Jack Voelkel
William Carey 1761-1834: Part 1
In August of this year, we celebrate the 200th Anniversary of the Haystack Prayer Meeting, which marks a significant date in the history of American Protestant Missions. To recognize our debt to missionary pioneers, we will review the experiences of several who have made history.
William Carey 1761 – 1834 The Father of Modern Protestant Missions
Part 1 - The Preparation
In 1786, during a scheduled meeting of a rather small English Baptist ministerial association the chairman, Mr. Ryland, Sr., asked one of its newest members, William Carey, a part-time preacher, cobbler, and schoolteacher if he would like to propose a subject for discussion. There was an issue that was burning in the young man’s heart, and without a moment’s hesitation, he suggested the following:
Whether the command given to the apostles to teach all nations was not binding on all succeeding ministers to the end of the world, seeing that the accompanying promise was of equal extent (Miller p. 32).
The chairman, not expecting such a radical idea, replied with a harsh rebuke: “Young man, sit down! You are an enthusiast. When God pleases to converse with heathen He’ll do it without consulting you or me. Besides, there must be another Pentecostal gift of tongues” (Miller, p. 32).
Carey sat down, but the idea he had proposed (considered by even his close friends as a “wild, impractical scheme”) continued to occupy his mind and heart as a burden from the Lord. No one in the ministerial association could have guessed that seven years later, this unpretentious young man would embark with his wife and children for India never to return, and initiate one of the most illustrious missionary careers in the history of the Church.
Carey, born in a smallish English village, was the son and grandson of school teachers. At age 12 he had to interrupt his own schooling to help support the family, first as a gardener and then apprenticed to a shoemaker. Though his formal schooling was quite limited, Carey from his earliest youth showed great interest in reading, and borrowed books on any subject from all who had them.
His fellow apprentice, John Warr, had recently come through an experience of spiritual conversion, enthusiastically shared his experience with his friend, and encouraged him to attend a prayer meeting. John’s godly life impressed Carey, and so he began his own spiritual quest by attending the prayer service. There the Lord spoke to his heart, he also experienced conversion, and then the two lads led their employer to Jesus.
When he was 18, his master died and Carey transferred his apprenticeship to another shoemaker. At 20 he married Dorothy Plackett, the sister of his master’s wife, a woman 5 years older than he. She had not received the benefits of an education, however, and couldn’t even sign her own name on the marriage certificate.
When his new master died, Carey took over his business and the care of his widow and their four children, in addition to his own family. To augment his income, he opened an evening school. His spiritual life also grew, and soon with the aid of John Warr and some mutual friends, he founded a church.
It was reading the stories of Captain Cook’s travels that opened Carey’s mind to the existence of other lands and peoples. The lives of David Brainard and John Eliot , missionaries to the American Indians, gave him practical examples of cross-cultural communication. Growing in his Christian faith, he could only think of the spiritual needs of people who had never heard the Gospel. He drew a large map of the world which he placed on the wall over his workbench, and filled in the names of countries and their populations, and began praying for the peoples there. He prayed that God would make it possible for him to do something about the fate of those who lived in spiritual darkness.
His preaching ministered to people, and more and more he was invited to take services, which implied his walking long distances. At the same time, he began to grow in his hunger for knowledge, including learning languages. One day in a borrowed commentary, he came across letters he had never seen before. Inquiring, he was told it was Greek, the original language of the New Testament. He acquired a Greek grammar, and taught himself the language, while repairing shoes. He did the same with Hebrew, and within a few years showed his remarkable affinity for languages by learning Latin, French, Italian, and Dutch, all by himself, while working at his cobbler’s bench.
The Lord unexpectedly blessed Carey one day through Thomsas Gotch, a business colleague, who recognizing his passion for study, decided to pay him what he earned mending shoes, so that Carey could dedicate more time to his intellectual and spiritual growth.
About this time Carey decided to write a pamphlet that would express in concrete form his burden for the spread of the Gospel, hoping that it would arouse other Christians to the need of assuming their missionary obligations. He entitled it “An Enquiry.” Eighty-seven pages in length, it was the result of eight years of thought, study, and composition, and was marked with a profound knowledge of geographical facts and racial conditions.
