“May 15. Dispatched the manuscript of Ephesians, and the first part of Acts, to Serampore, requesting brother Hough to procure an edition of six hundred of each, at the expense of the Board.
“At night received a visit from Moung Gwa, brother-in-law to Moung Shwa-ba. He was accompanied by one Moung Thah-ee, an intractable, furious creature, noted for browbeating and silencing every antagonist. He professes to be a strict Buddhist, without the least doubt on the subject of religion; but having heard of my object in coming to this country, wishes to give me an opportunity of making him doubt. I found him extremely difficult to manage, and finally told him that he must get a humble mind, and pray to the true God, or he would never attain true wisdom. This threw him into a passion. He said he would have me to know that he was no common man. He could dispute with governors and kings, etc. I then gave him a tract, which he affected to disdain, but finally received it and went away.
“May 16. Moung Gwa called to apologize for his companion’s conduct. He said that, from being always victorious in disputation, he had become insolent and overbearing, but that he was really inquiring after the truth, and had been reading the tract attentively. Moung Gwa himself seems to be favorably disposed to the Christian religion.
“May 17. Moung Thah-ee spent the whole evening with me. I find that he has a strong mind, capable of grasping the most difficult subject. He listened to the truth with much more attention and patience than at first.
“May 18. Moung Thah-ee came again, accompanied by several of his admirers. At first he behaved with some propriety, and allowed conversation to proceed in a regular manner. But soon he descended into his own native element, and stormed and raged. When I found that he would be utterly unreasonable, and not permit me even to finish a sentence, I remained silent, and suffered him to display himself. When he was quite exhausted, I took an opportunity to exhibit a brief view of the reasons which convinced me that the religion of Gaudama is false, and the Buddhist scriptures fictitious, and then challenged him to refute my statement. But he declined, saying that we were both tired, and he would finish the debate some other time.
“May 19. A succession of company all the day. At night, Moung Thah-ee came alone, intending to have some private conversation; but no opportunity offered.
“May 20. Lord’s day. Encountered another new character, one Moung Long, from the neighborhood of Shwa-doung, a disciple of the great Toung-dwen teacher, the acknowledged head of all the semi-atheists in the country. Like the rest of the sect, Moung Long is, in reality, a complete skeptic, scarcely believing his own existence. They say he is always quarrelling with his wife on some metaphysical point. For instance, if she says, ‘The rice is ready,’ he will reply, ‘Rice! what is rice? Is it matter or spirit? Is it an idea, or is it nonentity?’ Perhaps she will say, ‘It is matter’; and he will reply, ‘Well, wife, and what is matter? Are you sure there is such a thing in existence, or are you merely subject to a delusion of the senses?’
“When he first came in, I thought him an ordinary man. He has only one good eye; but I soon discovered that that one eye has as ‘great a quantity of being’ as half a dozen common eyes. In his manners he is just the reverse of Moung Thah-ee—all suavity, and humility, and respect. He professed to be an inquirer after the truth; and I accordingly opened to him some parts of the Gospel. He listened with great seriousness, and when I ceased speaking, remained so thoughtful and apparently impressed with the truth, that I began to hope he would come to some good, and therefore invited him to ask some question relative to what he had heard. ‘Your servant,’ said he, ‘has not much to inquire of your lordship. In your lordship’s sacred speech, however, there are one or two words that your servant does not understand. Your lordship says, that in the beginning God created one man and one woman. I do not understand (I beg your lordship’s pardon) what a man is, and why he is called a man.’ My eyes were now opened in an instant to his real character; and I had the happiness to be enabled, for about twenty minutes, to lay blow after blow upon his skeptical head, with such effect that he kept falling and falling; and though he made several desperate efforts to get up, he found himself, at last, prostrate on the ground, unable to stir. Moung Shwa-gnong, who had been an attentive listener, was extremely delighted to see his enemy so well punished; for this Moung Long has sorely harassed him in time past. The poor man was not, however, in the least angry at his discomfiture, but, in the true spirit of his school, said that, though he had heard much of me, the reality far exceeded the report. Afterward he joined us in worship, and listened with great attention, as did also his wife.
“May 21. Moung Thah-ee came again, with several others; but he was so outrageous, and vulgar, and abusive, that I found it impossible to hold any rational conversation with him; and he finally went away in a great passion, saying that he had been sent by some men in authority to spy us out, and that by to-morrow he would bring us into trouble. Such threatenings tend to sink our spirits, and make us realize our truly helpless, destitute condition, as sheep in the midst of wolves. ‘Lord, behold their threatenings,’ etc.
“June 4. Moung Long spent two or three hours with me, in which I endeavored to lay before him all the evidences of the truth of the Christian religion. His wife proves to be as sharp as himself, and has been harassing Mrs. Judson with all sorts of questions about the possibility of sin’s finding entrance into a pure mind, or of its being permitted under the government of a holy sovereign.