adoniram judson: bound for burma

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Adoniram Judson: Bound for Burma, by Janet and Geoff Benge, published by YWAM Publishing

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Page 1: Adoniram Judson: Bound for Burma
Page 2: Adoniram Judson: Bound for Burma

YWAM Publishing is the publishing ministry of Youth With AMission. Youth With A Mission (YWAM) is an international mission-ary organization of Christians from many denominations dedicatedto presenting Jesus Christ to this generation. To this end, YWAM hasfocused its efforts in three main areas: (1) training and equippingbelievers for their part in fulfilling the Great Commission (Matthew28:19), (2) personal evangelism, and (3) mercy ministry (medical andrelief work).

For a free catalog of books and materials, contact:YWAM PublishingP.O. Box 55787, Seattle, WA 98155(425) 771-1153 or (800) 922-2143www.ywampublishing.com

Adoniram Judson: Bound for BurmaCopyright © 2000 by YWAM Publishing

12 11 10 09 08 10 9 8 7 6 5 4

Published by YWAM PublishingP.O. Box 55787Seattle, WA 98155

ISBN 13: 978-1-57658-161-2ISBN 10: 1-57658-161-6

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in anyform without permission in writing from the publisher, except in thecase of brief quotations in critical articles or reviews.

Printed in the United States of America.

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Unit study curriculum guidesare available for select biographies.

Available at your local Christian bookstoreor from YWAM Publishing • 1-800-922-2143

Adoniram JudsonAmy CarmichaelBetty GreeneBrother AndrewCameron TownsendClarence JonesCorrie ten BoomCount ZinzendorfC. S. LewisC. T. StuddDavid BussauDavid LivingstoneEric LiddellFlorence YoungGeorge MüllerGladys AylwardHudson Taylor

Ida ScudderJim ElliotJohn WesleyJohn WilliamsJonathan GoforthLillian TrasherLoren CunninghamLottie MoonMary SlessorNate SaintRachel SaintRowland BinghamSundar SinghWilfred GrenfellWilliam BoothWilliam Carey

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Southeast Asia

Burmaduring the life

of AdoniramJudson

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Andaman Islands

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Contents

1. Something Was Wrong . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112. Puzzles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153. The World Was an Open Book . . . . . . . . . . . . 254. Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 355. AMost Wonderful Opportunity . . . . . . . . . . . 476. Privateers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 577. The Stranger. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 718. Passage to India. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 839. Don’t Throw Your Life Away . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9710. Rangoon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10911. Losses and Gains. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12112. The Voyage to Nowhere. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13113. Into the Golden Presence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14514. A Growing Band of Believers . . . . . . . . . . . . 15915. Called by the King . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17116. Oung-pen-la . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18317. The Black Seal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19518. Sarah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20919. Homeward Bound. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221

Bibliography. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231

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11

Chapter 1

Twenty-two-year-old Adoniram Judson awoke tothe gentle rolling of the Packet, the three-masted

schooner that was carrying him from Boston acrossthe Atlantic Ocean to London. It was the fifteenthday of the voyage, and after he’d had breakfastwith the captain, Adoniram planned to spend theremainder of the day in his cabin reading. Hewould have much preferred to sit on deck while heread, but it was mid-January 1811, and a raw, bitingbreeze straight from the Arctic had been whippingaround the ship for several days, making it impossi-ble to stay on deck for more than a few minutes at atime, even when the sun was shining brightly.As he climbed from his bunk, Adoniram won-

dered whether the only other two passengers

Something Was Wrong

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aboard, both men, would be joining him and thecaptain for breakfast. The other men spoke onlySpanish, and it was amusing trying to work outwhat they were saying from hand gestures andother forms of body language. Normally, the Packetwould have had twenty passengers aboard, but theongoing war between England and France meantthat only the most desperate or determined passen-gers risked crossing the Atlantic Ocean these days,especially aboard a British ship.As a passenger, Adoniram fit the latter category.

He was determined to get to London and meet withthe leaders of the London Missionary Society. He hadbeen sent out on behalf of the newly formedCongregational church missionary society, orAmerican Board, as it was called, to ask the Londonsociety for money and support so that the fledglingmission could send out the first group of Americanforeign missionaries. If all went well, Adoniram andthe other three missionaries waiting in New Englandfor his return could all be in East Asia by Christmas.As he splashed some water on his face, Adoniram

noticed that something was wrong. Instead of thegentle creaking of the hull of the Packet, he heardthe sound of feet pounding across the deck abovehim. He could hear voices, too. It sounded as ifeveryone was yelling at once. Pulling his pants andjacket on, Adoniram quickly made his way up ondeck to investigate.Once on deck he saw what all the fuss was. A

French ship, its sails billowing in the stiff breeze,

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was skimming across the water towards them. Inresponse, the crew were darting about the deckhoisting sails and tightening halyards as the cap-tain and first mate barked orders. As he yelled, thecaptain spun the wheel of the Packet, trying tomaneuver the ship to take maximum advantage ofthe wind.“A privateer,” yelled the captain when he spot-

ted Adoniram. “She’s armed to the gunwales, andwe’re trying to outrun her.”Within a few minutes, Adoniram realized that

despite the crew’s frenzied effort, the French shipwas still gaining on them.Adoniram had heard about French privateers

and the way they plundered British ships. He hadalso heard horror stories of the end some sailorshad met at the hands of privateers. Now that itseemed certain that the Packet would be overrun bythe French ship, he wondered what his end wouldbe. He was an American, and he hoped that thatwould protect him. But he knew that it probablywouldn’t protect his belongings from being looted.That thought spurred him to race to his cabin.Just as Adoniram finished stuffing his three

Bibles—one in English, one in Hebrew, and one inLatin—and his fiancee’s last letter to him into acloth bag, two French sailors burst into the cabin.Adoniram turned, shocked at how fast the Frenchprivateers had overtaken and overrun the Packet.When he had left the deck, the French ship was atleast one hundred yards behind them. Now,

Something Was Wrong 13

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apparently, the privateers had boarded the Packetand taken complete control.With gestures, Adoniram was ordered up on

deck. He was then herded with the rest of theBritish crew to the starboard side of the ship andforced to climb down a rope over the side and into awaiting longboat. Within minutes of reaching theFrench ship, Adoniram was thrown into the holdalong with the Packet’s crew. The dark and dankhold was overcrowded. There was no food, water,or chamber pots. The only illumination was a dullshaft of sunlight that filtered down through thedusty air of the hold.Dark thoughts taunted Adoniram Judson as he

sat in the overcrowded hold. He would never seeNew England again. It would be only a matter oftime before the French privateers dumped himoverboard, as they liked to do with their prisoners.Now he would never see East Asia. All his efforts tobecome a missionary had been in vain. He hadgiven his all just to drown in the middle of theAtlantic Ocean. Hot tears rolled down Adoniram’scheeks. As a child growing up in Wenham,Massachusetts, this was not how he had imaginedhis life ending.

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