2—THE PRINTING PRESS AND THE PREACHING OF CHRIST.
ESTABLISHED among the Burmans, Judson applied himself vigorously to master their difficult language, and so signally did he succeed that after three years he had actually prepared a grammar of the language! This work, involving un-relaxed effort, and being of a, preparatory kind, tried his spirit severely. "I am sometimes a little dispirited when I reflect that for two or three years past I have been drilling at A B C and grammar, but," he continues,” someone must acquire this language by dint of application, must translate the Scriptures, and preach the gospel to the people in their own tongue, or how can they be saved? “Again, after some lapse of time, we have him saying, "A tract is ready for publication, which is intelligible and perspicuous, and will give the Burmans their first idea of the Savior and the way of salvation. A press and type have now arrived, and a printer is on the way, . . . As soon as health permits, we proceed slowly in the translation of the New Testament."
Here then was the foot planted down in the heathen land and amongst the idols; the work of active evangelization had actually commenced. "We are just entering on a small edition of Matthew, the translation of which I lately commenced. But we are in great want of men and money. Our hands are full from morning to night. I cannot, for my life, translate as fast as brother Hough will print. He has to do all the hard work in the printing office without a single assistant. . . Will the Christian world ever awake? Will means ever be used adequate to the necessities of the heathen world? "
This most laborious effort was crowned with success; the years of toil of the translator and the heavy manual work of the printer were rewarded. An edition of five thousand copies of Matthew's Gospel, together with a tract and a catechism, were put in circulation amongst the seventeen millions of Burmah. They were well understood, and many began to call at the "mission house to enquire concerning the new religion," How new to these heathen, who had never heard of an everlasting, ever-living God, of a Being who is love and light, and who loves men and whom men may love, and of man's immortality! In this world it will not be known how widely and how deeply the truth of God, thus circulated, entered the minds of the Bur-mans. The Christian books affected people at long distances from Rangoon, where the mission was stationed, and persons travelled many miles to interview the missionaries. After a time the Epistle to the Ephesians was also translated, as to which Judson says: "It is with real joy that I put this precious writing into the hands of the disciples; it is a great accession to their scanty stock of scripture, for they have had nothing hitherto but Matt. 1 intend to give them Acts as fast as my eyes will allow." And it was a great joy to him to find that this translation was better understood than that of Matthew, though he had made it without any native assistance.
The first enquirer, who had read Judson's tracts, approached him thus : " How long will it take me to learn the religion of Jesus Christ?" adding, "I have seen two little books which describe Jesus as the Son of God, who, pitying creatures, came into this world and suffered death in their stead." "And who is God?” enquired the missionary. The enquirer answered, “He is a Being without beginning or end; who is not subject to old age or death, but always is!” Thus for the first time did Judson hear from the lips of a Burman the acknowledgment of an eternal God. The man did not care to converse-indeed, he merely, though earnestly, desired to obtain more of this kind of writing!
It is difficult for us to realize what the effect on the mind is of such truths heard for the first time A certain philosopher was wont to pass by the place where Judson instructed the people, and on one occasion his eye accidentally fell upon the tract we have just referred to, the opening words of which announce the existence of a living and eternal God. The man was arrested, and stood absorbed in thought. The idea was new to him, as, indeed, to all his nation. It was not human philosophy, but divine truth! Eventually he became a Christian, and was baptized, and labored as a Christian teacher. He was condemned to death by the government, but escaped the evening before the day fixed for his execution. Judson never saw him again, but heard of him from persons corning from the interior of the country in search of Bibles and tracts, who had been converted to Christ through his instrumentality.
Here will be a fitting occasion to mention the marvelous way in which, some years after the time we are considering, Judson's translation of the entire New Testament was preserved. He had fallen a victim to persecution, and was imprisoned for Christ's sake. The manuscript was taken to Ava, and when he was cast into prison it was sewn up by his wife in a cushion which he made his pillow. After the lapse of seven months, when he, with his fellow-sufferers, was thrown into the inner prison, the old pillow was taken from him, but the jailor found it too hard for his own use, and flung it back to its owner. Again it was taken from him, and the mat that formed its covering stolen, and, as a worthless roll of hard cotton, the treasure was again tossed back into the prison. Here it was found by a Christian Burman, who knew not what it was, and was taken home by him as a memorial of his beloved teacher. Several months afterwards the priceless manuscript was discovered within the old pillow—the very manuscript which now makes a part of the Burmese Bible!
Judson gave the highest importance to the translation and distribution of God's own Word. He maintained that every man should read for himself in his own tongue the wonderful words of God, and thus he spent a great part of his earnest, self-sacrificing life in making known the Scriptures to the Burmans.
