Judson, Adoniram, 1788-1850; Missionaries -- Burma -- Biography; Missionaries -- United States -- Biography
these disciples, organized by baptism into churches, would, by the same
process of reaching individual souls, little by little leaven the whole
of the empire.
But what _means_ did Mr. Judson use in his endeavor to bring about this
great moral and spiritual revolution? Simply the Gospel of Christ. The
sole weapons of his warfare were the old-fashioned truths, the existence
of a personal and beneficent God, the fatal sinfulness of man, and
salvation by faith in the Son of God, who came to “seek and to save that
which was lost.” No system of truth could be devised more diametrically
opposed to Buddhism, which teaches that there is no God to save, no soul
to be saved, and no sin to be saved from. He felt sure that if he could
only plant the seeds of Christian truth in the soil of the Burman’s
heart, then, under the mellowing influence of the Holy Spirit, they
would germinate and bring forth the fruit of meek and pure behavior. As
in flushing a drain, a large body of pure water is poured through the
whole length of it, washing out every impurity, so the Gospel of Christ
is a cleansing tide, which, as it courses through the individual heart,
or through human society, sweeps away before it all the stagnant and
loathsome accumulations of sin.
Mr. Judson did not believe that Christianity should follow in the wake
of civilization. He did not propose to spend his time in teaching the
arts and sciences of the Western world, in imparting more correct
astronomical, geographical, and geological conceptions, in order, little
by little, to prepare the mind of the Burman to accept his religious
ideas. He had implicit confidence in the promise of his Master, “Lo, I
am with you alway.” He believed that Christ was with him in the heart of
the heathen, unlocking the door from the inside.
Again, he did not say to himself, “It is a hopeless task to attempt the
conversion of the hoary heads. I will try to gather the little children
together and establish schools, and thus purify the fountains of
national life.” He had his schools, indeed, but they were quite
subordinate to the work of preaching the Gospel to the adult mind. He
reached the children through the parents, and not the parents through
the children. He believed that the grown-up Burmans, rather than their
children, should bear the brunt of persecution involved in embracing a
new religion. He followed the method of the Acts of the Apostles. A
preacher of the Gospel, he did not allow himself to shrivel into a mere
school-teacher or a school-book maker.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account