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HUDSON TAYLOR'S SPIRITUAL SECRET

by Dr. & Mrs. Howard Taylor

	The founder of the China Inland Mission was J. Hudson Taylor,
a physician full of the Holy Spirit and of faith, of entire surrender
to God and His call, of great self-denial, heartfelt compassion, and
rare power in prayer. He was a man of marvelous organizing ability,
energetic initiative, indefatigable perseverance, and of astonishing
influence with men. Withal he possessed a childlike humility. Truly
J. Hudson Taylor was God's chosen servant.

	HUDSON TAYLOR'S SPIRITUAL SECRET reveals the true Source of
his unusual and extraordinary power. From his early life in England,
through the laborious years of establishing an impossible "dream," to
reaching the millions of pagan Chinese, Mr. Taylor's life of complete
faith gives glorious testimony to God.

	Prepared for busy people, the account of this man's amazing
life has moved the hearts of "a great multitude, which no man could
number." Many searching souls have found peace and rest in this book.
The founding and conducting of the greatest interdenominational and
international faith mission was a momentous task, and would have been
impossible except for absolute dependence on God. Inspiring,
challenging, soul-searching -- this is HUDSON TAYLOR'S SPIRITUAL
SECRET.

Moody Giants No. 5

HUDSON TAYLOR'S SPIRITUAL SECRET
by Dr. and Mrs. Howard Taylor
Authors of HUDSON TAYLOR, in two vols.:
THE GROWTH OF A SOUL
THE GROWTH OF A WORK OF GOD

[
      This etext was created from a print-media paperback book,
         n.d., no copyright claimed, introduction dated 1932,
                     published in print-media by
                         Moody Press, Chicago.
        On August 14, 1997, a voice-call to the editorial department
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        This etext differs from the Moody Press print-media "Moody
Giants No.5 edition" in formatting and minor spelling and
punctuation, but this edition in turn is issued freely into the
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        I began retyping on my Dvorak-Keyboard-equipped TRS-80 Model
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and did a final "reading through" on an IBM PS/1, and PGP-signed it
on August 17, 1997.
        A historical note, disclaimers and a personal note are
appended at the end.

Clyde C. PRICE, Jr.  404.262.0712    email: 76616.3452@CompuServe.com
3145 Peachtree Road NE, Suite 125-169, Atlanta, GA 30305 USA
Founder and President: The Christian Digital Library Foundation, Inc.
CDLF is recruiting Treasure-Hunters, Scribes & Eager Readers to help
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To our father's dear and honored friend
DR. HENRY W. FROST
for forty-two years Director in North America
of the China Inland Mission:
with the love of two generations

	FOREWORD

This record has been prepared especially for readers unfamiliar with
the details of Mr. Hudson Taylor's life. Those who have read the
larger biography by the present writers, or Mr. Marshall Broomhall's
more recent presentation, will find little that is new in these
pages. But there are many, in the western world especially, who have
hardly heard of Hudson Taylor, who have little time for reading and
might turn away from a book in two volumes, yet who need and long for
just the inward joy and power that Hudson Taylor found.

	The desire of the writers is to make available to busy people
the experiences of their beloved father -- thankful for the blessing
brought to their own lives by what he was, and what he found in God,
no less than by his fruitful labors.

		Howard and Geraldine Taylor
Philadelphia,
May 21, 1932

	Men are God's method. The church is looking for better
methods; God is looking for better men. ... What the church needs
today is not more machinery or better, not new organizations or more
and novel methods, but men whom the Holy Ghost can use -- men of
prayer, men mighty in prayer. The Holy Ghost does not come on
machinery, but on men. He does not anoint plans, but men -- men of
prayer. ...

	The training of the Twelve was the great, difficult and
enduring work of Christ. ... It is not great talents or great
learning or great preachers that God needs, but men great in
holiness, great in faith, great in love, great in fidelity, great for
God -- men always preaching by holy sermons in the pulpit, by holy
lives out of it. These can mold a generation for God.

		E. M. Bounds

	The founder of the China Inland Mission was a physician, J.
Hudson Taylor, a man full of the Holy Ghost and of faith, of entire
surrender to God and His call, of great self-denial, heartfelt
compassion, rare power in prayer, marvelous organizing faculty,
energetic initiative, indefatigable perseverance, and of astonishing
influence with men, and withal of childlike humility.

		-- Professor Warneck

	Surely never was man better fitted for his work than he for
the difficult undertaking of founding and conducting a great
interdenominational and international mission in million-peopled
China. The China Inland Mission was conceived in his soul, and every
stage of its advance sprang from his personal exertions. In the quiet
of his heart, in deep unutterable communings with God, the Mission
had its origin, and it remains his memorial.

	H. Grattan Guinness, D.D.

	CONTENTS
CHAPTER
01	An Open Secret 13
02	Soul-Growth in Early Years 16
03	First Steps of Faith 21
04	Further Steps of Faith 30
05	Faith Tried and Strengthened 43
06	Friendship and Something More 59
07	God's Way -- "Perfect" 77
08	Joy of Harvest 91
09	Hidden Years 104
10	A Man Shut Up to God 112
11	A Man Sent from God 115
12	Spiritual Urgency 125
13	Days of Darkness 145
14	The Exchanged Life 154
15	No More Thirst 165
16	Overflow 184
17	Wider Overflow 207
18	Streams Flowing Still 233
Appendix 238
Appeal for Prayer 248
Chronological Outline 250


@01
<13>

        ONE

	AN OPEN SECRET

Bear not a single care thyself,
	One is too much for thee;
The work is Mine, and Mine alone;
	Thy work -- to rest in Me.
		-Selected

Hudson Taylor was no recluse. He was a man of affairs, the father of
a family, and one who bore large responsibilities. Intensely
practical, he lived a life of constant change among all sorts and
conditions of men. He was no giant in strength, no Atlas to bear the
world upon his shoulders. Small in stature and far from strong, he
had always to face physical limitations. Next to godly parentage, the
chief advantage of his early years was that he had to support himself
from the time he was about sixteen. He became a hard worker and an
efficient medical man; he was able to care for a baby, cook a
dinner, keep accounts, and comfort the sick and sorrowing, no less
than to originate great enterprises and afford spiritual leadership
to thoughtful men and women the wide world over.   <14>

	Above all, he put to the test the promises of God, and proved
it possible to live a consistent spiritual life on the highest plane.
He overcame difficulties such as few men have ever had to encounter,
and left a work which twenty-seven years after his death is still
growing in extent and usefulness. Inland China opened to the Gospel
largely as an outcome of this life, tens of thousands of souls won to
Christ in previously unreached provinces, twelve hundred missionaries
depending upon God for the supply of all their needs without promise
of salary, a mission which has never made an appeal for financial
help, yet has never been in debt, that never asks man or woman to
join its ranks, yet has sent to China recently two hundred new
workers given in answer to prayer -- such is the challenge that calls
us to emulate Hudson Taylor's faith and devotion.

	What was the secret, we may well ask, of such a life? Hudson
Taylor had many secrets, for he was always going on with God, yet
they were but one -- the simple, profound secret of drawing for every
need, temporal or spiritual, upon "the fathomless wealth of Christ."
To find out how he did this, and to make our own his simple,
practical attitude toward spiritual things, would solve our problems
and ease our burdens, so that we too might become all that God would
make us. We want, we need, we may have Hudson Taylor's secret and his
success, for we have Hudson Taylor's Bible and his God.  <15>

            Remember them that have the rule over you ...
               and considering the issue of their life,
                         imitate their faith.
                       JESUS CHRIST IS THE SAME
                yesterday, and today, yea and forever.

@02
<16>

        TWO

        SOUL-GROWTH IN EARLY YEARS

Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
	Look full in His wonderful face;
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
	In the light of His glory and grace.
		-H. Lemmel

The beginning of it all was a quiet hour among his father's books,
when young he sought something to interest him. His mother was away
from home and the boy was missing her. The house seemed empty, so he
took the story he found to a favorite corner in the old warehouse,
thinking he would read it as long as it did not get prosy.

	Many miles away, the mother was specially burdened that
Saturday afternoon about her only son. Leaving her friends she went
alone to plead with God for his salvation. Hour after hour passed
while that mother was still upon her knees, until her heart was
flooded with a joyful assurance that her prayers were heard and
answered.

	The boy was reading, meanwhile, the booklet he  <17> had
picked up, and as the story merged into something more serious he was
arrested by the words: "The finished work of Christ." Who can explain
the mystery of the Holy Spirit's working? Truth long familiar, though
neglected, came back to mind and heart.

	"Why does the writer use those words?" he questioned. "Why
does he not say, 'the atoning or propitiatory work of Christ'?"

	Immediately, IT IS FINISHED shone out as in letters of light.
Finished? What was finished?

	"A full and perfect atonement for sin," his heart replied.
"The debt was paid by the great Substitute. 'Christ died for our
sins,' and 'not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole
world.'"

	Then come the thought with startling clearness, "If the whole
work is finished, the whole debt paid, what is there left for me to
do?"

	The one, the only answer took possession of his soul: "There
was nothing in the world for me to do save to fall upon my knees and
accepting this Savior and His salvation to praise Him for evermore."

	Old doubts and fears were gone. The reality of the wonderful
experience we call conversion filled him with peace and joy. New life
came with that simple acceptance of the Lord Jesus Christ, for to "as
many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of
God." And great was the change that new life brought.

	Longing to share his new-found joy with his  <18>  mother, he
was the first to welcome her on her return.

	"I know, my boy, I know," she said with her arms about him.
"I have been rejoicing for a fortnight in the glad news you have to
tell."

	Another surprise awaited him not long after, when, picking
up a notebook he thought was his own, he found an entry in his
sister's writing to the effect that she would give herself daily to
prayer until God should answer in the conversion of her only brother.
The young girl had recorded this decision just a month previously.

                Brought up in such a circle [Hudson Taylor wrote] and
        saved under such circumstances, it was perhaps natural that
        from the very commencement of my Christian life I was led to
        feel that the promises of the Bible are very real, and that
        prayer is in sober fact transacting business with God,
        whether on one's own behalf or on behalf of those for whom
        one seeks His blessing.

        The brother and sister were now one in a new way, and young
though they were, for he was only seventeen, they began to do all
they could to win others to Christ. This was the secret of the rapid
growth which followed in spiritual things. They entered from the very
first into the Lord's own yearning of heart over the lost and
perishing. Not "social service," but living for others with a supreme
concern for their soul's salvation was the line on which they were
led out. And this not with any  <19>  sense of superiority, but
simply from a deep, personal love to the Lord Jesus Christ.

	It was that love that as the days went on made it such a keen
distress to fail in the old ways and lose the joy of His conscious
presence. For there were ups and downs as with most young Christians,
and neglect of prayer and of feeding on God's Word always brings
coldness of heart. But the outstanding thing about Hudson Taylor's
early experience was that he could not be satisfied with anything
less than the best, God's best -- the real and constant enjoyment of
His presence. To go without this was to live without sunlight, to
work without power. That he knew the joy of the Lord in those early
days is evident from recollections such as the following. A leisure
afternoon had brought opportunity for prayer, and moved by deep
longings he sought his room to be alone with God.

                Well do I remember how in the gladness of my heart I
        poured out my soul before God. Again and again confessing my
        grateful love to Him who had done everything for me, who had
        saved me when I had given up all hope and even desire for
        salvation, I besought Him to give me some work to do for Him
        as an outlet for love and gratitude. ...

	        Well do I remember as I put myself, my life, my
        friends, my all upon the altar, the deep solemnity that came
        over my soul with the assurance that my offering was
        accepted. The presence of God became unutterable real and
        blessed, and I  <20>  remember ... stretching myself on the
        ground and lying there before Him with unspeakable awe and
        unspeakable joy. For what service I was accepted I knew not,
        but a deep consciousness that I was not my own took
        possession of me which has never since been effaced.

	If we think that boys or girls in their teens are too young
for such soul-experiences, we are indeed mistaken. At no time in life
is there greater capacity for devotion, if the heart's deepest
springs are open to the love of Christ.


@03
<21>

        THREE

        FIRST STEPS OF FAITH

And evermore beside him on his way
	The unseen Christ shall move;
That he may lean upon His arm and say,
	"Dost Thou, dear Lord, approve?"
	-H. W. Longfellow

        It was no perfect being to whom this sense of call had come.
A normal boy living a busy life, whether as clerk in a bank or
assistant in his father's store, he had many temptations, and when a
lively cousin came to be his roommate it was not easy to keep first
things first and make time for prayer. Yet without this there cannot
but be failure and unrest. The soul that is starved cannot rejoice in
the Lord, and Hudson Taylor had to learn that there is no substitute
for real spiritual blessing.

	"I saw Him and I sought Him, I had Him and I wanted Him,"
wrote one who had gone far in the knowledge of God; and the Barnsley
lad, though only at the beginning, had the same blessed hunger and
thirst which the Lord loves to fill. "My soul  <22>  thirsteth for
thee," was the longing of David. "My soul shall be satisfied," yet in
the very same breath, "my soul followeth hard after thee."

	It was in one such experience of defeat, longing and deeper
blessing that the touch of God came to Hudson Taylor in a new way. In
a moment and without a spoken word, he understood.

	He had come to an end of himself, to a place where God only
could deliver, where he MUST have His succor, His saving strength. If
God would but work on his behalf, would break the power of sin,
giving him inward victory in Christ, he would renounce all earthly
prospects, he would go anywhere, do anything, suffer whatever His
cause might demand and be wholly at His disposal. This was the cry of
his heart, if God would but sanctify him and keep him from falling.

             Never shall I forget [he wrote long after] the feeling
        that came over me then. Words could not describe it. I felt I
        was in the presence of God, entering into a covenant with the
        Almighty. I felt as though I wished to withdraw my promise
        but could note Something seemed to say, "Your prayer is
        answered; your conditions are accepted." And from that time
        the conviction has never left me that I was called to China.


	China, that great country familiar to him from childhood
through his father's prayers; China, to which he had been dedicated
even before birth; China, whose need and darkness had often called
him from afar -- was that indeed God's purpose for  <23>  his life?
Distinctly, as if a voice had spoken, the word came in the silence,
"Then go for Me to China."

	From that moment life was unified in one great purpose and
prayer. For Hudson Taylor was "not disobedient to the heavenly
vision," and to him obedience to the will of God was a very practical
matter. At once he began to prepare, as well as he could, for a life
that would call for physical endurance. He took more exercise in the
open air, exchanged his feather bed for a hard mattress and was
watchful not to be self-indulgent at table. Instead of going to
church twice on Sunday, he gave up the evening to visiting in the
poorest parts of the town, distributing tracts and holding cottage
meetings. In crowded lodging-house kitchens he became a welcome
figure, and even on the race course his bright face and kindly words
opened the way for many a straight message. All this led to more
Bible study and prayer, for he soon found that there is One and One
alone who can make us "fishers of men."

	The study of Chinese, also, was entered upon with ardor. A
grammar of that formidable language would have cost more than twenty
dollars and a dictionary at least seventy-five. He could afford
neither. But with a copy of the Gospel of Luke in Chinese, by
patiently comparing brief verses with their equivalent in English, he
found out the meaning of more than six hundred characters. These he
learned and made into a dictionary  <24>  of his own, carrying on at
the same time other lines of study.

             I have begun to get up at five in the morning [he wrote
        to his sister at school] and find it necessary to go to bed
        early. I must study if I mean to go to China. I am fully
        decided to go, and am making every preparation I can. I
        intend to rub up my Latin, to learn Greek and the rudiments
        of Hebrew, and get as much general information as possible. I
        need your prayers.

	Several years with his father as a dispensing chemist had
increased his desire to study medicine, and when an opportunity
occurred of becoming assistant to a leading physician in Hull, he was
not slow to avail himself of it. This meant leaving the home circle,
but first in the doctor's residence and later in the home of an aunt,
his mother's sister, the young assistant was still surrounded with
refinement and comfort.

	This proved, indeed, one of the elements in the new life
which led him to serious thinking. Dr. Hardey paid a salary
sufficient to cover personal expenses, but Hudson Taylor was giving,
as a matter of duty and privilege, a tenth of all that came to him to
the work of God. He was devoting time on Sunday to evangelism in a
part of the town where there was urgent need for temporal as well as
spiritual help. And this raised the question, why should he not spend
less for himself and have the joy of giving more to others?

	On the outskirts of the town, beyond some vacant  <25>  lots,
a double row of cottages bordered a narrow canal which gave the name
of "Drainside" to the none-too-attractive neighborhood. The canal was
just a deep ditch into which Drainside people were in the habit of
throwing rubbish to be carried away, in part, whenever the tide rose
high enough -- for Hull is a seaport town. The cottages, like peas in
a pod, followed the windings of the Drain for half a mile or so, each
having one door and two windows. It was for a rented room in one of
these little places that Hudson Taylor left his aunt's pleasant home
on Charlotte Street. Mrs. Finch, his landlady, was a true Christian
and delighted to have "the young doctor" under her roof. She did her
best, no doubt, to make the chamber clean and comfortable, polishing
the fireplace opposite the window and making up the bed in the corner
farthest from the door. A plain deal table and a chair or two
completed the appointments. The room was only twelve feet square and
did not need much furniture. It was on a level with the ground and
opened familiarly out of the kitchen. From the window one looked
across to "The Founder's Arms," a countrified public house whose
lights were useful on dark nights shining across the mud and water of
the Drain.

	Whatever it may have been in summer, toward the close of
November when Hudson Taylor made it his home, Drainside must have
seemed dreary enough. To add to the changed conditions he was
boarding himself, which meant that he bought his  <26>  meager
supplies as he returned from the surgery and rarely sat down to a
proper meal. His walks were solitary, his evenings spent alone, and
Sundays brought long hours of work in his district or among the
crowds who frequented the Humber Dock.

             Having now the twofold object in view [he recalled] of
        accustoming myself to endure hardness,and of economizing in
        order to help those among whom I was laboring in the Gospel,
        I soon found that I could live upon very much less than I had
        previously thought possible. Butter, milk and other luxuries
        I ceased to use, and found that by living mainly on oatmeal
        and rice, with occasional variations, a very small sum was
        sufficient for my needs. In this way I had more than
        two-thirds of my income available for other purposes, and my
        experience was that the less I spent on myself and the more I
        gave to others, the fuller of happiness and blessing did my
        soul become.

	For God is no man's debtor, and here in his solitude Hudson
Taylor was learning something of what He can be to the one who
follows hard after Him. In these days of easy-going Christianity, is
it not well to remind ourselves that it really does COST to be a man
or woman whom God can use? One cannot obtain a Christlike character
for nothing; one cannot do a Christlike work save at great price.
"Can ye drink of the cup that I drink of, and be baptized with the
baptism wherewith I am baptized?"

        China was occupying no little public attention at  <27>  this
time, because of the remarkable developments of the Taiping
Rebellion. Many were praying, and countless hearts were more or less
stirred about its evangelization. But when disappointment came, and
the failure of enterprises that promised well, the majority ceased to
help or care. Prayer meetings dwindled to nothing, would-be
missionaries turned to other callings, and contributions dropped off
to such an extent that more than one society actually ceased to
exist. But here and there were those upon whom the Lord could count
- -- poor and weak perhaps, unknown and unimportant, but ready, by
grace, to go all lengths in carrying out His purposes.

	Here in his quiet lodging at Drainside was such a man. With
all his limitations, Hudson Taylor desired supremely a Christlike
character and life. As test came after test that might have been
avoided, he chose the pathway of self-emptying and the cross, not
from any idea of merit in so doing, but simply because led by the
Spirit of God. Thus he was in an attitude that did not hinder
blessing.

	"Behold I have set before thee an open door, and no man can
shut it; for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and
have not denied my name."

	"A great door and effectual ... and there are many
adversaries."

	Adversaries there certainly were to oppose Hudson Taylor's
progress at this time. He was entering upon one of the most fruitful
periods of his  <28>  life, rich in blessing for himself and others.
Is it any wonder that the tempter was at hand? He was alone, hungry
for love and sympathy, living a life of self-denial not easy for a
lad to bear. It was just the opportunity for the Devil, and he was
permitted for a while to do his worst, that even that might be
overruled for good.

	For it was just at this juncture, when he had been at
Drainside only a few weeks, that the dreaded blow fell, and the one
he loved with a great love seemed lost to him forever. For two long
years he had hoped and waited. The very uncertainty of the future
made him long the more for her presence, her companionship through
all changes. But now the dream was over. Seeing that nothing could
dissuade her friend from his missionary purpose, the young music
teacher -- with her sweet face and lovely voice -- made it plain at
last that she was not prepared to go to China. Her father would not
hear of it, nor did she feel fitted for such a life. This could mean
but one thing, though the heart that loved her best was well-nigh
broken.

	"Is it all worth while?" urged the tempter. "Why should you
go to China, after all? Why toil and suffer all your life for an
ideal of duty? Give it up now, while you can yet win her. Earn a
proper living like everybody else, and serve the Lord at home. For
you CAN win her yet."

	Love pleaded hard. It was a moment of wavering. The enemy
came in like a flood, for the lad was benumbed with sorrow, and
instead of turning to  <29>  the Lord for comfort, he kept it to
himself and nursed his grief. But he was not forsaken.

             Alone in the surgery [he wrote the following day] I had
        a melting season. I was thoroughly softened and humble, and
        had a wonderful manifestation of the love of God. "A broken
        and a contrite heart" He did not despise, but answered my cry
        for blessing in very deed and truth.

	        Yes, He has humbled me and shown me what I am,
        revealing Himself as a present, a very present help in time
        of trouble. And though He does not deprive me of feeling in
        my trial, He enables me to sing, "Yet will I rejoice in the
        Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation."...

	        Now I am happy in my Savior's love. I can thank Him
        for ALL, even the most painful experiences of the past, and
        trust Him without fear for all that is to come.

@04
<30>

        FOUR

	FURTHER STEPS OF FAITH

	Who trust in God's unchanging love
	Build on the rock that nought can move.
		--Neumark

        "I never made a sacrifice." said Hudson Taylor in later
years, looking back over a life in which that element was certainly
not lacking. But what he said was true, for the compensations were so
real and lasting that he came to see that giving up is inevitably
receiving, when one is dealing heart to heart with God. It was so,
very manifestly, this winter at Drainside. Not outwardly only but
inwardly also he had accepted the will of God, giving up what seemed
his best and highest, the love that had become part of his very life,
that he might be unhindered in following Christ. The sacrifice was
great, but the reward far greater.

	        Unspeakable joy [he tells us] all day long and every
        day, was my happy experience, God, even my God, was a living
        bright reality, and all I had to do was joyful service.

	A new tone was perceptible about his letters,  <31>  which
were less introspective from this time onward and more full of
missionary purpose. China came to the front again in all his
thinking, and there was deeper soul-exercise over the spiritual
condition of those out of Christ.

	        Do not let anything unsettle you, dear Mother [he
        wrote about this time]. Missionary work is indeed the noblest
        any mortal can engage in. We certainly cannot be insensible
        to the ties of nature, but should we not rejoice when we have
        anything we can give up for the Savior?...

	        Continue to pray for me. Though comfortable as
        regards temporal matters, and happy and thankful, I feel I
        need your prayers. ... Oh, Mother, I cannot tell you, I
        cannot describe how I long to be a missionary; to carry the
        Glad Tidings to poor, perishing sinners; to spend and be
        spent for Him who died for me!... Think, Mother, of twelve
        millions -- a number so great that it is impossible to
        realize it -- yes, twelve million souls in China, every year,
        passing without God and without hope into eternity. ... Oh,
        let us look with compassion on this multitude! God has been
        merciful to us; let us be like Him. ...

	        I must conclude. Would you not give up ALL for Jesus
        who died for you? Yes, Mother, I know you would. God be with
        you and comfort you. Must I leave as soon as I can save money
        enough to go? I feel as if I could not live if something is
        not done for China.

	Yet much as he longed to go and go at once, there were
considerations that held him back. The little  <32>  room at
Drainside witnessed many a conflict and victory known to God alone.

	        To me it was a very grave matter [he wrote of that
        winter] to contemplate going out to China, far from all human
        aid, there to depend upon the living God alone for
        protection, supplies and help of every kind. I felt that
        one's spiritual muscles required strengthening for such an
        undertaking. There was no doubt that if faith did not fail,
        God would not fail. But what if one's faith should prove
        insufficient? I had not at that time learned that even "if we
        believe not, yet he abideth faithful; he cannot deny
        himself." It was consequently a very serious matter to my
        mind, not whether He was faithful, but whether I had strong
        enough faith to warrant my embarking on the enterprise set
        before me.

	        "When I get out to China," I thought to myself, "I
        shall have no claim on anyone for anything. My only claim
        will be on God. How important to learn, before leaving
        England, to move man, through God, by prayer alone."

	And for this he was willing to pay the price, whatever it
might be. There may have been some lack of judgment, perhaps some
going to extremes, but how wonderfully God understood and met him!
"To move man, through God, by prayer alone" -- it was a great
ambition, gloriously realized that lonely winter at Drainside.

	        At Hull my kind employer [he continued] wished me to
        remind him whenever my salary became due. This I determined
        not to do directly,  <33>  but to ask that God would bring
        the fact to his recollection, and thus encourage me by
        answering prayer.

	        At one time, as the day drew near for the payment of
        a quarter's salary, I was as usual much in prayer about it.
        The time arrived but Dr. Hardey made no allusion to the
        matter. I continued praying. Days passed on and he did not
        remember, until at length on settling up my weekly accounts
        one Saturday night, I found myself possessed of only one
        remaining coin -- a half-crown piece. Still, I had hitherto
        known no lack, and I continued praying.

	        That Sunday was a very happy one. As usual my heart
        was full and brimming over with blessing. After attending
        divine service in the morning, my afternoons and evenings
        were taken up with Gospel work in the various lodging-houses
        I was accustomed to visit in the lowest part of the town. At
        such times it almost seemed to me as if heaven were begun
        below, and that all that could be looked for was an
        enlargement of one's capacity for joy, not a truer filling
        than I possessed.

	        After concluding my last service about ten o'clock
        that night, a poor man asked me to go and pray with his wife,
        saying that she was dying. I readily agreed, and on the way
        asked him why he had not sent for the priest, as his accent
        told me he was an Irishman. He had done so, he said, but the
        priest refused to come without a payment of eighteen pence,
        which the man did not possess as the family was starving.
        Immediately it occurred to my mind that all the money I had
        in the world was  <34>  the solitary half-crown, and that it
        was in one coin; moreover, that while the basin of
        water-gruel I usually took for supper was awaiting me, and
        there was sufficient in the house for breakfast in the
        morning, I certainly had nothing for dinner on the coming
        day.

	        Somehow or other there was at once a stoppage in the
        flow of joy in my heart. But instead of reproving myself I
        began to reprove the poor man, telling him that it was very
        wrong to have allowed matters to get into such a state as he
        described, and that he ought to have applied to the relieving
        officer. His answer was that he had done so, and was told to
        come at eleven o'clock the next morning, but that he feared
        his wife might not live through the night.

	        "Ah," thought I, "if only I had two shillings and a
        sixpence instead of this half-crown, how gladly would I give
        these poor people a shilling!" But to part with the
        half-crown was far from my thoughts. I little dreamed that
        the truth of the matter simply was that I could trust God
        plus ONE-AND-SIXPENCE, but was not prepared to trust Him
        only, without any money at all in my pocket.

	        My conductor led me into a court, down which I
        followed him with some degree of nervousness. I had found
        myself there before, and at my last visit had been roughly
        handled. ... Up a miserable flight of stairs into a wretched
        room he led me, and oh, what a sight there presented itself!
        Four or five children stood about, their sunken cheeks and
        temples telling unmistakably the story of slow  <35>
        starvation, and lying on a wretched pallet was a poor,
        exhausted mother, with a tiny infant thirty-six hours old
        moaning rather than crying at her side.

	        "Ah!" thought I, "if I had two shillings and a
        sixpence, instead of half-a-crown, how gladly should they
        have one-and-sixpence of it." But still a wretched unbelief
        prevented me from obeying the impulse to relieve their
        distress at the cost of all I possessed.

	        It will scarcely seem strange that I was unable to
        say much to comfort these poor people. I needed comfort
        myself. I began to tell them, however, that they must not be
        cast down; that though their circumstances were very
        distressing there was a kind and loving Father in heaven. But
        something within me cried, "You hypocrite! telling these
        unconverted people about a kind and loving Father in heaven,
        and not prepared yourself to trust Him without half-a-crown."

	        I nearly choked. How gladly would I have compromised
        with conscience, if I had had a florin and a sixpence! I
        would have given the florin thankfully and kept the rest. But
        I was not yet prepared to trust in God alone, without the
        sixpence.

	        To talk was impossible under these circumstances, yet
        strange to say I thought I should have no difficulty in
        praying. Prayer was a delightful occupation in those days.
        Time thus spent never seemed wearisome and I knew no lack of
        words. I seemed to think that all I should have to do would
        be to kneel down and pray, and that relief  <36>  would come
        to them and to myself together.

	        "You asked me to come and pray with your wife," I
        said to the man; "let us pray." And I knelt down.

	        But no sooner had I opened my lips with, "Our Father
        who art in heaven," than conscience said within, "Dare you
        mock God?  Dare you kneel down and call Him 'Father' with
        that half-crown in your pocket?"

	        Such a time of conflict then came upon me as I had
        never experienced before. How I got through that form of
        prayer I know not, and whether the words uttered were
        connected or disconnected. But I arose from my knees in great
        distress of mind.

	        The poor father turned to me and said, "You see what
        a terrible state we are in, sir. If you can help us, for
        God's sake do!"

	        At that moment the word flashed into my mind, "Give
        to him that asketh of thee," and in the word of a King there
        is power.

	        I put my hand into my pocket and slowly drawing out
        the half-crown gave it to the man, telling him that it might
        seem a small matter for me to relieve them, seeing that I was
        comparatively well off, but that in parting with that coin I
        was giving him my all; but that what I had been trying to
        tell them was indeed true, God really was a Father and might
        be trusted. And how the joy came back in full flood tide to
        my heart! I could say anything and feel it then, and the
        hindrance to blessing was gone -- gone, I trust, forever.

	        Not only was the poor woman's life saved, but my life
        as I fully realized had been saved too. It  <37>  might have
        been a wreck -- would have been, probably, as a Christian
        life -- had not grace at that time conquered and the striving
        of God's Spirit been obeyed.

	        I well remember that night as I went home to my
        lodgings how my heart was as light as my pocket. The dark,
        deserted streets resounded with a hymn of praise that I could
        not restrain. When I took my basin of gruel before retiring,
        I would not have exchanged it for a prince's feast. Reminding
        the Lord as I knelt at my bedside of His own Word, "He that
        giveth to the poor lendeth to the Lord," I asked Him not to
        let my loan be a long one, or I should have no dinner the
        next day. And with peace within and peace without, I spent a
        happy, restful night.

	        Next morning, my plate of porridge remained for
        breakfast, and before it was finished the postman's knock was
        heard at the door. I was not in the habit of receiving
        letters on Monday, as my parents and most of my friends
        refrained from posting on Saturday, so that I was somewhat
        surprised when the landlady came in holding a letter or
        packet in her wet hand covered by her apron. I looked at the
        letter, but could not make out the handwriting. It was either
        a strange hand or a feigned one, and the postmark was
        blurred. Where it came from I could not tell. On opening the
        envelope I found nothing written within, but inside a sheet
        of blank paper was folded a pair of kid gloves from which, as
        I opened them in astonishment, half-a-sovereign fell to the
        ground.

	        "Praise the Lord," I exclaimed, "four hundred  <38>
        per cent for a twelve hours' investment! How glad the
        merchants of Hull would be if they could lend their money at
        such a rate of interest!" Then and there I determined that a
        bank that could not break should have my savings or earnings
        as the case might be, a determination I have not yet learned
        to regret.

	        I cannot tell you how often my mind has recurred to
        this incident, or all the help it has been to me in
        circumstances of difficulty. If we are faithful to God in
        little things, we shall gain experience and strength that
        will be helpful to us in the more serious trials of life.

	But this was not the end of the story, nor was it the only
answer to prayer that was to confirm Hudson Taylor's faith at this
time.

	        This remarkable and gracious deliverance was a great
        joy to me as well as a strong confirmation of faith. But of
        course ten shillings, however economically used, will not go
        very far, and it was none the less necessary to continue in
        prayer, asking that the larger supply which was still due
        might be remembered and paid. All my petitions, however,
        appeared to remain unanswered, and before a fortnight elapsed
        I found myself pretty much in the same position that I had
        occupied on the Sunday night already made so memorable.
        Meanwhile I continued pleading with God, more and more
        earnestly, that He would Himself remind Dr. Hardey that my
        salary was due.

	        Of course it was not want of money that distressed
        me. That could have been had at any time for the asking. The
        question uppermost in my  <39>  mind was, "Can I go to China,
        or will my want of faith and power with God prove so serious
        an obstacle as to preclude my entering upon this much-prized
        service?"

	        As the week drew to a close I felt exceedingly
        embarrassed. There was not only myself to consider. On
        Saturday night a payment would be due to my Christian
        landlady, which I knew she could not well dispense with.
        Ought I not, for her sake, to speak about the matter of the
        salary? Yet to do so would be, to myself at any rate, the
        admission that I was not fitted to undertake a missionary
        enterprise. I gave nearly the whole of Thursday and Friday,
        all the time not occupied in my necessary employment, to
        earnest wrestling with God in prayer. But still on Saturday
        morning I was in the same position as before. And now my
        earnest cry was for guidance as to whether I should still
        continue to wait the Father's time. As far as I could judge,
        I received the assurance that to wait His time was best, and
        that God in some way or other would interpose on my behalf.
        So I waited, my heart being now at rest and the burden gone.

	        About five o'clock that Saturday afternoon, when Dr.
        Hardey had finished writing his prescriptions, his last
        circuit for the day being done, he threw himself back in his
        armchair as he was wont and began to speak of the things of
        God. He was a truly Christian man, and many seasons of happy
        fellowship we had together. I was busily watching at the time
        a pan in which a decoction was boiling that required a good
        deal of attention. It  <40>  was indeed fortunate for me that
        it was so, for without any obvious connection with what had
        been going on, all at once he said:

	        "By the by, Taylor, is not your salary due again?"

        	My emotion may be imagined. I had to swallow two or
        three times before I could answer. With my eye fixed on the
        pan and my back to the doctor, I told him as quietly as I
        could that it was overdue some little time. How thankful I
        felt at that moment! God surely had heard my prayer and
        caused him in this time of my great need to remember the
        salary, without any word or suggestion from me.

	        "Oh, I am so sorry you did not remind me," he
        replied. "You know how busy I am. I wish I had thought of it
        a little sooner, for only this afternoon I sent all the money
        I had to the bank. Otherwise I would pay you at once."

        	It was impossible to describe the revulsion of
        feeling caused by this unexpected statement. I knew not what
        to do. Fortunately for me the pan boiled up and I had a good
        reason for rushing with it from the room. Glad indeed I was
        to keep out of sight until after Dr. Hardey had returned to
        his house, and most thankful that he had not perceived my
        emotion.

	        As soon as he was gone, I had to seek my little
        sanctum and pour out my heart before the Lord before
        calmness, and more than calmness, thankfulness and joy were
        restored. I felt that God had His own way and was not going
        to fail me. I had sought to know His will early in the day,
        and as far as I could judge had received guidance to wait
        <41>  patiently. And now God was going to work for me in some
        other way.

