The Serampore Agreement

Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. 17 And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. 18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Mt 28:16–20.

On October 7, 1805, nine men signed their names to a document that would govern their lives and efforts to proclaim the gospel throughout India.

This document became known as the Serampore Form of Agreement . The signers, many of them pioneers in the history of baptist missions, included William Carey, Joshua Marshman, William Ward, John Chamberlain, Richard Mardon, John Biss, William Moore, Joshua Rowe, and Felix Carey (William Carey’s son).

In the Agreement, the signers accepted eleven principles or articles that would guide the mission work in India, with the “hope that multitudes of converted souls will have reason to bless God to all eternity for sending His Gospel into this country.”

That document consists of eleven convictions that set forth “the Great Principles upon which the Brethren of the Mission at Serampore think it their duty to act in the work of instructing the Heathen.” The Agreement calls the missionaries to fix their “serious and abiding attention” on these principles. Recognizing that the Lord, in his sovereignty, had planted them at Serampore and given them difficult work to do, they wanted to put their hands to the plow with diligence and perseverance under his own mighty hand.

I’m not going to summarize every article in the Agreement (though I encourage you to read the short document yourself). Instead, I would like to read the first article in this document as we prepare our hearts to pray for the work of the Gospel across the world and here in our own church as well.

Article 1

First. In order to be prepared for our great and solemn work, it is absolutely necessary that we set an infinite value upon immortal souls; that we often endeavor to affect our minds with the dreadful loss sustained by an unconverted soul launched into eternity. It becomes us to fix in our minds the awful doctrine of eternal punishment, and to realize frequently the inconceivably awful condition of this vast country, lying in the arms of the wicked one. If we have not this awful sense of the value of souls, it is impossible that we can feel aright in any other part of our work, and in this case, it had been better for us to have been in any other situation rather than in that of a Missionary. Oh! may our hearts bleed over these poor idolaters, and may their case lie with continued weight on our minds, that we may resemble that eminent Missionary, who compared the travail of his soul, on account of the spiritual state of those committed to his charge, to the pains of childbirth. But while we thus mourn over their miserable condition, we should not be discouraged, as though their recovery were impossible. He who raised the sottish and brutalized Britons to sit in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, can raise these slaves of superstition, purify their hearts by faith, and make them worshippers of the one God in spirit and in truth. The promises are fully sufficient to remove our doubts, and to make us anticipate that not very distant period when He will famish all the gods of India, and cause these very idolaters to cast their idols to the moles and to the bats, and renounce forever the work of their own hands.

What motivated, what drew William Carey and others to India and other places? In his Enquiry, published about thirteen years prior to the Agreement, Carey argued that the commission given by Jesus to the apostles in Matthew 28:18–20 “laid them under obligation to disperse themselves into every country of the habitable globe, and to preach to all the inhabitants, without exception, or limitation” (An Enquiry, 7).

5 Observations and lessons we can learn from Article 1 of the Serampore Agreement

It is absolutely necessary that we set an infinite value upon immortal souls . . . .

2. It becomes us to fix in our minds the fearful doctrine of eternal punishment.

Millions and millions around us will perish for eternity.

“when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels 8 in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9 They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), 2 Th 1:7–9.

This is the condition of every single person who is not a true Christian brothers and sisters. As you come up to the microphone to pray for our missionaries and as we pray for all the ministries of our Church and especially the preaching of the Word this coming Sunday… FIX this into your mind.

We are praying for the souls of men. Never dying souls that hang in the balance. How that should deeply move us with groans and tears as we cry out to God tonight in prayer.

3. We need to realize the terrible condition of the people who are in the arms of Satan. Summary: “OH! MAY OUR HEARTS BLEED OVER THE LOST.”

4. We must have confidence in the power of God to save. He can raise these slaves of superstition to sit in heavenly places in Christ, purify their hearts by faith, and make them worshippers of the one true God in spirit and in truth.

Rebel Made a Son

Come, my fellow sinners, try,

Jesus’ heart is full of love;

Oh, that you, as well as I,

May his wondrous mercy prove!

He has sent me to declare,

all is ready, all is free:

why should any soul despair,

when he saved a wretch like me

— John Newton

5. We must recognize the sufficiency of the promises of God

That which God abundantly makes the subject of his promises, God’s people should abundantly make the subject of their prayers.

Jonathan Edwards (American Evangelical Preacher)

Let us give ourselves up unreservedly to this glorious cause. Let us never think that our time, our gifts, our strength, our families, or even the clothes we wear, are our own. Let us sanctify them all to God and His cause. Oh that He may sanctify us for His work!