In the past
several months, I have been able to learn and study more about the life of William
Carey, who later became known as the ‘father of modern missions’. While on a
trip to England in February, I had the opportunity to visit some of the places where
Carey lived and worked, taking the little booklet Travel with William Carey by Day
One Publications as
my guide.
The world
that William Carey grew up in was dominated by the British Empire and by
discoveries, wars and trade. It was also a time of spiritual renewal and
awakening, first under Jonathan
Edwards in the United States and then also in Great Britain under John Wesley and others.
William
Carey was born on 17 August 1761 in Pury End, on the outskirts of
the little village of Paulerspury
in Northamptonshire in the heart of England.
Today, the
street where he was born is aptly named “Careys Road”.
His parents
Edmund and Elizabeth Carey were weavers by trade and thus quite poor. As a
family, they were very committed to the Church of England. From their home in
Pury End, it was about a 5-10 minute walk to St. James The Great Church, where
Edmund, following his father’s footsteps, served as parish clerk.
This is the
view of the church from the Careys’ home in Pury End:
Here is a
closer view of the church building:
Inside the
entrance of the church is the following memorial plaque:
Edmund
Carey’s gravestone is just outside the entrance of the church:
Edmund
Carey later also became the schoolmaster of the village, which also helped
young William get an education until the age of twelve.
Already in
his childhood and youth, William Carey was fascinated by nature, by exploring
and by learning. His bedroom at home became a little zoo of various insects and
other little animals and birds that he would find and then take care of and
observe. His childhood friends knew who to ask if they found an unknown flower
or insect. They also started calling William by the name of Columbus, as Carey
was so fascinated by the life of the famous explorer.
After
leaving school, William Carey started working in agriculture, but he had to stop this
work, as he had a certain type of skin disease which meant that the sun was too
hot and painful for him. Therefore, he became an apprentice of a cobbler
instead.
At this
stage of his youth, Carey did not have a heart for God. He says of himself that
he was “addicted to swearing, lying, and unchaste conversation”. (1)
During this
time as an apprentice of a cobbler, Carey had an experience which greatly
affected him. Carey writes:
A circumstance which I always reflect on with a mixture of horror and
gratitude occurred about this time, which, though greatly to my dishonour, I
must relate. It being customary in that part of the country for apprentices to
collect Christmas boxes [donations] from the tradesmen with whom their masters
have dealings, I was permitted to collect these little sums. When I applied to
an ironmonger, he gave me the choice of a shilling or a sixpence; I of course
chose the shilling, and putting it in my pocket, went away. When I had got a
few shillings my next care was to purchase some little articles for myself, I
have forgotten what. But then, to my sorrow, I found that my shilling was a
brass one. I paid for the things which I bought by using a shilling of my
master’s. I now found that I had exceeded my stock by a few pence. I expected
severe reproaches from my master, and therefore came to the resolution to
declare strenuously that the bad money was his. I well remember the struggles
of mind which I had on this occasion, and that I made this deliberate sin a
matter of prayer to God as I passed over the fields towards home! I there
promised that, if God would but get me clearly over this, or, in other words,
help me through with the theft, I would certainly for the future leave off all
evil practices; but this theft and consequent lying appeared to me so necessary
that they could not be dispensed with. (2)
So what
happened? Did God answer this prayer and help William Carey get through with
his lie and with his theft? Carey continues:
A gracious God did not get me
safe through. My master sent the other apprentice to investigate the matter.
