At last, several of William’s fellow ministers were convinced it was time to attempt something for God! On October 2, 1792, a group of twelve ministers met to make plans. Among them were William’s friends John Ryland, Andrew Fuller, and John Sutcliff. The men were all ministers of small churches filled with poor farmers and laborers. Some received enough money from their pastoral duties to support their families, while others, like William, had to take on a second job. All of them wanted to do something to further the cause of missions, but what? In the end, they decided to start a society, which they named the Particular Baptist Society for Propagating the Gospel. Each one in the group promised to give as much money as he could to the new society. When all the pledges were added up, they totaled thirteen pounds. William pledged to give all the money he made from his book. For William, something far greater than the money had happened at the meeting. Finally, after years of preaching about the need for missionaries, William’s book had convinced a group of men to take the call seriously. William could hardly wait to see what would happen next.
Many questions were raised at the first official meeting of the Particular Baptist Society for Propagating the Gospel. What qualifications should a missionary have? Did anyone know a person who was qualified and willing to be sent out as a missionary? Where was a good place to send a missionary? What should he do when he got there? Should a missionary have a job there? Should he take his family with him? Should he travel back to England to report on his progress? After all, there had never been an English missionary society before, so there was no pattern to follow.
Obviously, a lot of things had to be thought through before the first missionary could be sent out. As the ministers dealt with all these details, an unspoken question hung in the air: Who would be the first missionary?
Chapter 6
I Will Go
William Carey turned the envelope over in his hands. He squinted to read the tiny handwriting on it. It was from a Dr. John Thomas, and it was postmarked London. As he slit the envelope open, William tried to think of any connection he had with someone in London. He had never been there himself and couldn’t think of anyone he knew there.
William pulled out the letter and began to read. As he read, he got more and more excited. Dr. Thomas had just spent four years in the Bengal region of India. He had originally gone to India as a ship’s doctor for the East India Company. While in Calcutta, he had become a Christian, and soon after that he was so overcome with both the spiritual and medical needs of the Indian people that he left his ship and stayed on to work among the people. He had made friends with several English Christians there who had given him money to keep on doing what he was doing. But finally the money had run out, and Dr. Thomas had returned to England to raise more so that he could return to the Bengal region. When he arrived in London, a friend had told him about William Carey and the new missionary society.
Was it possible that God had sent them their very first missionary so soon? William wondered as he read. By the time he had finished the letter, he could hardly wait for the next meeting of the missionary society committee to share its contents with the others.
The members of the committee were as impressed with the letter as William had been. Andrew Fuller was given the job of writing to Dr. Thomas and inviting him to attend their next committee meeting in Kettering. The meeting was to be held on January 10, 1793.
Dr. Thomas, who had accepted the invitation, was late, so the meeting started without him. Finally, as the meeting was drawing to a close, there was a knock on the door. William rushed to answer it, wanting to be the first one to greet a real missionary. He shook Dr. Thomas’s hand heartily, noting that the doctor looked only about five years older than himself and was a good six inches taller.
Within minutes, William felt as if he and Dr. Thomas were old friends. Dr. Thomas was as passionate about sharing the gospel message with the heathen as William was. The evening sped by.
William, who had written the longest and most researched missionary book of its time, had many questions to ask this real missionary. How much money did it take to keep a family in India? Did Dr. Thomas speak the Bengali language? Did he have some of the language written down so that they could see what it looked like? How many Indians could understand English? What Christian literature was already published in their native languages? How many converts had Dr. Thomas made? How much would it cost to build a humble mud and straw cottage in India? The questions went on and on, and with each answer, William became more excited and more inspired.
Finally, Dr. Thomas pulled a letter from his pocket and read a portion of it. It was from three high-ranking Brahmins (members of India’s scholar caste) to whom he had been preaching. The Brahmins had written: “Have compassion on us and send us preachers, and such as will do translation work.”
As William heard these words, he felt like his heart would burst. He knew that God had given him a gift for understanding languages quickly, and here were heathen people begging for someone to translate the Bible for them. At that moment, William Carey knew he must go to India.
After putting the letter back in his pocket, Dr. Thomas continued, his voice raised with excitement. “An Englishman should not have any difficulty finding a suitable job within three months of arriving. A man can meet his own expenses and the expenses of his family and still have some left over to use in preaching.”
This was what William had been waiting to hear. In his book, Enquiry, he had suggested that missionary societies should pay for the missionaries’ passage to a foreign land as well as their setup costs when they arrived. As quickly as possible, however, the missionaries should find jobs and become able to support themselves. Now a real missionary was standing in front of him suggesting that this approach was possible in India.
“What is it you desire of us?” Andrew Fuller finally asked Dr. Thomas.
