In such a matter they believed they ought to obey God rather than man. Thomas, knowing the captain of the Oxford, which was then in the Thames, induced him for a consideration of £250 to take the missionary party on board his vessel. The party consisted of himself, Mrs. Thomas, and their child, also Carey and Felix his son, who had agreed to accompany his father. The day fixed for the departure was the 3rd of April, 1793, but the vessel was delayed for weeks off the Isle of Wight; and, to their bitter disappointment, when, after all the inconvenience and expense of the delay, she was about to proceed, the missionaries were summarily ejected from the ship; an anonymous communication having been received by the captain to the effect that it was known a person was going in his ship who had not obtained a licence from the Directors, and that if he remained, information would be laid against him. Under these circumstances, Thomas and Carey, with those belonging to them, were compelled to quit the vessel.

Carey at once sent the bad news to Fuller, and Fuller almost gave way to despair. "We are all undone," he wrote to Ryland. "I am afraid, now, leave will never be obtained for Carey or any other. The adventure seems to be lost. It is well if the £250 for the voyage be not lost."

But a Divine Providence was overruling all these trying circumstances. With heavy hearts the missionaries found their way back to London. And whilst Carey was writing to his wife, Thomas went to a coffee-house to make inquiries whether any Swedish or Danish ship was likely to sail for Bengal. The result was that a waiter put into his hand a card on which he read: "A Danish East Indiaman. No. 10 Cannon Street."

The effect of those magic words may be more easily imagined than described. To No. 10 Cannon Street, Carey and Thomas at once repaired. The intimation was correct. The East Indiaman was expected shortly in the Dover Roads. The terms would be £100 for a passenger, £50 for a child, and £25 for an attendant. Carey had only obtained £150 of the £250 paid for their passage on the Oxford. There was no time to spare. At nine o'clock at night the two men started for Northampton, to secure, if possible, the requisite money. Carey also hoped that as he would have the opportunity of seeing Mrs. Carey again, who had removed from Leicester to Piddington, the village where they had formerly lived, her objection to going with him might be overcome. And such, to his great relief and joy, was actually the case; for, on the condition that her sister should go with them, she was willing to give her consent.

This pleasing decision, however, involved a very large additional expense, as the party would now be increased to eight persons, and the passage money to £700. Mr. Ryland, to whom the missionaries went on their arrival at Northampton, had only about £9 belonging to the mission, and between £4 and £5 of his own; but a bill had been sent up to Mr. Fuller, from Yorkshire, by Mr. Fawcett (the author of Religion is the Chief Concern" and other well known hymns) for £200. This being insufficient, Mr. Ryland at once sat down and wrote letters to John Newton, who had removed from Olney to London, to Abraham Booth, and Dr. Rippon, begging them to find the rest of the money on promise of repayment. But Thomas was so fortunate in his negotiations with the captain, suggesting such arrange

ments as to accor modation that he agreed to take the whole party for three hundred guineas. And so, after some further difficulty in getting the luggage, which had been left at Portsmouth, to Dover in time for the sailing of the vessel, on June 13th, 1793, on board the Kron Princessa Maria, the missionaries and their families eventually started for the land of their adoption; Thomas scribbling to a friend in London, "The ship is here! The signal made;-the guns are fired; and we are going with a fine fair wind. Farewell, my dear brethren and sisters, farewell! May the God of Jacob be ours and yours by sea and land, for time and eternity; most affectionately, adieu!”

In these days of facility of travel, when a voyage from London to Bombay may be accomplished in three weeks, it is not easy to realise the tediousness and inconvenience involved in a five months' passage. It was not until the 9th of November that the missionary party reached Calcutta, after a somewhat unfavourable voyage, severe storms having been encountered.

The time on board ship was largely spent by Carey in familiarising himself under Thomas's tuition with. the Bengalee language. His enthusiasm for the great work upon which he had gone forth increased as he approached Calcutta. Writing home to the secretary with an enlarging heart-a heart like Wesley's when he wrote:

“Oh, that the world might taste and see

The riches of His grace!

The arms of love that compass me

Would all mankind embrace !"—

he said: "Africa is but a little way from England, Madagascar but a little farther. South America and all the numerous and large islands in the India and

China seas, I hope, will not be passed over. A large field opens on every side. Oh, that many labourers may be thrust out into the vineyard of our Lord Jesus Christ, and that the Gentiles may come to the knowledge of the truth as it is in Him."

HOUGH Thomas's knowledge of India was an advantage to Carey as he entered into a strange land, it must be confessed the latter

had frequent occasion to lament that impetuosity and want of sound judgment by which, with all his excellences, Thomas was so conspicuously characterised. Carey's tender affection for his colleague and high regard for his sincerity and devotion are beyond all question; but there is equally no question, that the early trials of the mission were aggravated by the above named defects. As one of the serious consequences of these failings, Thomas had involved himself in debt, during his previous residence in India. These pecuniary obligations not only embarrassed the circumstances of the missionaries, but estranged from Thomas, and as well from Carey, some European Christians who probably would otherwise have been their warmest friends.

On reaching Calcutta the first necessity was to realise their investments. The £150 granted by the