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substituted for it; as was formerly the case in India, where the Hindusthani, a mere lingua franca, was supposed to be the current language of Hindusthan, and was studied to the neglect of the languages spoken in the various provinces: a system now abandoned in the college of Fort William.

'Yours, &c.,

'W. CAREY.'

CHAPTER VII.

DR. CAREY'S DECLINING HEALTH AND DECEASE-HIS LAST WILL-RESOLUTION OF THE COMMITTEE OF THE BAPTIST MISSIONARY SOCIETY-NOTICE OF LIFE AND LAST ILLNESS, BY MR. JONATHAN CAREY-CRITIQUE UPON THE LITERARY CHARACTER AND PRODUCTIONS OF DR. CAREY, BY PROFESSOR WILSONGENERAL REVIEW, WITH REFLECTIONS.

FROM the severe illness, described by him in the preceding section, Dr. Carey's constitution received a shock from which it never perfectly recovered. He was at no time afterwards in sound health for any lengthened period; and seemed sensible, from the different attacks of fever and other ailments which came upon him in very quick succession, that the end of his course was fast approaching. He recommenced his exertions in biblical translation with the least possible delay, and with the same assiduity which had ever distinguished him. The only difference was, that he somewhat contracted the circle of his labours, that he might render it finally the more effective; concentrating his efforts upon a few of the more important dialects, in order to bring them nearer perfection. His special care was bestowed was bestowed upon the

Bengali version. Upon the New Testament, in this language, his work as a translator commenced; and with the final revision of it, which he completed a little before his death, it closed. As so much has met the attention of the reader upon the subject of oriental translations from Dr. Carey's own pen, and as an erudite review of them, together with his other literary productions, awaits his perusal from that of Professor Wilson, any further notice from the compiler is unnecessary.

I have not, either, thought it expedient to publish so largely upon this last period of Dr. Carey's life from his own correspondence, as upon those which have preceded. This I have abstained from, partly, because to have done otherwise would have swollen the work to an inconvenient size; and, partly, because the identity of his labours, for so great a number of years, rendered his successive references to them, unavoidably, a repetition, or nearly so, of what he had previously written; and, partly, also, because the bulk of his correspondence is occupied with the controversy pending at the time between the Serampore missionaries and the parent institution.

The reader has been made acquainted with the history of this servant of God and eminent friend of man, from the commencement of his career to his meridian strength and usefulness, up to the first indication o his physical decline. To be able minutely to trace every step in his descent to the grave, would add, it is presumed, very little to the pleasure he has already experienced. As strength, and happiness, and life

were the primary and essential attributes of our being, the leading features in the constitution of the universe; so, to dwell upon them, is satisfactory, and congruous with the feelings of the human mind: but, as decay, and suffering, and death were introduced in contravention of the original order of things, and incurred as penalties to offended justice; so, to observe them more circumstantially than is needful to our deriving from them such impressions as shall be salutary to our spirits, while undergoing their discipline for eternity, and to teach us the just improvement of the vicissitudes through which, by sovereign appointment, we are destined to pass, would be unnatural, and therefore unwise. Enough is recorded to manifest the consistency of Dr. Carey's perseverance and unwearied devotedness in the work of the Lord, his profound humility and self-renunciation, and thus, to seal, to the end, the perfection of his christian character.

Instead, therefore, of lingering about the details and incidents connected with the closing scene of Dr. Carey's life, I shall enable the reader to gather his own impressions, by presenting him with a few and brief extracts from his correspondence; and also with a valuable notice of him, obligingly furnished by my esteemed relative, Mr. Jonathan Carey.

6

'MY DEAR SISTERS,

*

**

Serampore, June 5, 1830.

'For the last year and half I have had a succession

of attacks of fever, which have greatly reduced me. For the last five weeks, however, I have been mercifully preserved, and have had no attack. I frequently thought that the time of my departure was at hand; and I believe, so far as I am able to judge, that I did cast my eternal interests on the mercy of God, through our Lord Jesus. I felt that he had made a full atonement by the sacrifice which he offered up; and that, eternal life being promised to every one who believes in him, I might look forward with humble expectation to the time when all who are accepted in the beloved shall be declared pardoned, justified, and made meet for the inheritance of the saints in light.

'Yesterday I finished revising the new edition of the sacred scriptures in Bengali. It is now printed in one volume, about the size of the Cambridge bible. There is scarcely anything for which I desired to live a little longer so much as for that.

"Your affectionate brother, 'W. CAREY.'

TO MR. JABEZ CAREY, DR. CAREY'S THIRd Son.

My DEAR JABEZ,

'I am this day seventy years old-a monument of divine mercy and goodness; though, on a review of my life, I find much, very much, for which I ought to be humbled in the dust. My direct and positive sins

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