He laughingly told me that he was more content in the midst of this people than he would be at home surrounded by every comfort. He said his expenses amounted to ten dollars a month. Mr. Burns, I exclaimed, that would not keep me in cigars. He said it was sufficient for him. To William Burns and Hudson Taylor, ten dollars a month for a single room, even a room they had to enter through an opening in the floor, seemed like a bargain. But if it hadn't been for their inconspicuous Chinese dress, it is doubtful that they could have survived, let alone preach and make the friendships they did in that violent, hostile city. Europeans were suspect in Sato because of the foreign involvement in the drug and slavery trade which plagued this corrupt city and about which Hudson wrote to his family. About 200 boxes of opium are imported monthly. Each box contains 40 balls of about 40 pounds in weight. Thus, not less than 32,000 pounds weight of opium enter China every month at this port alone. The cost of which is about a quarter of a million sterling. After this, you will not be surprised to learn that the people are wretchedly poor, ignorant, and vicious. A cruel slave trade also is carried on under the name of the coolie traffic. The men are engaged, nominally, for a certain term of years, but few live to return. A bounty is paid them, and they are told they are going to make their fortunes, or they are entrapped by worse means. Once on the ship, the agent receives so much a head for the poor fellows who soon find themselves in captivity of the most horrible kind. Some jump overboard in their efforts to escape, but they are generally retaken and flogged. Some ships carry a thousand, and others three or four hundred, and very many die before reaching their destination, Cuba, Havana, and Cala. Of one ship with several hundreds on board, I heard the surgeon say that not more than two-thirds would survive the voyage. Poor people. In a later letter to his sister, he wrote more about the conditions he saw around him. If ever there was a place needing the blessings of the gospel, it is certainly this place. Men are sunk so low as to have lost all sense of shame, lower even than the beasts that perish. The official classes are as bad as the rest, and instead of restraining evil, are governed themselves by opium and love of money. And if it be possible to live worse lives than the heathen, then the sailors and other foreigners who frequent Double Island do so. Sin does indeed reign here. And as always, those most to be pitied, and whose case seems most helpless, are the women. However low men seek in heathen lands, women seek lower. Looked upon as hardly having any soul, girls are sold here for wives or slaves, and are left entirely without education. Married women and families are not numerous in proportion to the population, but the number of unfortunate women is great. I say unfortunately, for they are bought and brought up for this very purpose. They are the absolute property of their owners, and have no escape from that which many of them abhor. Only a few nights ago I was distressed by heart-rendering screams from two female voices, and an inquirer was told that they were most likely newly-bought women in a house nearby who were being tortured into submission. And that, added my informant, is very common here. The cries went on for about two hours. Poor things. This is hardly a fit subject to write to you about, but unless you know, how can you pity and pray for them? English women little realize all they owe to the gospel. It was in such a setting that Hudson Taylor and William Burns not only lived and survived, but saw such heartening response to their message and made so many friends that they were able, after only four months, to rent an entire house that would serve as the headquarters of their growing ministry. It was at this point that the older missionary convinced Hudson to return to Shanghai for his medical supplies in order that they could open up a hospital as part of their work in Saitao. Hudson went, but only reluctantly. He hated to leave the older man alone to face the oppressive heat and accompanying diseases, of summer as much as he dreaded the temporary end of the companionship that had come to mean so much to him. He recalled a time later, saying, Those happy months were an unspeakable joy and comfort to me. Never had I had such a spiritual father as Mr. Burns. Never did I know such holy, happy friendship. His love for the Word was delightful, and his holy, reverential life and constant communing with God made fellowship with him to satisfy the deep cravings of my heart. But Hudson did indeed sail for Shanghai, where he made the disheartening discovery that all his medical supplies had been destroyed by fire. And before he could replace them and return to Sato, he received the even more distressing news that William Burns had been arrested by the corrupt Chinese authorities in Satao and sent under escort on the harsh thirty-one-day journey to Canton. Hudson himself was forbidden to return to Satau. Suddenly, the path that had seemed so clear before him was again blocked. And yet, it was this latest obstacle in his life's journey that sent him on a detour that he would never once regret. This brings us to the years of 1856 through 1858. Over the political horizon, storm clouds had been gathering for many months. Now the very mail that brought tidings of William Byrne's arrest told also of the outbreak of hostilities between England and China. Hudson had traveled to see Dr. Parker