	        That evening was spent, as my Saturday evenings
        usually were, in reading the Word and preparing the subject
        on which I expected to speak in the various lodging-houses on
        the morrow. I waited perhaps a little longer than usual. At
        last about ten o'clock, there being no interruption of any
        kind, I put on my overcoat and was preparing to leave for
        home, rather thankful to know that by that time I should have
        to let myself in with the latchkey, as my landlady retired
        early. There was certainly no help for that night. But
        perhaps God would interpose for me by Monday, and I might be
        able to pay my landlady early in the week the money I would
        have given her before, had it been possible.

	        Just as I was about to turn down the gas, I heard the
        doctor's step in the garden that lay between the dwelling-
        house and surgery. He was laughing to himself heartily, as
        though greatly amused. Entering the surgery he asked for the
        ledger, and told me that, strange to say, one of his richest
        patients had just come to pay his doctor's bill. Was it not
        an odd thing to do! It never struck me that it might have any
        bearing on my own case, or I might have felt embarrassed.
        Looking at it simply from the position of an uninterested
        spectator, I also was highly amused that a man rolling in
        wealth should come after ten o'clock at night to pay a bill
        which he could any day have met by a check with the greatest
        ease. It appeared that, somehow or other, he could not rest
        with this on his mind,  <42>  and had been constrained to
        come at that unusual hour to discharge his liability.

	        The account was duly receipted in the ledger and Dr.
        Hardey was about to leave, when suddenly he turned and
        handing me some of the banknotes just received, said to my
        surprise and thankfulness:

	        "By the by, Taylor, you might as well take these
        notes. I have no change, but can give you the balance next
        week."

	        Again I was left, my feelings undiscovered, to go
        back to my little closet and praise the Lord with a joyful
        heart that after all I might go to China.

@05
<43>

        FIVE

        FAITH TRIED AND STRENGTHENED

Enough that God my Father knows --
	Nothing this faith can dim.
He gives the very best to those
	Who leave the choice with Him.
		--Selected

        "After all, I might go to China!" But how many testings still
lay ahead. The life that was to be exceptionally fruitful had to be
rooted and grounded in God in no ordinary way.

	London followed Hull, and there Hudson Taylor entered as a
medical student at one of the great hospitals. He was still depending
on the Lord alone for supplies, for though his father and the Society
which ultimately sent him to China both offered to help with his
expenses, he felt he must not lose the opportunity of further testing
the promises of God. When he declined his father's generous offer,
the home circle concluded that the Society was meeting his needs. It
did undertake his fees at the London Hospital, and an uncle in Soho
gave him a home  <44>  for a few weeks, but beyond this there was
nothing between him and want in the great city, save the faithfulness
of God. Before leaving Hull he had written to his mother:

	        I am indeed proving the truth of that word, "Thou
        wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee,
        because he trusteth in thee." My mind is quite as much at
        rest as, nay more than, it would be if I had a hundred pounds
        in my pocket. May He keep me ever thus, simply depending on
        Him for every blessing, temporal as well as spiritual.

And to his sister Amelia:

	        No situation has turned up in London that will suit
        me, but I am not concerned about it, as HE is "the same
        yesterday, and today, and for ever." His love is unfailing,
        His Word unchangeable, His power ever the same; therefore the
        heart that trusts Him is kept in "perfect peace." ... I know
        He tries me only to increase my faith, and that it is all in
        love. Well, if He is glorified, I am content.

	For the future, near as well as distant, Hudson Taylor had
one all-sufficient confidence. If that could fail, it were better to
make the discovery in London than far away in China. Deliberately and
of his own free will, he cut himself off from possible sources of
supply. It was God, the living God he needed -- a stronger faith to
grasp His faithfulness, and more experience of the practicability of
dealing with Him about every situation. Comfort or discomfort in
London, means or the lack of means,  <45>  seemed a small matter
compared with deeper knowledge of the One on whom everything depends.
Now that a further opportunity had come for putting that knowledge to
the test, he did not hesitate, though he knew that no little trial
might be involved.

	The outcome proved that in this decision the young medical
student was indeed led of God. Many and unmistakable were the answers
to prayer in London which strengthened his faith, affording just the
preparation needed for unforeseen developments which hastened his
departure for China within the next twelve months. In his own brief
RETROSPECT, Mr. Taylor tells the story of these experiences.  Suffice
it to say here, that the loneliness and privations that were
permitted, the test of endurance -- when for months together he lived
on nothing but brown bread and apples, walking more than eight miles
a day to and from the hospital -- and all the uncertainty as to his
connection with the one and only society prepared to send him to
China without university training, went far to make him the man of
faith he was even at this early age.

	For Hudson Taylor was only twenty-one when the way opened
unexpectedly, and he was requested by the Chinese Evangelization
Society to sail for Shanghai as soon as a vessel could be found. The
Taiping Rebellion had reached the zenith of its triumphant advance.
With its capital firmly  <46>  established at Nanking, its nominally
Christian forces had swept over the central and northern provinces,
and Peking itself was almost within their grasp. "Send me teachers,
many teachers to help in making known the Truth," wrote their leader
to an American missionary whom he trusted. *  "Hereafter, when my
enterprise is successfully terminated, I will disseminate the
Doctrine throughout the whole Empire, that all may return to the one
Lord and worship the true God only. This is what my heart earnestly
desires."
        * [This was Rev. F. J. Roberts of the American Baptist
Missionary Union. Hung Siu-ts'uen, founder and leader of the Taiping
movement, first learned the Truth from a tract given him during a
literary examination in Canton by Liang A-fah, one of Morrison's
converts. Subsequently he returned to Canton to hear more of the new
Doctrine, and spent two or three months in studying the Scriptures
under the direction of Mr. Roberts. Though he did not remain long
enough to be baptized and received into church fellowship, he had
learned enough of the spirit and teaching of Christianity to make him
a missionary to his own people on his return to Kwangsi, the province
in which his fervent propaganda began. It was not until bitter
persecution from the Chinese authorities had driven his followers to
arms, that the movement took on a revolutionary character.]

	In a word, it seemed as though China would be forthwith
thrown open to messengers of the Gospel. Christian hearts everywhere
were deeply moved. Something must be done and done at once to meet so
great a crisis, and for a time money poured into the treasuries.
Among other projects for advance, the British and Foreign Bible
Society undertook to celebrate its Jubilee by printing a million
copies of the Chinese New Testament, and the society with which
Hudson Taylor was in correspondence  <47>  decided to send two men to
Shanghai for work in the interior. One of these, a Scotch physician,
could not leave immediately, but they counted upon the younger man to
go at short notice, even though it meant sacrificing the degrees he
was working for in medicine and surgery.

	It was a serious step to take, and Hudson Taylor naturally
turned to his parents for counsel and prayer. After an interview with
one of the secretaries of the Chinese Evangelization Society he wrote
to his mother:

        	Mr. Bird has removed most of the difficulties I have
        been feeling, and I think it will be well to comply with his
        suggestion and at once propose myself to the Committee. I
        shall await your answer, and rely upon your prayers. If I
        should be accepted to go at once, would you advise me to come
        home before sailing? I long to be with you once more, and I
        know you would naturally wish to see me; but I almost think
        it would be easier for us not to meet, than having met to
        part again forever. No, not forever!

"A little while: 'twill soon be past!
	Why should we shun the promised cross?
Oh, let us in His footsteps haste,
	Counting for Him all else but loss:
Then, how will recompense His smile
	The sufferings of this little while!"

	        I cannot write more, but hope to hear from you as
        soon as possible. Pray much for me. It is easy to talk of
        leaving all for Christ, but when it comes to the proof -- it
        is only as we stand "complete in  <48>  Him" we can go
        through with it. God be with you and bless you, my own dear
        Mother, and give you so to realize the preciousness of Jesus
        that you may wish for nothing but "to know him" ... even in
        "the fellowship of his sufferings."

And to his sister:

	        Pray for me, dear Amelia, that He who has promised to
        meet all our need may be with me in this painful though
        long-expected hour.

	        When we look at ourselves, at the littleness of our
        love, the barrenness of our service and the small progress we
        make toward perfection, how soul-refreshing it is to turn
        away to Him; to plunge afresh in "the fountain opened for sin
        and for uncleanness"; to remember that we are "accepted in
        the beloved" ... "who of God is made unto us wisdom, and
        righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption." Oh! the
        fullness of Christ, the fullness of Christ.

                 	*       *       *       *       *

	China in 1854, when after a perilous voyage of five months
Hudson Taylor first reached its shores, was even more of a problem to
the evangelist than it is today. Shanghai and four other Treaty Ports
were the only places at which foreigners were allowed to reside, and
there was not a single Protestant missionary anywhere in the
interior, i.e., away from the coast. Civil war was raging, and the
Taiping propaganda had begun to lose its earlier characteristics.
Already it was degenerating into the corrupt political movement which
deluged the country with blood and sufferings untold during the
remaining  <49>  eleven years of its course. Instead of being able to
reach Nanking and evangelize upcountry, Hudson Taylor had the
greatest difficulty in gaining a foothold even in Shanghai, and only
at the most serious risk could itinerations be undertaken.

	Years afterwards, when responsible himself for the guidance
of many missionaries, it was easy to see that the trials of those
early days were all needed. He was pioneering a way in China, little
as he or anyone else could imagine it, for hundreds who were to
follow. Every burden must be his, every testing real as only
experience can make it. As iron is tempered to steel, his heart must
be stronger and more patient than others, through having loved and
suffered more. He who was to encourage thousands in a life of
childlike trust, must himself learn yet deeper lessons of a Father's
loving care. So difficulties were permitted to gather about him,
especially at first when impressions are deep and lasting,
difficulties attended by many a deliverance which made them a
lifelong blessing.

	To begin with, Shanghai was in the grip of war. A band of
rebels known as the "Red Turbans" was in possession of the native
city, close to the Foreign Settlement, and forty to fifty thousand of
the national forces were encamped round about. Fighting was almost
continuous, and the foreign militia had frequently to be called out
to protect the Settlement. Everything was at famine prices, and both
the city and Settlement were so crowded that accommodation was
scarcely to be obtained at any  <50>  price. Had it not been that Dr.
Lockhart of the London Mission was able to receive him for a time,
the new arrival would have been hard put to it. Even so, sharp
fighting was to be seen from his windows, and he was unable to walk
in any direction without witnessing misery such as he had never
dreamed before.

	It was also bitterly cold when Hudson Taylor first reached
Shanghai, and as coal was selling at fifty dollars a ton it was not
possible to do much to warm the houses. He was not accustomed to
luxuries and was thankful for a shelter anywhere ashore but he
suffered not a little from the penetrating chill and damp.

	        My position is a very difficult one [he wrote soon
        after his arrival]. Dr. Lockhart has taken me to reside with
        him for the present, as houses are not to be had for love or
        money.  ... No one can live in the city. ... They are
        fighting now while I write, and the house shakes with the
        report of cannon.

	        It is so cold that I can hardly think or hold the
        pen. You will see from my letter to Mr. Pearse * how
        perplexed I am. It will be four months before I can hear in
        reply, and the very kindness of the missionaries who have
        received me with open arms makes me fear to be burdensome.
        Jesus will guide me aright.  ... I love the Chinese more than
        ever. Oh, to be useful among them!

*  [Secretary of the Chinese Evangelization Society, with Mr. Bird.]

<51>
Of his first Sunday in China he wrote:

	        I attended two services at the London Mission and in
        the afternoon went into the city with Mr. Wylie. You have
        never seen a city in a state of siege.   ... God grant you
        never may! We walked some distance round the wall, and sad it
        was to see the wreck of rows upon rows of houses. Burnt down,
        blown down, battered to pieces -- in all stages of ruin they
        were! And the misery of those who once occupied them and now,
        at this inclement season, are driven from home and shelter is
        terrible to think of. ...

	        By the time we came to the North Gate they were
        fighting fiercely outside the city. One man was carried in
        dead, another shot through the chest, and a third whose arm I
        examined seemed in dreadful agony. A ball had gone clean
        through the arm breaking the bone in passing. ... A little
        farther on we met some men bringing in a small cannon they
        had captured, and following them were others dragging along
        by their tails [queues] five wretched prisoners. The poor
        fellows cried to us piteously to save them as they were
        hurried by, but alas, we could do nothing! They would
        probably be at once decapitated. It makes one's blood run
        cold to think of such things.

	The sufferings of those around him, and the fact that he
could do little or nothing to help, would have been overwhelming, but
for the strengthening of Him who suffers most.

	        What it means to be so far from home, at the seat of
        war [he added] and not able to understand or be understood by
        the people was fully realized.  <52>
        Their utter wretchedness and misery and my inability to help
        them or even point them to Jesus powerfully affected me.
        Satan came in as a flood, but there was One who lifted up a
        standard against him. Jesus IS here, and though unknown to
        the majority and uncared-for by many who might know Him, He
        is present and precious to His own.

	Personal trials, too, were not lacking. For the first time in
his life, Hudson Taylor found himself in a position in which he could
hardly meet his financial obligations. He had willingly lived on next
to nothing at home, to keep within his means, but now he could not
avoid expenses altogether beyond his income. Living with others who
were receiving three or four times his salary, he was obliged to
board as they did, and saw his small resources melt away with
alarming rapidity. At home he had been a collector for foreign
missions, and knew what it was to receive the hardly earned
contributions of the poor. Missionary money was to him a sacred
trust, and to have to use it so freely caused him real distress. Then
the letters he wrote to the Society received but unsatisfactory
replies. After waiting months for instructions, he might hear nothing
at all in answer to his most urgent questions. The Committee in
London was far away and little able to understand his circumstances.
They were mostly busy men, absorbed in their own affairs, and with
the best intentions and a real desire to forward the work of God they
were unable to visualize a situation so different from anything they
<53>  had ever known. Hudson Taylor did his best to make matters
clear to them, but month after month went by and he was left in
uncertainty and financial distress.

	The Shanghai dollar, previously worth about fifty cents gold,
was up to twice that sum and continually rising higher, yet had no
more purchasing value. Obliged to exceed his salary for the
necessaries of life, he made use of a letter of credit provided
against emergencies but could not obtain any assurance that his bills
would be honored. It was a painful situation for one so conscientious
in money matters, and cost him many a wakeful night.

	Then with the heat of summer came added perplexities. Not
from his own Committee, but in a roundabout way Hudson Taylor learned
that the Scotch physician who was to be his colleague had already
sailed from England with wife and children. No instructions had
reached him as to providing accommodation for the family, and as the
weeks went by he realized that unless he took steps in the matter
they would be left without a roof over their heads. Without
authorization for such an expenditure, he had to find and rent rooms
of some sort for five people, and a difficult proposition it proved
to be. Not daring to afford a sedan chair -- the proper means of
transport -- he spent himself searching all through city and
Settlement, in the blinding heat of August, for houses that were not
to be had. His Shanghai friends assured him that the only thing to do
was to buy land and build immediately. How  <54>  could he tell them
the true situation or reveal his lack of funds? Criticism was already
too current in the community as to the management of the society he
represented; so he had to keep his troubles to himself, as far as
possible, and seek to cast his burden upon the Lord.

	        One who is really leaning on the Beloved [he wrote
        under the circumstances] finds it always possible to say, "I
        will fear no evil, for thou art with me." But I am so apt,
        like Peter, to take my eyes off the One to be trusted and
        leek at the winds and waves. ... Oh for more stability! The
        reading of the Word and meditation on the promises have been
        increasingly precious to me of late. At first I allowed my
        desire to acquire the language speedily to have undue
        prominence and a deadening effect on my soul. But now, in the
        grace that passes all understanding, the Lord has again
        caused His face to shine upon me.

And to his sister he added:

	        I have been puzzling my brains again about a house,
        etc., but to no effect. So I have made it a matter of prayer,
        and have given it entirely into the Lord's hands, and now I
        feel quite at peace about it. He will provide and be my guide
        in this and every other perplexing step.

       It must have seemed almost too good to be true when, only two
days after the above was written, Hudson Taylor heard of premises
that could be rented, and before the month was over found himself in
possession of a house large enough to accommodate his expected
colleagues. Five rooms  <55>  upstairs and seven down seemed indeed a
spacious residence. And though it was only a poor Chinese place,
built of wood and very ramshackle, it was right among the people,
near the North Gate of the city. Here then he established himself six
months after his arrival in China, and though the situation was so
dangerous that his teacher did not dare to go with him, he was able
to engage a Shanghai Christian, an educated man, who could help him
with the local dialect.

        To be among the Chinese in a place of his own, and able, with
the help of his new teacher, to carry on daily meetings and do a good
deal of medical work, was joy indeed! But the location proved more
perilous than he had anticipated. It was beyond the protection of the
Settlement and within range of the Imperial artillery constantly
covering the North Gate, so that it was not difficult to discover why
the house had been left vacant. For almost three months the young
missionary was able to hold on in the hope of some change for the
better. But then the situation became desperate. His life had
repeatedly been in danger, and he was obliged to witness day by day
scenes of fiendish cruelty. At last the premises next door was set on
fire with the intention of driving out the foreigner. No choice was
left but to go back to the London Mission and there, just in time for
the arrival of the Parkers, a refuge was found.

        A little house on the London Missionary Society property,
close to Dr. Lockhart's had been the home  <56>  of Hudson Taylor's
dearest friends in China. Often had he shared their fireside,
rejoicing in the happiness of the young English missionary and his
wife. *  But with the coming of their first child the home had been
broken up and the father had taken his motherless little one to the
care of fellow-workers. In his sorrow for his friend, Hudson Taylor
had not realized the bearing upon his own situation of the empty
house so rich in memories. But before he had to leave his dangerous
location near the North Gate, the Burdon home was for rent. The
arrival of the Parkers was expected daily, and though it left him
with only three dollars in hand, Hudson Taylor secured the house on
his own responsibility, just in time to receive his colleagues,
including a baby born at sea.

* [Rev. J. S. Burdon of the Church Missionary Society, afterwards
Bishop of Hong Kong, for nearly fifty years a devoted and successful
missionary in China.]

        To help the situation he was glad to sublet half the house to
another missionary family in distress, but that left only three rooms
for the Parkers and himself. Even so he was not able to furnish them
adequately, his few belongings making a poor show when six people had
to be provided for. But this was only the beginning of troubles; for
Dr. Parker, too, had but a few dollars in hand, after the long voyage
by sailing ship, and was depending upon a letter of credit from the
Society, which by some mistake did not turn up. It was supposed to
have been sent off before the Parkers left England, but month after
month went by and there was no word of it  <57>  or reference to its
nonappearance. Not having been led to expect severe winters, the
family were in sore need of warmer clothing and bedding. How they
lived at all through those trying months it is hard to see, and the
comments of the foreign community can easily be imagined.

        Quietly Dr. and Mrs. Parker held on, not turned aside from
their missionary work by the tempting possibilities open to a medical
man in Shanghai. He went out regularly with his young colleague to
evangelize in the city and surrounding villages, and at home in their
crowded quarters they devoted themselves assiduously to study. But
all this meant lessons burned into Hudson Taylor's heart of how NOT
to deal with those who, on the human side, are dependent on one's
care. The members of the Committee in London were several of them
dear, personal friends of the missionaries. Fellowship with them in
spiritual things, at Tottenham and elsewhere, could never be
forgotten, and even when feeling their mistakes most keenly, Hudson
Taylor longed for their atmosphere of prayer and love for the Word of
God. But something somehow was wanting, and just what it was the
young missionary had to discover, that he might be practical as well
as spiritual in his leadership in the days to come. So the iron, as
with Joseph long ago, entered into his very soul; but from this
endurance was to spring heart's ease for many another.

	You ask how I get over my troubles [he wrote to his sister
        and intimate correspondent]. This is  <58>  the way. ... I
        take them to the Lord. Since writing the above, I have been
        reading my evening portion -- Psalms 72 to 74. Read them and
        see how applicable they are. I don't know how it is, but I
        can seldom read Scripture now without tears of joy and
        gratitude. ...

        	I see that to be as I am and have been since my
        arrival has really been more conducive to improvement and
        progress than any other position would have been, though in
        many respects it has been painful and far from what I should
        myself have chosen. Oh, for more implicit reliance on the
        wisdom and love of God!

@06
<59>

        SIX

        FRIENDSHIP AND SOMETHING MORE

Love that bent low beneath his brother's burden,
	How shall he soar and find all sorrows flown!
Love that ne'er asked for answer or for guerdon,
	How shall he meet eyes sweeter than his own!
		--F. W. H. Meyers

        Nothing in the records of his first two years in China is
more surprising than the way in which Hudson Taylor devoted himself
to pioneer evangelism. One might have thought that with the study of
the language, amid war conditions and well-nigh overwhelmed as he was
with other trials, he would scarcely have attempted frequent
itinerations in what was then the interior. But to those years belong
no fewer than ten evangelistic journeys, all of which were more or
less remarkable for their courage and endurance.

	North, south, and west of Shanghai stretched a populous
region made accessible by endless waterways. Junks were plentiful and
afforded shelter of a sort at night, as well as transportation by
day, so that travelers were not dependent on Chinese inns.  <60>
Simple cooking arrangements supplied food for the boatman's family
and "guests," which might be supplemented by stores of one's own. The
beds were just wooden boards and the tiny windows were often on a
level with the floor, but one could lie down or sit on one's bedding
when it was not possible to stand upright. Inconveniences were many,
but people were made accessible in city after city, town after town,
and villages never out of sight as one passed slowly along.

	It was this that drew Hudson Taylor, as it had his Master
long ago. The same "must" was in his heart: "I must work the works of
him that sent me"; "I must preach the kingdom of God to other cities
also"; "Other sheep I have, ... them also I must bring." It was not
enough to go to the highways and byways of Shanghai. Others were
already doing that to some extent. His heart was burdened with a
sense of responsibility for those BEYOND -- those who never had heard
the way of salvation, who never could hear unless the truth were
brought to them by Christ-filled messengers. So nothing held him
back, neither winter cold nor summer heat, nor even the peril of war
conditions, which might endanger the lives of Europeans at any time
or cut him off from return to Shanghai.

	No sooner was one journey completed than he would start
preparations for another. After a period devoted chiefly to study, he
was familiar enough with the language to make himself understood in
Mandarin as well as the local dialect, and the  <61>  itinerations
that followed were so intensive that these ten journeys were
accomplished within fifteen months. Before Dr. Parker arrived, many
excursions had been made to places within ten or fifteen miles of
Shanghai, and during the first three months they were together, they
distributed eighteen hundred New Testaments and Scripture portions
and over two thousand explanatory books and tracts. These were given
with the utmost care, only to those who could read, and as the
majority were illiterate it meant covering a great deal of ground and
explaining the message of the books to constantly changing crowds.
Then, beginning in winter, four journeys were taken from January to
March, in spite of zero <degrees Fahrenheit> weather, followed by
others in April, May, June, August and September. Out among the
crowds all day and in boats that had to be closed at night because of
river thieves, there was little relief from the distressing heat. But
nothing deterred the young evangelist.

	The danger of these journeys was considerable, and when he
was without companion the loneliness was keenly felt. Far from other
foreigners, moving among not too friendly crowds, he quietly
prosecuted his mission, finding his medical equipment of the greatest
value in opening the way to people's hearts. His own heart,
meanwhile, was entering more deeply into what it means to live and
die "without Christ," and his outlook was enlarging. From temple-
crowned hilltops and the height of ancient pagodas he would look down
upon cities,  <62>  towns and villages where the homes of millions of
people were in sight -- men, women and children who had never heard
the one, the only Name "whereby we must be saved." Great thoughts,
deep thoughts were moving in his heart, "thoughts lasting to the
end." *

* [Long years after, on another journey, the last he ever took up the
great Yangtze River, pacing the deck of the steamer in company with
the writers he paused again and again, looking with misty eyes toward
the hills on the southern shore. It was somewhere near Green Grass
Island that he said at length:
	"I wish I could tell you about it. It was over there, but I
cannot remember just the spot."
	Seeing him moved by some recollection we waited to hear more.
But fifty years had passed since that day, the remembrance of which
brought so deep a joy and awe. He could not put it into words. He
tried but could not tell us what had been between his soul and God.
But there, over there on those more distant heights it had come to
him -- some revelation of his future work, some call to utmost
surrender for the life to which the Lord was leading -- and its
influence remained.]

	In the midst of it all, the civil war reached its desperate
climax, and Shanghai fell before the Government forces. Hudson Taylor
was traveling at the time with older missionaries toward the Soochow
Lake. They had not been absent many days when they saw from the top
of a hill the smoke of an immense conflagration. So great a fire in
that direction could mean but one thing -- Shanghai was in flames!
And what of their families in the Settlement? Setting out at once to
return, their fears were confirmed by fleeing rebels who sought
protection. This of course the missionaries could not afford, and the
men were caught and beheaded before their eyes. Hastening on with
increasing  <63>  apprehension, they came upon terrible evidences of
the catastrophe that had taken place. But the Settlement was as they
had left it. Satiated with slaughter, the Imperialists were too
exultant over their conquest to pay much attention to foreigners.

        	Shanghai is now in peace [Hudson Taylor wrote], but
        it is like the peace of death. Two thousand people at the
        very least have perished, and the tortures some of the
        victims have undergone cannot have been exceeded by the worst
        barbarities of the Inquisition. The city is little more than a
        mass of ruins, and many of the wretched objects who survive
        and are piteous to behold.

	Still, the worst was over, and Hudson Taylor and his
colleagues gave themselves to caring for the people, body and soul,
while awaiting the reply of their Committee to suggestions for more
settled work. Usefulness was what they longed for, and their plans
had been well thought out and much prayed over. But the answer upon
which their future seemed to depend was long in coming.

	The heat of summer, meanwhile, was overpowering in their
crowded quarters, and a brief visit to Ningpo opened a tempting
prospect. For the missionaries in that city, feeling the need of a
hospital to supplement their otherwise efficient organization,
extended a cordial invitation to Dr. Parker to undertake this work,
to which they pledged their united support. At this juncture, while
still waiting the reply of their Committee, they received notice that
the house they were sharing with another family  <64>  would be
needed shortly for members of the mission to which it belonged. Their
fellow occupant was moving to premises of his own, but they had not
been in a position to build, nor could they find rooms for rent
anywhere in the Settlement or Chinese city. Only one course seemed
open to Hudson Taylor, especially when the long-expected answer came
and was unfavorable. The Committee was not prepared to spend money on
building in the Ports. They wanted their workers to go to the
interior, though where they were to live until that was feasible did
not appear. Under these circumstances, Dr. and Mrs. Parker decided
upon Ningpo, and their colleague was left in uncertainty. His friends
gone, his home gone and no accommodation to be found even in the
native city, how could he remain in Shanghai to carry on his work?

	For a time he was much perplexed, but gradually out of these
very difficulties emerged a new line of thought. He had been
searching without success for any kind of place he could rent as a
home base. The rapid influx of a new population made the housing
problem in Shanghai more acute than ever. If he could not get a home
on shore, why not take to boats as many Chinese do and live on the
water? This would fit in well with the project he already had in mind
of adopting Chinese dress, the better to prosecute his work. Yes, it
all began to open up. He would take his few belongings to Ningpo,
when he went to escort the Parkers, and would return to  <65>
identify himself wholly with the people to whom his life was given.

	But the step was not as simple as it seemed. Wearing Chinese
dress in those days involved shaving the front part of the head and
letting the hair grow long for the regulation queue. No missionary or
other foreigner conformed to such a custom. For an occasional
journey, a Chinese gown might be used over one's ordinary clothing,
but to give up European dress and adopt the native costume altogether
was quite another matter. Hudson Taylor had not been in China for a
year and a half without realizing the social ostracism such action
would involve. So for a time there was a struggle, though he was
increasingly convinced of the wisdom of the step from a higher point
of view.

	It was access to the people he desired. A recent journey of
twenty-five days alone, when he had penetrated two hundred miles up
the Yangtze, had assured him that it was possible to do more than was
generally supposed in itinerant evangelism. Of the fifty-eight towns
and cities visited, fifty-one had never before been touched by
messengers of the Gospel. But the weariness and strain of the journey
had been largely due to the fact that he was wearing European
clothing, the most outlandish costume to those who had never seen it
before!  Attention was continually distracted from his message by his
appearance, which to his hearers was as undignified as it was
comical. And after all, surely it mattered more to be suitably
attired from the Chinese point  <66>  of view -- when it was the
Chinese he wanted to win -- rather than sacrifice their approval for
that of the small foreign community in the Ports. So the decision was
come to at last, after much prayer and searching the Word of God for
guidance ; and when the Parkers were ready to leave for Ningpo,
Hudson Taylor's Chinese outfit was ready too, only waiting the
crucial moment when he would commit himself to the barber's
transforming hands.

	It was an August evening when he went down to the river to
engage the junk that was to take the Parkers on the first stage of
their journey. On the way a Chinese stranger accosted him, asking to
his surprise whether he was not seeking a house for rent. Would a
small one do, and in the Chinese city? Because near the South Gate
there was such a house, only it was not quite finished building. The
owner had run short of money and did not know how to complete the
work. If the house suited, no deposit would be asked, and it could
probably be had for an advance of six months' rent.

	As if in a dream, Hudson Taylor followed his guide to the
southern part of the city, and there found a small, compact house,
perfectly new and clean, with two rooms upstairs, two on the ground
floor, and a fifth across the courtyard for the servants, just the
thing he needed and in the locality he would have chosen. What it
meant to pay the money over that night and secure the premises may be
better imagined than described. Then he had not been mistaken after
all! His work in Shanghai  <67>  was not finished. Prayer was being
answered and the guidance given for which he had longed and waited.

	That night he took the step which was to have so great an
influence on the evangelization of inland China! When the barber had
done his best, the young missionary darkened his remaining hair to
match the long braid which, at first, must do duty for his own. Then
in the morning he put on as best he might the loose, unaccustomed
garments, and appeared for the first time in the gown and satin shoes
of the "Teacher," or man of the scholarly class.

	Everything opened up after that in a new way. On the return
journey to Shanghai he was not even recognized as a foreigner, until
he began to preach or distribute books and see patients. Then women
and children came around much more freely, and the crowds were less
noisy and excited. While missing some of the prestige attaching to
Europeans, he found it more than made up for by the freedom his
changed appearance gave him in moving among the people. Their homes
were open to him as never before, and it was possible to get
opportunities for quiet intercourse with those who seemed interested.
Filled with thankfulness for these and other advantages, he wrote
home about the dress he had adopted, "It is evidently to be one's
chief help for the interior."

	And it was "the interior" more and more on which his heart
was set. A few weeks in his new home  <68>  at the South Gate brought
wonderful soul-refreshing.

	        Dr. Parker is in Ningpo [he wrote early in October]
        but I am not alone. I have such a sensible presence of God
        with me as I never before experienced, and such drawings to
        prayer and watchfulness as are very blessed and necessary.

	Then, though a little place of his own was welcome and the
opportunities around him were many, Hudson Taylor set out again for
the "regions beyond." His Christian teacher was left to look after
the interested neighbors in Shanghai and other missionaries were
doing fine, intensive work in that great center. It might not seem so
fruitful a method -- to go as far afield as possible, scattering the
Word of God -- but it was following the Lord's teaching and example,
and unless this course were adopted, HOW SHOULD THOSE FARTHER ON EVER
HEAR AT ALL?

	Joy and sorrow strangely mingled in the days that followed,
for he was prospered on this journey, yet the outcome brought him
into trouble. The great island of Tsungming was his destination, with
its population of more than a million without a single Protestant
missionary. In company with Mr. Burdon, Hudson Taylor had visited
Tsungming the year before, but now a very different reception awaited
him. At his first landing place the people simply would not hear of
his leaving. Dressed like themselves he did not seem to be a
foreigner. His medicine chest attracted them no less than his
preaching, and when they learned that he would need an  <69>
upstairs room, because of the dampness of the locality, they said:

	"Let him live in the temple, if no other upper story can be
found."

	But a householder was forthcoming whose premises included
some sort of attic, and within three days of his arrival Hudson
Taylor found himself in possession of his first home in "inland
China."

	This was wonderful, and so was the response to his message.
Neighbors dropped in every day to the meetings and the stream of
visitors and patients seemed unceasing. Six weeks of this happy
work, while it wakened some opposition on the part of the medical
fraternity, resulted in a group of earnest inquirers. One of these
was a blacksmith named Chang, and another a businessman in good
standing, "whose heart the Lord opened." His own first convert,
Kwei-hwa, and another Christian helper were with him, so that when
Hudson Taylor had to return to Shanghai for supplies the little group
was still well cared for.

	And then the disappointment came which was as painful as it
was unexpected. Unknown to him, there had been some wirepulling at
Tsungming.  A high official had been induced by certain doctors and
druggists to relieve them of the presence of one whom they considered
their rival, though the young missionary accepted no payment for his
medical work. A summons to the British Consulate awaited him, and his
plea to be allowed to remain on the island, where all seemed peaceful
and friendly, was  <70>  in vain. The Consul reminded him that the
British treaty only provided for residence in the Ports, and that if
he attempted to settle elsewhere he rendered himself liable to a fine
of five hundred dollars. He must give up his house, remove his
belongings to Shanghai and be careful not to transgress in future,
and that in spite of the fact that French priests were living on
Tsungming, protected by a supplementary treaty which stipulated, as
Hudson Taylor well knew, that immunities granted to other nations
should also apply to the British. He might have appealed to a higher
authority, but meanwhile could only accept the Consul's decision.

	It was a heartbroken letter that he wrote home that evening.
Those young inquirers -- Chang, Sung and the others -- what was to
become of them? Were they not his own children in the faith? How
could he leave them with no help and so little knowledge in the
things of God? Yet the Lord had permitted it. The work was His. He
would not fail them nor forsake them.

	"My heart will be truly sorrowful when I can no longer join
you in the meetings," said the blacksmith the last evening they were
together.

	"But you will worship in your own home," replied his friend.
"Still shut your shop on Sunday, for God is here whether I am or not.
Get someone to read for you, and gather your neighbors in to hear the
Gospel."

	"I know but very little," put in Sung, "and when I read I by
no means understand all the characters.  <71>  My heart is grieved
because you have to leave us; but I do thank God that He ever sent
you to this place. My sins, once so heavy, are all laid on Jesus, and
He daily gives me joy and peace."

	Perplexed and disappointed, the young missionary could only
wait upon God as to his future course.

	        Pray for me, pray for me [he wrote to his parents at
        this time]. I need more grace, and live far below my
        privileges. Oh, to feel more as...the Lord Jesus did when He
        said, "I lay down my life for the sheep." I do not want to be
        as a hireling who flees when the wolf is near, nor would I
        lightly run into danger when much may be accomplished in
        safety. I want to know the Lord's will and to have grace to
        do it, even if it results in expatriation. "Now is my soul
        troubled, and what shall I say?... Father, glorify thy name."
        Pray for me, that I may be a follower of Christ not in word
        only, but in deed and in truth.

	All unknown to the troubled heart there was another,
stronger, deeper than his own and more experienced in the things of
God, that was facing the same problem. This man also was burdened for
the perishing millions of inland China. He too had been testing the
possibilities of itinerant evangelism and had found encouraging
openings for such work. He had failed, however, in his effort to
reach Nanking and was shut up to living on boats, slowly making has
way back to the coast. William Burns, preacher and evangelist whom
God had so signally used throughout Scotland and Canada in the mighty
revival of 1839, was even then nearing Shanghai,  <72>  and there it
was that he was brought into touch with Hudson Taylor in his hour of
need. It was not long before each recognized a kindred spirit, in
spite of their disparity in years. Like Paul and Timothy they drew
together, and those wintry days saw the commencement of a friendship
destined to mold not only Hudson Taylor's missionary life but the
character of the far-reaching enterprise that was to develop under
his guidance.

