“We older children grope our way
From dark behind to dark before;
And only when our hands we lay,
Dear Lord, in Thine, the night is day,
And there is darkness never more.”
—Whittier.
MR. AND MRS. TAYLOR reached England after six and a half years’ service in China, a period full of perils and arduous labors, but not without happiness and some success. They came back because of Mr. Taylor’s illness, but not to be idle, for with them health depended upon constant effort for God. They therefore purposed as a rest task to prepare a more correct translation of the New Testament and a hymn book for the Chinese Christians, and as a kind of afterthought Mr. Taylor resolved to resume his medical studies and take his degree. They took up residence at 1 Beaumont Street, Whitechapel, near the London Hospital, Wang acting as helper, cook, servant, and evangelist. Four years were spent in a variety of toils; these named and others, all exhaustive, yet sweetened and lightened by the wonderful favors of the Lord. All the while events were taking place which were forcing him to come to the great decision which led to the founding of the China Inland Mission.
Missionaries were diminishing instead of increasing in China. A million souls a month were dying in that land without God. Christians were apathetic, and he seemed to have done all that one man could. Faith triumphed over his natural inclinations, and weakness, as after a period of great exercise during which he suffered in mind and body, the decision to ask for workers for Inland China was made.
The crisis came on Sunday, June 25, 1865, when on the sands at Brighton (whither had gone in quest of health), in an agony about the unsaved millions of China, he said: “At Thy bidding as Thy servant I go ‘forward,’” resolving to make an appeal for evangelists for China, and leaving with the Lord the burden of their support. The editor of the Baptist Magazine asked for an article on to excite interest in the new mission. When he had published one article, Mr. Lewis urged that these articles should be published as a book, which was done, and as “China’s Spiritual Needs and Claims,” the book had an extensive circulation and many laborers were by it brought into the field.
Then while at Bayswater Mr. Taylor strayed into Welbeck Street, where the little company of open brethren welcomed him. Among them was the Dowager Lady Radstock, with whom her married daughter was staying. That daughter was Lady Beauchamp, and her husband invited Mr. Taylor to their Norfolk home at Langley Park. So impressed were they that they gave no the insurance money due for their extensive conservatories, and found that while other glass houses in the vicinity suffered, those that had been committed to the Lord quite escaped injury.
Meanwhile, recruits had applied for service in the mission, and these were principally horn the class that have experience of the toil of life, rather than from those who have been trained in the schools.
Some of these pioneers proved men of startling merit, among them Mr. Stevenson, who eventually rose to be a chief man among his brethren, who admired his grace even more than his conspicuous gifts. James Meadows was another of these brave souls. A Barnsley Man, his friend who valued his help in open-air meetings said “James, I have a job for you, will you undertake it?” “What is it, sir?” “Go to China. Will you go?” “I will,” replied the young mechanic. “I will, if God is calling me. But I must have time to pray about it.” He fasted, and in the dinner hour definitely sought direction from the Lord. “Go, and the Lord be with thee,” was the response, and he we Rudland was another, and a saintly man he indeed was, as we knew him to be in after years. Rudland was at first a working blacksmith in a Cambridgeshire village where rumor told him of Mr. Taylor’s appeal at Perth. Rudland had been converted in a farmhouse kitchen near his workshop, Tait his friends knew nothing of the new mission, His employer, unwilling to spare a good workman, showed him a Chinese book, asking: “This is the language they talk over there. Do you think you could ever learn it?” “Has anybody else learned it?” asked Rudland. “A few.” “Then why not I?” He went, and when in China found that he could not acquire this terrible tangle of symbols. Headaches ensued, but Mr. Taylor eventually solved the difficulty. “I wonder if you could spare time to help me a little?” he asked. “Gladly would I, but what is there I can do?” “Well, I am troubled about the printing press. The Chinese workmen seem to get through so little when left to themselves, and I really have no time to look after them. You managed so well in putting the press together, do you not think you could superintend it for me now? If you will—just go in and begin at the beginning the men will be pleased to show you how to set up type, etc., and the fret of your being there will keep them to their work.” Rudland consented, picked up the language as he worked, eventually becoming a wonderfully successful worker. He opened 37 out-stations, and in connection with them and his center baptized over 3000 converts. When he died in 1912 There were 1500 communicants. He translated the whole New Testament and part of the Old Testament into the local dialect, and printed off edition after edition on the mission press, for which he was responsible.
