“Is it worth while? All, yes! to reach the goal
Were worth the struggle of the whole hard way,
Is it worth while? To help one human soul
Were worth the whole long day.”
— Vera Hope.
“I STRONGLY suspect that by his unconscious influence, Mr. Hudson Taylor did more than any other man of his day to compel Christian people to revise their ideas of greatness,” said C. G. Moore, for many years a member of the China Inland Mission, and afterward Editor of The Life of Faith. “He did both by his humble saintliness and by his sufferings and many labors.” “There was in him,” said an acute observer, “a simplicity, a tenderness, a boldness, a power that hushed and subdued one, and made it, clear that God had admitted him into the inner circle of His friendship.” This silent influence enabled him to control a large staff and secure and retain the sympathy of Christians of another view. Perhaps, too, this is the reason why on a review of the past, Hudson was impressed with the fact that every important development of the Mission had sprung from or had been directly connected with times of sickness and suffering, which had cast him in a special way on God.
In true humility he would frequently say: “It is His work — not mine nor 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.” Thus taking the servant’s place, Hudson became a great man with his Master, and with those who served with him in the happy task of winning China for Christ. Sincerely Christ’s, he said once: “The cause of a want of success is very often that we are only half-saved ourselves. If we are fully saved, and confess it, we shall see results;” and his life and service are a proof of his words. With terse force he asked his helpers: “What is the object of being apprenticed to a builder but to learn to build? What is the outcome of being joined to a Saviour if we do not learn to save? Though we might ourselves be saved, should we be His disciples indeed?” Words that might be pressed upon every one who seeks in any humble degree to be an ambassador for Christ.
This whole-hearted consecration brought concentration and strengthened faith, and before long the money and the helpers flowed in a gracious tide of fertilising blessing.
In 1888 Mr. Taylor went to China via America. There, to his surprise, young men and women came forward to join the band working in China, and in due time an American Blanch of the C. I. M. was formed. These were impressed not by the eloquence of the advocate, but by his holiness. “It was not the words only of Mr. Taylor that helped us. It was the life of the man. He bore about with him the fragrance of Jesus Christ.” Helpers and organizers were provided, for when a work is of God He always has workers ready for the emergency long before foreseen. As Mr. Taylor crossed the Rocky Mountains on his way to China he thanked God for the Spirit’s wonderful ministry, but felt a deep sense that in China itself the powers of evil would oppose him. Success and earnestness in Christ’s service always provoke retaliation, and it was so with the C. I. M. Serious news of the sickness and death of valued helpers reached him at Yokohama, and on landing at Shanghai came the tidings of the death of another worker of much promise, and the serious illness of others; while in the party which accompanied him sickness had broken out.
Misunderstandings between himself and friends at home in regard to the American missionaries added to his troubles; but at the end of 1889 he was able to put on record that the spiritual life of the Mission was higher than ever before; souls were being won and real progress was being made in a number of directions.
In order to clear up difficulties, Mr. Taylor found it necessary to return to England. The difficulties arranged, he visited Sweden, where the work of the C. I. M. was beginning to be known. Here he was received by the Queen, who was in fullest sympathy with his work.
The man seemed to grow with the work. As it expanded new strength was given for the heavier load. As the number of missionaries increased, the desire to see more grew, until he is found praying for 1000 workers for the Celestial Empire. A prayer in which he was joined by his devoted wife. A prayer which was answered in the year 1895.
The Scandinavian contingent of the C. I. M. duly arrived in China, a singing band, and soon won their way to the hearts of the people.
Then another point of organization was settled. It was amicably decided that the headship of those in the field must be on the scene or conflict, the Home Council acting as the base and in harmony with those who faced heathenism.
There was need for increased income, but as the need arose the Lord sent through His stewards more than sufficient to meet all demands. The organization in China had been developed slowly to meet the growing need of the work in charge of devoted men to whom Mr. Taylor had imparted much of his own devotion and enthusiasm.
One tour he took with the greatest risk to his health but full of tokens el Divine favor and grace. His self-sacrifice was infectious. One man, a laborer jealous of the life of Mr. Taylor, said: “If I should die suddenly it is because I have offered the remaining years of my life so that they may be added to his life.”
At Shansi, Pastor Hsi welcomed him with characteristic generosity and love. Everywhere the Christians were glad, and walked before the Lord in great happiness and power.
