and Brethren of course you know
embraces both brothers and sisters you heard me checking with brother
Michael just now I was checking to see if the John Fawcett he
referred to was my John Fawcett because there are lots of them
But there was only one John Fawcett of the 18th century, whom I especially
know, because John Gill wanted him to succeed him as the pastor
of Carter Lane Church. You might not know that. And
Fawcett said, wow! becoming pastor of the most prestigious
church, Baptist Church in Britain. Wow! What an opportunity! Without thinking he said, Carter
Lane, Southwark, London, here I come. And he packed a wagon
full of his goods and chattels and closed the church door and
he was just about to say giddy up Gigi and then he thought what
am I doing? and he thought who do I love
the most the Lord Jesus Christ or being the most well-known
pastor in Britain and he said of course I love the Lord Jesus
Christ and then he said which church has really God called
me to? and he said after consideration,
oh it's my little Yorkshire church they are my children and they
look upon me as their father So he got out of the coach, unloaded
all his furniture, and stayed in the little church that the
Lord had called him to. And Carter Lane had to look for
ages for a new pastor, looking at one man after the other, until
eventually John Ripon came. So, I was born in Yorkshire,
almost next door to Fawcett, although he was a few years older
than I am, of course, and so it was lovely to end on that
note. Now, just imagine that John Milton
were here, you know, Paradise Lost, Paradise Gained, and you
perhaps know of William Cooper's wonderful commentary on those
verses well worth reading it's a sort of condensation of Reformed
theology well if Milton had looked at you this morning he would
have thought as I think a fit audience though few and I've
been so blessed by this fit audience in this church over the last
week, over a week now and I just praise God for you and I think
all of you have such a calling that if I were a member of your
church with authority I would treat you all as the early particular
Baptists treated their people they had pastors they had teachers,
they had elders, they had deacons, they had bishops, oh yes, early
Baptists had bishops, they had apostles, I'm climbing higher
and higher, the apostles were of course the messengers, but they also had messengers,
and they had qualifications and offices which would fit all together
most of their churches. So you had a church of office
bearers all working together with the minister to display
to the world that they were united, the united body of Christ with
all the gifts used together that Christ had
given them. There was no useless member in
the churches of those early Baptist churches. They were all evangelists
and missionaries together. Now, that's just a bit about
your honourable Baptist background. I think it would be nice to go
back to those days I don't know about you right now William Carey using
God's means to convert the people of India my first part preparing
the way and it was a very very long preparation now my first
joyful account of the life of Carey will start on a more solemn
note, because we still need a sound, exact, objective biography of
William Carey. Now you will say I've got 12
in my library, 12 different biographies, that's about what I have and
you've probably beat me, but they only give a little glimpse,
a scratch on the surface of the work of Carey. Now, ever since
1966, when my professor of missions at Uppsala University, Sweden,
his name was Bengt Sankler, presented his students with facsimiles
of Carey's an inquiry into the obligation of Christians to use
means for the conversion of the heathen and told us vivid tales
of Carey's 40 years in India I have loved Carey however though
a Sankhla, he was a missionary himself in Africa most of his
life, a Kul Ross, you'll be familiar with that work, a Myers, a Pierce,
Carey, a Jones, a Bullen, a Walker, a George and a Weber, all writers
on Carey although they have written on Carey the full true life of
this godly man has still to be portrayed Cary himself protested
that while his work was not yet done and it was far too soon
to evaluate the overall impact of his mission churches, denominations,
missionary societies, political parties and philanthropic societies
were already inventing and I emphasize that word were already inventing
lives of him which were pure fiction. So too the story of
the Baptist Missionary Society which stood in Carey's way more
than it supported him needs still to be told. So most of the stories
you know about Carey were written before Carey died and under great
protest. Carey said, what you are writing
about me just isn't true. Now, Carey's home background.
William Carey was born in Paulusbury, Northamptonshire, England on
August the 17th, 1761. The first of Edmund and Elizabeth
Carey's five children. Edmund, Cary's father, was a
weaver, teacher and the parish clerk. Clerk, to you Americans. William learnt to read, write
and study the scriptures. William had hardly any school
education, but at school he learnt to read, sorry, at home he learnt
to read and write and study the scriptures. enjoying Bunyan's
Pilgrim's Progress at an early age. He was brought up as an
Anglican and found Christ in that church under the preaching
of Thomas Scott, friend of Cooper and Newton and you may be familiar
with Thomas Scott's commentary. William's uncle Peter, a retired
soldier, encouraged William's interest for gardening and foreign
countries. If a Christian isn't a good gardener,
I think, his education hasn't been finished yet. So William
learnt to be a gardener early in life. William was apprenticed
to a shoemaker at the age of 14, a hard-working man at 14. There are a few youngsters here,
think of that. This trade occupied him for the
next 28 years. Now, though Carey confessed that
neither heaven nor hell interested him, John Waugh, a fellow apprentice
and dissenter, lent him Christian books which prepared him for
Scott's preaching. Thus Carey grew to respect both
the Church of England and dissent. In the days and environment of
his youth, that dipped and sprinkled, to use Cooper's language and
to use his language again, lived in peace. However, in 1764 six
churches joined to form the Particular Baptist Association and by 1779
the Baptists consolidated as an immersionistic group but they
were still divided on the communion issue. They were still mostly
open communion, not closed communion Baptist. Anglican Cooper writes
of the great spiritual times he and Newton's church had with
the new Baptist denomination. he was an Anglican, remember,
writing, it was the most comfortable sight to see thirteen gospel
ministers together, most of them either preached or prayed, and
all that did so approved themselves sound in the word and doctrine. He's talking about both churches. Then he goes on to say, I should
be glad if the partition wall between Christians of different
denominations would everywhere fall down flat, as it has done
at Olney. That's a thought for you, isn't
it? Now, life at Olney and District.