in Ningpo in hopes that he might have some extra medical supplies from which he could replenish his lost equipment. So it was at Ningpo that there came word of the bombardment of Canton by the British fleet, and the start of the war between China and England, which was not to end until four years later. On hearing about the news of war, Hudson's first concern naturally was for William Burns. He was, fortunately, no longer at Swatow, exposed to the rage of the hot-headed Southern people. About all this, Hudson wrote his sister in November. As you are aware, I have been detained in Ningpo by various circumstances, and a sufficient cause has at 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 Satao in time. For if one may judge of the feelings of the Cantonese in Satao by what one sees here at present, it would go hard with anyone at their mercy. So, once again, something that seemed a great calamity one minute will soon seem to be included in the all things that the Apostle Paul said worked together for good for them that love God. And that was a lesson reinforced all the more by yet another development during Hudson's unplanned detention in Ningpo. In the southern section of the city, near the ancient pagoda, was a quiet street named Bridge Street, between two lakes. There, Hudson's old friend and former colleague, Dr. Parker, had opened a dispensary a mile or two from his hospital. It was there, as autumn was advancing, that Hudson Taylor happily found a temporary home. Looking back on those days, he 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 barn-like upper room. 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 unfurnished 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 Miss Aldersey, who, with the help of two young English sisters, was running a surprisingly successful school for girls, the first ever opened in China. The sisters were the orphan daughters of the Reverend Samuel Dyer, one of the earliest missionaries to China. When the Jones family had come to live not far from the school, the younger of the sisters, Marie Dyer, found many opportunities to help out and befriend the busy young mother. Whenever she could, Maria went out with the Jones to do neighborhood evangelism, her fluency in the language providing a big help. Though she was not yet twenty, this bright, gifted girl had the heart of an evangelist. That was no doubt one of the things about Maria that attracted Hudson Taylor's interest, for in the home of his fellow workers he couldn't help but encounter Marie Dyer from time to time, and he soon found that he couldn't help but think of her even when he didn't encounter her. She had such a warm and open manner that the two young people soon became good friends, and before long she began to fill a place in his heart that had never been filled before. But before he was willing to admit his feelings, even to himself, outside circumstances interrupted their blossoming friendship. A plot to massacre all foreigners was discovered. Though the plan was thwarted, hostility among the region's Cantonese population toward the British was so widespread that the foreign community couldn't afford to ignore the danger. So it was decided that families with children would be sent to Shanghai, the port with the most secure foreign settlement. Hudson's familiarity with the Shanghai dialect made him the most logical escort for the party. As much as he hated to leave, he couldn't very well refuse the unwanted assignment. Miss Aldersey could not be persuaded to leave Ningpu. Nearing retirement age, she was in the process of turning the management of her school over to the American Presbyterian Mission and didn't want any additional unnecessary disruptions. So, taking what precautions were possible, She encouraged the Dyer sisters to remain in Ningpo with her. And since Maria's sister had just become engaged to his own special friend J.S. Burden, Hudson worried that Maria would feel all the more alone and unprotected. Yet before he left for Shanghai, Hudson said nothing to Maria or to anyone else about his growing affection. Indeed, he tried to deny it, for he had no reason to believe that she felt the same way about him And he wasn't anxious to have his heart broken again. In addition, his time in China had showed him the kind of sacrifices required to carry out his call to evangelize the interior. And he had begun to realize lately how little security he had to offer a wife. His position with the Chinese Evangelization Society was becoming more and more embarrassing. For some time he had known that the society was in debt and that his salary was being paid from borrowed funds. Recalling the circumstances, he later wrote, Personally, 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. Oh, no man, anything. To borrow money implied to my mind a contradiction of scripture, a confession that God has withheld some good thing and a determination to get for ourselves what he has not given. Could that which was wrong for one Christian be right for an association of Christians? Or could any amount of precedence 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 to 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 affected. I could look right up into my father's face with a satisfied heart, ready by his grace to do the next things 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 and ashamed of the failure to trust such a father. But oh, I was learning to know him. I would not even then have missed the trial. He became so near, so real, so intimate. The