Riots broke out, bands of soldiers wrought their wicked will upon the helpless, and pillaged the goods; while public feeling, exasperated by the defeat of China by Japan, was bitter against Europeans and their religion. The fierce attack of all the foes upon every isolated post brought out the heroic faith of the missionaries and the faithfulness of their Saviour, who Himself stood by them in the hour of their trouble.
Then weak and sick in body, but strong in faith and radiant with the glory of grace, Mr. and Mrs. Taylor came back to the headquarters of the C. I. M. They arrived in time for the prayer meeting, and sat at the back undiscovered until the supplication had closed. They had reason to be thankful, for the Mission was now well housed. Towards the erection of the new buildings Mr. and Mrs. Taylor had contributed. ₤900.
After a brief visit to Mr. Berger, Hudson went to Germany, and returned home to find that a true supporter Of the C. I. M. had given ₤10,000 to the funds, and had left at least ₤100,000 to be paid in instalments, and all to be expended as received upon aggressive work.
Then in 1897 he paid his tenth visit to China, accompanied by his wife and two other ladies. While there a visit of the Keswick Deputation brought much blessing, reviving the drooping, adding strength to the workers, and bringing them and the unsaved within sight and reach of Christ.
He was again laid low, and spent a time at Chefoo, where he planned a cottage where he and his wife could come for rest when sick or weary.
He visited Australia, and there met with a warm response. Men gave up assured positions, sacrificed comfort and income, to go to China, there to risk life and to face horrors and cruel death that Christ might be made known to those in “heathen darkness dwelling.”
He was still in Australia when the Boxer Riots broke out, and while Mr. Taylor and his friends were voyaging to California the horrors of the Boxer Massacre began. Mr. Taylor, who reached England in a state of collapse, was conveyed to Davos, and there the news came of riot, massacre, and sore distress.
“I cannot read, I cannot think, I cannot even pray — but I can trust,” said he, at the darkest hour of that black time.
A vivid, thrilling account of that period is given in “A Thousand Miles of Miracle” (Pickering & Inglis), one that at once shows what man can bear when God is with him, and what God can do for His own in spite of foes.
Mr. Taylor longed to be back in the midst of the martyrs, if only that he might weep with the sufferers, but he was not able to move. Then it began to dawn upon him that his work was over; perhaps the hardest lesson one who loves his Master can ever learn. To be able to cheerfully stand aside, to be still while longing to be active, and to pass to other hands the standard received from those who died beneath it, requires much grace; but Hudson had learned to obey, even when obedience meant his giving up of that which to him was dearer than life. He bore about the fragrance of the Lord Jesus Christ, and found that Jesus does satisfy, if only we will let Him be all and do all.
Mrs. Taylor’s life slowly ebbed away. Cancer had developed, but she did not know the cause of her pain and lassitude. In 1902 Mr. Taylor passed the control of the Mission to Mr. Hoste, and waited beside his dying wife, whose last days were spent amidst the solemn grandeur and beauty of the Swiss mountains. Almost her last moments were spent in distributing the ₤1500, all that remained of the fortune left by her uncle, among, different societies that sought to save, and then she was ready to go. Seeing the anguish that Mr. Taylor suffered at her pangs, she whispered: “Ask Him to take me quickly.” He prayed, and then she slipped out of his sight into the loving embrace of the Blessed Jesus with whom she had so long communed.
His niece, Miss Mary Broomhall, came to comfort the lonely widower, and Christian friends readily gave him of their tenderest and best.
Hudson slowly regained some measure of health, and earnestly longed to visit China once more. Accompanied by his son and daughter-in-law, Dr. and Mrs. Howard Taylor, he went across America and reached Shanghai, 17th April, 1905. After attending some meetings of the Council he went on to Hankow, and thence to Yen-cheng, a place reached by railway. As the way opened up he visited various centers in Honan. They spent the 39th anniversary of the sailing of the “Lammermuir” at Hankow, and then passed forward to Changsha. They reached the station on Thursday, June 1, 1905, and were warmly welcomed by the staff. On Saturday, Mr. Taylor could not rise for breakfast; in the afternoon he came to a reception in the Mission house garden, to which all the missionaries in the city had been invited. After the guests had departed, Mr. Taylor rose and crossed the room to fetch two fans. One he gave to Dr. Barrie, who asked: “Oh, why did you not let me bring them?” “I wanted to get you one,” was the tender answer. They talked of prayer, end Dr. Barrie said that he was sometimes hampered by the feeling that the things he prayed about were too small to speak to God about. Mr. Taylor answered, “There is nothing small and there is nothing great; only God is great and we should trust Him fully.”
