There were two things that spoke to me in this chapter. First, Taylor knew he was going to face difficulties in going to China. He was single. His denomination, the Methodists, did not have any work in China. He had no money. In the midst of these barriers Taylor maintained a faith in the God of the impossible. He wrote in a letter to his sister:
I have not, as you know, the slightest idea how I shall go. But this I know, I shall go, either alone or married. I know God has called me to the work, and He will provide the means.
But who is to send me? The Wesleyans have no station in China. The Established Church have one or two, but I am not a Churchman, and would not do for them. The Baptists and Independents have stations there, but I do not hold their views. The Chinese Association is very low in funds. So God and God alone is my hope, and I need no other.
The second is Taylor's pursuit of the Chinese language. He had neither the funds to pay for a tutor nor the books from which to study. All he had was a copy of the Gospel of Luke in Mandarin Chinese. This excerpt from a letter to his sister Amelia explains how he was learning the language:
We find a short verse in the English version, and then look out a dozen or more (also in English) that have one word in common with it. We then turn up the first verse in Chinese, and search through all the others for some character in common that seems to stand for the English word. This we write down on a slip of paper as its probable equivalent. Then we look all through the Chinese Gospel for this same character in different connections. It occurs as a rule pretty frequently. And if in every case we find the same word in the English version, we copy the character in ink into our dictionary, adding the meaning in pencil. Afterwards, if further acquaintance shows it to be the true meaning, we ink that over also. At first we made slow progress, but now we can work much faster, as with few exceptions we know all the most common characters.
I have begun to get up at five in the morning, and so find it necessary to go to bed early at night. I must study if I mean to go to China. I am fully decided to go, and am making every preparation I can. I intend to rub up my Latin, to learn Greek and the rudiments of Hebrew, and to get as much general information as possible.
This put me to shame. I have been studying Mandarin Chinese for three or four years now, and I have RosettaStone and all kinds of books and Chinese friends. I have never had the devotion that Taylor had. I pray that this will change...
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