occasional difficulty about funds never came from any insufficient supply for personal need, 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, and in consequence, richer fruits. That winter, thousands of homeless refugees poured into Shanghai from districts devastated by the ongoing Taiping rebellion. Some of these sick, starving, often naked refugees lived in cemeteries where they found shelter by breaking into low-arched tombs. Others crowded into any abandoned building, even those in ruins. And although Hudson took charge of one of the chapels of the London Mission and preached daily in the city temple, he went regularly into the haunts of misery to care for sick refugees and to feed many of the hungry. But no matter how busy he was, Hudson's thoughts turned constantly to Ning Po. Could God be in the feelings he was having? He had to be sure. Back in Ning Po, unknown to Hudson, the one he loved was thinking just as much about him. And though Maria also prayed about her own growing feelings, she told no one but God. For she realized that no one else saw what she saw in Hudson Taylor. He was different from others. not more gifted or attractive, though he was bright, pleasant, and seemed to be fun-loving. There was just something about him that made her feel rested and understood. He seemed to live in such a real world and have such a real great God. Though she hadn't seen that much of him during his time in Ningpo, she was startled to find how much she missed him when he left for Shanghai. She heard others criticize his Chinese dress, but she loved it. At least she loved what it represented of his spirit. She also respected his poverty and generous giving to the destitute. His vision to take the gospel to the interior was her vision as well, though it seemed so impractical for a woman. So she thought and prayed about her friend during that long winter he was away in Shanghai, even though she had no assurance of his feeling for her. Love finally conquered the silence. Hudson sent Maria a letter declaring his feelings and asking if she would consent to become engaged. The first thing Maria did when she got the letter was to search out her sister and share her wonderful news. Then the two of them went to talk to Miss Alderzee, whose response was indignant. Mr. Taylor? That young, poor, unconnected nobody? How dare he presume to think of such a thing? Of course the proposal must be refused at once, and that finally. Maria tried to explain how much she felt for him, and that only made matters worse. Miss Aldersey decided Maria must be saved from such folly. The result was a letter, dictated by Miss Aldersey but written by Maria, not only closing the matter but requesting most decidedly that it might never be reopened. Bewildered and heartbroken, Maria felt she had no choice. She was too young and inexperienced and too shy in such matters to stand up against Miss Aldersee's decision, and in the long, lonely days that followed, even when her sister was won over to Miss Aldersee's position, she prayed with a determined faith that nothing, nothing at all was too hard for the Lord. If he has to slay my Isaac, she assured herself again and again, I know he can restore. Yet she wondered if she would ever see Hudson again. When Hudson did return to Ningpo that spring, the situation grew even more painful. Hudson, after the letter he received from Maria, could not attempt to see her, yet his feelings for her remained unchanged, and she had no way to let him know that the letter she had written wasn't any indication of her true emotions. Meanwhile, Miss Aldersey, distressed at Hudson Taylor's reappearance, felt it her duty to disparage him in every possible way. not just to Maria, but throughout the foreign community in Ningpo. His Chinese dress became the object of criticism and scorn, and his new status as independent missionary, not connected to any recognized mission, made him an even better target for criticism. He was accused of being called by no one, connected with no one, and recognized by no one as the minister of the gospel. Other insinuations soon followed. He was fanatical, undependable, diseased in body and mind, and totally worthless. As a gifted and attractive young woman, Maria had no lack of other suitors who were openly encouraged by Miss Aldersey. At the same time, Chinese etiquette, combined with his intention to honor the request of her letter, made it look impossible for Hudson to meet with Maria. Yet, both young people continued praying for some indication of God's will. Then one sultry day in July, at the end of an afternoon prayer meeting of missionary women at the Joneses' house, a storm swept up the tidal river and deluged Ningpo with sudden torrents of rain. Those women who hadn't left included Marie Dyer and one of her closest friends, and they could do nothing but wait until the storm blew over. When Mr. Jones and Hudson returned to the house from the dispensary next door, to learn that Maria and her companion were still waiting for sedan chairs, Hudson's friend, who knew about his feelings for Maria, said to him, go into my study and I will see what can be arranged. A short while later, Hudson's friend came downstairs to tell him that Maria and her friend were now the only ladies left. They were alone with Mrs. Jones and would be glad to see him. Hardly believing his good fortune, his heart pounding in anticipation, Hudson went upstairs to see Maria for the first time in months. He saw nothing in the room but her face. And when he asked her permission to write