example in this, as in other respects, of such men as those of whom I have here spoken, may profitably be held in remembrance.

But there were others in those early years of the nineteenth century, not with the mark of the establishment upon them, who were labouring still more diligently in the great cause, and are still more worthy of distinguished mention in such a volume as this. They were not chaplains-they were not ordained ministers of any kind-they were simply, in the language of ecclesiastical wits, "inspired cobblers." But they wrought mightily for all that; and the lawn sleeves of the bishop could not have made them more potential agents of Christianity in India. Others who have since trodden the same paths, both chaplains and cobblers, might deserve equal notice for the thing done and the result obtained; but taking account of obstacles encountered and difficulties overcome, history delights to exalt the pioneer above all who follow after him :

""Tis on the advance of individual minds

:

That the slow crowd must ground their expectation
Eventually to follow-as the sea

Waits ages in its bed, till some one wave

Of all the multitudinous mass extends

The empire of the whole, some feet, perhaps,
Over the strip of sand which could confine
Its fellows so long time: thenceforth the rest,
E'en to the meanest, hurry in at once,
And so much is clear gained."

THE SERAMPORE MISSION.

217

CHAPTER VII.

The Serampore Mission-First missionary efforts of the Baptists-William Carey-The Mission to Bengal-Marshman and Ward-Establishment at Serampore-Hostility of the Government-Eventual Success.

Ir was in the year 1793, when John Shore was preparing to enter upon the Governor-Generalship of India; and Charles Grant was striving to obtain a seat in the direction of the East India Company; and David Brown was ministering peacefully in Calcutta on a salary of 1,000l. a year-when Claudius Buchanan was still attending Charles Simeon's Sunday parties, and Martyn and Corrie were yet at school-that a member of the Baptist persuasion, sick at heart and weary of limb, might have been seen wandering about the streets of London, and entering, often vainly and disappointedly, house after house, in quest of contributions towards the support of a great, but a doubtful, enterprise. What he sought was pecuniary aid to enable him to launch a Baptist mission to the heathens on the banks of the Ganges. What he wanted was but a small sum—an amount that in these days would be the merest trifle in the accounts of any one of our great religious societies; but, foot-sore and heart-sore, this holy man passed from house to house,

seeking help from brethren of his own persuasion or from religious friends of other sects, and, in spite of his abundant faith in the goodness of God and of his own unyielding perseverance, often obstinately questioning his eventual success and weeping over his repeated failures.

This good man was Andrew Fuller. A little while before, in conjunction with a few other members of the same church, a society had been inaugurated, under no very brilliant auspices, the object of which declaredly was "to evangelize the poor, dark, idolatrous heathen by sending missionaries into different parts of the world, where the light of the glorious Gospel was not then published;" and there were two labourers ready to go forth and shed that blessed light upon the dark places of Northern India. One of these was Mr. Thomas, who had already spent some time in Bengal; who had gone out as a shipsurgeon, had advertised for a Christian, had been planted, as I have already shown, by Mr. Grant in Malda, had failed both as a missionary and a merchant, and had irremediably forfeited the good opinion of his patron. The other was a younger and a better His name was William Carey.

man.

He was the son of a village schoolmaster in Northamptonshire, and had early in life been apprenticed to a shoemaker. Of a studious disposition and an inquiring nature, he had acquired a stock of information rarely obtained in such humble circumstances at so immature a period of life, and it does not appear that the necessities of his new calling quenched the

ardour of his thirst for knowledge, or wholly forbade its gratification. It is not on record that he achieved, or was ever likely to achieve, any great distinction as a craftsman. He said, indeed, years afterwards, when he was the guest of the Governor-General of India, that he had never been anything better than “a cobbler." But he rose to the dignity of journeyman (in which rank he accidentally attracted the attention of the well-known biblical commentator, Thomas Scott, who predicted that he would become a shining character), and afterwards married his master's sister -a wretched speculation-and did some business on his own account. His vocation, however, was towards preaching rather than towards cobbling; and his heart having been touched by an accidental circumstance, and afterwards softened by the pulpit oratory of Thomas Scott, he soon conceived the idea of teaching others; and, at the early age of eighteen, commenced, in an irregular sort of way, his ministrations in a dissenting chapel. His grandfather had been parish-clerk, and his father parish schoolmaster; so that he was bound by strong family ties to the Church of England. But the Church of England has no place for such men as William Carey, except as diggers of graves, or openers of pews, or utterers of "Amen!" and so his eager desire for the ministry drove him into the ranks of dissent. In October, 1783, he was baptized by Dr. Ryland, in the river Nene, near Northampton, and soon afterwards was placed in ministerial charge of a congregation in the village of Earl's Barton. He did not,

however, forsake his worldly calling until he found his business falling away, and, in great pecuniary distress, was compelled to sell his stock-in-trade. The Boston congregation was equally unprofitable; so, after enduring considerable privation, he removed to Moulton, where he took charge both of a congregation and a school; but neither being productive, he fell back upon the old craft of shoe-making, and carried to Northampton twice a month a bag full of his professional performances.

But he was now at the turning-point of his career. Whilst at Moulton he had conceived the grand idea of illumining the dark places of the earth; and intently did his mind brood over the sublime project in his little workshop, whilst his hands were busily plying the implements of his humble craft. In this state of mind he made the acquaintance of Andrew Fuller-then minister at Kettering-an acquaintance which soon ripened into a friendship only severed by death. He had previously become acquainted with Dr. Ryland-another eminent Baptist divine; and to both of these did young Carey now impart the great scheme of evangelization which occupied all his thoughts.

They were pious and able men with whom he communicated; but they did not at first grasp that mighty design. Carey, however, had fast hold of it; and would not let it go. From Moulton he removed to Leicester; but his thoughts travelled vast continents; and the changes neither of time nor place ould weaken the tenacity with which he clung to the