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Culture
School House - Taylor
James Hudson Taylor was born in 1832 into a strong Christian family and with a child-like faith he accepted and believed the gospel of Jesus Christ. When he was 15 Taylor began to rebel against his early Christian upbringing and began to question his faith. One afternoon he went into his father's study to find something to read and he found basket of Gospel tracts. He selected one that "looked interesting" and said to himself, "There will be a story at the commencement and a sermon or moral at the close. I will take the former and leave the latter for those who like it." Unknown to Hudson, as he was reading, his mother was praying fervently for her son's conversion. Hudson did indeed give his life to God that afternoon - and later learned that his younger sister, Amelia had also committed herself to pray for her brother until he gave his life to God. These incidents proved to Hudson the power of prayer - and this was the basis of his life and ministry - that God would be faithful and provide for his needs.
Hudson was left with the great conviction that God was calling him to China and he began to prepare himself, from the age of 17, to serve God in China. He taught himself Chinese, worked as a medical assistant for a doctor in Hull, and devoted himself to evangelistic work in that town. Later Hudson moved to London to continue his medical studies and to establish contact with the Chinese Evangelical Society, which he hoped would be able to send him to China.
In 1853 an opportunity opened up for Hudson Taylor to go to China, although he only had two years of medical training. Hudson Taylor arrived in Shanghai on 1 March 1854, at a time when China was in great turmoil and civil war was raging. No-one met Hudson off the ship - indeed no-one knew he was coming, however another missionary doctor offered him hospitality until he was able to establish himself. Hudson Taylor was 21 years of age!
Undeterred by his situation, Hudson set about establishing himself and another missionary doctor from the Chinese Evangelical Society, overcoming the most incredible obstacles. He discarded the Western style of dress and adopted Chinese dress because he recognised that to bring the gospel to the Chinese people he would encounter less resistance if he adopted Chinese customs.
In January 1858 Hudson Taylor married Maria Dyer. Together they worked tirelessly for God, travelling to inland China to bring the Gospel message to the people. Health problems eventually forced him to return to England. Hudson prayed fervently - he asked God to raise up twenty-four fellow missionaries to go with him to set up mission stations in Inland China. Thus the China Inland Mission came into being. Hudson never deliberately appealed for money for this mission, he believed, and had testimony of this many times, that faithful prayer would move people to supply the financial needs of the mission. God did raise up missionaries for the China Inland Mission and in 1866, sixteen missionaries, plus Hudson and Maria Taylor and their four children began another horrendous sea trip to China. On arrival the Taylors and other missionaries began slowly moving inland, setting up mission stations as they went. Financial support continued to come, always when the situation seemed doomed because of lack of funds, and one of the greatest supporters of CIM work was George Mueller.
In 1870, Hudson Taylor's health had again deteriorated so he had to return to England. Whilst in China, Maria Hudson and three children died. During his time in England, Hudson Taylor took over the administration of the CIM office. He spoke at many meetings around the country about the work in China. In the years that followed, Hudson and his second wife, Jenny, travelled to China many times, and Hudson also visited America, Europe and Australia. The work of CIM continued to grow.
Jenny Taylor died in England in 1904, and in early 1905 Hudson returned to China, touring the inland and visiting familiar places and the province of Hunan for the first time. On 3 June 1905 after a reception Hudson Taylor died. His body was taken to the cemetery in Chin-kiang and he was buried beside his wife, Maria and children on the banks of the Yangtze River, in the land he loved and lived and died for. On his gravestone is the inscription - James Hudson Taylor - a Man in Christ.
He wrote, "God's work done in God's way will never lack God's supplies." Hudson Taylor's life bore testimony to this.
