Quotes from Sam Wellman

Dolly's joy over the move was short-lived. She learned Charles Short had proposed to Kitty. And Kitty had accepted. They would be living both in Debhatta and in Calcutta. Dolly was dazed. "How did I not know?" she asked William and became more outspoken than ever. "How I detest India!" William

So, as William honed his skill at Bengali, his thoughts vacillated from triumph to failure. 'Expect great things from God; attempt great things for God' he reminded himself. What could be more ambitious, festering in a muddy forest with a distraught wife, than to begin translating the Bible into Bengali?

And what of this great map on the wall?" William explained how for each country he annotated information about population, politics, religion and other facts. Finally he was overcome with emotion as the reality struck him once again. "Don't you see, Brother Fuller? Most of the world does not know Christ. Everywhere we look there are pagans! Pagans. Pagans. Pagans.

Far distances and language barriers never stopped traders, he argued. Who could deny that? So the missionary must not be stopped either. Hunger would rarely be an obstacle, insisted William. The missionary could farm, fish and hunt. But nevertheless the missionary must be resolved to face poverty, poor housing and unrelenting hard work. And yes, he may also face hatred, intimidation, imprisonment, torture and even death. His

Unsaid was her conviction that all this was in preparation for some future endeavor. But what?

Apparently Doctor Thomas went to Charles Grant in London," continued Andrew Fuller, uncharacteristically subdued. "Grant is now one of the Directors of the East India Company. Thomas was refused licenses. Apparently the government is no longer indifferent to missionaries but hostile...

To his amazement Doctor Thomas advanced into the midst of the market and began to preach. People gathered to listen. That was a very encouraging sign to William. The Indians were smiling too, white teeth dazzling in dark faces. Thomas preached for a very long time. After his long sermon some Indians approached the travelers to offer them curry and rice on large plantain leaves. "Come to our village," they said earnestly. William

At 12, still digesting every non-religious book he could get his hands on, he memorized a Latin vocabulary book.

But aside from Willy's skill at learning another language which his father did not know enough to appreciate, his only distinction in schooling was mathematics. Numbers came easily to him. And it was not just simple mathematics but anything that was curious. Many nights in bed he pondered numbers.

In Olney, five miles southeast of Piddington, he heard Thomas Scott. Later, he talked to Scott. The Anglican seemed a perfect spiritual guide. Not only did he not hold to the hard Predestination teachings of Calvin but he too was gifted linguist. Willy was shocked to learn Scott had mastered Latin, Greek and Hebrew! So, with Scott's help and books, of course Willy began learning Hebrew too. "Now I will learn the language of the Old Testament itself!" he marveled. In

In Towcester he listened to Thomas Skinner. Skinner was a Dissenter called a Baptist. One of the ways Baptists differed from other denominations was that they did not believe infants should be baptized. They believed only a person who could make a mature judgment should be baptized. That ordinance about baptism was the source of their name. Thomas Skinner loaned Willy a book by Robert Hall called Help to Zion's Travellers.

Finally, William would wait no longer. He was baptized on October 5 in the Nene River at Northampton by John Ryland. Ryland and his father had become spiritual advisors to William too. "They too are Baptists," noted William of the two who pastored the College Lane church in Northampton. William Carey was now 22, a journeyman shoemaker with an ashen, fever-sickened face and bald head. He had little energy for working.