William Carey

TIMID ENGLISH SHOEMAKER TO STEEL-WILLED MISSIONARY IN INDIAIn the 1790s English shoemaker William Carey became a man on fire. Although the British government and even Carey’s colleagues disapproved of missionaries he would not give up the idea that Heathens who did not know Christ were doomed to eternal damnation. Britain’s crown jewel India especially drew him. Carey believed hundreds of millions of Indians were doomed without Christ! With meager funds as a Dissident he and his family sailed for India in 1793. How his family suffered there! First their mission was in the Sunderbans, a horrific muddy coast crawling with man-eating tigers. A more congenial place later was too late for Carey’s wife Dolly. In an ongoing tragedy that lasted 14 years she ranted and raged, losing her mind, finally dying in despair. Carey’s four sons - social misfits and uneducated - were barely salvaged by others.What had Carey done while his family disintegrated? He was at the forefront of stopping ‘sati’, the horrid custom of burning widows. He founded Serampore Mission, which spawned over 100 schools for Indians. He translated the entire Bible into six native languages. He rendered the New Testament into 30 native tongues. His press had made 200,000 print runs in 40 languages. He was world renowned language expert at Fort William College. Of his contribution William Wilberforce said, “The very plan of these would excite the highest admiration and respect in every unprejudiced mind.”