	Not one boat but two now traveled in company over the network
of waterways leading inland from Shanghai. Each missionary had a
Chinese missionary with him as well as other helpers, and daily
worship on the boats grew into quite a little service. Mr. Burns had
developed a line of his own in such work which his companion was glad
to follow. Choosing an important center, they might remain two or
three weeks in one place. Every morning they set out early with a
definite plan, sometimes going together and sometimes separating to
visit different sections. Mr. Burns believed in beginning quietly on
the outskirts of any city in which foreigners had rarely been seen,
and working his way by degrees to the more crowded quarters. So they
would give some days to preaching in the suburbs, gradually
approaching the thronging streets and markets, until they could pass
anywhere without endangering the shopkeepers' tempers or their wares.
Then they would visit temples, schools and tea shops, returning
regularly to the best places for preaching. Announcing at each
meeting when they would be  <73>  there again, they had the
satisfaction of seeing the same faces frequently, and interested
hearers could be invited to the boats for further conversation.

	As time went on, Mr. Burns did not fail to notice that Hudson
Taylor, though so much younger and less experienced, had the more
attentive hearers and was even asked into private houses while he
himself was requested to wait outside. The riffraff of the crowd
always seemed to gather round the preacher in foreign dress, while
those who wished to hear undisturbed followed his less noticeable
friend. The result was a conclusion of which Mr. Burns tells in the
following letter:

                                                January 26, 1856

        	It is now forty-one days since I left Shanghai on
        this last occasion. An excellent young English missionary,
        Mr. Taylor of the Chinese Evangelization Society, has been my
        companion... and we have experienced much mercy, and on some
        occasions considerable help in our work.

	        I must once more tell the story I have had to tell
        more than once already, how four weeks ago, on the 29th of
        December, I put on Chinese dress which I am now wearing. Mr.
        Taylor had made this change a few months before, and I found
        that he was in consequence so much less incommoded in
        preaching, etc., by the crowd, that I concluded that it was
        my duty to follow his example. ...

	        We have a large, very large field of labor in this
        region, though it might be difficult in the meantime for one
        to establish himself in any particular place. The people
        listen with attention,  <74>  but we need the power from on
        high to convince and convert. Is there any spirit of prayer
        on our behalf among God's people in Kilsyth? Or is there any
        effort to seek this spirit? How great the need is, and how
        great the arguments and motives for prayer in this case! The
        harvest here is indeed great, and the laborers are few and
        imperfectly fitted, without much grace, for such a work. And
        yet, grace can make a few feeble instruments the means of
        accomplishing great things -- things greater even than we can
        conceive.

	Prayer was the atmosphere of William Burns's life and the
Word of God was his daily food.

        	He was mighty in the Scriptures [his biographer
        records] and his greatest power in preaching was the way in
        which he used "the sword of the Spirit" upon men's
        consciences and hearts. ... Sometimes one might have thought,
        in listening to his solemn appeals, that one was hearing a
        new chapter in the Bible when first spoken by a living
        prophet. ... His whole life was literally a life of prayer,
        and his whole ministry a series of battles fought at the
        mercy-seat. ... In digging in the field of the Word, he threw
        up now and then great nuggets which formed part of one's
        spiritual wealth ever after.

	Cultured, genial and overflowing with mother-wit, he was an
ideal companion. Sacred music was his delight. A wonderful fund of
varied anecdotes gave charm to his society, and he was generous in
recalling his experiences for the benefit of others. And this man,
the friendship of this man, with all he was and had been, was the
gift and blessing of God  <75>  at this particular juncture to Hudson
Taylor. Under its influence he grew and expanded and came to an
understanding of spiritual values that left its impress on his whole
life after. William Burns was better to him than a college course
with all its advantages, because he lived out before him, right there
in China, the reality of all he most needed to be and know.

	For seven long happy months they worked together, first in
the Shanghai region, then in and around the great city of Swatow. The
call to this southern port had come most unexpectedly, and they had
the privilege of being the first missionaries in that difficult but
now fruitful field. But for their Chinese dress it would have been
impossible to live right in the native city as they did, and to make
friends of so many of their turbulent neighbors. At the end of four
months they were able, through the blessing of God upon the medical
work, to rent the entire premises in which they had been allowed but
a single room, and their initial difficulties seemed at an end.

	Then it was that at Mr. Burns's request his young companion
consented to return to Shanghai, to obtain his medical outfit left
there for safety. As though the shadow of a longer parting lay upon
his heart, Hudson Taylor was reluctant to take the step. To leave Mr.
Burns alone to face the worst heat of summer was no less distressing
than to break up the companionship which had meant so much in his
life.  <76>

        	Those happy months were an unspeakable joy and
        comfort to me [he recalled long after]. Never had I such a
        spiritual father as Mr. Burns; never had I known such holy,
        happy intercourse. His love for the Word was delightful, and
        his holy reverential life and constant communings with God
        made fellowship with him to satisfy the deep cravings of my
        heart.

	But the instruments and medicines were needed, for Mr. Burns
was keen about developing hospital work. So Hudson Taylor sailed for
Shanghai, only to find that his medical supplies had all been
accidentally destroyed by fire. And before he could replace them, the
distressing news reached him that his beloved and honored friend had
been arrested by the Chinese authorities and sent, under escort, a
journey of thirty-one days to Canton. The shock was all the more
painful as they were forbidden to return to Swatow, and the path that
had seemed so clear before them was lost in strange uncertainty.

	Yet but for this great and unexpected trial Hudson Taylor
might never have been led into the life-work that was awaiting him;
might never have known the love beyond all other human love which was
to be his crowning joy and blessing.

@07
<77>

        SEVEN

        GOD'S WAY -- "PERFECT"

We thank Thee, Lord, for pilgrim days
	When desert springs were dry,
When first we knew what depths of need
	Thy love could satisfy.
		--Selected

        Over the political horizon, storm clouds had long been
gathering, and the very mail that brought tidings of the arrest of
Mr. Burns told also of the outbreak of hostilities between England
and China. It was at Ningpo that Hudson Taylor heard of the
bombardment of Canton by the British fleet, and the commencement of
the war which did not finally terminate until four years later. His
first thought, naturally, was for Mr. Burns. What a mercy that he was
no longer at Swatow, exposed to the rage of that hotheaded southern
people!

	        As you are aware [he wrote to his sister in November]
        I have been detained in Ningpo by various circumstances, and
        a sufficient cause has at  <78>  length appeared in the
        disturbances which have broken out in the South. The latest
        news we now have is that Canton has been bombarded for two
        days, a breach being made on the second, and that the British
        entered the city, the Viceroy refusing to give any
        satisfaction. We are anxiously awaiting later and fuller
        accounts. ... I know not the merits of the present course of
        action ... and therefore refrain from writing my thoughts
        about it. But I would just refer to the goodness of God in
        removing Mr. Burns from Swatow IN TIME. For if one may judge
        the feelings of the Cantonese in Swatow by what one sees here
        at present, it would go hard with any one at their mercy.

	So, already, the circumstance that had seemed a great
calamity was being recognized as among the "all things" that work
together for good "to them that love God." It was one of not a few
hard lessons through which Hudson Taylor was learning to think of God
as The One Great Circumstance of Life, and of ALL lesser, external
circumstances as necessarily the kindest, wisest, best, because
either ordered or permitted by Him. And it was not long before he
came to see in his detention in Ningpo another remarkable evidence of
the love and care of God. For it was there he was brought into
contact with the life that was so perfectly to complete his own.

	In the southern section of the city, near the ancient pagoda,
was a quiet street between two lakes which went by the name of Bridge
Street. There Dr. Parker had opened a dispensary, a mile  <79>  or
two from his hospital, and there as autumn was advancing Hudson
Taylor was glad to find a temporary home. The little place is of
interest, as later on it was to be the first station of the China
Inland Mission -- working now from hundreds of centers throughout
many provinces. Looking back upon those early days, Mr. Taylor wrote:

	        I have a distinct remembrance of tracing my initials
        on the snow which during the night had collected on my
        coverlet in the large, barnlike upper room now divided into
        four or five smaller ones, each of which is comfortably
        ceiled. The tiling of a Chinese house may keep off the rain,
        if it happens to be sound, but does not afford so good
        protection against snow, which will beat up through the
        crannies and crevices and find its way within. But however
        unfinished may have been its fittings, the little house was
        well adapted for work among the people, and there I
        thankfully settled, finding ample scope for service, morning,
        noon and night.

	The only other foreigners in that part of the city were Mr.
and Mrs. J. Jones, also of the Chinese Evangelization Society, and a
lady who with two young helpers was carrying on a remarkably
successful school for girls, the first ever opened in China. This
Miss Aldersey was fortunate in having secured the assistance of the
daughters of the Rev. Samuel Dyer, who had been one of the earliest
missionaries to the Chinese and a colleague of Robert Morrison's.
When Mr. and Mrs. Jones and their family came to live not far from
the school, the younger of the  <80>  sisters found many
opportunities of being helpful to the busy mother. As often as
possible they went out visiting in the neighborhood, Miss Dyer's
fluency in the language making such work a pleasure. Young as she
was, not yet twenty, and much occupied with her school duties, this
bright, gifted girl was a real soul-winner. With her, missionary work
was not teaching merely, it was definitely leading people to Christ.

	This was what drew out Hudson Taylor's interest. For in the
home of his fellow workers he could not but meet Miss Dyer from time
to time, and could not but be attracted. She was so frank and natural
that they were soon good friends, and she proved so like-minded in
all important ways that unconsciously almost to himself she began to
fill a place in his heart never filled before.

	But before long the friendship was interrupted by unexpected
happenings which broke up the missionary community in Ningpo. A plot
was discovered to massacre all foreigners, and though thwarted in
their design, the hatred of the Cantonese throughout the district was
so great that it seemed necessary to send families with children to
the coast. His familiarity with the Shanghai dialect made Hudson
Taylor the most suitable escort for the party, and hard though it was
to leave at such a time he could not refuse this service.

	Miss Aldersey was not to be persuaded to seek a place of
greater safety. On account of advancing age, she was handing over her
school to the  <81>  American Presbyterian Mission. It was no time
for unnecessary changes, and taking what precautions were possible
she encouraged her young helpers to remain with her. The elder of the
sisters had become engaged to Hudson Taylor's special friend, Mr. J.
S. Burdon, and the younger seemed the more lonely and unprotected by
comparison. How hard it was to leave her at such a time! But Hudson
Taylor had no reason to suppose that his presence would be any
comfort. And besides -- was he not trying to forget?

	For one thing, he realized keenly how little he had to offer
the one he loved. His position as an agent of the Chinese
Evangelization Society had of late become increasingly embarrassing.
For some time he had known that the Society was in debt and that his
salary was paid from borrowed money.

	        Personally [he wrote, recalling the circumstances] I
        had always avoided debt, though at times only by very careful
        economy. Now there was no difficulty in doing this, for my
        income was larger, but the Society itself was in debt. The
        quarterly bills which I and others were instructed to draw
        were often met with borrowed money, and a correspondence
        commenced which terminated in the following year by my
        resigning from conscientious motives.

	        To me it seemed that the teaching of God's Word was
        unmistakably clear: "Owe no man anything." To borrow money
        implied to my mind a contradiction of Scripture -- a
        confession that God had withheld some good thing, and a
        determination  <82>  to get for ourselves what He had not
        given. Could that which was wrong for one Christian be right
        for an association of Christians? Or could any amount of
        precedents make a wrong course justifiable? If the Word
        taught me anything, it taught me to have no connection with
        debt. I could not think that God was poor, that He was short
        of resources, or unwilling to supply any want of whatever
        work was really His. It seemed to me that if there were lack
        of funds to carry on work, then to that degree, in that
        special development, or at that time, it could not be the
        work of God. To satisfy my conscience I was therefore
        compelled to resign my connection with the Society. ...
        It was a great satisfaction to me that my friend and
        colleague, Mr. Jones, ... was led to take the same step, and
        we were both profoundly thankful that the separation took
        place without the least breach of friendly feeling on either
        side. ...

        	The step we had taken was not a little trying to
        faith. I was not at all sure what God would have me do or
        whether He would so meet my need as to enable me to continue
        working as before. ... But God blessed and prospered me, and
        how glad and thankful I felt when the separation was really
        effected! I could look right up into my Father's face with a
        satisfied heart, ready by His grace to do the next thing as
        He might teach me, and feeling very sure of His loving care.

        	And how blessedly He did lead me I can never, never
        tell. It was like a continuation of some of my earlier
        experiences at home. My faith was not untried; it often,
        often failed, and I was so sorry  <83>  and ashamed of the
        failure to trust such a Father. But oh! I was learning to
        know Him. I would not ever then have missed the trial. He
        became so near, so real, so intimate! The occasional
        difficulty about funds never came from an insufficient supply
        for personal needs, but in consequence of ministering to the
        wants of scores of the hungry and dying around us. And trials
        far more searching in other ways quite eclipsed these
        difficulties and being deeper brought forth in consequence
        richer fruits.

	The poor whom they were feeding that winter were famine
refugees who had crowded to Shanghai from districts devastated by the
Taiping Rebellion. In all stages of nakedness, sickness and
starvation, these sufferers were living in low, arched tombs which
they had broken open, or in any discarded building half in ruins. In
addition to taking charge of one of the chapels of the London
Mission, Hudson Taylor was preaching daily in the City Temple, but he
made time to visit these haunts of misery with Mr. Jones, ministering
regularly to the sick and feeding many of the hungry.

	Thus it was from no lack of occupation that his thoughts
turned constantly to Ningpo, nor was it without misgiving that he
found himself so urgently impelled to consider the question of
marriage. "Never marry if you can help it" is cryptic advice which
may easily me misunderstood, but Hudson Taylor was finding out its
meaning. For a great, God-given love had come to him, and there was
no disguising its implications.  <84>

	Meanwhile, in Ningpo, the same gracious Providence was
working, though there was much more in the way of hindrance to
overcome. The difficulty, however, was not on the part of the one
most concerned.  Maria Dyer's was a deep and tender nature. Lonely
from childhood, she had grown up longing for a real heart-friend. Her
father she could hardly remember, and her mother had died when she
was only ten years old. Her true conversion, when on the way to China
to join Miss Aldersey, made missionary work very different from what
it would otherwise have been, but it was a lonely post for a girl
still in her teens, especially after her sister became engaged to be
married.

	And then, he had come -- the young missionary who impressed
her as having longings like her own after holiness, usefulness,
nearness to God. He was different from others -- not more gifted or
attractive, though he was bright and pleasing and full of quiet fun,
but with a something about him that made her feel rested and
understood. He seemed to live in such a real world and to have such a
real, great God. Though she saw but little of him it was a comfort to
know that he was near, and she was startled to find how much she
missed him when after only seven weeks he left to return to Swatow.

	And then the way was closed, as we have seen, and to her joy
as well as surprise, he was back in Ningpo again. Perhaps it was this
that opened her eyes to the feeling with which she was beginning to
regard him. At any rate she soon knew and with  <85>  her sweet true
nature did not try to hide it from her own heart and God. There was
no one else to whom she cared to speak about him, for others did not
always see in him what she saw. They disliked his wearing Chinese
dress, and did not approve of his making himself so entirely one with
the people. His Chinese dress -- how she loved it! or what it
represented, rather, of his spirit. His poverty and generous giving
to the destitute -- how well she understood, how much she
sympathized! Did others think him visionary in his longing to reach
the great beyond of untouched need? Why, that was just the burden on
her heart, the life she too would live, only for a woman it seemed if
anything more impracticable. So she prayed much about her friend,
though to him she showed but little.

	Month after month went by, when he had to be in Shanghai,
and she did not know it cost him anything to leave her. And then,
at last -- a letter!  Sudden as was the joy, the great and wonderful
joy, it was no surprise, only a quiet outshining of what had long
shone within. So she was not mistaken after all. They WERE for one
another -- "two whom God hath chosen to walk together before Him."

	When she could break away from her first glad thanksgiving
she went to find her sister, who was most sympathetic. The next thing
was to tell Miss Aldersey, hoping she would approve this engagement
as she had Burella's. But great was the indignation with which the
older lady heard the story.

	"Mr. Taylor! that young, poor, unconnected  <86>  Nobody. How
dare he presume to think of such a thing? Of course the proposal must
be refused at once, and that finally."

	In vain Maria tried to explain how much he was to her. That
only made matters worse. She must be saved without delay from such
folly. And her kind friend, with the best intentions, proceeded to
take the matter entirely into her own hands. The result was a letter
written almost at Miss Aldersey's dictation, not only closing the
whole affair but requesting most decidedly that it might never be
reopened.

	Bewildered and heartbroken, the poor girl had no choice. She
was too young and inexperienced, and far too shy in such matters, to
withstand the decision of Miss Aldersey, strongly reinforced by
others of her friends. Stung to the quick with grief and shame, she
could only leave it in the hands of her heavenly Father. He knew, He
understood. And in the long, lonely days that followed, even when her
sister was won over to Miss Aldersey's position, she took refuge in
the certainty that nothing, NOTHING was too hard for the Lord. "If He
has to slay my Isaac," she assured herself again and again, "I know
He can restore."

	But when spring came again and the absentees were able to
return from Shanghai, the position became increasingly difficult. For
Miss Aldersey, indignant at Hudson Taylor's reappearance, felt it her
duty to disparage him in every possible way. He could not attempt to
see Miss Dyer, after the  <87>  letter she had written, and had no
clue to her true attitude. Gifted and attractive, she had no lack of
suitors who were openly encouraged. And Chinese etiquette combined
with well-meant diplomacy made it almost impossible for the two to
meet.  But both were praying. Both hearts so sorely tried were open
to God, truly desiring His will. And He has wonderful ways of
working!

	It was a sultry afternoon in July, and in regular rotation it
had come to Mrs. Jones' turn to be hostess for the prayer meeting.
The usual number of ladies gathered, but as the sequel proved it was
easier to come to the meeting that day than to get away. For with
scarcely any warning a waterspout, sweeping up the tidal river, broke
over Ningpo in a perfect deluge followed by torrents of rain. Mr.
Jones and Hudson Taylor, by this time a boarder in their family, were
over at the dispensary, and on account of the flooded streets were
late in returning. Most of the visitors had left before they reached
home, but a servant from the school was there who said that Miss
Maria Dyer and a companion were still waiting for sedan chairs.

	"Go into my study," said Mr. Jones, "and I will see what can
be arranged."

	It was not long before he returned, saying that the ladies
were alone with Mrs. Jones, and would be glad to see Mr. Taylor.

	Hardly knowing what he did, the young man went upstairs and
found himself meeting the one he supremely loved. True there were
others present --  <88>  that was unavoidable on account of Chinese
conventions. But he hardly saw them, hardly saw anything but her
face. He had only meant to ask if he might write to her guardian in
London -- for permission. But now it all came out, he could not help
it! And she? Well, there were only intimate friends with them, and it
might be so long before they could meet again! Yes, she consented,
and did much more than that. With a true women's heart, she relieved
his fears by letting him understand that he was just as dear to her
as she could be to him. And then Hudson Taylor relieved the situation
by saying, "Let us take it all to the Lord in prayer."

	Four months was a long, long time to wait, especially when
they knew that Miss Aldersey had written home to bring the distant
relatives to her own point of view. What if the guardian in London
should be influenced by her strong representations? What if he
refused his consent to the marriage? Both the young people were clear
in their convictions that the blessing of God rested upon obedience
to parents, or those in parental authority.

                I have never known [Mr. Taylor wrote in later years]
        disobedience to the definite command of a parent, even if
        that parent were mistaken, that was not followed by
        retribution. Conquer through the Lord. He can open any door.*
        The responsibility  <89>  is with the parent in such a case,
        and it is a serious one. When the son or daughter can say in
        all sincerity, "I am waiting for Thee, Lord, to open the
        way," the matter is in His hands and He will take it up.

* [Mr. Taylor was then dealing specially with the question of a call
to missionary work, the consent of one or both parents being
withheld.]

	And take it up He did; for toward the end of November the
long-looked-for letters came, and were favorable! After careful
inquiry, the uncle in London had satisfied himself that Hudson Taylor
was a missionary of unusual promise. The secretaries of the Chinese
Evangelization Society had nothing but good to say of him, and from
other sources also he had the highest references. Taking, therefore,
any disquieting rumors he may have heard for no more than they were
worth, he cordially consented to his niece's engagement, requesting
only that the marriage should be delayed until she came of age. And
that would be in little more than two months' time.

	After that they were openly engaged, and how those happy
winter days made up for all that had gone before! On Saturday,
January 16, the bride-elect would be twenty-one years of age, and the
wedding was arranged for the week following.

	        I never felt in better health or spirits in my life
        [wrote Hudson Taylor] ... I can scarcely realize, dear
        Mother, what has happened; that after all the agony and
        suspense we have suffered we are not only at liberty to meet
        and be much with each other, but that within a few days,
        D.V., we are to be married! God HAS been good to us. He has
        <90>  indeed answered our prayer and taken our part against
        the mighty. Oh, may we walk more closely with Him and serve
        Him more faithfully. I wish you knew my Precious One. She is
        such a treasure! She is all that I desire.

And then, six weeks later:

	        Oh, to be married to the one you DO love, and love
        most tenderly and devotedly ... that is bliss beyond the
        power of words to express or imagination conceive. There is
        no disappointment THERE. And every day as it shows more of
        the mind of your Beloved, when you have such a treasure as
        mine, makes you only more proud, more happy, more humbly
        thankful to the Giver of all good for this best of earthly
        gifts.

@08
<91>

        EIGHT

        JOY OF HARVEST

Sheaves after sowing, sun after rain,
Sight after mystery, peace after pain.
		-F. R. Havergal

        Only two and a half years remained of Hudson Taylor's first
period of service in China, but they were rich full years. The little
house on Bridge Street was now home indeed. Downstairs, the chapel
and guest hall remained the same, and the Christians and inquirers
came and went freely, but upstairs one could hardly recognize the
barnlike attic in the cheery little rooms whose curtained windows
looked out on the narrow street in front and the canal behind. And
what a difference it made that the women and children could be cared
for equally with the men! Mrs. Taylor, already well known in the
neighborhood, was now more than ever welcome as she went visiting,
and since "all the world loves a lover" the attraction of those
united hearts was widely felt.

	One of their warmest friends and helpers was the  <92>
ex-Buddhist leader, who was a cotton merchant in the city. This Mr.
Ni, though long resident in Ningpo, had never come in contact with
the Gospel. He was deeply earnest, and as president of an idolatrous
society spent much time and money in the service of "the gods." But
his heart was not at rest, and the more he followed his round of
religious observances the more empty he found them to be.

	Passing an open door on the street one evening, he noticed
that something was going on. A bell was being rung and people were
assembling as if for a meeting. Learning that it was a hall for the
discussion of religious matters he too went in, for there was nothing
about which he was more concerned than the penalties due to sin and
the transmigration of the soul on its unknown way. A young foreigner
in Chinese dress was preaching from his Sacred Classics. He was at
home in the Ningpo dialect and Mr. Ni could understand every word of
the passage he read. But what could be its meaning?

	        As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,
        even so must the Son of man be lifted up. ... For God so
        loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that
        whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have
        everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to
        condemn the world; but that the world through him might be
        saved.

	Saved, not condemned; a way to find everlasting life; a God
who LOVED the world; a serpent, no a  <93>  "Son of man" lifted up --
what could it all be about? To say that Ni was interested scarcely
begins to express what went on in his mind. The story of the brazen
serpent in the wilderness, illustrating the divine remedy for sin and
its deadly consequences; the life, death and resurrection of the Lord
Jesus Christ; the bearing of all this upon his own needs, brought
home to him in the power of the Spirit -- well, it is the miracle of
the ages, and thank God, we see it still! "I, if I be lifted up, will
draw all men unto me."

	But the meeting was coming to a close. The foreign teacher
had ceased speaking. With the instinct of one accustomed to lead in
such matters, Ni rose in his place, and looking round on the audience
said with simple directness:

	"I have long sought the Truth, but without finding it. I have
traveled far and near, but have never searched it out. In
Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoism, I have found no rest. But I do find
rest in what we have heard tonight. Henceforth, I am a believer in
Jesus."

	He became an ardent student of the Bible and his growth in
knowledge and grace was wonderful. Not long after his conversion, he
obtained permission to address a meeting of the society over which he
had formerly presided, and Mr. Taylor who accompanied him was deeply
impressed by the clearness and fullness with which he set forth the
Gospel. One of his former followers was led to Christ  <94>  through
his testimony, and Ni began to know the joy of the soulwinner.

	He it was who, talking with his missionary friend,
unexpectedly raised the question: "How long have you had the Glad
Tidings in your country?"

	"Some hundreds of years," was the reluctant reply.

	"What! hundreds of years?

	"My father sought the Truth," he continued sadly, "and died
without finding it. Oh, why did you not come sooner?"

	It was a moment, the pain of which Hudson Taylor could never
forget, and which deepened his earnestness in seeking to bring Christ
to those who might still be reached.

	Great was the need of patience, in those days, not to run
before the Spirit of God in the matter of engaging full-time helpers
in the work. For as yet the young missionaries had no regular Chinese
associates. Mr. Ni was eagerly devoting all the time he could spare
from his business, and so were Neng-kuei the basket-maker, Wang the
farmer of Hosi, and Tsiu the teacher with his warmhearted mother. But
they and others were all occupied in their necessary avocations
through the day, though they drew to the mission house in the evening
and spent much time there on Sundays. It would have been easy to
employ the Christian teacher in the school to which Mrs. Taylor was
giving many hours daily, or to take on others at a modest salary to
train them for positions of usefulness. But this,  <95>  the
missionaries realized, would have proved a hindrance in the long run
rather than a help. To pay young converts, however sincere, for
making known the Gospel -- and to pay them with money from foreign
sources -- must inevitably weaken their influence if not their
Christian character. The time might come when their call of God to
such work would be evident to all, and when the Christians themselves
would be ready to support them. How was China ever to be evangelized
but by the Chinese Church? And how were the converts ever to know the
joy of unpaid, voluntary service, from love to the Lord Jesus Christ,
unless the missionaries could be patient and wait for spiritual
developments?

	So it was a full life that Hudson Taylor and his colleagues
led, while the young converts were growing up around them. For he was
doing not a little medical work in addition to preaching on the
streets and in the chapel, receiving visitors, attending to
correspondence and accounts, and keeping up evangelistic excursions.
But nothing was allowed to interfere with the main business in
hand -- that of daily helpful intercourse with the Christians and
inquirers.

	Little wonder, with such love and care lavished upon them,
that the converts grew in grace and in knowledge of the things of
God. Evening by evening the missionaries would be at their disposal,
and after the regular public meeting, three periods were given to
carefully prepared study. To begin with, a lesson was taken from the
Old Testament,  <96>  when Hudson Taylor delighted to unfold its
spiritual teaching. Then, after an interval, a chapter was read in
PILGRIM'S PROGRESS or some other helpful book. And finally a passage
from the New Testament was talked over and applied to practical life.
This was the regular order every night, leading up to Sunday with its
special services for worship and for reaching outsiders.

	And Sunday had its teaching periods too. It cost the
Christians not a little to close shop and store, sacrificing as far
as their business affairs were concerned one day in seven. Yet Hudson
Taylor and his colleagues knew that no strong, self-propagating
church can be built up on any other basis. They determined therefore
to do their utmost to make the sacrifice worthwhile, by filling the
hours thus given to God with helpful and joyous occupation. Between
the regular services, Christians, inquirers, patients, schoolchildren
and servants were divided into classes and taught in a bright,
personal way. This made Sunday a heavy day for the missionaries, for
there were only four of them; but if it cost some toil and weariness,
they were the better able to appreciate the sacrifices made by the
converts. Some had to walk long distances and go without food the
greater part of the day, and others had to face persecution and
personal loss. But they were willing, most of them, for all it
involved, if only they could have the Lord's day for worship, for
they were conscious of the difference it made all through the week.
<97>

	So the church was growing and the missionaries were
developing, and opportunities for service were enlarging before them.
The Treaty of Tientsin, signed in the summer after Hudson Taylor's
marriage, had opened the way at last to all the inland provinces.
Foreigners had now the right to travel freely, under the protection
of passports, and it only remained to make use of the facilities for
which they had prayed so long.

        	You will have heard before this all about the new
        treaty [Mr. Taylor wrote in November]. We may be losing some
        of our Ningpo missionaries ... who will go inland. And oh,
        will not the Church at home awaken and send us out many more
        to publish the Glad Tidings?

	        Many of us long to go -- oh, how we long to go! But
        there are duties and ties that bind us that none but the Lord
        can unloose. May He give "gifts" to many of the native
        Christians, qualifying them ... for the care of churches
        already formed, ... and thus set us free for pioneering work.

	This was the burden on their hearts -- to raise up, by he
blessing of God, a church that should be self propagating as well as
self-supporting -- and the claim of the little band of believers who
still needed them as parents in the Lord could not be set aside. It
was to their love, their prayers, these souls had been committed, and
to leave them now, even for the good of others, would have been to
disregard the highest of all trusts, parental responsibility. And
they were right in this conviction, as the sequel abundantly proved.
<98>

	For these Christians, Ni, Neng-kuei, Wang and the rest, were
men whom God could use. Poor and unlearned as most of them were, they
too were to become "fishers of men." No fewer than six or seven of
these early converts were to come to the help of their beloved leader
in the formative years of the China Inland Mission. But for their
cooperation, the new project, humanly speaking, could never have been
realized. It would be difficult to overestimate all that grew out of
the intensive work at Bridge Street at this time. For what the
missionaries were themselves, this to a large extent their children
in the faith became, and there is no better, surer way of passing on
spiritual blessing.

	In the midst of all this joy of harvest, a great and
unexpected sorrow called Hudson Taylor to new responsibilities. Over
in the Settlement, Dr. Parker had recently completed his new
hospital. Splendidly situated near one of the city gates and
overlooking the river, its commodious buildings attracted the notice
of thousands daily.  Everything about the place was admirably adapted
to the needs of the work built up through patient years. But in the
doctor's home were stricken hearts, for the brave man who had
overcome so many difficulties was mourning the loss of his wife, who
after only a few hours' illness had passed away, leaving four young
children.  One of them was seriously ill, and the doctor realized
that he must take them home to Scotland. But what about the hospital?
The wards were full of patients and the dispensary was crowded  <99>
day by day with a stream of people needing help. No other doctor was
free to take his place, and yet to close down with the winter coming
on seemed unthinkable. Though there were no funds to leave for the
work -- for it was supported from the proceeds of his private
practice -- perhaps his former colleague, Hudson Taylor, could carry
on the dispensary at any rate. So the unexpected proposition was put
before him.

        	After waiting upon the Lord for guidance [Mr. Taylor
        recalled] I felt constrained to undertake not only the
        dispensary but the hospital as well, relying solely on the
        faithfulness of a prayer-hearing God to furnish means for its
        support.

	        At times there were no fewer than fifty in-patients,
        besides a large number who attended the dispensary. Thirty
        beds were ordinarily allotted to free patients and their
        attendants, and about as many more to opium smokers who paid
        their board while being cured of the habit. As all the wants
        of the sick in the wards were supplied gratuitously, as well
        as the medical supplies needed for the out-patient
        department, the daily expenses were considerable. Hospital
        attendants also were required, involving their support. The
        funds for the maintenance of all this had hitherto been
        supplied by the doctor's foreign practice, and with his
        departure this source of income ceased. But had not God said
        that whatever we ask in the name of the Lord Jesus shall be
        done? And are we not told to seek first the kingdom of God --
        not means to advance it -- and that "all these things" shall
        be added to us? Such promises were surely sufficient. <100>

	It did not matter to the young missionaries that the
situation was unlooked-for; that none of their friends at home could
have foreseen it; and that months must go by before there could be
any response to letters. Were not they themselves looking to the Lord
only for support, and had He ever failed them?  The secret of faith
that is ready for emergencies is the quiet, practical dependence upon
God day by day which makes Him real to the believing heart.

	        Eight days before entering upon the care of the
        Ningpo hospital [wrote Mr. Taylor] I had not the remotest
        idea of ever doing so; still less could friends at home have
        foreseen the need.

But the Lord had anticipated it, as events were fully to prove.

	When the assistants left by Dr. Parker learned of the changed
conditions, and that there were only funds in hand for the expenses
of the current month, after which prayer would be the only resource,
they not unnaturally decided to withdraw and open the way for other
workers. It was a change Dr. Parker had long desired to make, only he
had not known how to obtain helpers of a different sort. Hudson
Taylor did know, and with a lightened heart he turned to the little
circle that did not fail him. For to the Bridge Street Christians it
seemed quite as natural to trust the Lord for temporal blessings as
for spiritual. Did not the greater include the less; and was He not,
as their "teacher" so often reminded them, a REAL Father, who never
could  <101>  forget His children's needs? So to the hospital they
came, glad not only to strengthen the hands of their missionary
friends but to prove afresh to themselves and all concerned the
faithfulness of God. Some worked in one way and some in another; some
giving what time they could spare, and others giving their whole time
without promise of wages, though receiving their support. And all
took the hospital and its concerns on their hearts in prayer.

	No wonder a new atmosphere began to permeate dispensary
and wards. Account for it the patients could not -- at any rate at
first -- but they enjoyed none the less the happy, homelike feeling,
and the zest with which everything was carried on. The days were full
of a new interest. For these attendants -- Wang the grass-cutter and
Wang the painter, Ni, Neng-kuei and others -- seemed to possess the
secret of perpetual happiness, and had so much to impart. Not only
were they kind and considerate in the work of the wards, but all
their spare time was given to telling of One who had transformed life
for them and who, they said, was ready to receive all who came to Him
for rest. Then there were books, pictures and singing. Everything
indeed seemed set to song!  And the daily meetings in the chapel only
made one long for more.

	There are few secrets in China, and the financial basis upon
which the hospital was now run was not one of them. Soon the patients
knew all about it, and were watching eagerly for the outcome. This
too was something to think and talk about; and as  <102>  the money
left by Dr. Parker was used up and Hudson Taylor's own supplies ran
low, many were the conjectures as to what would happen next. Needless
to say that alone and with his little band of helpers Hudson Taylor
was much in prayer at this time. It was perhaps a more open and in
that sense more crucial test than any that had come to him, and he
realized that the faith of not a few was at stake as well as the
continuance of the hospital work. But day after day went by without
bringing the expected answer.

	At length one morning Kuei-hua the cook *  appeared with
serious news for his master. The very last bag of rice had been
opened, and was disappearing rapidly.

        * [This was the same valued servant who had been with Mr.
Taylor in Shanghai, Tsungming and elsewhere and who was now a bright
Christian.]

	"Then," replied Hudson Taylor, "the Lord's time for helping
us must be close at hand."

	And so it proved. For before that bag of rice was finished a
letter reached the young missionary that was among the most
remarkable he ever received.

	It was from Mr. Berger, and contained a check for fifty
pounds, like others that had come before. Only in this case the
letter went on to say that a heavy burden had come upon the writer,
the burden of wealth to use for God. Mr. Berger's father had recently
passed away, leaving him a considerable increase of fortune. The son
did not wish to enlarge his personal expenditure. He had had  <103>
enough before and was now praying to be guided as to the Lord's
purpose in what had taken place. Could his friends in China help him?
The draft enclosed was for immediate needs, and would they write
fully, after praying over the matter, if there were ways in which
they could profitably use more.

	Fifty pounds! There it lay on the table; and his far-off
friend, knowing nothing about that last bag of rice or the many needs
of the hospital, actually asked if he might send them more. No wonder
Hudson Taylor was overwhelmed with thankfulness and awe. Suppose he
had held back from taking charge of the hospital on account of lack
of means, or lack of faith rather? Lack of faith -- with such
promises and such a God!

	There was no Salvation Army in those days, but the praise
meeting held in the chapel fairly anticipated it in its songs and
shouts of joy. But unlike some Army meetings it had to be a short
one, for were there not the patients in the wards? And how they
listened -- those men and women who had known nothing all their lives
but blank, empty heathenism.

	"Where is the idol that can do anything like that?" was the
question upon many lips and hearts.  "Have they ever delivered us in
our troubles, or answered prayer after this sort?"


@09
<104>

        NINE

        HIDDEN YEARS

        Oh, to save these! to perish for their saving;
	        Die for their life; be offered for them all.
        		        -Selected

        But it told, this busy, happy work, upon those who were
engaged in it. Within nine months, sixteen patients from the hospital
had been baptized, while more than thirty others were candidates for
admission to one or other of the Ningpo churches. But six years in
China, six such years, had left their mark, and Hudson Taylor's
strength was failing rapidly.

	        People are perishing, and God is so blessing the work
        [he wrote to his father]. But we are wearing down and must
        have help...

	        Do you know of any earnest, devoted young men
        desirous of serving God in China, who, not wishing for more
        than their actual support, would be willing to come out and
        labor here? Oh, for four or five such helpers! They would
        probably begin to preach in Chinese in six months' time, and
        in answer to prayer the means for their support would be
        found.  <105>

	"People are perishing and God is so blessing the work" -- it
was the urgency of these facts that carried Hudson Taylor through
serious illness and the painful parting, when he was invalided home
in 1860. It was the urgency of these facts that sustained him through
the years that followed, when it seemed as though the doctors were
right in thinking that he would never be strong enough to return to
China. The great need, as he had seen it, and a deep sense of
responsibility burned as a steady fire in his soul, and neither poor
health, lack of encouragement nor any other difficulty could lessen
his sense of call to bring Christ to those perishing millions.

	Settling in the east end of London, to be near his old
hospital, Mr. Taylor was able as health improved to resume his
medical studies. He also undertook the task of revising the romanized
Ningpo Testament, the Bible Society having agreed to publish a new
edition. And for a time there was a good deal of correspondence with
young men who were considering China as a field for life service,
which resulted in the going out of one, one only, to join Mr. and
Mrs. Jones in Ningpo.*  But gradually outside interest seemed to
lessen, and Mr. and Mrs. Taylor found themselves, with few friends,
shut up to prayer and patience. At twenty-nine and twenty-four years
of age it was not easy to be  <106>  set aside, cut off from the work
they loved and left in the backwater of that dreary street in a poor
part of London. Yet, without those hidden years with all their growth
and testing, how could the vision and enthusiasm of youth have been
matured for the leadership that was to be?

        * [Mr. James Meadows sailed for China in 1862, three years
before the inauguration of the China Inland Mission, of which he was
for more than fifty years an honored member. Two of his daughters are
still in China, members of the Mission.]

	Five long, hidden years -- and we should have known little of
their experiences but for the discovery in an old, dusty
packing-case, of a number of notebooks, small and thin, filled with
Mr. Taylor's handwriting. One after another we came upon them among
much useless rubbish, until the complete series lay before us --
twelve in number, not one missing. And what a tale was unfolded as,
often blinded with tears, one traced the faded record!

	For these unstudied pages reveal a growing intimacy with God
and dependence upon Him. Faith is here, and faithfulness down to the
smallest detail. Devotion is here and self-sacrifice, leading to
unremitting labor. Prayer is here, patient persevering prayer,
wonderfully answered. But there is something more: there is the deep,
prolonged exercise of a soul that is following hard after God. There
is the gradual strengthening here, of a man called to walk by faith
not by sight; the unutterable confidence of a heart cleaving to God
and God alone, which pleases Him as nothing else can.

	"Without faith it is impossible to please [or satisfy] him:
for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a
rewarder of them that diligently seek him."  <107>

	Outwardly the days were filled with quiet, ordinary duties,
enriched with trials and joys of many kinds. The little daughter who
had brought such happiness in Ningpo had now three younger brothers.
Home and children had to be cared for with very limited means, and
faith was often tested as Mr. and Mrs. Taylor went on in the pathway
of direct dependence upon God. The work in Ningpo had also to be
provided for and directed, which involved a good deal of
correspondence. The New Testament revision was a task that seemed to
grow rather than diminish, as it had come to include the preparation
of marginal references. These proved of great value to the Ningpo
Christians, and the labor of preparing them, while it was
considerable, brought no little blessing to the young missionary who
was spending hours every day over the Word of God.

	The amount of work he was enabled to get through is amazing,
and could hardly be credited but for this record. Every day Mr.
Taylor noted the time given to his main task, and one frequently
comes upon entries such as the following:

      April 27, Revision seven hours (evening at Exeter Hall).

      April 28, Revision nine and a half hours.

      April 29, Revision eleven hours.

      April 30, Revision five and a half hours (Baptist Missionary
      Society meetings).

      May 1,    Revision eight and a half hours (visitors till
      10 P.M.).               <108>

      May 2, Revision thirteen hours.

      May 3, Sunday at Bayswater: In the morning heard Mr. Lewis,
      from John 3:33; took the Communion there in the afternoon. -1-
      Evening, stayed at home and engaged in prayer about our Chinese
      work.
	-1- [Bayswater in the west end of London, was at this time
the home of Mr. Taylor's sister Amelia, recently married to Mr. B.
Broomhall. The Rev. W. G. Lewis was the minister of the Baptist
church of which Mr. Taylor had become a member.]

        May 4, Revision four hours (correspondence and visitors).

        May 5, Revision eleven and a half hours.

        May 6, Revision seven hours (important interviews).

        May 7, Revision nine and a half hours.

        May 8, Revision ten and a half hours.

        May 9, Revision thirteen hours.

              May 10, Sunday: Morning, with Lae-djun on Heb. 11,
        first part, a happy season. -2-  Wrote to James Meadows.
        Afternoon, prayer with Maria about leaving this house, about
        Meadows, Truelove, revision, etc.  Wrote to Mr. Lord.-3-
        Evening, heard Mr. Kennedy on Matt. 27:42 -- "He saved
        others, himself he cannot save."  Oh, to be more  <109> like
        the meek, forbearing, loving Jesus! Lord, make me more like
        Thee.

	-2- [Lae-djun was one of the Ningpo Christians who had
volunteered to come to England, without salary, to help Mr. and Mrs.
Taylor in their work. This association had not a little to do with
his subsequent usefulness as the first and for thirty years one of
the most devoted pastors in the China Inland Mission.]
	-3- [The Rev. E. C. Lord of Ningpo, though connected with the
American Baptist Mission, found time to replace Mr. J. Jones in the
care of the Bridge Street Church, and to give much help to Mr. and
Mrs. Meadows. Mr. Jones had been obliged to leave China on account of
illness, and did not live to reach England.]

	The meetings referred to were a large part of Mr. Taylor's
work at this time, for he was doing his utmost to induce the
denominational boards to take up the evangelization of inland China.
Alone or with his colleague in the revision, the Rev. F. F. Gough of
the C.M.S., he visited the secretaries of various societies, putting
before them the need of that long-neglected field, made accessible by
the granting of passports for travel and even residence in the
interior. But, while everywhere meeting with a sympathetic hearing,
it became evident that none of the boards was prepared to assume
responsibility for so great an undertaking.

        All this, naturally, reacted in one way on Hudson Taylor, and
when to his personal knowledge of certain parts of China was added a
careful study of the whole field, the result was overwhelming. For he
had been requested by his friend and pastor, Mr. Lewis, editor of
the BAPTIST MAGAZINE, to write a series of articles to awaken
interest in the Ningpo Mission. These he had begun to prepare and one
had already been published when Mr. Lewis returned the manuscript of
the second. The articles were too important and weighty, he felt, to
be restricted to a denominational paper.

        "Add to them," he urged, "let them cover the whole field and
be published as an appeal for inland China."

        This led to a detailed study of the spiritual needs  <110>
of every part of China, and of its outlying dependencies. While in
Ningpo, the pressure of claims immediately around him had been so
great that Mr. Taylor had been unable to give much thought to the
still greater needs further afield. But now -- daily facing the map
on the wall of his study and the open Bible whose promises were
gripping his soul -- he was as near the vast provinces of inland
China as the places in which he had labored near the coast. Little
wonder that "prayer was the only way by which the burdened heart
could obtain any relief"!

        But the real crisis came when prayer no longer brought
relief, but seemed to commit him more and more to the undertaking
from which he shrank. For he began to see in the light of that open
Book that God could use him, even him, to answer his own prayers.

                I had a growing conviction [he wrote] that God would
        have ME seek from Him the needed workers and go forth with
        them. But for a long time unbelief hindered my taking the
        first step. ...

                In the study of that divine Word, I learned that to
        obtain successful workers, not elaborate appeals for help,
        but first earnest prayer to God to thrust forth laborers,
        and second the deepening of the spiritual life of the Church,
        so that men should be unable to stay at home, were what was
        needed. I saw that the apostolic plan was not to raise ways
        and means, but to go and do the work, trusting His sure
        promise who has said, "Seek ye first the kingdom  <111>  of
        God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be
        added unto you." ...

                But how inconsistent unbelief always is! I had no
        doubt but that if I prayed for fellow-workers, in the name of
        the Lord Jesus Christ, they would be given. I had no doubt
        but that, in answer to such prayer, the means for our going
        forth would be provided, and that doors would be opened
        before us in unreached parts of the Empire. But I had not
        then learned to trust God for keeping power and grace for
        myself, so no wonder I could not trust Him to keep others who
        might be prepared to go with me. I feared that amid the
        dangers, difficulties and trials necessarily connected with
        such work, some comparatively inexperienced Christians might
        break down, and bitterly reproach me for encouraging them to
        undertake an enterprise for which they were unequal.

                Yet what was I to do? The sense of bloodguiltiness
        became more and more intense. Simply because I refused to ask
        for them, the laborers did not come forward, did not go out
        to China: and every day tens of thousands in that land were
        passing into Christless graves! Perishing China so filled my
        heart and mind that there was no rest by day and little sleep
        by night, till health gave way.

        For the hidden years had done their work. An instrument was
ready that God could use, and the prevailing prayers going up from
that little home in East London were to receive a speedy though
unexpected answer.

@10
<112>

        TEN

        A MAN SHUT UP TO GOD

        Nothing before, nothing behind:
                The steps of faith
        Fall on the seeming void, and find
                The rock beneath.
                        J. G. Whittier

        Summer had come again, and the streets were hot and dusty in
East London. Seeing that Mr. Taylor was not looking well, an old
friend invited him down to the coast to spend a few days at Brighton.
Mrs. Taylor, who was concerned about his health, was glad to see him
go, though she understood only in part the experiences through which
he was passing. Even to her, he could not fully show the exercise of
soul that was becoming unbearable.

        So it was alone on the sands at Brighton that Sunday morning,
that he met the crisis of his life. He had gone to church with
others, but the sight of multitudes rejoicing in the blessings of
salvation was more than he could bear. "Other sheep I have" -- the
lost and perishing in China, for whose souls  <113>  no man cared --
"them also I must bring." And the tones of the Master's voice, the
love in the Master's face pleaded silently.

        He knew that God was speaking. He knew, as we have seen, that
if he yielded to His will, and prayed under His guidance, evangelists
for inland China would be given. As to their support, he had no
anxiety. He who called and sent them would not fail to give them
daily bread. But what if THEY should fail? For Hudson Taylor was
facing no unknown situation. He was familiar with conditions in
China, the real temptations to be met, the real enemy entrenched on
his own ground. What if fellow workers were overborne and laid the
blame on him?

                It was just a bringing in of self through unbelief;
        the devil getting one to feel [he recalled] that while prayer
        and faith would bring one into the fix, one would have to get
        out of it as best one might. And I did not see that the power
        that would give the men and the means would be sufficient to
        keep them also, even in the far interior of China.

        Meanwhile, a million a month were dying in that great,
waiting land -- dying without God. This was burned into his soul. A
decision had to be made and he knew it, for the conflict could no
longer be endured. It was comparatively easy to pray for workers, but
would he, could he accept the burden of leadership?

                In great spiritual agony, I wandered out on the
        <114>  sands alone. And there the Lord conquered my unbelief,
        and I surrendered myself to God for this service. I told Him
        that all the responsibility as to the issues and consequences
        must rest with Him; that as His servant it was mine to obey
        and to follow Him, His to direct, care for and guide me and
        those who might labor with me. Need I say that at once peace
        flowed into my burdened heart?

                Then and there I asked Him for twenty-four fellow-
        workers, two for each of the eleven provinces which were
        without a missionary and two for Mongolia; and writing the
        petition on the margin of the Bible I had with me, I turned
        homeward with a heart enjoying rest such as it had been a
        stranger to for months, and with an assurance that the Lord
        would bless His own work and that I should share in the
        blessing. ...

                The conflict ended, all was peace and joy. I felt as
        if I could fly up the hill to Mr. Pearce's house. And how I
        did sleep that night! My dear wife thought that Brighton had
        done wonders for me, and so it had.


@11
<115>

        ELEVEN

        A MAN SENT FROM GOD

        Thou on the Lord rely,
                So safe shalt thou go on;
        Fix on His work thy steadfast eye,
                So shall thy work be done.
                        Paul Gerhardt

        Happy the man. called to go forward in any pathway of faith,
who has in his life-companion only sympathy and help. For seven and a
half years -- perfect years as concerned their married life -- Hudson
Taylor had known no disappointment in the one he loved, and she did
not fail him now. Frail in health and only twenty-eight years of age,
Mrs. Taylor's hands were full with the care of four young children,
yet from the moment she learned of her husband's call to the great,
the seemingly impossible, task of the evangelization of inland China
she became in a new way his comfort and inspiration. Her hand wrote
for him, her faith strengthened his own, her prayers undergirded the
whole work and her practical experience and loving heart made her the
Mother of the Mission.   <116>

        For very soon the larger house at Coborn Street into which
they had moved began to fill up with candidates for China.  The
parlors that had seemed so spacious could scarcely accommodate the
friends who gathered for the Saturday prayer meeting.  The fifty
dollars  (all he had)  with which Mr. Taylor had opened a bank
account in the name of "The China Inland Mission" grew into hundreds,
through the voluntary, unasked gifts of those who desired to have
part in the work; and plans began to form themselves for the outgoing
of the first party.

        Picture then the sitting room at Number 30 Coborn Street on
Sunday -- the only day when Mr. Taylor could find time for quiet
writing. At the table Mrs. Taylor is seated, pen in hand, while he
paces to and fro, absorbed in the subject on their hearts. For the
articles Mr. Lewis suggested have taken on new meaning. There is not
only an urgent need to make known, but a new departure, a definite
effort to meet that need in dependence upon God. CHINA'S SPIRITUAL
NEED AND CLAIMS was the pamphlet that came into being as they prayed
and wrote, wrote and prayed; and perhaps no book of modern times
proved more effective in moving the hearts of the people of God. How
many it sent to China as edition after edition was published, how
many it drew into sympathy with missionary work the wide world oven,
how it strengthened faith and quickened prayer and devotion will
never be known until the secrets of all hearts are revealed.  "Every
<117>  sentence was steeped in prayer,"  and every sentence seemed to
live with the power of God.

        The book made many friends and many openings. It had to be
reprinted within three weeks of publication, and drew forth letters
such as the following from the late Lord Radstock:

                I have read your pamphlet and have been greatly
        stirred by it. I trust you may be enabled by the Holy Spirit
        to speak words  which will thrust forth many laborers into
        the vineyards. Dear Brother, enlarge your desires! Ask for a
        hundred laborers, and the Lord will give them to you. *

                * [This startling though prophetic suggestion was
accompanied by a generous gift of $500. Lord Radstock lived to see
the time when Mr. Taylor did ask for a hundred workers IN ONE YEAR,
and when in answer to prayer they were given.]

        Not a hundred, however, but just twenty-four was the first
objective, and a well-worn Bible lies before us now in which that
prayer is recorded in Mr. Taylor's clear though faded writing. Far
from being elated at the turn events were taking, success only added
to his sense of responsibility, and it was a man burdened with a
God-given message who moved from place to place that memorable
winter, awakening other hearts to a like God-consciousness.

        For it seemed a new thing, in those days, to talk about FAITH
as a sufficient financial basis for missionary undertakings at the
other end of the world. "Faith missions" were unheard of, the only
organizations then in existence being the regular denominational
boards. But Hudson Taylor, young though he was, had learned to know
God in a very real  <118>  way. He had seen Him, as he wrote, quell
the raging of a storm at sea, in answer to definite prayer, alter the
direction of the wind, and give rain in a time of drought. He had
seen Him, in answer to prayer, stay the hand of would-be murderers
and quell the violence of enraged men. He had seen Him rebuke
sickness in answer to prayer, and raise up the dying, when all hope
of recovery seemed gone. *  For more than eight years he had proved
His faithfulness in supplying the needs of his family and work in
answer to prayer, unforeseen as many of those needs had been. How
could he but encourage others to put their trust in the love that
cannot forget, the faithfulness that cannot fail?

        * [Details of these experiences will be found in the first
volume of Mr. Taylor's larger biography, especially pages 429-492.
See HUDSON TAYLOR IN THE EARLY YEARS: THE GROWTH OF A SOUL, by the
present writers.]

                We have to do with One [he reminded his hearers] who
        is Lord of all power and might, whose arm is not shortened
        that it cannot save, nor His ear heavy that it cannot hear;
        with One whose unchanging Word directs us to ask and receive
        that our joy may be full, to open our mouths wide, that He
        may fill them. And we do well to remember that this gracious
        God, who has condescended to place His almighty power at the
        command of believing prayer looks not lightly on the
        bloodguiltiness of those who neglect to avail themselves of
        it for the benefit of the perishing. ...

                To those who have never been called to prove the
        faithfulness of the covenant-keeping God... it might seem a
        hazardous experiment to send  <119>  twenty-four European
        evangelists to a distant heathen land "with only God to look
        to"; but in one whose privilege it has been, through many
        years, to put that God to the test -- at home and abroad, by
        land and sea, in sickness and in health, in dangers,
        necessities, and at the gates of death -- such apprehensions
        would be wholly inexcusable.

        The work they were undertaking was far too great to be
limited to any one denomination. The fact that the Mission offered no
salaries was in itself enough to deter all but those whose experience
made them sure of God, and such souls possess a union in more than
name.

                We had to consider [Mr. Taylor continued] whether it
        would not be possible for members of various denominations to
        work together on simple, evangelistic lines, without friction
        as to conscientious differences of opinion. Prayerfully
        concluding that it would, we decided to invite the
        co-operation of fellow-believers, irrespective of
        denominational views, who fully held the inspiration of God's
        Word and were willing to prove their faith by going to inland
        China with only the guarantee they carried in their Bibles.

                That Word said, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and
        his righteousness, and all these things [food and raiment]
        shall be added unto you."  If anyone did not believe that God
        spoke the truth, it would be better for him not to go to
        China to propagate the faith; if he did believe it, surely
        the promise sufficed. Again, we have the assurance, "No good
        thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly." If
        anyone did not mean to walk  <120>  uprightly, he had better
        stay at home; if he did mean to walk uprightly, he had all he
        needed in the shape of a guarantee fund. God owns all the
        gold and silver in the world, and the cattle on a thousand
        hills. We need not be vegetarians!

                We might indeed have had a guarantee fund if we had
        wished it; but we felt that it was unnecessary and would do
        harm. Money wrongly placed and money given from wrong motives
        are both greatly to be dreaded. We can afford to have as
        little as the Lord chooses to give, but we cannot afford to
        have unconsecrated money, or to have money placed in the
        wrong position. Far better have no money, even to buy bread
        with. There are plenty of ravens in China, and the Lord could
        send them again with bread and flesh. ... He sustained three
        million Israelites in the wilderness for forty years. We do
        not expect Him to send three million missionaries to China,
        but if He did He would have ample means to sustain them all.

                Let us see that we keep God before our eyes; that we
        walk in His ways and seek to please and glorify Him in
        everything, great and small. Depend upon it, God's work, done
        in God's way, will never lack God's supplies.

        One thing greatly concerned Mr. Taylor, and that was that the
new enterprise should not deflect men or means from previously
existing agencies. Robbing Peter to pay Paul, in this sense, would be
no advantage to the work of God. To open the way for workers who
might not be accepted by other missions, whose preparation had not
included  <121>  university training, was part of the plan, and no
one was to be asked to join the Inland Mission. If the Lord of the
harvest wanted them in that particular field, He would put it into
their hearts to offer. In the same way, there were to be no appeals
for money. If the Mission could be sustained in answer to prayer,
without subscription lists or solicitation of any kind for funds, it
might grow up among the older societies without danger of diverting
gifts from their accustomed channels. It might even be helpful, by
directing attention to the Great Worker, and affording a practical
illustration of its underlying principle that God, God ALONE, is
sufficient for God's own work.

        For the rest, they were content with little in the way of
organization. It was wonderful how provision was made for the home
side of the work. In Mr. and Mrs. Berger of Saint Hill, friends had
been raised up who bore it upon their hearts almost as did Mr. and
Mrs. Taylor. They prayed for it and lived for it with equal devotion,
turning their beautiful home into a center for all the interests of
the Mission.

                When I decided to go forward [Mr. Taylor said of this
        relationship], Mr. Berger undertook to represent us at home.
        The thing grew up gradually. We were much drawn together. The
        Mission received its name in his drawing room. Neither of us
        asked or appointed the other -- it just WAS SO.

        Essential, spiritual principles were talked over with the
candidates and clearly understood as the  <122>  basis of the
Mission. A few simple arrangements were agreed to in writing, in Mr.
Berger's presence, that was all.

                We came out as God's children at God's command [was
        Mr. Taylor's simple statement]  to do God's work, depending
        on Him for supplies; to wear native dress and to go inland. I
        was to be the leader in China. ... There was no question as
        to who was to determine points at issue.

        In the same way, Mr. Berger was responsible at home. He would
correspond with candidates, receive and forward contributions,
publish an OCCASIONAL PAPER with audited accounts, send out suitable
reinforcements as funds permitted and keep clear of debt. This last
was a cardinal principle with all concerned. *

        * [From the first it was made perfectly clear that Mr. Taylor
never drew for himself or his family upon the funds of the Mission.
He had the joy, however, as the Lord enabled him, of contributing
largely to its support. "As poor, yet making many rich."]

                It is really just as easy [as Mr. Taylor pointed out]
        for God to give BEFOREHAND, and He much prefers to do so. He
        is too wise to allow His purposes to be frustrated for lack
        of a little money; but money obtained in unspiritual ways is
        sure to hinder blessing.

        There were problems, many of them, that only experience could
solve, and Mr. Berger's practical illustration often came to mind. He
was a man of affairs, a manufacturer of starch, at the head of a
prosperous business. He knew that like the trees on his estate, a
live thing will grow.   <123>

                You must wait for a tree to grow [he said in this
        connection] before there can be much in the way of branches.
        First you have only a slender stem, with a few leaves or
        shoots. Then little twigs appear. Ultimately, these may
        become great limbs, all but separate trees. But it takes time
        and patience. If there is life, it will develop after its own
        order.

        The many answers to prayer, as the first party of the Mission
made their preparations for sailing, cannot be dwelt upon now.
Wonderful indeed they were! so much so that an inset had to be put
into the first OCCASIONAL PAPER saying that the whole sum referred to
as needed for passage and outfits was already in hand. But behind
these experiences lay the noon hour of prayer every day in Mr.
Taylor's home, as well as the weekly gathering there and at Saint
Hill and special days for prayer and fasting. It all meant a very
close and happy walk with God.

        Human nothingness, divine sufficiency -- the one just as real
as the other -- was the atmosphere of those last days at Coborn
Street. Friends could not come and go without feeling it. Among
packing-cases and bundles, the last prayer meetings were held, people
crowding the rooms and staircase, sitting on anything that came to
hand. On the wall still hung the map; on the table lay the open
Bible.

                Our great desire and aim [Mr. Taylor had written of
        the new mission] are to plant the standard of the Cross in
        the eleven provinces of China hitherto unoccupied, and in
        Chinese Tartary.   <124>

        "A foolhardy business," said those who saw only the
difficulties.

        "A superhuman task," sighed others who wished them well. And
many even of their friends could not but be anxious.

        "You will be forgotten," was the concern of some. "With no
committee or organization before the public, you will be lost sight
of in that distant land. Claims are many nowadays. Before long you
may find yourselves without even the necessaries of life!"

        "I am taking my children with me," was the quiet answer, "and
I notice it is not difficult to remember that they need breakfast in
the morning, dinner at midday and supper at night. Indeed, I could
not forget them if I tried. And I find it impossible to think that
our heavenly Father is less tender and mindful of His children than
I, a poor earthly father, am of mine. No, He will not forget us!"

        And through all the years since then, with all they have
brought, that confidence has been amply justified.

@12
<125>

        TWELVE

        SPIRITUAL URGENCY

        Men die in darkness at your side,
                Without a hope to cheer the tomb;
        Take up the torch and wave it wide,
                The torch that lights time's thickest gloom.
                                        -H. Bonar

        That there was a sustaining power behind the leaders and many
of the first workers of the new mission is very manifest from the
records of the next few years. One cannot but be impressed by the
urgency of spirit that characterized them -- a great, twofold urgency
that carried them through every kind of difficulty and trial. There
was the urgency of love to the Lord Jesus Christ that made them glory
in their privilege of knowing Him in the fellowship of His sufferings
in a new and deeper way, and there was in them the urgency of His
constraining love for the souls of the perishing by whom they were
surrounded. It may seem old-fashioned in these days to talk of souls,
perishing souls, needing salvation. But the theology of John 3:16 is
a motive power that accomplishes results in  <126>  and through
believers that all the wisdom and resources of the world cannot
equal.

                God so loved... that he gave his only begotten Son,
        that whosoever believeth in him should not PERISH, but have
        everlasting life.

        We may have more wealth in these days, better education,
greater comfort in traveling and in our surroundings even as
missionaries, but have we the spirit of urgency, the deep, inward
convictions that moved those who went before us; have we the same
passion of love, personal love for the Lord Jesus Christ? If these
are lacking, it is a loss for which nothing can compensate.

                  *       *       *       *       *

        Over the dark blue sea, over the trackless flood,
        A little band is gone in the service of their God;
                The lonely waste of waters they traverse to proclaim
                In the distant land of Sinim, Immanuel's saving Name.
        They have heard from the far-off East the voice of their
                brothers' blood:
        A million a month in China are dying without God.

        No help have they but God: alone to their Father's hand
        They look for the supply of their wants in a distant land.
                The fullness of the world is His; "all power" in
                        earth and heaven;
                They are strong tho' weak and rich tho' poor,
                        in the promise He has given.            <127>

        'Tis enough! they hear the cry, the voice of their brothers'
                blood:
        A million a month in China are dying without God. *

        *  [From verses by the Rev. H. Grattan Guinness, on the
            sailing of the first party of the China Inland Mission,
            May 26, 1866.]

                  *       *       *       *       *

        Four months' voyage on a sailing ship of less than eight
hundred tons' burden was no small undertaking, with a party of
sixteen missionaries and four young children. But much prayer had
been made beforehand, not only for safety by the way but for a crew
to whom God would bless His Word. One day was given to getting things
in order in their cabins, and then Chinese study commenced, Mr.
Taylor taking a class in the morning and Mrs. Taylor one in the
afternoon. There were times when all the students were down with
seasickness, and the teachers had to do duty as steward and
stewardess. But they were good sailors, and the younger people soon
found their sea legs. How young they all were! their leader at
thirty-four being much the senior of the party.

        At close quarters on that little sailing ship character was
tested, and it was easy for the crew to see how far these passengers
lived up to their profession. Needless to say they were keenly
watched, at work and in their hours of relaxation. Doing all they
could to make the voyage pleasant for the ship's company, the
missionaries prayed and waited. Then the sailors themselves asked for
meetings, and a work  <128>  of God began which resulted in the
conversion of a large majority of the crew. It is a wonderful record,
as one reads it in letters written at the time, and makes it very
evident that the pioneers of the Mission were living for nothing less
than to win souls to Christ. They were not faultless, and one reads
of failures that hindered blessing. But these were not taken as a
matter of course. They were deplored and confessed with a sincerity
which restored fellowship in the Lord.

        Then, unable to wreck the usefulness of the party, it seemed
as though the great adversary, "the prince of the power of the air,"
determined to send them, ship and all, to the bottom. It was nothing
short of a miracle that they ever reached their destination, for all
the way up the China Sea they were hard-pressed by storm and tempest.
For fifteen days the stress of one typhoon after another was upon
them, until they were almost a wreck.

                The appearance of things was now truly terrific [Mr.
        Taylor wrote after twelve days of this experience]... Rolling
        fearfully, the masts and yards hanging down were tearing our
        only sail... and battering like a ram against the mainyard.
        The deck from forecastle to poop was one scarcely broken sea.
        The roar of the water, the clanging of chains, the beating of
        the dangling masts and yards, the sharp smack of the torn
        sails made it almost impossible to hear any orders that might
        be given.

        And for three days after that the danger only increased,
<129>  as the ship was making water fast. Fires were all out and
cooking was impossible. For a time no drinking water was obtainable,
and the women as well as the men worked at the pumps. But through it
all prayer was so wonderfully answered that no lives were lost or
serious injuries sustained. Kept in the peace which passes
understanding, even the mother anxious for her children was enabled,
as she wrote, "to enter into Habakkuk's experience as never before --
'YET I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my
salvation.'"

        No less wonderful were the answers to prayer a little later
when the party set out from Shanghai, all in Chinese dress, to seek a
home inland. Traveling by houseboats, the ladies and children could
be sheltered from curious crowds as city after city was passed, while
efforts were being made to find premises in which some of the young
men might settle. But only disappointment awaited them.  Again and
again when it seemed they had succeeded, negotiations fell through
and they had to move on, an unbroken party, toward Hangchow. Two or
three missionary families had already taken up residence in that
city, and it would have meant serious risk to them as well as to the
new arrivals if the coming of so large a party stirred up opposition.
Yet, what were they to do? Autumn was far advanced and the nights on
the water were bitterly cold. Several of the party were more or less
ill and the boat people were clamoring to go home for the winter.
Never had Mr. Taylor realized his responsibilities more  <130>  than
when he left the boats in a quiet place outside the city and went
ahead to seek the accommodation so urgently needed.

        Mrs. Taylor was feeling the situation no less keenly, as with
quiet, confident faith she gathered the younger missionaries for
prayer, telling them of the comfort that had come to her through the
Psalm in her regular reading that morning: "Who will bring me into
the strong city? who will lead me into Edom? Wilt not thou, O God?
... Give us help from trouble; for vain is the help of man." Together
they read it now, and the prayer that followed changed an hour of
painful suspense into one of fellowship long to be remembered.

        Could it be Mr. Taylor's voice that stirred the boat-people
outside? Could he be back so soon? And what tidings did he bring?
"Before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I
will hear." Yes, all was well! A home was ready, waiting for them.
One of the Hangchow missionaries was absent for a week and had left
word that his house, comfortably furnished, was at the disposal of
Mr. Taylor's party. Situated on a quiet street, it could be reached
in the boats without observation, and that very night the weary,
thankful travelers were at rest in the great city.

        And within the next few days, in spite of all the usual
difficulties, Mr. Taylor was enabled to secure premises of their
own -- a large rambling house which had once been a mandarin's
residence, but in course of time had become a regular rabbit warren,
occupied  <131>  by a number of families. It lent itself well to
adaptation, and while the new owners were only in part possession
they were able to begin missionary work within their own doors,
without attracting too much attention. It does not need many words
for a loving heart to overflow, and Miss Faulding, the youngest of
the party, was already able to make herself understood by the women.

                We have been getting the house a little more
        comfortable [she wrote in the middle of December] though
        there is plenty still to be done. Mr. Taylor and the young
        men have contrived paper ceilings fixed on wooden frames,
        which keep out some of the cold air -- for the upstairs rooms
        have roofs such as you find in chapels at home. They also
        have papered some of the partitions between the rooms. Of
        course we are as yet in confusion, but we are getting on, and
        I hope shall be settled some day.

                The lodgers are to leave next week. They occupy
        principally the ground floor. ... I am so glad for them to
        have been here, for many have come to Chinese prayers and
        listened attentively. We could not have visited out of doors
        yet, ... but I read and talked with those women every day and
        they seem to like it. One woman I have great hope of.

        Before Christmas there were attentive audiences of fifty or
sixty at the Sunday services, and Mr. Taylor had made at least one
evangelistic journey. In the neighboring city of Siaoshan he and Mr.
Meadows had found excellent opportunities for preaching the Gospel
and had been enabled to rent a  <132>  small house, with a view to
settling out some of the new arrivals as soon as possible. His
letters to Mr. Berger show the spirit in which they were facing their
great task.

                You will be glad to learn that facilities for sending
        letters by native post and for transmitting money ... to the
        interior are very good. I do not think there will be any
        difficulty in remitting money to any province in the empire
        which will not be easily overcome. In the same way, letters
        from the most distant parts can be sent to the ports. Such
        communication is slow and may prove rather expensive, but it
        is tolerably sure. Thus we see the way opening before us for
        work in the interior.

                It is pretty cold weather [Dec. 4] to be living in a
        house without any ceilings and with very few walls and
        windows. There is a deficiency in the wall of my own bedroom
        six feet by nine, closed in with a sheet, so that ventilation
        is decidedly free. But we heed these things very little.
        Around us are poor, dark heathen -- large cities without any
        missionary, populous towns without any missionary, villages
        without number, all without the means of grace. I do not envy
        the state of mind that would forget these, or leave them to
        perish, for fear of a little discomfort. May God make us
        faithful to Him and to our work.

        Meanwhile his hands were more than full in Hangchow. With the
Chinese New Year, patients crowded to the dispensary, as many as two
hundred in a day, and an equal number attended the Sunday services.
When the first reinforcements arrived  <133>  from home, early in
1867, Mr. Taylor was too busy to see anything of them until hours
later. He was standing on a table at the time, preaching to a crowd
of patients in the courtyard, and could only call out a hearty
welcome as the party entered, escorted by Mr. Meadows. The new
arrivals were more than satisfied with this state of affairs, and it
was not long before John McCarthy was at Mr. Taylor's side, soon to
become his chief helper in the medical work. Those were days when,
amid external hardships, his fellow workers had the opportunity of at
any rate close association with the leader they loved, who embodied
to so large an extent their ideals.

                I think of him as I ever knew him   [Mr. McCarthy
        wrote from western China thirty-eight years later],  kind,
        loving, thoughtful of everyone but himself, a blessing
        wherever he went and a strength and comfort to all with whom
        he came in contact ... a constant example of all that a
        missionary ought to be.

        Yet there were some, even in those early days who, through
failure in their own spiritual life, became critical of all around
them. The spirit that had caused trouble on the voyage was still in
evidence, and Mrs. Taylor suffered no less than her husband through
the aspersions made. Not until months later, however, did she mention
the matter, even in writing to Mrs. Berger, so anxious were they to
conquer the trouble by love and patience.  <134>  It was in answer to
inquiries from Saint Hill that she wrote at length:

                Do pray for us very much, for we do so need God's
        preserving grace at the present time. We have come to fight
        Satan in his very strongholds, and he will not let us alone.
        What folly were ours, were we here in our own strength! But
        greater is He that is for us than all that are against us.
        ...I should be very sorry to see discord sown among the
        sisters of our party, and this is one of the evils I am
        fearing now. ... What turn the N--- matter will take I cannot
        think. One thing I know: "the hope of Israel" will not
        forsake us. One is almost tempted to ask, "Why was N---
        permitted to come out?" Perhaps it was that our Mission might
        be thoroughly established on right bases early in its
        history.

