HUDSON TAYLOR The man who believed God by Marshall Broomhall

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THE MAN WHO BELIEVED GOD
John and Mary Taylor, in their new home, took up
the torch of truth James Taylor had bequeathed, and
were prospered in their business, as well as in the things
of God. A new home was built on Pitt Street, not far
from the Wesleyan Manse, and their children, who became
familiar with the Wesleyan Minister's family, were
allowed to choose, within certain limits, their own line
in life. One joined his father in business, one became a
stockbroker in Manchester, one became a Wesleyan
minister, and James, the father of Hudson Taylor,
though ambitious to become a doctor, had to be satisfied
with the less expensive training of a chemist. To this
end he was early apprenticed to a friend in the neighbouring
town of Rotherham.
This James Taylor, named after his grandfather of
Old Mill Lane, was a sturdy youth, short and active,
with a well-knit figure. He grew up to be a powerful and
forceful man. He was an omnivorous reader, a painstaking
student, a mathematician of no mean order, and
one possessed of a capacity for thoroughness and determination
well calculated to make him master of
anything he took in hand. At the age of nineteen he was
welcomed as an accredited local preacher on to the plan
of the Wesleyan Methodist Church, and he soon became,
by reason of his thoughtful and well-prepared sermons,
combined with unusual powers of speech, a popular and
acceptable preacher. While still young he had, with
money advanced by his father, commenced business for
himself as a chemist, at 2r Cheapside, Barnsley, right in
the heart of the town, and ere long seriously contemplated
marriage. For seven years he had been deeply
attached to Amelia Hudson, eldest daughter of Benjamin
and Mrs. Hudson, the Wesleyan minister and his
wife, who, according to the itinerary system of that