James Hudson Taylor

Hudson Taylor was the most widely used missionary in China's history. During his 51 years of service there, his China Inland Mission established 20 mission stations, brought 849 missionaries to the field (968 by 1911), trained some 700 Chinese workers, raised four million dollars by faith (following Mueller's example), and developed a witnessing Chinese church of 125,000. It has been said at least 35,000 were his own converts and that he baptized some 50,000. His gift for inspiring people to give themselves and their possessions to Christ was amazing.

His conversion is an amazing story. When he was 17 years of age he went into his father's library one afternoon in June, 1849 in search of a book to read. This was in a barn or warehouse adjacent to the house. Finally he picked up a gospel tract entitled, "It is Finished," and decided to read the story on the front. He came upon the expression, "The Finished work of Christ," Remembering the words, "It is Finished," he raised the question -- "What was finished?" The answers seemed to fall in place and he received Christ as his Saviour. The same afternoon and time, his mother was visiting some 75 miles away. Experiencing an intense yearning for the conversion of her son, she turned the key in the door and resolved not to leave the spot until her prayers were answered. Hours later she left with assurance. She returned 10 days later and was met at the door by her son who said he had good news for her. She said, "I know, my boy. I have been rejoicing for a fortnight in the glad tidings you have to tell me." Mother Taylor had learned of the incident from no human source, but God had assured her.

Months later he began to feel a great dissatisfaction with his spiritual state. His "first love" and his zeal for souls had grown cold. On Dec. 2, 1849 he retired to be alone with the Lord and it seemed this was the time to promise the Lord he would go to China. Hudson started to prepare immediately by exercising in the open air and exchanging his feather bed for a hard mattress. He distributed tracts and held cottage meetings. With the aid of a copy of Luke's Gospel in the Mandarin dialect, he studied the Chinese language. He borrowed a book on China from a Congregational minister and began the study of Greek, Hebrew, and Latin.

In the Fall of 1852, he came to London under the auspices of the Chinese Evangelization Society, who arranged to pay for his training as a doctor at the London Hospital in the East End. Glowing reports came from China and the CES urged Taylor to leave at once, medical course unfinished, to reach the Taipings (new rebel group called Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace) at Nanking. These were supposedly Christian rebels that toppled Nanking in March, 1853. This Chinese rebellion lasted from 1850 to 1864.

China at last...age 21 years, 10 months old! He was not prepared for the civil war on his doorstep. It was a shock to find that if the rebels did embrace Christianity, it was nominally on the part of the leaders alone from political motives. "Of the spirit of Christianity they knew little and manifested none." He was forlorn, miserable and homesick. His eyes were inflamed, he suffered headaches and was simply cold in the climate. His leisure time was consumed with long letters home to parents and sister.

In early 1855 he started preaching tours -- a week or more with another missionary or alone. There were ten such journeys his first two years. In February, 1855, the Imperial armies with rebel French support had stormed and sacked the starving city of Shanghai, making the streets hideous with human suffering. As peace returned he considered permanent residence in some interior city, or else he must find his way 700 miles to Nanking, capital of the Taipings However he was divinely hindered in his attempt to reach Nanking, and in five more years the rebels were all but extinguished anyway. Taylor returned to Shanghai.

William Burns, a Scottish evangelist, came across his path and for seven months, 1855-56, they worked together as a gospel team. In February of 1856, they both felt called to Swatown, 1,000 miles south. They decided to go and arrived March 12. It was no easy place to get the attention of a hardened embittered people. Tropical summer soon put Taylor into a state of exhaustion as the prickly heat and unending perspiration plus the stench of the night soil pails left him weak. He left his rice diet in May and added tea, eggs and toast. The mail was not encouraging either. The CES, his mission board, informed him there were no funds left to send to him. By midsummer, 1856, he was torn 100 different ways, but in July he decided to go back north, at Burns request, to get much needed medical equipment from Shanghai. Taylor arrived to find nearly all his medical supplies had been accidentally destroyed by fire. Then came the distressing news that Burns was arrested by Chinese authorities and sent on a 31 day journey to Canton.

Hudson then decided to settle at Ningpo and in October, 1856, made his way back there. On his way down he was robbed of his traveling bed, spare clothes, two watches, surgical instruments, concertina, sister Amelia's photo and a Bible given to him by his mother. With no salary coming in now he would have been destitute and helpless had not his expenses fallen sharply because he had adopted the Chinese dress and level of living. Despite his setbacks he continued to preach to those who were in darkness.

As 1856 ended and the new year began, he knew he would have to resign from his mission board, CES. He considered joining some other society but a letter from George Mueller encouraged him to live by faith. So in June he resigned at age 25. Dr. Parker, a fellow missionary, had established a hospital and dispensary at Ningpo. The treaty of Tientsin, ratified in 1860, gave missionaries new freedoms but Taylor's health was so bad with all the pressures that a furlough seemed to be his only hope for life. So in August he and newly-wedded wife left Shanghai, arriving back in England in November, 1860, seven years after he first left for China. Taylor, realizing he could not soon return, undertook various responsibilities. First, the translating and revision of the Ningpo New Testament (a five year project) and then enrolling in a medical course. He also wrote a book, China, It's Spiritual Needs and Claims (October, 1865). These London years brought tests as severe as any that followed with poor health, funds and a growing family.

The China Inland Mission was born on Sunday, June 25, 1865 on the sands of Brington's beach where Hudson Taylor was gripped with a heavy burden and asked God for 24 missionaries to return with him to China. He opened a bank account with $50.00 and soon the volunteers and money began coming in. At this time Spurgeon heard Taylor and was impressed by his zeal for China. Apparently God was too, for within the year, he had raised $13,000.00 and accepted 24 volunteers. On May 26, 1866, the Taylors left for China after 5½ years of working and recruiting at home. Of the 24 volunteers, eight preceded him and 16 came with the family. On board were a married couple, five single men and nine single ladies.

He went westward in June looking for new stations. The Taylors had gone to Yangchow on June 1, 1868 with their four children. By July 20 they had their own compound. Suddenly handbills warned against the foreigners. Ignorance and priestly hostility brought fear of the West. Not only that, but the foreigners (Taylors) offered exceptional prospects for looting. Saturday, August 22, 1868 has to be one of the most traumatic days in the mission's history. The mission compound was attacked and as Taylor and a friend ran for help, the home was looted and burned causing serious injuries on several individuals. The battered missionaries left Yangchow for Chinkiang where they were made comfortable. Maria Taylor could not walk unaided and ached in every bone. However, they did not want to press charges. The British Navy, hearing of the problem, sailed up the Yangtze deep into the territory to protest this outrage. This was to produce negative results as Western Imperialism became the excuse for Communist infiltration later. The Taylors returned to Yangchow on November 18, 1868.

Although Europeans in Shanghai appreciated the problem in Yangchow, back in England the stories were perverted and the Taylors sneered at. In Yangchow the natives were impressed that the Taylors would come back and the next year saw a time of reaping. In England, George Mueller refused to believe the libel and his contributions ($10,000 annually) made up for the support that stopped. Exhausted and depressed, Hudson later confessed that only his wife's love stood between him and suicide. At this point in his life God used the situation to do a new thing. Hudson Taylor could not go on as he was bankrupt in spirit and strength. It finally dawned on him reading a missionary friend's letter. "I have striven in vain to abide in Him, I'll strive no more. For has not He promised to abide with me...never to leave me, never to fail me?" He then entered into what he thereafter called the "Exchanged Life" where his work for the Lord was no longer done in his own strength.

In 1870 a most heart rendering decision had to be made. The children (older four), ages 9,7,5 and 3 should go back to England, leaving only baby Charles with the parents. Fear of parting was too much for Sammy. He died on a boat on the Yangtze River on February 4, 1870. On March 22 at Shanghai, the parents wept as they said farewell to Bertie, Freddie and little Maria who would go home with missionary Emily Blatchley who would act as their foster-mother. Little did Mrs. Taylor know how wise a decision this would be for she herself would be dead four months later. On June 21, a massacre of many foreigners in Tientsin made things tense again. But is was Maria's tuberculosis condition worsening under the extremely hot sun that caused the greatest concern. On July 7, little Noel (number 8) was born. he lived for 13 days as throat problems in the oppressive heat were just too much for him. Four children were now in heaven as July 20th added another. Three days later the brave Maria died on Saturday, July 23, 1870. She just got weaker and weaker and passed on peacefully. Official conclusion was prostration by cholera. She was 33 and during their 12 years of marriage gave birth to eight children plus one stillborn. She was a tower of strength to her husband. Maria Taylor was one of the most heroic wives in Christian history. Two days before she died they received word that the other children had arrived safely in England. She was buried at Chinkiang.

Taylor had to return to England because of ill health and was semi-retired in Switzerland as a result. He was brought to the very doors of death by the terrible news of the Boxer Rebellion, the resulting disruption of the work and murder of hundreds of missionaries along with the native Christians. It was May, 1900, and as the telegrams came telling of riots and massacres, he gasped, "I cannot read, I cannot pray, I can scarcely think...but I can trust." Although the anguish of heart nearly killed him, the stories coming out of the holocaust actually inspired great interest in missions everywhere and gave new life to the CIM. D.E. Hoste was appointed Acting General Director in August, 1900. In November, 1902, Taylor resigned to turn the reigns over to younger men.

Not knowing he had only three months to live, he left for China one last time...his 11th trip there, leaving in February, 1905, and arriving in March. He went alone as his beloved wife had passed on in Switzerland on July 30, 1904. He spent Easter at Yangchow where 32 years before, his house was burnt to the ground. Then to Chinkiang where he buried his first wife 35 years previously. Then on to Honan, Hankow, and finally to Changsha, the capital of Hunan. This was the most difficult of the nine unevangelized provinces entered by his workers. Here he visited various parts of the city, inspected a site for a new hospital, spoke to a congregation of Chinese Christians, attending a reception given in his honor in a garden, and was planning to speak on Sunday. But he died quite suddenly on Saturday evening. He had retired to his home, his daughter-in-law, Mary (Mrs. Howard Taylor) visited him as he was busy going over his homeland letters. One gasp and he was gone. Christians carried his body to Chinkiang where he was buried with his Maria at the foot of green hills near the Yangtze River.

Edited from article by Ed Reese in http://www.wholesomewords.org/missions/biotaylor2.html