Whilst at Orkney, Carey was enabled to defend, as he said, on a crucified
Saviour for pardon and salvation and to seek a system of doctrine
in the Word of God He was subsequently baptised by John Ryland Junior
in the River Neen on October 5th 1783 His wife of two years, he'd only
been married two years, Dorothy, but she's commonly called Dolly
in her biographies, Dolly Packett, remained an Anglican believer
and refused to join him because she told him, I've already been
baptised. Carey immediately applied for
a preaching license but the church turned him down, they turned
him down radically after a trial sermon in the summer of 1785
I've read the reports, the church thought, oh, oh dear we can't
license him to preach, this is the great Carey by this time,
though Carey was preaching outside of the denomination and had recently
accepted a call to Moulton Baptist Church on a salary of £12 per
year, but without the blessing... Oh, brother Bob's thinking £12
per year, what's that about? $15? Cheers! Without the blessing and official
sanction of his own pastor and church. so Cary was getting off
to an extremely bad start Cary's molten work though was crowned
with a number of conversions so a year after his initial disappointment
Cary went back to his home church in Olney his minister was called
Sutcliffe and said well here I am again and this time I want
you to send me and so Cary was accepted with unanimous satisfaction
for the ministry by the Olney congregation who, things didn't
always go Cary's way who nevertheless placed him on a further year's
probation so he had to wait another year until he could be ordained
Then on the 1st of August 1787, Cary was at last ordained to
preach wherever God, these are his words, wherever God in his
providence might call him. Notice the early Baptists weren't
ordained for the ministry just in their church, they were ordained
as people who were going out in accordance with Christ's command
go out into all the world and preach the gospel so he was ordained
to preach wherever God in his providence might call him so
even then India was opened to him in October 1787 Cary baptised
his wife Dolly by immersion His thoughts were now centered on
worldwide evangelism and he was agonized to hear that Baptists
were at the rear of such enterprises. Now how many books have you read
saying the Baptist Missionary Society was the first missionary
society or at least the first modern missionary society? Well,
William Carey complained that they were the last and read him
on this, it was agony to him to know that the Presbyterians,
the Methodists, the Anglicans were all out there, some of them
had been out in India for a hundred years, preaching the Gospel,
translating the Scriptures, and he prayed, Oh Lord, let us Baptists
at least be as industrious as they are. Reports of Societies
for the Indian Mission formed by William Jacob Spainer in the
17th century and August Hermann Franker in the 17th century,
so we're a hundred years before, in Denmark and Germany thrilled
Carey, as also tales of Count Zinzendorf 18th century and the
Moravian missionaries to the Caribbean, North America, Greenland
and Abyssinia, countries so far away as those, were being evangelized
by Danish and German and Dutch and English missionaries. Some
missionary societies in England were also a hundred years old.
Carey also followed the stories of John Eliot's and David Brainerd's
mission to the North American Indians and the Anglican missions
to the New World, he read about them avidly. Gradually, realising
that a missionary, especially one who was prepared to give
his flock the Bible in their own language must be fluent in
the biblical languages." Brother Bob says, Amen. So with Sutcliffe's
help Carey diligently studied Greek and Hebrew adding Dutch
and French. An uneducated man suddenly studying
Greek, Hebrew, Dutch and French all at once. How about that?
