As that day approached, Samuel's chronic illness grew worse, and when he finally began to improve, the entire family set out by boat from Yangzhou en route to Shanghai to book passage for the children to England. The boat wasn't even out of sight in Yangzhou when the little boy, Samuel, experienced a relapse. All night, Hudson and Maria had nursed their sick child. But at dawn the next morning, aboard the small boat floating down the middle of the great Yangtze River. Samuel slipped into unconsciousness and died. Through a driving rainstorm, Hudson and Maria crossed to the far side of the two-mile-wide river to bury their son in a little cemetery in Xinjiang. As painful as the prospect of separation from their children was, Samuel's death and its reminder of the little girl they had already buried in Chinese soil confirmed in the tailor's minds that their difficult decision was the right one for their children. The older boys and their little girl had to go back to England. In Shanghai, a few weeks later, after escorting the three children and Emily Blatchley aboard a French mail ship set to sail a daybreak, Hudson wrote to his friend, Mr. Berger, I have seen them awake for the last time in China. About two of our little ones we have no anxiety. They rest in Jesus' bosom. And now, dear brother, through the tears, though they will not be stayed, I do thank God for permitting one so unworthy to take any part in this great 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. Never had there been a more troubled time during all their years in China, but through it all the tailors were confident that they made the right decision about their children. I could not but admire and wonder at the grace that so sustained and comforted the fondest of mothers, Hudson wrote of Maria. The secret was that Jesus was satisfying the deep thirst of heart and soul. All manner of sickness raged through the China Inland Mission stationed throughout that year, Before they even reached Chenyang again, after parting from the children, they were met with the news that Mrs. Judd was in that city at the point of death. Hudson couldn't leave that boat because of another critically ill patient on board. So it was decided that Maria would hurry ahead by land to Chenyang to offer what help she could. After days and nights of nursing his wife, Mr. Judd had come to the end of his own strength when he heard sounds of someone arriving in the courtyard below. Who could it be at that time of night, and where had they come from? No steamer had passed up river, and native boats would not be traveling after dark. Maria Taylor, six months pregnant, having ridden all day over rough roads in a wheelbarrow, came rushing into the house. As Mr. Judd himself later recalled, suffering though Mrs. Taylor was at the time and worn with hard traveling, 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 anymore. 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. The patient finally pulled through. But that disease-filled summer would yet take its toll on the mission, and an even greater danger threatened. Hudson wrote, Politically, we are facing a crisis. If our government continues their present, I almost said mad, policy, war must result. In the meantime, our position is becoming almost embarrassing. You can scarcely judge how intricate our path seems at times. As the summer heat intensified, he wrote again to friends of the mission. We had previously known something of trial in one station or another, but now in all simultaneously, or near so, a widespread excitement shook the very foundations of native society. It is impossible to describe the alarm and consternation of 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 T'ingin they rose and barbarously murdered the Sisters of Charity, the priests, and even the French Council. 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, and His providence. In the wake of the Tingsin Massacre, in which twenty-one foreigners were killed, the decision was made to send all the women and children out to the coastal cities. For a time, it seemed as though the Chinese authorities might require them to leave the country altogether. The situation required much correspondence with officials, Chinese and foreign, and frequent letters to those workers most in peril. Meanwhile, the accommodations of the mission house in Xinjiang were taxed to the utmost with extra borders. So widespread was the unrest that no additional premises could be obtained. Old times seem to be coming round again, Hudson wrote to Emily Blatchley in June, referring to the now famous Yangtze Riot, but with this difference, that our anxieties are not as before confined to one place. By this time it looked as though the river stations might have to be given up. The tailors moved to Chenyang since its location was more central than Yangtze. Hudson himself slept on the floor in the sitting room, or in a hallway every night so that Maria could share their room with other ladies. He wrote to Hangzhou near the end of June. One difficulty follows another very fast, but God reigns, not chance. At Nanking the excitement has been frightful. Here the rumors are, I hope, passing away. But at Yangzhou they are very bad. Pray for us much. My heart is calm. but my head is sorely tried by the constant succession of one difficulty after another. In spite of the continuing illness, the political tension, and the expected arrival of a baby any