“In the midst of our darkness and distress, and when we had given up all hope of my recovery, our captain informed us that we were close to the Andaman Islands, and that we could escape being driven on them in no way but by going through a narrow channel between two of them. We were in much danger, but the vessel was almost perfectly still, as we were in smooth water as soon as we entered the channel, the wind being broken by the islands. Thus I obtained that ease and quiet which a few moments before seemed impossible to obtain. We were three weeks on our passage, and when we arrived I was not able to walk, nor had I even left my bed for half an hour.... We felt very gloomy and dejected the first night we arrived, in view of our prospects; but we were enabled to lean on God, and to feel that He was able to support us under the most discouraging circumstances. The next morning I prepared to go on shore, but hardly knew how I should get to Mr. Carey’s house, as there was no method of conveyance except a horse, which I was unable to ride. It was, however, concluded that I should be carried in an arm-chair; consequently, when I landed, one was provided, through which were put two bamboos, and four of the natives took me on their shoulders. When they had carried me a little way into the town, they set me down under a shade, when great numbers of the natives gathered around, as they had seldom seen an English female. Being sick and weak, I held my head down, which induced many of the native females to come very near and look under my bonnet. At this I looked up and smiled, at which they set up a loud laugh. They again took me up to carry, and the multitude of natives gave a shout, which much diverted us. They next carried me to a place they call the custom-house. It was a small open shed, in which were seated on mats several natives, who were the custom-house officers. After searching Mr. Judson very closely, they asked liberty for a native female to search me, to which I readily consented. I was then brought to the mission-house, where I have entirely recovered my health.... The country presents a rich, beautiful appearance, everywhere covered with vegetation, and, if cultivated, would be one of the finest in the world. But the poor natives have no inducement to labor to raise anything, as it would probably be taken from them by their oppressive rulers. Many of them live on leaves and vegetables that grow spontaneously, and some actually die with hunger. Everything is extremely high, therefore many are induced to steal whatever comes in their way. There are constant robberies and murders committed. Scarcely a night passes but houses are broken open and things stolen. Yet our trust and confidence are in our heavenly Father, who can easily preserve and protect us though a host should encamp about us. I think God has taught us by experience what it is to trust in Him, and find comfort and peace in feeling that He is everywhere present. O for more ardent, supreme love to Him, and greater willingness to suffer in His cause!”
Extract from a letter by Mr. Judson.
“After a mournful separation from brother Rice, at the Isle of France, in March, 1813, we remained there about two months, waiting for a passage to some of the eastern islands, not venturing at that time to think a mission to Burmah practicable. But there being no prospect of accomplishing our wishes directly, we concluded to take passage to Madras, and proceed thence as circumstances should direct. We arrived there in June, and were immediately informed of the renewed hostilities of the company’s government toward missionaries, exhibited in their treatment of the brethren both at Serampore and Bombay. We were, of course, reported to the police, and an account of our arrival forwarded to the supreme government in Bengal. It became, therefore, a moral certainty that, as soon as an order could be received at Madras, we should be again arrested, and ordered to England. Our only safety appeared to consist in escaping from Madras before such order should arrive. It may easily be conceived with what feelings I inquired the destination of vessels in the Madras roads. I found none that would sail in season, but one bound to Rangoon. A mission to Rangoon we had been accustomed to regard with feelings of horror. But it was now brought to a point. We must either venture there or be sent to Europe. All other paths were shut up; and thus situated, though dissuaded by all our friends at Madras, we commended ourselves to the care of God, and embarked on the 22d of June. It was a crazy old vessel. The captain was the only person on board that could speak our language, and we had no other apartment than what was made by canvas. Our passage was very tedious. Mrs. Judson was taken dangerously ill, and continued so until, at one period, I came to experience the awful sensation which necessarily resulted from the expectation of an immediate separation from my beloved wife, the only remaining companion of my wanderings. About the same time, the captain being unable to make the Nicobar Island, where it was intended to take in a cargo of cocoa-nuts, we were driven into a dangerous strait, between the Little and Great Andamans, two savage coasts, where the captain had never been before, and where, if we had been cast ashore, we should, according to all accounts, have been killed and eaten by the natives. But as one evil is sometimes an antidote to another, so it happened with us. Our being driven into this dangerous but quiet channel brought immediate relief to the agitated and exhausted frame of Mrs. Judson, and conduced essentially to her recovery. And in the event, we were safely conducted over the black rocks which we sometimes saw in the gulf below, and on the eastern side of the islands found favorable winds, which gently wafted us forward to Rangoon. But on arriving here, other trials awaited us.