His tracts and his translations of the Scriptures spread far and wide, stirred up the deepest interest in his own times, and are still used of God in the wonderful work of the Gospel.
The Burman villages have attached to them a building larger than the dwellings of the, people, which is used as a place of public resort, and is termed a "zayat" Here, before mid-day, a crowd of people is ever to be found trading or discussing, and, among the various ends for which the zayat is used is that of religious teaching. The Buddhist preacher, especially if he be eloquent, will here obtain an attentive audience, as he recounts the acts and the sufferings of Gautama.
Judson wisely adapted himself to Burmese custom: he erected a zayat for public preaching and conversation. This building was small, and was built in three divisions, the first of which was open to the road for the benefit of the passers-by, the second was the room where the missionary worked, and the third, a room for educational purposes. With very great exercise of heart was the zayat opened, and, within a month, great was the cheer to the faithful missionary—a Burman being converted to Christ through the preaching.
Sometimes the zayat would be thronged with visitors—sometimes hardly any would 'come. "Had more or less company, without intermission, for about eight hours," records his diary; and again—" For the last fortnight have but little company at the zayat, owing, probably, to the rains."
The little zayat did wonderful work; a variety of people came to it, and not a few were really turned to God from their idols to serve the living and true God. The Burmans proved to be severe reasoners, while in many of them Judson found great thinkers, some of whom, seeing the folly of Buddhism, had turned to the philosophy which believes in nothing.
One of these philosophers was ever quarrelling with his wife on some metaphysical point. When she had prepared their meal, and would say, "The rice is ready," he would reply, "Rice! what is rice ? Is it matter or spirit? an idea or a nonentity ?" Then on her answering, “Why! it is matter," he would respond, " Well, wife, and what is matter ? Are you sure that there is such a thing in existence, or are you merely subject to a delusion of the senses?"
When this celebrity, for such he was, heard from Judson that man is not an evolution, but that in the beginning God created one man and one woman, he brought forward his wisdom with due politeness, thus : " I beg your lordship's pardon, I do not understand what a man is, and why he is called a man." The philosophy of Buddhism does not know either what God is or what man is! This worthy's wife was almost as sharp as himself, and harassed Mrs. Judson with a variety of questions about sin being permitted by God, and about its entering into the human mind-questions, we may add, which show that the world is the world all the world over.
The semi-atheists, who believe that there is eternal wisdom, yet believe not in God, found in the following argument the ruin of their system. Judson would say to them, " No mind, no wisdom; temporary mind, temporary wisdom; eternal mind, eternal wisdom." Glances would pass between the philosophers after this statement, and, generally, the opponent very politely accepted his defeat.
The following extract from Judson's diary gives an insight into his manner of dealing with men. A teacher, having heard that there is an eternal Being, came to Judson for advice. Many interviews occurred, and on one occasion," after several hours spent in metaphysical cavil, the teacher owned he did not believe anything he had said, adding, Do you think I would pay you the least attention if I found you could not, answer all my questions and solve all my difficulties?' He then proceeded to say he really believed in God, His Son Jesus Christ, and the atonement.' Do you believe all that is contained in the book of Matthew I have given you? “enquired Judson, In particular do you believe that the Son of God died upon a cross ? " Ah,' replied he, you have caught me now. I believe that He suffered death, but I cannot admit that He suffered the shameful death of the cross.' Thereupon, said Judson, you are not a disciple of Christ. A true disciple enquires not whether a fact is agreeable to his reason, but whether it is in the book. Teacher, your pride is unbroken. Break down your pride, and yield to the word of God.'"
It was given to Judson to penetrate into a man's inner self in a most remarkable manner. “He knew us," said one of his native assistants, "through and through, much better than we knew ourselves. If we had done anything amiss, he called us pleasantly, talked and talked and talked, till suddenly, before we knew it, he pounced upon us, and held us breathless till we had told him everything."
On one occasion, when one of the native converts was about to engage in something Judson conceived would injure her Christian profession, he took a ruler from off the table at which he was busy, and tracing a line upon the floor, bade her beware of turning aside from the straight way. “Dare you," he cried,” deliberately leave this straight and narrow path, drawn by the Savior's finger, and go away for one moment into that of the enemy ; will you, will you, WILL You?" “I was sobbing so," said the woman, who recounted the story in after years, " that I could not speak a word, but he knew, as he always did, what I meant . . . I have made a great many crooked tracks since, but whenever I am unusually tempted, I see the teacher as he looked that day, bending over in his chair, the ruler placed on the floor to represent me, his finger pointing along the path of eternal life, his eye looking over his shoulder, and that terrible ‘Will you' coming from his lips as though it were the voice of God."