Adoniram Judson and Hudson Taylor
Lord, Give Us This Mountain
Two missionaries from the 1800s helped shape this family’s story. Adoniram Judson took the gospel to Burma. Hudson Taylor took it into the inland provinces of China. Both trusted God through great suffering, and both left their own countries for good.
Adoniram Judson (1788–1850)
Judson was born in Malden, Massachusetts, the son of a minister. He sailed for the East in 1812 and reached Rangoon, Burma, in 1813. Six years went by before the first Burman believer, Moung Nau, was baptized. During the war with Britain, Judson spent almost two years in prison at Ava and Oung-pen-la. He finished the whole Bible in Burmese in 1834 and spent nearly forty years in Burma. He died at sea in 1850.
WHAT HE MEANT TO US
As a boy, Kevin listened to Judson’s life story again and again on reel-to-reel tapes of Moody Bible Institute’s Stories of Great Christians. Years later, Dad wrote:
As a boy he used to like to listen to tapes about Adoniram Judson. … I wrote him recently that now he is getting to be a missionary to that part of the world just like Judson.Ken, 22 July 1976 · In His Joy, “Our Missionary in the Pacific” →
READ ABOUT JUDSON, FREE
- A Memoir of the Life and Labors of Adoniram Judson, Volume 1Francis Wayland, 1853. His youth, his call, the voyage to India, Rangoon, and the prison at Ava.
- A Memoir of the Life and Labors of Adoniram Judson, Volume 2Francis Wayland, 1853. The Karens, the finished Burmese Bible, and his last years.
- The Life of Adoniram JudsonBy his son, Edward Judson, 1883.
- Advice to Missionary CandidatesJudson’s own letter to young people thinking of going to the mission field.
Hudson Taylor (1832–1905)
Hudson Taylor was born in Barnsley, Yorkshire, and came to Christ as a teenager. He sailed for China in 1853. He wore Chinese clothes, learned to trust God alone for money, and carried the gospel far inland, beyond the coastal treaty ports. In 1865 he founded the China Inland Mission, and in 1866 he sailed back to China with the Lammermuir party. By the time he died in 1905, the mission had carried the gospel into every province of China.
WHAT HE MEANT TO US
On his way to the Philippines for the first time, Dad read the story of Hudson Taylor’s life: Hudson Taylor in Early Years: The Growth of a Soul and The Growth of a Work of God. Both books are now in the library, free to read and download.
READ HIS STORY, FREE
- Hudson Taylor in Early Years: The Growth of a SoulDr. & Mrs. Howard Taylor, 1912. The book Dad read on his first trip.
- Hudson Taylor and the China Inland Mission: The Growth of a Work of GodDr. & Mrs. Howard Taylor, 1918. The second volume Dad read.
- Hudson Taylor’s Spiritual SecretDr. & Mrs. Howard Taylor, 1932. The shorter story of his walk with God.
IN HIS OWN WORDS
- A RetrospectHis own account of how God called him and provided for him.
- China: Its Spiritual Need and ClaimsThe 1865 appeal that started the China Inland Mission.
- Union and CommunionThoughts on the Song of Solomon.
- Separation and ServiceThoughts on Numbers 6 and 7.
- Articles by Hudson TaylorThree short messages, from plymouthbrethren.org.
Listen: Stories of Great Christians
Moody Bible Institute’s radio drama Stories of Great Christians tells the lives of men and women of faith. These are the stories Kevin grew up hearing. You can hear them on Moody’s own sites.
Stories of Great Christians © Moody Bible Institute. Links go to Moody Audio and to BBN, which airs the series.
All the books above are free to read and download in Faithful Men: A Library of Christian Classics.