and he mastered them, that's the main point of course in 1789
Carey accepted a call to Harvey Lane Leicester a large church
which gave him a very small salary there were stingy miserly Christians
in those days too now Harvey Lane was a den of
immorality read about that church pathetic no wonder they didn't
give him a good salary so he disbanded the church at once
only sensible thing he could do and drew up a new membership
list and the new church then grew by leaps and bounds away
with the dross and he got pure gold only then was Cary inaugurated
by John Ryland, Samuel Pearce, Andrew Fuller and John Sutcliffe. They were all waiting to know
what would happen to this disobedient young man. During the next association
meeting at Clipston, Carriot, supported by Pearce, put forward
his proposals for a foreign missionary society. The motion was rejected. Kerry published his inquiry in
1792 and in the same year again announced his proposals that
a plan be prepared against the next ministers that means at
the next ministers meeting at Kettering for forming a Baptist
society for propagating the gospel among the heathen the motion
this time was passed he was stubborn, he kept at it now the formation
of the missionary society a meeting at Kettering was held on the
2nd of October but only 12 ministers from all the churches attended
after initial opposition they all said at first, no, never,
ever but after initial opposition, Carey eventually persuaded those
gathered to form the Particular Baptist Society for the Propagation
of the Gospel among the Heathen, full title. Note this youngster,
a Greenhorn, getting hold of 12 ministers, they were all against
him and after half an hour's discussion they were all for
him. That's the way to move men. So Carey, Sutcliffe, Ryland,
Fuller and Reynold Hogg became the executives. It was founded
as a para-church organisation. These weren't churches, these
were just individuals. The churches would say no. So
it was founded as a para-church organisation with a limited executive. The members promised £13, two
shillings and sixpence in funding. Note I say they promised it because
they all came with nothing in their pockets apart from a few
pennies and so either they were very strong in the faith or it
was an idle dream, they thought, well, if the Lord provides, we
might raise the astonishing sum of £13, two shillings and sixpence,
which was then, well, poor Baptist pastors were getting that per
year, but Anglican ministers were getting £80 a year in those
days, and so £13 was peanuts. However, once the society was
formed, more substantial gifts came in from different denominations
around the country. The Baptist Missionary Society
was financed for years and years by several different denominations,
including Episcopalians and Presbyterians. The people of Yorkshire, you
know where of course it was, and Brother George Eller, the
people of Yorkshire were especially generous. And the poor, blind
Anglican curate of Bradford, where I was born, willingly parted
with a guinea on hearing that the gospel was to be spread abroad. His vicar followed likewise. Many Baptist ministers complained,
arguing like Benjamin Bedome and you will all be familiar
with him, his biography is well worth reading I think Michael
Hacking is working on a new one now Well, the Baptist ministers
complained that the home churches were destitute and ought to be
supported with these monies instead of paying for a future dream
who very few thought would ever come to pass. If you can't clean
your own doorstep, they said, well, don't try to clean the
Indians' doorstep. I think there's something very
sound in that advice. Now the call to India. When John Thomas, a doctor and
evangelist in India, heard of Carey's plans whilst on a fund-raising
tour to pay off his enormous debts, he asked to join the Society. he thought, aha, if a society
sends me out they'll finance me and help me get rid of my
enormous debts those were his actual thoughts it's recorded
through pen and paper so, he told them openly if I join you
will you help me with my fundraising? yes will you help me with providing
me with a co-missionary?" Yes, well they had promises for £13 and Thomas had debts going into
thousands now Andrew Fuller was commissioned to go to London
and visit Thomas Fuller was so thrilled to meet a real live
missionary. See, he thought missionaries,
they must be sort of angels sent from God, they must be creatures
holier than us. He didn't think that his job
in Kettering was to be a missionary too. but missionaries are only
found in foreign countries and they are angels sent from God
and here was a real live missionary, Wawa so, without a word of Thomas'
many failings he recommended Thomas as God's opening door
for the society and urged them back him Cary volunteered, of
course, to be Thomas' companion and fellow missionary. So, actually,
poor Cary, he didn't realise what he was in for, but that'll
come later. Cary claimed that if missionaries
were provided with clothing, a few knives, powder and shot,
fishing tackle and the articles of husbandry necessary to cultivate
a little spot of ground just for their support they could
maintain themselves so he wanted to start as humbly as he'd lived
up to then Carey had lived simply at home and did not wish to live
any finer abroad Fuller then promised Carey and Thompson they
would be soon sent to India without consulting his fellow executives. On his own back, with promises
of £13 in his pocket, he told Thompson, we'll be sending you
both to India. Passage to India then was of
course hundreds of pounds, it took five months to get there.
he now told them at the executives it is a great undertaking but
surely it is right and I read this question like this that
surely it is right you know, is it or isn't it? but most people
think he said surely it is right now Dolly refused point-blank
to allow Carey to go Carey's wife You stay here, my young
man." He was in too poor health, she said, and she was eight months
pregnant. Carey's church also rebelled. You are our pastor. We're paying
you to stay here, not to gallivant off to a foreign country. We
need you. Carey's father said, My son,
you have gone mad. Dolly then promised, however,
to follow her husband in three or four years when their unborn
child would be old and strong enough for the exhausting journey. She also said, however, that
eight-year-old Felix could accompany him. So, Dolly, she recognised
her husband as her head that she wasn't going to give up without
a struggle right, the valedictory fiasco and boy did things go wrong Thomas
and Carrie planned to sail in March 1793 after tearful departures
they arrived at the port to find that in their enthusiasm They'd
forgotten a passport, forgotten emigration papers, forgotten
permission from the government to emigrate. They'd forgotten
everything. They were so naive because they
came from such a simple background and they'd hardly ever gone outside
of their town that they didn't realise you've got to have papers,
identification papers. and Carey then decided to travel
illegally. He wanted to be smuggled to India. But things get worse and worse.
