Introduction and the Early Life of a Conqueror of Demons

Introduction: One of China’s Scholars and Christians

My student mentioned a joke while we were talking about Chinese Christians: “The British die for honor, the French die for love, the Americans die for freedom, but the Chinese want to live for another 500 years.” And an American pastor who has worked in China for 20 years said, “Chinese do not love Chinese because they do not love God.” He was compelled to speak out because he observed various weaknesses among a large number of Chinese Christians in their personal lives and in the upbringing of the next generation after the pandemic: some families emigrated entirely, others prioritized their children’s academics over their faith, and Christian parents were unwilling to encourage their children to dedicate themselves to becoming ministers.

Over the years, we have forgotten that many Chinese Christians suffered to love others and endured hardship in their native land because they loved the Lord. Pastor Hsi was one of them. Ordained by Hudson Taylor in 1887, he was the first pastor ordained by the China Inland Mission in mainland China. He was also the first hymn composer in China, using the Chinese pentatonic scale of “gong, shang, jue, zhi, and yu” (宫商角徵羽) as melodies or folk songs as lyrics. In 1912, the China Inland Mission published “Hymns of Pastor Hsi,” which included 76 hymns he wrote.

Hudson Taylor’s daughter-in-law, Mrs. Howard Taylor,¹ wrote a biography recording his life testimony of salvation and the joys and sorrows of his service in two books. Mrs. Howard Taylor and her husband visited Pastor Hsi and his wife in 1890 and served with them for two weeks. At the urging of Mrs. Howard Taylor, Pastor Hsi recalled his early life. Dixon Edward Hoste (1861-1946), one of “the Cambridge Seven” who succeeded Hudson Taylor as the general director of the China Inland Mission and who had worked with Pastor Hsi for ten years, also provided a lot of details and first-hand information for the biography of Pastor Hsi.

The first volume of the two books is titled One of China’s Scholars: The Culture & Conversion of a Confucianist, which records the life of Pastor Hsi before he was called to serve. The preface was written by Hudson Taylor, and the book was published at the end of 1900. The second volume is titled Pastor Hsi of North China: One of China’s Christians, which tells the story of his service until his call to the “higher ministry,” where he met the Lord face to face. It was published in 1903. Both volumes contain a total of about 210,000 English words and have been reprinted 27 times. In 1949, the two volumes were abbreviated into a single book of about 150,000 English words and were reprinted repeatedly. Today, I want to introduce the abbreviated version—Pastor Hsi.

In the preface of this book, Martyn Lloyd-Jones wrote:

To attempt to praise this book I would be almost an impertinence, but I may be permitted to say that I regard it as a classic and one of the really great Christian biographies. Many books entertain and divert, others provide intellectual stimulation or appeal to our artistic or aesthetic sense, but the truly great book affects us more vitally, and we feel that we shall never quite be the same again as the result of reading it. Such is the effect produced by this Life of Pastor Hsi. To read it is to be searched and humbled—indeed, at times, to be utterly humiliated; but at times 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 this book is the word “apostolic” … one is constantly reminded of the book of the Acts of the Apostles.²

The other Chinese biographies of Pastor Hsi were mostly a brief record of the life of this legendary leader, mainly about the effectiveness of his ministry and the benefits to the church and society. However, this biography describes some aspects often overlooked: a man who struggled in sin, struggled in his journey of sanctification, struggled in his ministry, fearful and trembling before the Lord all day, and disciplined by the Lord when he was proud. Occasionally he suffered from the “Elijah complex” and cried out, “I have been very jealous for the Lord God of Israel…and I even I only am left” (1 Kings 19:10). When he was pastoring the church, he also faced the same problems as we do today, but he still served steadfastly. All of this inspired me. So I want to present Pastor Hsi from the perspective of “conqueror,” just as his name indicated.

Early Life of Pastor Hsi

In the 15th year of Emperor Daoguang’s reign (1835), Zizhi Hsi was born into a wealthy family of scholars in Xizhuang, Pingyang Prefecture, Shanxi Province. The Hsi family had a good reputation in the local area for their diligent practice of medicine, prudent management, and good family tradition. Zizhi was gifted and had a distinct personality. He passed the imperial examination and was married at the age of 16. Everyone thought that the Hsi family would have a great mandarin winning wealth and fame. But the child secretly thought in his heart, “What’s the good? Sooner or later I will die.” He was confused and fearful.

The young Hsi wrote lawsuits for his fellow villagers and people from all over the country to resolve disputes and soon won people’s respect. But his wife’s illness and death gave him painful experiences. Death was still dark, and Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism could not bring him any comfort: “I am forlorn as one who has no home. All others have and to spare; I alone am like one who has lost all. In mind, I am like a fool; I am all in a maze. Common people are bright enough; I am enveloped in darkness. Common people are sagacious enough; I am in gloom and confusion. I toil about as if in the sea. I float to and from as though I were never to rest.”³ A few years later, when he was 30 years old, he remarried a young girl from a neighboring village, but because of his previous inner struggles, depression, and the great tension of his litigation career, his physical condition plummeted.

While indulging in Taoism, he began to smoke opium; his health deteriorated, and he was even on the verge of death. In 1876, Shanxi Province suffered a severe drought that lasted for five years. In the early summer of 1878, missionaries David Hill and John Turner came to Pingyang Prefecture, Shanxi, and worked on disaster relief. On August 15, 1879, David Hill held an essay contest and offered generous prizes. The topics for the essays were: the source of true doctrine, the regulation of the heart, on prayer, rewards and punishments, images of the Gods, and opium. Hsi participated in the essay contest and won three of the four awards.

To receive the prize money, one had to go in person, and that’s how Hsi met David Hill. He later described their first meeting like this: “One look, one word, it was enough…I was in the presence of a true good man.”⁴ The two became life-long friends.

Conclusion

Pastor Hsi’s life was marked by profound internal struggles and a journey that would ultimately lead him to a deep and enduring faith. In the next installment, we will explore how his encounter with Christ transformed him into a spiritual warrior, overcoming addiction and beginning a ministry that would impact countless lives.

Editor’s note: This article was originally published on ChurchChina.org and translated by the author. ChinaSource edited it into a series of posts and published it with permission.

1. Mrs. Howard Taylor (1865-1949), also known as Mary Geraldine Guinness, was a British missionary and biographer. She left Britain in 1888 and went to China, preaching the gospel in Henan. In 1894, she married Hudson Taylor’s second son, Howard Taylor, in Shanghai. Her major works include Spiritual Secret: Hudson Taylor’s Journey of Faith, In the Far East: Guinness’s Letters to China, Guinness of Henan, The Story of China Inland Mission, among others.
2. Mrs. Howard Taylor, Pastor Hsi, Forward, viii.
3. Mrs. Howard Taylor, Pastor Hsi, 14.
4. Mrs. Howard Taylor, Pastor Hsi, 43.

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