When we think of great missionary examples, our minds often turn to the likes of Hudson Taylor, Adoniram Judson, William Carey—those whose decades of plodding service on the field bore incredible fruit. A lifetime, however, is often shorter for a missionary. But, as in the case of Robert Jermain Thomas, however short that lifespan, the Lord may use it for greater things than ever expected.
Robert Jermain Thomas was born in Wales in 1839. The son of a minister, he was raised in a faithful Christian home. Young Robert followed in his father’s footsteps from an early age, beginning to preach when he was just 15. He received a good education as well, and by the time he graduated from New College, London, he had acquired an expertise in languages, a skill that would serve him well in his chosen career as a missionary to China.
1863 was an eventful year for Thomas. He was married, ordained, and sailed to China as a missionary of the London Missionary Society. Thomas had devoted himself to missionary service, and he expected to spend many years abroad.
But the Thomases’ arrival in China was immediately beset with tragedy and disruption. Caroline Thomas, Robert’s new bride, miscarried and died. Not long after, Thomas’s grief and his conviction that the mission should prioritize going to the unreached caused him to resign from the London Missionary Society. Though he later reconsidered, requesting to be stationed in Mongolia, in the meantime Robert worked as a customs officer in Shanghai.
It was then that a chance encounter with Korean Catholics prompted Robert to change plans yet again. The persecution of Catholics in Korea was severe, and as yet there had been no Protestant mission. So, on behalf of the National Bible Society of Scotland, he set out for Korea, where he intended to distribute Bibles.
In 1864, Thomas moved from Shanghai to Yantai, closer to Korea, studying the language in earnest. His opportunity would come the next year, when he set sail for Korea in the company of French ships. His cargo was the scriptures, translated into Chinese. It was a risky venture. The persecution in Korea was ongoing, and foreign trade was prohibited. And Thomas soon encountered an obstacle when he was left behind by the French. However, he soon boarded an American trading ship, General Sherman, as a translator, free to distribute Scripture wherever they stopped.
While docked at Pyongyang, however, General Sherman was attacked. When it became clear that the ship would not survive, Thomas reportedly began throwing Bibles towards those around the ship, shouting “Jesus, Jesus.” As the ship began to sink, he leapt into the water, attempting to bring a handful of Bibles ashore. He was executed almost immediately, but not before giving his last copy of the scriptures to the man who cut him down.
Though it appeared Thomas’s voyage and mission had been in vain, later missionaries would learn a different story. There had been conversions, and it was said that, even though they were prohibited, some of the Bibles Thomas had thrown from the ship had been gathered up. One was used to wallpaper the house of an official—a house which would soon host a church in Pyongyang.