“This interview furnished matter for conversation till past midnight, and kept us awake much of the remainder of the night. Perhaps, on arriving in Rangoon, we shall find the disciples firm, and some others seriously inquiring. Perhaps we shall discover some appearances of a movement of the divine Spirit. Perhaps the Lord Jesus has a few chosen ones, whom He intends to call in, under the most unpropitious and forbidding circumstances. Perhaps he intends to show that it is not by might nor by power, but by His Spirit. In a word, perhaps in the last extremity, God will help us. Ought we, then, hastily to forsake the place? Ought we to desert those of the disciples that we can not take with us, and some others, for whom perhaps Christ died, in such an interesting crisis of their fate? Would it be rashness to endeavor to trust in God, and maintain the post, though disallowed by Government, and exposed to persecution? But again: Can we bear to see our dear disciples in prison, in fetters, under torture? Can we stand by them and encourage them to bear patiently the rage of their persecutors? Are we willing to participate with them? Though the spirit may be sometimes almost willing, is not the flesh too weak?
“Pondering on such topics as these, a little ray of hope seemed to shine out of the darkness of our despair. But it was not like the soft beam of the moon, which kindly shines on the path of the benighted pilgrim, and guides him to a place of shelter. It was rather like the angry gleam of lightning which, while for a moment it illumines the landscape around, discloses the black magazines of heaven’s artillery and threatens death to the unwary gazer.
“_February 18._ Arrived in Rangoon.”
Mr. Judson and Mr. Colman returned from Ava utterly disheartened, for their journey had been a complete failure. The emperor had refused to give them permission to propagate the Christian religion among his subjects; and any Burman who should renounce Buddhism and become a Christian, would incur the displeasure of his sovereign.
Mr. Judson at once decided to remove the mission to Chittagong, where, under the protection of the British flag, he could preach Christ to a Burmese-speaking population. He gathered his converts and inquirers together, and made no concealment of the failure at Ava. He pictured the sufferings to which the Burman would be exposed who should espouse Christianity, while he declared his intention, reluctantly formed, of leaving the country. But, to his great surprise, his converts stood firm. They expressed their willingness to suffer persecution, and even death, rather than renounce Christ. They entreated him not to leave them. “Stay at least,” they said, “until a little church of ten is collected, and a native teacher is set over it, and then, if you must go, we will not say nay. In that case we shall not be concerned. This religion will spread of itself. The emperor can not stop it.” The heroism of the disciples prevailed to keep the teacher in Rangoon.
It was thought best, however, that Mr. Colman and his wife should go to Chittagong[26] and gather together the few converts left there by the English Baptists, and to preach the Gospel to the Arracanese. Thus Chittagong might prove an asylum for the Judsons and their Burman converts if they should be hunted out of Rangoon. On March 27, 1820, Mr. Colman embarked for Arracan, where, after a short but heroic missionary career, he died at Cox’s Bazaar on the 4th of July, 1822.
Thus Mr. and Mrs. Judson again found themselves alone at Rangoon. The Houghs, the Wheelocks, the Colmans had gone. They were left with their little group of three converts to continue the conflict with heathenism. But, strange to say, in this darkest hour of all the Spirit began to work mightily in the hearts of the Burmans. Within five months, in the very face of impending persecution, seven heathen, one after another, were converted and baptized, among them the learned skeptical Moung Shwa-gnong, and the first woman, Mah-men-la. The church of three native converts rapidly grew into a church of ten. But, at this point, Mrs. Judson’s health became so completely shattered that, in order to save her life, Mr. Judson had to take her to Calcutta.
All these interesting events will be found narrated, with fuller detail, in the succeeding extract from Mr. Judson’s journal: