XVI
OVERFLOW

In Thy strong hand I lay me down,
So shall the work be done;
For who can work so wondrously
As the Almighty One?
SELECTED
THIRTY years of active life as Director of the China Inland Mission
remained to Mr. Taylor, and more than thirty years have passed since he
laid down those responsibilities. Sixty years, the average span of two
generations, have given time to test the tree by its fruit — to prove, in
other words, what has been the outcome of the faith and joy in God in
which his life was rooted. If the experiences we have traced were
emotional and unreal, if the spiritual is not also the practical, if God is not
sufficient for the needs of His own work, apart from financial guarantees
or human protection, then the acid test of time will surely have dissolved
the illusions. But if Hudson Taylor, with all his limitations, had really
found the secret of power and blessing in living union with the Lord Jesus
Christ, then the results remain — and will, to all eternity.
All things are possible to God,
To Christ the power of God in man,
To me when I am all renewed,
In Christ am fully formed again,
And from the reign of sin set free, —
All things are possible to me.
In the testing days of 1870, Hudson Taylor was still a young man in his
thirties, and the Mission only numbered thirty-three members. Stations
had been opened in three provinces and converts gathered into ten or
twelve little churches. It was still a day of small things; yet the burden was
considerable when it all came upon one man, and he already wearied with
five such years in China.
For by the end of 1871, it became clear that Mr. and Mrs. Berger, who had
so generously cared for the home side of the Mission, could no longer
continue their strenuous labors. Failing health obliged them to winter
abroad. Saint Hill was to be sold, and all the correspondence, account
keeping and editorial work, the testing of candidates and practical
management of business details must pass into other hands. The links of
loving sympathy remained the same. But it was with a sense of almost
desolation that Mr. Taylor took over the responsibility, which
necessitated his remaining for a time in England.
It was a far cry from Saint Hill to Pyrland Road, a little suburban street in
the north of London, and the change from Mr. Berger’s library to the small
back room which had to do duty as study and office in one was no less
complete. But how dear and sacred to many a heart is every remembrance
of “Number Six” and the adjacent houses acquired as need arose! For more
than twenty years the home work of the Mission was carried on from that
center, a few steps only from its present headquarters. The weekly prayer
meeting was held in the downstairs rooms, two of which could be thrown
together, and many a devoted band of men and women, including “The
Seventy” and “The Hundred,” went forth from those doors. But we are
running far ahead of the small beginnings of 1872 when Mr. Taylor himself
was the sole executive of the Mission, as well as the Director of its work
in China.
My path is far from easy (he wrote early that year). I never was more
happy in Jesus, and I am very sure He will not fail us; but never from the
foundation of the Mission have we been more cast upon God. It is well,
doubtless, that it should be so. Difficulties afford a platform upon which
He can show Himself. Without them we could never know how tender,
faithful and almighty our God is.... The change about Mr. and Mrs. Berger
has tried me not a little. I love them so dearly! And it seems another link
severed with the past in which my precious departed one, who is seldom
absent from my thoughts, had a part. But His word is, “Behold, I make all
things new. “
Longing to press forward with the great task before the Mission, it must
have been difficult indeed for Mr. Taylor to curb himself to the routine of
office work as days and weeks went by. He was not in haste to rush into
new arrangements, having no indication as to what the Lord had in view.
But when prayer for the right helpers seemed to bring no answer, and the
work to be done kept him from what he was tempted to regard as more
important matters, it would have been easy to be impatient or discouraged.
With one in similar trial he sought to share some of the lessons he was
learning.
It is no small comfort to me to know that God has called me to my work,
putting me where I am and as I am. I have not sought the position and I
dare not leave it. He knows why He places me here — whether to do, or
learn, or suffer. “He that believeth shall not make haste.” That is no easy
lesson for you or me; but I honestly think that ten years would be well
spent, and we should have our full value for them, if we thoroughly
learned it in them.... Moses seems to have been taken aside for forty years
to learn it.... Meanwhile, let us beware alike of the haste of the impatient,
impetuous flesh, and of its disappointment and weariness.
But this restricted life, because of its real fellowship with the Lord Jesus
Christ, was bearing fruit, and it is interesting to note the reaction of young
people especially to its influence. In the busy world of London, a bright
lad had given his heart to the Lord and desired to learn about opportunities
for life — work in China. Making his way to Pyrland Road, he found
himself in the plainly furnished room where people were gathering for the
prayer meeting.
A large text (he recalled) faced the door by which we entered, “My God
shall supply all your need,” and as I was not accustomed to seeing texts
hung on walls in that way, decidedly impressed me. Between a dozen and
twenty people were present....
Mr. Taylor opened the meeting by giving out a hymn, and seating himself
at the harmonium led the singing. His appearance did not impress me. He
was slightly built, and spoke in a quiet voice. Like most young men, I
suppose I associated power with noise, and looked for physical presence
in a leader. But when he said, “Let us pray,” and proceeded to lead the
meeting in prayer, my ideas underwent a change. I had never heard anyone
pray like that. There was a simplicity, a tenderness, a boldness, a power
that hushed and subdued me, and made it clear that God had admitted him
to the inner circle of His friendship. Such praying was evidently the
outcome of long tarrying in the secret place, and was as dew from the
Lord.
I have heard many men pray in public since then, but the prayers of Mr.
Taylor and the prayers of Mr. Spurgeon stand all by themselves. Who
that heard could ever forget them? It was the experience of a lifetime to
hear Mr. Spurgeon pray, taking as it were the great congregation of six
thousand people by the hand and leading them into the holy place. And to
hear Mr. Taylor plead for China was to know something of what is meant
by the “effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man.” That meeting lasted
from four to six o’clock, but seemed one of the shortest prayer meetings I
had ever attended.
From the west of England, a girl of education and refinement had come up
to London to attend the Mildmay Conference, and was staying as a guest
at Pyrland Road. She heard Mr. Taylor give the opening address, when
two to three thousand people crowded the great hall, and saw how he
influenced leaders of Christian thought. But it was in the everyday life of
the Mission house hard by that he impressed her most — bearing its
burdens and meeting its tests of faith with daily joy in the Lord.
I remember Mr. Taylor’s exhortation (Miss Soltau wrote long after) to
keep silent to all around and let our wants be known to God only. One
day, when we had had a small breakfast and there was scarcely anything
for dinner, I was thrilled to hear him singing the children s hymn:
“Jesus loves me, this I know,
For the Bible tells me so.”
Then he called us together to praise the Lord for His changeless love, to
tell our needs and claim the promises. And before the day was over we
were rejoicing in His gracious answers.
Far from being discouraged by the shortness of funds after Mr. Berger’s
retirement, Mr. Taylor was looking forward more definitely than ever
toward advance. Standing before the big map of China one day at Pyrland
Road, he turned to a few friends who were with him and said:
“Have you faith to join me in laying hold upon God for eighteen men to go
two and two to the nine unevangelized provinces?”
Miss Soltau was of the group and still recalls how they joined hands
before the map, earnestly covenanting to pray daily for the eighteen
evangelists needed until they should he given. There was no doubt about
the faith. But how little any of them dreamed of the wider expansion that
was coming; of the important part Miss Soltau herself was to take in the
development of the Mission, or of the unique service to be rendered by F.
W. Baller, the bright lad mentioned above — both drawn to the work at
this time through the unconscious overflow of Mr. Taylor’s life.
So the waiting time was fruitful, and when Mr. Taylor was able to return
to China he left behind him a Council of long-tried friends in London, in
addition to Miss Blatchley in charge of the home and children at Pyrland
Road. It was not a large balance that he transferred to the honorary
secretaries. Twenty-one pounds was all the money they had in hand. But
there was no debt, and it was with confidence Mr. Taylor wrote to the
friends of the Mission:
Now that the work has grown, more helpers are needed at home, as
abroad, but the principles of action remain the same. We shall seek
pecuniary aid from God by prayer, as heretofore. He will put it into the
hearts of those He sees fit to use to act as His channels. When there is
money in hand it will be remitted to China; when there is none, none will
be sent; and we shall not draw upon home, so that there can be no going
into debt. Should our faith be tried as it has been before, the Lord will
prove Himself faithful as He has ever done. Nay, should our faith fail, His
faithfulness will not — for it is written, “If we believe not, yet he abideth
faithful.”
Never was this confidence more needed than when, after an absence of
fifteen months, the leader of the Mission found himself again in China.
Through sickness and other hindrances, the work was discouraging in
several of the older centers. Little churches were not what they had been;
stations were undermanned, some even closed, and Mr. Taylor scarcely
knew where to begin to give the help and encouragement needed. Instead
of planning for advance to unreached provinces, it was all he could do to
build up the existing work. Well was it, for his own comfort, that he had
with him the devoted companion God had brought into his life. Miss
Faulding, the much-loved leader of the women’s work in Hangchow, had
become his second wife, commencing the selfless ministry at his side
which for thirty-three years endeared her to the entire fellowship of the
Mission. But they were often parted. In wintry weather with snow deep
on the ground, Mr. Taylor was thankful to spare her the journeys he
himself had to take, often at no little cost.
I have invited the church members and inquirers to dine with me tomorrow
(he wrote from one closed station). I want them all to meet together. May
the Lord give us His blessing. Though things are sadly discouraging, they
are not hopeless; they will soon look up, by Gods blessing, if they are
looked after.
Very characteristic of the practical nature of Mr. Taylor’s faith was that
little word, “things will soon look up, by God’s blessing, if they are
looked after.” Taking himself the hardest places, and depending on the
quickening power of the Spirit, he went on prayerfully and patiently,
straightening out difficulties and infusing new earnestness into converts
and missionaries alike. Joined by Mrs. Taylor in the Yangtze valley, he
spent three months at Nanking, giving much time to direct evangelism.
Every night we gather large numbers by means of pictures and lantern
slides (he wrote from that city) and preach to them Jesus.... We had fully
five hundred in the chapel last night. Some did not stay long; others were
there nearly three hours. May the Lord bless our stay here to souls....
Every afternoon women come to see and hear.
Something of the inward sustaining may he gathered from a question in a
letter to Miss Blatchley:
If you are ever drinking at the Fountain (he wrote) with what will your life
be running over? — Jesus, Jesus, Jesus!
It was a full cup he carried, in this sense, and the overflow was just what
was needed. So the visits accomplished their object, and were continued
until Mr. Taylor had been, once at any rate, at every station, and almost
every outstation in the Mission. Not content with this, he sought out the
Chinese leaders in each place; and the evangelists, colporteurs, teachers
and Bible-women, almost without exception, were personally helped.
When they could be together, Mrs. Taylor’s assistance was invaluable,
and they would work at times far into the night attending to
correspondence. On medical journeys she was often his companion; or she
might remain at one station where there was sickness, while he went on to
another. How glad they were of his medical knowledge in those days, for
there was no other doctor in the Mission or anywhere away from the
treaty ports. Needless to say, it added not a little to Mr. Taylor’s burdens
— as when he reached a distant station to find ninety-eight letters awaiting
him, and took time the very next day to write a page of medical
instructions about “A-liang’s baby,” A-liang being a valued helper at
Chinkiang. But whether it meant longer letters or extra journeys, he was
thankful for any and every way in which he could help. To be “the servant
of all” was the privilege he desired most.
The Lord is prospering us (he was able to write after about nine months)
and the work is steadily growing, especially in that most important
department, native help. The helpers themselves need much help, much
care and instruction; but they are becoming more efficient as well as more
numerous, and the hope for China lies doubtless in them. I look on foreign
missionaries as the scaffolding round a rising building; the sooner it can be
dispensed with the better — or the sooner, rather, that it can be
transferred to serve the same temporary purpose elsewhere.
What prayer and vision went hand in hand with these unremitting labors!
It would have been easy to lose the sense of urgency about the great need
beyond, in the stress of needs at hand, especially when funds for the
existing work were none too plentiful. But with Mr. Taylor, just the
reverse was the case. Traveling from place to place, long journeys between
the stations, through populous country teeming with friendly, accessible
people, his heart went out more and more to the unreached, both near and
far.
Last week I was at Taiping (he wrote to the Council in London). My heart
was greatly moved by the crowds that literally filled the streets for two or
three miles, so that we could hardly walk, for it was market day. We did
but little preaching, for we were looking for a place for permanent work,
but I was constrained to retire to the city wall and cry to God to have
mercy on the people, to open their hearts and give us an entrance among
them.
Without any seeking on our part, we were brought into touch with at least
four anxious souls. An old man found us out, I know not how, and
followed me to our boat. I asked him in and inquired his name.
“My name is Dzing,” he replied. “But the question which distresses me,
and to which I can find no answer, is — What am I to do with my sins?
Our scholars tell us that there is no future state, but I find it hard to
believe them.... Oh, sir, I lie on my bed and think. I sit alone in the daytime
and think. I think and think and think again, but I cannot tell what is to be
done about my sins. I am seventy-two years of age. I cannot expect to
finish another decade. ‘Today knows not tomorrow’s lot,’ as the saying is.