time, Maria's work went on. In the hottest days of the summer, she wrote Emily Blatchley to report, we have been holding classes on Sunday and two or three evenings in the week to interest the Chinese Christians who can read and searching the scriptures and those who cannot read and 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. Yet, even in the midst of his growing troubles, Hudson's joy and excitement over his recent spiritual discovery remained evident to everyone around him. For example, After carefully answering questions from one of the mission workers about the continuing work in Yangzhou, he added these words of encouragement. And now I have the very passage for you. And God has so blessed it to my own soul. John 7, 37 to 39. If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. Who does not thirst? Who has not mind thirst, soul thirst, or body thirst? 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 in 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 soul 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 within him shall flow rivers, rivers like the mighty Yanks, ever deep, ever full. In times of drought, brooks may fail, often do. Canals may be pumped dry, often are. But the Yangs never. Always a mighty stream, always flowing deep, irresistible. In yet another June letter he wrote, Come unto me and drink. Not come and take a hasty draught. Not come and slightly alleviate, or for a short time remove one's thirst. No. 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. Yet again this new and deeper sense of faith would soon be tested. On July 7, 1870, Maria gave birth for the seventh time, and Hudson wrote his parents, telling them the news. How graciously the Lord has dealt with me and mine! How tenderly did he bring my loved one through the hour of trial, and give us our last born, Noel! How I thanked him as I stroked the soft, silky hair, and nestled the little one in my bosom! And how she loved him, when with a father's joy and pride I brought him to her for her first kiss! And together we gave him to the Lord. But immediately upon giving birth, perhaps it had started even before, cholera struck Maria. She quickly grew too sick to nourish the baby. And before a Chinese wet nurse could be found, the little baby died. Maria's own life hung precariously in the balance. Hudson's same letter continued, though excessively prostrated in body, the deep peace of soul, the realization 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. Maria herself chose the hymns to be sung at the baby's funeral. One hymn, O Holy Savior, Friend Unseen, seems to linger in her mind. The words go, Though faith and hope are often tried, They ask not, need not, ought 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 even Jordan's wave, While still they cling to thee. Weak as she was, Maria was not worried about her own health. At the age of thirty-three, She had always been strong, and she felt no pain. She was far from anxious to hear word from England about their children than she was for her own health. When word came on July 21 in a letter from Mrs. Berger saying that all three children and Mrs. Blatchley had arrived safely at St. Hall, it was the most comforting correspondence Maria had ever received. Even her friend's gentle and loving words gave her a sense of peace. And now farewell, precious friend." Mrs. Burger had written, The Lord throw around you his everlasting arms. Two days later, Maria Taylor took a turn for the worse. In the early morning hours of Saturday, July 23, 1870, Maria slept peacefully. So Hudson left her a few moments to prepare breakfast. While he was gone, she awakened and called out. He described his return to her side this way. By the time it was dawn and the sunlight revealed what the candle had hidden, the death-like hue of her countenance, even my love could no longer deny, nor not her danger, but that she was actually dying. As soon as I was sufficiently composed, I said, My darling, do you know that you are dying? Dying? she replied. Do you think so? What makes you think so? I said, I can see it, darling. Your strength is giving way. Can it be so? I feel no pain. Only weariness. Yes, you are going home. You will soon be with Jesus. I'm so sorry, she said, and paused as if half correcting herself for the feeling. You are not sorry to be going to be being with Jesus, are you?" Never shall I forget the look with which she answered. Oh no, it's not that. You know, darling, that for ten years past there has not been a cloud between me and my Savior. I cannot be sorry to go to Him, but it does grieve me to leave you alone at such a time. Yet, He will be with you and meet all your needs. Little was said after that, a few loving messages to those back in England, a few last words about the children, and then Maria slipped into an unconscious sleep. As the summer sun rose over the city, the hills, and the great Yanzi River, the busy hum of life spread throughout the streets and courtyards all around, but it was very quiet in that small upstairs room. George Duncan's wife, who was staying with the Taylors, wrote, I never witnessed such a scene. 