B.
MR. JUDSON’S FIRST TRACT FOR THE BURMANS.

There is one Being who exists eternally; who is exempt from sickness, old age, and death; who was, and is, and will be, without beginning, and without end. Besides this, the true God, there is no other God. The true God is diverse from all other beings. Uniting three in one, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, these three are one God. God is a spirit, without bodily form. Although omnipresent, it is above the heavens that he clearly discovers his glory. His power and wisdom are infinite. He is pure and good, and possessed of everlasting felicity. Before this world was made, God remained happy, surrounded by the pure and incorporeal sons of heaven. In order to display his perfections, and make creatures happy, God created the heavens, the sun, moon, and all the stars, the earth, the various kinds of brute creatures, and man. The first man and woman, at their original creation, were not liable to sickness or death; they were exempt from every kind of evil, and their mind was upright and pure. Afterwards, because, by violating the command of God, they transgressed against their Benefactor, the sum of all perfections, beyond compare, the light of the divine countenance disappeared, and those two, together with all their posterity, became darkened, and unclean, and wicked; they became subject, in the present state, to sickness, death, and all other evils; and they became deserving of suffering, in the future state, the dreadful punishment of hell. Above four thousand years after mankind was thus destroyed, God, being moved with compassion for man involved in misery, sent to the earth, the abode of man, God the Son, the second yadana among the three yadanas [anything superlatively excellent—in the present application it conveys no additional idea, but is requisite in Burman to the intelligibility of the sentence]. The circumstances of his being sent were thus:—God the Son, uniting the divine and the human natures, without destroying or confounding them, in the land of Israel, and country of Judea, in the womb of a virgin, was conceived by the divine power, and was born. This God-man, who is named Jesus Christ, being man, endured in our stead severe sufferings and death, the punishment due to our sins; and being God, is able by virtue of having endured those sufferings, to deliver all his disciples from the punishment of hell, redeeming them with his own life, and to instate them in heaven. On the third day after Jesus Christ suffered death, his soul re-entered his body, and he lived again. For the space of forty days he remained, giving instruction to his disciples, after which he commissioned them thus—“Go ye into all countries on earth, and proclaim the glad news to all men. He that believeth in me, and is baptized, shall be saved; he that believeth not shall be damned, or shall suffer endless punishment in hell.” Then, in the presence of many of his disciples, he ascended to heaven, and took up his abode in the place where God displays his glory. According to the final command of Jesus Christ, his disciples, beginning with Judea, travelled about through various countries and kingdoms, and proclaimed the glad news; and many believed, and became disciples of Jesus Christ. The true religion afterwards spread into the countries of the west; and now to this country of Burmah, among the countries of the east, a teacher of religion, from the country of America, has arrived, and is beginning to proclaim the glad news. About one or two hundred years hence the religion of Boodh, of Brahma, of Mahomet, and of Rome, together with all other false religions, will disappear and be lost, and the religion of Christ will pervade the whole world; all quarrels and wars will cease, and all the tribes of man will be like a band of mutually loving brothers. [End of Part 1.]

