An Enquiry into the Obligations of Christians to Use Means for the Conversion of the Heathens

Summary

An Enquiry into the Obligations of Christians, to Use Means for the Conversion of the Heathens is a short book published at Leicester in 1792 by William Carey, a young Baptist minister and former shoemaker. It argues that Christians of his day were still bound by Christ's command to make disciples of all nations and must organize practical means to carry it out. The book is often regarded as a founding document of the modern Protestant missionary movement. The Introduction and Section I answer the common view among Carey's fellow Calvinists that the Great Commission of Matthew 28 applied only to the apostles. Carey argues that if the command to teach all nations had expired, so had the command to baptize and the promise of Christ's presence. Section II surveys earlier efforts to spread Christianity, from the apostles and the early church through medieval missions, the Reformation, and recent work by Moravians, John Eliot and David Brainerd among Native Americans, and others. Section III is a remarkable survey of the world, presented in tables listing countries, their size, population and religion, compiled from geographies and travel accounts of the time, including Captain Cook's voyages. Carey concludes that most of humanity had never heard the Christian message. His figures are eighteenth-century estimates and many are inaccurate by modern standards. Section IV considers the obstacles: distance, the supposed barbarism of distant peoples, the danger of being killed, the difficulty of supplies and the problem of language. Carey answers each, pointing to merchants who undertook similar risks for profit. In passing he calls the slave trade on the African coast 'accursed', and later he welcomes the campaign to abolish it. Section V proposes the means: united prayer, and the formation of a society of committed Christians, with a committee and subscriptions, to send and support missionaries, comparing it to a trading company. Shortly afterwards, in October 1792, the Baptist Missionary Society was founded at Kettering, and in 1793 Carey sailed for India. His later work in translation, education and social reform in Bengal made him one of the most influential missionaries of the period.

Top Lessons

• Turning conviction into organization

  Carey moves from argument to a practical plan for a society with members, money and a committee.

• Data in an argument

  Carey uses tables of population and religion to make his case.

• Answering objections

  Carey anticipates practical objections and answers each one.

• For the Christian reader

  Carey's Enquiry helped launch the Baptist Missionary Society and the modern Protestant missionary movement. Carey himself sailed to India in 1793 and spent forty-one years there, translating Scripture into many Indian languages. His argument rests on the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18–20), which he believed still bound the church of his own day.

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