        Sorrows of another kind were permitted to test faith and
endurance as the summer wore on, but all the while souls were being
saved and the church built up which numbers over fifteen hundred
members today. When the first baptisms came in May, Mrs. Taylor wrote
again to Mrs. Berger:

                Perhaps the dear Lord sees that we need sorrows to
        keep us from being elated at the rich blessing He is giving
        in our work.

        But she little anticipated the overwhelming personal sorrow
the hot season was to bring.

        Sweetest and brightest of all their children was the little
daughter given them in Ningpo, who by this time was almost eight
years old. Full of love to the Lord Jesus and to the people around
them,  <135>  she was no little help in the work as well as with her
younger brothers, to whom she was all a sister could be. But with the
long hot days Gracie began to droop, and though the children were
taken to the hills nothing could save the little life.

        Beside his dying child in the old, ruined temple, Mr. Taylor
faced the situation for himself and those he loved best.

                It was no vain nor unintelligent act  [he wrote to
        Mr. Berger]  when, knowing this land, its people and climate,
        I laid my wife and children with myself on the altar for this
        service. And He whom so unworthily, yet in simplicity and
        godly sincerity, we are and have been seeking to serve -- and
        with some measure of success -- He has not left us now.

        To his mother, Mr. Taylor wrote more freely.

                Our dear little Gracie! How we miss her sweet voice
        in the morning, one of the first sounds to greet us when we
        woke, and through the day and at eventide!  As I take the
        walks I used to take with her tripping figure at my side, the
        thought comes anew like a throb of agony,  "Is it possible
        that I shall nevermore feel the pressure of that little hand
        ... nevermore see the sparkle of those bright eyes?" And yet
        she is not lost. I would not have her back again. I am
        thankful she was taken, rather than any of the others, though
        she was the sunshine of our lives...

                I think I never saw anything so perfect, so beautiful
        as the remains of that dear child. The long, silken eyelashes
        under the finely arched brows; the nose, so delicately
        chiseled; the mouth, small and  <136>  sweetly expressive;
        the purity of the white features ... all are deeply impressed
        on heart and memory. Then her sweet little Chinese jacket,
        and the little hands folded on her bosom, holding a single
        flower -- oh, it was passing fair, and so hard to close
        forever from our sight!

                Pray for us. At times I seem almost overwhelmed with
        the internal and external trials connected with our work. But
        He has said, "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee," and
        "My strength is made perfect in weakness." So be it.

        In the sorrow of this bereavement Mr. and Mrs. Taylor
consecrated themselves afresh to the task of reaching inland China
with the Gospel. Before the close of the year all the prefectural
cities in Chekiang had been visited. Nanking in the neighboring
province had been occupied, and the members of the Mission were
working in centers as much as twenty-four days' journey apart. The
church also in Hangchow was well established with Wang Lae-djun as
its pastor, *  and as spring came again it was possible for the
leaders of the Mission to be spared from that center.

        * [Wang Lae-djun was the Ningpo friend who had accompanied
Mr. and Mrs. Taylor to England.]

        Those were days when scarcely a station in China was opened
without danger to life itself. Riots were so usual that they seemed
almost part of the proceedings, and it was natural for Mr. Taylor to
say to a candidate who had lost a limb and could only walk with the
help of a crutch,  <137>

        "But what would you do in China if a riot broke out and you
had to run away?"

        "I had not considered running away," was the quiet answer. "I
thought that 'the lame' were to 'take the prey.'"

        And this he did, in actual fact, when the time came and he
had the privilege of living down the troubles through which the
Gospel came to Wenchow.

        "Why don't you run away?" yelled the rioters who were robbing
him of everything and had taken even his crutches.

        "Run away!" he replied with a smile. "How can a man run with
only one leg, I should like to know!"

        Disarmed by his courage and friendliness, the better element
prevailed, and the unseen power of prayer won the day.

        *  [It was shortly after the death of little Gracie that Mr.
George Stott, who had already been some years in China, planted in
the city and prefecture of Wenchow the church which now numbers
(including all communicants) eight thousand adult members.]

        In the same spirit George Duncan, the tall, quiet Highlander,
made his way in Nanking as the first resident missionary. Content to
live in the Drum Tower, when he could get no other lodging, he shared
an open loft with the rats and the deep-toned bell, spending his days
amid the crowds in street and tea shop. When his supply of money was
running low, his Chinese cook and only companion came to ask what
they should do -- as to  <138>  leave the city and the little place
they had rented would probably mean no possibility of return.

        "Do?" said the missionary. "Why, we shall 'trust in the Lord,
and do good.' So shall we 'dwell in the land' and verily we shall be
fed."

        Days went on, and Mr. Taylor found himself unable to reach
Nanking by native banks. Finally, in his anxiety for Duncan, he sent
a brother-missionary to relieve the situation. By this time the
cook's savings, willingly given to the work, were all used up, and
between them they had not a dollar left. But Duncan had gone out to
his preaching as usual, saying to his anxious companion:

        "Let us just 'trust in the Lord and do good.' His promise is
still the same, 'So shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily THOU
SHALT BE FED.'"

        That evening Rudland understood why the water in the Grand
Canal had run so low that he had been obliged to finish his journey
overland, for it brought him to Nanking several days earlier than
would have been possible by boat. When he reached the house it was to
find cupboard and purse alike empty. Tramping the endless streets,
Duncan had preached all day and was returning tired and hungry when,
to his surprise, he saw his Chinese helper running to meet him.

        "Oh, sir," he cried breathlessly, "it's all right! It's all
right! Mr. Rudland -- the money -- a good supper!"

        "Did I not tell you this morning," Duncan replied,  <139>
laying a kindly hand on his shoulder, "that it is ALWAYS 'all right'
to trust in the living God?"

        But Mr. Taylor was not content with getting the young men out
into pioneering work. There were no dangers or hardships which he and
Mrs. Taylor themselves were not ready to face, and the inward,
spiritual urge was at least as strong in their hearts as in others in
the Mission. It was not easy to leave Hangchow after sixteen months
of settled life and work. The church already numbered fifty baptized
believers, and many of the inquirers were full of promise. But with
Wang Lae-djun as pastor, assisted by Mr. McCarthy, and with Miss
Faulding caring for the women, the good work would go on. There were
lonely pioneers needing help, and teeming cities, towns and villages
entirely without the Word of Life. Though it meant breaking up their
home and taking the children to live on boats for a time, they set
out in the spring, as we have seen, ready to join Duncan at Nanking,
or to stay in any place that might open to them _en route._

        It was in the great city of Yangchow the travelers were
enabled to settle after two months of boat life. They had spent three
weeks with Mr. Henry Cordon, a member of the Mission who was just
commencing work in the far-famed city of Soochow, and had come on to
Chinkiang at the junction of the Grand Canal with the mighty Yangtze.
Impressed with the strategic importance of this place, Mr. Taylor was
soon in treaty for premises which they subsequently obtained, and
finding that the negotiations  <140>   were likely to be prolonged
they continued their journey across the Yangtze and a few miles up
the northern section of the Grand Canal. Thus the famous city of
which Marco Polo had once been governor was reached, its turreted
walls enclosing a population of three hundred and sixty thousand,
without any witness for Christ.

                Were it not that you yourselves are old travellers
        [Mrs. Taylor wrote to Mrs. Berger]   I should think it
        impossible for you to realize our feelings last Monday week,
        when we exchanged the discomfort of a boat into every room of
        which the heavy rain had been leaking, for a suite of
        apartments in a first-rate Chinese hotel -- such a place as
        my husband, who has seen a good deal of Chinese travellers'
        accommodations, never before met with -- and that hotel, too,
        inside the city of Yangchow.

        A friendly innkeeper and crowds of interested visitors
promised well at the beginning, and after a favorable proclamation
from the governor had appeared, a house was obtained into which the
family moved in the middle of July. The heat was already trying, and
they were hoping for quieter days in August, but the rush of patients
and visitors continued. The attraction of a foreign family in the
city was considerable, especially as Mr. Taylor proved to be a
skillful physician. Mrs. Taylor's pleasing Chinese speech and manners
attracted the women, and just as in Hangchow, hearts seemed opening
to the Gospel.

        But the enemy was busy. It could not be that  <141>  such an
advance into his territory should be unchallenged. The _literati_ of
the city held a meeting and decided to stir up trouble. Anonymous
handbills appeared all over the city, attributing the most revolting
crimes to foreigners, especially those whose business it was to
propagate "the religion of Jesus." Before long the missionaries
realized that a change was coming over the attitude of the people.
Friendly visitors gave place to crowds of the lowest rabble about the
door, and a fresh set of posters added fuel to the flame. By patience
and kindliness rioting was averted again and again -- Mr. Taylor
hardly daring to leave the entrance to the premises for several days,
where he was answering questions and keeping the crowds in order.

        Great was the thankfulness of the household, augmented by the
arrival of the Rudlands and Mr. Duncan, when the storm seemed to have
spent itself. The intense heat of August was broken by torrential
rains which effectually scattered the crowds. But the relief was
short-lived. Two foreigners from Chinkiang, wearing not the Chinese
dress adopted by the missionaries, but undisguised foreign clothing,
came up to visit Yangchow and caused no little sensation. This was
too good a chance to be lost. The _literati_ were again busy, and no
sooner had the visitors left with the impression that all was quiet,
than reports began to be circulated that children were missing in all
directions. Twenty-four at least, so the people believed, had fallen
prey to the inhuman foreigners.  <142>

        "Courage -- avenge our wrongs! Attack! Destroy! Much loot
shall be ours!"

                  *       *       *       *       *

        Forty-eight hours later, in a boat nearing Chinkiang,
wounded, suffering but undismayed, the missionary party were thanking
God for His marvelous protection in the storm of murderous passions
that had almost overwhelmed them.

                Our God has brought us through   [Mrs. Taylor wrote
        as they traveled], may it be to live henceforth more fully to
        His praise and glory.  We have had another typhoon, so to
        speak, not as prolonged as the literal one, nearly two years
        ago, but at least equally dangerous to our lives and more
        terrible while it lasted. I believe God will bring His own
        glory out of this experience, and I hope it will tend to the
        furtherance of the Gospel. ... Yours in a present Savior...

        "A PRESENT SAVIOR" -- how little could the rioters have
understood the secret of such calmness and strength! Awed by
something, they knew not what, the raging mob had been restrained
from the worst deeds of violence.  Death, though imminent, had been
averted again and again, and both Mr. Taylor, exposed to all the fury
of the crowds on his way to seek the help of local authorities, and
those he had had to leave, who faced the perils of attack and fire in
their besieged dwelling, were alike protected by the Unseen Hand.

        But they were hours of anguish -- anguish for the mother as
she sheltered the children and women of  <143>  the party in an upper
room, from which they were driven at last by fire; anguish for the
father, detained at a distance, hearing from the mandarin's _yamen_
the yells of the rioters bent on destruction. Outwardly as calm as if
there were no danger, Mrs. Taylor faced those terrible scenes, more
than once saving life by her presence of mind and perfect command of
the language, her heart meanwhile torn with anxiety for the loved one
they might never see again.

        Long and trying were the negotiations that followed, before
the Yangchow house was repaired and the party permitted to return.
Quite a function was arranged for their reception, and it was with
thankfulness the leader of the Mission was able to write: "The
results of this case will in all probability greatly facilitate work
in the interior."  But it was the family life and friendly spirit of
the missionaries that gradually disarmed suspicion. "Actions speak
louder than words," and neighbors had something to think over when
the children were brought back after all that had happened, and when
it appeared that Mrs. Taylor had not hesitated to return under
conditions which made peace and quietness specially desirable.

                In this again  [she wrote to her beloved friend at
        Saint Hill]  God has given me the desire of my heart. For I
        felt that if safety to my infant permitted it, I would rather
        it were born in this city, in this house, in this very room
        than in any other place -- your own beautiful home not
        excepted, in  <144>  which I have been so tenderly cared for,
        and the comforts and luxuries of which I know so well how to
        appreciate.

        The arrival of a fourth son could not but make a favorable
impression, as did the speedy recovery of all who had been injured in
the riot.  But far deeper was the compensation of finding that the
innkeeper who had first received them in the city, and two others who
had dared much to befriend them during the riot, were now confessed
believers in Christ and candidates for baptism.

        "He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed,
shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with
him."

@13
<145>

        THIRTEEN

        DAYS OF DARKNESS

        Against me earth and hell combine;
        But on my side is Power Divine;
        Jesus is all, and He is mine.
                --W. T. Matson

        At home in England, Mr. Berger was facing even a worse storm
that winter than had broken over the little mission in China. For the
Yangchow riot had stirred up criticism in Parliament and throughout
the country to an extent that seems hardly credible.  Based upon
misunderstandings, the public press was bitter in its attack upon
missionaries who had brought the country to the verge of war with
China, it was stated, demanding the protection of British gunboats in
their campaign to induce the Chinese to change their religion "at the
mouth of the cannon and point of the bayonet."  Needless to say, Mr.
Taylor and his colleagues had given little if any ground for such
criticism.  Their case had been taken up by the consular authorities
in a way that the missionaries neither expected nor desired.  Acting
under instructions from the Foreign  <146>  Office, its
representatives were quick to make the most of the opportunity to
press for treaty rights, but before the not unreasonable demands of
the British Ambassador were complied with, a change of Government in
England complicated the situation.  Mrs. Taylor, writing to relieve
her husband, put all the details fully before Mr. and Mrs. Berger.

                As to the harsh judgings of the world [she concluded]
        or the more painful misunderstandings of Christian brethren,
        we generally feel that the best plan is to go on with our
        work and leave it to God to vindicate our cause. But it is
        right that you should know intimately how we have acted and
        why. I would suggest, however, that it would be undesirable
        to PRINT the fact that Mr. Medhurst, the Consul General, and
        through him Sir Rutherford Alcock, took the matter up without
        application from us. The new Ministry at home censures those
        out here for the policy which the late Ministry enjoined upon
        them.  It would be ungenerous and ungrateful were we to
        render their position still more difficult by throwing all
        the onus, so to speak, on them.

        There was nothing for it but with prayer and patience to
weather the storm which continued long after peaceful residence had
been resumed at Yangchow. Four months later, indeed, Mr. Berger was
writing from Saint Hill.

                The Yangchow matter is before the House of Lords. ...
        You can scarcely imagine what an effect it is producing in
        the country. Thank God I can  <147>  say, "None of these
        things move me." I believe He has called us to this work, and
        it is not for us to run away from it or allow difficulties to
        overcome us. ... Be of good courage, the battle is the
        Lord's.

        It was doubly painful that, at such a crisis, the
disaffection of certain members of the Mission came to a climax and
the resignation had to be asked for of some who from the very first
had caused trouble. Their representation of matters added to the
misunderstandings at home, and in spite of Mr. Berger's wise, strong
leadership, not a few friends were more or less alienated from the
work.  This, together with the strictures in the public press,
affected the income in a serious way, so that the trials that pressed
upon the leaders of the Mission were neither few nor small.

                Pray for us  [Mr. Taylor wrote soon after the riot].
        We need much grace.  You cannot conceive the daily calls
        there are for patience, for forbearance, for tact in dealing
        with the many difficulties and misunderstandings that arise
        among so many persons of different nationality, language and
        temperament.  Pray the Lord ever to give me the single eye,
        the clear judgment, the wisdom and gentleness, the patient
        spirit, the unwavering purpose, the unshaken faith, the
        Christlike love needed for the efficient discharge of my
        duties.  And ask Him to send us sufficient means and suitable
        helpers for the great work which we have as yet barely
        commenced.

        For in the midst of it all there was no halting in the
pioneer evangelism to which the Mission was  <148>  called.  Even
before Yangchow matters were settled, Mr. Taylor had taken an
important journey up the Grand Canal to a city from which he hoped to
reach the northern provinces, and Mr. Meadows had left his work in
Ningpo to others that he might lead an advance into the first inland
province westward from Chinkiang -- Anhwei with its twenty millions
among whom there was not a single Protestant missionary.

        But instead of the increase of men and means for which they
were praying, there was a marked diminution in the funds reaching
them from home.  Unforeseen on their part, the situation was not
unprepared for, however, as they found to their encouragement.  For
the One who had permitted the troubles to come had also made
provision in His own wonderful way.

        A penniless man in England -- literally with no more
resources than the birds of the air or lilies of the field -- was
already supporting through prayer and faith a family of some two
thousand orphan children, later increased to double that number.
Without a cent of endowment, without an appeal of any kind for help,
without even letting their wants be known to anyone but the Father in
Heaven, on whose promise he relied, George Mueller was proving the
faithfulness of God in a way that had long stimulated Hudson Taylor's
faith and that of many another.  But so large was the heart of this
man of God in Bristol that he could not be content without having
some part in direct missionary work  <149>  in the darker places of
the earth.  He prayed for funds with which he might forward the
preaching of the Gospel in many lands, including China, and had the
joy of being the Lord's channel of help in many a difficult
situation.  It seemed as if the Lord had his ear in quite a special
way, and could use him in needed ministries that others overlooked or
were not prepared for.

        No sooner had the Yangchow riot taken place, for example, and
long before the news could have reached England, it was laid on Mr.
Mueller's heart to send financial help to the China Inland Mission.
He was already contributing, but within a day or two of the riot he
wrote to Mr. Berger asking for the names of other members of the
Mission whom he might add to his list for ministry and prayer.  Mr.
Berger sent him six names from which to choose, and his choice was to
take them all.

        And then, a year later, when the shortness of funds in China
was being most seriously felt, Mr. Mueller wrote again, enlarging his
help.  While that letter was on its way, Mr. Taylor, in sending out a
December remittance, wrote to one of the workers:

                Over a thousand pounds LESS has been contributed
        during the first half of this (financial) year than last
        year. I do not keep a cook now. I find it cheaper to have
        cooked food brought in from an eating-house at a dollar a
        head per month. ... Let us pray in faith for funds, that we
        may not have to diminish our work.  <150>

        To diminish one's comforts seemed to him of small account,
but "to diminish our work" -- well, thank God, that was something he
never had to do!  Before the year closed, on this occasion, Mr.
Mueller's letter was in his hands.

                My dear Brother [it read], the work of the Lord in
        China is more and more laid on my heart, and hence I have
        been longing and praying to be able to assist it more and
        more with means, as well as with prayer. Of late I have
        especially had a desire to help all the dear brethren and
        sisters with you with pecuniary means. This I desired
        especially that they might see that I was interested in them
        personally. This my desire the Lord has now fulfilled.

        The eleven checks enclosed were for all the members of the
Mission to whom Mr. Mueller had not previously been ministering.
Writing by the same mail, Mr. Berger said:

                Mr. Mueller, after due consideration, has requested
        the names of ALL the brethren and sisters connected with the
        C.I.M., as he thinks it well to send help as he is able to
        each one, unless we know of anything to hinder. ... Surely
        the Lord knew that our funds were sinking, and thus put it
        into the heart of His honored servant to help.

        But it was not the money only, it was the prayerful sympathy
of such a man that made his gifts the wonderful encouragement they
were. *
        * [Mr. Mueller's donations for the next few years amounted to
nearly ten thousand dollars annually -- just the sum by which the
income of the Mission had fallen off after the Yangchow riot.]  <151>

                My chief object  [he wrote in his letter to the
        missionaries]  is to tell you that I love you in the Lord;
        that I feel deeply interested about the Lord's work in China,
        and that I pray daily for you.

                I thought it might be a little encouragement to you
        in your difficulties, trials, hardships and disappointments
        to hear of one more who feels for you and who remembers you
        before the Lord.  But were it otherwise, had you even no one
        to care for you -- or did you at least seem to be in a
        position as if no one cared for you -- you will always have
        the Lord to be with you.  Remember Paul's case at Rome
        (2_Tim. 4:16-18).

                On Him then reckon, to Him look, on Him depend: and
        be assured that if you walk with Him, look to Him and expect
        help from Him, He will never fail you.  An older brother, who
        has known the Lord for forty-four years, who writes this,
        says for your encouragement that He has never failed him. In
        the greatest difficulties, in the heaviest trials, in the
        deepest poverty and necessities, He has never failed me; but
        because I was enabled by His grace to trust in Him, He has
        always appeared for my help. I delight in speaking well of
        His name.

        Sorely had such encouragement been needed by Mr. Taylor
himself, for, strange as it may seem, the trouble that followed the
Yangchow riot had been light compared with the trials within. Perhaps
it was partly stress of outward circumstances that had hindered
spiritual joy and rest; and yet, after the  <152>  deeper experience
that was drawing nearer, no amount of trial ever clouded his
rejoicing in the Lord.

        "It doesn't matter, really, how great the pressure is," he
used to say; "it only matters WHERE THE PRESSURE LIES. See that it
never comes BETWEEN you and the Lord -- then, the greater the
pressure, the more it presses you to His breast."

        But at that time he had not learned the secret that made his
after life so radiant, and many were the hours of inward darkness and
almost despair.

                I have often asked you  to remember me in prayer  [he
        wrote to his mother],  and when I have done so there has been
        much need of it.  That need has never been greater than at
        present.  Envied by some, despised by many, hated by others,
        often blamed for things I never heard of or had nothing to do
        with, an innovator on what have become established rules of
        missionary practice, an opponent of mighty systems of heathen
        error and superstition, working without precedent in many
        respects and with few experienced helpers, often sick in body
        as well as perplexed in mind and embarrassed by circumstances
        -- had not the Lord been specially gracious to me, had not my
        mind been sustained by the conviction that the work is His
        and that He is with me in what it is no empty figure to call
        "the thick of the conflict," I must have fainted or broken
        down. But the battle IS the Lord's, and He will conquer. We
        may fail -- do fail continually -- but He never fails. Still,
        I need your prayers more than ever.  <153>

                My position becomes continually more and more
        responsible, and my need greater of special grace to fill it.
        But I have continually to mourn that I follow at such a
        distance and learn so slowly to imitate my precious Master.

                I cannot tell you how I am buffeted sometimes by
        temptation.  I never knew how bad a heart I have.  Yet I do
        know that I love God and love His work, and desire to serve
        Him only and in all things.  And I value above all else that
        precious Savior in whom alone I can be accepted.  Often I am
        tempted to think that one so full of sin cannot be a child of
        God at all.  But I try to throw it back, and rejoice all the
        more in the preciousness of Jesus and in the riches of the
        grace that has made us "accepted in the beloved."  Beloved He
        IS of God; beloved He ought to be of us.  But oh, how short I
        fall here again!  May God help me to love Him more and serve
        Him better.  Do pray for me.  Pray that the Lord will keep me
        from sin, will sanctify me wholly, will use me more largely
        in His service.

        "The Holy Spirit never creates hungerings and thirstings
after righteousness, but in order that Christ may fill the longing
soul."

        "Faith in Jesus crucified is the way of peace to the sinner;
so faith in Jesus risen is the way of daily salvation to the saint."

        "You cannot be your own Savior, either in whole or in part."

@14
<154>

        FOURTEEN

        THE EXCHANGED LIFE

        Yes, in me, in me He dwelleth--
                I in Him and He in me!
        And my empty soul He filleth
                Now and through eternity.
                        -H. Bonar

        Six months after the foregoing letter was written, a junk
northward bound on the Grand Canal was carrying a passenger whose
heart overflowed with a great, new-found joy.  Mr. Judd in Yangchow
was expecting the return of his friend and leader, but was hardly
prepared for the transformation which had taken place in the one he
knew so well.  Scarcely waiting for greetings, Mr. Taylor plunged
into his story. In characteristic fashion -- his hands behind his
back -- he walked up and down the room exclaiming,

        "Oh, Mr. Judd, God has made me a new man!  God has made me a
new man!"

        Wonderful was the experience that had come in answer to
prayer, yet so simple as almost to baffle  <155>  description. It was
just as it was long ago, "Whereas I was blind, now I see!"

        Amid a pile of letters awaiting Mr. Taylor in Chinkiang, had
been one from John McCarthy, written in the old home in Hangchow.
The glory of a great sunrise was upon him -- the inward light whose
dawning makes all things new.  To tell Mr. Taylor about it was his
longing, for he knew something of the exercise of soul through which
his friend was passing.  But where to begin, how to put it into words
he knew not.

                I do wish I could have a talk with you now  [he
        wrote],  about the way of holiness.  At the time you were
        speaking to me about it, it was the subject of all others
        occupying my thoughts, not from anything I had read ... so
        much as from a consciousness of failure -- a constant falling
        short of that which I felt should be aimed at; an unrest; a
        perpetual striving to find some way by which one might
        continually enjoy that communion, that fellowship, at times
        so real but more often so visionary, so far off!...

                Do you know, I now think that this striving, longing,
        hoping for better days to come in not the true way to
        holiness, happiness or usefulness. It is better, no doubt,
        far better than being satisfied with poor attainments, but
        not the best way after all. I have been struck with a passage
        from a book ... entitled CHRIST IS ALL.  It says,

                "The Lord Jesus received is holiness begun; the Lord
        Jesus cherished is holiness advancing; the  <156>  Lord Jesus
        counted upon as never absent would be holiness complete. ...

                "He is most holy who has most of Christ within, and
        joys most fully in the finished work. It is defective faith
        which clogs the feet and causes many a fall."

                This last sentence, I think I now fully endorse. To
        let my loving Savior work in me His will, my sanctification,
        is what I would live for by His grace. Abiding, not striving
        nor struggling; looking off unto Him; trusting Him for
        present power; ... resting in the love of an almighty Savior,
        in the joy of a complete salvation, "from ALL sin" -- this is
        not new, and yet 'tis NEW TO ME. I feel as though the dawning
        of a glorious day had risen upon me. I hail it with
        trembling, yet with trust. I seem to have got to the edge
        only, but of a boundless sea; to have sipped only, but of
        that which fully satisfies. Christ literally ALL seems to me,
        now, the power, the only power for service, the only ground
        for unchanging joy. ...

                How then to have our faith increased?  Only by
        thinking of all that Jesus is and all He is for us: His life,
        His death, His work, He Himself as revealed to us in the
        Word, to be the subject of our constant thoughts.  Not a
        striving to have faith ... but a looking off to the Faithful
        One seems all we need; a resting in the Loved One entirely,
        for time and for eternity.

        We do not know just how the miracle was wrought; but, "As I
read, I saw it all," Mr. Taylor  <157>  wrote. "I looked to Jesus,
and when I saw -- oh, how joy flowed!"

                He was a joyous man now  [Mr. Judd recorded],  a
        bright happy Christian. He had been a toiling, burdened one
        before, with latterly not much rest of soul.  It was resting
        in Jesus now, and letting Him do the work -- which makes all
        the difference.  Whenever he spoke in meetings after that, a
        new power seemed to flow from him, and in the practical
        things of life a new peace possessed him.  Troubles did not
        worry him as before.  He cast everything on God in a new way,
        and gave more time to prayer.  Instead of working late at
        night, he began to go to bed earlier, rising at 5 AM to give
        time to Bible study and prayer (often two hours) before the
        work of the day began.

        It was THE EXCHANGED LIFE that had come to him -- the life
that is indeed "No longer I."  Six months earlier he had written, "I
have continually to mourn that I follow at such a distance and learn
so slowly to imitate my precious Master."  There was no thought of
imitation now!  It was in blessed reality "Christ liveth in me."  And
how great the difference! -- instead of bondage, liberty; instead of
failure, quiet victories within; instead of fear and weakness, a
restful sense of sufficiency in Another.  So great was the
deliverance, that from that time onward Mr. Taylor could never do
enough to help to make this precious secret plain to hungry hearts
wherever he might be.  And there are so many hungry hearts that need
such help today that we venture to quote at length from one of his
first letters on  <158>  the subject.  It was to his sister, Mrs.
Broomhall, whose burdens with a family which grew to number ten
children were very real and pressing.

                So many thanks for your dear, long letter. ... I do
        not think you have written me such a letter since our return
        to China.  I know it is with you as with me -- you cannot --
        not will not.  Mind and body will not bear more than a
        certain amount of strain, or do more than a certain amount of
        work.

                As to work -- mine was never so plentiful, so
        responsible or so difficult, but the weight and strain are
        all GONE.  The last month or more has been, perhaps, the
        happiest of my life, and I long to tell you a little of what
        the Lord has done for my soul.  I do not know how far I may
        be able to make myself intelligible about it, for there is
        nothing new or strange or wonderful -- and yet, all is
        new!...

                Perhaps I may make myself more clear if I go back a
        little.  Well, dearie, my mind has been greatly exercised for
        six or eight months past, feeling the need personally and for
        our Mission of more holiness, life, power in our souls.  But
        personal need stood first and was the greatest.  I felt the
        ingratitude, the danger, the sin of not living nearer to God.
        I prayed, agonized, fasted, strove, made resolutions, read
        the Word more diligently, sought more time for meditation --
        but all without avail.  Every day, almost every hour, the
        consciousness of sin oppressed me.

                I knew that if only I could abide in Christ all would
        be well, but I could not.  I would begin the day with prayer,
        determined not to take my eye  <159>  off Him for a moment,
        but pressure of duties, sometimes very trying, and constant
        interruptions apt to be so wearing, caused me to forget Him.
        Then one's nerves get so fretted in this climate that
        temptations to irritability, hard thoughts and sometimes
        unkind words are all the more difficult to control.  Each day
        brought its register of sin and failure, of lack of power.
        To will was indeed "present with me," but how to perform I
        found not.

                Then came the question, is there no rescue?  Must it
        be thus to the end -- constant conflict, and too often
        defeat?  How could I preach with sincerity that, to those who
        receive Jesus, "to them gave he power to become the sons of
        God"  (i.e., Godlike)  when it was not so in my own
        experience? Instead of growing stronger, I seemed to be
        getting weaker and to have less power against sin; and no
        wonder, for faith and even hope were getting low.  I hated
        myself, I hated my sin, yet gained no strength against it.  I
        felt I WAS a child of God.  His Spirit in my heart would cry,
        in spite of all, "Abba, Father." But to rise to my privileges
        as a child, I was utterly powerless.

                I thought that holiness, practical holiness, was to
        be gradually attained by a diligent use of the means of
        grace.  There was nothing I so much desired as holiness,
        nothing I so much needed; but far from in any measure
        attaining it, the more I strove after it, the more it eluded
        my grasp, until hope itself almost died out, and I began to
        think that -- perhaps to make heaven the sweeter -- God would
        not give it down here.  I do not think that I was  <160>
        striving to attain it in my own strength.  I knew I was
        powerless.  I told the Lord so, and asked Him to give me help
        and strength.  Sometimes I almost believed that He would keep
        and uphold me; but on looking back in the evening -- alas!
        there was but sin and failure to confess and mourn before
        God.

                I would not give you the impression that this was the
        only experience of those long, weary months.  It was a too
        frequent state of soul, and that towards which I was tending,
        which almost ended in despair.  And yet, never did Christ
        seem more precious; a Savior who could and would save such a
        sinner! ... And sometimes there were seasons not only of
        peace but of joy in the Lord; but they were transitory, and
        at best there was a sad lack of power.  Oh, how good the Lord
        has been in bringing this conflict to an end!

                All the time I felt assured that there was in Christ
        all I needed, but the practical question was -- how to get it
        OUT.  He was rich truly, but I was poor; He was strong, but I
        weak.  I knew full well that there was in the root, the stem,
        abundant fatness, but how to get it into my puny little
        branch was the question.  As gradually light dawned, I saw
        that faith was the only requisite -- was the hand to lay hold
        on His fullness and make it mine.  But I had not this faith.

                I strove for faith, but it would not come; I tried to
        exercise it, but in vain.  Seeing more and more the wondrous
        supply of grace laid up in Jesus, the fullness of our
        precious Savior, my guilt and helplessness seemed to
        increase.  Sins committed appeared but as trifles compared
        with the sin of  <161>  unbelief which was their cause, which
        could not or would not take God at His word, but rather made
        Him a liar! Unbelief was I felt THE damning sin of the world;
        yet I indulged in it.  I prayed for faith, but it came not.
        What was I to do?

                When my agony of soul was at its height, a sentence
        in a letter from dear McCarthy was used to remove the scales
        from my eyes, and the Spirit of God revealed to me the truth
        of our ONENESS WITH JESUS as I had never know in before.
        McCarthy, who had been much exercised by the same sense of
        failure but saw the light before I did, wrote  (I quote from
        memory):

                "But how to get faith strengthened?  Not by striving
        after faith, but by resting on the Faithful One."

                As I read, I saw it all!  "If we believe not, he
        abideth faithful."  I looked to Jesus and saw (and when I
        saw, oh, how joy flowed!) that He had said, "I will never
        leave thee."

                "Ah, THERE is rest!" I thought. "I have striven in
        vain to rest in Him. I'll strive no more.  For has not HE
        promised to abide with ME -- never to leave me, never to fail
        me?"  And, dearie, HE NEVER WILL.

                Nor was this all He showed me, nor one half. As I
        thought of the Vine and the branches, what light the blessed
        Spirit poured direct into my soul!  How great seemed my
        mistake in wishing to get the sap, the fullness OUT of Him!
        I saw not only that Jesus will never leave me, but that I am
        a member of His body, of His flesh and of His bones.  The
        vine is not the root merely, but ALL -- root,  <162>  stem,
        branches, twigs, leaves, flowers, fruit.  And Jesus is not
        that alone -- He is soil and sunshine, air and showers, and
        ten thousand times more than we have ever dreamed, wished for
        or needed.  Oh, the joy of seeing this truth!  I do pray that
        the eyes of your understanding too may be enlightened, that
        you may know and enjoy the riches freely given us in Christ.

                Oh, my dear Sister, it is a wonderful thing to be
        really one with a risen and exalted Savior, to be a member of
        Christ!  Think what it involves.  Can Christ be rich and I
        poor?  Can your right hand be rich and your left poor? or
        your head be well fed while your body starves?  Again, think
        of its bearing on prayer.  Could a bank clerk say to a
        customer, "It was only your hand, not you that wrote that
        check"; or "I cannot pay this sum to your hand, but only to
        yourself"?  No more can your prayers or mine be discredited
        if offered in the name of Jesus  (i.e., not for the sake of
        Jesus merely, but on the ground that we are His, His members)
        so long as we keep within the limits of Christ's credit -- a
        tolerably wide limit!  If we ask for anything unscriptural,
        or not in accordance with the will of God, Christ Himself
        could not do that.  But "if we ask any thing according to his
        will ... we know that we have the petitions that we desired
        of him."

                The sweetest part, if one may speak of one part being
        sweeter than another, is the rest which full identification
        with Christ brings.  I am no longer anxious about anything,
        as I realize this; for He, I know, is able to carry out His
        will, and His will  <163>  is mine.  It makes no matter where
        He places me, or how.  That is rather for Him to consider
        than for me; for in the easiest position He must give me His
        grace, and in the most difficult His grace is sufficient.  It
        little matters to my servant whether I send him to buy a few
        cash worth of things, or the most expensive articles.  In
        either case he looks to me for the money and brings me his
        purchases.  So, if God should place me in serious perplexity,
        must He not give much guidance; in positions of great
        difficulty, much grace; in circumstances of great pressure
        and trial, much strength?  No fear that His resources will
        prove unequal to the emergency!  And His resources are mine,
        for He is mine, and is with me and dwells in me.

                And since Christ has thus dwelt in my heart by faith,
        how happy I have been!  I wish I could TELL you about it,
        instead of writing.  _I_ am no better than before.  In a
        sense, I do not wish to be, nor am I striving to be.  But I
        am dead and buried with Christ -- ay, and risen too! --  And
        now Christ lives in me, and "the life that I now live in the
        flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me
        and gave himself for me." ...

