William Carey’s Obligation
The influential preacher William Carey was certainly a unique individual. In his own terms he was “merely a cobbler,” but he was also a pastor and one of the great missionaries of the Christian faith.
Carey combined a fierce desire to preach to the unreached with a servant’s heart. During his ministry to India, he opened a college and planted a botanical garden, as well as worked on translating the Bible into several languages.
The Christian History Institute recently published his article An Inquiry into the Obligation of Christians to Use Means for the Conversion of the Heathen.
Here’s an excerpt:
As our blessed Lord has required us to pray that His kingdom may come, and His will be done on earth as it is in heaven, it becomes us not only to express our desires of that event by the word, but to use every lawful method to spread the knowledge of His name. In order to do this, it is necessary that we should become in some measure acquainted with the religious state of the world. As this is an object we should be prompted to pursue, not only by the gospel of our Redeemer but even by the feelings of humanity, so an inclination to conscientious activity therein would form one of the strongest proofs that we are the subject of grace and partakers of that spirit of universal benevolence and genuine philantropy, which appear so eminent in the character of God Himself.
You can read the whole article and learn a bit about Carey here.
