Cabin #8
Named For: William Carey
Born: 1761
Died: 1834
Mission Field: India
William Carey, the founder of modern missions, was born in England in 1761. He was educated only from age six through twelve, and at fourteen was apprenticed to a shoemaker. Shortly after his marriage in 1781 he began serving as a lay minister, and later as pastor of a church, where he supplemented his stipend by cobbling shoes. As he read reports such as those describing Captain Cook's voyages, his mind was stirred. He said frankly, "My business is to extend the kingdom of God. I only cobble shoes to pay expenses." At a meeting of the Northampton minister's association in 1786, Carey suggested the discussion topic "Whither the command given to the apostles, to teach all nations, was not obligatory on all succeeding ministers to the end of the world." In 1792, at a later meeting of the association, Carey preached his historic sermon from Isaiah 54, in which he spoke the memorable watchwords "Expect great things from God. Attempt great things for God."
At the meeting's close, after Carey offered himself as the first missionary, he exclaimed to his fellow ministers "And are you, after all, again going to do nothing?" In the same year the East India Company, having had their attention called to the subject of missions, passed the following resolution. "The sending out of missionaries ... is the maddest, most extravagant, most costly, most indefensible project which has ever been suggested by a moon-struck fanatic. Such a scheme is pernicious, improvident, useless, harmful, dangerous, profitless, fantastic. It strikes against all reason and sound policy; it brings the peace and safety of our possession into peril."
One month later Carey and his family were on their way to India arriving in 1793. Dark days set in at the onset of their arrival. For example, their financial troubles became acute due to poor fiscal management. He wrote in his journal one year later, "My wife and sister too, who do not see the importance of the mission as I do, are continually exclaiming against me."
The six years that followed were filled with executive duties, preaching services, and translation labor, before he was notified of reinforcements coming from England. It was then decided to set up a mission in Serampore (under the protection of the Danish government). It wasn't until seven years of faithful witnessing in India that Carey had the unspeakable joy of baptizing Krishna Pal, the first fruits of a mighty harvest of souls in India. In 1801, he completed a bound copy of the New Testament in Bengali, and eight years later completed the entire Bible. In 1802, a notable convert by the name of Krishna Prasa took the sevenfold sacred thread which denoted his caste and trampled it underfoot. When he later became the first Indian ordained minister, his fellow countrymen heaped insults upon him, smashed his hookah (an Eastern smoking pipe), and pelted him with dung. "Insults and stripes," he said, "are sweet to me for Christ."
The translation work of Carey can be placed alongside that of Jerome, Luther, Wycliffe, and Tyndale. He is in the first rank of Bible translators of all time. His achievements can't be fully appreciated unless it's remembered that for every portion of Scripture produced, the translators had to learn the language, write the translation, make the paper, cut and cast the type, print the sheets, and finally bind, publish, and distribute the book. In 1812 a disastrous fire destroyed his printing office. Slow, bitter tears rolled down his cheeks as he stood in front of the blackened ruins, and with half-burnt bits of paper fluttering along his feet he exclaimed, "In one short evening, the labor of years are consumed."
On one occasion in the last three years of his life a fellow worker named Duff visited Carey. Once, at the end of their conversation, Carey had this to relate. "Mr. Duff, you have been speaking about Dr. Carey, Dr. Carey. When I am gone say nothing about Dr. Carey - speak about Dr. Carey's Savior. Duff left rebuked and awed with a lesson in his heart he never forgot.
After publishing the eighth edition of his Bengali New Testament in 1832 Carey remarked, "My work is done. I have nothing to do but to want the will of the Lord." He always had the greatest dread of "becoming useless," and he continued his work until he wasn't able to sit at his desk. He died in 1834.