                And now I must close.  I have not said half I would,
        nor AS I would, had I more time.  May God give you to lay
        hold on these blessed truths.  Do not let us continue to say,
        in effect, "Who shall ascend into heaven?  (that is, to bring
        Christ down from above)."  In other words, do not let us
        consider Him as far off, when God has made us one with Him,
        members of His very body.  Nor should we look upon this
        experience, these truths,  <164>  as for the few.  They are
        the birthright of every child of God, and no one can dispense
        with them without dishonoring our Lord.  The only power for
        deliverance from sin or for true service is CHRIST.

        And it was all so simple and practical! -- as the busy mother
found when she too entered into this rest of faith.

        "But are you always conscious of abiding in Christ?" Mr.
Taylor was asked many years later.

        "While sleeping last night," he replied, "did I cease to
abide in your home because I was unconscious of the fact?  We should
never be conscious of NOT abiding in Christ."

        I change, He changes not;
                The Christ can never die:
        His truth, not mine, the resting place;
                His love, not mine, the tie.

@15
<165>

        FIFTEEN

        NO MORE THIRST

        What then? I am not careful to inquire:
                I know there will be tears and fears and sorrow--
        And then a loving Savior drawing nigher,
                And saying, "I will answer for the morrow."
                                --Selected

        It was an experience that stood the test, as months and years
went by. Never again did the unsatisfied days come back; never again
was the needy soul separated from the fullness of Christ. Trials
came, deeper and more searching than ever before, but in them all joy
flowed unhindered from the presence of the Lord Himself. For Hudson
Taylor had found the secret of soul-rest. In this experience there
had come to him not only a fuller apprehension of the Lord Jesus
Himself and all He is for us, but a fuller surrender -- yes, indeed,
a self-abandonment to Him.

                I am no longer anxious about anything  [he had
        written, as we have seen] ... for He, I know, is able to
        carry out His will, and His will is mine.  It makes no matter
        where He places me, or how.  <166>  That is rather for Him to
        consider than for me; for in the easiest position He must
        give me His grace, and in the most difficult His grace is
        sufficient.  It little matters to my servant whether I send
        him to buy a few cash worth of things or the most expensive
        articles.  In either case he looks to me for the money and
        brings me his purchases.  So, if God should place me in great
        perplexity, must He not give much guidance; in positions of
        great difficulty, much grace; in circumstances of great
        pressure and trial, much strength?  No fear that His
        resources will be unequal to the emergency!  And His
        resources are mine -- for He is mine, and is with me and
        dwells in me.

        Surrender to Christ he had long known, but this was more;
this was a new yieldedness, a glad, unreserved handing over of self
and everything to Him.  It was no longer a question of giving up this
or that if the Lord required it; it was a loyal and loving
acceptance, a joyful meeting of His will in things little and great,
as the very best that could be for His own.  This made the trials of
the following summer an opportunity for God's grace to triumph,
turning "the valley of weeping" into "a place of springs" from which
streams of blessing are flowing still.

        Even before the danger and excitement that culminated in the
massacre of Tientsin, Mr. and Mrs. Taylor had been called to pass
through deep personal sorrow.  The time had come when the inevitable
parting from their children could no longer be delayed.  There were
no schools in China at which  <167>  their education could be carried
on, and no health resorts such as there are now for refuge from the
heat of summer.  The climate and privations of their life had told
upon the children's health.  One little grave already hallowed the
soil of China to the parents' hearts, and they were thankful to
accept the offer of their secretary and devoted friend, Miss Emily
Blatchley, to take the three boys and only little girl to England and
to care for them there.

        This meant a long, long parting, and East and West were so
much farther apart then than they are now! But even before the little
travelers could be escorted to the coast, a longer parting still had
to be faced. Only five years old, the youngest of the boys, a
specially clinging little fellow, was the one whose health had
suffered most. With concern his parents saw that the strain of the
coming separation was increasing his chronic trouble. All night they
watched beside him on the boat that was taking them down the canal
from Yangchow, but at dawn the following morning he fell into a deep
sleep, and from the turbid waters of the Yangtze passed without pain
or fear to the better land.

        Before a driving storm the parents crossed the river -- there
about two miles wide -- to lay their treasure in the cemetery at
Chinkiang, and then went on with the others to Shanghai. A little
later, after taking them all on board the French mail which was to
sail at daylight, Mr. Taylor wrote to Mr. Berger:  <168>

                I have seen them, awake, for the last time in China.
        [He was returning to fetch Mrs. Taylor who was still on the
        steamer.]  About two of our little ones we have no anxiety.
        They rest in Jesus' bosom.  And now, dear brother, though the
        tears will not be stayed, I do thank God for permitting one
        so unworthy to take any part in this great work, and do not
        regret having engaged in it.  It is His work, not mine or
        yours; and yet it is ours -- not because we are engaged in
        it, but because we are His, and one with Him whose work it
        is.

        This was the reality that sustained them. Never had there
been a more troubled summer in China than the one on which they were
entering  (1870). Yet in the midst of it all, with a longing for
their children that was indescribable, they had never had more rest
and joy in God.

                I could not but admire and wonder at the grace that
        so sustained and comforted the fondest of mothers [Mr. Taylor
        wrote as he recalled it afterwards]. The secret was that
        Jesus was SATISFYING the deep thirst of heart and soul.

        Mrs. Taylor was at her best that summer, borne up it would
seem on the very tempest of troubles that raged about them. Sickness
was rife in the Mission, and before they could reach Chinkiang, after
parting from the children, news reached them of Mrs. Judd's being
there and at the point of death. Mr. Taylor could not leave the boat
on account of another patient, but consented to Mrs. Taylor's
pressing on alone to give what help she could.

        After days and nights of nursing, Mr. Judd was  <169>  almost
at the end of his strength, when he heard sounds in the courtyard
below of an unexpected arrival. Who could it be at that time of night
and where had they come from? No steamer had passed upriver, and
native boats would not be traveling after dark. Besides, it was a
wheelbarrow that had been trundled in. A long day's journey on that
springless barrow, a woman had come alone, and soon he saw the face
that of all others he could have desired to see.

                Suffering though Mrs. Taylor was at the time  [he
        recalled]  and worn with hard travelling, she insisted on my
        going to bed and that she would undertake the nursing.
        Nothing would induce her to rest.

                "No," she said, "you have quite enough to bear
        without sitting up at night any more. Go to bed, for I shall
        stay with your wife whether you do or not."

                Never can I forget the firmness and love with which
        it was said -- her face meanwhile shining with the tenderness
        of Him in whom it was her joy and strength to abide.

        Nothing but prayer brought the patient through, just as
nothing but prayer saved the situation in many an hour of extremity
that summer.

                We had previously known something of trial in one
        station or another  [Mr. Taylor wrote to the friends of the
        Mission],  but now in all simultaneously, or nearly so, a
        widespread excitement shook the very foundations of native
        society.  It is impossible to describe the alarm and
        consternation of  <170>  the Chinese when they first believed
        that native magicians were bewitching them, or their
        indignation and anger when told that these insidious foes
        were the agents of foreigners.  It is well known how in
        Tientsin they rose and barbarously murdered the Sisters of
        Charity, the priests and even the French Consul.  What then
        restrained them in the interior, where our brothers were
        alone, far from any protecting human power?  Nothing but THE
        MIGHTY HAND OF GOD, in answer to united, constant prayer in
        the all-prevailing name of Jesus.  And this same power kept
        US satisfied with Jesus -- with His presence, His love, His
        providence.

        It is easy to read of such experiences, but only those who
have lived through similar times of danger can have any idea of the
strain involved.  The heat that summer was unusually severe and
prolonged, which added to the unrest of the native population.  Women
and children had to be brought down to the coast, and for a time it
seemed as though the Chinese authorities might require them to leave
the country altogether.  This involved much correspondence with
officials, Chinese and foreign, and frequent letters to the workers
most in peril.  The accommodation of the Mission house at Chinkiang
was taxed to its utmost, and so great was the excitement that no
additional premises could be obtained.

                Old times seem to be coming round again  [Mr. Taylor
        wrote in June, referring to the Yangchow riot],  but with
        this difference that our anxieties are not as before confined
        to one place.  <171>

        By this time it looked as though all the river stations might
have to be given up.  Mr. and Mrs. Taylor were making their home at
Chinkiang as more central than Yangchow, he sleeping on the floor in
sitting-room or passage that she might share their room with other
ladies.

                One difficulty follows another very fast  [he
        continued after the Tientsin massacre],  but God reigns, not
        chance.  At Nanking the excitement has been frightful. ...
        Here the rumors are, I hope, passing away, but at Yangchow
        they are very bad. ... Pray much for us.  My heart is calm,
        but my head is sorely tried by the constant succession of one
        difficulty after another.

        Yet the troubles of the time were not allowed to hinder the
spiritual side of the work, in which Mr. and Mrs. Taylor took their
full share. In the hottest days of June the latter wrote to Miss
Blatchley:

                We have been holding classes on Sunday and two or
        three evenings in the week, to interest the Chinese
        Christians who can read, in searching the Scriptures, and
        those who cannot read in learning to do so, and to set an
        example to the younger members of the Mission who know pretty
        well that we have no lack of work. It may be a practical
        proof to them of the importance we attach to securing that
        the Christians and others about us learn to read and
        understand for themselves the Word of God.

        The joy that had come to Mr. Taylor in his spiritual
experience seems to have been deepened rather than hindered by the
exigencies of the time.  <172>  His letter-book reveals not so much
the pressure of difficulties and problems as the full tide of
blessing that carried him through all. To Miss Desgraz he wrote, for
example, in the middle of June, after carefully answering her letter
about Yanchow affairs:

                And now I have the very passage for you, and God has
        so blessed it to my own soul! John 7:37-39 -- "If any man
        thirst, let him come unto ME and drink." Who does not thirst?
        Who has not mind-thirsts, heart-thirsts, soul-thirsts or
        body-thirsts? Well, no matter which, or whether I have them
        all -- "Come unto me and"  remain thirsty?  Ah no! "Come unto
        me and DRINK."

                What, can Jesus meet my need?  Yes, and more than
        meet it.  No matter how intricate my path, how difficult my
        service; no matter how sad my bereavement, how far away my
        loved ones; no matter how helpless I am, how deep are my
        soul-yearnings -- Jesus can meet all, all, and more than
        MEET.  He not only promises me rest -- ah, how welcome that
        would be, were it all, and what an all that one word
        embraces!  He not only promises me drink to alleviate my
        thirst.  No, better than that! "He who trusts Me in this
        matter (who believeth on Me, takes Me at My word) out of him
        shall FLOW..."

                Can it be? Can the dry and thirsty one not only be
        refreshed -- the parched soil moistened, the arid places
        cooled -- but the land be so saturated that springs well up
        and streams flow down from it? Even so! And not mere
        mountain-torrents, full while the rain lasts, then dry again
        ... but, "from  <173>  within him shall flow rivers" --
        rivers like the mighty Yangtze, ever deep, ever full.  In
        times of drought brooks may fail, often do, canals may be
        pumped dry, often are, but the Yangtze never.  Always a
        mighty stream, always flowing deep and irresistible!

                "Come unto me and drink,"  [he wrote in another June
        letter].  Not, come and take a hasty draught; not, come and
        slightly alleviate, or for a short time remove one's thirst.
        No! "drink," or "be drinking" constantly, habitually.  The
        cause of thirst may be irremediable.  One coming, one
        drinking may refresh and comfort: but we are to be ever
        coming, ever drinking.  No fear of emptying the fountain or
        exhausting the river!

        How sorely the comfort of Christ would be needed by his own
heart that very summer, he little realized when writing; but the One
he was trusting in a new and deeper way did not fail him.

                  *       *       *       *       *

        Six weeks later, joy and sorrow were strangely mingled in the
missionary home at Chinkiang.  A little son given to Mr. and Mrs.
Taylor had filled their hearts with gladness.  But an attack of
cholera greatly prostrated the mother, and lack of natural
nourishment told upon the infant.  When a Chinese nurse could be
found, it was too late to save the little life, and after only one
week on earth he went to the home above, in which his mother was so
soon to join him.

                Though excessively prostrated in body  [Mr. Taylor
        wrote], the deep peace of soul, the realization  <174>  of
        the Lord's own presence and joy in His holy will with which
        she was filled, and which I was permitted to share, I can
        find no words to describe.

        She herself chose the hymns to be sung at the funeral, one of
which, "O holy Savior, Friend unseen," seemed specially to dwell in
her mind.

        Though faith and hope are often tried,
        They ask not, need not aught beside;
        So safe, so calm, so satisfied,
                The souls that cling to Thee.

        They fear not Satan or the grave,
        They know Thee near and strong to save,
        Nor fear to cross e'en Jordan's wave
                While still they cling to Thee.

        Weak as she was, it had not occurred to them that her days
were numbered. The very love that bound their hearts so closely
precluded the thought of separation. And she was only thirty-three.
There was no pain up to the last, only increasing weariness. Two days
before the end, a letter from Mrs. Berger came to hand, telling of
the safe arrival at Saint Hill of Miss Blatchley and the older
children.  * [One little one only remained with Mr. and Mrs. Taylor,
their fourth son, born soon after the Yangchow riot.]   Every detail
of the welcome and arrangements for their well-being filled the
mother's heart with joy. She could not be thankful enough, and seemed
to have no desire but to praise God for His goodness. Many a time had
Mrs. Berger's letters reached their destination at the needed moment,
many a time had her loving heart anticipated the circumstances in
<175>  which they would be received, but never more so than with this
letter.

        "And now, farewell, precious friend," she wrote, "The Lord
throw around you His everlasting arms."

        It was in those arms she was resting.

                I never witnessed such a scene  [wrote one who was
        present].  As dear Mrs. Taylor was breathing her last, Mr.
        Taylor knelt and committed her to the Lord, thanking Him for
        having given her and for twelve and a half years of perfect
        happiness together, thanking Him too for taking her to His
        own presence, and solemnly dedicating himself anew to His
        service.

        The summer sun rose higher over the city, hills and river.
The busy hum of life came up around them from many a court and
street. But in an upper room of one Chinese dwelling, from which the
blue of heaven could be seen, there was the hush of a wonderful
peace.

                  *       *       *       *       *

        "Shall never thirst" -- would it, could it prove true now?
"To know that 'shall' means SHALL, that 'never' means NEVER, and that
'thirst' means ANY UNSATISFIED NEED," Mr. Taylor often said in later
years, "may be one of the greatest revelations God ever made to our
souls." It was in these days of utter desolation that the promise was
made so real to his breaking heart.

        To his mother he wrote in August:

                From my inmost soul I delight in the knowledge that
        God does or permits ALL things, and causes all things to work
        together for good to those who love Him.  <176>

                He and He only knew what my dear wife was to me.  He
        knew how the light of my eyes and the joy of my heart were in
        her.  On the last day of her life -- we had NO idea that it
        would be the last -- our hearts were mutually delighted by
        the never-old story of each other's love ... and almost her
        last act was, with one arm round my neck, to place her hand
        on my head and, as I believe, for her lips had lost their
        cunning, to implore a blessing on me.  But He saw that it was
        good to take her -- good indeed for her, and in His love He
        took her painlessly -- and not less good for me who now must
        toil and suffer alone, yet not alone, for God is nearer to me
        than ever.

        And to Mr. Berger:

                When I think of my loss, my heart, nigh to breaking,
        rises in thankfulness to Him who has spared her such sorrow
        and made her so unspeakably happy.  My tears are more tears
        of joy than grief.  But most of all I joy in God through our
        Lord Jesus Christ -- in His works, His ways, His providence,
        Himself.  He is giving me to "prove" (to know by trial) "what
        is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God."  I
        do rejoice in that will; it is acceptable to me; it is
        perfect; it is love in action.  And soon, in that sweet will,
        we shall be reunited to part no more.  "Father, I will that
        they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am."

        Yet there was a measure of reaction, especially when illness
came with long, wakeful nights.

                How lonesome [Mr. Taylor recalled] were the weary
        hours when confined to my room!  How I  <177>  missed my dear
        wife and the voices of the children far away in England! Then
        it was I understood why the Lord had made that passage so
        real to me, "Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall
        give him SHALL NEVER THIRST."  Twenty times a day, perhaps,
        as I felt the heart-thirst coming back, I cried to Him,

                "Lord, you promised! You promised me that I should
        never thirst."

                And whether I called by day or night, how quickly He
        came and satisfied my sorrowing heart!  So much so that I
        often wondered whether it were possible that my loved one who
        had been taken could be enjoying more of His presence than I
        was in my lonely chamber.  He did literally fulfill the
        prayer:

        "Lord Jesus, make Thyself to me
        A living, bright reality;
                More present to faith's vision keen
                Than any outward object seen;
        More dear, more intimately nigh
        Than e'en the sweetest earthly tie."

        Among many letters of this period few are more precious or
revealing than those he managed to write to the children, over whom
his heart yearned with a great love.

                You do not know how often Father thinks of his
        darlings, and how often he looks at your photographs till the
        tears fill his eyes.  Sometimes he almost fears lest he
        should feel discontented when he thinks how far away you are
        from him.  But then the dear Lord Jesus who never leaves him
        says, "Don't be afraid; I will keep your heart satisfied."
        <178> ... And I thank Him, and am so glad that He will live
        in my heart and keep it right for me.

                I wish you, my precious children, knew what it is to
        give your hearts to Jesus to keep every day.  I used to try
        to keep my own heart right, but it would always be going
        wrong. So at last I had to give up trying myself, and to
        accept the Lord's offer to keep it for me.  Don't you think
        that is the best way?  Perhaps sometimes you think, "I will
        try not to be selfish or unkind or disobedient."  And yet,
        though you really try, you do not succeed.  But Jesus says:
        "You should trust that to Me. I would keep that little heart,
        if you would trust Me with it."  And He would, too.

                Once I used to try to think very much and very often
        about Jesus, but I often forgot Him.  Now I trust Jesus to
        keep my heart remembering Him, and He does so.  This is the
        best way.  Ask dear Miss Blatchley to tell you more about
        this way, and pray God to make it plain to you, and to help
        YOU so to trust Jesus.

        And to Miss Blatchley he wrote on the same subject, from the
comfortless quarters of a coasting steamer:

                I have written again to the dear children.  I do long
        for them to learn early ... the precious truths which have
        come so late to me concerning oneness with and the indwelling
        of Christ.  These do not seem to me more difficult of
        apprehension than the truths about redemption.  Both need the
        teaching of the Spirit, nothing more.  May God help you to
        live Christ before these little ones, and to minister Him to
        them.  How wonderfully He has led  <179>  and taught us!  How
        little I believed the rest and peace of heart I now enjoy
        were POSSIBLE down here!  It is heaven begun below, is it
        not? ... Compared with this union with Christ, heaven or
        earth are unimportant accidents.

                Oh, it is joy to feel Jesus living in you  [he wrote
        to his sister, Mrs. Walker, on the same journey]: to find
        your heart all taken up by Him; to be reminded of His love by
        HIS seeking communion with you at all times, not by your
        painful attempts to abide in Him.  He is our life, our
        strength, our salvation.  He is our "wisdom, and
        righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption." He is our
        power for service and fruit-bearing, and His bosom is our
        resting place now and forever.

        There was, meanwhile, no lessening of outward difficulties.
Politically the aspect of affairs was more threatening than Mr.
Taylor had ever known it in China. The claims arising from the
Tientsin massacre, in which twenty-one foreigners had lost their
lives, including the French Consul, were still unsettled, and the
Chinese authorities, knowing that Europe was involved in war, took no
steps to allay the antiforeign agitation. *  So closely, in some
ways,  <180>  did the situation resemble the present (1932) though in
miniature, that we venture to quote one further letter showing the
spirit in which the perils of 1870 were met. For principles remain
the same, and as a Mission we stand today just where they stood when
Mr. Taylor sent out his call for the day of fasting and prayer with
which the year closed.

        *  ["Never in my lifetime has any year witnessed such
events." Mr. Berger wrote, "whether in relation to our Mission or the
world at large. Rome is now, I suppose, the capital of free Italy.
France lies humiliated in the last degree. The Pope's temporal power
is no more. China seems to be rising to expel foreigners, the heralds
of the Cross among them, and we personally have suffered the loss of
the most devoted laborer for China's millions that could be found, as
well as of a most beloved friend. 'Be still, and know that I am God'
is a word appropriate at such a juncture. May we all have grace to
give heed to it."]

                The present year has been in many ways remarkable.
        Perhaps every one of our number has been more or less face to
        face with danger, perplexity and distress. But out of it all
        the Lord has delivered us. And some who have drunk more
        deeply than ever before of the cup of the Man of Sorrows can
        testify that it has been a most blessed year to our souls and
        can give God thanks for it. Personally, it has been the most
        sorrowful and the most blessed year of my life, and I doubt
        not that others have had in some measure the same experience.
        We have put to the proof the faithfulness of God -- His power
        to support in trouble and to give patience under affliction,
        as well as to deliver from danger. And should greater dangers
        await us, should deeper sorrows come ... it is to be hoped
        that they will be met in a strengthened confidence in our
        God.

                We have great cause for thankfulness in one respect:
        we have been so situated as to show the Chinese Christians
        that our position, as well as theirs, has been and may again
        be one of danger. They have been helped, doubtless, to look
        from "foreign power" to God Himself for protection by the
        fact that (1) the former has been felt to be  <181>
        uncertain and unreliable ... and (2) that we have been kept
        in calmness and joy in our various positions of duty. If in
        any measure we have failed to improve for their good this
        opportunity, or have failed to rest, for ourselves, in God's
        power to sustain us in or protect us from danger, as He sees
        best, let us humbly confess this, and all conscious failure,
        to our faithful covenant-keeping God. ...

                I trust we are all fully satisfied that we are God's
        servants, sent by Him to the various posts we occupy, and
        that we are doing His work in them. He set before us the open
        doors we have entered, and in past times of excitement He has
        preserved us. We did not come to China because missionary
        work here was either safe or easy, but because He had called
        us. We did not enter upon our present positions under a
        guarantee of human protection, but relying on the promise of
        His presence. The accidents of ease or difficulty, of
        apparent safety or danger, of man's approval or disapproval,
        in no wise affect our duty. Should circumstances arise
        involving us in what may seem special danger, we shall have
        grace, I trust, to manifest the depth and reality of our
        confidence in Him, and by faithfulness to our charge to prove
        that we are followers of the Good Shepherd who did not flee
        from death itself. ... But if we would manifest such a spirit
        THEN, we must seek the needed grace NOW. It is too late to
        look for arms and begin to drill when in presence of the foe.

        As to temporal supplies, Mr. Taylor continued:

                I need not remind you of the liberal help which the
        Lord has sent us direct, in our time of need,  <182>  from
        certain donors, nor of the blessed fact that He abideth
        faithful and cannot deny Himself. If we are really trusting
        in Him and seeking from Him, we cannot be put to shame. If
        not, perhaps the sooner we find out the unsoundness of any
        other foundation, the better. The Mission funds, or the
        donors, are a poor substitute for the living God.

        "Days of sorrow and nights of heaviness" did come through a
physical breakdown, early in 1871. Mr. Taylor found that a badly
deranged liver made him sleepless and led to painful depression of
spirit. This was increased by chest trouble which caused not only
pain but serious difficulty in breathing. And time did not lessen the
sense of his loss. It was under these circumstances that he
discovered fresh power and beauty in the promise already so vital in
his experience "Whosoever DRINKETH of the water that I shall give
him" -- the suggestion of a continuous habit, indicated by the
present tense of the Greek verb, flooded the passage with new meaning
and met his long-continued need.

                Do not let us change the Savior's words  [he often
        said in later years].  It is not "Whosoever has drunk," but
        "Whosoever DRINKETH." It is not of one isolated draught He
        speaks, or even many, but of the continuous habit of the
        soul. In John 6:35, also, the full meaning is, "He who is
        habitually coming to me shall by no means hunger, and he who
        is believing on me shall by no means thirst." The habit of
        coming in faith to Him is incompatible with unmet hunger and
        thirst ...  <183>

                It seems to me that where many of us err is in
        leaving our drinking in the past, while our thirst continues
        present. What we need is TO BE DRINKING -- yes, thankful for
        each occasion which drives us to drink ever more deeply of
        the living water.

@16
<184>

        SIXTEEN

        OVERFLOW

        In Thy strong hand I lay me down,
                So shall the work be done;
        For who can work so wondrously
                As the Almighty One?
                        --Selected

        Thirty years of active life as Director of the China Inland
Mission remained to Mr. Taylor, and more than thirty years have
passed since he laid down those responsibilities. Sixty years, the
average span of two generations, have given time to test the tree by
its fruit -- to prove, in other words, what has been the outcome of
the faith and joy in God in which his life was rooted. If the
experiences we have traced were emotional and unreal, if the
spiritual is not also the practical, if God is not sufficient for the
needs of His own work, apart from the financial guarantees or human
protection, then the acid test of time will surely have dissolved the
illusions. But if Hudson Taylor, with all his limitations, had really
found the secret of power and  <185>  blessing in living union with
the Lord Jesus Christ, then the results remain -- and will, to all
eternity.

        All things are possible to God,
                To Christ the power of God in man,
        To me when I am all renewed,
                In Christ am fully formed again,
        And from the reign of sin set free,--
        All things are possible to me.

                  *       *       *       *       *

        In the testing days of 1870, Hudson Taylor was still a young
man in his thirties, and the Mission numbered only thirty-three
members. Stations had been opened in three provinces and converts
gathered into ten or twelve little churches. It was still a day of
small things; yet the burden was considerable when it all came upon
one man, and he already wearied with five such years in China.

        For by the end of 1871, it became clear that Mr. and Mrs.
Berger, who had so generously cared for the home side of the Mission,
could no longer continue their strenuous labors. Failing health
obliged them to winter abroad. Saint Hill was to be sold, and all the
correspondence, account keeping and editorial work, the testing of
candidates and practical management of business details must pass
into other hands. The links of loving sympathy remained the same. But
it was with a sense of almost desolation that Mr. Taylor took over
the responsibility, which necessitated his remaining for a time in
England.

        It was a far cry from Saint Hill to Pyrland Road,  <186>  a
little suburban street in the north of London, and the change from
Mr. Berger's library to the small back room which had to do duty as
study and office in one was no less complete. But how dear and sacred
to many a heart is every remembrance of "Number Six" and the adjacent
houses acquired as need arose!  For more than twenty years the home
work of the Mission was carried on from that center, a few steps only
from its present headquarters. The weekly prayer meeting was held in
the downstairs rooms, two of which could be thrown together, and many
a devoted band of men and women, including "The Seventy" and "The
Hundred," went forth from those doors. But we are running far ahead
of the small beginnings of 1872, when Mr. Taylor himself was the sole
executive of the Mission, as well as the Director of its work in
China.

                My path is far from easy  [he wrote early that year].
        I never was more happy in Jesus, and I am very sure He will
        not fail us; but never from the foundation of the Mission
        have we been more cast upon God. It is well, doubtless, that
        it should be so. Difficulties afford a platform upon which He
        can show Himself. Without them we could never know how
        tender, faithful and almighty our God is. ... The change
        about Mr. and Mrs. Berger has tried me not a little. I love
        them so dearly! And it seems another link severed with the
        past in which my precious departed one, who is seldom absent
        from my thoughts, had a part. But His word is, "Behold, I
        make all things new."

        Longing to press forward with the great task before  <187>
the Mission, it must have been difficult indeed for Mr. Taylor to
curb himself to the routine of office work as days and weeks went by.
He was not in haste to rush into new arrangements, having no
indication as to what the Lord had in view. But when prayer for the
right helpers seemed to bring no answer, and the work to be done kept
him from what he was tempted to regard as more important matters, it
would have been easy to be impatient or discouraged. With one in
similar trial he sought to share some of the lessons he was learning.

                It is no small comfort to me to know that God has
        called me to my work, putting me where I am and as I am. I
        have not sought the position and I dare not leave it. He
        knows why He places me here -- whether to do, or learn, or
        suffer. "He that believeth shall not make haste." That is no
        easy lesson for you or me; but I honestly think that ten
        years would be well spent, and we should have our full value
        for them, if we thoroughly learned it in them. ... Moses
        seems to have been taken aside for forty years to learn it.
        ... Meanwhile, let us beware alike of the haste of the
        impatient, impetuous flesh, and of its disappointment and
        weariness.

        But this restricted life, because of its real fellowship with
the Lord Jesus Christ, was bearing fruit, and it is interesting to
note the reaction of young people especially to its influence. In the
busy world of London, a bright lad had given his heart to the Lord
and desired to learn about opportunities for life-work in China.
Making his way to Pyrland  <188>  Road, he found himself in the
plainly furnished room where people were gathering for the prayer
meeting.

                A large text  [he recalled]  faced the door by which
        we entered, "My God shall supply all your need," and as I was
        not accustomed to seeing texts hung on walls in that way,
        decidedly impressed me. Between a dozen and twenty people
        were present...

                Mr. Taylor opened the meeting by giving out a hymn,
        and seating himself at the harmonium led the singing. His
        appearance did not impress me. He was slightly built, and
        spoke in a quiet voice. Like most young men, I suppose I
        associated power with noise, and looked for physical presence
        in a leader. But when he said, "Let us pray," and proceeded
        to lead the meeting in prayer, my ideas underwent a change. I
        had never heard anyone pray like that. There was a
        simplicity, a tenderness, a boldness, a power that hushed and
        subdued me, and made it clear that God had admitted him to
        the inner circle of His friendship. Such praying was
        evidently the outcome of long tarrying in the secret place,
        and was as dew from the Lord.

                I have heard many men pray in public since then, but
        the prayers of Mr. Taylor and the prayers of Mr. Spurgeon
        stand all by themselves. Who that heard could ever forget
        them? It was the experience of a lifetime to hear Mr.
        Spurgeon pray, taking as it were the great congregation of
        six thousand people by the hand and leading them into the
        holy place. And to hear Mr. Taylor plead for  <189>  China
        was to know something of what is meant by "the effectual
        fervent prayer of a righteous man." That meeting lasted from
        four to six o'clock, but seemed one of the shortest prayer
        meetings I had even attended

        From the west of England, a girl of education and refinement
had come up to London to attend the Mildmay Conference, and was
staying as a guest at Pyrland Road. She heard Mr. Taylor give the
opening address, when two to three thousand people crowded the great
hall, and saw how he influenced leaders of Christian thought. But it
was in the everyday life of the Mission house hard by that he
impressed her most -- bearing its burdens and meeting its tests of
faith with daily joy in the Lord.

                I remember Mr. Taylor's exhortation  [Miss Soltau
        wrote long after]  to keep silent to all around and let our
        wants be known to God only. One day, when we had had a small
        breakfast and there was scarcely anything for dinner, I was
        thrilled to hear him singing the children's hymn:

                "Jesus loves me, this I know,
                For the Bible tells me so."

        Then he called us together to praise the Lord for His
        changeless love, to tell our needs and claim the promises.
        And before the day was over we were rejoicing in His gracious
        answers.

        Far from being discouraged by the shortness of funds after
Mr. Berger's retirement, Mr. Taylor was looking forward more
definitely than ever toward advance. Standing before the big map of
China one  <190>  day at Pyrland Road, he turned to a few friends who
were with him and said:

        "Have you faith to join me in laying hold upon God for
eighteen men to go two and two to the nine unevangelized provinces?"

        Miss Soltau was of the group and still recalls how they
joined hands before the map, earnestly covenanting to pray daily for
the eighteen evangelists needed until they should be given. There was
no doubt about the faith. But how little any of them dreamed of the
wider expansion that was coming; of the important part Miss Soltau
herself was to take in the development of the Mission, or of the
unique service to be rendered by F. W. Baller, the bright lad
mentioned above -- both drawn to the work at this time through the
unconscious overflow of Mr. Taylor's life.

        So the waiting time was fruitful, and when Mr. Taylor was
able to return to China he left behind him a Council of long-tried
friends in London, in addition to Miss Blatchley in charge of the
home and children at Pyrland Road. It was not a large balance that he
transferred to the honorary secretaries. Twenty-one pounds was all
the money they had in hand. But there was no debt, and it was with
confidence Mr. Taylor wrote to the friends of the Mission:

                Now that the work has grown, more helpers are needed
        at home, as abroad, but the principles of action remain the
        same. We shall seek pecuniary aid from God by prayer, as
        heretofore. He will  <191>  put it into the hearts of those
        He sees fit to use to act as His channels. When there is
        money in hand it will be remitted to China; when there is
        none, none will be sent; and we shall not draw upon home, so
        that there can be no going into debt. Should our faith be
        tried as it has been before, the Lord will prove Himself
        faithful as He has ever done. Nay, should our faith fail, His
        faithfulness will not -- for it is written, "If we believe
        not, yet he abideth faithful."

        Never was this confidence more needed than when, after an
absence of fifteen months, the leader of the Mission found himself
again in China. Through sickness and other hindrances, the work was
discouraging in several of the older centers. Little churches were
not what they had been; stations were undermanned, some even closed,
and Mr. Taylor scarcely knew where to begin to give the help and
encouragement needed. Instead of planning for advance to unreached
provinces, it was all he could do to build up the existing work. Well
was it, for his own comfort, that he had with him the devoted
companion God had brought into his life. Miss Faulding, the
much-loved leader of the women's work in Hangchow, had become his
second wife, commencing the selfless ministry at his side which for
thirty-three years endeared her to the entire fellowship of the
Mission. But they were often parted. In wintry weather with snow deep
on the ground, Mr. Taylor was thankful to spare her the journeys he
himself had to take, often at no little cost.  <192>

                I have invited the church members and inquirers to
        dine with me tomorrow  [he wrote from one closed station].
        I want them all to meet together. May the Lord give us His
        blessing. Though things are sadly discouraging, they are not
        hopeless; they will soon look up, by God's blessing, if they
        are looked after.

        Very characteristic of the practical nature of Mr. Taylor's
faith was that little word, "things will soon look up, by God's
blessing, if they are looked after." Taking himself the hardest
places, and depending on the quickening power of the Spirit, he went
on prayerfully and patiently, straightening out difficulties and
infusing new earnestness into converts and missionaries alike. Joined
by Mrs. Taylor in the Yangtze valley, he spent three months at
Nanking, giving much time to direct evangelism.

                Every night we gather large numbers by means of
        pictures and lantern slides  [he wrote from that city]  and
        preach to them Jesus. ... We had fully five hundred in the
        chapel last night. Some did not stay long; others were there
        nearly three hours.  May the Lord bless our stay here to
        souls. ... Every afternoon women come to see and hear.

        Something of the inward sustaining may be gathered from a
question in a letter to miss Blatchley:

                If you are ever drinking at the Fountain [he wrote]
        with what will your life be running over? --- Jesus, Jesus,
        Jesus!

        It was a full cup he carried, in this sense, and the overflow
was just what was needed. So the visits accomplished their object,
and were continued  <193>  until Mr. Taylor had been, once at any
rate, at every station, and almost every outstation in the Mission.
Not content with this, he sought out the Chinese leaders in each
place; and the evangelists, colporteurs, teachers and Bible-women,
almost without exception, were personally helped. When they could
be together, Mrs. Taylor's assistance was invaluable, and they would
work at times far into the night attending to correspondence. On
medical journeys she was often his companion; or she might remain at
one station where there was sickness, while he went on to another.
How glad they were of his medical knowledge in those days, for there
was no other doctor in the Mission or anywhere away from the treaty
ports. Needless to say, it added not a little to Mr. Taylor's
burdens-- as when he reached a distant station to find ninety-eight
letters awaiting him, and took time the very next day to write a page
of medical instructions about "A-liang's baby," A-liang being a
valued helper at Chinkiang. But whether it meant longer letters or
extra journeys, he was thankful for any and every way in which he
could help. To be "the servant of all" was the privilege he desired
most.

