1812 ADONIRAM JUDSON Sermon Preached on His Becoming a Baptist in Calcutta. Scarce.

A nicely preserved example of Adoniram Judson’s sermon on baptism. The pamphlet represents one of the most famous and influential turning points in the history of American Christian missions, marking the precise theological moment that transformed him from a Congregationalist into a Baptist, and thus unintentionally giving rise to the entire foreign mission apparatus for American Baptists. 

Adoniram Judson and his wife, Ann, originally set sail from the United States in February 1812 as commissioned missionaries for the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM)—a Congregationalist organization.  Knowing that they would land in India and encounter the famous English Baptist missionary William Carey, Judson began studying the Greek New Testament during the four-month sea voyage to better defend his Congregationalist view of paedobaptism. However, his study led him to the exact opposite conclusion. He became convinced that the Bible only supported credobaptism (believer’s baptism by immersion). 

Upon arriving in India, the Judsons officially renounced their own infant baptisms. On September 6, 1812, they were baptized by immersion at the Lal Bazar Chapel in Calcutta.  Shortly after, Judson preached the sermon contained in this pamphlet to explain his sudden and controversial change of mind. He meticulously argued against infant baptism, utilizing quotes from paedobaptism authors themselves to dismantle his previous position. The legendary missionary William Carey later remarked that it was "the best sermon upon baptism that I have ever heard on the subject."

In preaching this sermon and aligning with Baptist theology, Judson and his colleague Luther Rice (who came to the same understanding) felt it necessary to resign from the Congregationalist board that funded them. They were left stranded in India with absolutely no financial support or organizational backing.  Luther Rice returned to America to break the news and rally the American Baptists. At the time, American Baptists were decentralized and had no unified foreign missionary structure. The shockwave of Judson’s sermon and his sudden reliance on them forced the denomination to organize.

In 1814, they formed the Triennial Convention (the first national Baptist organization in the U.S.), specifically created to fund Judson’s pioneering work. Because of this, Judson is widely considered the "Father of American Foreign Missions." 

Judson, Adoniram. Christian Baptism. A Sermon, Preached in the Lal Bazar Chapel, Calcutta, on Lord's-Day, September 1812, Previous to the Administration of the Ordinance of Baptism. With many Quotations from Paedobaptist Authors. Second American Edition. Boston. Lincoln and Edmands. 1817. 40pp.

A textually rather good example, clearly removed from a larger sammelband at some point with old leather flotsam to spine, A bit tender, complete and clean title through the final leaf of text.