A disciple of Jesus Christ is one that is born again; the meaning of which is, that the old nature, which is successively inherited from the first man and woman, begins to be destroyed, and the new nature, which is implanted by the Holy Spirit, is obtained. The unrenewed man loves himself supremely, and seeks his own private interest. The renewed man loves the true God supremely, and desires that the divine glory may be promoted. He loves all others, also, as himself, and seeks their interest as his own. The desire of the unrenewed man is to enjoy sensual pleasure, worldly wealth, fame, and power. The renewed man contemns sensual pleasure, etc. His desire is to be pure in mind, to be replete with grace, to be useful to others, to promote the glory of God, and to enjoy the pure and perpetual happiness of heaven. The unrenewed man, influenced by pride, hates the humbling religion of Jesus Christ. When seized with alarm, he endeavors to perform meritorious deeds in order to make atonement for his sins, and obtain salvation. The renewed man, knowing surely that man, having sinned against God, and contracted great guilt, can not perform meritorious deeds, firmly fixes in his mind that it is on account of the God-man, Jesus Christ alone, that sin can be expiated, and the happiness of heaven obtained; and therefore, through supreme love to Jesus Christ, and a desire to do his will, endeavors to avoid evil deeds, and to perform good deeds only, according to the divine commands. Sometimes, when through the assaults of the remaining old nature he slides and transgresses the divine commands, he repents that he has sinned against his superlatively excellent and lovely Lord, and, trusting only in the death of Christ, he humbly confesses the sin he has committed, and begs pardon of God. He who is unrenewed, and therefore is not a disciple of Christ, in the present life obtains no true wisdom; his sins are numerous and heavy. And because he has no regard to the Lord, who can deliver from sin, he will, in the present life, obtain no refuge or resting place; but soul and body will fall into hell, as his sins deserve; and having transgressed against an eternal God, he must accordingly forever suffer eternal misery. He who is renewed and becomes a disciple of Jesus Christ, in the present life, is acquainted with true wisdom, and attains the state of a Thautahpan [one that has acquired a new and excellent nature, which will issue in final salvation]. And when he changes worlds, his soul having obtained the pardon of sin through the death of Christ, will, through the grace of God, enter into the divine presence. The body, also, though it be burnt with fire, or consumed in the earth, and thus destroyed for a time, will, at the end of the world, by the power of God, with whom nothing is impossible, live again; and thus, soul and body united, will forever enjoy eternal happiness in the presence of God. [End of Part 2.]

The commands of Jesus Christ are as follow:—Repent, or be changed in mind; that is, extirpate the old nature, and cultivate the new. Have faith in the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. Love God supremely. Love others as yourself. Set not your heart on worldly goods and riches; but look forward to, and long for, those riches which are free from defilement, and eternal in the heavens. Suppress haughtiness, pride, and insolence, and cherish an humble, meek, and lowly mind. Return not evil for evil, but have a disposition to forgive the faults of others, and to bear injury with patience. Love your enemies, and pray for them. Be compassionate to the poor and needy, and give alms. Covet not the property of others; therefore, take not by violence; steal not; defraud not in trade; trespass in no manner on the property of others. Speak no falsehood. Bear not false witness. Without being invested with governmental authority, take not the life of man. Drink not intoxicating liquor to excess. Despise not marriage, whether of a teacher of religion, a ruler, or a private person. Beside your own husband or wife, have no desire for any other man or woman. Honor parents, and willingly assist and support them, according to your ability. Listen reverently to the instructions of religious teachers, and make offerings for their support. In regard to rulers, whether disciples of Christ or not, honor them, pay them tribute, pray for them, and obey their lawful commands. Pray to God always. On the first day in seven, assemble to worship God, and hear his word. On becoming a disciple of Jesus Christ, receive baptism in water. Afterwards, in memory of his flesh and blood, which he gave for the sake of his disciples, reverently, from time to time, eat bread and drink wine. Use all diligence that your relations, and neighbors, and countrymen, who are not disciples of Christ, may be converted. With a compassionate mind, use all diligence that the inhabitants of towns, and countries, and kingdoms, that are in darkness, not having obtained the light of the knowledge of the true God, may become disciples of Christ. The above are commands of Jesus Christ. [End of Part 3.]

The teacher who composed this writing, seeing the great evil which is coming on the Burmans, left his own country from compassion, and from an immense distance has arrived, by ship, to this, the country of Burmah. He desires neither fame nor riches. Offerings and gifts he seeks not. The disciples of Christ in his own country, moved with compassion for the Burmans, make offerings sufficient for his use. He has no other motive but this: Being a disciple of Christ, and therefore seeking the good of others as his own, he has come, and is laboring that the Burmans may be saved from the dreadful punishment of hell, and enjoy the happiness of heaven.

In the year of Christ, 1816; in the Burman year, 1178; in the 967th day of the lord of the Saddan elephant, and master of the Sakyah weapon; and in the 33d year of his reign; in the division Pashoo; on Tuesday, the 12th day of the wane of the moon Wahgoung, after the double beat, this writing, entitled, The Way to Heaven, was finished. May the reader obtain light. Amen.

C.
THE THREEFOLD CORD.