“We had never before seen a place where European influence had not contributed to smooth and soften the rough features of uncultivated nature. The prospect of Rangoon, as we approached, was quite disheartening. I went on shore just at night, to take a view of the place, and the mission-house; but so dark, and cheerless, and unpromising did all things appear, that the evening of that day, after my return to the ship, we have marked as the most gloomy and distressing that we ever passed. Instead of rejoicing, as we ought to have done, in having found a heathen land from which we were not immediately driven away, such were our weaknesses that we felt we had no portion left here below, and found consolation only in looking beyond our pilgrimage, which we tried to flatter ourselves would be short, to that peaceful region where the wicked cease from troubling and the weary are at rest. But if ever we commended ourselves sincerely, and without reserve, to the disposal of our heavenly Father, it was on this evening. And after some recollection and prayer, we experienced something of the presence of Him who cleaveth closer than a brother; something of that peace which our Saviour bequeathed to His followers—a legacy which we know from this experience endures when the fleeting pleasures and unsubstantial riches of the world are passed away. The next day Mrs. Judson was carried into the town, being unable to walk; and we found a home at the mission-house, though Mr. Carey was absent at Ava.”
When the tidings reached America that Mr. and Mrs. Judson and Mr. Rice, Congregational missionaries, sent out by the American Board, had been immersed at Calcutta, the Baptists throughout the whole land were thrilled with a glad surprise. God had suddenly placed at the disposal of the Baptist denomination three fully-equipped missionaries. They were already in the field, and action must be prompt. Several influential ministers in Massachusetts met at the house of Dr. Baldwin, in Boston, and organized the “Baptist Society for Propagating the Gospel in India and other Foreign Parts.” They also, as well as the American Board, first turned instinctively toward England for counsel and help. They proposed to the Baptist Missionary Society in London that Mr. Judson should be associated with Messrs. Carey, Marshman, and Ward, at Serampore, and that the Baptists in England and America should co-operate in the work of foreign missions. This, however, did not seem wise to the English brethren, and so America was again thrown back upon her own resources.
Mr. Rice, upon his return to this country, travelled everywhere, telling the thrilling story of the experiences of these pioneer missionaries. The greatest enthusiasm was aroused, and missionary societies similar to the one in Boston sprang up in the Middle and Southern States. In order to secure concert of action it seemed best that there should be a general convention, in which all these societies might be represented. Accordingly, on the 18th of May, 1814, delegates from Baptist churches and missionary societies throughout the land convened in the First Baptist church of Philadelphia. These delegates organized a body which was styled “The General Missionary Convention of the Baptist Denomination in the United States of America for Foreign Missions.” The sum of four thousand dollars was put into the treasury, contributed by the local societies; and it was thought that possibly an annual income of five thousand two hundred and eighty dollars might be secured. It was the day of small things. In 1845 the Southern brethren withdrew to form a society of their own, called “The Southern Convention.” The Northern organization adopted a new constitution, and assumed the name of “The American Baptist Missionary Union.” Its receipts for 1880 were about a quarter of a million of dollars.
Although Mr. Judson’s change in denominational attitude occasioned considerable irritation at the time, yet good and wise men of all religious bodies, viewing his conduct from the stand-point of the present, are agreed that it proved a blessing to the Christian world at large. It occasioned the formation of a second Missionary Society. There came to be two great benevolent forces at work, where there was only one before. What a history-making epoch that was! The action of those consecrated students at Andover led to the formation of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, and of the American Baptist Missionary Union, the one the organ of the Congregationalists, the other of the Baptists of America. A watershed was upheaved, from which two beneficent and ever-widening streams flowed forth for the healing of the nations.
Mr. Judson’s life also marks the beginning of that wonderful growth which has characterized the Baptist denomination in this country, for in gathering together and rallying for his support the Baptists awoke to self-consciousness. They arrived at the epoch, so momentous in the life either of a society or of an individual, when the infant passes out of a mere sort of vegetable existence into a consciousness of his being and power.
“But as he grows he gathers much,
And learns the use of ‘I’ and ‘Me,’