A Prince in Israel is Fallen
By T. P. Simmons, 1932The body of H. Boyce Taylor sleeps and his spirit has gone to be with the Lord Jesus Christ (Luke 23:46; Acts 7:5.9; 2 Corinthians 5:8; Philippians 1:23). He loved the Lord Jesus Christ and his truth with a supreme, sacrificial, and consuming devotion He fought a good fight. He kept the faith. We should have liked to witness his entrance into the presence of God. The day of his entrance must have been a gala day in heaven. Surely there was a great multitude at the gates to receive him (Luke 16:9), We can fancy that the angelic choir sang its choicest anthem of welcome. For him to live was Christ and to die was gain (Philippians 1:21).
Perhaps no man in modern times has done so great a work for God and his truth as did Boyce Taylor. Eternity alone will reveal what he has meant to Baptists. How different things would have been without the ministry he rendered! Doubtless the writer would never have been contending as he is (though it be but weakly) for the once delivered faith had it not been that the Lord touched his life both directly and indirectly with the life of Boyce Taylor. We would like to know how many preachers there are who, in the plan of God, owe much of their doctrinal soundness to Brother Taylor. He is gone personally, but he still lives in the lives of others.
We are told that forty-eight years ago he was advised by doctors that he could not live long and that he ought to refrain from work. Did he heed the doctors' advice? No, it was not Boyce Taylor to do that! It was to heaven he looked for his orders. And he received no such word from the Great Physician. The life that he lived in the flesh he lived by the faith of the Son of God (Galatians 2:20). He could see no faith in turning from his labors so long as he had the strength to continue. He decided if he had only a little while to live that he would fill it as full as possible with labor for the Lord. So instead of quitting, he redoubled his efforts. And in the providence of God that little while lengthened into forty-eight years of intense labor that few men could have endured! He was physically immortal until he finished his work for the Lord.
The ranks of truth's army show a wide gap since his going. Only the omnipotent God can fill that gap. And we are glad to know that he will do that very thing. God buries the workers, but carries on the work.
We differed with Brother Taylor on some things; yet we agreed with him in the main. We revere his memory and praise the Lord that he lived.
Let all lovers of the truth's for which Boyce Taylor stood take new courage and rededicate their lives to God. The need that confronts us is greater now than ever before. Let us not fail to come "to the help of the Lord against the mighty" (Judges 5:23).
============ [From: T. P. Simmons, editor, The Baptist Examiner, Ashland, KY, June 15, 1932, p. 4. Scanned and formatted by Jim Duvall.]
More on H. Boyce Taylor
Baptist History HomepageJune 15, 1932, p. 4.