                The Lord is prospering us  [he was able to write
        after about nine months]  and the work is steadily growing,
        especially in that most important department, NATIVE HELP.
        The helpers themselves need much help, much care and
        instruction; but they are becoming more efficient as well as
        more numerous, and the hope for China lies doubtless in THEM.
        <194>  I look on foreign missionaries as the scaffolding
        round a rising building; the sooner it can be dispensed with
        the better -- or the sooner, rather, that it can be
        transferred to serve the same temporary purpose elsewhere.

        What prayer and vision went hand in hand with these
unremitting labors! It would have been easy to lose the sense of
URGENCY about the great need beyond, in the stress of needs at hand,
especially when funds for the existing work were none too plentiful.
But with Mr. Taylor, just the reverse was the case. Traveling from
place to place, long journeys between the stations, through populous
country teeming with friendly, accessible people, his heart went out
more and more to the unreached, both near and far.

                Last week I was at Taiping  [he wrote to the Council
        in London]. My heart was greatly moved by the crowds that
        literally filled the streets for two or three miles, so that
        we could hardly walk, for it was market day. We did but
        little preaching, for we were looking for a place for
        permanent work, but I was constrained to retire to the city
        wall and cry to God to have mercy on the people, to open
        their hearts and give us an entrance among them.

                Without any seeking on our part, we were brought into
        touch with at least four anxious souls. An old man found us
        out, I know not how, and followed me to our boat. I asked him
        in and inquired his name.

                "My name is Dzing," he replied. "But the question
        <195>  which distresses me, and to which I can find no
        answer, is -- What am I to do with my sins? Our scholars tell
        us that there is no future state, but I find it hard to
        believe them. ... Oh, sir, I lie on my bed and think. I sit
        alone in the daytime and think. I think and think and think
        again, but I cannot tell what is to be done about my sins. I
        am seventy-two years of age. I cannot expect to finish
        another decade. 'Today knows not tomorrow's lot,' as the
        saying is. Can you tell me what to do with my sins?"

                "I can indeed," was my reply. "It is to answer this
        very question that we have come so many thousands of miles.
        Listen, and I will explain to you what you want and need to
        know."

                When my companions returned, he heard again the
        wonderful story of the Cross, and left us soothed and
        comforted ... glad to know that we had rented a house and
        hoped soon to have Christian colporteurs resident in the
        city.

        Just the same work needed doing in more than fifty cities in
that one province of Chekiang, cities without any witness for Christ.
And oh, the waiting millions beyond! Alone there in his boat, Mr.
Taylor could only cast the burden on the Lord. Faith was
strengthened, and in one of his Bibles may be seen the entry he made
the following day, January 27, 1874:

                Asked God for fifty or a hundred additional native
        evangelists and as many missionaries as may be needed to open
        up the four _Fu's_ and forty-eight _Hsien_ cities still
        unoccupied in Chekiang, also for  <196>  men to break into
        the nine unoccupied provinces. Asked in the name of Jesus.

                I thank Thee, Lord Jesus, for the promise whereon
        Thou hast given me to rest. Give me all needed strength of
        body, wisdom of mind, grace of soul to do this Thy so great
        work.

        Yet, strange to say, the immediate sequel was not added
strength, but a serious illness. Week after week he lay in helpless
suffering, only able to hold on in faith to the heavenly vision.
Funds had been so low for months that he had scarcely known how to
distribute the little that came in, and there was nothing at all in
hand for extension work. But, "we are going on to the interior," he
had written to the secretaries in London.  "I do so hope to see some
of the destitute provinces evangelized before long. I long for it by
day and pray for it by night. Can He care less?"

        Never had advance seemed more impossible. But in the Bible
before him was the record of that transaction of his soul with God,
and in his heart was the conviction that, even for inland China,
God's time had almost come. And then as he lay there slowly
recovering, a letter was put into his hands which had been two months
on its way from England. It was from an unknown correspondent.

                My dear Sir  [the somewhat trembling hand had
        written], I BLESS GOD -- in two months I hope to place at the
        disposal of your Council, for further extension of the China
        Inland Mission work, eight  <197>  hundred pounds.  [Then
        equal to about four thousand dollars, gold.]  Please remember,
        for FRESH provinces. ...

                I think your receipt-form beautiful: "The Lord our
        Banner"; "The Lord will provide." If faith is put forth and
        praise sent up, I am sure that Jehovah of Hosts will honor
        it.

        Eight hundred pounds for "fresh provinces"! Hardly could the
convalescent believe he read aright. The very secrets of his heart
seemed to look back at him from that sheet of foreign notepaper. Even
before the prayer recorded in his Bible, that letter had been sent
off; and now, just when most needed, it had reached him with its
wonderful confirmation. Then God's time had surely come!

        From his sickroom back to the Yangtze valley was the next
step, and those spring days witnessed a notable gathering at
Chinkiang. There, as in almost all the stations, new life had come to
the Chinese Christians. Converts were being received into the
churches, and native leaders were growing in zeal and usefulness.
Older missionaries were encouraged amid the needs of their great
districts, and young men who had made good progress with the language
were eager for pioneering work. As many as could leave their stations
came together for a week of prayer and conference with Mr. Taylor,
before he and Mr. Judd set out up the great river to seek a base for
the long-prayed-for western branch of the Mission.  <198>

                Is it not good of the Lord so to encourage us [Mr.
        Taylor wrote from Chinkiang] when we are sorely tried from
        want of funds?

        For it was not any abundance of supplies that accounted for
the new note of joy and hope, as may be judged from the following
letter to a friend deeply experienced in the life of faith.

                Never has our work entailed such real trial or so
        much exercise of faith. The sickness of our beloved friend,
        Miss Blatchley, and her strong desire to see me; the needs of
        our dear children; the state of funds; the changes required
        in the work to admit of some going home, others coming out,
        and of further expansion, and many other things not easily
        expressed in writing, would be crushing burdens if we were to
        bear them. But the Lord bears us and them too, and makes our
        hearts so very glad in Himself -- not Himself plus a bank
        balance -- that I have never known greater freedom from care
        and anxiety.

                The other week, when I reached Shanghai, we were in
        great and immediate need. The mails were both in, but no
        remittance! And the folios showed no balance at home. I cast
        the burden on the Lord. Next morning on waking I felt
        inclined to trouble, but the Lord gave me a word -- "I know
        their sorrows, and am come down to deliver";  "Certainly I
        will be with thee" -- and before 6 AM I was as sure that help
        was at hand as when, near noon, I received a letter from Mr.
        Mueller which had been to Ningpo and was thus delayed in
        reaching me, and which contained more than three hundred
        pounds.  <199>

                My need now is great and urgent, but God is greater
        and more near. And because HE IS and is WHAT HE IS, all must
        be, all is, all will be well. Oh, my dear brother, the joy of
        knowing the living God, of seeing the living God, of resting
        on the living God in our very special and peculiar
        circumstances! I am but His agent. He will look after His own
        honor, provide for His own servants, and supply all our need
        according to His own riches, you helping by your prayers and
        work of faith and labor of love.

        A note to Mrs. Taylor, of about the same time (April, 1874),
breathed a like confidence: "The balance in hand yesterday was
eighty-seven cents. The Lord reigns; herein is our joy and rest!" And
to Mr. Baller he added, when the balance was still lower, "We have
this -- and all the promises of God."

        "Twenty-seven cents," recalled the latter, "PLUS all the
promises of God! Why, one felt as rich as Croesus, and sang:

        I would not change my blest estate
        For all the earth holds good or great;
        And while my faith can keep its hold,
        I envy not the sinner's gold."

        The hymn of the Conference that spring at Chinkiang was, "In
some way or other the Lord will provide," and it was with this in
mind that Mr. Taylor wrote to Miss Blatchley:

                I am sure that, if we but wait, the Lord WILL
        provide. ... We go shortly, that is, Mr. Judd and myself, to
        see if we can procure headquarters at Wuchang, from which to
        open up western China  <200>  as the Lord may enable us. We
        are urged on to make this effort now, though so weak-handed,
        both by the need of the unreached provinces and by our having
        funds in hand for the work in them, while we have none for
        general purposes. ... I cannot conceive how we shall be
        helped through next month, though I fully expect we shall be.
        The Lord cannot and will not fail us.

        And yet, at that very time, new difficulties and delays were
permitted. Brave and faithful to the last, Miss Blatchley's health
had given way under her many responsibilities. The children at
Pyrland Road were needing care, and the home work of the Mission was
almost at a standstill, for gifted and devoted as she was, matters
had tended more and more to come into her hands. Only waiting to
establish Mr. Judd at Wuchang, Mr. and  Mrs. Taylor hastened home.
But even before they could leave China, the beloved friend they hoped
to succor had laid all burdens down.

        Strange and sorrowful was the homecoming a few weeks later,
to find Miss Blatchley's place empty, the children scattered and the
weekly prayer meeting discontinued. But even so, the lowest ebb had
not been reached. On his way up the Yangtze with Mr. Judd, a fall had
seriously injured Mr. Taylor. Concussion of the spine develops
slowly, and it was not until he had been at home some weeks that the
rush of London life began to tell. Then came gradual paralysis of the
lower limbs, completely confining him to his couch. Laid aside in the
prime  <201>  of life, he could only lie in that upstairs room,
conscious of all there was to be done, of all that was not being
attended to -- lie there and rejoice in God.

        Yes, rejoice in God! With desires and hopes as limitless as
the needs that pressed upon his heart, with the prayer he had prayed
and the answers God had given, with opportunities opening in China
and a wave of spiritual blessing reviving the churches at home that
he longed to see turned into missionary channels, and with little
hope, humanly speaking, that he would ever stand or walk again, the
deepest thing was joy in the will of God as "good, and acceptable,
and perfect." Certain it is that from that place of suffering sprang
all the larger growth of the China Inland Mission.

        A narrow bed with four posts was the sphere to which Mr.
Taylor was now restricted. But between the posts at the foot of the
bed -- still the map! Yes, there it hung, the map of the whole of
China, and round about him day and night was the Presence to which he
had access in the name of Jesus. Long after, when prayer had been
fully answered and the pioneers of the Mission were preaching Christ
far and wide throughout those inland provinces, a leader of the
Church of Scotland said to Mr. Taylor:

        "You must sometimes be tempted to be proud because of the
wonderful way God has used you. I doubt if any man living has had
greater honor."

        "On the contrary," was the earnest reply, "I often think that
God must have been looking for  <202>  someone small enough and weak
enough for Him to use, and that He found me."

        The outlook did not brighten as the year drew to a close. Mr.
Taylor was less and less able to move, and could only turn in bed
with the help of a rope fixed above him. At first he had managed to
write a little, but now could not even hold a pen, and circumstances
deprived him of Mrs. Taylor's help for a time. Then it was, with the
dawn of 1875, that a little paper found its way into the Christian
press entitled: _Appeal for Prayer: on behalf of more than a hundred
and fifty millions of Chinese._ Briefly it stated the facts with
regard to the nine unevangelized provinces and the aims of the
Mission. Four thousand pounds, it said, had recently been given for
the special purpose of sending the Gospel to these distant regions.
Chinese Christians were ready to take part in the work. The urgent
need was for more missionaries, young men willing to face any hardship
in leading the way.

        "Will each of you Christian readers," it continued, "at once
raise his heart to God, spending one minute in earnest prayer that
God will raise up, this year, eighteen suitable men to devote
themselves to this work?"

        The appeal did not say that the leader of the Mission was to
all appearance a hopeless invalid. It did not refer to the fact that
the four thousand pounds had come from his wife and himself, part of
their capital, the whole of which they had consecrated to the work of
God. It did not mention the  <203>  covenant of two or three years
previously, to pray in faith for the eighteen evangelists until they
should be given. But those who read the little paper felt there was
much behind it, and were moved as men are not moved by influences
that have not their roots deep in God.

        So, before long, Mr. Taylor's correspondence was largely
increased, as was his joy in dealing with it -- or in seeing, rather,
how the Lord dealt with it.

                The Mission had no paid helpers [he wrote of this
        time], but God led volunteers, without prearrangement, to
        come in from day to day, to write from dictation. If one who
        called in the morning could not stay long enough to answer
        all letters, another was sure to come, and perhaps one or two
        might look in, in the afternoon. Occasionally a young friend
        employed in the city would come in after business hours and
        do needful bookkeeping, or finish letters not already dealt
        with. So it was day by day. One of the happiest periods of my
        life was that period of forced inactivity, when one could do
        nothing but rejoice in the Lord and "wait patiently" for Him,
        and see Him meeting all one's need. Never were my letters,
        before or since, kept so regularly and promptly answered.

                And the eighteen asked of God began to come. There
        was first some correspondence, then they came to see me in my
        room. Soon I had a class studying Chinese at my bedside. In
        due time the Lord sent them all forth; and then dear friends
        at Mildmay began to pray for my restoration. The Lord blessed
        the means used, and I was raised up.  <204>  One reason for
        my being laid aside was gone. Had I been well and able to
        move about, some might have thought that MY urgent appeals,
        rather than God's working, had sent the eighteen me to China.
        But utterly laid aside, able only to dictate a request for
        prayer, the answer to our prayers was the more apparent.

        Wonderful, too, were the answers to prayer about funds at
this time. The monthly remittance to be cabled to China on one
occasion was very small, nearly two hundred and thirty-five pounds
LESS than the average expenditure to be covered. The matter was
brought before the Lord in definite prayer, and in His goodness the
answer was not long delayed. That very evening the postman brought a
letter which was found to contain a check to be entered, "From the
sale of plate" -- and the sum was 235 pounds, 7 shillings, 9 pence.

        Returning from a meeting when able to be about again, Mr.
Taylor was accosted by a Russian nobleman who had heard him speak. As
they traveled to London together, Count Bobrinsky took out his
pocketbook.

        "Allow me to give you a trifle," he said, "toward your work
in China."

        The banknote handed to Mr. Taylor was for a large sum, and
the latter realized that there must be some mistake.

        "Did you not mean to give me five pounds?" he questioned;
"please let me return this note, it is for fifty!"

        "I cannot take it back," replied the Count, no  <205>  less
surprised.  "Five pounds was what I meant to give, but God must have
intended you to have fifty. I cannot take it back."

        Impressed with what had taken place, Mr. Taylor reached
Pyrland Road to find the household gathered for special prayer. A
China remittance was to be sent out, and the money in hand was short
by 49 pounds 11 shillings. And there upon the table Mr. Taylor laid
his banknote for fifty pounds. Could it have come more directly from
the Father's hand?

        But even with all the answers to prayer of these years, the
way was far from open to inland China. Indeed, there came a time,
after the eighteen pioneers had been sent out, when it seemed that
nothing could prevent war over the murder of a British official.
Negotiations had dragged on for months, but the Chinese government
would give absolutely no satisfaction, and the British ambassador was
on the point of retiring from Peking. It seemed impossible that
hostilities could be averted, and there were friends of the Mission
who sought to dissuade Mr. Taylor from sailing with a party of eight
new workers.

        "You will all have to return," they said. "And as to sending
off pioneers to the more distant provinces, it is simply out of the
question."

        Was there some mistake? Had the men and the money been given
in vain? Was inland China still to remain closed to the Gospel?

        In the third-class cabin of that French steamer there was a
man upon his knees, dealing with God.  <206>  "My soul yearns, oh how
intensely," he had written two years previously, "for the
evangelization of the hundred and eighty millions of these unoccupied
provinces. Oh, that I had a hundred lives to give or spend for their
good!"  All that lay in his power he had done, keeping the vision
undimmed through every kind of discouragement. And now -- ?

        But God's time had indeed come. With Him it is never "too
late."  At the last moment, a change came over the Chinese Foreign
Office. The Viceroy, Li Hung-chang, hurried to the coast, overtaking
the British Minister at Chefoo, and there the memorable Convention
was signed which gave liberty of access, at last, to every part of
China.

        "Just as our brethren were ready," Mr. Taylor delighted to
recall, "not too soon and not too late, the long-closed door opened
to them of its own accord."

@17
<207>

        SEVENTEEN

        WIDER OVERFLOW

        Oh, Christ, He is the fountain,
        The deep, sweet well of love;
        The streams on earth I've tasted,
                More deep I'll drink above.
                        --A. R. Cousin

        Thirty thousand miles the pioneers of the Mission traveled
within the next two years, throughout the inland provinces of China,
everywhere telling the tidings of redeeming love. And this brought to
Mr. Taylor one of the biggest tests of faith he ever had to meet. For
the country proved wonderfully open, and it was but natural, after
years of hardship in preparing the way, that the young missionaries
should wish to take advantage of suitable openings to establish homes
of their own, from which to work as settled centers. This, of course,
meant homemakers!  Several of the pioneers were engaged to be
married, and only waited Mr. Taylor's approval to take the first
white women, as their fellow workers, to the far interior. They could
not foresee, perhaps, as their leader could,  <208>  all that would
be involved, and that before long other women would have to take
those difficult journeys, to follow up work begun by busy mothers in
those distant homes.

        Years before, however, Mr. Taylor had faced it all, and had
set out on the policy of encouraging women's work. The outcry was
tremendous, as he knew it would be, when he sanctioned the first
departure of married couples to the far interior. Missionary work in
China was taking on a new phase; new sacrifices were called for, new
demands were to be made upon faith and endurance.

        But the situation developed gradually. For a year or more the
criticism Mr. Taylor had to face was directed chiefly against the
widespread itinerations of the pioneers. Not all on these journeys
was easy going. There were dangers and disappointments to record as
well as glorious encouragement. "Without were fightings, within were
fears," as of old, and Mr. Taylor, detained at Chinkiang by the
administrative work of the Mission, was glad to be at hand to guide
and strengthen.

        The secret of his own strength was not far to seek. Whenever
work permitted, Mr. Taylor was in the habit of turning to a little
harmonium for refreshment, playing and singing many a favorite hymn,
but always coming back to --

                Jesus, I am resting, resting, in the joy of what Thou
        art; I am finding out the greatness of Thy loving heart.
<209>

        One of the eighteen evangelists, Mr. George Nichol, was with
him on one occasion when some letters were handed in to his office,
bringing news of serious rioting in two of the older stations of the
Mission. Thinking that Mr. Taylor might wish to be alone, the younger
man was about to withdraw when, to his surprise, someone began to
whistle. It was the soft refrain of the same well-loved hymn:

                Jesus, I am resting, resting, in the joy of what Thou
        art...

        Turning back, Mr. Nichol could not help exclaiming, "How CAN
you whistle, when our friends are in so much danger!"

        "Would you have me anxious and troubled?" was the quiet
reply. "That would not help them, and would certainly incapacitate me
for my work. I have just to roll the burden on the Lord."

        Day and night this was his secret, "just to roll the burden
on the Lord." Frequently those who were wakeful in the little house
at Chinkiang might hear, at two or three in the morning, the soft
refrain of Mr. Taylor's favorite hymn. He had learned that, for him,
only one life was possible -- just that blessed life of resting and
rejoicing in the Lord under all circumstances, while He dealt with
the difficulties, inward and outward, great and small.

                  *       *       *       *       *

        Mr. Taylor was at home again in London. Six millions of
people in North China were facing starvation, in a province in which
there were no missionaries save a few Inland Mission pioneers.  <210>
Children were dying in thousands and young girls being sold into
slavery and carried away in troops to cities farther south. Mr.
Taylor had come home burdened with the awful condition and was doing
all in his power to forward relief work. Funds were available for the
rescue of children, but where was the woman who could go to that
stricken province to undertake the work? No white woman had ever been
beyond the mountains that separated Shansi from the coast, and to get
there meant a two weeks' journey by mule-litter, over dangerous
roads, with miserable inns at night.

        Yet it was for this undertaking that Mr. and Mrs. Taylor
separated when he had been home only a few months. A little worn
notebook recalls the experiences through which her faith was
strengthened as she waited upon God to know whether or not the call
was really from Him. But once she did know, not even the sacrifice
involved for Mr. Taylor, whose suggestion it had been, held her back.
Two little ones of her own, four older children and an adopted
daughter made a young family of seven to leave behind. How were they
to be cared for? All her hard questions she brought to God, and He
not only answered them, meeting every need as it arose, but gave
grace for the parting and all the difficult, dangerous work in China.

                Cross-loving men are needed  [Mr. Taylor had written
        before coming home]. Oh, may God make you and me of this
        spirit. ... I  feel so ashamed that you and the dear children
        should affect me   <211>  more than millions here who are
        perishing -- while we are sure of eternity together.

        After that, it was easier for Mr. Taylor to let other women
join the front ranks, when his own wife had led the way. And part of
his reward when they were reunited, a year later (1879) was to have
her with him in China as, in province after province of the interior,
women's work quietly opened up.

        Fascinating and heart-moving as any novel is the story of
those years. Wrecked in the Yangtze gorges, the first women who went
to the far west spent a strange Christmas amid their bridal
belongings spread out to dry upon the rocks. And what crowds
overwhelmed them upon arrival at their destinations!

        "For nearly two months past," Mrs. Nichol wrote from
Chungking, "I have seen some hundreds of women daily. Our house has
been like a fair."

        More than once she fainted from weariness in the midst of her
guests -- the only white woman in a province of some sixty millions
of people -- returning to consciousness to find the women fanning
her, full of affection and concern. One lady, who cared for her like
a mother, would send round her own sedan chair with an urgent request
for Mrs. Nichol to return in it immediately. The most comfortable bed
in her own apartment was waiting, and sending out all the younger
women she would sit down herself to fan the weary visitor till she
fell asleep. Then an inviting dinner was prepared, and on on account
<212>  was Mrs. Nichol allowed to leave until she had made a proper
meal.

        That was the surprise that everywhere awaited the first women
who went -- the people were glad to see them, were eager often, to
hear their message, showing not only natural curiosity but real heart
sympathy. And how soon it began to tell -- this living and preaching
Christ so openly! By the end of the second year after missionary
women came on the scene, the pioneers were rejoicing in sixty or
seventy converts gathered into little churches in the far inland
provinces.

        First to go to the women of the Northwest, three months'
journey up the Han River, Emily King was the first also to be called
Home (May 1881). But before her brief course ended, she had the joy
of seeing no fewer than eighteen women baptized in confession of
their faith in Christ. Dying of typhoid fever in the city of
Hanchung, this it was that raised her above the grief of leaving her
husband desolate and their little one motherless. The Man of Sorrows
was seeing of "the travail of his soul" among those for whom He had
waited long -- and she, too, was satisfied.

        No one understood better than Mr. Taylor the cost at which
such work was done; no one followed it with more unfailing prayer.

                I cannot tell you how glad my heart is  [he wrote to
        his mother in the midst of much trial]  to see the work
        extending and consolidating in the remote  <213>  parts of
        China. It is worth living for and worth dying for.

        After that, developments were rapid and wonderful. But
associated with every fresh advance, every access of power and
blessing, there was in Mr. Taylor's own experience a corresponding
period of suffering and trail. Deeper down, deeper down that life had
to go, in God. Outwardly it might seem at times, that the work was
carried on a floodtide of success. Glorious steps of faith were
taken; glorious answers to prayer were received. But the preparation
of heart beforehand and the steady burden-bearing afterwards were
known only to those who shared them behind the scenes. One stands
silenced before such profound heart-searchings, such trials of faith,
such exercise of soul. Given a man prepared to go all lengths with
God, prepared to die daily in quiet, practical reality, prepared to
be the servant of his brethren (least of all and servant of all),
prepared to stand for them in ceaseless intercession, not only
bearing with their failures and weaknesses, but bearing them up in
creative faith and love that lift to higher levels -- thus and thus
only is such spiritual success possible.

        Before the forward movement which had brought new life to the
work -- when women missionaries first went inland -- there had been a
period of intense and prolonged suffering. Three times over in 1879
Mr. Taylor's life was in danger through serious sicknesses, and in
the year that followed, while the new line of things was being tested
and established by  <214>  God's blessing, the Mission was faced with
intense and accumulated trials. Mrs. Taylor touched upon a deep
principle when she wrote at that time:

                Don't you think that if we set ourselves not to allow
        any pressure to rob us of communion with the Lord, we may
        live lives of hourly triumph, the echo of which will come
        back to us from every part of the Mission? I have been
        feeling these last months that of all our work the most
        important is that unseen, upon the mount of intercession. OUR
        faith must gain the victory for the fellow-workers God has
        given us. They fight the seen and we must fight the unseen
        battle. And dare we claim less than constant victory, when it
        is for HIM, and we come in His Name?

        But times of trial, as by a spiritual law, always led on to
enlargement and blessing. It was so, for example, when, after parting
from Mrs. Taylor who could no longer be spared from home, the leader
of the Mission set his face westward for conference with some of the
younger workers.

                You are ploughing the Mediterranean [he wrote] and
        will soon see Naples. ... I am waiting for a steamer to
        Wuchang. I need not, cannot tell you how much I miss you, but
        God is making me feel how rich we are in His presence and
        love. ...  He is helping me to rejoice in our adverse
        circumstances, in our poverty, in the retirements from our
        Mission. All these difficulties are only platforms for the
        manifestation of His grace, power and love.

                I am very busy  [he continued from Wuchang when the
        meetings had begun]. God is giving us  <215>  a happy time of
        fellowship together, AND IS CONFIRMING US IN THE PRINCIPLES
        ON WHICH WE ARE ACTING.

        That one brief sentence, taken in connection with the crisis
to which they had come, lets in a flood of light upon the important
sequel to those days of fellowship at Wuchang. For unconsciously to
the younger missionaries, it was a crisis, and more was hanging in
the balance than Mr. Taylor himself could realize. After years of
prayer and patient, persevering effort, a position of unparalleled
opportunity had been reached. Inland China lay open before them. At
all the settled stations in the far north, south and west,
reinforcements were needed. Not to advance would be to retreat from
the position of faith taken up at the beginning. It would be to look
at difficulties rather than at the living God. True, funds were low,
had been for years, and the new workers coming out were few. It would
have been easy to say, "For the present, no further extension is
possible." But NOT to go forward would be to cripple and hinder the
work; to throw away opportunities God had given, and before long to
close stations opened at great cost. This, surely, could not be His
way for the evangelization of inland China.

        What then was the outcome of those days of quiet waiting upon
God? It was a step of faith so startling that, for a time, the
sympathy of friends at home seemed doubtful. For it was no less than
an appeal to the home churches -- later on signed by almost all the
members of the Mission -- for SEVENTY  <p.216>  NEW WORKERS to be
sent out within the next three years. The entire membership of the
Mission numbered barely a hundred, and funds had long been
straitened. Yet, so sure was the group at Wuchang of being guided of
God in their definite prayer and expectation that one of them
exclaimed:

        "If only we could meet again and have a united praise
meeting, when the last of The Seventy have reached China!"

        Three years had been agreed upon as the period in which the
answer should be looked for (1882-84), as it would hardly be possible
to receive and arrange for so many new workers in a shorter time.

        "We shall be widely scattered then," said another, of a
practical turn of mind. "But why not have the praise meeting now? Why
not give thanks for The Seventy before we separate?"

        This was approved and the meeting held, so that all who had
joined in the prayer united also in the thanksgiving.

        And The Seventy WERE given, wonderfully given, in the next
three years. But faith was thrown into the crucible in many ways.
Trial as to funds continued to be serious, but was surpassed by trial
connected with the work itself. And yet Mr. Taylor was able to write:

                I do feel more and more the blessedness of real trust
        in God. Faith, He tries, but sustains. And when our
        faithfulness fails, His remains unshaken. "He cannot deny
        himself." ...

                The Lord Jesus, this year of very peculiar trial
        <217>  from almost every quarter, does make my heart well up
        and overflow with His love. He knows what separations and
        other incidents of our service mean, and He so wonderfully
        makes all loss to be gain! ... Excuse my running on in this
        way. My glad heart seems as if it must have vent, even among
        figures and remittances.

        As the first of the three years wore on, years in which The
Seventy were looked for, it became evident that there was serious
misgiving at home as to the appeal. Mr. Taylor was at Chefoo at the
time, and felt it laid on his heart to ask the Lord to put His seal
on the matter in a way that could not be mistaken. It was at one of
the daily prayer meetings, on or about the second of February, and
the few who were present were conscious of much liberty in laying
this request before God.

                We knew that our Father loves to please His children,
        and we asked Him lovingly to please us, as well as to
        encourage timid ones at home, by leading some one of His
        wealthy stewards to make room for a large blessing FOR
        HIMSELF AND HIS FAMILY by giving liberally to this special
        object.

        A few days later Mr. Taylor sailed for England and it was not
until he stopped at Aden that he learned the result. No account of
that special prayer meeting had been sent home; but at Pyrland Road
they had had the joy of receiving ON THE SECOND OF FEBRUARY a sum of
three thousand pounds, with the words: "Ask of me, and I shall give
thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost  <218>
parts of the earth for thy possession." Nor was this all. The gift
was sent in an unusual way, the names of FIVE CHILDREN being added to
those of the parents. What could have been more encouraging than to
see how literally God answered prayer?

        It was the same some years later, when another great step
forward was taken in faith.

        God had so blessed with the going out of The Seventy that the
Mission had been lifted on to a new plane of influence at home.
During those years something of the pioneering character of the work
had become known. "They are opening up the country," wrote Alexander
Wylie of the London Missionary Society, "and this is what we want.
Other missions are doing a good work, but they are not doing THIS
work." So that, when John McCarthy reached England, after walking
clear across China, from east to west, preaching Christ all the way;
when J. W. Stevenson and Dr. Henry Soltau came home, the first to
enter western China from Burma, following the Yangtze to Shanghai;
and then they were joined in England by Mr. Taylor with the appeal of
the Mission for seventy new workers, Christian hearts were deeply
stirred. The way had been prepared by the devoted labors of Mr.
Taylor's brother-in-law, Mr. Benjamin Broomhall, who for seven years
had represented the Mission in London, and who with Mrs. Broomhall
made its headquarters at Pyrland Road a center of love and prayer.
With a genius for friendship and a heart to embrace the whole Church
of God, Mr. Broomhall found  <219>  openings in many directions for
the testimony of the Mission; for people were keen to hear how the
seemingly impossible had been brought to pass, and how without
appeals for money, or even collections, the growing work was
sustained.

                If you are not dead yet  [was the charming
        communication of a child at Cambridge to whom "Hudson Taylor"
        was a household word]  I want to send you the money I have
        saved up to help the little boys and girls of China to love
        Jesus.

                Will you do me the kindness [urged Canon Wilberforce
        of Southampton] to give a Bible-reading in my house to about
        sixty people ... and spend the night with us? PLEASE do us
        this favor, in the Master's name.

                Much love to you in the Lord [wrote Lord Radstock
        from the Continent]. You are a great help to us in England by
        strengthening our faith.

        From Dr. Andrew Bonar came a hundred pounds forwarded from an
unknown Presbyterian friend "who cares for the land of Sinim."
Spurgeon sent his characteristic invitations to the Tabernacle, and
Miss Macpherson to Bethnal Green.

                My heart is still in the glorious work [wrote Mr.
        Berger with a check for five hundred pounds]. Most heartily
        do I join you in praying for seventy more laborers -- but do
        not stop at seventy! Surely we shall see greater things than
        these, if we are empty of self, seeking only God's glory and
        the salvation of souls.

        And Mr. Berger's faith was justified: "Surely we shall see
greater things than these." The Seventy  <220>  as God gave them
proved to be an overflowing answer to prayer. Before the last party
sailed, they had been overtaken by the well-known "Cambridge Band,"
whose consecrated testimony before they left England swept the
British universities with a profound spiritual movement which reached
on and out to the ends of the earth. It was a rising tide indeed of
spiritual blessing, and the new edition Mr. Taylor found time to
publish of CHINA'S SPIRITUAL NEED AND CLAIMS deepened and continued
the work.

        Before the Cambridge party could sail, detained as they were
by revival in university centers, Mr. Taylor went on ahead to China,
missing the final farewell meeting at Exeter Hall. The contrast could
hardly have been more marked between the enthusiasm of that great
gathering for all the Mission stood for and the solitary man alone
upon his knees, day after day, in the cabin of the ship that was
carrying him back to the stern realities of the fight. "Borne on a
great wave of fervent enthusiasm," as the editorial secretary of the
Church Missionary Society expressed it, the work had been swept into
a new place in the sympathy and confidence of the Lord's people. "The
Mission has become popular," Mr. Broomhall was writing, not without
concern. But out in China, Hudson Taylor had to face the other side
of that experience.

                Soon we shall be in the midst of the battle [he wrote
        from the China Sea], but the Lord our God in the midst of us
        is mighty -- so we will trust and  <221>  not be afraid. "He
        will save." He will save all the time and in everything.

And again, some months later:

                Flesh and heart often fail: let them fail! He faileth
        not. Pray very much, pray constantly, for Satan rages against
        us. ...

                There is much to distress. Your absence is a great
        and ever-present trial, and there is all the ordinary and
        extraordinary conflict. But the encouragements are also
        wonderful -- no other word approaches the truth, and half of
        them cannot be told in writing. No one dreams of the mighty
        work going on in connection with our Mission. Other missions
        too, doubtless, are being greatly used. I look for a
        wonderful year.

        And a wonderful year it was (1886), leading up to the next
forward movement with its outstanding answers to prayer alluded to
above.

        Mr. Taylor had spent several months inland, visiting
districts in which many of the new workers were located. He had
traveled through Shansi, holding conferences which were reported in a
precious little book entitled, DAYS OF BLESSING. The quiet power of
his life and testimony opened up to younger workers the deep things
of God. "Days of Blessing" they were indeed, especially in Pastor
Hsi's district, when Mr. Taylor met the converted Confucian scholar
for the first time. Their mutual love and appreciation it was
beautiful to see, as they conferred together about the future of the
work.  <222>

        "We all saw visions at that time," recalled Mr. Stevenson who
was with them. "Those were days of Heaven upon earth. Nothing seemed
difficult."

        Coming down the river Han on the last stage of this journey,
it was quite natural for Mr. Taylor to take charge of a little girl
five years of age, whose missionary parents realized that only a
change to the coast could save the child's life. There was no woman
in the party, and they knew that for a month or six weeks little
Annie would have no one to care for her, day or night, save the
Director of the Mission. But they were more than satisfied.

                My little charge is wonderfully improving  [he was
        able to write from the boat]. She clings to me very lovingly,
        and it is sweet to feel little arms about one's neck once
        more.

        Straight from this journey, Mr. Taylor came to the first
meeting of the China Council of the Mission, as the year drew to a
close. The newly appointed superintendents of the provinces gathered
at Anking, including Mr. Stevenson and Mr. McCarthy, and a whole week
was given to prayer and fasting, so that with prepared hearts they
might face the important issues before them. With wisdom born of
twenty years' experience as Director of the work, Mr. Taylor sought
to lead to wise and helpful organization with a view to larger
developments, but even he was startled by the suggestion that grew
out of the conference -- that for anything like advance, A HUNDRED
NEW WORKERS were urgently needed.

        Very carefully the situation was gone over, and  <223>  Mr.
Taylor had at last to agree that with fifty central stations and
China open before them from end to end, a hundred new workers in the
following year would be all too few for hoped-for developments. Mr.
Stevenson, by this time Deputy Director of the Mission, was full of
faith and courage. He sent out a little slip, explaining the
situation to all the members of the Mission, and cabled to London
with Mr. Taylor's permission -- "Praying for a hundred new workers in
1887."