Next, Thompson was arrested and refused permission to leave the
country until his debts were paid. Well, in England in those
days you were put in prison until you paid your debts, so you could
never pay your debts because you couldn't work, you were in
prison. Right. so Thomas is arrested. The captain
was then ordered to depart without the missionaries. Carey and Felix
were now stranded for months with hardly any money. On 6th
of May Jolly was delivered of a healthy child Carey said he
could not visit her and rather meanly said that Mrs. Thompson though in bad health
was accompanying them, so he was rather, well, can I use the
word rude, to his wife. Poor wife, just had a child,
I can't visit you and you ought to be here with me. Hungering
on the dockside. Now, Thomas did not manage to
pacify the authorities until the 23rd of May so they land there in March and
they are sort of just waiting around until the 23rd of May
and then there was no chance of obtaining a ship to India
so Cary returned home to Dolly and promised he would never leave
her nor forsake her again. Right, now Thomas' positive side
rose to the surface. I hope we have all positive sides,
not just negative sides. Within a week he had raised money,
found reconciliation with his creditors, found a legal ship
to carry them to India and organised the transport of their baggage. He did all that in a week. Amazing
man. on hearing that Carey had given
up his missionary plans, of course, his enthusiasm waned somewhat. Thomas dashed to Carey's home
and pleaded with his whole family so successfully that Dolly relented
and agreed to accompany Carey to India with her children and
her sister. Now, Fuller panicked. He now believed he had made the
mistake of his life which he probably had done and one of
many to come. The society had no money and
Thomas now frightened him. He realised for the first time
that all this missionary glamour had dropped and Thomas stood
as it were naked before him. Then Yorkshire predominantly,
I must mention that, then Yorkshire and London, friends, came to
the rescue and Thomas quickly found new sponsors and through
his enormous energies and powers of persuasion soon had the party
in Dover ready to board. The new ship booked was, however,
nowhere to be seen. the friends had to hang around
for two weeks hoping and praying that this Danish ship might come
one day and they had no money but after a week the belated
Danish ship entered the dock oh! were they relieved! on 15th
of June she set sail for India with the missionaries and their
families safely on board the time of anxiety and chaos was
to end for a while now initial difficulties as soon as crown
princess Maria crown princess Mary set her sails Cary removed
his ill-fitting gentleman's wig and sent it sailing into the
brine as a symbol that he would live the simple life of the Indian
peasants in order to win them for Christ. Only death would
sever him from his new home country. Never went back to England. Carey
used the five months journey, you fly to India, how long did
it take you brother Mike? About 18 hours. Right, well it
took Carey five months just to get to the coast. Right. But he used the five months wisely
to learn Bengali and as he studied, he used his knowledge of Hebrew
to assist Thomas in his Bengali translation of Genesis. They speak Bengali in the Calcutta
region. The ship's captain and owner,
a Dane of British stock commonly called Captain Christmas, his
own name was John Smith, so you don't call an important captain
John Smith, so he was called Captain Christmas. He proved
a good and faithful friend. He used his Danish connections
to ensure that Cary and his family would be warmly received by the
Scandinavians in Bengal. No, the Scandinavians, not the
British. The captain allowed Cary and
Thomas to preach freely on board that the interest shown was minimum.
As a Fleming, a Norwegian, a Dane, a German, and a Frenchman attended,
Cary saw this as the start of his worldwide mission. Storms stopped the ship entering
ports on the way. So Carey could not send any news
to the Society. It took a year for Carey's letters
to get to Britain. Sometimes they took five years.