“If you will pay the way for me, my wife, and my daughter and meet our expenses for the first year, I will go back to Bengal and continue the work I began.”
Every head in the room nodded.
“And one more thing,” Dr. Thomas added. “If a suitable companion could be found to go with me, together we could do a lot more than I could alone.”
William Carey could feel his heart beating loudly in his chest. He was the suitable companion; he knew it. He stood firmly to his feet. “I will go,” he announced.
All eyes turned to him.
“I will go,” he repeated.
“Yes. Go! There is a gold mine of souls to be dug for in India,” said Andrew Fuller, rushing over to shake his friend’s hand.
“I will go down the mine,” William replied seriously, “if you will all hold the ropes for me.”
It was a solemn moment. William looked carefully from Andrew Fuller to John Sutcliff and then to John Ryland. Each man knew exactly what William meant. If he was to go to India, he would have to be able to count on them 100 percent to support him. The three men gathered around William and made him a promise. “I pledge to support you, no matter what happens, until the day I die,” each one repeated in turn. Right then and there, the course for the rest of William Carey’s life was set. He knew there would be no turning back.
William and Dr. Thomas talked far into the night. By the time they parted ways the following morning, their plans were firm. They would leave for India around April 1, in about three months. This would give them time to raise the money they needed. Dr. Thomas explained to William that it would take about five months to get to India, and if they didn’t start the journey before mid-May, the winds would be blowing in the wrong direction.
As William hiked back through the country lanes to his home in Leicester, he began wondering what other people would think of his decision. Would they understand? What would Dolly say? She had never been more than thirty miles from the cottage where she was born. Neither had William, for that matter, but unlike him, Dolly had no spirit for adventure. Everything made her nervous. And then there was the matter of her latest pregnancy. Dolly Carey was expecting another baby. It was due in May, which William knew meant that the child would be born at sea. Thank goodness, Dr. and Mrs. Thomas would be on board to help if anything went wrong.
Then there was his father. What would he say? He was still a clerk in the Church of England, and William didn’t think his father would be one bit impressed with what he was about to do. And his congregation. How would the members of the Harvey Lane Baptist Church react when they heard the news? Under William’s leadership, the church had left its troubled past behind and was growing rapidly. In fact, the church had just built a new gallery to provide extra seating for all the people who had joined the church.
As William walked, he prayed about these things. He knew beyond a doubt that God had called him to go halfway around the world to India. He just hoped that the people he loved most in the world would understand.
“What a wild idea!” screamed Dolly when her husband announced the news. “How can you think of me going to India when I have a baby on the way? God have mercy, is there not enough for you to do in England? And think of the boys. Felix, William, Peter, all those native diseases. I’ve buried two children, and it would be the death of me to lose another.” Tears of despair flowed down her cheeks, but she was not finished. “And the voyage, in a little boat out on that great big ocean. I couldn’t do it. I just couldn’t do it. It’s cruel of you to even suggest it.”
William reached out to take her hand. Although she had never seen the ocean, he knew how much she feared it.
“We must leave it in God’s hands,” he said soothingly.
“In God’s hands, indeed!” his wife snapped back angrily, pulling her hand away. “I will not go, and that’s final. If you want to leave us all behind, you can go alone. That’s all I have to say about it.”
William Carey sighed deeply. He knew from experience that it would be almost impossible to change his wife’s mind. Still, it was not too unusual for eighteenth-century men to leave their wives and families for long periods. Some men went to war, others searched for gold, and men like Captain Cook were away for years at a time exploring. Surely, going to share the gospel message with those who had never heard it before was a more noble reason to go alone than any of these other reasons, William comforted himself.
Next, it was time to tell his father of his plans. The following Saturday, William sat down and wrote him the following letter:
Leicester, January 17, 1793
Dear and honored father,
The importance of spending our time for God alone is the principal theme of the gospel. I beseech you, brethren, says Paul, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable, which is your reasonable service. To be devoted like a sacrifice to holy uses is the great business of a Christian….
I consider myself as devoted to the service of God alone and now I am to realize my professions. I am appointed to go to Bengal in the East Indies, a missionary to the Hindoos [sic]…. I have many sacrifices to make, I must part with a beloved family and a number of most affectionate friends…but I have set my hand to the plough.
I remain your dutiful son,
W. Carey
It was just as well William sent the letter rather than deliver the news in person. His sister Polly later told him that their father had been very angry when he read the letter and had yelled, “Has William gone mad? How can a person who has to keep out of the midday sun in England hope to survive in the tropics? And what about his wife and children?” Edmund Carey no doubt was also thinking that if William went through with his scheme, he may never see his son again. He was right.