Can you tell me what to do with my sins?”
“I can indeed,” was my reply. “It is to answer this very question that we
have come so many thousands of miles. Listen, and I will explain to you
what you want and need to know.”
When my companions returned, he heard again the wonderful story of the
Cross, and left us soothed and comforted... glad to know that we had
rented a house and hoped soon to have Christian colporteurs resident in
the city.
Just the same work needed doing in more than fifty cities in that one
province of Chekiang, cities without any witness for Christ. And oh, the
waiting millions beyond! Alone there in his boat, Mr. Taylor could only
cast the burden on the Lord. Faith was strengthened, and in one of his
Bibles may be seen the entry he made the following day, January 27,
1874:
Asked God for fifty or a hundred additional native evangelists and as
many missionaries as may be needed to open up the four Fu’s and
forty-eight Hsier cities still unoccupied in Chekiang, also for men to break
into the nine unoccupied provinces. Asked in the name of Jesus.
I thank Thee, Lord Jesus, for the promise whereon Thou hast given me to
rest. Give me all needed strength of body, wisdom of mind, grace of soul
to do this Thy so great work.
Yet, strange to say, the immediate sequel was not added strength, but a
serious illness. Week after week he lay in helpless suffering, only able to
hold on in faith to the heavenly vision. Funds had been so low for months
that he had scarcely known how to distribute the little that came in, and
there was nothing at all in hand for extension work. But, “we are going on
to the interior,” he had written to the secretaries in London. “I do so hope
to see some of the destitute provinces evangelized before long. I long for it
by day and pray for it by night. Can He care less?”
Never had advance seemed more impossible. But in the Bible before him
was the record of that transaction of his soul with God, and in his heart
was the conviction that, even for inland China, God’s time had almost
come. And then as he lay there slowly recovering, a letter was put into his
hands which had been two months on its way from England. It was from
an unknown correspondent.
My dear Sir (the somewhat trembling hand had written), I bless God — in
two months I hope to place at the disposal of your Council, for further
extension of the China Inland Mission work, eight hundred pounds.21
Please remember, for fresh provinces....
The other week, when I reached Shanghai, we were in great and immediate
need. The mails were both in, but no remittance! And the folios showed no
balance at home. I cast the burden on the Lord. Next morning on waking I
felt inclined to trouble, but the Lord gave me a word — “I know their
sorrows, and am come down to deliver”; “Certainly I will be with thee” —
and before 6 A.M. I was as sure that help was at hand as when, near noon,
I received a letter from Mr. Muller which had been to Ningpo and was
thus delayed in reaching me, and which contained more than three hundred
pounds.
I think your receipt-form beautiful: “The Lord our Banner”; “The Lord
will provide.” If faith is put forth and praise sent up, I am sure that
Jehovah of Hosts will honor it.
Eight hundred pounds for “fresh provinces”! Hardly could the
convalescent believe he read aright. The very secrets of his heart seemed to
look back at him from that sheet of foreign note paper. Even before the
prayer recorded in his Bible, that letter had been sent off; and now, just
when most needed, it had reached him with its wonderful confirmation.
Then God’s time had surely come!
From his sick-room back to the Yangtze valley was the next step, and
those spring days witnessed a notable gathering at Chinkiang. There, as in
almost all the stations, new life had come to the Chinese Christians.
Converts were being received into the churches, and native leaders were
growing in zeal and usefulness. Older missionaries were encouraged amid
the needs of their great districts, and young men who had made good
progress with the language were eager for pioneering work. As many as
could leave their stations came together for a week of prayer and
conference with Mr. Taylor, before he and Mr. Judd set out up the great
river to seek a base for the long-prayed-for western branch of the Mission.
Is it not good of the Lord so to encourage us (Mr. Taylor wrote from
Chinkiang) when we are sorely tried from want of funds?
For it was not any abundance of supplies that accounted for the new note
of joy and hope, as may be judged from the following letter to a friend
deeply experienced in the life of faith.
Never has our work entailed such real trial or so much exercise of faith.
The sickness of our beloved friend, Miss Blatchley, and her strong desire
to see me; the needs of our dear children; the state of funds; the changes
required in the work to admit of some going home, others coming out, and
of further expansion, and many other things not easily expressed in
writing, would be crushing burdens if we were to bear them. But the Lord
bears us and them too, and makes our hearts so very glad in Himself —
not Himself plus a bank balance — that I have ever known greater freedom
from care and anxiety.
