“The lamps are alight on the altar of God,
The Good Shepherd walks with His staff and His rod,
In lands where in darkness the people have trod.
O brother, keep the lamps burning!
— C. Ellison.
NO life of Hudson Taylor would be complete which failed to furnish some little information about his forebears. His great-grandfather, James Taylor, was following the trade of a stonemason when he came under the power of the gracious dealings of God’s Holy Spirit. On his wedding day he was threshing wheat for the bride loaf, a Yorkshire custom of that time, when like a flash there came to his mind the text: “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord,” and while his bride waited for him he, after a season of deep exercise, settled the great question by yielding himself to Christ as Master and Lord. His young wife, thoughtless and gay, was at first offended at his abandonment of worldly pleasures, but the sincerity of his affection for her, and the simplicity and saintliness of his life before her, won her for the Lord, and ere long she entered into His service with the same zeal and devotion as her husband.
An accident which took pace some years after his marriage and incapacitated the stonemason from following his regular employment, was the cause of the family removing to Barnsley, a notoriously wicked mining town. His earnings there averaged 13/6 per week, of which sum 1/6 was set aside for the poor and for the work of the Lord.
Their kitchen was thrown open for an informal gathering of their neighbors, and of these gatherings James explained the way of life to those who attended. As the blessing of God was manifested, the wrath of man was also shown in envy and hate, James having the apostolic proof of his ministry in persecution. Stones, mud, and even a frying pan were used to punish the faithful minister of Christ. Acts of personal violence were neither repaid nor resented, and as the Christ-like spirit of the young couple was known, the people were attracted to the meeting, with the result that after a visit from John Wesley, then a veteran of 80 years, a Methodist Society was formed.
The children of this worthy couple grew up to be a joy and comfort to them. Their son John became a maker of reeds for the hand looms, with which the linen weaving was then carried on, and achieved considerable success. Like his father, he married young, and found in his wife a devoted helper in every good work. With the blessing of God upon their labors, the influence of the Gospel extended among old and young. Their son, the second James Taylor, was the father of our hero. He had ambitions towards becoming a doctor, but circumstances prevented this, and he took up the study of chemistry. His studies completed, he set up in business as a chemist in one of the best positions in Barnsley. Led early to the Saviour, he had given himself to the study of the Word of God, and when only 19 years of age was busy preaching the Gospel as opportunity offered in the neglected villages of his native county. To Barnsley he brought his young wife, Amelia Hudson, the eldest daughter of Benjamin Hudson, a Methodist minister. She was a woman of great winsomeness, and with a natural charm of character; but what natural attractiveness she possessed was enriched and strengthened by the Spirit of Christ. Her youthful days were marked by loving service and consideration for others, and she was early called upon to sacrifice her own inclinations and desires in order to share the burdens which a minister’s large family entailed. Her sweet personality attracted James Taylor; friendship ripened into affection, and after seven years of service and sacrifice, the couple were yoked together in the bonds of holy matrimony on April 5, 1831.
The chemist had ideas beyond the compounding of drugs, and his heart went out toward the heathen at his doors. Active evangelistic effort among them was blessed of God, with the inevitable result that his sympathies were enlarged, and he began to be concerned about the heathen in the regions beyond. Faith gives vision, and one who is in touch with Jesus Christ has a pity like that of his Lord. His devotion and activities were kept at concert pitch by his sweet and cultured wife, who ruled him by persuasion, and who amid the humble duties of the household, shed a radiance that revealed the presence of the Lord Jesus in her heart.
To this godly couple a child was born on May 21, 1832, and was named James Hudson Taylor. He was gladly and definitely consecrated to the Lord for His service, a consecration which was followed by prayerful instruction and discipline. He was a sensitive and thoughtful boy, but was unusually delicate, and great care and tact were necessary in the early days of his life, in order to avoid spoiling him by over-indulgence. His earliest recollections centered round his grandfather, and the chapel on Pinfold Hill. Almost from infancy he was taken there, and his grandfather’s caress at the end of the long service was the evidence that he had been specially good. Taunt to confide in their parents, Hudson Taylor and his brother and sister, not only brought them their sorrows, but at times also confessed their failures. The atmosphere of the home was affectionate, but self-denial, obedience, thrift in the employment of time and pence were strongly insisted upon, and in such surroundings virtue took definite shape and gathered strength by the habits cultivated.
We are told that Hudson was once overlooked when dinner was being served. He waited patiently, and then quietly asked for the salt that he might “be ready when mother remembered” her boy. Another time he gently asked “if apple pie were good for little boys?” and of course unable to answer his own shrewd question received his share. Very early in life he felt the influence of the Holy Spirit, perhaps more powerful because he was delicate.
Though very strict with his children, James Taylor was a kind and thoughtful parent, who took great pains with his boy. Too delicate to attend school, Hudson’s education was undertaken by his parents, who saw to it that the great truths of the Gospel were instilled into his young mind as well as, the throe “R’s.” Their house was open to the Lord’s many of whom shared its hospitality, ranch to the delight of the children. Mrs. Taylor’s fondness for reading furnished her with many interesting tales for her youthful hearers, and mother’s books, among them. “The Pilgrim’s Progress,” made life pleasant for the young people.
