,
the anniversary sermon on the occasion of the removal of the
headquarters of the Society to London. Pausing in the midst of his
discourse, after a reference to Carey, the preacher called on the vast
congregation silently to pray for the conversion of Jabez Carey. The
answer came next year in a letter from his father:--"My son Jabez, who
has been articled to an attorney, and has the fairest prospects as to
this world, is become decidedly religious, and prefers the work of the
Lord to every other." Lord Minto's expeditions of 1810 and 1811 had
captured the islands swept by the French privateers from Madagascar to
Java, and there was soon an end of the active hostility of the
authorities to Christianity. Sir Stamford Raffles governed Java in the
spirit of a Christian statesman. The new Governor-General, Lord Moira,
afterwards Marquis of Hastings, proved to be the most enlightened and
powerful friend the mission had had. In these circumstances, after the
charter of 1813 had removed the legislative excuse for intolerance, Dr.
Carey was asked by the Lieutenant-Governor to send missionaries and
Malay Bibles to the fifty thousand natives of Amboyna. The
Governor-General repeated the request officially. Jabez Carey was
baptised, married, and despatched at the cost of the state before he
could be ordained. Amboyna, it will be perceived, was not in India,
but far enough away to give the still timid Company little apprehension
as to the influence of the missionaries there. The father's heart was
very full when he sent forth the son:--

"24th January 1814.--You are now engaging in a most important
undertaking, in which not only you will have our prayers for your
success, but those of all who love our Lord Jesus Christ, and who know
of your engagement. I know that a few hints for your future conduct
from a parent who loves you very tenderly will be acceptable, and I
shall therefore now give you them, assured that they will not be given
in vain.

"1st. Pay the utmost attention at all times to the state of your own
mind both towards God and man: cultivate an intimate acquaintance with
your own heart; labour to obtain a deep sense of your depravity and to
trust always in Christ; be pure in heart, and meditate much upon the
pure and holy character of God; live a life of prayer and devotedness
to God; cherish every amiable and right disposition towards men; be
mild, gentle, and unassuming, yet firm and manly. As soon as you