Zeal.
“This desire is so strong when it really reigns in a man,
that it impels him to make any sacrifice,
to go through any trouble,
to deny himself to any amount,
to suffer, to work, to labour, to toil,
to spend himself and be spent, and even to die,
if only he can please God and honour Christ.”
JC Ryle
Adoniram met Ann at her home in Bradford, MA in 1811. He was a student at Andover Seminary at the time and had become passionate for missions. Let’s continue to follow his story begun in Part 1.
ANDOVER THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY 1808-1810
Dr. Moses Stuart came to call on Adoniram’s father at the parsonage at Plymouth in September of 1808. He spoke of a new seminary just beginning in Andover to counteract the now liberal leaning Harvard. By October 1808 Adoniram was enrolled although not yet a repentant man. “He made no profession of religious belief and was enrolled as a special student – not as a candidate for ministry.” To the Golden Shore (TGS)
3 Great Quad Rd Andover, MA
Phillips Hall (now Foxcroft) was built just before Adoniram arrived. He would have lived in this dorm, it is still used today.
“Part of the day he spent in his room translating and working on theological problems. Part he spent with the two professors. Another part he spent alone, walking in a wooded grove behind the seminary building, reflecting on the meaning of what he was learning.” TGS
God was pleased to save him that fall of 1808. By the winter of 1810 he was called to missions.
“Someone asked me, not long ago, whether faith or love influenced me most in going to the heathen. I thought of it a while, and at length concluded that there was in me but little of either. But in thinking of what did influence me, I remembered a time, out in the woods back of Andover Seminary, when I was almost disheartened. Everything looked dark. No one had gone out from this country. The way was not open. The field was far distant, and in an unhealthy climate. I knew not what to do. All at once that ‘last command’ seemed to come to my heart directly from heaven. I could doubt no longer but determined on the spot to obey it at all hazards, for the sake of pleasing the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, my dear brethren, if the Lord wants you for missionaries, He will set that command home to your hearts. If He does so, you neglect it at your peril”
Adoniram Judson
20 Judson Rd, Andover, MA
The stone reads, “In the Missionary Woods, once extending to this spot, the first missionary students of Andover Seminary walked and talked one hundred years ago. And on this secluded knoll they met to pray. In memory of these men – Adoniram Judson, Samuel Nott, Samuel J Mills, Samuel Newell, Gordon Hall, James Richards, Luther Rice – whose consecrated purpose to carry the Gospel to the heathen world led to the formation of the first American society for foreign missions, in recognition of the two hundred and forty eight missionaries trained in Andover Seminary, and in gratitude to Almighty God, this stone is set up in the centennial year of the American Board, 1910.”
As I stood here, I was amazed at how very ordinary it was.
Just an ordinary wood,
just an ordinary man.
Lifting prayers to an Extraordinary God.
“It was during a solitary walk in the woods behind the college, while meditating and praying on the subject (of becoming a missionary) and feeling half inclined to give it up, that the command of Christ, ‘Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature,’ was presented to my mind with such clearness and power, that I came to a full decision, and through great difficulties appeared in my way, resolved to obey the command at all events.” Every urge, every experience from the beginning of his life, had brought its influence to this one focus. From this time on he never doubted his destiny.” TGS
This was the beginning of a series of meetings in June 1810 to determine how to raise money since there was no American agency to turn to at the time. One of their early supporters was Professor Moses Stuart who had visited the Judson home a year and half before.
215 Main Street, Andover
As an interesting aside, Professor Stuart wrote the first Hebrew grammar printed in America. Since no one knew how to set Hebrew type, he went to work in the old printing shop a few yards to the north of the Stuart House and set it himself.
In June 1810 the annual meeting for the General Association of Massachusetts Proper met in Bradford, MA. Six men walked the 10 miles to Bradford to offer their proposal and seek support. Walking with Adoniram was Samuel Newell, Samuel Nott, Samuel Mills, James Richards, and Luther Rice. The Association met that day in the Bradford Academy, the Hasseltine home and the First Church across from Kimball Tavern. His providential meeting of Ann Hasseltine occurred also on this day.
Haverhill locations:
320 S Main St. – Bradford Academy 10 Church St. – First Church 2 Salem St.– Kimball Tavern
The plaque in front of the church says, “The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions was organized June 29, 1810 in the church that stood here. It has carried the Gospel into many lands and ministered to millions through churches, schools and hospitals.”
In the Bradford meeting-house this June day in 1810, Adoniram Judson with the three ” Samuels,” his companions, boldly asked to be sent by the churches of Massachusetts on a mission to the heathen world! Never yet had a missionary gone from America to those countries beyond the seas, months and months away. American sailors who had touched the coasts of India, Burma, and Africa brought home tales of the awful degradation and savagery of the inhabitants. Most people thought it was an insane notion to dream of converting them to the Christian religion.
Ann Hasseltine Judson 1789-1826
On June 28, 1810, in the dining room of the Hasseltine home, Ann was tasked with serving lunch to the men who had been meeting. Adoniram was struck uncharacteristically speechless. He had quickly become smitten. By October that year they were officially engaged.
24 Greenleaf St, Haverhill
The Hasseltine house, (built 1781) a few rods west of the (Bradford) Academy on the “Boston Road,” was the favorite resort of the boys and girls. Mr. Hasseltine was so heartily in sympathy with the young people that when he built his house, he finished a hall at the rear of the second story to be used for their parties and entertainments. Ann of Ava
“The drawing (of the rear) was made by a student of the Bradford Academy who was staying in the attic” of a home behind the Hasseltines. The Bradford Academy
This would be where their wedding would take place on February 5, 1812 in the same room they met.
Salem Ordination and Sailing for India 1812
Ships sailed from the port in Salem to the Far East and so February 6, 1812 the day after their wedding, Adoniram was ordained at the Tabernacle Church in Salem, MA. The church had been built in 1777 but was demolished in 1854. The current church was built in 1924 as a replica of the 1777 building. The bench that the missionaries sat on for ordination is still available to see by appointment. Judson, Nott, Newell, Hall and Rice were sent out to labor in Christ’s service to the heathen.
50 Washington St, Salem, MA
The most impressive part of an ordination – and, in a way, it’s soul – is the “laying on of hands” as a prayer of consecration is said. When the time for it came, the five missionaries and the audience knelt. Ann, if the traditional representations are correct, slipped out into the aisle and knelt there by the front corner of the pew, almost beside the missionaries. Each of he ordaining ministers stood before one of the five and placed both hands on his head.
To the Golden Shore
Samuel and Harriett Newell joined them on their ship, the Caravan. They sailed on February 19, 1812 from the Crowninshield Wharf. Mercifully the unknown ahead, but the goal without question.
Samuel and Harriett Newell
A replica of the ship is on display at the Salem Maritime Museum and the stained glass window memorializing their departure is in the First Baptist Church of Salem.
54 Federal St, Salem, MA 160 Derby St, Salem, MA
In the coming years, Adoniram suffered much loss and endured unimaginable physical suffering. He would lose Ann and all three of their children by the year 1826. Harriett died soon after reaching India along with her infant daughter, Samuel died in 1821. But, God would use all of it to save His chosen Burman people.
Part 3 will look at Sarah and Emily, his second and third wives and a few visits back to America.
Resources
Ann of Ava : Ethel Daniels Hubbard online book
My Heart is in His Hands, Ann Judson of Burma by Sharon James
The Extraordinary Story of Ann Hasseltine Judson, A Life Beyond Boundaries by Rosalie Hunt
(See Part 1 for more)
Beside Old Hearthstones - An American Evangelical Church History Tour 
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