ON the death of William Carey in 1834 Dr. Joshua Marshman promised to
write the Life of his great colleague, with whom he had held almost
daily converse since the beginning of the century, but he survived too
short a time to begin the work. In 1836 the Rev. Eustace Carey
anticipated him by issuing what is little better than a selection of
mutilated letters and journals made at the request of the Committee of
the Baptist Missionary Society. It contains one passage of value,
however. Dr. Carey once said to his nephew, whose design he seems to
have suspected, "Eustace, if after my removal any one should think it
worth his while to write my Life, I will give you a criterion by which
you may judge of its correctness. If he give me credit for being a
plodder he will describe me justly. Anything beyond this will be too
much. I can plod. I can persevere in any definite pursuit. To this I
owe everything."
In 1859 Mr. John Marshman, after his final return to England, published
The Life and Times of Carey, Marshman, and Ward, a valuable history and
defence of the Serampore Mission, but rather a biography of his father
than of Carey.
When I first went to Serampore the great missionary had not been twenty
years dead. During my long residence there as Editor of the Friend of
India, I came to know, in most of its details, the nature of the work
done by Carey for India and for Christendom in the first third of the
century. I began to collect such materials for his Biography as were to
be found in the office, the press, and the college, and among the
Native Christians and Brahman pundits whom he had influenced. In
addition to such materials and experience I have been favoured with the
use of many unpublished letters written by Carey or referring to him;
for which courtesy I here desire to thank Mrs. S. Carey, South Bank,
Red Hill; Frederick George Carey, Esq., LL.B., of Lincoln's Inn; and
the Rev. Jonathan P. Carey of Tiverton.
My Biographies of Carey of Serampore, Henry Martyn, Duff of Calcutta,
and Wilson of Bombay, cover a period of nearly a century and a quarter,
from 1761 to 1878. They have been written as contributions to that
history of the Christian Church of India which one of its native sons
must some day attempt; and to the history of English-speaking peoples,
whom the Foreign Missions begun by Carey have made the rulers and
civilizers of the non-Christian world.
write the Life of his great colleague, with whom he had held almost
daily converse since the beginning of the century, but he survived too
short a time to begin the work. In 1836 the Rev. Eustace Carey
anticipated him by issuing what is little better than a selection of
mutilated letters and journals made at the request of the Committee of
the Baptist Missionary Society. It contains one passage of value,
however. Dr. Carey once said to his nephew, whose design he seems to
have suspected, "Eustace, if after my removal any one should think it
worth his while to write my Life, I will give you a criterion by which
you may judge of its correctness. If he give me credit for being a
plodder he will describe me justly. Anything beyond this will be too
much. I can plod. I can persevere in any definite pursuit. To this I
owe everything."
In 1859 Mr. John Marshman, after his final return to England, published
The Life and Times of Carey, Marshman, and Ward, a valuable history and
defence of the Serampore Mission, but rather a biography of his father
than of Carey.
When I first went to Serampore the great missionary had not been twenty
years dead. During my long residence there as Editor of the Friend of
India, I came to know, in most of its details, the nature of the work
done by Carey for India and for Christendom in the first third of the
century. I began to collect such materials for his Biography as were to
be found in the office, the press, and the college, and among the
Native Christians and Brahman pundits whom he had influenced. In
addition to such materials and experience I have been favoured with the
use of many unpublished letters written by Carey or referring to him;
for which courtesy I here desire to thank Mrs. S. Carey, South Bank,
Red Hill; Frederick George Carey, Esq., LL.B., of Lincoln's Inn; and
the Rev. Jonathan P. Carey of Tiverton.
My Biographies of Carey of Serampore, Henry Martyn, Duff of Calcutta,
and Wilson of Bombay, cover a period of nearly a century and a quarter,
from 1761 to 1878. They have been written as contributions to that
history of the Christian Church of India which one of its native sons
must some day attempt; and to the history of English-speaking peoples,
whom the Foreign Missions begun by Carey have made the rulers and
civilizers of the non-Christian world.
