Adoniram Judson was one of America’s first Baptist missionaries. As you may know, as Anne and Adoniram were sailing to India to do mission work for the Congregationalists, they began to see Baptist doctrine in the Word of God. Upon their arrival they were immersed by William Carey, as was their friend Luther Rice. But this history note is not about Adoniram, Junior, but rather about his father Adoniram Judson, Senior.
During his life, Senior pastored at least two Congregational churches in Massachusetts. He fully expected his son to follow him into the ministry, picturing him as pastor of one of the large congregations in New England. He must have been disappointed to see his son set sail for India. But what must he have felt when he received word that junior had become a Baptist?
Some time later, Luther Rice visited the familiar home of his friend Adoniram. In a letter to India he wrote: “In your father’s house, I felt as if among my own relations… your parents and sister were in usual health. Your father inquired respecting my change of sentiment and present view, but made not a single remark tending to the support of infant baptism.”
The truth is, Senior must have been considering the subject of baptism, because at the age of sixty-seven, he resigned this Congregational pastorate, and on this day in 1817, he and his wife were immersed by Thomas Baldwin, and they were received into the membership of the Second Baptist Church in Boston.
The truth is, Senior must have been considering the subject of baptism, because at the age of sixty-seven, he resigned this Congregational pastorate, and on this day in 1817, he and his wife were immersed by Thomas Baldwin, and they were received into the membership of the Second Baptist Church in Boston.
– Source: “This Day in Baptist History, II” – Cummins and Thompson