Life of William Carey by George Smith - The Jesus Army

day by day with the gentle persistency of a law of nature, the cry began. And when, by the breaking of caste
and the denial of Krishna’s Christian daughter Golook to the Hindoo to whom she had been betrothed from
infancy, the Brahmans began dimly to apprehend that not only their craft but the whole structure of society
was menaced, the cry became louder, and, as in Ephesus of old, an appeal was made to the magistrates
against the men who were turning the world upside down. At first the very boys taunted the missionaries in
the streets with the name of Jesus Christ. Then, after Krishna and his family had broken caste, they were
seized by a mob and hurried before the Danish magistrate, who at first refused to hand over a Christian girl to
a heathen, and gave her father a guard to prevent her from being murdered, until the Calcutta magistrate decided
that she must join her husband but would be protected in the exercise of her new faith. The commotion
spread over the whole densely-peopled district. But the people were not with the Brahmans, and the excitement
sent many a sin-laden inquirer to Serampore from a great distance. “The fire is now already kindled for
which our Redeemer expressed his strong desire,” wrote Carey to Ryland in March 1801. A year later he used
this language to his old friend Morris at Clipstone village: “I think there is such a fermentation raised in
Bengal by the little leaven, that there is a hope of the whole lump by degrees being leavened. God is carrying
on his work; and though it goes forward, yet no one can say who is the instrument. Doubtless, various means
contribute towards it; but of late the printing and dispersing of New Testaments and small tracts seem to
have the greatest effect.”
In a spirit the opposite of Jonah’s the whole brotherhood, then consisting of the three, of Carey’s son Felix,
and of a new missionary, Chamberlain, sent home this review of their position at the close of 1804:
“We are still a happy, healthful, and highly favoured family. But though we would feel incessant gratitude for
these gourds, yet we would not feel content unless Nineveh be brought to repentance. We did not come into
this country to be placed in what are called easy circumstances respecting this world; and we trust that nothing
but the salvation of souls will satisfy us. True, before we set off, we thought we could die content if we
should be permitted to see the half of what we have already seen; yet now we seem almost as far from the
mark of our missionary high calling as ever. If three millions of men were drowning, he must be a monster
who should be content with saving one individual only; though for the deliverance of that one he would find
cause for perpetual 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.
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