ADONIRAM JUDSON (1788-1850)

To the Golden Shore

It was Adoniram Judson, the pioneer missionary to Burma, who wrote “I long to reach the Golden Shore.” Judson was born in Massachusetts, USA, where his father was a Congregational minister. In his teens Judson rebelled, abandoned the faith and was more interested in intellectual pursuits than religion. His parents were distraught, as any parents would be. Judson left home to go to Providence College, New York. Here he met a young student by the name of Ernest Eames, who was a devout atheist. Judson fell under the influence of Eames and immediately embraced an atheistic position – denying there was a God or life after death. Things appeared to be going from bad to worse and, like many parents before and since, Adoniram’s were heart-broken.

Round in Circles

When he graduated from college, Judson had no idea what he wanted to do. To occupy himself he joined a travelling circus and became a member of a troupe of actors on horseback. Trotting around the ring each evening on his horse just about summed up his life – it was going round in circles! After touring several States, Judson became disillusioned with the whole show and took off one night on horseback.

Only one room at the inn!

Judson stopped one night at an inn and enquired about accommodation. The innkeeper had only one small room available, next to a room where a sick young man lay dying. Judson said, “I’ll take the room; death has no terrors for me. You see, I’m an atheist!” Through the thin wall Judson heard the moans of a dying man. The fellow was clearly in agony, terrified of dying. Judson wondered whether he should go to him, but then figured he had absolutely nothing to say. Shivering himself, he got under the blanket and tried to sleep, allowing death to take its course for this anonymous fellow next door. Next morning all was quiet and Adoniram enquired after the sick man. “He died,” the innkeeper replied. Judson asked who it was. “A young graduate from Providence College, Ernest Eames,” came the reply! It was Judson’s best friend. It shook his atheism to the core. He had heard his atheistic mentor in agony on the edge of eternity, gripped by a fear of death. Judson went straight back to his parents and asked them to help him find a faith that would withstand life and death. And they did – with joy!

7,000 converts, 63 churches

In His Sovereignty, God allowed Judson to be close to Eames when he died, to show the emptiness of atheism, especially in the jaws of death. Judson’s life was back on course and he prepared himself diligently for service overseas. In 1812 he sailed for Burma with his first wife. They brought the gospel to Burma. When he died in 1850 Judson had seen at least 7,000 people converted and 63 churches planted. The sting of death for Judson was removed by the death, burial and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. For Adoniram, death was the entrance to the Golden Shore, saved by God’s grace. The verses he treasured are in Ephesians 3: 16-19.