miles, John Wesley’s record of 90 miles horseback travel in one day.[18] Through Rice’s ministry came that essential generous financial support upon which the team of missionaries depended.
Adoniram and Ann sailed from Mauritius to Madras. Avoiding detection, they boarded a Portuguese ship which sailed direct to Rangoon. The steel wall of the East India Company was penetrated.
Confronting the terror of despotic rule
The government of Burma was as anarchic as it was tyrannical. It consisted of unmitigated despotism. The king was supreme in his power over the people; torture and mass executions kept the population in utter subjection. No deviation from Buddhism was allowed. One or two Catholic priests ministered to the tiny number of foreigners who ventured into this exotic kingdom, but a solitary Burmese subject who had dared to profess conversion to Catholicism some years before had been beaten almost to death. His life was saved by the mediation of a foreigner with an appeal that the man was insane, whereupon he was allowed to go into exile.
The leaders of Burma were intolerably arrogant. Officialdom was appallingly corrupt. When the country came into conflict with the British, the leaders had no idea of the military strength and experience of the opposition. They vainly imagined that the British would be easily demolished. When defeated by the British in war, several Burmese commanders were executed by beheading within hours of their arrival in the capital.[19]
William Carey was well able to give the young American missionaries an accurate assessment of Burma. His son Felix had been there for four years. On account of his marriage to a Burmese woman of European extraction, Felix was the only one to succeed in staying in Burma. At great expense, Felix and a missionary called Chater began their mission in 1807. They succeeded in establishing a large well-equipped home within a compound of two acres. The property, just half a mile from the city of Rangoon, was enclosed by walls and planted with fruit trees. Felix had the advantage of medical skills. He pioneered vaccination in Burma. Like his father, he was able to gain remuneration by secular means.
Felix did well to persevere in Rangoon. Of three missionaries who joined him, one died of fever and two were forced to retreat through failing health. Felix succeeded in establishing good relationships with the officials and with the people. He was a skilled linguist and translated the Gospel of Matthew into Burmese.[20] When we take into account the prevailing conditions, we should exercise sympathy and caution with regard to criticism of Felix Carey. His father complained about his demotion from missionary to ambassador. Basically, Judson followed the same method of seeking to win the favor of the rulers. Judson himself was involved in expeditions of diplomacy, and later in diplomatic work for negotiation of a peace treaty with the British after the defeat of Burma in the war. He worked as a translator in this crucial work of negotiation. He was motivated by the hope of securing religious liberty as part of the new constitution. In this he was bitterly disappointed. With regard to missionary involvement in politics, the fact is that, apart from the missionaries, there was nobody else around with either the linguistic skills or the necessary anthropological understanding. The British government remunerated such work highly.
On their arrival in Burma, it was to the mission compound in Rangoon, established by Felix Carey, that Adoniram and Ann were able to come. They were saved the work of finding property. Felix had decided to move his mission to the capital Ava. This ended in the greatest conceivable human disaster when his boat overturned and he lost everything—his wife, three children and all his possessions, among which was his translation work. He himself narrowly escaped death but the others, including most the servants, could not swim and were drowned.
When the Judsons settled in Rangoon, their very first priority was to gain fluency in the language. Adoniram resolved from the beginning to work toward the translation of the whole Bible into Burmese. Parallel with that was the development of a text book for Burmese grammar, which in due course became a first class compact tool of 76 pages. In later years he concentrated on the compilation of a Burmese-English dictionary. Burmese script was a complex circular writing without punctuation; no word, sentence, or paragraph divisions—a seemingly identical endless flow. To the end of his life Judson labored in linguistic study with eminent success.
Once language was attained, the next step was to evangelize. A principal method used was to build a zahat. This was a hut with about a 30 foot frontage raised on posts about four feet above ground level, a verandah across the front and two rooms at the back. Using the verandah, the missionary could invite passers-by to rest and discussion. Buddhist zahats were common.