The ironmonger acknowledged the giving me the shilling, and I was therefore
exposed to shame, reproach, and inward remorse, which preyed upon my mind for a
considerable time. I at this time sought the Lord, perhaps much more earnestly
than ever, but with shame and fear. I was quite ashamed to go out, and never,
till I was assured that my conduct was not spread over the town, did I attend a
place of worship. (3)
But the
time came when Carey would attend church again – and much more frequently and
earnestly than before. The other apprentice working with William Carey was
Thomas Warr, who was known as a ‘dissenter’, i.e. someone who was not a member
of the official Church of England. Carey and Warr had had many debates over
religion, with Carey defending the Church of England, and Carey made sure that
he always had the last word. But while this was the case, Carey had to
be honest with himself and acknowledge that he did not have the better arguments…
An
opportunity for earnest prayer – and fasting – would soon present itself,
triggered by political events. In 1779, when Carey was 17 years of age, England
was in a national crisis, being in a state of war with the United States,
France and Spain. Facing these pressures, King George III called for a national day of
prayer and fasting. Since William Carey sympathised with the American colonists
and knew that the Church of England did not, he decided to attend a special
meeting at the dissenting church in Hackleton. The text of the sermon that was
delivered at that church was the following:
Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his
reproach. (Hebrews 13:13)
Carey took
this as a sign that he should leave the official Church of England and join the
dissenting church in Hackleton, which he then also did. Here in Hackleton,
William Carey was converted and placed his faith in Jesus Christ alone for
salvation.
William
Carey became a faithful member of this church and was invited to preach there
for the first time in 1781. The pulpit from which Carey preached is still on
display in this church today:
 |
| St. John the Baptist Church in Piddington |
The
following year, Carey also received an invitation to preach in a church in
Olney, which he then also every two weeks.
When his
master died, Carey continued as an independent cobbler. He also
studied the New Testament more intensely and came to the conclusion that
baptism is only for those people who have placed their faith in Jesus Christ
and are following Him. At the age of 22, therefore, William Carey was baptised
by immersion in the river Nene.
In 1785,
William Carey moved to Moulton,
where he became the pastor of a small Baptist church, which is known today as Carey Baptist Church.
The income he received as pastor
was not sufficient for him to live on, so he also kept working as a cobbler in
his home right next to the church.
 |
| Carey's home in Moulton |
Even while
working as a pastor and cobbler, Carey never lost his interest for the whole
world and the explorations that were made during his lifetime. As Carey learned
more about the world and its many peoples, God gave him a desire to reach those
who had never heard the gospel. One book, in particular, opened Carey's eyes to the great need for the gospel all over the world: The Last Voyage of Captain Cook.
 |
Captain James Cook
(public domain) |
Captain James Cook was the British Christopher Columbus of the time. He made
explorations in the South Seas around Australia and New Zealand and published
the accounts of his voyages. In one of these publications, Cook made the
pronouncement that he believed no one would ever bother introducing
Christianity to these far-away peoples as there are no incentives of fame or
fortune to do so.
Carey was
shocked by such a statement and wanted to do something about it. And he started
by praying for the islands that Cook has explored. And he started studying more
about the situation of lost people, not only in the South Seas, but in all the
world. He created his own globe with pieces of leather and a coloured world map
of paper on which he also noted the information he was able to gain about
different peoples and places in the world.
In 1788,
Carey was invited to a meeting of church leaders in Northamptonshire. At this
meeting, Carey was asked for his suggestion for a topic to be discussed at a
future meeting. Carey’s response was that it would be worth looking into the
matter “whether the command given to the Apostles, to teach all nations, was
not obligatory on all succeeding ministers to the end of the world, seeing that
the accompanying promise was of equal extent”. (4)
The
prevailing view of the time among Christians was that the Great Commission
given by Jesus Christ at the end of the Gospel of Matthew had already been
fulfilled by the disciples. Others held to the hyper-Calvinist view that God
will save those who He will without the help of man. That was also the view of
John Ryland Senior, who rebuked William Carey with these now famous words:
“Young man
sit down. When God pleases to convert the heathen, He will do it without your
aid or mine.” (5)
But that
would not stop Carey in pushing forward towards starting a missionary movement
to the unreached peoples of the world. The same year, Carey met a businessman
named Thomas Potts in Birmingham, with whom he was able to have a conversation
about world missions. Potts was so impressed that he urged Carey to write a
book with his thoughts and have it published. Seeing that Carey did not have
the means to fund such a publication, Potts offered to pay for the printing
costs and Carey started his work on the book.
In 1791,
there was another meeting of the association of church leaders of Carey’s
denomination which was held in this church in Clipston:
In the
meantime, several other church leaders in the association had also caught on to
Carey’s vision and delivered some excellent sermons on the topic of missions,
but to Carey’s dismay, the meeting ended without any specific action being
undertaken.