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. At nine a.m., Maria Taylor took her last quiet and peaceful breath. Earlier that same year, Hudson Taylor had written, My thirsty days are all past, claiming as true Jesus' promise, He that cometh to me shall never hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. Could that promise hold true now? Back on July 11th, when his newborn son and Maria were both gravely ill, Hudson had written to his mother, I find increasing comfort in the thought that all things are really in our Father's hand, and under His governance. He cannot do but what is best. And now on August 4 he wrote to her again saying, I've just been reading over my last letter to you and my views are not changed, though chastened and deepened. 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. He and only he 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 around 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, for God is nearer to me than ever. And now I have to tell him all my sorrows and difficulties, as I used to tell dear Maria, and as she cannot join me in intercession, to rest in the knowledge of Jesus' intercession, to walk a little less by feeling, a little less by sight, a little more by faith. And to Mr. Berger he wrote, 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 work, His ways, His providence, Himself. He has given 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." Despite that confident faith, Hudson still felt his grief. especially when a new round of illness caused him long sleepless nights. He later wrote, How lonesome were the weary hours when confined to my room. How I 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 heartthirst coming back, I literally cried to him, Lord, you promised, you promised me that I should never thirst. And whether I call by night or day, 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. Late in August, he wrote again to Mr. Berger, saying, It is Sunday evening and I am writing for Mr. White's bungalow. The cool air, the mellow, autumnal beauty of the scene, the magnificent Yanks, with Silver Island beautifully wooded, reposing as it were on its bosom, combined to make one feel as if it were a vision of dreamland rather than actual reality. And my feelings accord. But a few moments ago my home was full, now so silent and lonely. Samuel, Noel, my precious wife, with Jesus, the elder children far, far away, and even little Thien Bo, the son born after the Yang Tsao riots in Yang Tsao, where he was being cared for by a missionary wife. Often of late years his duty called me from my loved ones, but I have returned, and so warm has been the welcome. Now I am alone. Can it be that there is no reward from this journey, no home-gathering to look forward to? Is it real and not a sorrowful dream that those dearest to me lie beneath the cold sod? Ah, it is indeed true, but not more so than that there is a homecoming awaiting me which no parting shall break into, no tears mar. Love gave the blow that for a little while makes the desert more dreary, but heaven more home-like. I go to prepare a place for you, and it is not our part of the preparation, the peopling it with those we love. I have been very ill since I last wrote to you. Through a severe attack of dysentery my strength does not return rapidly. I feel like a little child, but with the weakness of a child I have the rest of a child. I know my father reigns. This meets all questions of every kind. I have heard today that war is broken out in Europe between France and Prussia. that it is rumored that England joins the former and Russia the latter. If so, fearful doings may be expected. But the Lord reigneth." Hudson's toddler son, Tingbo, suddenly became critically sick, and the concerned father took him to an island off the coast in the hopes that the change of climate would save his life. He recovered only slowly. And even as Hudson tended to the needs of his last child left in China and prayed for his recovery, he thought often of his other children, a three-year-old daughter and the older boys who were eight and nine, halfway around the world. 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. 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 heart 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 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 his way and pray God to make it plain to you and to help you so trust Jesus. To Miss Blatchley, Hudson had written about Maria's death, saying, You will love them all the more now that you can never again know a mother's care. God will help you to bear with them and to try to correct them by lovingly pointing out the right way rather than too frequent reproof. Don't do this or that. This, I feel, is where I most failed with them. And now there is only you to make up for my deficiencies." To his children, he wrote yet again, my darling treasures. It is not very long since my last letter, but I want to write again. I wonder if you will try to write me a little answer. I've been thinking tonight if Jesus makes me so happy by always keeping near me and talking to me every minute or two, though I cannot see him, how happy darling Mama must be. I'm so glad for her to be with him. I shall be so glad to go to her when Jesus thinks it's best. But I hope he will help me to be equally willing to live with him here, so long as he has any work for me to do for him and for poor China. Now, my darling children, I want you to love Jesus very much and to know that he really does love you very, very much. Don't you think your far-off dear Papa would be well pleased to see you and talk to you? and to take you on his knee and kiss you, you know that he would. Well, Jesus will always be far