The Life of William Carey: Shoemaker & Missionary

by George Smith

"The Life of William Carey" tells the story of the great man who as a "shoemaker by trade, but scholar, linguist and missionary by God's training," Carey worked untiringly to conquer the prevailing indifference to missionary effort and develop a plan for missions. Born in England, Carey first heard the missionary call by reading the "Last Voyage of Captain Cook." To Carey, Cook's Journal was much more than a thrilling story of adventure. It was a revelation of human need. The more Carey read and studied, the more convinced he was that "the peoples of the world need Christ." Formidable obstacles lay in his way: there were no missionary societies and there was no real missionary interest. Carey persisted, and in support of his ideas wrote the now famous "Enquiry Into the Obligations of the Christians to Use Means for the Conversion of the Heathen."When Carey finally made it to India as a missionary himself, he was faced by years of discouragement (no Indian converts for seven years), debt, disease, deterioration of his wife's mind, and her death. By the grace of God, however, Carey continued and conquered for Christ. When he died in 1834, he had seen the Scriptures translated and printed into forty languages, he had been a college professor, and had founded a college at Serampore. He had seen India open its doors to missionaries, he had seen the edict passed prohibiting sati (burning widows on the funeral pyres of their dead husbands), and he had seen converts for Christ. Carey is considered by many to be a unique figure, towering above both contemporaries and successors in the ministry of missions. "The Life of William Carey"is his story.

Genres: Biography, Christian

316 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1885

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Scottish educator and journalist in India, mission administrator and biographer.

Reviews

[Pig Rieke · Rating 3 out of 5]

Disclaimer: I only listened to this one on Spotify.

George Smith, a linguist and Assyriologist, wrote this biography of William Carey (1761 - 1834) in 1885. The work was intended to detail and celebrate the life and work of the first modern missionary. The book, full of primary source material, provides a great remembrance of the man who wished to be forgotten. Due to the author's interest, the biography does appear skewed towards Carey’s linguistic, academic, and anthropological achievement rather than his work proclaiming Christ. That said, Smith’s rendering does not seem to be maliciously biased in this direction, but simply to take on the author’s own interest. Anyone who takes up this biography will be astounded by what God was pleased to accomplish through “A wretched, poor, and helpless worm.”

[Michael Schmid · Rating 3 out of 5]

An old, lengthy biography of William Carey with some very good first hand accounts, but also with a good amount or rather dull reading. Nevertheless, a biography of William Carey is truly inspiring and encouraging, also this one!

[Laureen K. Verrill · Rating 4 out of 5]

From shoemaker to Missionary!!

Excellent missionary story. William Carey knew what mattered most in life. That was his labor of love for laying up treasures in heaven. Learning languages for the written Word of God that ALL could hear about Jesus and be saved! He learned Latin, Hebrew, Greek for translating the scriptures.
He knew in whom he believed and was persuaded that He was able to keep that which he had committed until God called him to his eternal home one day!!