In 1792,
William Carey published his book with the title An Enquiry Into the Obligations of Christians, to Use Means for the
Conversion of the Heathens. In his
little book, Carey argues compellingly that Christians have an obligation – namely, to be involved in
world missions. Jesus Christ expects something from His followers, and what He
expects is more than just mental assent or good desires.
In the same
year, William Carey preached a sermon on the following Bible passage:
Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains
of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes;
For thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left; and thy seed
shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited.
(Isaiah 54:2-3)
Carey’s
associates became convinced that something had to be done. On 2 October 1792,
they formed the Particular Baptist Society for the Propagation of the Gospel among the
Heathen, known today as BMS World Mission.
It soon
became clear to Carey and to others that he was to be sent out to India as
their first missionary. But this was not so clear to his wife Dorothy who
refused to go at first. After some delays and some discussions and some concessions,
Dorothy finally agreed to join her husband with the rest of their family on
their mission to India. On 13 June 1793, their ship set sail for India, arriving
in Calcutta on 11 November 1793.
Life and
work in India was not easy – neither for William Carey nor for his wife
Dorothy. Dorothy became insane and later had to be confined to her room after
making attempts on her husband’s life. William Carey did not want to put her in
an institution, but chose to take care of her at home, while at the same time
continuing his mission work. In 1797 he completed the translation of the
Bengali New Testament.
Two years
later, Carey was joined by two other missionaries – Joshua Marshman and WilliamWard – who would prove a tremendous blessing to him and his work. Together,
these three men became known as the Serampore Trio after the name of the town
in which they were working.
With horror
Carey witnessed a sati ceremony for the first time that year, in which a widow
is burned alive alongside the corpse of her deceased husband.
These as
well as other horrible practices such as child drowning were all too common in
India at that time. Carey wanted to bring these practices to an end.
It was
seven long years before Carey was able to baptise the first Indian convert to
Christ, a man by the name of Krishna Pal. In the following 19 years, over 600
more people were baptised.
Towards the
end of Carey’s life he had the joy of seeing the outlawing of the widow-burning
practice of sati by the British government and he was commissioned to translate
the law into Bengali.
William
Carey died on 9 June 1834 in Serampore at the age of 72. Upon his request, the
following words were written on his gravestone:
A wretched poor and
helpless worm
On Thy kind arms I fall.
After
having left England for India in 1793, Carey never returned to England. During
his lifetime, God used him to bring about some remarkable accomplishments in
India. Here are some:
- Starting a missionary movement
in Great Britain that saw the founding of 13 mission organisations within 40
years after being sent out as a missionary
- Introducing the steam engine to
India
- Founding the Agri-Horticultural Society of India
- Founding Serampore College (the
oldest university in India to be in continuous operation)
- Producing three dictionaries
for the languages Bengali, Marathi and Sanskrit
- Translating the Bible or parts
of the Bible into 35 different languages
- Introducing the printing press
to India
- Printing more than 212,00
Bibles and portions of the Bible in 40 different languages
Who would
have thought that the cobbler from Paulerspury would be used by God – against
all odds – to spread the truth and light of gospel to so many people in so many
different ways!
In all of
his work, William Carey’s hope and confidence was in the almighty God who had
promised to be with him always. When we place our trust in God and show our
dependence on Him, God can use the weakest person for His great glory!
In his
famous sermon in 1792, William Carey summed his message up in this way:
Expect great things
from God.
Attempt great things for God.
References:
(1) Carey, Eustace (1836). Memoir of William Carey. London: Jackson and Walford, p. 8.
(2) Smith, George (1885). The Life of William Carey, D.D. - Shoemaker and Missionary. London: John Murray, p. 13f.
(3) Ibid., p. 14.
(4) Ibid., p. 31.
(5) Marshman, John Clark (1859). The Life and Times of Carey, Marshman, and Ward. London: Longman, Brown, Green, Longmans & Roberts, p. 10.