more pleased than you think of him with loving thoughts and speak to him with loving words. Don't think of him as some dreadful being. Think of him as very good and very great, able to do everything, but is very gentle and very kind. To his remaining children now in England, he admonishes them to also love Jesus with all their heart and to begin each day with these words. Good morning, dear Jesus. I am so glad you have been by me all night and have taken care of me. Teach me how much you love me. Take care of my heart. Make it think good thoughts. Take care of my lips. Only let them speak kind, good words. Help me always to know what is right and to do it. He likes us to talk to him," Hudson said. When I'm walking alone, I often talk aloud. At other times, I talk to him in my heart. Do not forget, my darling children, that he is always with you, awake or asleep, at home or elsewhere. He is really with you, though you cannot see him. So I hope you will try not to grieve so constant and kind a friend." To Emily Blanchly he wrote, 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 of 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 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. There was, meanwhile, no easing of tensions in China. The claims made by European countries concerning the Tingshan Massacre was now being ignored by the Chinese government. Knowing that Europe was consumed by war, the Chinese authorities did nothing to ease the anti-foreign agitation. Hudson spelled out the seriousness of the situation in a letter he sent out at the end of the year, calling friends and supporters to unite on December 31 in a day of fasting and prayer for China. He wrote, 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 the cup of the man of sorrows can testify that it has been a most blessed year to our souls and can give 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 uncertain and unreliable and 2. that we have been in calmness and joy in our various positions of duty. If in any measure we have failed to rest for ourselves in God's power to sustain us or to 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 that 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 special 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 the ongoing concerns over financial support of the mission, Hudson wrote, I need not remind you of the liberal help which the Lord has sent us direct, in our time of need, 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 Early in 1871, Hudson's liver ailment grew worse. His lungs caused not just pain, but serious difficulty in breathing. The resulting sleepless nights caused a physical breakdown and spiritual discouragement. There seemed no alternative but to journey home to recover his health and to see to mission business back in England. Hudson had no idea what desert dry times lay ahead or how much he had yet to learn about Jesus' promise to always quench the thirst of the thirsty. 1870-1873 In that eventful year of 1870, Hudson Taylor was still a young man in his thirties. The China Inland Mission included thirty-three members and occupied stations in three of China's twelve provinces, and all its Chinese converts were gathered into a dozen small Yet after sixteen years of demanding, health-breaking missionary service at great personal cost, the loss of his wife and three of his beloved children, Hudson hadn't lost sight of the goal. In fact, he felt more certain than ever that God had called, and was still calling, him to evangelize the whole country of China, as impossibly huge as the task seemed. So it was a physically worn and weary man but by no means a defeated one who finally accepted the inevitable need to journey once again to England to regain his health, and, of course, to do whatever he could in the way of mission business while he was there. Miss Ginny Falding, the youngest of the missionaries to accompany the tailors on the Lammermuir, and the one who had done such an impressive job heading up the women's work at Hangzhou, had been due to go on furlough and had attempted to purchase passage on an earlier ship. When those plans fell through, she happened to be taking the same steamer Hudson took to England. During the two-month voyage, Hudson found the respect and brotherly fondness he had always felt toward Jenny quickly developing into more than friendship. And not long after they reached England, Hudson and Jenny were married. But despite this new cause for joy in his life and his quickly returning health, the furlough, designed as a time of rejuvenation, instead brought a greater level of new responsibility and added more work than Hudson had imagined, more, it soon proved, than he could ever hope to handle. 