James Barnett Taylor
Corresponding Secretary 1845-1871

“You will sit down to acquire, by slow degrees, an unknown language; and then, when you begin to publish the salvation of the gospel, they may not receive your message—you may be treated with scorn by some and with opposition by others. Under such circumstances you will be in danger of yielding to discouragement. But you need not despond. By whose command do you go forth? Is it not the glorified Redeemer’s?”

—Commissioning service for the Foreign Mission Board’s first missionaries, June 15, 1846, Second Baptist Church, Richmond, Virginia