The Judsons arrived in Rangoon in 1813 and it was not until 1819 that the first convert, Moung Nau, was baptized. Going back to Felix Carey’s arrival in 1807, this was the first Burmese convert in 12 years. Later in 1819, two more were baptized. The first Christian-Burmese prayer meeting began with a nucleus forming and interest being aroused. However it was inevitable that the evangelizing activities of the Judsons would come to the knowledge of the local ruler. Local rulers were all directly responsible to the king, who was greatly feared. Consequently, people were too afraid to associate with the missionaries. The New Testament does not hide the cost of discipleship. The way of salvation is repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. In Burma, it was a case of repent, believe, and face an appalling death. Even mature disciples tremble at the thought of torture and death. It is much to ask of brand new converts from a completely alien society to start with such terms. Judson could see that unless an attempt was made to win the goodwill of the king, progress would be severely restricted.
It was a brave decision of Adoniram to take a boat up the river Irrawaddy. This river-craft measured 40 by 6 feet. There was a company of 16, including fellow missionary Colman. There was also an Englishman who was in charge of defense. His weapon consisted of a blunderbuss, necessary to drive off robbers. There were ten rowers and three others in charge of different aspects of the trip. In spite of severe difficulty, an audience with the king was obtained. The correct protocol was observed scrupulously. But the mission failed. It proved futile and dangerous. The King disdained these foreign religionists and despised their teaching.
When Adoniram returned, he was encouraged to find that the three converts were not daunted by the failure of his mission to Ava. They affirmed their faith in Christ irrespective of the consequences, but Adoniram was distressed by Ann’s ill health. At this time, she was constrained to return to America for medical treatment. Shortly after her leaving (and she would be away for about two years), missionary doctor Jonathan Price and his wife arrived. Mrs. Price, a young woman, lived only five months in Burma. She was buried beside Roger Judson who had died at the age of eight months. Dr. Price’s skills soon became well–known, and the news of his abilities, especially eye cataract operations, reached the king in Ava. Ironically one of the king’s titles was “Golden Eyes.” He sent a command that Dr. Price should come to him. And so Judson set off for a second journey up the Irrawaddy, this time accompanied by Dr. Price.
The king had no interest in Judson. In Price he could see some value. This visit led to friendship with the king’s sister and her husband, Prince M. During one of the interviews of the king with Judson and Price, two Englishmen also being present, the king questioned Judson closely. This was like walking on the edge of a precipice. Judson recorded the incident in his diary as follows:
The Emperor enquired about the Burmese who had embraced my religion. “Are they real Burmese? Do they dress like other Burmese?”
I had occasion to remark that I preached every Sunday.
“What! In Burma?”
“Yes.”
“Let us hear how you preach.”
I hesitated. An official standing by repeated the order.
I began with a form of worship which first ascribes glory to God, and then declares the commands of the law of the Gospel; after which I stopped.
“Go on!” said another official.
The whole court was profoundly silent. I proceeded with a few sentences declarative of the perfections of God, when His Majesty’s curiosity was satisfied and he interrupted me.
Through this second visit, the door to the capital city of Ava was opened. In his pleasure at gaining Dr. Price’s services in the capital, the king granted permission to purchase property in the city where he could carry on his work. The little church at Rangoon had grown to 18 baptized members. More missionaries had arrived to strengthen the work. The way was open to establish the mission in the royal city of Ava.[21]
Judson’s devotion shines in his courageous visits to the king. His purpose, clearly, was to remove the cloud of fear that hung over the people and which isolated them from the message of eternal salvation. His biographer, Francis Wayland, recorded the two visits to Ava with interest, but expressed his disagreement. Clearly Wayland did not concur with the principle of seeking the permission of sovereigns to promote the Gospel. He is eloquent in arguing the case from the book of Acts and the example of the apostles.[22]
Whatever course is decided upon, the principle of regnum potentiae and regnum gratiae applies. Jehovah reigns. He reigns in power over civil rulers (regnum potentiae), and He reigns in grace to save (regnum gratiae). Psalm Two resounds with the truth that Jehovah is in control. “Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.” He rules the earth. He is our protection and He reigns in power to control all the rulers and kings of the earth—that is regnum potentiae. When Pilate said to Jesus “Knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee, and have power to release thee? Jesus answered, Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above” (Joh 19:10-11).
