Hudson Taylor-Ning's Confession

By Mary Vee

Year: February 1872 

Hudson Taylor: age 40

From J. Hudson Taylor's Notes

Photo Courtesy

Ning, once a great scholar of Confucianism,  knew he had to tell his wife about his change of heart. He didn't know what she would do. Technically she could report him to the authorities and have him arrested.

He met her in the kitchen that night. "After the children are in bed I would like to speak with you."

She nodded and finished her work. Later, when they were alone, she sat across from him at the table.

He looked at her, not knowing how to form the words he had to say. She sat there silently, patiently waiting for him to speak. After a time she said, "Did you want to tell me something?"

He took a deep breath and opened his mouth. The words flowed, unplanned but exactly what he would have wanted to say. He told her about the New Testament and the God who sent His Son to save them from their sins. He told her about God's love. 

Her eyes widened as she listened closely. It seemed she wanted to know more, so he continued to share what he'd learned from the New Testament and the conversation he had with John Stevenson.

When he stopped talking she said, "Have you really found the One? I have searched for Him for so long, wanting to know who helped me years ago when I cried out."

She wrapped her hands around her tea cup and closed her eyes for a moment. "I was only a girl when the Taiping rebels came to my village. They stormed through, setting businesses and homes on fire. They came into my home and killed my parents then stormed through our rooms breaking things. I ran to the wardrobe and cried in my thoughts, pleading silently for help. 

"'Oh heavenly Grandfather, help me,'" I cried. I knew the temple gods could not save me. The rebels destroyed them. I crouched into a small ball into the corner of the wardrobe and stayed silent. Although they mostly destroyed the room, the rebels never saw me. None but the true and living God could have saved me.

"Ever since that day I have searched for the living God. The one who saved me from the rebels."

Ning had never heard this story. His heart rejoiced at her words. "This same living God has come to save you from more than the rebels. He wants to give us both life forever with Him."

They talked through most of the night, sharing the words Ning had learned from the New Testament.

And now, my wife, we must choose whether to tell others in our city. 

Ning found the strength to tell his wife and to take a stand for what he now believed. But now he must face the village. A place where Christians were beaten and thrown in jail. Would he risk this?

J. Hudson Taylor

Missionary to China--Inland China!

So Very Blessed by God 

Research resources: J. Hudson Taylor, An Autobiography by J. Hudson Taylor; It is Not Death to Die, a new biography of Hudson Taylor by Jim Cromarty; Hudson Taylor Founder, China Inland Mission by Vance Christie; J. Hudson Taylor, A Man in Christ, by Roger Steer, and Hudson Taylor's Spiritual Secret by Dr.and Mrs. Howard Taylor.