“We feel encouraged by the thought that many of the dear children of God remember us at the mercy-seat. To your prayers I desire once more to commend myself—the weakest, the most unqualified, the most unworthy, and the most unsuccessful of all missionaries.
“November 26. On taking our usual ride this morning to bathe in the mineral tank, we were accosted, on one of the pagoda roads, by the Mangen teacher, and peremptorily forbidden to ride there in future on pain of being beaten.
“Our business must be fairly laid before the emperor. If he frown upon us, all missionary attempts within his dominions will be out of the question. If he favor us, none of our enemies, during the continuance of his favor, can touch a hair of our heads. But there is a greater than the emperor, before whose throne we desire daily and constantly to lay this business. O Lord Jesus, look upon us in our low estate, and guide us in our dangerous course!”
Extract from a letter to Dr. Baldwin.
“Rangoon, December 9, 1819.
“Rev. and dear Sir: Since my last we have had the happiness of baptizing two more Burmans, whose names are Moung Thah-lah and Moung Byaa; the former a young man of considerable talents and reading; the latter an old man of fifty, who has been learning to read in an evening-school. Moung Nau, the first convert, continues faithfully attached to the cause. Our fourth is a poor fisherman, whose exercises for a few days have been very strong and satisfactory, but he was obliged to go to sea before we thought it advisable to give him baptism. Our fifth is still an inquirer merely, a teacher, of learning and distinction, and possessed of the very first abilities. But soon after he began to manifest an open attachment to us, Satan became unusually disturbed, and sent one of his faithful servants to the viceroy with a complaint that our friend had renounced the religion of the country. The viceroy said, ‘Inquire further,’ and this portentous sentence, implying that a renunciation of the established religion would not pass with impunity, carried such terror to the heart of our poor Nicodemus, that he directly fled to his accuser, made his peace with him, and almost forsook us. This little circumstance, strange as it may seem to one living under a free government, spread dismay among all our acquaintance, and for above a month we have been nearly deserted by all, except those who have actually joined us.
“The new king, moreover, has remitted the persecution of his grandfather, and restored the priests of Buddh to their former privileges; so that all the devout throughout the land are quite mad on their idols.
“In a word, such is the state of things that though there are many, I am certain, who have some desire to inquire further into the Christian religion, they are afraid to come near us.
“Brother Colman and myself have, therefore, concluded to follow your advice, by going up to Ava, and laying our business before the monarch. We have some hope that the Lord will incline him to hold out to us the golden sceptre, like another Ahasuerus, and become a protector of the infant cause. But it is almost too great a favor to hope for. And yet this favor we must obtain, or relinquish some of our dearest and most sacred hopes. Oh, what a trying case! None can know or experience the uncertainty of our present situation. But we sometimes rest on the Saviour and derive sweet consolation from the assurance that ‘our Jesus will do all things well.’”
Before Mr. Judson and Mr. Colman set out for Ava, the little group of missionaries was thinned by the departure of the Wheelocks. Only seven days after Mr. Wheelock arrived in Rangoon, while engaged in family worship he had a hemorrhage, and on August 7, 1819, he set sail for Bengal. After being thirteen days at sea, during a period of temporary delirium he threw himself into the ocean. While Mrs. Wheelock was engaged in writing, and he apparently lying asleep, she heard the cabin door close. She looked around, saw that he was gone, sprang to the door, opened it, and discovered that he had vanished forever from her sight. The ship was sailing with such speed that no effort could be made to rescue him. The death of this young man was a great loss to the infant mission. His fervent piety, his sweet and uncomplaining spirit, and his devotion to the work of saving the heathen, had endeared him to his missionary associates. After mentioning in one of his letters that he and Mr. Colman had only one room each, he adds: “We prefer ONE room in Rangoon to SIX in Boston. We feel that we are highly blessed.”