to her guardian back in England, she quickly and eagerly consented. At the same time, she let him know she felt the same love for him that he'd expressed for her. They recognized the obstacle still before them, but they determined together to keep praying for God's leading in their situation. Finally, knowing the truth of their mutual love brought indescribable joy to the young couple. but it did nothing for their patience as they waited for a response to Hudson's letter to Maria's uncle. And it made the continuance of Miss Aldersey's enforced separation seem all the more trying. Four months stretched out like an eternity, especially when they knew Miss Aldersey had written home with the same accusation she'd been voicing around Ning Po. What if Maria's uncle was persuaded by her charges? What if he refused his consent to the marriage? Both young people felt that God's blessing depended on their obedience to those in parental authority. Taylor wrote later, I've never known disobedience to the definite command of a parent, even if that parent was mistaken. This was followed by retribution. The responsibility 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 the Lord to open the way. The matter is in his hands, and he will take it up." One day near the end of November, patience and faith were both rewarded. The letter arrived. After careful inquiry, Maria's 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 he got nothing but praise from other sources. So, dismissing the unfair criticism for what it was, He cordially consented to his niece's engagement, requesting only that the marriage be delayed until she became of age. Her 21st birthday would be less than two months away. Hudson could scarcely contain his excitement. He had to tell Maria the news, but how? Under the circumstances, he couldn't rush to the school and ask to see her. There was, in fact, no place at the school appropriate for a private meeting to discuss their plans, and his own home was out of the question as well. But when one of the missionary wives from the American Baptist Mission Board heard of his dilemma, she devised a plan to get the couple together. She lived in a quiet place outside the city wall and close to the river. She would send a note to the school asking Maria to visit her at her home. And if somebody else just happened to be there when she arrived, well, such things happen. So it was in Miss Knowlton's drawing room that Hudson waited while a messenger crossed the river to the school. Finally, he heard Maria's voice in the hall. The door opened, and they were together, alone for the first time. More than 40 years later, Hudson-Taylor said of that moment, We sat side by side on the sofa, her hand clasped in mine. It never cooled, my love for her, and it does not cool now. Once they were publicly and officially engaged, they began making up for all the time they had been kept apart. Maria's birthday was on January 16, so the wedding was planned for the following week. Several times that winter, Hudson Taylor's finances dwindled to almost nothing. Once his funds were down to one twentieth of a cent before an unexpected shipment of mail arrived with additional funds from supporters back home. Encouraged as he was by such last minute provision for his needs, he realized again how little he had to offer a wife. He explained his precarious financial situation to Maria, saying, I cannot hold you to your promise if you would rather draw back. You see how difficult our life may be at times. Have you forgotten, she interrupted, I was left an orphan in a far off land. God has been my father all these years. Do you think I should be afraid to trust him now? My heart did sing for joy, Hudson said, recalling the story. And his excitement is obvious in the letter he penned to his mother. I never felt in better health or spirits in my life. I can scarcely realize, dear mother, what has happened. That after all the agony and suspense we've suffered, we are not only at the liberty to meet and to be much with each other, but within a few days we are to be married. God has been so good to us. He has indeed answered our prayer and taken our part against the mighty. May we walk more closely with him and serve him more faithfully. I Wish you knew my precious one. She's 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 to conceive There is no disappointment there and every day as it shows more of the mind of your beloved when you've such a treasure as mine, makes you only more proud, more happy, more humbly thankful to the giver of all good for these best of earthly gifts. The year 1858 and 1859. In the first months after their wedding, Hudson and Maria Taylor broke ground for a small home and headquarters in a rural district a few miles out of Ningpo. Surrounded by a large fishing population They spent a happy month preaching of Christ to people who had never heard the gospel. When they both contracted a fever, which turned out to be typhoid, and they were forced to move back to the city to recuperate and find lodging for the hot summer months in some place where they wouldn't have to sleep on the ground floor. So it was that the little house on Bridge Street, where Hudson had lived for a time as a bachelor, became a real home. Downstairs, the chapel and guest hall remained the same. and the Chinese Christians and inquirers came and went freely. But upstairs, the barn-like attic was transformed into cheery little rooms whose curtained windows looking out on the narrow street in front and the canal behind. Marie