Inspirational Biography of Hudson Taylor
Most people nowadays gravitate to new books by current or recent authors, with attractive covers and not too many pages.
But I want to tell you about a book in my shelves that isn’t any of these but is incredibly special: ‘Hudson Taylor in Early Years – The Growth of a Soul’ by Dr. and Mrs. Howard Taylor. My copy is big, old, hardback with a dark green cover, no dustcover and doesn’t look very interesting. But:
- It’s one of the few books that I’m reading for the second time
- It’s one of the three books that changed my life and how I view things
- It is inspiring to the point of my heart burning within me when I read it
Just today I started reading it again, and usually in biographies you have to drag yourself through the first few chapters to get to the exciting stuff further on. But this one is different. Even in the first chapter I was underlining things and was on fire at the end of reading it!
Hudson Taylor was a missionary to China, and got through a lot of obstacles to get there. He had a great saying which has always stuck with me: ‘Learn to move men, through God, by prayer alone.’ He also founded China Inland Mission which has now become OMF – Overseas Missionary Fellowship.
Here are some quotes just from the first chapter, which is about his great grandfather who became truly converted (though previously attending church) at the time Wesley was preaching everywhere.
In describing the scene at the time, the author says ‘The immorality of the wealthy classes and the indifference of the clergy were no less menacing than the rudeness of the peasantry, the brutality of the town populace, the prevalence of drunkenness, the growth of impiety, and the general deadness to religion…
Men who in the face of such conditions, with the pulpits of the land closed against them, fearlessly took their stand for God and His righteousness… needed an embuement of the Holy Spirit no less mighty than that of the first evangelists who turned the world upside down. Like them too they had to be prepared to die daily… for only through lives laid down could such regenerating work be done.’
It sounds very similar to Britain today, with our deadness to God and religion and drunkenness everywhere. We too, need to lay our lives down and die daily.
He also describes how Hudson Taylor’s great grandparents had a cup in the corner cupboard, where they faithfully gave a ‘ninth of all their income (a tenth could not suffice them) to the Lord’
If you need to read a shorter book about Hudson Taylor, his ‘The Spiritual Secret of Hudson Taylor‘ is supposed to be very good though I have never read it myself. But since it is by the same authors as ‘Growth of a Soul’ (his son and daughter in law) I am sure it is well worth reading too.
But if you think you could get through a larger book and are in need of some inspiring, do try to get hold of this one!
Edit: There is also a part 2 of the rest of his life which is also very good. Please read the comments below for more information on the shorter books and also how to read a shorter biography by the same authors for free!
I’ve never seen a copy of this book so haven’t read it, but many years ago I read a book about Hudson Taylor’s missionary work and was impressed by it.
Apparently his son and daughter-in-law wrote about his life in two volumes and the one you have is the first part. They also wrote a shorter version in one volume and that’s available for free.
You can download the book from the CCEL Library.
It’s in a Microsoft e-book format, but the Calibre program can read it without any problem. (Calibre is a free e-book reader for Windows, Mac or Linux.)
This all sounds more complicated than it really is. It’s well worth the effort though. I’m looking forward to reading about Hudson Taylor’s life.
Thanks for recommending the book, Rhoda.
Thanks Chris, I was aware and have read the 2nd part of his life I just forgot to mention it! But I didn’t know that a shorter version was available for free, so thank you for the link 🙂
The Spiritual Secret of Hudson Taylor is a great book! It’s the only account I’ve read of his life (I watched the documentary) and I was so inspired and encouraged in my walk with the Lord after reading it I would definitely recommend it to others!
See that’s why we need comments – lots of good input – thank you!!