The Lord also reigns in redemption. “Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession” (Psa 2:8). Jehovah reigns in grace, regnum gratiae—He will give the nations to His Son.
Enduring the torments of prison
Ann’s return from two years away in England and America brought new heart to Adoniram. While away she had been wonderfully used to increase interest in missionary work. Immediately on her return the couple began to organize their move to Ava. Little did they know that a storm of cataclysmic proportions was about to break on them personally and on the work as a whole. The story which now unfolds takes its place among the great dramas of missionary experience.
Obtaining a suitable property in Ava proved difficult. Just as things were falling into place, the shocking news came that 5,000 British troops had attacked and captured Rangoon. The Burmese were humiliated. They were a proud people. The leaders were furious. They blamed their defeat on spies who had co-operated with the enemy. But the Judsons were American, not British. Suddenly on June 8, 1824, Adoniram was arrested violently and dragged to prison. The reason?—it was discovered that he had received money through a British bank in India. That was a normal procedure; but to the Burmese it was cast-iron proof of collaboration with the enemy. The vile conditions of the prison into which Adoniram was thrown beg description—it was called the death prison. One hundred prisoners were crammed into one room without windows. Those in charge of the prison were murderers, reprieved on condition they would act as executioners.
For the next year and seven months, Adoniram endured the torture of being chained with iron fetters; two months in five, nine months in three and six months in one. During this time, he often faced the threat of execution. Frequently it was thought he would die of fever. The prisoners had to be fed by friends or relatives, or starve. Adoniram could never have survived this ordeal without the constant attention of Ann. She spent her time providing food and attending to his needs, and those of Dr. Price. Wherever possible she organized help for the other prisoners. She continually petitioned those who had the authority to give permission for her husband’s situation to be improved. During this time she was nursing an infant, Maria. She also cared for two adopted girls. [23]
Ann was constantly harassed by corrupt officials. They sought to take advantage of her misfortune and were always demanding bribes. Some months after the imprisonment, Ann was allowed to provide a little bamboo room in the prison enclosure. This ended suddenly when all the prisoners were crowded together in the original cramped space and given to understand that they would be executed at once. A day passed. They had survived.
At this time the prisoners were surprised by the arrival of a caged lion. The king was known to enjoy his lion. Then it was realized that the lion is a British emblem. That was detestable. Perhaps this lion was on the side of the British! So it, too, has to be sent to prison! At any rate the lion was starved, and when dogs were thrown in, it was too weak to kill them and it died. Adoniram asked for permission to use the lion’s cage as his own house. His appeal failed. Ann’s plea was successful. The cage was converted into a room where Adoniram could be on his own.
In the meantime, a full scale war was in progress. The Burmese were able to marshal a large army. They believed without doubt that victory over the British would be quick and easy. Bandoola was their general. He was regarded as invincible. Suddenly he was killed in battle. A new general was necessary. Superstitiously, the leaders believed that an evil man known as the “Pakan Woon” possessed extraordinary powers. The Pakan Woon, in fact, was a devilish character. His appointment to supreme command was terrifying news for all foreigners. Left without restraint, the Pakan Woon would kill them all! Immediately he ordered that all the prisoners be tied together by ropes and force-marched to Oung-penla. This was a remote spot about nine miles north of Ava. The conditions on the march proved fatal for one of the prisoners. It was agonizing for Adoniram. Only through the generous help of fellow sufferers did he survive. There was more space at Oung-penla, and the prisoners were allowed to work at improving their compound.
Ann immediately followed Adoniram to Oung-penla. There she managed to rent a small room from one of the jailers. Ann was exhausted by the conflict. She was unable to feed little Maria. By making presents to the gaolers, she obtained permission for Adoniram to come out of prison and take the emaciated infant around the village begging milk from mothers who were nursing infants themselves.
Some time after the prisoners came to Oung-penla the Pakan Woon was found guilty of treason. He was executed immediately. He had stolen ten percent of the advance pay of an army of 50,000 that had been gathered to fight the British. The Pakan Woon’s reason for moving the prisoners to Oung-penla had been his intention to execute them all there and personally witness the event. As the British army advanced toward Amapoora, the capital, bargaining took place with the Burmese government, which reneged on agreements over and over again. This recalcitrance resulted in further military conquests over the Burmese, and brought the British soldiers closer and closer to the capital. Eventually it was clear to the Burmese that outright defeat was a reality. Adoniram and Dr. Price became extremely valuable as translators and interpreters of British intentions. For this reason, their release finally was ordered.
