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the life of william carey-第42章

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ual gratitude。〃

In 1810 the parent mission at Serampore had so spread into numerous stations and districts that a new organisation became necessary。 There were 300 converts; of whom 105 had been added in that year。 〃Did you expect to see this eighteen years ago?〃 wrote Marshman to the Society。 〃But what may we not expect if God continues to bless us in years to come?〃  Marshman forgot how Carey had; in 1792; told them on the inspired evangelical prophet's authority to 〃expect great things from God。〃 Henceforth the one mission became fivefold for a time。





CHAPTER VII

CALCUTTA AND THE MISSION CENTRES FROM DELHI TO AMBOYNA

1802…1817

The East India Company an unwilling partner of CareyCalcutta opened to the Mission by his appointment as Government teacher of BengaliMeeting of 1802 grows into the Lall Bazaar missionChrist…like work among the poor; the sick; the prisoners; the soldiers and sailors and the nativesKrishna Pal first native missionary in CalcuttaOrganisation of subordinate stationsCarey's 〃United Missions in India〃The missionary staff thirty strongThe native missionariesThe Bengali church self…propagatingCarey the pioneer of other missionariesBenaresBurma and Indo…ChinaFelix CareyInstructions to missionariesThe missionary shrivelled into an ambassadorAdoniram and Ann JudsonJabez CareyMission to AmboynaRemarkable letter from Carey to his third son。

The short…sighted regulation of the East India Company; which dreamed that it could keep Christianity out of Bengal by shutting up the missionaries within the little territory of Danish Serampore; could not be enforced with the same ease as the order of a jailer。 Under Danish passports; and often without them; missionary tours were made over Central Bengal; aided by its network of rivers。 Every printed Bengali leaf of Scripture or pure literature was a missionary。  Every new convert; even the women; became an apostle to their people; and such could not be stopped。  Gradually; as not only the innocency but the positive political usefulness of the missionaries' character and work came to be recognised by the local authorities; they were let alone for a time。  And soon; by the same historic irony which has marked so many of the greatest reforms〃He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh〃the Government of India became; though unwittingly; more of a missionary agency than the Baptist Society itself。  The only teacher of Bengal who could be found for Lord Wellesley's new College of Fort William was William Carey。  The appointment; made and accepted without the slightest prejudice to his aggressive spiritual designs and work; at once opened Calcutta itself for the first time to the English proselytising of natives; and supplied Carey with the only means yet lacking for the translation of the Scriptures into all the languages of the farther East。 In spite of its own selfish fears the Company became a principal partner in the Christianisation of India and China。

》From the middle of the year 1801 and for the next thirty years Carey spent as much of his time in the metropolis as in Serampore。  He was generally rowed down the eighteen miles of the winding river to Calcutta at sunset on Monday evening and returned on Friday night every week; working always by the way。  At first he personally influenced the Bengali traders and youths who knew English; and he read with many such the English Bible。  His chaplain friends; Brown and Buchanan; with the catholicity born of their presbyterian and evangelical training; shared his sympathy with the hundreds of poor mixed Christians for whom St。 John's and even the Mission Church made no provision; and encouraged him to care for them。  In 1802 he began a weekly meeting for prayer and conversation in the house of Mr。 Rolt; and another for a more ignorant class in the house of a Portuguese Christian。  By 1803 he was able to write to Fuller: 〃We have opened a place of worship in Calcutta; where we have preaching twice on Lord's day in English; on Wednesday evening in Bengali; and on Thursday evening in English。〃  He took all the work during the week and the Sunday service in rotation with his brethren。  The first church was the hall of a well…known undertaker; approached through lines of coffins and the trappings of woe。  In time most of the evangelical Christians in the city promised to relieve the missionaries of the expense if they would build an unsectarian chapel more worthy of the object。  This was done in Lall Bazaar; a little withdrawn from that thoroughfare to this day of the poor and abandoned Christians; of the sailors and soldiers on leave; of the liquor…shops and the stews。  There; as in Serampore; at a time when the noble hospitals of Calcutta were not; and the children of only the 〃services〃 were cared for; 〃Brother Carey gave them medicine for their bodies and the best medicine for their poor souls;〃 as a contemporary widow describes it。  The site alone cost so mucha thousand poundsthat only a mat chapel could be built。  Marshman raised another ?100 in ten days; and after delays caused by the police Government sanctioned the building which Carey opened on Sunday; 1st January 1809。  But he and his colleagues 〃not episcopally ordained〃 were forbidden to preach to British soldiers and to the Armenians and Portuguese。 〃Carey's Baptist Chapel〃 is now its name。  Here was for nearly a whole generation a sublime spectaclethe Northamptonshire shoemaker training the governing class of India in Sanskrit; Bengali; and Marathi all day; and translating the Ramayana and the Veda; and then; when the sun went down; returning to the society of 〃the maimed; the halt; and the blind; and many with the leprosy;〃 to preach in several tongues the glad tidings of the Kingdom to the heathen of England as well as of India; and all with a loving tenderness and patient humility learned in the childlike school of Him who said; 〃Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?〃

Street preaching was added to the apostolic agencies; and for this prudence dictated recourse to the Asiatic and Eurasian converts。  We find the missionaries writing to the Society at the beginning of 1807; after the mutiny at Vellore; occasioned as certainly by the hatlike turban then ordered; as the mutiny of Bengal half a century after was by the greased cartridges:

〃We now return to Calcutta; not; however; without a sigh。  How can we avoid sighing when we think of the number of perishing souls which this city contains; and recollect the multitudes who used of late to hang upon our lips; standing in the thick…wedged crowd for hours together; in the heat of a Bengal summer; listening to the word of life!  We feel thankful; however; that nothing has been found against us; except in the matters of our God。 Conscious of the most cordial attachment to the British Government; and of the liveliest interest in its welfare; we might well endure reproach were it cast upon us; but the tongue of calumny itself has not to our knowledge been suffered to bring the slightest accusation against us。  We still worship at Calcutta in a private house; and our congregation rather increases。  We are going on with the chapel。 A family of Armenians also; who found it pleasant to a
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