The Life of William Carey, Shoemaker & MissionarySmith, George
Religion
The Life of William Carey, Shoemaker & Missionary
Smith, George
Carey, William, 1761-1834; Missions -- India
"I have nearly filled my letter with this account, but I must give you
a short account of the state of my mind when I could think, and that
was generally when excited by an access of friends; at other times I
could scarcely speak or think. I concluded one or two days that my
death was near. I had no joys; nor any fear of death, or reluctance to
die; but never was I so sensibly convinced of the value of an ATONING
Saviour as then. I could only say, 'Hangs my helpless soul on thee;'
and adopt the language of the first and second verses of the
fifty-first Psalm, which I desired might be the text for my funeral
sermon. A life of faith in Christ as the Lamb of God who taketh away
the sin of the world, appeared more than ordinarily important to my
mind, and I expressed these feelings to those about me with freedom and
pleasure.
"Now, through the gracious providence of God, I am again restored to my
work, and daily do a little as my strength will admit. The printing of
the translations is now going forward almost as usual, but I have not
yet been able to attend to my duties in College. The affairs of the
Mission are more extended, and I trust in as prosperous a state as at
any former time. There are now many of other denominations employed in
Missions, and I rejoice to say that we are all workers together in the
work. The native churches were never in a better state, and the face
of the Mission is in every respect encouraging. Give my love to all
who know me.--I am very affectionately yours, W. CAREY."
Still more severe and disastrous in its effects was the cyclone of
1831. The former had desolated the open garden, but this laid low some
of the noblest trees which, in their fall, crushed his splendid
conservatory. One of his brethren represents the old man as weeping
over the ruin of the collections of twenty years. Again the Hoogli,
lashed into fury and swollen by the tidal wave, swept away the
lately-formed road, and, cutting off another fourth of the original
settlement of the Mission, imperilled the old house of Mr. Ward. Its
ruins were levelled to form another road, and ever since the whole face
of the right bank of the river has been a source of apprehension and
expense. Just before this, Dr. Staughton had written from America that
the interest on the funds raised there by Ward for the College would
not be sent until the trustees were assured that the money was not to
be spent on the teaching of science in the College, but only on the
theological education of Hindoo converts. "I must confess," was Carey's
reply, "I never heard anything more illiberal. Pray can youth be
trained up for the Christian ministry without science? Do you in
America train up youths for it without any knowledge of science?"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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