Taylor, having lived in that neighborhood for five years, had friends everywhere among the people. Hudson soon realized what an advantage it was to their ministry that women and children could now be evangelized along with the men, and since All the world loves a lover. The obvious affection and warmth evidenced by this young couple attracted old and new friends alike to the fellowship of their home. One of their dearest friends and helpers was an ex-Buddhist leader, a cotton merchant named Mr. Ni. He had lived in Ningpo many years and was a deeply religious man. He spent much of his time and money in service to the gods, yet he was satisfied by the religions he studied and taught to others. Then, passing an open door on the street one evening, he heard a bell being rung and saw people assembling as if for a meeting. Learning that it was a hall for the discussion of religious matters, he too went in. Leading the meeting was a young foreigner in Chinese dress preaching from his sacred classics. The young man seemed at home in the Ningpo dialect, and Mr. Ni could understand every word of the passage he read. But what was its meaning? As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so the Son of Man men be lifted up. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoso 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." Mr. Nee was both puzzled and moved by what he heard. saved, not condemned? A way to find everlasting life? A God who loved the world? The meeting came to a close. The foreign teacher ceased speaking, and with the instinct of one accustomed to lead in such matters, knee rose in his place, looking around at the audience and said simply, 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." This new believer became an ardent student of the Bible. The rapid spiritual growth which resulted was a great encouragement to the Taylors. Not long after his conversion, he obtained permission to address a meeting of the religious society over which he had formerly presided. Hudson accompanied Mr. Nee on this occasion and was deeply impressed by the clarity and the conviction with which he preached. And when one of his former followers was led to Christ through his testimony, Hudson shared Mr. Nee's excitement of becoming a soul winner. One day while talking with his missionary friend, Mr. Nee raised the question, how long have you had the glad tidings in your country? Some hundreds of years, Hudson replied. What? Hundreds of years? My father sought the truth. He continually, sadly, and died without finding it. Oh, why did you not come sooner? It was a painful moment which Hudson Taylor would never forget, and he deepened his sense of calling. There was so much work to be done. He must still take the message of Christ into the interior of China, where millions and millions still died every year without having heard the good news. It was easy for Hudson to grow impatient with the work. What he really needed was more help. He was tempted by the prospect of hiring some of the new Chinese Christians to assist him full-time. Already, Mr. Nee was eagerly devoting all the time he could spare from his business. So were others from the growing band of converts. Ning Ki, the basket maker, Wong, the farmer of Hussie, and Tussie, the teacher. Though they and others were all occupied in their necessary vocations through the day, They often came 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 Maria Taylor was giving many hours daily, or to take on others at a modest salary to train them for positions of usefulness. But the Taylors decided that doing so, while it might prove a short-term help, could well be a hindrance to their goals in the long run. To pay young converts, however sincere, for making known the gospel and to pay them with money from foreign sources would surely weaken their influence in the community and perhaps also weaken their Christian character. How were the converts ever to know the joy of unpaid voluntary service, service out of love for the Lord, unless the missionaries could be patient and wait for their spiritual development? So Hudson and Maria hoped and prayed that the time would soon come when the call of God into Christian service would become obvious to some of the Chinese Christians. And that when it happened, the other Chinese Christians would themselves be ready and willing to support them. How was China to be evangelized but by the Chinese Church? In the meantime, the workload for the young missionaries became a never-ending challenge. Life was full and overflowing with both responsibilities and opportunities. Hudson himself did quite a bit of medical practice as well as regular preaching in the streets and in the chapel. receiving visitors, attending to correspondence and accounts, and continuing evangelistic excursions into the surrounding countryside. None of those duties were allowed to interfere with what had become his chief task, the daily shepherding of his small but growing flock. After the regular public meeting every evening, three separate periods were devoted to carefully prepared study. To begin, Hudson would teach a lesson from the Old Testament. Then, after a time, a chapter was read from Pilgrim's Progress or some other helpful Christian book. And finally, a passage of the New Testament would be discussed and applied to daily life. This regular, nightly schedule for the small band of Chinese believers led up to Sunday with its special services for worship and for reaching outsiders. Sunday had its times of teaching, too. For