On arrival in India, the Missionary Party were told by the British
authorities that they were totally unwanted and should return home. So the battle hasn't yet been
won. Captain Christmas then smuggled
the party illegally out to Calcutta, where the Indians heard Thomas
preach the gospel. Cary soon believed that missionaries
would be welcomed wherever they went in India, though not by
the British authorities. A Swedish missionary, Cernando,
advised Cary to set up his mission outside of British-controlled
India. Good advice. Right, Cary makes himself independent
of the society, or at least of society help. Meanwhile, Thomas
squandered the £150 which the society had entrusted him as
a man who knew all about finance. It was a year's supply and he
squandered it within days. He hired a large city palatial
house with lots of servants because he thought missionaries must
keep up their appearance. but these missionaries didn't
appear to be very much to have to keep up at all. Now, immediately
forcing the missions into debt. So after a few days the mission
was in debt. Carey begged support from the English Calcutta Christians
but they refused. Why? Because of Thomas's bad
reputation. Carey sought secular employment
but was turned down. Mrs. Carey became depressive,
even insane, and Felix caught dysentery and was told he was
about to die. Now who rescued Carey and his
family? The kind Indians found a rent-free
plot of gardening land in the Sunderbans near Dibata And Charles
Short, then an English official, gave the Careys accommodation. Careys started growing vegetables,
hunting and fishing. You know now how important that
is. But Thomas kept making debts, so Carey was earning money, giving
it to Thomas as his financial genius, and Thomas was going
into debt. Right, Thomas drank, although
now Cary was making money, Thomas had plans of becoming rich, so
he dragged Cary out of his Garden of Eden because he had persuaded
the British officials to give men posts, a big post and a little
post, as producers with a substantial salary. of course Thomas received
the larger offer and gave Carey the smaller post sadly enough
Carey followed his nigh criminal companion he therefore however,
he was still earning a good salary he therefore wrote to Fuller
and Ryland saying I now inform the society that I can subsist
without any further monetary assistance from them I sincerely
thank them for the exertions they have made and hope that
what was intended to... Notice he says, what was intended
to supply my wants, because they stopped sending money. What was
intended to supply my wants may be appropriated to some other
mission. So all the monies you're sending
me, which were after the initial 150, nothing at all, you can
use for other missionary work. At the same time it will be my
glory and joy to stand in the same near relation to the society
as if I needed supplies from them and to maintain with them
the same correspondence." Cary was now an independent missionary,
able like Paul to earn his own keep and still minister to others. Now, the society drifts away
from Carey's enquiry concept, the book that inspired them to
promote Carey as a missionary. Meanwhile, the society was rapidly
developing ideas of foreign missions based on colonial thinking, in
stark contrast to Carey's. Fuller was against planting indigenous
churches in India. feeling they must be regarded
as daughter churches of the parachurch society and entirely under their,
he meant his, control including any monies they raised so whatever
Cary earned was the property of the home base Indeed, Fuller
now imagined that the society's Indians would strengthen the
East Indian Company and British power in India. Carey had made
it clear in his inquiry that the gospel cannot be divorced
from religious and political liberty. The idea of a church
governed by an organization thousands of miles away was anathema to
him. So, the second major break. First,
his independence and then his view of church planting. Now,
the society's new divinity. So too, Fuller and Ryland began
to depart from the evangelism practiced during the Reformation
and Great Awakening and brought in American new divinity teaching
with its high view of man and low view of God. Happily, those
who withstood Fuller's new teaching grew three times greater than
the Fullerite churches. You will be told by modern Fullerites
that Fuller caused a great and marvellous expansion of the churches. His churches decreased and the
churches like John Gill's and William Huntington's multiplied. and especially John Ryland's
church grew and grew and grew. Now Fuller allied with the Armenians
and opened up membership of the Society to all who could afford
the fee. You remember in the downgrade
controversy Spurgeon says and look at our missionary society
they charge 10 shillings and 6 pence to become a member and
anybody who pays that membership fee, no matter what Tom, Dick
or Harry he is, he is a member of our missionary society. It
was a money-making business, had become so. Now Benjamin Bedome
said that the churches who neglected their local church were hardly
in a position to send out missionaries to do better work. The leading
Baptist and Anglican magazines, they're in all the libraries
around the world and online to read, warned of the gangrene
in Fullerism. Now the society's reaction to
Carey's letter. These will be things you've never
heard of I've used the same sources as everybody else, but everybody
else seems to have delighted in leaving all these juicy things
out. So, the society's reaction to
Carey's letter. When Carey's Declaration of Independence,
I call it, that sounds good American, reached the Society on 5th of
August 1794, Abraham Booth, who you probably know, declared the
end of the Society's connections with Carey. That was that, he
said. Carey had not asked for permission
to take this stand. and that permission they would
never give. The Society advised the committee
therefore to drop Carey and India and send, this is their word,
real missionaries out to Africa. Oddly enough, Thomas was not
criticized. The Society wrote to Carey patronizingly
condemning his motives as worldly. Carey lovingly replied that he
had made it quite clear to the society that a true missionary
should identify himself fully with the country to which he
was called and make himself as independent as possible so as
not to be a burden on anyone this is Paul tent making Carey
estimated that the indigo production would only demand his entire
energies for three months in the year and even this would
not be without his Christian witness his constant Christian