At the age of eleven Hudson was sent to a day school at Barnsley, but his attendance was intermittent, and the state of his health brought his school period to an end in a little less than two years. Passing from the secluded atmosphere of his home to rub shoulders with boys of his own age was a teat which showed that home influence and careful training were not enough to prevent this boy from desiring to follow the bent of the world. Feelings and fears were released at this time which continued throughout the eighteen months which followed, during which he continued his studies at home and assisted in the chemist’s shop.
When he was fifteen years of age he secured a position as a junior clerk in a Bank. There he learned the value of exactitude in finance and lessons in business carefulness which were to serve him in future years. Unfortunately, however, he came under influences which were far from helpful to his spiritual life, and while he maintained the outward, forms of religion, his heart was set on the world. His desires for gaiety and pleasure could not be realized, and he became dissatisfied and even skeptical about spiritual things. His eyesight, however, failed, and he was forced to return home.
His eyesight quickly recovered, but the evil influences of his associates at the Bank continued long after he had severed his connection with them. A period of unrest and unhappiness followed, during which he caused his parents not a little concern. This was brought to an end in a remarkable way his mother and his sister were praying specially that he might be led to a full and definite surrender to Christ, and to them he ever afterward attributed his conversion. Left alone one afternoon, he picked up a tract, saying to himself, “There will be a story at the beginning, and a sermon at the end. I’ll read the first and leave the rest.” Soon he became engrossed in the tract, which dealt with the finished work of Christ. Asking himself what was finished, the young man replied: “A full and perfect atonement and satisfaction for sin. Then if the work was finished, what is there left for me to do but to fall down on my knees and accept this Savior and this salvation.” While this was going on in the old warehouse, his saintly mother, on a Visit to friends seventy or eighty miles away, was wrestling with God for the salvation of her son, and that afternoon had the assurance given her that her prayers were answered.
A deep spiritual experience followed. He definitely yielded himself to the Lord, and from that time gave himself up to the work of winning souls. After a further period of spiritual conflict, in which he proved the power of Christ to give victory over indwelling sin, the call came clear and definite to him, and he learned that the, place and sphere of his service was in China. Nothing doubting, he sought to acquire sonic knowledge of the Chinese language he also began to collect money for those who were already in the field, and further exercised his gifts by seeking to win some of the heathen that lived and suffered near him. Study, too, was not neglected, for he realized that laziness and ignorance are no qualifications for the Savior’s service, but his thrusting his way through books was also accompanied by deep and continual fellowship with God while alone. All this time he assisted in his father’s business dispensing medicines and treating minor complaints.
From home he went to Hull as assistant to a relative, Dr. Hartley. There he acquired more medical knowledge, and also learned more perfectly the blessedness of a life of faith.
In order to insure himself to the hardships inseparable from itinerancy, he hired a room in a cottage on the Drainside. There amidst the poor he lived on the meanest fare, not that he might save money, but so that he might give it to the needy and to missions. A brief visit to the Crystal Palace brought him into contact with some of the saints of London. There he met with a missionary who told him: “You will never do for China. They call me red-haired devil, and would run from you in terror. You could never get them to listen.” “And yet,” mused Hudson, “it is God who called me, and He knew all the time about the color of my hair and eyes.”
The sacred ministry of disappointment was not omitted from his education; a love that had mastered his heart was refused, and the denial and refusal, although painful to bear, compelled a deeper trust in God and in His Word. Self-denial he knew. One day he gave 2/6 to a starving family, but the Lord discharged the debt by sending money through a saint who withheld his name. A further test was when his salary being long overdue and the money required for rent, Dr. Hartley discovered the fact with regret, saying that he had just paid all his money into the Bank. But at ten o’clock at night a wealthy client called to pay his bill, and instead of a check, offered notes. Thus the rent was paid, and Hudson was much encouraged to fully trust the Banker who was also His Heavenly Father.
After this experience, in order to secure better medical training, Hudson came up to London. Lodging with an uncle near Soho Square, he walked right across London to the London Hospital, in Whitechapel Road. He boarded himself, and on his way home from the Hospital purchased a two-penny loaf. The baker cut this, one half being the evening supply, and the remainder, with water, was Hudson’s breakfast.
No wonder, thus poorly fed and walking so far, that he became weak. Moreover, while dissecting, he pricked a finger, and was at once pronounced dying. But he survived, for his lifework was as yet unaccomplished. Yet while in peril he walked from Soho to the City and obtained some needed money with which he went back home.
A brief stay at Barnsley soon restored him, for high purpose and the grace of God gave strength to the body. Then once more Hudson came to London, this time, however, as an assistant to a doctor near Finsbury Circus.
He was soon a favorite with the children of his employer, and took them out when they were not able to drive with the doctor. During this period a patient bitterly opposed to the Gospel, being relieved by Hudson’s loving care, listened to his pleadings and came to the Savior whom he so long had despised. Thus while accumulating medical knowledge, Huon became skilled in dealing with anxious and unconcerned souls.