ed
out, "If her husband should renounce his former sentiments he must
offend his friends at home, hazard his reputation, and, what was still
more trying, be separated from his missionary companions."

"I hope that I shall I be disposed to embrace the truth," she wrote,
"whatever it may be. It is painfully mortifying to my natural feelings to
think seriously of renouncing a system which I have been taught from
infancy to believe and respect ... We must make some very painful
sacrifices. We must be separated from our dear missionary associates,
and labour alone in some isolated spot. We must expect to be treated
with contempt and cast off by many of our American friends--forfeit the
character we have in our native land, and probably have to labour for
our support where we are stationed."

After prayerful consideration they both applied to Carey for baptism,
much to the surprise of the great English missionary, who had known
nothing of their struggles. This step necessarily involved their
separation from the Congregational Board of Commissioners who had sent
them out, and there was then no American Baptist Missionary Society to
which they could look for help; but Mr. Judson wrote to the American
Baptist churches stating what he had done, and appealing to them to
support him in his labours. The Baptists soon afterwards responded to
his appeal by forming a Missionary Union, and they appointed Mr. and
Mrs. Judson two of their agents. Thus was Mr. Judson an important though
indirect instrument in causing another great American denomination to
throw itself into the work of evangelising the world.

The first news that Mrs. Judson heard on reaching the Isle of France was
that Mrs. Newell, her companion from America, had died a few weeks
previously, before even being allowed to commence the work to which she
had dedicated her life. The governor of the island had been warned about
the coming of the Americans, and advised "to keep an eye on them;" but
he gave them a warm welcome, and expressed a hope that they would settle
in the place and work among the natives and the soldiers. But the Isle
of France hardly seemed to offer a sufficiently extensive field for
their energies, and there were other places more in need of their
services. Mr. and Mrs. Judson specially wished to go to Burmah, where,
with a population of many millions, there was hardly a single Christian
teacher. But the character of the people and of the government was