Now at an all-time low, Ann fell victim to what we now understand to be cerebral meningitis. This is how she describes her illness:
My fever raged violently, and without intermission. I began to think of settling my worldly affairs, and of committing my dear little Maria to the care of a Portuguese woman. I lost my reason, and was insensible to all around me. At this dreadful period, Dr. Price was released from prison; and hearing of my illness, obtained permission to come and see me. He has since told me that my situation was the most distressing he had ever witnessed, and that he did not then think I should survive many hours. My hair was shaved; my head and feet covered with blisters, and Dr. Price ordered the Bengalee servant who took care of me, to endeavour to persuade me to take a little nourishment, which I had obstinately refused for several days. One of the first things I recollect was seeing this faithful servant standing by me, trying to induce me to take a little wine and water. I was in fact so far gone, that the Burmese neighbours who had come in to see me expire, said, “She is dead; and if the king of angels should come in, he could not recover her.”[24]
A beautiful tribute to Ann Judson is penned by Francis Wayland, in his biography of Judson, where he refers to the fact that Adoniram could not have survived “if it had not been for an angel ministering to him.” “Mrs. Judson”, declares Wayland, “must be designated one of the most remarkable women of her age. She was the only European female in Ava, and the only foreigner not consigned to prison. Her whole time with the exception of twenty days, when she was confined by the birth of her child, was devoted to the alleviation of the sorrows of her husband and his fellow-prisoners. Perfectly familiar with the Burmese language, of a presence which commanded respect even from savage barbarians, and encircled with a moral atmosphere in which she walked unharmed in the midst of a hostile city with no earthly protector, she was universally spoken of as the guardian angel of that band of sufferers.”[25]
When we think that during this period of imprisonment seven out of eight British soldiers imprisoned died through maltreatment, we marvel that Adoniram survived.
How did this suffering affect Judson? Devoted for life, he thought only in terms of progress. He did consider taking a ship home to recover his strength. A peace settlement was imperative. His involvement in that was unavoidable. He deeply hoped that his influence and that of Dr. Price would bring a clause ensuring freedom of religion in the new constitution. A primary concern during the prison ordeal was the safety of his translation of the New Testament. Ann had preserved his precious work by sowing it up in a pillow, which she smuggled to him. It represented his life’s work. When the sudden move to Oung-penla was enforced, the pillow was left behind. It was excruciating to him to think that all his work would be lost! But the Lord heard his prayers. It turned out that the pillow was thrown away at the time of the move but some hours later the faithful disciple, Moung Ing, visited the site, found the pillow, and preserved it.
Let us admire God’s providence. Judson and Dr. Price worked to establish peaceable conditions for the Gospel in Burma. The only hope for better conditions lay in the will of the king. Just at this point in history, the Lord intervened—the British took over Burma. With this came law, order, and stability. As an outcome of British rule, Ann, writing home, described the future missionary prospects as bright indeed.[26] A by-product of British empire–building was a mantle of protection, which contrasted dramatically with the outright despotic and crude tyranny of tribal law.
Surviving the desolation of bereavement
In spiritual terms, the next era of Adoniram’s life was even more agonizing than the prison ordeal. After a short time together, he set off to assist with negotiations in Ava while Ann traveled to Amherst in the south. Amherst was the chosen place for the new British administration. The war had scattered the church in Rangoon.
After several months, a letter with a black seal arrived for Adoniram. He knew that their daughter, Maria, had been struggling for her life. He felt sure as he opened this dreadful letter that it brought the heartbreaking news of her death. However, he was completely overwhelmed with grief to read that, in fact, Ann had died. This, more than any other blow in his life, threatened to unhinge him. The effects of this bereavement marked him for years to come.
