I’ve not read a biography of Hudson Taylor until now. I borrowed this book from Bonnie.

Hudson Taylor’s Spiritual Secret by Howard and Geraldine Taylor is apparently a fairly brief version of Hudson Taylor’s life, less than 200 pages. With the full life he lived, I can imagine how big a book his life story can fill.

As I read how Taylor put his faith in God, I felt sad about 2 things:

1. What happened to the England that was once practically the center of Christendom? Great Christian men and women such as Charles Spurgeon, John Wesley, Florence Nightingale, and of course Hudson Taylor came out of England in those days . Now we don’t hear much of Christian influence there anymore. Perhaps more sad to me is the prediction that the US is heading down the same path. We will be asking, “What happened to the US that once had such outstanding Christian leaders as Billy Graham, Bill Bright, and Rick Warren? The US used to send out great missionaries like Jim Elliot. What happened??”

2. I am sad to admit that I have no where near the passion and the love for the lost as Hudson Taylor. And I wonder why I don’t see more miracles in my life?

In the Foreword of the book, E.M. Bounds wrote: “The church is looking for better methods; God is looking for better men…What the church needs today is not more machinery … but men whom the Holy Ghost can use – men of prayer, men mighty in prayer.”

Hudson Taylor was such a man. His prayer was not inaction, but his prayer moved him to courageous action, action with risk, with suffering, and with perseverance . He was willing to count his own life as nothing, lived with no worldy luxuries, gained no possessions for himself. As a result, he saw miracles from God and an intimacy with God that few can experience.

What an inspiration!

One Response to “Hudson Taylor’s Spiritual Secret”

  1. George Muller 1805-1898 Says:

    […] Then & Now” series, by Janet and Geoff Benge. A contemporary of  such great men as Hudson Taylor, Charles Spurgeon, and with the same kind of daring faith, Muller depended wholly on God for his […]