Identifier: historyofamerica00gamm (find matches)
Title: A history of American Baptist missions in Asia, Africa, Europe and North America
Year: 1849 (1840s)
Authors: Gammell, William, 1812-1889
Subjects: Baptists Missions
Publisher: Boston : Gould, Kendall and Lincoln
Contributing Library: Princeton Theological Seminary Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Internet Archive

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may imagine how welcomewere the tidings, which now came to him, of the organizationof the Convention, and the awakening of a missionary spiritso widely among the churches. lie contemplated these resultswith a delight such as no other events could have awakerted, andrecorded them in his journal with pious gratitude, as new proofsof Gods merciful designs for the benighted heathen. The mission in Burmah might now be considered as fairlystarted, and placed on a basis that promised to secure its per-manency, and, with the favor of Heaven, its ultimate success.The difficulties and obstacles, however, that lay before the mis-sionary were such as might have dismayed any but the mostresolute faith, and the most indomitable perseverance. Thelanguage was one which presented many difficulties, especiallyto a person unaccustomed to the dialects of the East, and obligedto commence its acquisition only with the most imperfect aids ;and, though possessed of unusual aptitude for this species of study,
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THE BUUMAN EMPIRE. 27 and aided by a Burman teacher of considerable learning and assi-duity, he yet found liimself advancing but slowly in its acquisi-tion. Some idea may be formed of the extreme difficulty heencountered in mastering this language from the following ac-count, written after he had been engaged in its study more thantwo years and a half: — I just now begin to see my way for-ward in this language, and hope that two or three years morewill make it somewhat familiar; but I have met with diificultiesthat I had no idea of before I entered on the work. For an Eu-ropean or American to acquire a living oriental language, rootand branch, and make it his own, is quite a different thing fromhis acquiring a cognate language of the West, or any of thedead languages, as they are studied in the schools. One cir-cumstance may serve to illustrate this. I once had occasion todevote a few months to the study of the French. I have nowbeen engaged two years and a half in the Burman. But ihistoryofamerica00gamm

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