A further nadir[27] was yet to come in the decease of little Maria. Adoniram and Ann’s first child was stillborn while they were still attempting to penetrate the steel curtain of the British East India Company. The second, Roger lived only eight months. He was buried in Rangoon. Adoniram’s agony is revealed in a letter he wrote to Ann’s mother:
Dear Mother Hasseltine—My little Maria lies by the side of her fond mother. The complaint to which she was subject several months proved incurable. She had the best medical advice; and the kind care of Mrs. Wade could not have been, in any respect, exceeded by that of her own mother. But all our efforts, and prayers, and tears could not propitiate the cruel disease; the work of death went forward, and after the usual process, excruciating to a parent’s heart, she ceased to breathe on the 24th instant, at three o’clock p.m. aged two years and three months. We then closed her faded eyes, and bound up her discoloured lips, where the dark touch of death first appeared, and folded her little hands on her cold breast. The next morning we made her last bed in the small enclosure that surrounds her mother’s lonely grave. Together they rest in hope, under the hope-tree (hopiá) which stands at the head of the graves; and together, I trust, their spirits are rejoicing after a short separation of precisely six months. And I am left alone in the wide world. My own dear family I have buried; one in Rangoon, and two in Amherst. What remains for me but to hold myself in readiness to follow the dear departed to that blessed world?[28]
Ann died on October 24, 1826, and Maria on April 24, 1827. The last wish Ann communicated to her medical attendant was that her husband would never consent to enter the service of the British government, but confine himself exclusively to the duties of his religious mission.[29] Ann’s concern was well founded. Both Dr. Price and fellow missionary Hough resigned from the mission, and went into service with the British Government.[30]
That same year Adoniram wrote to Ann’s sisters:
Death mocks at us, and tramples our dearest hopes and our lives in the dust. Dreadful tyrant, offspring, and ally of sin! But go on now, and do thy worst. Thy time will come. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. Yes, awful power, thou shalt devour thyself and die. And then my angelic Ann, and my meek blue-eyed Roger, and my tender-hearted, affectionate, darling Maria—my venerable father, you, my dear sisters, that still remain, our still surviving parents, and I hope, myself, though all unworthy, shall be rescued from the power of death and the grave. And we know assuredly that we shall die no more, we shall make heaven’s arches ring with songs of praise to Him, Who hath loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood.
While he was comforted in these truths, his inward struggle was intense. He became reclusive and ascetic. He had an excellent friendship with the commander-in-chief of the British army, Sir Archibald Campbell. However, he withdrew from spending time with him and other British officers which he had once enjoyed.[31] He sought to mortify everything to do with pride. He wrote a curt letter to Brown University rejecting the honorary DD that had been conferred upon him five years before. He destroyed letters from British officialdom in which he was congratulated for his work of interpreting at the conclusion of the war. He had accumulated a considerable sum of money by way of life’s savings, gifts given him by friends and also his earnings. He wrote to the Mission Board and gave it all to the cause of missionary endeavor.[32]
During the grieving time, Adoniram decided to give up all activity for a month and find total seclusion in a bamboo hut in the jungle. At this hermitage, he devoted himself to prayer and the translation of the Scriptures. But at this hermitage he also dug a grave. At nights he sat by its edge and imagined himself in it. The only serious defect in his doctrinal understanding, in the form of a distorted doctrine of sanctification, was now evident. This imbalance resulted in an introspective spiral which was dangerous and will be considered later. At this time his Burmese brethren feared that he would be killed in the tiger-infested jungle. A faithful deacon, Ko Dwah, braved the dangers, followed his teacher, and secretly built a seat in the hut and formed a canopy for him. The natives regarded that place as so dangerous that they believed Judson’s survival was a repetition of the miracle of Daniel (see Dan 6:16-24). Judson spent forty days in seclusion there, eating only small rations of rice.[33]
This period was the most bitter time in Adoniram’s missionary experience. Yet he came through it; he would not give up. He was devoted for life. It was the call to work that brought him out of his ascetic seclusion and severe depression. He continued his work of translating the Scriptures. Only a couple of months after the death of Maria, he wrote home (June 21, 1827) urging missionary enterprise into Siam, with cogent reasons for such a work.[34] Devoted for life, his vision was undimmed.