Duncan was another recruit who found the Chinese tongue difficult. He sat beside the man at the washtub, seeking his conversion, the while acquiring words and phrases that he could not learn from a book, and brought the washer-man into full salvation.
The while these helpers were being attracted, held, and trained, there was no fund for their support save that Bank upon which faith draws by pleading and accepting the promises. One day Mr. and Mrs. Taylor had but 2/5½ in hand, and of this sum 2/ was readily given by them for the Lord’s work.
Another time Mr. Taylor returned from a visit to his parents and found that the rent money he had left was short by 20/. He waited on God foe help, knowing well the character of the rent collector tremblingly awaiting his call. The day passed and the man had not been seen. When he called next day the sovereign was ready to complete the rent, the Lord had not forgotten the need of His people and their work, and was not before the time nor yet behind.
In the kindness of God, Hudson Taylor met Grattan Guinness, then an evangelist of singular success. He went with him to Ireland and was invited to address a class of young men, among them Thomas Barnardo, the friend of the waifs; and M’Carthy, Charles and Edward Fishe, who became pioneers of the C. I. M. in untrodden lands.
When Barnardo saw the slender stranger, being himself small of stature, he took comfort, saying: “Good, there’s a chance for me.” Evidently what is a defect may be a comfort to someone else. Subsequently Mr. Guinness moved to Bow Road, where he opened a Training Institute, which, while working in East London, sent more than a thousand evangelists into the Home and Foreign Field; at least a hundred of these went to China under Mr. Taylor’s auspices, Mr. Muller had long been interested in the mission, and now he and Mr. Taylor met the first time, and henceforward they were co-workers in the great task for which every believer is responsible — the carrying the Gospel to every creature under the broad blue sky.
The mission party now prepared to go forth consisted, of eighteen adults and four children, and it was considered that the cabin space of a three-master would be needed to accommodate the travelers, and besides the help each could give the others while aboard, money would be saved. Prayer was made, and in due time Mr. Taylor went down to speak at a meeting at Totteridge, over which Colonel Puget, brother of the Dowager Lady Radstock, was to preside. All went well, the Lord gave utterance, and seeing how interested the audience was, the chairman desired a collection should be taken. Mr. Taylor declined. His host said “You have made a great mistake. The people were really interested. We might have had a good collection.” However, the following morning, Colonel Puget said: “Lying awake in the night, as I thought of the stream of souls in China, a thousand every hour going out into the dark, I could only Cry, ‘Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?’ I think I have His answer.” Then he handed a check for ₤500 to Mr. Taylor, saying: “If there had been a collection I should have given a five pound note. This check is the result of part of the night spent in prayer.”
At once Mr. Taylor secured the whole accommodation of the “Lammermuir,” a three-master of 760 tons. Said Mr. Taylor when someone wondered what would happen in China after the voyage, and how these eighteen folk wore to be fed in a strange lad: “I am taking my children with me, and I notice that it is not difficult for me to remember that the little ones need breakfast in the morning, dinner at midday, and something before they go to bed at night. Indeed I could not forget it. And I find it impossible to suppose that our Heavenly Father is less tender or mindful than I.”
The “Lammermuir” left England, 26th May, 1866, and reached Shanghai on the following September. On the voyage great unity prevailed at first, and the crew were won to attending to the Gospel, more than twenty professing conversion; but after a while petty jealousies and misunderstandings cooled the fervor and stopped the work of the Spirit. This put right, the enemy changed his tactics, wild storms shattered the ship so that for more than two weeks she was all but a wreck. But she gained the harbor, and her cargo of missionaries were at their desired haven. On parting with the “Lammermuir,” the sum of ₤30 was subscribed by the sailors as a help to the missionaries with whom they had traveled so far.