Hudson Taylor and his colleagues knew that it cost the Chinese Christians dearly to close up shop and store on the first day of the week. They wanted to make the most of the time and sacrifice of the new converts. So, between the regular services, Christians, inquirers, patients, school children, and servants were divided into classes and taught according to their particular needs. This made Sunday a heavy day for the missionaries, for there were only four of them, the Taylors and the Joneses. to share the great load. But there was something unmistakable, almost tangible about their spirit of service and love for the people. It drew more and more people to the Bridge Street Fellowship. Those who came brought others who also sensed the difference in that place. A difference one new visitor recognized when he asked the friend who had brought him, why does my heart feel so much wider when I come into these doors? Perhaps it was because the Taylor's own hearts were as wide open as the doors of their mission to the people around them. For their ministry grew, and the promise of an even greater ministry grew with it. The Treaty of Tien Sin, signed in the summer after Hudson and Maria's marriage, opened the way at last to all of the inland Protestants. Foreigners now had the right to travel freely under the protection of passports. Inland China, which Hudson had prayed for for so long, was now within reach, and yet more patience was required. He wrote home in November, You will have heard before this all about the new treaty. 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 more to publish the glad tidings? Many of us long to go, and 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 the churches already formed, and thus set us free for pioneering work. As anxious as Hudson and Maria both were to take the message of Christ to the interior, they each felt a prior commitment to the care and nurture of the small band of Ningpo Christians of Bridge Street. Leaving them now, even for the good of others, would have been like a parent abandoning their children in the wilderness. Later years proved the wisdom of this decision. Many of these same poor and unlearned Chinese Christians were to become leaders and evangelists among their own people and provided invaluable service to Hudson Taylor and his life's work. But at this time, the Taylors' excitement over the spiritual and numerical growth of their little band of believers was mixed with an impatience to fulfill their greater calling to the vast reaches of inland China. Despite the open door to the interior, And the changing tides of the ongoing war, perhaps in part because of these factors, the widespread attitude toward foreigners remained hostile. The outrages of the coolie trade had spread northward and antagonized many people around Ningpo who heard tales of devil foreigners, kidnapping men and boys and shipping them off to far off lands, never to be seen again. And while neighbors and friends might quickly come to the defense of the tailors, The missionaries lived constantly with the threat that some rabble-rouser might one day incite a riot crowd to take vengeance on any Europeans to be found. It had happened before in other cities, and given the underlying mood of the country, was almost certain to happen again. While there wasn't much they could do for protection, the tailors did keep a boat moored on the canal at the back door of their house, and their rope was kept firmly tied by their bedroom window. that would allow them to escape to the canal under cover of darkness if necessary. Such was the political situation during the second summer after Hudson and Maria were married, when after nine long months of expected waiting, their first child was born. They named her Grace. The thermometer read 104 degrees in the coolest part of the house on July 31, 1859, the day that the little one was born. And only once in the week that followed did the temperature drop below 88 degrees. That was at midnight during a thunderstorm. The political climate remained just as hot. Surging crowds around the mission house had almost rioted a few days before. Cries of, beat the foreigners and kill the foreign devils filled the air. No one had beaten down the doors as easy as that would have been. Despite the continuing sense of danger, fear wasn't the feeling expressed in Hudson's next letter to home. Instead, he wrote, My dear parents, though this is the Lord's Day, I find myself able to pin a few lines which will no doubt surprise you as much as it does myself. The reason is that I'm at home taking care of my wife and baby girl, your first grandchild. Oh, my dear parents, God has been so good to me, to us all, better far than my fears. Oh, magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt his name together." Though it was still some time before the period of dangerous unrest finally passed, the Taylors' joy over their new baby brought a wondrous new feeling of family into their lives. Yet even in this time of personal joy, there came a sad and unexpected occurrence which added greatly to Hudson Taylor's responsibilities and rooted him still deeper in his ministry at Ningpo. Hudson's former colleague, Dr. Parker, had recently completed construction of his new hospital. Located strategically near one of the city gates overlooking the river, its impressive buildings attracted the notice of thousands daily. For the good doctor who had suffered with Hudson through their difficult beginnings in China, it was the wonderful culmination of years of