William Carey: Educational Pioneer
May 27, 2013
Who was William Carey, and why has he had such a major
impact on our global culture? On May
26th , I graduated with my Doctorate from Carey Theological College on the UBC
Campus. While at Carey College, I often
walked past a painting of Carey, showing his humble beginning as a village
shoemaker in Paulersbury, England. Carey
was fascinated with reading books about science, history and travel journals of
explorers like Captain Cook. His village
playmates nicknamed him Christopher Columbus.
Carey said that he was addicted as a young person to swearing, lying,
and alcohol. A major turning point
happened when he was caught by his employer embezzling a shilling. Fortunately his employer did not press
charges. For such petty larceny, Carey
could have easily paid the price of imprisonment, forfeiture of goods and
chattel, whipping or transportation for seven years to the plantations of the
West Indies or America. Facing his own
selfishness, Carey had a spiritual breakthrough by personally meeting Christ
that had a lasting impact on his values and lifestyle.
Carey had a quick mind and a natural love of learning. He
would have normally become a farm labourer, but suffered from a skin disease
that made it painful for him to go out in the full sun. If Carey's face and
hands were exposed to the sun for any lengthy period, he would suffer agony
throughout the night. So instead he
became a cobbler, making shoes. While
making shoes, he was able to read and pray.
Through this, Carey developed a conviction that he was to go to
India. His unimaginative friends and colleagues
tried to talk him out of this fantasy.
His five-month pregnant wife Dorothy was also dead-set against it. His own father Edmund wondered if his son had
lost his mind. Carey said to his dad:
"I am not my own nor would I choose for myself. Let God employ me where he
thinks fit."
With unshakable determination, Carey went to India in
1793 which was under the control of the East India Company. He later ended up becoming a Professor of
Bengali and Sanskrit in Calcutta, India.
Through teaching at Fort Williams College in Calcutta, he was investing
in young civil servants from England, helping them to have a good start in
India. Carey believed that the future
was as bright as the promises of God. He
had an exceptional natural gift for languages.
Carey called himself a plodder; whatever he
started, he always finished. Unlike a number of his family members and
closest friends, Carey survived malaria and numerous
other tropical diseases. His first wife
Dorothy however had a nervous breakdown before later dying. Carey was heartbroken.
Some bureaucrats from the East India Company did their
best to expel Carey and his team from India.
Anything that might affect financial profit was seen as a threat. William Wilberforce however, having finally abolished
the slave trade, presented 837 petitions to the British Parliament representing
over half a million signatures, requesting that 'these good and great men'
be allowed to stay in India. Carey's enemies attacked him in Parliament
for being a lowly shoemaker. Wilberforce
won the day in the Charter Renewal Bill of 1813.
Carey's motto was "Expect great things from God;
attempt great things for God."
Entirely self-taught, Carey impacted the emerging generation of Indian
leaders that birthed the burgeoning modern democracy of India.
Serampore College was founded by Carey and his colleagues
in 1818. He produced six grammars of
Bengali, Sanskrit, Marathi, Panjabi, Telugi, and Kanarese, and with John Clark
Marshman, one of Bhutia. He also
translated the whole Bible into Bengali, Oriya, Marathi, Hindi, Assamese, and
Sanskrit, and parts of it into twenty-nine other languages or dialects. Scholars say that Carey significantly
contributed to the renaissance of Indian Literature in the nineteenth century.
While an ordained preacher and a church planter, Carey
was fascinated with all aspects of daily living. In 1818 Carey founded two magazines and a
newspaper, the Samachar Darpan, the first newspaper printed in any Asian
language. He was the father of Indian printing technology, building what was
then their largest printing press. Carey
was the first to make indigenous paper for the Indian publishing industry. He brought the steam engine to India, and
pioneered the idea of lending libraries in India. Carey introduced the concept of a 'Savings
Bank' to India, in order to fight the all-pervasive social evil of usury at
interest rates of 36% to 72%.
Carey introduced the study of astronomy as a science,
teaching that the stars and planets are God's creation set by him in an
observable order, rather than astrological deities fatalistically controlling
one's life. He was the founder of the
Agri-Horticultural Society in the 1820s, thirty years before the Royal
Agricultural Society was established in England. Carey was the first person in India to write
about forest conservation. In 1823, he was elected as a Fellow of the Linnean
Society of London, one of the world's most distinguished botanical societies
even today. As Carey's favorite flowers
were lilies, he had the honour of having one (Careyanum) named after him.
Having a strong social conscience, Carey was the first
man to oppose the Sati widow-burning and female infanticide. Sati was finally banned by the Government of
India in 1829. He also campaigned for
humane treatment of lepers who were being burned or buried alive because of
their bad karma.
The view at the point was that leprosy was a deserved
punishment in the fifth cycle of reincarnation.
Carey
loved India and never returned home to England, dying in 1834 at the age of 73.
Near the end, he said: ""You have been speaking about William
Carey. When I am gone, say nothing about William Carey-speak only about William
Carey's Saviour." My prayer for
those reading this article is that we too would have the passion for learning
and making a difference that William Carey once had.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zi59sxrdH1c>
Video: William Carey - A Candle in the Dark
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