The party had household goods, printing and lithographic presses, medical apparatus, drugs, and literature. To accommodate this party appeared impossible, but a gentleman trolling the Printing Press of the Presbyterian Mission had a large disused building which he generously offered to Mr. Taylor. Labor was required to put this into a fit state for habitation, and then the clothing used on the voyage had to be washed and made again fit for wearing. Then they adopted Chinese dress, not with the approval of all the missionaries or, even of their own party, some of whom rather stumbled at the change.
Four weeks later a party went by water to Hang Chow, as a base whence they could reach the interior. Arrived at their destination, they found a home awaiting them. A young missionary had gone to fetch his wife and child from Ningpo and for a week the travelers were welcome to use his home as theirs.
While thus sheltered they sought for a permanent home and found a large dilapidated ruin, a perfect rabbit warren of poor families. It was in two stories and very dirty. Some of the tenants remained and became friendly as they saw the kind and considerate behavior of the newcomers. Two texts from the walls proclaimed the spirit of the new family. They said in Chinese: “I must work the work of Him that sent me.” “Even Christ pleased not Himself.”
A dispensary was next opened, regular services commenced, and while busy, reinforcements arrived amazed and delighted at what they saw of the new mission. Miss Faulding, one of the “Lammermuir” party tells of Mr. Taylor’s restless activity and eagerness for new adding: “He goes on so quietly and calmly always — just leaning upon God and living for others — that it is a blessing merely to witness his life.”
Alas, before long elements of strife appeared, and some of the mission party drew back from their pledges. To wear native dress, live on native food, and conform to native rules was to some of them a trouble, but they complained to outsiders, and discontent talked about, makes sad havoc of Christian character and feeling. Fortunately Mr. Berger who in England Contributed to the work was a wise Christian, and he wrote to Mr. Taylor: “It is not our mistakes, but our refusing to correct them when discovered, that will prove baneful.” But to Mr. Taylor the pettiness or want of courage manifested by some was a great pain.
However, he went forward, shaping towards the great task, hoping, to crawl gradually to those far-away provinces where Christ was not named.
Embarking upon a flat-bottomed boat, with an arched roof of matting, they went up a great river, and then changed into a smaller boat to Yenchow. After a stay here of some days they went on to Lan-chi, where Mr. Duncan proposed, to stay. In a room imperfectly roofed, with a shutter to serve as window, the mud floor thickly coated with accumulated filth, he made his abode. His furniture was secured by the expenditure of sixpence, and consisted of a chair, bamboo trestles, and a few boards, a traveling rug, pillow, and mosquito net. But he was not a man to consider comfort when called upon to act as an ambassador for Christ to those he longed to save.
Mr. Taylor had his children with him. Grace, the firstborn, two sons, and an infant sister. Gracie was eight years of age, and already ripening as those do who are nearing Heaven. On a boat trip arranged because the children were ailing, she spied a man making an idol. She was shocked. “Oh, papa,” cried she, “he doesn’t know about Jesus, or he would never do it. Won’t you tell him?” Praying for the deluded idolater was instinctive; before a week passed Gracie had gone to where the holy see the face of Jesus and are glad with Him. Meanwhile Duncan, with his native helpers was holding on with Scots determination and Christian fortitude. He labored, preached, and taught; his money gone and food supplies melting away. Mr. Taylor tried in vain to send help, and was helpless until Mr. Rudland, providentially arriving at the moment of need, volunteered to attempt to reach the lonely outpost. There was indeed great need of help, for Duncan, confident that he would be fed, wasted no time in foreboding or in attempts to help himself. Mr. Rudland arrived in time, and, said Duncan to his helper: “Did I not tell you this morning that it is always all right to trust in the Living God?”