patient work. The hospital, built to accommodate the needs of the foreign community as well as the doctor's Chinese practice, promised to be the foundation of the Parker's ministry for years to come. But suddenly, the doctor's wife was stricken with a fever. Within hours, she died, leaving her grief-stricken husband with the responsibility of caring for their four small children, one of them seriously ill. Dr. Parker saw no alternative but to take his children home to Scotland. But what was to be done about his hospital? The wards were full of patients and the dispensary was crowded day after day with a steady stream of people needing medical help. No other doctor was free to take his place, and yet to close down with winter coming was unthinkable. To complicate things even further, there was no surplus of funds he could leave to continue the work. Yet he couldn't bear to see all his years of hard work and preparation go to waste. Perhaps his young friend Hudson Taylor could carry on at least the dispensary portion of the work as a medical ministry to the local Chinese community. That was the proposition he laid before Hudson, who later recalled the experience. After waiting upon the Lord for guidance, 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 50 inpatients, besides a large number who attended the dispensary. 30 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 outpatient department, the daily expenses were considerable. Hospital attendants also were required, involving their support. The funds for the maintenance of all this had previously been supplied by the doctor's foreign practice. 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. Since resigning from the mission which had sent him to China, Hudson had many opportunities to exercise that faith he had tried to build up during those years of preparation back in England, days which now seemed a lifetime ago and worlds away. And he was learning that God was just as faithful in China as he had been in England, where half a sovereign arrived in the mail the morning after Hudson had given his last coin to a starving family. and where Dr. Hardy's wealthy patient just happened to drop by to pay his bill at 10 o'clock at night in cash. Just one illustration of God's earlier faithfulness needs to be told here. Back when Hudson had been preparing to move from Shanghai to Swatow, to develop the work he and William Burns had begun there, a Chinese servant he had hired to oversee the transportation of his household possessions disappeared with all of Hudson's earthly belongings. While by most standard the loss wasn't great, he estimated at about 40 pounds, it came at a time when Hudson was practically penniless and had no resources with which to replenish even the bare necessities for his survival and continued ministry in China. Acquaintances had urged him to inform the proper authorities and have the man punished severely. But Hudson, who remained hopeful that the man would yet turn to God and repent, took a different course which he described in the letter home. So I have sent him a plain, faithful letter to the effect that we know his guilt, and what its consequences might be to himself. That at first I had considered handing over the matter to the Yah-men, the authorities, but remembering Christ's command to return good for evil, I have not done so, and did not wish to injure a hair on his head. I told him that he was the real loser, not I, that I freely forgave him. This Reformation audio track is a production of Stillwater's Revival Books. SWRB makes thousands of classic Reformation resources available, free and for sale, in audio, video, and printed formats. Our many free resources, as well as our complete mail-order catalog, containing thousands of classic and contemporary Puritan and Reform books, tapes and videos at great discounts is on the web at www.swrb.com. We can also be reached by email by phone at 780-450-3730 by fax at 780-468-1096 or by mail at 4710-37A Edmonton Alberta, abbreviated capital A, capital B, Canada, T6L3T5. You may also request a free printed catalog. And remember that John Calvin, in defending the Reformation's regulative principle of worship, or what is sometimes called the scriptural law of worship, commenting on the words of God, which I commanded them not, neither came into my heart. From his commentary on Jeremiah 731, writes, God here cuts off from men every occasion for making evasions, since He condemns by this one phrase, I have not commanded them, whatever the Jews devised. There is then no other argument needed to condemn superstitions than that they are not commanded by God. For when men allow themselves to worship God according to their own fancies, and attend not to His commands, they pervert true religion. And if this principle was adopted by the Papists, all those fictitious modes of worship in which they absurdly exercise themselves would fall to the ground. It is indeed a horrible thing for the Papists to seek to discharge their duties towards God by performing their own superstitions. There is an immense number of them, as it is well known, and as it manifestly appears. Were they to admit this principle, that we cannot rightly worship God except by obeying his word, they would be delivered from their deep abyss of error. The prophet's words, then, are very important, when he says that God had commanded no such thing, and that it never came to his mind, as though he had said that men assume too much wisdom when they devise what he never required, nay, what he never knew.