        But what a thrill that meant at home!  A HUNDRED NEW RECRUITS
FOR CHINA IN ONE YEAR!  No Mission in existence had ever dreamed of
sending out reinforcements on such a scale. The China Inland Mission
then numbered only a hundred and ninety members; and to pray for a
more than fifty per cent increase within the next twelve months --
well, people almost held their breath! but only until Mr. Taylor came
home. "Strong in faith, giving glory to God," he brought a spiritual
uplift that was soon felt throughout the fellowship of the Mission.
The three-fold prayer they were praying in China was taken up by
countless hearts: that God would give the hundred workers, those of
His own choice; that He would supply the fifty thousand dollars of
extra income needed, no appeal or collections being made; and that
the money might come in in LARGE sums, to keep down correspondence, a
practical point with a small office staff.

        And what happened in 1887? Six hundred men and women actually
offered to the Mission in that  <224>  year, of whom ONE HUNDRED AND
TWO were chosen, equipped and sent out. Not fifty but FIFTY-FIVE
thousand dollars extra were actually received, without solicitation,
so that every need was met. And how many letters had to be written
and receipts made out to acknowledge this large sum? Just ELEVEN
GIFTS covered it all, scarcely adding appreciably to the work of the
staff, taxed to the utmost in other ways. And best of all, faith was
strengthened and hearts were stirred with new and deeper longings
wherever the story of "The Hundred" became known.

        One unexpected result was a visit to London of a young
American businessman, who was also an evangelist, upon whose heart it
had been laid to invite Mr. Taylor to come to the States. Mr. Henry
W. Frost was so sure that his visit to England for this purpose had
been guided of God that the disappointment when Mr. Taylor did not
respond was overwhelming. Drawn to the Inland Mission by all he had
seen and heard, and to Mr. Taylor in particular, it was in much
perplexity he returned to New York, feeling that his mission had been
in vain. But God's working in the matter had only just begun.

        Mr. Taylor did come to America the following summer (1888)
and was cordially received by D. L. Moody and the leaders of the
Niagara Bible Conference among others. There and at Northfield
surprising developments took place in answer to prayer -- chiefly the
prayers that went up from the heart that had known such
disappointment and was now  <225>  rejoicing to see the hand of God
working far beyond anything he had asked or thought.

        For when Mr. Taylor went on to China, three months later, he
did not go alone. Fourteen young men and women accompanied him, a
precious gift of God to the Mission from this great continent.
Various denominations were represented, both from the States and
Canada, and the gifts and prayers so unexpectedly called forth were
but the beginning of a steady stream which has flowed out for China
ever since. So great was the interest that a North American Council
had to be formed, and at no little sacrifice to himself and his
family, Mr. Henry W. Frost, whom God had used to bring it all to
pass, undertook to represent and guide the work. It was one of the
most fruitful developments to which the Lord ever led in connection
with Mr. Taylor's ministry, and filled with new faith and courage he
went on to meet all that was to grow out of it.

        For a great step forward had been taken, and from that time
onward the China Inland Mission, which had always been
interdenominational, became international. Twelve years remained of
the active service of Mr. Taylor's life, and they were years of
world-wide ministry. A visit to Scandinavia opened to him the warm
hearts of Swedish and Norwegian Christians; Germany sent devoted
contingents to work in association with the Mission; Australia and
New Zealand welcomed Mr. Taylor as one long known and loved, and the
China Council  <226>  in Shanghai became the center of a greater
organization than its founder had ever imagined.

        The spiritual overflow of those last years was best of all --
just the same streams of blessing, only reaching now to the ends of
the earth. The impressions of an Episcopalian minister who was Mr.
Taylor's host in Melbourne are interesting in this connection.

                He was an object lesson in quietness. He drew from
        the bank of heaven every farthing of his daily income -- "My
        peace I give unto you." Whatever did not agitate the Savior
        or ruffle His spirit was not to agitate him. The serenity of
        the Lord Jesus concerning any matter, and at its most
        critical moment, was his ideal and practical possession. He
        knew nothing of rush or hurry, or quivering nerves or
        vexation of spirit. He knew that there is a peace passing all
        understanding, and that he could not do without it. ...

                "I am in the study, you are in the big spare-room," I
        said to Mr. Taylor at length. "You are occupied with
        millions, I with tens. Your letters are pressingly important,
        mine of comparatively little moment. Yet I am worried and
        distressed, while you are always calm. Do tell me what makes
        the difference."

                "My dear Macartney," he replied, "the peace you speak
        of is, in my case, more than a delightful privilege, it is a
        necessity. I could not possibly get through the work I have
        to do without the peace of God 'which passeth all
        understanding' keeping my heart and mind."

                That was my chief experience of Mr. Taylor.  <227>
        Are you in a hurry, flurried, distressed? Look up! See the
        Man in the Glory! Let the face of Jesus shine upon you -- the
        wonderful face of the Lord Jesus Christ. Is He worried or
        distressed? There is no care on His brow, no least shade of
        anxiety. Yet the affairs are His as much as yours.

                "Keswick teaching," as it is called, was not new to
        me. I had received those glorious truths and was preaching
        them to others. But here was THE REAL THING, an embodiment of
        "Keswick teaching" such as I had never hoped to see. It
        impressed me profoundly. Here was a man almost sixty years of
        age, bearing tremendous burdens, yet absolutely calm and
        untroubled. Oh, the pile of letters! any one of which might
        contain news of death, of lack of funds, of riots or serious
        trouble. Yet all were opened, read and answered with the same
        tranquility -- Christ his reason for peace, his power for
        calm. Dwelling in Christ, he drew upon His very being and
        resources, in the midst of and concerning the matters in
        question. And this he did by an attitude of faith as simple
        as it was continuous.

                Yet he was delightfully free and natural. I can find
        no words to describe it save the Scriptural expression "in
        God." He was in God all the time and God in him. It was that
        true "abiding" of John fifteen. But oh, the lover-like
        attitude that underlay it! He had in relation to Christ a
        most bountiful experience of the Song of Solomon. It was a
        wonderful combination -- the strength and tenderness of one
        who, amid stern preoccupation, like that of a judge on the
        bench, carried in his heart the light and love of home.  <228>

        And through it all, the vision and spiritual urgency of
earlier years remained unchanged. Indeed the sense of responsibility
to obey the last command of the Lord Jesus Christ only increased, as
he came to see more clearly the meaning of the Great Commission.

                I confess with shame [he wrote as late as 1889] that
        the question, what did our Lord REALLY MEAN by His command to
        "preach the gospel to every creature" had never been raised
        by me. I had labored for many years to carry the Gospel
        further afield, as have many others; had laid plans for
        reaching every unevangelized province and many smaller
        districts in China, without realizing the plain meaning of
        our Savior's words.

        "To every creature"? And the total number of Protestant
communicants in China was but forty thousand. Double that number,
treble it, to include adherents, and suppose each one to be a
messenger of light to eight of his own people -- and, even so, only
one million would be reached. "TO EVERY CREATURE": the words burned
into his very soul. But how far was the Church, how far had he been
himself from taking them literally, as intended to be acted upon!

                How are we going to treat the Lord Jesus Christ [he
        wrote under deep conviction] with regard to this last
        command? Shall we definitely drop the title "Lord" as applied
        to Him? Shall we take the ground that we are quite willing to
        recognize Him as our Savior, as far as the penalty of sin is
        concerned, but are not prepared to own ourselves  <229>
        "bought with a price," or Christ as having claim to our
        unquestioning obedience? ...

                How few of the Lord's people have practically
        recognized the truth that Christ is either LORD OF ALL or He
        is NOT LORD AT ALL! If we can judge God's Word, instead of
        being judged by it, if we can give God as much or as little
        as we like, then we are lords and He is the indebted one, to
        be grateful for our dole and obliged by our compliance with
        His wishes. If on the other hand He is Lord, let us treat Him
        as such. "Why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things
        which I say?"

        So, all unexpectedly, Hudson Taylor came to the widest
outlook of his life, the purpose which was to dominate the closing
years of its active leadership: nothing less than a definite,
systematic effort to do just what the Master commanded; to carry the
glad tidings of His redeeming love to every man, woman and child
throughout the whole of China. He did not think that the China Inland
Mission could do it all. But he did believe that with proper division
of the field the missionary forces of the Church were well equal to
the task.

                  *       *       *       *       *

        But he was not see it in his day. With the willing
co-operation of the Mission, a beginning was made in Kiangsi, and
plans were maturing for advance all over the field. But in the
providence of God a deep baptism of suffering had to come first. The
Boxer madness of 1900 swept the country, and the Inland Mission was
more exposed to  <230>  its fury than any other. Mr. Taylor had just
reached England after a serious breakdown in health, and under a
feeling of concern that she hardly understood, Mrs. Taylor persuaded
him to go on to a quiet spot in Switzerland where his health had been
restored some years previously.

        And there it was the blow fell, and telegram after telegram
came telling of riots, massacres, and the hunting down of refugees in
station after station of the Mission -- until the heart that so long
had upheld these beloved fellow-workers before the Lord could endure
no more and almost ceased to beat. But for the protection of the
remote valley (Davos) where news could in measure be kept from him,
Hudson Taylor would have been himself among those whose lives were
laid down for Christ's sake and for China in the oversweeping horror
of that summer. As it was, he lived through it, holding on to God.

        "I cannot read," he said when things were at their worst; "I
cannot pray, I can scarcely even think -- but I can trust."

                  *       *       *       *       *

        The Boxer crisis passed and the calm words of a white-haired
pastor in Shansi came true:

        "Kingdoms may perish," he said, almost with his last breath,
"but the Church of Christ can never be destroyed."

        In this confidence, he and hundreds of other Chinese
Christians sealed their testimony with their  <231>  blood; and in
this confidence the witness of faithful lives that had been spared
began again.

        Mr. D. E. Hoste, whom Mr. Taylor had appointed as his
successor, was enabled to deal so wisely with the situation that
enemies were turned to friends and the Chinese authorities were not
slow to express their appreciation of a literal carrying out of the
commands of Christ which meant more, from their point of view, than
all the preaching that had gone before.

        And Mr. Taylor lived to see the new day of opportunity
opening in China; lived to return to the land of his love and
prayers. But he returned alone. The beloved companion of many years,
who had so brightened the closing days of their pilgrimage together,
rests above Vevey, by the Lake of Geneva, where they made their last
home. With his son and daughter-in-law -- the present writers -- he
turned his face once more toward China, and at seventy-three years of
age made one of the most remarkable itinerations of his lifetime.

        How the Christians loved and revered him as he passed from
station to station, everywhere welcomed as "China's Benefactor," the
one through whom the Gospel had reached those inland provinces! After
traveling up the Yangtze to Hankow and spending some weeks in the
northern province of Hunan, Mr. Taylor was strengthened to undertake
one more journey. Little had he ever expected to find himself in
Hunan. First of the nine unevangelized provinces to be entered by
pioneers of the C.I.M.,  <232>  it had proved by far the most
difficult. Adam Dorward, after more than eight years of toil and
suffering -- homeless, persecuted, escaping from a riot to die alone
at last -- had rejoiced to give his life in hope of the results we
see today. For more than thirty years Mr. Taylor had borne that
province upon his heart in prayer, and it was fitting that the last
rich joy to come to him should be the loving welcome of Hunan
converts. Eagerly the Christians gathered at the capital, in the home
of Dr. Frank Keller -- the first to obtain permanent residence in the
province -- looking forward to the services of Sunday with the
beloved leader of whom they had heard so much. Those who had come in
early enough, met him on Saturday, when also the missionaries in the
city attended the reception hospitably planned by Dr. and Mrs.
Keller.

                  *       *       *       *       *

        But it was that evening the call came. No, it was hardly
death -- just the glad, swift entry upon life eternal.

        "My father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the
horsemen thereof!"

        And the very room seemed filled with unutterable peace.


@18
<233>

        EIGHTEEN

        STREAMS FLOWING STILL

        He told me of a river bright
                That flows from Him to me,
        That I might be, for His delight,
                A fair and fruitful tree.
                                --Tersteegen

        When Mr. Taylor was caught away from the heart of China --
passing in one painless moment to the presence of the Lord he loved--
a feeling almost of suspense held many hearts. What will become of
the Mission now? was the unspoken question. Hudson Taylor was a man
of such unusual faith!  It was all right while he lived and prayed.
But now -- ?  The thought was natural, but years have only proved
that though the father and long-loved leader of the work passed on,
the God in whom was all his confidence remains.

        The lines at the head of this chapter were dear to Mr.
Taylor, and express the essence of his spiritual secret.

                It is very simple [he wrote] but has He not planted
        us by the river of living water that we  <234>  may be, FOR
        HIS DELIGHT, fair and fruitful to His people?

        God was first in Hudson Taylor's life -- not the work, not
the needs of China or of the Mission, not his own experiences. He
knew that the promise was true, "Delight thyself also in the Lord;
and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart." And is the
promise less true for us today? Let the experience of one of the
leaders of the Mission stand for the many.

                The work is always increasing  [Miss Soltau wrote],
        and were it not for the consciousness of Christ as my life,
        hour by hour, I could not go on.  But He is teaching me
        glorious lessons of his sufficiency, and each day I am
        carried forward with no feeling of strain or fear of
        collapse.

        Streams flowing still -- how true it has been in the
experience of the enlarged and ever-growing Mission! The main facts
as to the developments of the last thirty years are given in an
appendix, and wonderful facts they are. But here we would only
refer-- as we turn from the past to the present -- to the practical
side of Mr. Taylor's spiritual life. He knew that the thought
expressed by one deeply versed in the things of God is true: "God
does not give us overcoming life: He gives us life AS WE OVERCOME."
[See _My Utmost for His Highest,_ by Oswald Chambers, page 47.]  To
him, the secret of overcoming lay in daily, hourly fellowship with
God; and this, he found, could only be maintained by secret prayer
<235>  and feeding upon the Word through which He reveals Himself to
the waiting soul.

        It was not easy for Mr. Taylor, in his changeful life, to
make time for prayer and Bible study, but he knew that it was vital.
Well do the writers remember traveling with him month after month in
northern China, by cart and wheelbarrow, with the poorest of inns at
night. Often with only one large room for coolies and travelers
alike, they would screen off a corner for their father and another
for themselves, with curtains of some sort; and then, after sleep at
last had brought a measure of quiet, they would hear a match struck
and see the flicker of candlelight which told that Mr. Taylor,
however weary, was poring over the little Bible in two volumes always
at hand. From two to four AM was the time he usually gave to prayer;
the time when he could be most sure of being undisturbed to wait upon
God. That flicker of candlelight has meant more to them than all they
have read or heard on secret prayer; it meant reality, not preaching
but practice.

        The hardest part of a missionary career, Mr. Taylor found, is
to maintain regular, prayerful Bible study. "Satan will always find
you something to do," he would say, "when you ought to be occupied
about that, if it is only arranging a window blind." Fully would he
have endorsed the weighty words:

                Take time. Give God time to reveal Himself to you.
        Give yourself time to be silent and quiet before  <236>  Him,
        waiting to receive, through the Spirit, the assurance of His
        presence with you, His power working in you. Take time to
        read His Word as in His presence, that from it you may know
        what He asks of you and what He promises you. Let the Word
        create around you, create within you a holy atmosphere, a
        holy heavenly light, in which your soul will be refreshed and
        strengthened for the work of daily life. [Rev. Andrew Murray,
        in _The Secret of Adoration,_ from the Introduction.]

        It was just because he did this that Hudson Taylor's life was
full of joy and power, by the grace of God. When over seventy years
of age he paused, Bible in hand, as he crossed the sitting-room in
Lausanne, and said to one of his children: "I have just finished
reading the Bible through, today, for the fortieth time in forty
years." And he not only read it, he lived it.

        Hudson Taylor stopped at no sacrifice in following Christ.
"Cross-loving men are needed," he wrote in the midst of his labors in
China, and if he could speak to us today would it not be to call us
to that highest of all ambitions: "that I may know him [the One we,
too, supremely love], and the power of his resurrection and the
fellowship of his sufferings." Can we not hear again the tones of his
quiet voice as he says:

                There is a needs-be for us to give ourselves for the
        life of the world. An easy, non-self-denying life will never
        be one of power. Fruit-bearing involves  <237>  cross-
        bearing. There are not two Christs -- an easy-going one for
        easy-going Christians, and a suffering, toiling one for
        exceptional believers. There is only one Christ. Are you
        willing to abide in HIM, and thus to bear much fruit?

@19
<238>

        APPENDIX

        When Mr. Hudson Taylor laid down the leadership of the
Mission in 1900, five years before his Home-call, the China Inland
Mission numbered 750 missionaries. Today (1932) its membership is
1,285. The income while Mr. Taylor was directing the work and
sustaining it with his prayers ran into millions of dollars, unasked
save of God -- no less than four million dollars. The total income
since 1900 has been almost twenty million dollars, unasked save of
God. And there has been and is no debt. Seven hundred Chinese workers
were connected with the Mission, rich answer to Mr. Taylor's prayers,
and the converts baptized from the commencement numbered thirteen
thousand. Today there are between three and four thousand Chinese
workers connected with the C.I.M., and the baptisms since 1900 alone
number a hundred thousand. "Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but
unto thy name give glory."

        Mr. Taylor was unique in his relation to the work, of which
he was founder as well as Director:  <239>  no one in this sense
could take his place. Yet, in the leader God raised up to follow him,
a gift no less unique has been given. Bearing responsibilities
greatly increased since 1900, Mr. D. E. Hoste has been sustained in a
prayer-life which is the benediction of the Mission, while under his
guidance, through years of storm and stress, the work has gone
steadily on from strength to strength.

        True, there have been times of overwhelming trial and
apparent setback. When the revolution broke out and China, almost
overnight, became a republic, a reign of terror prevailed in certain
districts and the Mission was again called to add to its martyr roll.
In the city of Sian, once capital of the empire, Mrs. Beckman and six
children of missionary families were murdered by a lawless mob, also
Mr. Vatne who was trying to protect them. Not a few missionaries were
obliged to leave their stations for places of greater safety; others,
who hold on, were enabled to protect many of the terrified people
round them, women especially, who fled to the missionary homes for
refuge. Precious opportunities were afforded in those days for living
as well as preaching the Gospel, and the friendly feeling toward
missionaries in the interior was very marked.

        With the spread of lawlessness and cruel banditry, as well as
the organized agitation among students; missionaries and Chinese
Christians alike have had to face great and increasing dangers. But
the amazing thing has really been that changes so stupendous could
take place without more bloodshed and upheaval.  <240>  Swept away
from all the old moorings, reaching out with passionate desire for
better things, China in her helplessness has fallen among thieves.
The desperate counsels of Communism and Bolshevism have prevailed in
many places, to the unspeakable aggravation of existing evils, and
latterly the relentless aggressions of neighboring powers have added
to the distresses of the situation.

        "When brothers fall out," the old Chinese proverb has it,
"then strangers are apt to take advantage of them";  again,  "to
complete a thing, a hundred years is not sufficient; to destroy, one
day is more than enough."

        Yet in the midst of it all, the protecting hand of God has
been over the work, so that advance has been steady in connection
with the evangelistic program of the Inland Mission. The fact that
the work IS evangelistic rather than institutional accounts for much
of the friendliness of the people and their readiness to listen to
the consolations of the Gospel. Never have there been such
opportunities as there are today for the sale of Christian literature
and the witness of living hearts to the saving power of Christ. "The
healing of His seamless dress" is the healing that China needs, and
many are the wounded hearts turning to Him for life and hope amid
conditions of despair.

        That such an hour is no time for retrenchment in the
missionary enterprise must be manifest to all who look to God, who
"look up," rather than at circumstances. This it is that has called
the China  <241>  Inland Mission, of recent years, out from a policy
of waiting, into a glorious advance along the lines of Mr. Taylor's
latest and greatest vision. With regard to the fresh realization that
came to him of the Lord's plain meaning in His definite commission,
"Preach the gospel to every creature," Mr. Taylor had written:

                This work will not be done without crucifixion,
        without consecration which is prepared AT ANY COST to carry
        out the Master's command. But given that, I believe in my
        inmost soul that it will be done.

                If ever in my life I was conscious of being led of
        God, it was in the writing and publication of those papers
        [_To Every Creature_].

        Living seed, though it fall into the ground and die, will yet
bring forth fruit. Mr. Taylor had long gone to his reward when a
second baptism of suffering was permitted, five years ago, in the
overwhelming distress of 1927. More than six hundred members of the
Mission were obliged to evacuate their stations in that tragic year,
when Western Governments, alarmed at a new and fierce outbreak of
anti-foreign agitation, ordered their nationals to withdraw from the
interior.

        This was inspired by propagandists from Moscow   [as Dr.
Robert H. Glover, * now the North American Director of the Mission,
writes]  who incited the  <242>  Chinese soldiery and student body to
acts of violence, particularly directed against missionaries and
other foreigners. ... And so the large majority of missionaries all
over China were forced to leave their stations, their beloved
converts and the work of years, and make their way to the coast.
Thus, almost before they were aware of it, several hundred C.I.M.
missionaries, among others, found themselves out of inland China,
with the door closed behind them.

        * [The Rev. Robert Hall Glover, MD, assumed at the close of
1929 the responsibilities which the Rev. Henry W. Frost, DD laid down
after forty-two years of devoted and successful leadership. Dr.
Frost, to the thankfulness of all concerned, continues his invaluable
connection with the Mission as Home Director Emeritus.]

        To provide for these refugees in the overcrowded settlements
imposed a heavy burden on the funds of the Mission. Fourteen houses
had to be rented in Shanghai alone, and furnished in some sort, and
all the traveling expenses had to be met out of straitened resources.
For many supporters of the Mission at home, seeing that the work was
for the time being largely at a standstill, found other channels for
their missionary giving, and had the China Inland Mission been
depending on its donors rather than on the living God the outcome
might have been very far from what it was. But "God is equal to all
emergencies," as Mr. Taylor loved to remind himself and others, and
His dealings with the C.I.M. in the financial crisis of 1927
constitute one of the most marvelous answers to prayer that the
Mission has ever known.

        The following are the facts. The income of the Mission fell
off in that one year not by thousands but by tens of thousands of
dollars. With largely increased demands upon its resources, and with
strict  <243>  adherence to its principles of making no appeal for
financial help and of never going into debt, how was the situation to
be met -- with an income diminished by no less than $114,000?

        Yes, "God is equal to all emergencies"; and that year He was
pleased to work in an unexpected way. Money transmitted to China from
the home countries has to be changed into silver currency at a rate
which is always fluctuating. But that year the fluctuation, strange
to say, seemed steadily in favor of the Mission funds. More and more
silver was purchasable with the money remitted from home, and by the
close of the year it was found that while $114,000 LESS had been sent
to China than in the previous year, the Mission had profited on
exchange as much as $115,000! Thus all needs were met, and that year
of special trial became one of overflowing praise.

        And as to the matter of the closed door, Dr. Glover
continues:

                It was indeed a sad hour ... and the outlook from the
        human point of view was dark enough. Would the door of
        missionary opportunity ever reopen? The question was
        variously answered ... [by the skeptical, the worldly-wise,
        and the discouraged]. But there were missionaries -- and
        those of the C.I.M. happily among the number -- whose
        anointed eye saw the situation in a very different light.

                That the blow came directly from Satan, and with
        intent to ruin the work of missions, they doubted not. But
        did the Word anywhere teach  <244>  that God's servants were
        ever to accept defeat at the hands of Satan? Assuredly not.
        Had Satan at any time succeeded through persecution in
        destroying the cause of Christ? Far from it. ... Paul, the
        great missionary, testified that the persecutions which
        befell him had "FALLEN OUT RATHER UNTO THE PROGRESS OF THE
        GOSPEL," and he followed on to exhort his fellow-workers to
        be "IN NOTHING TERRIFIED BY YOUR ADVERSARIES." Nothing in the
        New Testament missionary record is more impressive than the
        way opposition and persecution from the enemy were repeatedly
        made by God the very means of advancing the missionary
        enterprise. Every such assault of the adversary today,
        therefore, should become the occasion of a forward movement
        issuing in fresh expansion and enlarged results.

                Now that is just the way the China Inland Mission was
        led to regard the adverse situation with which it was
        confronted. ... Was missionary work in China at an end? How
        could it possibly be, with Christ's Great Commission
        unrevoked, and the task of giving the Gospel to China's
        millions still so very far from completed? At whatever cost,
        the work must go on. And so the Mission went upon its face
        before God in fervent prayer for the reopening of the door
        and for clear guidance as to its future plans.

        Those were days of deep heart-searching, Dr. Glover goes on
to testify, as well as of earnest prayer. And it was then, right in
the midst of the trial, that God gave vision and conviction for a
great advance. For it was then that, on the basis of a comprehensive
<245>  survey of the whole C.I.M. field, the leaders of the Mission
felt clearly led to appeal to God and His people for, not one
hundred, but TWO HUNDRED ADDITIONAL WORKERS for a forward movement of
a strongly evangelistic character.

        Hardly could the constituency of the Mission at home have
been more rejoiced and impressed than when this appeal was received.
It was recognized to be of God, the outcome of much prayer, and at
once new life began to be felt in all parts of the work. The two
years in which the new missionaries were expected, not only asked
for, passed quickly (1929-31), and though faith was tried in various
ways, not least by strong counter attacks of the adversary in China,
the story has been one of profound encouragement and blessing.

        Not only did 1931 witness the outgoing of the last parties of
the Two Hundred -- ninety-one of whom were from North America -- but
the provision made for their reception in China was no less
remarkable. The headquarters of the Mission in Shanghai, which had
long been inadequate for the needs of the work, were replaced during
that year by the much larger, more suitable premises God has provided
without the cost of a single cent to the Mission. An opportunity
came, in answer to much prayer, to sell the old premises for
SIXTY-FIVE TIMES THEIR ORIGINAL COST. They had been the gift of a
member of the Mission now with the Lord, who after more than forty
years was thus enabled to  <246>  provide the new headquarters for
the growing work just when they were so urgently needed. *  And the
new buildings were ready in time to receive the splendid parties of
last fall, when over a hundred new workers arrived in China for the
China Inland Mission in the brief period of one month.

        * [An additional gift from a retired American member of the
Mission supplied admirable premises, also greatly needed, for Chinese
workers and guests.]

        Much more was included in that wonderful provision than the
wisest leaders in the Mission could foresee. For when, early in the
present year, the wholly unexpected attack was made upon Shanghai by
Japanese forces, much of the fighting centered in and around the very
district  (Hongkew)  in which the former headquarters of the China
Inland Mission had been located. Just in time had the guiding hand of
God led to the change which moved the Mission premises three miles
farther back into the International Settlement, to a position of
greater safety. Who but He could have foreseen and provided in this
wonderful way to meet a situation so unexpected and acutely
distressing?

        Yes, He is caring still for the needs of His own work. Little
wonder that the China Inland Mission stands foursquare on the old
truths upon which it was founded; little wonder that it commemorates
with thankfulness the centenary this year, 1932, of the birth of its
father in God, the leader whose faith and obedience brought it into
being. Thank God, there is not one of its twelve hundred and
eighty-five  <247>  missionaries who cannot and does not joyfully
reiterate, today, the conviction of its founder:

                The living God still lives, and the living Word IS a
        living Word, and we may depend upon it. We may hang upon any
        word God ever spoke or caused by His Holy Spirit to be
        written.

        Oh, make but trial of His love;
                Experience will decide
        How blest are they, and they alone,
                Who in His truth confide.

        Fear Him, ye saints, and you will then
                Have nothing else to fear;
        Make but His service your delight,
                Your wants shall be His care.
<248>

           Will every Christian reader of this book join in
              the prayer of which a member of the China
                 Inland Mission working in an inland
                     province writes as follows:

        We have been thrilled by the answers to the prayers of the
Lord's people for two hundred new missionaries for this land, and are
now praying and urging friends to pray for FIVE HUNDRED SPIRIT-FILLED
CHINESE WORKERS to take part of the Forward Movement.

        Send Thou, O Lord, to every place
                Swift messengers before Thy face,
        The heralds of Thy wondrous grace,
                Where Thou, Thyself, wilt come.

        Send men whose eyes have seen the King,
                Men in whose ears His sweet words ring,
        Send such Thy lost ones home to bring:
                Send them where Thou wilt come.

        To bring good news to souls in sin,
                The bruised and broken hearts to win,
        In every place to bring them in,
                Where Thou, Thyself, wilt come.
<249>
        Gird each one with the Spirit's sword,
                The sword of Thine own deathless Word,
        And make them conquerors, conquering Lord,
                Where Thou, Thyself, wilt come.

        Raise up, O lord the Holy Ghost,
                From this broad land a mighty host,
        Their war cry -- We will seek the lost,
                Where Thou, O Christ, wilt come!

        The past has not exhausted the possibilities nor the demands
for doing great things for God. The church that is dependent on its
past history for its miracles of power and grace is a fallen
church. ...

        The greatest benefactor this age could have is the man who
will bring the teachers and the church back to prayer.
                        -- E. M. Bounds, in _Power through Prayer_

<250>
        CHRONOLOGICAL OUTLINE

1832, May 21.   James Hudson Taylor born in Barnsley, Yorkshire,
                England.

1849, June.     Conversion, followed by call to life service.

1850, May.      Beginning medical studies in Hull as assistant to
                Dr. Robert Hardey.

1853, September 19.   Sailed for China, as an agent of the Chinese
                Evangelization Society.

1850-1864.      The Taiping Rebellion.

1854, March 1.  Hudson Taylor landed in Shanghai.

1854-1855.      Ten evangelistic journeys.

1855, Oct.-Nov.   First home "inland": six weeks on the island of
                Tsungming.

1855-1856.      Seven months with the Rev. William C. Burns.

1856, October.  Settlement at Ningpo.

1857, June.     Resignation from the Chinese Evangelization Society.

1858, January 20.   Marriage to Miss Maria J. Dyer.         <251>

1859, September.   Undertook charge of Dr. Parker's hospital, Ningpo.

1860, Summer.   Return to England on first furlough.

1860-1865.      Hidden years.

1865, June 25.  Surrender at Brighton, and prayer for twenty-four
                fellow-workers for inland China.

1866, December. Settlement of the Lammermuir Party in Hangchow.

1867, August 23.   Death of little Gracie.

1868, August 22.   The Yangchow Riot.

1869, September 4.   Entered into The Exchanged Life: "God has made
                me a new man!"

1870, July 23.  Death of Mrs. Hudson Taylor (_nee_ Dyer).

1872, March.    Retirement of Mr. W. Berger.

1872, August 6.   Formation of the London Council of the China Inland
                Mission.

1872, October 9.   Return to China with Mrs. Taylor (_nee_ Faulding).

1874, January 27.   Recorded prayer for pioneer missionaries for the
                nine unevangelized provinces.              <252>

1874, June.     Opening, with Mr. Judd, the western branch of the
                Mission in Wuchang.

1874, July 26.  Death of Miss Emily Blatchley.

1874-1875, Winter.   The Lowest Ebb: Mr. Taylor laid aside in
                England, paralyzed.

1875, January.  Appeal for prayer for eighteen pioneers for the nine
                unevangelized provinces.

1876, September 13.   Signing of the Chefoo Convention.

1876-1878.      Widespread evangelistic journeys throughout inland
                China.

1878, Autumn.   Mrs. Taylor leads the advance of women missionaries
                to the far interior.

1879, Autumn.   Mrs. George Nicoll and Mrs. G. W. Clarke pioneer the
                way for women's work in western China.

1881, May.      Death of Mrs. George King, at Hanchung.

1881, November.   The appeal for The Seventy (Wuchang).

1885, February 5.   Going out of The Cambridge Party.

1886, November 13-26.   First meeting of the China Council, and
                appeal for The Hundred (Anking).

1887, December.   Visit to England of Mr. Henry W. Frost, inviting
                Mr. Taylor to the United States.              <253>

1888, Summer.   Mr. Taylor's first visit to North America.

1889, October. The widest outlook of his life: _To Every Creature._

1889, November.   First visits to Sweden, Norway, and Denmark.

1890, August.   First visit to Australia.

1900, May.      Beginning of the "Boxer" outbreak.

1900, August.   Mr. D. E. Hoste appointed as Acting General Director.

1902, November. Mr. Taylor resigned Directorate to Mr. D. E. Hoste.

1904, July 30.  Mrs. Hudson Taylor's death in Switzerland.

1905, February. Mr. Taylor's return to China on last visit.

1905, June 3.   Home-call, from Hunan.

<End of _Hudson Taylor's Spiritual Secret_,
by Dr. & Mrs. Howard Taylor.>
+
Historical note, based on public information
                (not "authorized" by OMF):
        The China Inland Mission changed its name to Overseas
Missionary Fellowship (OMF), and operates on the same financial
principles, with current work in Cambodia, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea,
Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, and Viet Nam.
Their World Wide Web address is "www.omf.org".
+
        (With apologies for any unpleasantness of tone...)
Disclaimers:
        The Christian Digital Library Foundation, Inc. and Overseas
Missionary Fellowship are not affiliated in any way, and neither
necessarily agrees with nor endorses the other. They would like to
"authorize" (i.e., control/restrict) any mention of their
organization in Internet-distributed media, and neither our
references to them nor this etext are authorized by OMF. (They are a
public entity and are NOT immune to being mentioned in a free press,
whether they like it or not.)
+
        This public domain digital text ("etext") was created from a
public domain print-media edition of "_Hudson Taylor's Spiritual
Secret_ by Dr. and Mrs. Howard Taylor" published by Moody Press. No
copyrighted edition was consulted in the preparation of this digital
version. Although a publisher may copyright their own edition of a
public domain work (as CDLF has done in other cases), this does not
empower them (or us) to control other editions.
+
        If you wish to republish a print-media version of this book
based on THIS digital text, or if you wish to use this etext in your
organization or ministry, we are unaware of any legal requirements
that you seek anybody's permission, but on a principle of scholarly
responsibility we suggest that you contact Moody Press and compare
our (or your) version with theirs; and on principles of politeness
and Christian fellowship, we ask you to get in touch with us at CDLF.
We encourage (but cannot require) you to retain our CDLF annotations
and PGP verification. We will not dunn you for donations nor ask for
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fruit of our labors. (And we would also like to incorporate any
corrections to this etext in subsequent editions.)
+
Personal note:
        Beyond an interest in China itself, this work reveals the
"open secrets" of Hudson Taylor's faith and his power with God and
people. Even for Christians not "called" to Asian ministries or
vocational service with a missionary organization, this account
contains a challenge for those of us at home to be sensitive to the
Spirit's voice: to GIVE at His direction and to GO in faith if He
leads.
        I purchased my first copy of this book in July 1972, while
studying at Campus Crusade for Christ's Institute in Biblical Studies
in Cuerna Vaca, Mexico. (This etext was retyped from that yellowed
and disintegrating copy.) At this distance, I do not remember if it
was "required reading" for an IBS course or not; but it became one
of those "few" books that shaped and defined my walk with the Lord
(together with Torrey's _How to Pray_, Sanders' _Divine Art of Soul
Winning_, and a SHORT list of others).
        I pray that God will continue to use this brief spiritual
biography of one of His choice servants to draw many of His children
into the Exchanged Life, and also to call many to labor in His
harvest fields.
        I considered it worth my time and labor to create this
electronic edition for FREE distribution, and now I ask you who read
also to share it widely and freely, in the name of Jesus.
        May the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Hudson Taylor bless
you richly as you seek to know Him and to make Him known! --ccp

        --<suggested FILE_ID.DIZ>--

HUDSON TAYLOR'S SPIRITUAL SECRET, Dr. &
Mrs. Howard Taylor; p.d. CDLF edition.
Pioneer evangelism of inland China & the
"secret" of Hudson Taylor's spiritual
power. For ALL Christians: SHARE WIDELY.

<End of pre-signed file.>

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