Among the “Lammermuir” party, Miss Faulding had been conspicuous for her cheerful piety and self-sacrifice. Her smiling face won for her from the Chinese the name of Miss Happiness, and skillfully she laid her talents out to serve Christ. A girl with her hand in the palm of Miss Happiness was told that she should worship God who gave, her food. She rose at once, went to the door of the hut, bowed herself down three or four times and then returned to listen attentively to the tale of Divine Love for needy men and women. Said Miss Happiness after a round of such visits: “As I came home it was raining, and not very pleasant, but this and other receptions I have just had made me feel: ‘Would that others might know the joy of this work, and come and carry the truth to every Chinese home.’” The women readily called her sister, and willingly came on Lord’s Days to the meetings. Her sympathy and that charm that is always manifested by true love and gentleness commended the Gospel.
One thing is clear, that the presence of a holy woman whose warm love to the Savior makes both face and life radiant will always be the winning force that will persuade men and women to come to Jesus. Yet with this bright example before them, there were true Christians in China who were doubtful if it were wise to allow unmarried women to live and shine for Christ in China.
An example of Mr. Taylor’s success was his arrival in Hang Chow after the closing of the city gates. One of the mission party had been seized with illness, but the closed gate would not open for a missionary who happened to be a doctor. But he spied a basket being lowered for a Government messenger. Seizing the rope that hung from the basket, Mr. Taylor was drawn up to be astonishment of the watch. Angry they were, but said Hudson: “I gave them two hundred good reasons why they should allow me to proceed. They came out of my cash bag,” Evidently a man who would not be denied in the path of loving duty.
He had need of all his tact, courage, and faith, for while sick he had to be carried to appeal on behalf of Mr. M’Carthy’s helpers who had been beaten well-nigh to death. Other workers were meted out the same hardness, for Satan never willingly admits Christian aggression, especially that which makes much of Christ.
For sixteen months had Hang Chow been the advance post of the Mission; now it was deemed necessary to advance the lines nearer the vast Inland Provinces in heathen darkness lying.
Mr. and Mrs. M’Carthy and Miss Faulding were left in charge of the little flock at Hang-Chow; Mrs. Taylor and the children sailed up the Grand Canal. At Soo-chow Mr. Taylor joined them, and for three weeks the party remained to assist the Mission band recently settled there. Then they went on to Chin-Kiang, where the Grand Canal flows into the vast Yangtse. Here Hudson attempted to secure premises, but the negotiations being prolonged, he went on to Yang-chow. This city had a population of 360,000, who lived, longed, and suffered without a glimpse of the Lord Jesus Christ, or even a whisper of His love for them. The beat came on and rain fell, so the missionaries took shelter in an inn, where five small rooms upstairs became their resting place.
Mrs. Taylor could not rest. Leaving her boys, she went to Shanghai, where smallpox was raging at the time, to save her baby, now reduced to weakness by months of whooping cough. She also purposed welcoming Mr. Duncan’s fiancée.
After her departure it seemed certain that premises were secured at Chin-Kiang. Accordingly, Mr. and Mrs. Rudland were called Lo bring from Hang-chow the printing and other presses, heavy and cumbersome packages, tether with their own belongings. Mrs. Taylor found that her baby had measles, and being weakly, the mother suffered the loss of her little one. Her boys at Yang-chow were also stricken with the same illness. Then she heard that Hudson himself, far away, was ill, and hurried to his side. As it was the Lord’s Day, she would not take the steamer, but went by a boat. At length the boatman dropped wearied, and Mrs. Taylor took his place and plied the oars, love and anxiety strengthening her for the arduous task. In due time she reached her husband and nursed him back to health.
Opposition had to be overcome, and the enemies of the Gospel stirred up opposition among the people. Placards were displayed in the city calling upon the people to fire the house that sheltered the foreign devils. Then came a heavy rainfall, and this quieted the rioters, who dread severe rain. Again it was noised abroad that two men in foreign dress were prowling about fee city, and rumor reported that in consequence twenty-four children were missing. In the midst of this, Mr. and Mrs. Rudland, Mr. and Mrs. Reid, and Miss Desgraz arrived with the heavy printing presses and household goods, all offering a chance to robbers.
