Whitworth Digital Commons Whitworth University History of Christianity II: TH 314 Honors Program 5-2016 The aF thomless Wealth of Christ: Hudson Taylor’s Remarkable Life of Faith Carter Hudson Whitworth University Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.whitworth.edu/th314h Part of the Christian Denominations and Sects Commons, Christianity Commons, History of Christianity Commons, and the History of Religions of Western Origin Commons Recommended Citation Hudson, Carter , "The aF thomless Wealth of Christ: Hudson Taylor’s Remarkable Life of Faith" Whitworth University (2016). History of Christianity II: TH 314. Paper 8. https://digitalcommons.whitworth.edu/th314h/8 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License. This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Honors Program at Whitworth University. It has been accepted for inclusion in History of Christianity II: TH 314 by an authorized administrator of Whitworth University. 1 The Fathomless Wealth of Christ: Hudson Taylor’s Remarkable Life of Faith By Carter Hudson A Test of Faith Met by a Man of Faith There was once a young man who lived in Kingston upon Hull in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. Just nineteen years of age, he served as the assistant to one of the top physicians in Hull, living out of a single room in a small cottage just outside town so that he could tithe his entire income.1 He had committed himself to work for the Lord in China and “realized that there he would be far removed from all human aid and would need to depend on God alone for protection, material provision, and help of every other kind.”2 Thus he viewed his training in England as preparation for the hardships of life in China to come. One way in which he did this was to rely wholly on God for all financial matters, including his quarterly salary. The physician for whom this young man worked was frequently occupied with various concerns and asked him to remind him whenever his salary was due so that he might not overlook it.3 The young medical student, however, decided not to directly request his salary but rather to pray for the Lord to bring the matter to the mind of his employer, thus practicing dependence on God alone through prayer.4 As his next quarterly payday drew near, the young man prayed fervently that his employer would not forget his salary—yet when the day came, the preoccupied doctor made no mention of his pay. The young man continued praying unceasingly, trusting that the God in whom he believed would supply his every need, including his overdue salary. But after giving his last silver coin to a family whose mother was dying and eating his last bowl of porridge for breakfast—more than a week after his salary was due—he had no provision for his next meal nor for the rent that was due to his landlord in just three days.5 1 Vance Christie, Hudson Taylor: Gospel Pioneer to China (New Jersey: P&R Publishing, 2011), 34. 2 Ibid., 35. 3 Ibid. 4 Ibid., 36. 5 Ibid., 40. 2 Yet this young man continued to wrestle with God over these matters in prayer. He went into work the day his rent was due “with a calm inner assurance that to wait on God’s timing was best, and that the Lord would undertake for him in one way or another.”6 That very day, seemingly out of the blue, his employer inquired whether he had paid him his salary. The young man calmly reminded him that it had been due some time ago, and his employer was about to finally compensate him when he realized he had just sent the last of his money to the bank. Utterly dejected after such a temporary and premature soaring of his spirit, the young man left his employer’s office and fell to his knees, pouring out his heart to the Lord.7 He remained at the office until 10 o’clock that night, trusting that God would not fail him but would provide for him somehow, when his employer surprisingly returned to the office.8 Laughing to himself as he entered, he explained to the young man that at this strange hour one of his richest patients had just paid his doctor’s bill—and because of that seemingly random action, he was able to pay the overdue salary of the young medical student, as well as the subsequent one, right then and there!9 To the faithful young man this action was not random, however, but the result of drawing for every need upon “the fathomless wealth of Christ.”10 He was a man of passionate conviction, set apart to work for Christ in China, and his name was James Hudson Taylor. Named after his father and great grandfather but called by his mother’s maiden name (his middle name), he was consecrated to serve in China from his very birth.11 Through the founding of the China Inland Mission in 1865, he set a new standard for relying wholly on faith in God for all facets of mission work, bringing some 900 missionaries to the field, training as many Chinese workers, establishing a witnessing church of 125,000, and baptizing nearly 50,000 in his 51 years of service.12 From his 6 Ibid., 41. 