witness he could then spend the remaining nine months evangelizing
and teaching furthermore, Cary told the committee that thanks
to his income he could pay for the printing of the scriptures
in Bengali and Hindustani and he knew that they would have
to admit that the society was in no position whatsoever to
pay for the printing themselves. Pierce Carey, and that's the
book I would recommend the most, it's the thickest and most comprehensive
Pearse Carey, a relation of Carey's, of course, William's great-grandson,
argues rightly that if the missionaries had waited for the need of support
from the society, they would have starved. Indeed, the few
goods and monies which were being sent to India were taking, then,
three years to reach that country. Sometimes it was even more. Thomas
Schiermacher He is my superior in the Martin Busser Seminary
in Bonn, which I serve. He's a man with four doctorates
and you've been praising me but you should see his degrees. I
mean they have a sort of Oh, I forgot the word in English,
but you know when you see a road and it gets narrower and narrower
and meets the horizon? Well, his academic qualifications
are like that. Now, Thomas Schiermacher, in
a rare attempt to outline Cary's missions theology, shows how
almost all modern missionary societies look back on Cary as
their founder. but contrary-wise hold to a theology
of missions which was never his. Carey obviously stayed initially
within the Baptist society because of close friendships with its
committee members but he emphasised more and more the indigenous
nature of his work in contrast to the younger generation of
missionaries who had colonial and political ideas abhorrent
to Cary and undercoming to the Gospel. Now, Cary goes it his
way. You're all familiar, I suppose,
you can't escape it with the modern media, with Frank Sinatra's
song I did it my way. Well, there's nothing original
about that. He must have borrowed the term
from Carey, because Carey said to the society, I'm going to
do it my way. So meanwhile he was spending
every weekend, several evenings a week and the entire rain period
when the factories were closed walking some 20 miles a day through
pathless jungles to preach to the 200 villagers in the company's
district. By 1795 he could preach at length
and the people heard him gladly but they did not as yet change
their ways. their centuries-old traditions
made them willing to hear but slow to understand and slower
still to change so too becoming a Christian for the Bengalis
meant being declared casteless and face acute social restrictions
full members in the small mission church thus remained white but
there were few number of conversions also amongst the Danes and British. An early convert, Ram Rambasu,
began to live an adulterous life and was convicted of embezzlement. On the positive side, John Fountain
arrived from England, a very good man, to join the missionaries
Sadly, Fuller took a strong dislike to Fountain for political reasons,
feeling he was disloyal to the British Raja and the British
establishment, and his letters to Fountain were full of condemnation,
with no encouragement in them in support of Fountain's strong
desire to win souls for Christ. Now, you must know that at that
time very many of the particular Baptists, for example John Ryland
Senior, were Republicans. and they wanted even to go out
to America and help fight the British in the War of Independence
and many of you Americans get the wrong view of England, the
military wanted to fight the British wanted peace with their
brethren and understood their difficulties. So, here is John
Ryland preaching that he is prepared to bloody his hands and take
up his sword for those in America who are fighting for independence. Did you know that? No, you see? That's Baptist history! Right,
Fuller's interference became so extreme that Carey had to
write to Fuller telling him that his aggression against Fountain
was near to killing the new recruit unlike Fuller, Fountain left
his politics out of his missionary strategy and P.S. Carey tells us that Carey was
very drawn to him, Fountain, as a true yoke-feller. A Portuguese
of independent means from Macau, Ignatius Ferdinandes was converted
through Thomas' ministry and joined the missionaries in their
work. He assisted in financing many projects and equipped the
missionaries with new books and household necessities. At his
death, wealthy Ferdinandes left most of his land and property
to Cary's mission. The society responded, give us
it, give us it, give us it. Cary could now preach Bengali,
far more fluent than Thomas, and had begun to preach in Hindustani
too, and was also studying Sanskrit, believing the language provided
a key to Indian cultures, traditions and thought processes. Early
in 1797 he revised Thomas' translation of Matthew and Mark and Luke
and James and put the finishing touches to the rest of the New
Testament. But the printing posed a major
problem. Buying type in England was out
of the question. but his employer Mr. George Udney
generously provided the 46 pounds for a press with vernacular type
which was on sale in Calcutta in 1799 Carey witnessed the horrible
scene of the Sarty or widow burning which made him more determined
than ever to win the Indians for the gospel this prompted
him to pray more urgently four fellow workers. In May of that
year Carey received a letter posted over seven months previously
from William Ward who had once met him briefly at Goatyard Church,
Southwark, John Gill's old church. Ward wrote that he wished to
live and die with the Careys and was setting out forthwith
to India with the others. Who the others were he did not
say As the British government had banned missionaries from
entering British India, Ward and the others, i.e. the Marshmans
of noble fame, the Grants and Brunston, had boarded an American
ship bound for Danish Surreport. So at this time America and England,
of course, were warring. So these British ministers were
sent to India by the Americans on an American ship and of course
they were also saying, God bless America. Now, the end of the
Mudnabati mission, this was the mission that Cary had founded
around his little plantation. After initial good indigo harvest,
several lean years followed and Thomas gave up. The authorities
reacted by closing both plantations down. They thought, if Thomas
is giving up, Cary will. They didn't realise the difference
in the two characters. And the East Indian Company now
believed that the work of the missionaries was counterproductive
to their aims in India. All private printing presses