My need now is great and urgent, but God is greater and more near. And
because He is and is what He is, all must be, all is, all will be well. Oh, my
dear brother, the joy of knowing the living God, of seeing the living God,
of resting on the living God in our very special and peculiar circumstances!
I am but His agent. He will look after His own honor, provide for His own
servants, and supply all our need according to His own riches, you helping
by your prayers and work of faith and labor of love.
A note to Mrs. Taylor, of about the same time (April, 1874), breathed a
like confidence: “The balance in hand yesterday was eighty-seven cents.
The Lord reigns; herein is our joy and rest!” And to Mr. Baller he added,
when the balance was still lower, “We have this — and all the promises of
God.”
“Twenty-five cents,” recalled the latter, “plus all the promises of God!
Why, one felt as rich as Croesus, and sang:
I would not change my blest estate
For all the earth holds good or great;
And while my faith can keep its hold,
I envy not the sinner’s gold.
The hymn of the Conference that spring at Chinkiang was, “In some way
or other the Lord will provide,” and it was with this in mind that Mr.
Taylor wrote to Miss Blatchley:
I am sure that, if we but wait, the Lord will provide.... We go shortly, that
is, Mr. Judd and myself, to see if we can procure headquarters at
Wuchang, from which to open up western China as the Lord may enable
us. We are urged on to make this effort now, though so weak-handed, both
by the need of the unreached provinces and by our having funds in hand
for work in them, while we have none for general purposes.... I cannot
conceive how we shall be helped through next month, though I fully expect
we shall be. The Lord cannot and will not fail us.
And yet, at that very time, new difficulties and delays were permitted.
Brave and faithful to the last, Miss Blatchley’s health had given way
under her many responsibilities. The children at Pyrland Road were
needing care, and the home work of the Mission was almost at a standstill,
for gifted and devoted as she was, matters had tended more and more to
come into her hands. Only waiting to establish Mr. Judd at Wuchang, Mr.
and Mrs. Taylor hastened home. But even before they could leave China,
the beloved friend they hoped to succor had laid all burdens down.
Strange and sorrowful was the home-coming a few weeks later, to find
Miss Blatchley’s place empty, the children scattered and the weekly
prayer meeting discontinued. But even so, the lowest ebb had not been
reached. On his way up the Yangtze with Mr. Judd, a fall had seriously
injured Mr. Taylor. Concussion of the spine develops slowly, and it was
not until he had been at home some weeks that the rush of London life
began to tell. Then came gradual paralysis of the lower limbs, completely
confining him to his couch. Laid aside in the prime of life, he could only lie
in that upstairs room, conscious of all there was to be done, of all that was
not being attended to — lie there and rejoice in God.
Yes, rejoice in God! With desires and hopes as limitless as the needs that
pressed upon his heart, with the prayer he had prayed and the answers
God had given, with opportunities opening in China and a wave of
spiritual blessing reviving the churches at home that he longed to see
turned into missionary channels, and with little hope, humanly speaking,
that he would ever stand or walk again, the deepest thing was joy in the
will of God as “good, and acceptable, and perfect.” Certain it is that from
that place of suffering sprang all the larger growth of the China Inland
Mission.
A narrow bed with four posts was the sphere to which Mr. Taylor was
now restricted. But between the posts at the foot of the bed — still the
map! Yes, there it hung, the map of the whole of China, and round about
him day and night was the Presence to which he had access in the name of
Jesus. Long after, when prayer had been fully answered and the pioneers
of the Mission were preaching Christ far and wide throughout those inland
provinces, a leader of the Church of Scotland said to Mr. Taylor:
“You must sometimes be tempted to be proud because of the wonderful
way God has used you. I doubt if any man living has had greater honor.”
“On the contrary,” was the earnest reply, “I often think that God must
have been looking for someone small enough and weak enough for Him to
use, and that He found me.”
. . . . . . .
The outlook did not brighten as the year drew to a close. Mr. Taylor was
less and less able to move, and could only turn in bed with the help of a
rope fixed above him. At first he had managed to write a little, but now
could not even hold a pen, and circumstances deprived him of Mrs.
