William Carey

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    George Whitefield  ---- 1714 - 1770
    William Carey      ----   
1761 - 1834
    Adoniram Judson    ----
1788 - 1850
    Charles Finney     ----   
1791 - 1875
    D.L. Moody         ----    
1837 - 1899
    Hudson Taylor      ----   
1832 - 1905
    John Hyde          ----     
1865 - 1911
    C.T. Studd         ----      
1860 - 1931
    Billy Sunday       ----     
1862 - 1935
    J. Frank Norris    ----    
1877 - 1952
    Jack Hyles         ----      
1926 - present

                                                 William Carey
                                 

   William Carey was raised in poverty and became a shoe cobbler in England. As a layman in a Baptist Church, he became burdened for the lost in foreign nations after reading a book on adventures of Captain Cooke. He had a homemade map of the world and began to pray for the heathen in the different areas of the world.
 At a meeting of Baptist Pastors in 1791, he suggested a topic for the pastors to discuss. The topic centered around the command given to the apostles to go and preach the gospel to all nations. He asked the pastors if that commandment was not binding on all successive generations including the present one.
 An old pastor said, "Young man, sit down! When God pleases to convert the heathen, He'll do it without consulting you and me."
 Carey was so troubled by the heartless response that he felt compelled to write a pamphlet on the subject. This pamphlet was used of God to burden others for the cause of sending out foreign missionaries. Soon a prayer group was started to ask the Almighty to intervene in the hearts of Christians. The following year, at another meeting of pastors, Carey (now a lay preacher) preached a message where he gave the principles that should guide the foreign missionary movement. It was in the sermon that he challenged the pastors: "EXPECT GREAT THINGS FROM GOD, ATTEMPT GREAT THINGS FOR GOD."
 This time the response was better and a group of these men began to raise funds for foreign missions. But there were no missionaries to send! A missionary doctor who had served in India was home. He was trying to raise funds to go back to India and he wanted a companion to go with him. As they discussed the situation, one of the pastors turned to William Carey and said, "Are you willing to go to India with Him?"
 He was very willing and prepared to go but his wife resisted. She told him she would never go since she had three children and was expecting another. Carey took his eight year old son Felix, and boarded the ship to go to India without his wife. He wrote his wife this note, "If I had all the world I would freely give it to have you and the dear children with me..."
 Someone had written the Captain of the ship saying this men were missionaries. The India Tea Company did not want any missionaries in India and refused to allow them to stay in the ship.
 When he returned home he found his wife now willing to go with him. Realizing how much she would miss him she changed her mind. They found another ship and set sail for India. Arriving in India in 1793, they discovered that this missionary doctor they were travelling with had left many debts and all the money they had entrusted to him had been taken away by creditors! There they were, stranded in a strange city, in a foreign land destitute. To make things worse, his second son died the following year at the age of 5.
 The work was very slow. Their first convert was baptized seven years later in 1800. Tragedy followed soon after as both his wife and missionary partner became mentally ill.
 The paganism and cruelty broke his heart and he set about to do something about two terrible practices. The first was the practice by the Hindus at the festival every January where "devoted" mothers would throw their babies into the "sacred" Ganges River. They would either drown or be thrown apart by crocodiles. Carey's diligent efforts resulted in a new law passed by the government. Soldiers were stationed by the river and baby sacrifices were stopped.
 The Other Evil practice was when Hindus would burn to death the widow of a dead man when he was buried. They called it "sati" Although it took twenty five years, a law was passed in 1829. Carey's efforts made a lasting effect on this evil.
 Although there was great opposition from people in the government and from English businessmen, Carey kept on working, "plodding" as he called it. He never was able to go home to England during the 40 years he spent in India,and the road he travels was paved with tears, yet, he kept on "plodding." He said late in his life:
 "If, after my removal, anyone should think it worth his while to write my life, I will give you a criterion by which you may judge, Of he gives me credit for being a plodder, he will describe me justly. Anything beyond this will be too much. I can plod."
 Carey's sister wrote for him:
 "Whatever he began, he always finished...God's plodder.... When he had to work full time to support his family in India -- he plodded. When his loving little five year old son died -- he plodded. when his wife, depressed by all the tragedy, became insane -- he plodded. When she died -- he plodded. For 40 years he plodded; giving the Word of God to the Indians. never looking back nor returning here for furlough."
 Carey just kept on working, winning souls and starting churches. More and more Christians followed his example and left England to preach the Gospel in foreign lands. He started a college to train Christian workers, and the work of God Spread across India. His vision and burden to to get the Word of God translated into the different Indian dialects was realized as the Scriptures were translated into 34 languages and dialects. When he had arrived in India only two dialects had the Word of God; but now almost all of India had access to the word of God.
 On June 9, 1834, William Carey left this world to go to his real home in Heaven. When he died he had been truly a man who "expected great things from God, and attempted great things for God."
 However, it was the Lord Jesus Christ that he pointed men to--His greatness, not his own. On his deathbed a young Scottish missionary, Alexander Duff, came to visit Carey. They spoke for quite sometime until finally William Carey interrupted the young man and said:
 "Mr. Duff, you have been speaking about Doctor Carey, Doctor Carey's Saviour."
 The greatness, I believe, in the life of William Carey was hos great vision of the Gospel being spread to other lands and his part in achieving that! He was the man God used to help so many to see that the world is truly every Christian's responsibility. May God give us a world vision so that we too can have a part in our Saviour's command to go into all the world and preach the Gospel.

Home


    George Whitefield  ---- 1714 - 1770
    William Carey      ----   
1761 - 1834
    Adoniram Judson    ----
1788 - 1850
    Charles Finney     ----   
1791 - 1875
    D.L. Moody         ----    
1837 - 1899
    Hudson Taylor      ----   
1832 - 1905
    John Hyde          ----     
1865 - 1911
    C.T. Studd         ----      
1860 - 1931
    Billy Sunday       ----     
1862 - 1935
    J. Frank Norris    ----    
1877 - 1952
    Jack Hyles         ----      
1926 - present