It was a literary masterpiece, and has been called the “charter of modern missions,” and “the distinct point of departure in the history of Christianity.” This was the spark which fired into life the burning embers of missionary zeal that God had laid in Carey’s soul. The booklet was the screen upon which William Carey projected the vast panorama of heathen conditions God had afforded him. In it Carey laid bare his own soul. He showed how…the command to go, as well as the promised companionship of Christ, was no more obligatory upon the apostolic church than upon the church of his century (Miller p. 36).
As a result of the circulation of this pamphlet, in 1792, six years after having been told to “sit down” in a meeting of the Pastoral Association, he was asked to give one of the sermons. He took as his text Isaiah 54:2,3, “Enlarge the place of thy tent…For thy seed shall inhabit the Gentiles…” He spoke pointedly and with passion. The fire of his thought was summed up in these ringing words, “Expect great things from God. Attempt great things for God.” “Carey impressed upon the minds of his Baptist brethren the fact that they could not deny God’s command to preach the Gospel to the entire world” (Miller p. 37). Before the meetings closed, the pastors passed a resolution to form a “Baptist Society for the Propagating of the Gospel among the Heathen.”
Carey’s original vision was to be a missionary in the island of Tahiti (inspired by Captain Cook’s description). Then he and the other members of the missionary society met Dr. John Thomas, who had experience in India, spoke Bengali, and was looking for help. Carey and his friends felt that through this contact the Lord was leading them to return with Thomas and establish their mission in India.
As Carey planned his trip, he had to face incredible obstacles. Their society had no money. Dorothy, his wife, was pregnant, expecting within a few months. She had never seen the ocean, was terrified of sailing on it, did not want to leave her family and friends, and, quite frankly, did not want to go at all. Furthermore, she was unwilling for her husband to go. As Carey agonized over the whole matter, the words of Jesus, “He that loves wife or child more than Me is not worthy of me,” led him to feel that he should go, even without his family. He wrote these thoughts to his father, who said of Carey’s decision, “It was the folly of one mad,” an utterly inane desire (Miller p. 43). Added to all this, was the discovery that Thomas – full of enthusiasm and self-sacrifice for the Lord’s work, was at the same time hopelessly irresponsible with regard to finances, and creditors in London were dunning him for his considerable debts.
In the midst of all these pressures, Carey could only seek the Lord. One by one the problems were resolved. Dorothy, having born a third son, changed her mind and said she would go, if her sister, Kitty, could accompany them, which the girl was willing to do. Sufficient funds were raised. Even Thomas worked out a solution with his creditors.
On June 13, 1793, the small party sailed on a Danish East India ship for Calcutta – a voyage of 5 months.
Before sailing, Carey had met with the small but earnest members of the Baptist Society. Later, Fuller, one of the members, remembered the momentous occasion:
We say that there was a gold mine in India, but it was a deep as the center of the earth. I asked, “who will venture to explore it?” Carey replied, “I will venture to go down, but remember that you” meaning Sutcliff, Ryland, and myself, “must hold the ropes. We solemnly engaged ourselves to him to do so…” (Miller p. 42).
And so they did for the rest of their lives. Most of us have heard of William Carey; who remembers the names of Fuller, Sutcliff, and Ryland? But they held the ropes and supported him and his colleagues for 40 years.
(Next installment: Part II The Mission.)
Notes
1. John Eliot (1604-1690), while serving as a pastor of an English speaking congregation, learned the Massachusetts language which belonged to the Algonquin linguistic family and into it translated the whole Bible, the first Bible to be printed in America. Undoubtedly Eliot’s experience had a great impact on Carey’s vision of Bible translation.
2. Not given to snappy titles, Carey’s pamphlet actually carried the longish name of: An Enquiry into the Obligations of Christians to Use Means for the Conversion of Heathen in which the Religious State of the different Nations of the World, the Success of Former Undertakings, and the Practical Ability of further undertakings are Considered.
Bibliography
Drewery, Mary. William Carey. A Biography. Zondervan, 1978.
Mangalwadi, Vishal and ruth. The Legacy of William Carey. A Model for the Transformation of a Culture. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 1999.
Miller, Basil. William Carey, Cobbler to Missionary. Zondervan, 1952.
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