Mr. Taylor took his supper and prepared to go to rest. His daughter-in-law waited while he retired. She went in and found that he was in bed, the lawn burning on the chair beside it, and he leaning over it with his pocketbook open and the home letters it contained spread out before him, the began to talk, when he turned his head, gave a gasp or two, and then he was in the presence of the Lord.
Great was the sorrow that evening among the saints, who had hoped to worship with him on the Lord’s Day, for Mr. Taylor had lived down all criticism, and by his self-denial, humility, self-sacrifice had won a high place among those who love the Lord Jesus Christ. He had initiated a new form of missionary enterprise, and had stimulated to renewed energy the older agencies who had preceded him in the field. And through his labors multitudes had been won for Christ, some of whom had died for their faith and others had lived it amidst hostile surroundings.
One of those who were near on June 3, 1905, when Hudson Taylor went home, remarked: “Thousands and myriads of angels have welcomed him, and as one who had glorified their Lord.” They laid him to rest beside the mighty river at Chin-Siang, there to wait the day of reunion, when partings shall be no more.
Well we remember him and his radiant face, and many of those who labored with him were among those whom we esteemed highly for their work’s sake One Sunday we spent some hours with an aged saint, now in glory, and heard from his lips the tale of Mr. Taylor’s methods, sayings, and life-Passion. After a while we asked: “Was there anything about Mr. Taylor that suggested genius, ability, or exceptional talent? Was he specially skilled as a doctor, eminent as a leader or speaker?” “No, I always felt that he was just an average man,” was the answer, “but he was no ordinary man, because God was with him.”
Alas, some readers of this life may not have realized what was the starting force of all — the finished work of Christ. The moment that Hudson Taylor realized that at Calvary our Lord Jesus Christ actually completed the propitiatory work of redemption and that now all that we have to do is to receive Him and to trust Him as Lord and Saviour, all that followed was possible.
Have you done this? If not, will you do it now? To admire the Lord Jesus, to do many things gladly for His sake is good; but to enjoy salvation He must be accepted as a Saviour and loved as Lord. No one is so foolish as to attempt to improve a framed and finished picture, or completed bow. Once the loaf of bread is baked, nothing is needed but to eat it.
All that is necessary for your salvation was effected at Calvary, and you just need to accept a finished work, and by that work enter into peace. Will you here and now do this? If you will, God can use you for His service, and if you don’t you are not His.
All that was great, noble, and beautiful in Hudson Taylor came from that finished work of Christ, which made him free from sin, gave him peace of heart, and then thrust him forth to do a wonderful work that is still blessing the world. Who can tell what God will do by you if you will but yield to His pleading love?
From the report recently issued we select these facts, that it may be seen what God hath wrought and is still doing as a result of Hudson Taylor’s surrender to Christ. The year 1926 was the Sixtieth Anniversary of the China Inland Mission.
“Today there are 1134 missionaries and 3843 Chinese fellow-laborers, of which 2328 are unpaid, working in China, at 260 stations. There are 1929 out-stations, with 1755 chapels, while there are 15,593 children in the schools, not counting those who are in the Sunday Schools. There are seven provinces of China, in each of which more than 10,000 persons have been baptized. The present membership of the Churches is 67,463, while there are 68,977 Christians under instruction. Altogether, 104,935 have been baptized since the work commenced.
With regard to finance, the story is as wonderful. Without appeal to man: in 1915, when the Society celebrated its Jubilee, the total income of the. Mission was £87,879. In 1920, the year when the rate of exchange was most acute, the income had risen to ₤184,116 or more than double. Neither before nor since has the income reached so high a figure, and never in recent years has the exchange been so inimical to the Mission’s interest. In brief, when the exchange was most adverse the income was at its highest. In 1924 the income was ₤175,217. Assuredly it is trim that the Mission by its faith has discovered:
“Who trusts in God’s unchanging love
Builds on the Rock which naught can move.”
PRAISE GOD.