C. S. Lewis once wrote about the quality of a story’s “atmosphere.” A strong story captures the spaces, locations, and situations that provide the setting of the drama. It draws the reader in; you almost feel like you’re there.
Courtney Anderson’s To the Golden Shore: The Life of Adoniram Judson is a classic biography of the great missionary to Burma (1812–1850). Although not a purely historical treatment, its atmosphere is rich. Anderson admitted the book is “unscholarly in the strict sense,” but that he’s “presented a great man as faithfully as has lain within his powers.” Anderson applied his skills as a film writer to produce a drama that reads like an adventure novel.
To the Golden Shore includes elements from the settings of the Judsons’ lives: ship cabins on the high seas, prison cells, and their home in Burma (modern-day Myanmar). For example, he describes in detail the “Bat Castle” where the Judsons lived. The reader can almost hear the flutter of bats and feel the dampness of the dimly lit quarters. Anderson helps you see, by the light of a solitary window, the home’s woodwork creeping with insects and covered with silent, green mold.
But the Judsons said they’d take their dim castle in Burma over any “palace” in America (451). They were there for a reason: to proclaim the gospel to those who hadn’t heard. This conviction filled them with courage and enabled them to endure the many hardships that missionary life would bring.
Source of Conviction
Judson was dramatically converted to Christ. Although he was raised in a Christian home, during his college years he came under the influence of the “amiable, talented, witty” Jacob Eames (35). Eames enjoyed life in the lax moral freedom of skepticism and deism. Judson soon followed him to abandon the faith of his family.
One night while traveling, Judson stopped at an inn. The innkeeper apologized that the only room he had was next to a room with a dying man. It was a sleepless night. The sounds of the suffering rattled his newfound skepticism. The next morning, Judson asked for the name of the man who died in the next room. It was none other than Jacob Eames. The finality of death and the reality of heaven and hell led Judson to Christ for rescue; it also shaped the rest of his life.
The finality of death and reality of heaven and hell led Adoniram Judson to Christ for rescue; it also shaped the rest of his life.
Soon after, Judson read of Burma. The lack of gospel witness there evoked a sense of conviction that fueled his missionary endeavors. Judson reflected that the Great Commission appeared to him with “such clearness and power, that [he] came to a full decision, and though great difficulties appeared in [his] way, resolved to obey the command at all events” (57).
Courage to Go
Conviction was followed by moral courage and sacrifice. Judson strategically planned: “How shall I so order my future being as best to please God?” (52; cf. 2 Cor. 5:9).
Before leaving America, Judson met Ann Hasseltine, who, according to Anderson, was usually called “Nancy” (73). In 1810, he wrote a letter to her father:
I have now to ask, whether you can consent to part with your daughter . . . and [to] her subjection to the hardships and sufferings of a missionary life . . . to every kind of want and distress; to degradation, to insult, persecution, and perhaps a violent death. Can you consent to all this, for the sake of him who left his heavenly home, and died for her and for you; for the sake of perishing, immortal souls? (83)
Adoniram was clearly aware of the danger ahead in his mission to Burma. But he was motivated by more than just the need of the lost; he was willing to sacrifice for the sake of his Savior who first suffered for him. And Adoniram’s resolve was matched by Nancy’s response to his proposal. Like him, she was convinced that bringing the gospel to distant lands was the way she could do the “most good” with her life (80).
Perseverance Through Suffering
The extent to which Adoniram and Nancy suffered to take the gospel to Burma is unfathomable by modern standards. They experienced cross-cultural misunderstandings, imprisonment, malnutrition, sickness, tragedy, war, and untold daily pressures and suffering. Anderson poignantly captures Nancy’s suffering in a poem she wrote to her baby when Adoniram was in prison:
Sleep, darling infant, sleep,
Hushed on thy mother’s breast;
Let no rude sound of clanking chains
Disturb thy balmy rest. (331)
Not long after, Nancy died from sickness and malnutrition. Her baby followed her. Despite the tragedy of loss and the resulting depression he experienced, Adoniram persevered. As one reads To the Golden Shore, it becomes clear the sufferings young Adoniram wrote about in the letter to his future father-in-law weren’t an exaggeration. His letter wasn’t a flare of pietistic adventurism that’s sometimes common in missions. He was realistically counting the cost, a price he and Nancy paid with their lives and deaths.
But the Judsons’ labors weren’t in vain. As John Piper explains, because of the Judsons’ ministry, the Burmese received a Bible and dictionary. Today, over 3,700 Baptist congregations in Myanmar (formerly Burma) trace their roots to their ministry efforts.
Judsons’ Example
Where Anderson excels is in his brilliant portrayal of the Judsons. Based on their personal letters, reports, and journals, the book vividly recounts their thoughts and emotions. The reader soon begins to feel like a close friend of Adoniram and Nancy. We’re pulled into the story—not merely into the aesthetic of the setting but into the compelling atmosphere of the Judsons’ convictions. To the Golden Shore is filled with the aroma of Christ in the lives of Adoniram and Nancy (2 Cor. 2:15–16).
To the Golden Shore is filled with the aroma of Christ in the lives of the Adoniram and Nancy.
In my family’s cross-cultural ministry, the Judsons’ legacy has reverberated at crucial junctures to provide inspiration, encouragement, and moral clarity. It’s as if we’re asked the same question Adoniram asked Nancy: Will you, “for the sake of perishing immortal souls; for the sake of Zion, and the glory of God,” embrace the suffering of cross-cultural missions to carry the gospel to those who haven’t heard of Christ? Reading Anderson’s biography helps us give an appropriate answer.
The Gospel Coalition