were outlawed, which meant a ban on publishing the scriptures
in British India. Thomas estranged himself from
the work of the mission, becoming increasingly unbalanced. As the
new missionaries landed at Serampore and placed themselves under the
protection of Denmark, the British authorities immediately demanded
that Ward, Grant, Brunson and Marshman should return to England. They feared that the Danes would
fit them out with passports so they could preach unhindered
throughout Bengal. The British even sacked Serampore
because they so hated missionary work. It was the centre of education
then, the centre of missionary work, so they said, we will take
over Serampore, steal it from the Danes and it would become
part of the British Empire. the new female missionaries had
quarrelled on the way out and the men fell out with one another
in Serampore Grant caught a fever immediately on arriving at Serampore
and died Ward wrote home that Mrs Carey was wholly deranged
so they weren't on a bed of roses yet On the positive side, the
Danish governor of Serampore, Olle Bier, told the British missionaries
that they could count on his help. His government, assisted
by the Germans, had been supporting Indian missions for well over
a hundred years, and Bier had been converted through the testimony
of Christian Friedrich Schwarz of Halle, and the SBCK, that
was the British Church of England mission at Tranquaba. Schwarz
was instrumental in leading many Indians to Christ and founding
a number of indigenous churches and schools in Tamil and Hindi
speaking regions. at Tranquaba and Madras, Bibles
had been printed in Tamil, Telugu and Hindustani and Bia wanted
the same blessing for the Bengalis. So the Governor asked the British
missionaries to help him establish a church, printing press and
schools in Serampore. This was the Danes, not the British
who were helping Kerry. they were fitted out with Danish
passports, Carey became a Danish citizen. Have you ever read that
in your biographies of William Carey? No. But they were fitted
out with Danish passports so the British authorities could
not hinder them. Beer asked Carey to lead the
mission and found schools, translate the scriptures and preach with
no let or hindrance in the colony. Denmark's policy of supporting
the evangelising of the Indians had, however, become a thorn
in the flesh to the British, who now declared war on Denmark. So a humble cobbler was one of
the major reasons for Britain going to war with Denmark. Now,
do not say that William Carey was not a historical figure. Now, King Frederick of Denmark,
who supported Indian missions and corresponded personally with
Cary, Ward and Marshman, refused to surrender Serampore because
in 1801 he had personally promised the missionaries protection and
refused to break his word as a Christian king and gentleman. protesting, yes brother, good
for him, protesting strongly at the British East Indian companies
in human policies in India. Cooper wrote to William Unwin,
who had the ear of the government, especially William Wilberforce
in Parliament. This is what William Cooper,
my friend and mentor, says. So you mustn't think that all
the Brits were cold-hearted colonialists. He says, they, Britain, have
possessed themselves of an immense territory which they have ruled
with a rod of iron, to which it is impossible they should
ever have a right, unless such a one as it is a disgrace to
plead the right of conquest. The potentates of this country,
they dash in pieces like a potter's vessel as often as they please,
making the happiness of 30 millions of mankind a consideration subordinate
to that of their own emolument, their own income, oppressing
them as often as it may serve a lucrative purpose. And in no
instance have I heard consulting their interest or advantage. Indians were dirt, you abused
them and you made money by it. That was the colonial idea of
many. Company director, they weren't
all like that, Charles Grant, who had, that sounds like a good
American name, doesn't it? Charles Grant, who had been campaigning
for missionaries to India since 1787, advised the English missionaries
to remain in Serampore, bought Kiernander's church building
and left a substantial legacy for them at his own death. David Brown, an English chaplain
to the East India Company, helped Carey enormously by mediating
between them, the police office and the East Indian officials. Carey accepted many English Christian
workers and East Indian Company workers into his church, which
thus became quite an international matter. This, however, angered
Fuller because it was done without his permission. He claimed that
Carey's English supporters were not real Christians and ordered
that the church should be closed, a closed communion of immersionists. If these Christians, who were
half-Christians, he said, refused to be immersed. Then there were
heathens and pagans, and you mustn't have fellowship with
them. Coming from Fuller, this was pure hypocrisy. He had nothing
against begging Anglicans, Lutherans and Presbyterians to finance
the East Indian mission. or give them political support,
but he would not have them partake of the cup of blessing in the
churches they had helped to establish and in the church buildings they
had provided, paid for and erected at no cost to the home society
at all. Indeed, Fuller told the Serampore
trio, Marshman Ward, Carey as they have now come to be known,
that they were following Antichrist and fellowshipping with non-Baptists
at the table. And that was as bad as opening
all doors to the devil and all his works and immorality and
heresy. Now the move to Serampore. Things
are getting brighter. All the bright stuff will come
in the next talk, so you'll have to stay. Carey took up residence
in Serampore on 10th of January 1800, the day after he was presented
to his sponsor and protector, Governor Behe, after which he
went out and preached to the Indians. Within 10 minutes he
was out there preaching the word. George Smith writes that Carey's
apprenticeship was now over and he had begun his full apostolate. From now on Cary is my favourite
missionary. Amen. Oh, yes, but perhaps I should
take the questions at the end because I'll probably answer
most of them in the next lesson. I got out of that one nicely,
didn't I? I have one that I don't think you necessarily When you
were describing Fuller's attitude towards this mixed community,
were you quoting his words? Oh yes, yes. You should read
his correspondence with Ward. And it's usually kept in a collection
entitled, Not Wishing to Rock the Boat. And Ward says, But
we can't do that. These are our brethren in Christ.
