We are hard pressed on every side, but
not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 2 Corinthians 4:8
William Carey, often called the “Father of Modern Mission,”
dedicated his life to spreading the gospel in India. Serving as a missionary
there from 1793 until his death in 1834, he never took a furlough.
Although he had little formal education, Carey was a gifted
linguist who learned dozens of languages and dialects. His goal was to
translate Scripture into as many Indian languages and dialects as possible. In
order to meet this goal, Carey supervised the creation of India’s first
printing press. He established a large print shop in the city of Serampore,
where he did his Bible translation. The building was two hundred by fifty feet,
and twenty translators worked there in addition to typesetters, compositors,
pressmen, binders, and other writers.
On March 11, 1812,
Carey was teaching in Calcutta. While he was gone, a fire started in the
printing room. His associate, William Ward, smelled smoke and called for help
Despite many hours of exhaustive efforts to fight the fire, the building burned
to the ground. Just five pieces of equipment were saved.
Carey‘s entire library, his completed Sanskrit dictionary, part
of his Bengal dictionary, two grammar books, and ten translations of the Bible
were lost. Gone also were the type sets for printing fourteen different languages,.
Vast quantities of English paper, priceless dictionaries, deeds, and account
books were all gone.
Another missionary interrupted Carey while he was teaching a
class in Calcutta to inform him of the stunning and tragic events of the day
before. When Carey returned to Serampore and surveyed the scene, he wept and
said, “In one short evening the labors of years are consumed. How unsearchable
are the ways of God. I had lately brought some things to the utmost perfection
of which they seemed capable, and contemplated the missionary establishment
with perhaps too much self-congratulation. The Lord has laid me low, that I may
look more simply to him.”
Although he was heartbroken, he did not take much time to mourn.
With great resiliency Carey wrote, “The loss is heavy, but as traveling a road
the second time is usually done with greater ease than the first time, so I
trust the work will lose nothing of real value. We are not discouraged; indeed
the work is already begun again in every language. We are cast down but not in
despair.”
Carey resolved to trust God that from the embers would come a
better press and more scholarly translations. Within a few months Carey had set
up shop in a warehouse. Little did Carey know that the fire would bring him and
his work to the attention of people all over Europe and America as well as
India. In just fifty days in England and Scotland alone, about ten thousand
pounds were raised for rebuilding Carey’s publishing enterprise. So much money
was coming in that Andrew Fuller, Carey’s friend and a leader of his mission in
England, told his committee when he returned from a fund-raising trip, “We must
stop the contributions.” Many volunteers came to India to help as well. By 1832
Carey’s rebuilt and expanded printing operation had published complete Bibles
or portions of the Bible in forty-four languages and dialects!
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