In 1792, William Carey wrote and published a manuscript that became known as his Enquiry. In the book's introduction, Carey proposes the question of whether Jesus' call to spread the Gospel to every nation remains an obligation to Christians. He then goes on to review various attempts to convert people throughout the world to Christianity, provides a survey of the world's countries containing statistical information such as religious preferences and populations, delivers an argument for sending missionaries throughout the world, and defends the idea of Christians promoting missionaries' efforts.