“_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.
“I have this day taken Moung Shwa-ba into the service of the mission. He bids fairer than any other member of the church to be qualified, in due time, for the ministry. For, though inferior to Moung Thah-lah in fluency of speech, and to Moung Shwa-gnong in genius and address, he is superior to the former in consistency of character and gravity of deportment, and to the latter in experimental acquaintance with divine things and devotedness to the cause. But the principal trait of character which distinguishes him from the rest, and affords considerable evidence that he is called by higher authority than that of man to the Christian ministry, is his _humble_ and _persevering_ desire for that office—a desire which sprang up in his heart soon after his conversion, and has been growing ever since. I intend to employ him, at present, as an assistant in the _zayat_, on a small allowance of seven or eight rupees a month, which I hope the Board will approve of. In that situation he will have an opportunity of improving in those qualifications which are requisite to fit him to be a teacher of religion among his fellow-countrymen.
“_June 10. Lord’s day._ Moung Long again present—all eye and ear. Mrs. Judson pronounces his wife superior in point of intellect to any woman she has ever met with in Burmah.