Adoniram Judson, American Baptist missionary to Burma and the first missionary to leave American soil, felt Gods call to mission service in the early 1800s. In February he dedicated his life to that end. Two years later he and his bride, Ann Hasseltine, sailed for Calcutta, India, arriving there on July 17--the day before the outbreak of the War of 1812. Relations between England and America had been strained for some time, so it was not surprising that the British East India Company ordered the couple to leave the country. With said hearts they went to the island of Mauritius, south India. Four months later they returned to India (this time to Madras), where they hoped to establish a mission. Once again the British East India Company ordered them out of India; this time the order was to leave immediately. The only ship available was going to Rangoon, Burma, so the Judsons took passage on it. Burma was the last place in the world they would have chosen, yet they felt that God was leading them there. On arrival, God began to open up the way for them to bring Christ to that country. In spite of persecution, imprisonment, serious sickness, and successive deaths of three wives, Judson worked on in the certain knowledge that God was guiding---and he continued to serve the people of Burma for the next 37 years. In spite of all the hardships endured, he managed not only to learn Burmese well enough to preach in it, but to complete a translation of the Bible into that language, in 1834. Later he compiled a Burmese grammar as well s a Burmese dictionary. The Lord blessed Judsons efforts with a rich harvest of souls. Subsequent history, wrote his son Edward, years later, had proved that the hand which led....(him) so strangely and sternly was the hand that never errs. That same Hand will guide you and me if we are humble and teachable.
Posted on: Sun, 25 Jan 2015 12:05:18 +0000
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