7 Ibid., 42. 8 Ibid. 9 Ibid. 10 Dr. and Mrs. Howard Taylor, Hudson Taylor’s Spiritual Secret (Philadelphia: China Inland Mission, 1958), 12. 11 Christie, Hudson Taylor: Gospel Pioneer to China, 19. 12 Douglas K. Wilson Jr., “James Hudson Taylor (1832-1905),” in The Encyclopedia of Christian Civilization, Vol. IV (UK: Wiley-Blackwell, 2011), 2320. 3 upbringing and evangelistic training to his many years of service in China, the key to his success remained the same: it was nothing but the simple secret of drawing upon Christ’s strength for each and every need, and it shaped his entire life, including his approach to mission work and that of countless faith missions to follow. Background and Early Life Hudson’s father, James, was a gifted speaker and an excellent chemist who was involved in preaching engagements throughout the Barnsley Circuit in Yorkshire.13 The son of an amiable reed-maker, he was highly respected as a businessman and “possessed by a profound conviction of God’s infinite faithfulness.”14 He took the Bible quite simply— applying it in practical matters of everyday life—and was so moved by a passage in Exodus 13 about setting apart the firstborn unto the Lord that he and his wife Amelia did exactly that for their unborn son Hudson.15 In fact, they were so moved by the spiritual needs of un-evangelized China that they prayed, “Dear God, if You should give us a son, grant that he may work for You in China.”16 This “child of many prayers”17 was born on May 21, 1832. Hudson’s mother Amelia was instrumental in his childhood. Her gentle discipline played a substantial role in the development of him and his siblings, impressing characteristics of personal neatness, accuracy and thoroughness, as well as a taste for reading, into each of them.18 James was no less involved in their upbringing, emphasizing the importance of punctuality—as well as prayer and bible study—and conducting regular family worship twice daily, after breakfast and tea.19 When fellow workers would come from every part of the circuit for Quarter Day, James often invited them home for tea.20 On these occasions it was common that foreign missions would be the chief subject of conversation. Hudson’s father was most sympathetic to China, about which he would say, 13 Dr. and Mrs. Howard Taylor, J Hudson Taylor: God’s Man in China (Chicago: Moody Press, 1965), 2. 14 Ibid. 15 Ibid. 16 Christie, Hudson Taylor: Gospel Pioneer to China, 19. 17 Taylor, J Hudson Taylor: God’s Man in China, 2. 18 Ibid. 19 Ibid., 4. 20 Ibid., 5. 4 “That is the country to aim at, with its teeming population, its strong, intelligent, scholarly people.”21 He often lamented the church’s indifference towards the country’s egregious needs. It was in part due to these conversations—as well as a thorough reading of Walter Medhurst’s little book, China: Its State and Prospects22—that young Hudson decided he wanted to go to China as a missionary.23 His parents quickly lost hope that he would be called to such a service, however, for he was a sickly child who didn’t even start school until he was eleven.24 Due to his frequent illness, his brief career as a student ended just two years later when he left school to continue his studies at home and help his father in the shop, preparing and packaging medicines.25 By the time he was seventeen, he was a bright young lad “with few anxieties or cares, but inwardly he was rebellious and full of unbelief.”26 His unbelief was fueled by his position as a junior clerk at one of the banks in Barnsley, where his coworkers openly discussed skeptical views of the world and sneered at the “old-fashioned notions” of religion.27 This sheltered young Christian had become steeped in the world’s way of thinking, the impact of which was felt throughout his whole family. A Radical Conversion Hudson was overcome by a general feeling of unhappiness, finding it tiresome to keep up the front of a Christian life when within all was not right.28 His father found it difficult to be patient with Hudson in the phase through which he was passing and his mother “redoubled her tenderness and prayers”29 for him.