He did not expect that a spinal ailment would make it impossible for him to return to Taiwan any time soon. During his recuperation at home, Maxwell carried on his work of creating a vernacular Bible, and finally completed his Taiwanese New Testament in 1873.
返國休假時，馬雅各依然繼續白話字聖經的翻譯工作，一八七三年他在英國完成台語新約聖經。