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To Listen to an Audio Presentation of this Article Click Here Consecrated Hudson Taylor’s father, James Taylor, before his birth, knelt beside his 24 year old wife, Amelia, in the parlour at the back of his busy chemist shop in Yorkshire, England, and prayed: “Dear God, if you should give us a son, grant that he may work for You in China.” Deviated By age 4, Hudson would declare: “When I am a man, I mean to be a missionary and go to China.” Also by age 4, he had learnt the Hebrew alphabet. Hudson was home-educated and grew up in a Godly home. However, by age 17, he was severely backslidden, restless and rebellious against his parents. Frederick William Baedeker - Missionary to Russia Over half of F.W. Baedeker’s life had passed before he became a Christian. His early years were spent in business, the army and in much travelling. Transformed by Christ In 1866, in his early forties, he became a Christian. “I went into the meeting a proud rebellious infidel and came out a humble believing disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ.” Along with his remarkable spiritual transformation came a corresponding improvement in his health. His previous ill health had led many people to predict an early grave for him. But now, from his conversion, he began to undertake such strenuous journeys that would have depleted the energy of much younger and healthier men. “Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him.” Genesis 18:18 Chaplain to Convicts Samuel Marsden (1764-1838) was born in Farsley, Yorkshire, and the son of a Wesleyan farmer. He won a scholarship and studied for the Church of England ministry at Cambridge. Samuel Marsden was offered the influential post of Chaplain to the convict colony of New South Wales in Australia. His college friend, the Evangelical Member of Parliament, William Wilberforce, organised this appointment. Within a month of marrying Elizabeth Fristan, Samuel was ordained and sent off by ship to New South Wales. Robert Moffat (1795-1883), was brought up near Edinburgh by devout Christian parents, who filled his heart and mind with accounts of the exploits of missionaries in other countries. After being apprenticed as a gardener and a brief experience as a sailor, Robert Moffat determined to join the London Missionary Society. However, his first application was rejected. Undaunted, the Scot tried again the next year and was accepted. Commissioned In October 1816, at Surrey Chapel in London, he and 8 others were set apart for the work of the LMS. One of the others was John Williams, who was destined to lose his life at the hands of cannibals in the South Seas. Robert Moffat set sail for Africa, arriving in Cape Town in January 1817. John Williams was happier with a hammer in his hand than a pen. When he was 14 he went to work in an ironmonger’s shop. It was with great reluctance that he allowed himself to be persuaded by his employer’s wife to go to church. Moorfields Tabernacle was closely associated with George Whitefield’s ministry. The visiting preacher that Sunday night in January 1814 preached: “What is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? What shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” Matthew 16: 26. That night John Williams realised what a bad bargain he was making and a woman’s persistence and prayer gained reward beyond measure. Robert Morrison was born January 1782 in Northumberland of a Scottish father and English mother who were both active members of the Church of Scotland.
Conversion Although raised in a God fearing home by devout Christian parents, schooled in the Westminster Catechism and memorising the Psalms Robert Morrison, the youngest of eight children, was converted from a purposeless life of drunkenness at age 15. He immediately came to love the Bible so much that people always found him with a Bible at hand, and he began to teach himself Latin, Greek and Hebrew. His love for books so consumed him that he read into the early hours of the morning. |
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