1810

THE DUTY OF RECONCILIATION.

203

I shall say no more to you, but one of us shall write to him upon the subject as soon as we can.

"The great thing to be done now is the effecting of a reconciliation between you, and whether you leave Sadamahal, or stay there, this is absolutely necessary. In order to this you both must be willing to make some sacrifice of your feelings; and as those feelings, which prevent either of you from making concessions where you have acted amiss, are wrong, the sooner they are sacrificed the better. I advise you to write to Mr. Fernandez immediately, and acknowledge that you did wrong in proceeding to the exclusion of the members without having first consulted with him, and state that you had no intention of hurting his feelings, but acted from what you thought the urgency of the case, and request of him a cordial reconciliation. I should like much to see a copy of the letter you send to him. I have no object in view but the good of the Church, and would therefore rather see you stoop as low as you can to effect a reconciliation, than avoid it through any little punctilio of honour or feeling of pride. You will never repent of having humbled yourself to the dust that peace may be restored, nothing will be a more instructive example to the heathen around you, nothing will so completely subdue Brother Fernandez's dissatisfaction, and nothing will make you more respected in the Church of God.

"It is highly probable that you will some time or other be removed to another situation, but it cannot be done till you are perfectly reconciled to each other, nor can it possibly be done till some time after your reconciliation, as such a step would be considered by all as an effect of resentment or dissatisfaction, and would be condemned by every thinking person. We shall keep our minds steadily on the object, and look out for a proper station; but both we and you must act with great caution and tenderness in this affair. For this

reason also I entreat you not to withdraw yourself from the church, or from any part of your labours, but go on steadily in the path of duty, suppress and pray against every failing of resentment, and bear anything rather than be accessory to a misunderstanding, or the perpetuating of one. 'Let that mind be in you which was also in Christ, who made himself of no reputation.' I hope what I have said will induce you. to set in earnest about a reconciliation with Brother Fernandez, and to spare no pains or concession (consistent with truth) to effect it."

William had applied to be transferred to Serampore.

3d August 1811.—The necessities of the mission must be consulted before every other consideration. Native brethren can itinerate, but Europeans must be employed. to open new missions and found new stations. For were we to go upon the plan of sending Europeans where natives. could possibly be employed, no subscriptions or profits could support them. We intend to commence a new station at Dacca, and if you prefer that to Cutwa you may go thither. One of the first things to be done there will be to open a charity school, and to overlook it. Dacca itself is a very large place, where you may often communicate religious instructions without leaving the town. There are also a number of Europeans there, so that Mary would not be so much alone, and at any rate help would be near. We can obtain the permission of Government for you to settle there, and, in short, everything may be so settled as to give you an opportunity of labouring for God without the fear of leaving your house exposed.

"I ought, however, to say that I think there is much guilt in your fears. You and Mary will be a thousand times more safe in committing yourselves to God in the way of duty than in neglecting obvious duty to take care of yourselves. You see what hardships and dangers a soldier meets in the wicked

1811

MISSIONARIES ARE SOLDIERS.

205

trade of war. They are forced to leave home and expose themselves to a thousand dangers, yet they never think of objecting, and in this the officers are in the same situation as the men. I will engage to say that no military officer would ever refuse to go any whither on service, because his family must be exposed to danger in his absence; and yet I doubt not but many of them are men who have great tenderness for their wives and families. However, they must be men and their wives must be women. Your undertaking is infinitely

superior to theirs in importance. They go to kill men, you to save them. If they leave their families to chance for the sake of war, surely you can leave yours to the God of providence while you go about His work. I speak thus because I am much distressed to see you thus waste away the flower of your life in inactivity, and only plead for it what would not excuse a child. Were you in any secular employment you must go out quite as much as we expect you to do in the Mission. I did so when at Mudnabati, which was as lonesome a place as could have been thought of, and when I well knew that many of our own ryots were dakoits (robbers)."

William finally settled at Cutwa higher up the Hoogli than Serampore, and did good service there. He suffered from asthma.

"23d March 1814.—In all such cases have immediate recourse to strong purgatives, blisters, etc., as directed by Dr. Wallich. You must expect returns of these paroxysms, but be not discouraged. I trust a persevering use of the means prescribed, joined to a great deal more exercise than you have been accustomed to, and especially that cheerful tranquillity which the principles of the Gospel inspire, will in time be effectual to remove or greatly weaken the disorder. . .

"Let us live near to God, and seek His glory in all we do, and let us be careful that what we do be right, and the divine

blessing will attend us, God will smile upon our labours, and we shall have more abundant cause to rejoice in all that He does by us and by others."

Thus far we have confined our study of William Carey to his purely missionary career, and that in its earlier half. We have now to see him as the scholar, the Bible translator, the philanthropist, the agriculturist, and the educator.

CHAPTER IX.

PROFESSOR OF SANSKRIT, BENGALI, AND MARATHI.

1801-1830.

Carey the only Sanskrit scholar in India besides Colebrooke—The motive of the missionary scholar—Plans translation of the sacred books of the East —Comparative philology from Leibniz to Carey—Hindoo and Mohammedan codes and colleges of Warren Hastings—The Marquis of Wellesley —The College of Fort William founded—Character of the Company's civil and military servants—Curriculum of study, professors and teachers —The vernacular languages—Carey's account of the college and his appointment—How he studied Sanskrit—College Disputation Day in the new Government House—Carey's Sanskrit speech—Lord Wellesley's eulogy Sir James Mackintosh — Carey's pundits — He projects the Bibliotheca Asiatica—On the Committee of the Bengal Asiatic Society— Edition and translation of the Ramayana epic—The Hitopadesa—His Universal Dictionary—Éloge by the Vice-President of the Bengal Asiatic Society—Influence of Carey on the civil and military services—W. B. Bayley; B. H. Hodgson; R. Jenkins; R. M. and W. Bird; John Lawrence.

WHEN, in the opening days of the nineteenth century, William Carey was driven by the faithlessness of the English Government to settle in Danish Serampore, he was the only member of the governing race in North India who knew the language of the people so as to teach it, the only scholar with the exception of Colebrooke who could speak Sanskrit as fluently as the Brahmans. The Bengali language he had reduced to writing and made the vehicle of the teaching of Christ, of the thought of Paul, of the revelation of John. Of the Sanskrit, hitherto concealed from alien eyes or diluted only through the Persian, he had prepared a grammar and begun