Soldiers Converted in a Foreign Land

A portion of a letter from missionary William Carey, to his sisters back home in England. He writes about the conversion, this time, not of the Indian people he was attempting to reach with the gospel, but European soldiers stationed there, most of whom were surely British. The letter was written from Calcutta, May 4, 1810.

There has, of late, been a great awakening among the European Soldiers in several Regiments now in India. Bro. Chamberlain has baptized near fifty, mostly belonging to one Regiment. There are thirteen now in Fort William, who are under hopeful impression, who constantly attend worship at our Chapel in Calcutta. One of them, who has been long under very strong convictions is a native of Flower near Daventry, and another from the neighborhood of Bedford. Thus the Lord takes these people from a Land of Gospel light, to a land of gross Idolatry, and there reveals his grace to them.

The Journal and Selected Letters of William Carey, collected and edited by Terry G. Carter, Smyth & Helwys, 2000, p. 186.