The Key Teachings of Hudson Taylor

This is not a book by Hudson Taylor. It is a companion to him — an independent work of exposition and appreciation, written by Ochorus, that gathers the heart of his teaching into seventeen short chapters for the ordinary reader, with a chapter on his life, a conclusion and a guide to his books and to the best lives of him.

Taylor’s one theme was the faithfulness of God. He learned it as a boy converted by a tract about a work already finished, tested it as a medical student with his last half-crown, staked a mission on it on the sands at Brighton, and came to rest in it in 1869 when he saw that he was to lean not on his own faith but on the Faithful One. From that single conviction came everything else he taught: prayer as transacting business with God, finance without debt or appeal, abiding in Christ as a branch in the vine, the union and communion of the Song of Solomon, Nazarite separation and glad service, and a burden for inland China that cost him dearly. This volume follows that thread, weighs honestly the places where he must be read with care, and ends each chapter in a few questions and a prayer.

Taylor’s own writings are in the public domain and freely available, and every chapter here names them so the reader can go to the source; A Retrospect, Union and Communion, Separation and Service and nine of his addresses are in the Ochorus library. This companion is offered only to open the door. It quotes Scripture from the Authorised (King James) Version, and it makes no claim to stand in for the man’s own plain, warm and searching pages.