Hudson Taylor

With no help but a copy of Luke’s Gospel in Mandarin, as a boy of 17, Hudson began to study the Chinese language in preparation for going to China. The day he finally arrived in that country, he found himself alone in a foreign land, with war, and the foreign community in serious danger. Was he mistaken about his call?

Unknown by the world, forgotten by Christians at home, and criticized by the other missionaries, Taylor was learning the greatest lesson a Christian can: Faith is only cultivated by relying on the Faithful One.

One hundred and fifty years ago “faith” missions were unheard of. And yet, through the “faithfulness” of one servant, and the vision he had for the souls of China, the China Inland Mission became well-known the world over. In some ways it is the most remarkable chapter in all the history of Christian missions. As the father of the entire faith mission movement, for thirty-five years he was the general director of the mission he founded; which, incidentally, under his leadership, became the largest mission in the 19th century.

James Hudson Taylor was one of the greatest missionaries of all times. He was, indeed, God’s gift to the church and the world. (J. Herbert Kane).

“. . . Had I a thousand pounds China should have it. Had I a thousand lives China should claim every one. No, not China, but Christ! Can we do too much for Him? Can we do enough for such a Savior?

Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were and offering far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,
Shall have my life, my soul, my all.”p503

Not “in moments of most earnest prayer or appropriating faith did they imagine what really was to be. China open from end to end; Inland missions working in its most distant provinces; a thousand stations and outstations manned by hundreds of misionaries – from that first request of five, they had increased to more than nine-hundred.

What was his secret? Growing ever nearer to Christ, over the years, and living in His ever brightening presence, had become to him so real, that any distance was simply unbearable for him. So deeply did he love the One who gave His all for him, that any clouding of the Master’s face was felt, and felt at once with anguish of heart, as the bride who mourns over the absence of the bridegroom; one who had not been a stranger to His love.

His presence makes our paradise,
And where He is is heaven.

A reprint of Hudson Taylor’s original two volume biography is available through: Overseas Missionary Fellowship. Probably one of the greatest resources available for those interested in the finer points of a walk of faith (life in the spirit).