Pastor Hsi: Confucian Scholar and Conqueror of Demons by Mrs. Howard Taylor

A proud Confucian scholar with a deep distrust of all foreigners (including Christian missionaries) and hopelessly addicted to opium is confronted by the living Christ. He is instantly delivered, as well as completely and permanently transformed. Filled with the power and love of God, he is compelled to bring the message of deliverance to his fellow countrymen. Through prayer and fasting he begins to see miracles happen. People are healed and demons are cast out. He sets up a refuge for recovering opium addicts and God gives him a recipe for a special medicine that helps in the cure. More opium refuges are started in various places, all under his direction, and all eventually become gospel centers from which the good news of salvation radiates. This is the story of Pastor Hsi.

In his foreword to this outstanding biography, Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones says, "I regard it as a classic and one of the really great Christian biographies.... To read it is to be searched and humbled ... but at the same time it is stimulating, and exhilarating, and a real tonic to one's faith. In all this of course it approximates to the Bible itself.

"The one word which describes the whole atmosphere and character of the book is the word apostolic.... One is constantly reminded of the book of the Acts of the Apostles.... We are reading of something that is a direct continuation of what happened in the early days of the Christian church. It thrills with power...."

Of Hsi himself Dr. Lloyd-Jones writes: "The outstanding characteristic was his spirituality. He was truly a man of God in the real sense of the word. His simple, childlike faith which yet was strong and unshakable was astonishing. He took the New Testament as it was and put it into practice without any hesitations or reservations. "Pastor Hsi's ultimate interest was not in the cultivation of his own holiness, not in faith healing, or the exorcising of devils, or any other of the wonderful phenomena of the Christian life: it was in his Lord.... He desired to know him better and to serve him more truly.

"We thank God for the memory of Pastor Hsi, and we thank God for Mrs. Howard Taylor, who has recorded the facts of the Pastor's life so faithfully and so beautifully."

About the Author
Mrs. Howard Taylor (1865-1949) was the daughter of Henry Grattan Guinness and daughter-in-law of J. Hudson Taylor, founder of the China Inland Mission. At 22 years of age, Geraldine traveled to China as a missionary with the CIM. Several years later she married Howard Taylor, son of Hudson Taylor, who was also a missionary in China and a very skilled medical doctor. Mrs. Taylor's talent for writing was discovered early in her career. One of her first books was a history of the China Inland Mission. Later she was commissioned to write the two-volume biography of Hudson Taylor. It took 13 years of research to produce these amazing volumes, which have been such a blessing to so many. She wrote many more missionary biographies and other books, including Behind the Ranges, the story of James O. Fraser; Pastor Hsi, the biography of a converted Confucian scholar and opium addict; and The Triumph of John and Betty Stam, the story of a brave young missionary couple who were martyred in China in 1934. Mrs. Taylor's life motto was: "Live for the glory of God and for the good of many." She wrote over twenty books, all of which are well worth reading.