Page:The Bengal Obituary.djvu/356

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REVEREND WILLIAM CAREY, D. D will be at the expense of bringing them through the press." Animated with this promise, Carey replied That if he could not prevail on some one else to undertake it he would attem said his friend, "remember that I have your pledge from which you cannot recede." On returning home, Carey m not to print ey respec his cal Accounts, that he wrote the article on missions as early as 1786. The Missionary feeling howev appeared to gather strength in the minds of his three friends Fuller, Sutcliff, and Ryland, with whom originated those monthly prayer-meetings for the spread of the Gospel, both at home and abroad, which gradually spread wider and wider among the worshippers of the Saviour, mearly the whole of the Christian world.-Two sermons were at length preached at a meeting of minis ters at Clipstone, in April 1791.-One on "Jealousy for the Lord of Hosts," by Mr. Sutcliff, from 1st Kings, xix. 10, and another on the "Pernicious influence of delay in Religious concerns," by Fuller, from Haggai, i. 2. After these services Mr. Carey proposed it as aq ters to discuss, " whether it be not practicable, and our bounden duty, to attempt something towards excuse 1S length they now fill preading the Gospel in the heathen world, and as the public services which included these two ser mons had been attended with unusual solemnity, this question was managed by these ministers with s for the enlargement of the Saviour's kingdom.-The quest that Mr. Carey would publish rnest concern in , was their unanimously agreeing his thoughts on the subject of Missions, which had laid by him for more then five years.-These issued from the press in the beginning of 1792, and in the words of Fulle ight arise from this publication to the use of a Missionary So nv en, commencing with apostolic times, and con surve Ziegenbalg and Groundler in 1707.-The review concludes with the following observations he Moravian Missions: work; they have sent Missions to Greenland, Labrador, and s have been blessed for good.-They have likewise sent to Abyssinia in Africa." A brief but luminous survey of the present religious state of the world follows; and then, a section showing the p of something being done more than what is at present done for the conv cting But none of the moderns have equalled the ian brethren in this go ral of the West India Islands, which iry into the duty of Christians in general on this subject, and what means ought to be used in order to note the work.-It is altogether one of the most clear, concise and heart-stir held at Northampton, May the 31st, 1792, Mr. Full discourse from Isaiah, liv. 2, " Enlarge the place of thy Tent, and let them r published.- At the annual Association of the Baptist Churches ed a very animating ion engthen thy cords, and strengthen they stakes;" in which he pressed ry of lengthening our cords and strengthening our stake two th should expect great things; and that we should attempt great things. This sermon so affected the audience, that before the ministers parted, a resolution was passed that a plan should be prepared against the next minister's meeting to be held at Ket mination for propagati the 2nd, 1792,-but the whole day passed away without any effort being made to form a Missionary Society, or even to bring the subject prominently forward.-At length, Carey grieved to the soul, took Fuller aside, and sharply remonstrating with him on his permitting the day thus to pass away without attempting any thing, begged him, if he intended to do nothing toward forming a Missionary Society, at once to say so, and not keep him any longer in suspense. Greatly moved by this, Full as tering, for forming a Society in the Ba l among the heathen. This meeting was held at Kettering, October led int allis' parlour, as many of the ministers as then remained, and with eleven beside himself and Carey, gave existence to the Baptist Missionary Society. The fund then sub scribed to commence this holy undertaking, amounted to thirteen pounds, two shillings, and sia pence Thus after full nine years of anxious thought and exertion, had Carey the satisfaction of seeing a Society formed, with the express purpose of sending the Gospel to the heathen. In conversion to God, it is impossible to avoid the conclusion that he was indebted to Divine grace for a change of heart so thorough and lasting in contemplating his being called to the ministry before he was twenty, and so greatly blessed therein, can we ascribe the fact to any thing less than the grace of God constraining him to declare to others what he himself had felt and handled of the word of life since nothing less than Divine grace could have implanted in his mind that earnest desire after the salvation of the heathen, which lived and flourished amidst all the coldness of his brethren on the subject, until every obstacle being surmounted, he beheld a Missionary Society, formed among his dearest friends, which, small as it then appeared, was the forerunner of the Londor the Scottish Societies ; and of all which have been subsequently formed in America ; as well as on the continent of Europe. Surely the grace which was thus given to Carey, was not in vain; and the title of the father of Missions, so justly awarded to him, demanded on his part the deepest gratitude to the Father of mercies and the Redeemer of men. It has been seen, that when Carey and his colleagues formed a Missionary Society, consisting of twelve persons beside himself, they had no specific object an ia r duty to exert themselves for the conversion of the irresistible force; but to which part of the four hundred millions, whom Carey in his pamphlet had represented as not having yet heard the Gos Islands of the South Seas had at first attracted his attention; but i chosen that part of the world for his labours, the peculiar talent with which God had intrusted him that of fitness to translate the sacred oracles, would have been almost buried-circuimstances have since shown that India presented almost the only field in which this talent could be fully emploved s some may ask, w hat fitness he could possess for acqu up in such an humble sphere of life t