Gordon was named af­ter Bu­rma mis­sion­a­ry Adon­i­ram Jud­son. He at­tend­ed Brown Un­i­ver­si­ty and New­ton The­o­lo­gic­al Sem­in­ary, and was or­dained a Bap­tist min­is­ter in 1863. He served at the Bap­tist church in Ja­mai­ca Plain, Mass­a­chu­setts, then at the Clar­en­don Street Bap­tist Church in Bos­ton. His works in­clude:

• The Ser­vice of Songs for Bap­tist Church­es, 1871
• The Vest­ry Hymn and Tune Book (Bo­ston, Mass­a­chu­setts: Hen­ry A. Young & Com­pa­ny, 1872)
• The Cor­o­na­tion Hym­nal, with Ar­thur Pier­son (Phil­a­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: Amer­i­can Bap­tist Pub­li­ca­tion So­ci­e­ty, 1894)
• Watchword

• Brown, p. 164
• Hughes, pp. 404-05
• Hustad, p. 246
• Reynolds, pp. 301-02

1. Behold, O God, Thy Cho­sen Race
2. Cast All Thy Care up­on the Lord
3. Even So, Lord Je­sus, Come
4. Good Morn­ing in Glo­ry
5. Help Me to Be Ho­ly
6. I Do Be­lieve, I Now Be­lieve
7. I Saw One Toil­ing in the Way
8. I Shall See the King in His Beau­ty
9. Night Is Fast Pass­ing, The
10. O Bless­ed Par­a­clete
11. O Church of Christ, Be­hold at Last
12. O Ho­ly Ghost, Arise
13. On Thy Bo­som Let Me Lean
14. There Is a Land Far Out of Sight
15. Thy Way and Not Mine
16. Where Art Thou, Soul? I Hear God Say
17. Ye Sad Watch Who Are Keep­ing

1. Gordon
2. In Ten­der­ness He Sought Me