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 required them to spend winter abroad. St. Hill, the beautiful home they so generously allowed to serve as the home headquarters of the China Inland Mission, needed to be sold. Now all correspondence, account-keeping, editorial work, screening and testing of candidates, and day-to-day management of the mission's business had to be assumed by someone else. That someone was Hudson. There was no one beside Mr. Berger who knew enough about the ongoing operation of the mission to step in. Hudson would have to stay in England until other arrangements could be made. And an impatient, discouraged Hudson Taylor realized that he had no idea what those arrangements should be or how long they would take. More than ever before he felt the call of China and that great country's spiritual needs. But now, in addition to his seemingly impossible responsibilities as director of the mission in China itself, he was suddenly the mission's sole executive in charge of the Home Office. It wasn't much of an office. From the beautiful setting of St. Hill, the China Inland Mission's headquarters had to be moved to Pireland Road, a little suburban street in the north of London. And the change from Mr. Berger's spacious library to the small back room which served as Hudson's personal study, as well as mission headquarters, was just as extreme. During this time, which must have seemed like an interval of serious setback for the mission and for him personally, Hudson wrote, My path is far from easy. I never was more happy in Jesus and I'm 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 we can show himself. Without them we could never know how tender and 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, Beloved, I make all things new. After years of challenging, exciting work in China, it must have been difficult indeed for Hudson to yield to the routine of office work as weeks and months went by. Yet he found contentment enough to write one of his fellow missionaries. 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 10 years would be well spent, and we should have full value for them if we thoroughly learned in it those truths. Moses seems to have been taken aside for 40 years to learn it. Meanwhile, let us beware alike of the haste of the impatient, impetuous flesh, and of its disappointment and weariness." It certainly wasn't as if nothing was being accomplished. Hudson made many new friends and contacts for the mission. Numerous churches and groups asked him to speak to them about his experience and work. And his witness and example attracted many young people to consider missionary service in China. F.W. Baller, for example, was one young man who went on to become not only a pioneer missionary in China, but a noted linguist and scholar of the Chinese language. At this time, however, he was merely a bright young Londoner who had recently become a Christian and was curious about what it would mean to become a missionary. One day he made his way to Parliament Road where he found himself in a plainfully furnished room in which a small group of people were gathering for a prayer meeting. He later recalled, a large text faced the door by which we entered. It read, My God shall supply all your need. And as I was not accustomed to seeing text hung on walls in that way, decidedly impressed me. Between a dozen and twenty people were present. Mr. Taylor, opening 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 a physical presence in a leader. But when he said, Let us pray, and proceeded to lead the meeting in prayer, my ideas underwent a radical 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 tearing in the secret place and was a do 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 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 have ever attended. From the west of England, a young woman of education and refinement, Miss Salto, had come to London to attend the Mid-May Conference, a large Christian meeting held near the China Inland Mission headquarters. While at the conference, she stayed as a guest at Pireland Road. She heard Mr. Taylor giving the opening address of the conference, when two or three thousand people crowded the Great Hall and saw how he influenced leaders of Christian thought. But it was in that everyday life of the mission house that Hudson Taylor most impressed her and was a big part of the inspiration that led her also into missionary service in China. Long afterwards she wrote of those first days in London. I remember Mr. Taylor's exhortation to keep silent to all around and let our wants be known only to God. 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 disheartened by the shortness of funds after Mr. Berger's retirement, Hudson determined to press forward with the mission's goal. Standing before the big map of China one day in the office at Pireland Road, he turned to a few friends who were with him and asked, Have you faith to join me in laying hold upon God for eighteen men to go to and to to the nine unevangelized provinces? And the little group joined hands in front of the map to pray and promise each other and God that they would each continue to pray every day for the 18 evangelists needed to meet the new goal. As the months in England passed, a very promising solution was found to the problem of home leadership of the mission. Instead of one person like Mr. Berger, who would devote most of his time and service to the task, Hudson established a council of Christian friends who were willing and able to divide among themselves the homework of the mission. The work could go on without unduly overloading anyone on the Council, and Hudson and his new bride could finally go back to the front lines of the work in China. Emily Blatchley would remain with the Taylor children at Pireland Road. Being intimately acquainted with the mission's work in China and at home, as a result of her former role as Hudson's personal secretary, she could provide invaluable assistance to the Council as well. 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, that's E-D-M-O-N-T-O-N 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.