So we call our church the Union Church. And Fuller said, what? Not the Baptist Church? No, we're
the Church of Christ, centred around Christ. We're not centred
around a right. And Fuller couldn't believe what
he was hearing. And so as soon as Carey died,
Fuller had the church renamed Calcutta Baptist Church, etc. etc. The name was everything
for him. He would live and die for that
name. But the people in India said,
we are more interested in being one in Christ. And it was this
old idea, church denomination, you see, in whom is our trust,
in the organization or in the in the Lord. I know that's a
debatable position, that's why Fuller became so angry. But what right has an absentee
bishop, miles and miles away, to tell a new church in India
what to do? So, please think of that more
than all our silly controversies, and I call them that, all our
controversies about church order, the ordinances, discipline, and
things like that. Those people there were running
Christ. And it caused enormous difficulties
because it alienated lots of people. who supported Carey. But Brown, for example, the British
chaplain, stayed faithful to the mission to the end. Yes,
sir? Was Carey aware of former Armenian
theologians when they formed together in the society initially
and his former friendships he used later on? Yes. radically
changed his views between 1780 and about 1805 but he changed them slowly and
until the time after William Carey went out they were not
underlined so much And so, I think Carey remained aloof to these
modern changes. Yes, sir? Oh, yes. Oh, very, very close. And he
did preach at his own church a memorial service for John Gill. But he shared the pulpit with
John Gill and with George Whitfield. They were the very best of friends.
In fact, it was John Gill who suggested that Toplady should
translate Thank you, Zanki on predestination
and they were one in the faith. We'll look at Grinthorpe in Haworth. He was a friend of Whitfield's
and Harvey's who preached mightily in the moorland districts of
Yorkshire where I was brought up and a man came to him and
said Well, I'm one in the faith with you but I'm a Baptist and
my Baptist people cannot join you in communion. So what do
you think Grimthorpe did? He said, well we've got a lot
of money available somehow in our possession and the Lord must
have given us it for you and he built them a Baptist chapel.
That Baptist chapel still stands. But that's the way these men
were. And nowadays, you in your small
corner, I in mine, each man to his tent. We're forgetting the
body of Christ. Since you've already passed this
historically, would you address the story that many of us have
heard that John Ryland Sr. said to Cary on his proposal, Yes, the background to this is
that John Ryland was one of Britain's foremost educators. He founded
a great, well he founded two great centres of education and
he told Carey and all the people around him
that if you must study the language of the people you preach to now
remember that Kerry had been refused time and time again a
license to preach and only days after he did get a license he
was talking about you know going out to India and evangelizing
the world well Educator Ryland told student Terry, slowly, slowly,
prepare yourself. But he never got up at that meeting
and said what people say he did. How do I now know that? John
Ryland Junior, his son, was there. And he said, my father never
said that. and if you go through all the people that were there
at that time and I've studied this very carefully but my memory
is in ruins so I can't mention names and exactly what they said
but these people all denied that John Ryland had said that and
they had nothing to gain John Ryland was a Gileight and by
this time they were all Fullerites but they were honest men And
they said, no, that's a myth. I can send you material because
I've got the quotes and everything at home. Yes, sir? Yes, oh yes. He was their spiritual
father. Well, that was the idea. You
became a pastor for life of one church. And nowadays, I heard
that some pastors thought they had to move every three years.
And the average in Europe, the average time for a Baptist pastor
is seven years. When John Gill, after all those
50 years, or was it 40 years? No, it was 50 years, yes. When
he said to his people, I'm old and frail, I can't climb up into
the pulpit, get a new pastor. His church was shocked. They
said, but you're our father. We are your children. What person
would reject his own father? You're part of us. And they refused to get a new pastor. That's why
there was all the difficulty after John Gill died, because
the church had stubbornly refused to find a new pastor. So brother, you pastor your church. there's quite a well-known, I
mean forever, well I don't mean that you'll be preaching to them
in glory, I don't know about that, you might, but as long
as you live. Now, I got a note from a church
in America asking me to recommend a certain person as their new
pastor. and I couldn't because this man
was the father of a flock who loved him dearly and through
writing backwards and forwards I heard that this church was
divided they'd been fighting for years and they thought this
great man of God should come and they would become one And
I said to them, but you're misusing my dear friend and brother. He's
a pastor, not a sort of judge or administrator or a referee
or a mediator. And so I said, I refuse to compile
with their wish. And they wrote back and were
very rude. this has never happened before and I said, oh this man
is better where he is, better off there anyway, afterwards
I met this man and he thanked me with tears in his eyes because
he was going to go there and this church had revealed itself
as being corrupt and worldly and they would have made his
life hell and the church that he has has 3,000 members and
they all love him like their father so I'm going off the subject
but perhaps all the other questions you could ask later because I'm
getting a bit groggy