Taylor’s help for a time. Then it was, with the dawn of 1875, that a little
paper found its way into the Christian press entitled: Appeal for Prayer:
on behalf of more than a hundred and fifty millions of Chinese. Briefly it
stated the facts with regard to the nine unevangelized provinces and the
aims of the Mission. Four thousand pounds, it said, had recently been
given for the special purpose of sending the Gospel to these distant
regions. Chinese Christians were ready to take part in the work. The
urgent need was for more missionaries, young men willing to face any
hardship in leading the way.
“Will each of your Christian readers,” it continued, “at once raise his heart
to God, spending one minute in earnest prayer that God will raise up, this
year, eighteen suitable men to devote themselves to this work?”
The appeal did not say that the leader of the Mission was to all
appearance a hopeless invalid. It did not refer to the fact that the four
thousand pounds had come from his wife and himself, part of their capital,
the whole of which they had consecrated to the work of God. It did not
mention the covenant of two or three years previously, to pray in faith for
the eighteen evangelists until they should be given. But those who read the
little paper felt there was much behind it, and were moved as men are not
moved by influences that have not their roots deep in God.
So, before long, Mr. Taylor’s correspondence was largely increased, as
was his joy in dealing with it or in seeing, rather, how the Lord dealt with
it.
The Mission had no paid helpers (he wrote of this time), but God led
volunteers, without pre-arrangement, to come in from day to day, to write
from dictation. If one who called in the morning could not stay long
enough to answer all letters, another was sure to come, and perhaps one or
two might look in, in the afternoon. Occasionally a young friend employed
in the city would come in after business hours and do needful
bookkeeping, or finish letters not already dealt with. So it was day by day.
One of the happiest periods of my life was that period of forced
inactivity, when one could do nothing but rejoice in the Lord and “wait
patiently” for Him, and see Him meeting all one’s need. Never were my
letters, before or since, kept so regularly and promptly answered.
And the eighteen asked of God began to come. There was first some
correspondence, then they came to see me in my room. Soon I had a class
studying Chinese at my bedside. In due time the Lord sent them all forth;
and then dear friends at Mildmay began to pray for my restoration. The
Lord blessed the means used, and I was raised up. One reason for my
being laid aside was gone. Had I been well and able to move about, some
might have thought that my urgent appeals, rather than God’s working,
had sent the eighteen men to China. But utterly laid aside, able only to
dictate a request for prayer, the answer to our prayers was the more
apparent.
Wonderful, too, were the answers to prayer about funds at this time. The
monthly remittance to be cabled to China on one occasion was very small,
nearly two hundred and thirty-five pounds less than the average
expenditure to be covered. The matter was brought before the Lord in
definite prayer, and in His goodness the answer was not long delayed.
That very evening the postman brought a letter which was found to
contain a check to be entered, “From the sale of plate” — and the sum was
£235.7.9.
Returning from a meeting when able to be about again, Mr. Taylor was
accosted by a Russian nobleman who had heard him speak. As they
traveled to London together, Count Bobrinsky took out his pocketbook.
“Allow me to give you a trifle,” he said, “toward your work in China.”
The banknote he handed to Mr. Taylor was for a large sum, and the latter
realized that there must be some mistake.
“Did you not mean to give me five pounds?” he questioned; “please let me
return this note, it is for fifty!”
“I cannot take it back,” replied the Count, no less surprised. “Five pounds
was what I meant to give, but God must have intended you to have fifty. I
cannot take it back.”
Impressed with what had taken place, Mr. Taylor reached Pyrland Road
to find the household gathered for special prayer. A China remittance was
to be sent out, and the money in hand was short by £49.11.0. And there
upon the table Mr. Taylor laid his banknote for fifty pounds. Could it
have come more directly from the Father’s hand?
But even with all the answers to prayer of these years, the way was far
from open to inland China. Indeed, there came a time, after the eighteen
pioneers had been sent out, when it seemed that nothing could prevent war
over the murder of a British official. Negotiations had dragged on for
months, but the Chinese Government would give absolutely no
satisfaction, and the British Ambassador was on the point of retiring from
Peking. It seemed impossible that hostilities could be averted, and there
were friends of the Mission who sought to dissuade Mr. Taylor from
sailing with a party of eight new workers.
“You will all have to return,” they said. “And as to sending off pioneers to
the more distant provinces, it is simply out of the question.”
Was there some mistake? Had the men and the money been given in vain?
Was inland China still to remain closed to the Gospel?