William Carey: A Biography (1853)

Joseph Belcher’s 1853 biography of William Carey was intended to be a more attractive, concise and readable work than that produced by Carey’s nephew, the Rev Eustace Carey. The latter work, the first biography of this subject, was regarded as heavy going, even by the standards of the day. My thanks to Redcliffe College for providing me with a copy of the book for digitisation. This title is in the public domain.

Joseph Belcher, William Carey: A Biography. Philadelphia: American Baptist Publication Society, 1853. Hbk. pp.306. [Click to download complete volume in PDF]

Preface

The question may, probably, be asked by some who take up this volume, Why publish a new life of a man who has been dead nearly twenty years? And especially, when a former Memoir, written by an able ex-missionary, a near relative of its subject, and personally acquainted with him, has been extensively circulated? Allow me, gentle reader, to write a few words in reply.

WILLIAM CAREY is one of the names which no section of the Christian church will ever permit to die. The pioneer, of modern missionaries, he strikingly illustrates the grace of God in his own personal history, and shows us the kind of agency which God usually employs in accomplishing the designs of his mercy to our fallen world. His example presents great encouragement to Christians of every class to labor for God, while it exhibits the spirit. and temper in which all services for the highest interests of the world must be accomplished. The life of CAREY will always be kept before the church of Christ; and no objection to two biographies of this extraordinary man can be made, so long as we have more than one of the illustrious MILTON, of the never-dying BUNYAN, of the zealous WHITEFIELD, or of the immortal WASHINGTON. [Continue reading]