 Spurgeon was encouraged by this fellow Baptist preacher, while he was beginning his ministry at the age of 19.Taylor, who was a member of Lewis' congregation, had lectured about the need for missionary work to be done in China, and as a result of compiling his lecture material into a book form, hundreds of missionaries were inspired to follow him back to China in the 1800s.Lewis was Taylor's pastor during the formative time of the China Inland Mission in 1865, and continued in support of the work, acting as a referee for the agency in 1872.