Mrs. Taylor and Miss Blatchley, to save their lives, leaped from the veranda roof. Mrs. Taylor injured her leg; her companion fell on her barb on the stones. The mob pillaged the house. Mr. Taylor and Mr. Duncan, ill and injured, went for help to the authorities. They were hustled by the fierce mob and neglected by the Mandarin, although they cried, “Save life! Save life!” a cry which a Mandarin was expected to obey at any hour and at any cost; but when Christians were in danger, Chinese law was set aside in the fierce resistance to Christ.
After some plain speaking, the Mandarin consented to send troops to calm the mob, which by this time had grown to eight or ten thousand ruffians. Later on he allowed the two anxious missionaries to return home, and when they reached their abode they found everything wrecked, some things burned, and fragments of desks, books, surgical appliances were strewn about. They found their dear ones in a neighboring house, and after a while returned to their wrecked home. Says Mrs. Taylor: “My heart was too full for me to pay much heed to the scene of ruin through which we passed but at the foot of the stairs my eye fell on a bead mat worked for me by our little Gracie before leaving England. The sight of it at that moment seemed to speak of our Father’s love and tenderness in a way that perhaps it would be difficult for another to understand. I asked someone to pick it up and give it to me.”
At night the mob returned, but another appeal to the Mandarin brought back the guard, who had been called away. The next day the missionary party was escorted out of the city, and at Chin-Kiang the fugitives were put up by the foreign residents, Mr. and Mrs. Taylor taking the ground floor, because it was damp. There they went to work, for as the Mission now numbered nine or ten stations, they had much to do.
A resident of the city sent an account of this riot to the Shanghai paper, demanding the interposition of the British Authorities. The Consul-General and Ambassador at once interposed, but Mr. Taylor did not ask the protection of gunboats, being satisfied with the Divine promise.
In writing to Mr. Berger, who controlled the Home Department, he said “China is not to be won for Christ by self-seeking, easy-living men and women, Those not prepared for labor, self-denial and many discouragements will be poor helpers in the work.”
The best commentary on this is what a young missionary’s wife tells us. Mrs. Taylor had welcomed her to China, and es the night came down she saw cockroaches creeping out of the crevices of the boat. “Oh, Mrs. Taylor,” she exclaimed, “I really cannot go to bed with all these cockroaches about.” She with another damsel prepared a light so as to be able to watch against these unwelcome visitors. “Dear child,” Mrs. Taylor quietly said, “if God spares you to work in China you will have many nights like this, and you will not be able to afford to lose your sleep. Can you not lie down quietly and trust Him to keep you?”
Mr. Taylor brought his family to Ningpo, and then returned to the darter zone. Before long the stations from which they had been expelled were reoccupied.
The Chin-Kiang house was then secured, but he funds rapidly fell off, in consequence of a wild outburst of hatred in the British Press. George Muller readily increased his gifts as a proof of his practical sympathy and faith both in the Mission and its agents.
While thus misrepresented and assailed, Mr. Taylor found the secret that long before Miss Faulding and others of his friends had discovered. The Keswick Movement, with its message of victory and consecration, had reached China. Mr. M`Carthy wrote a faithful tender account of what had befallen him; his leader received the message in a sweet spirit of humility, saying: “As I read I saw it all. I looked to Jesus, and when I saw, oh, how joy flowed.” To his household and the members of the Mission, to whom he stood in place of a loved and trusted parent, he told the tale. “God has made me a new man,” he said. “As for work, mine never was so plentiful, so responsible, so difficult; but the weight and strain are all gone.” With this deep, restful delight there came a deep, touching humility. “I thank God,” he said, “for permitting me to be a hewer of wood and drawer of water in His glorious work.”
Thus patient in tribulation and unswerving in purpose, Mr. Taylor went forward, finding as the children of faith always do, that God had gone in front, and even Jordan was no barrier to those who had the Ark of the Covenant with them. Our fears, shrinkings, and attempts to elude the dreaded duty dishonor God. Let us go forward in His Name and greater success than we anticipate may be granted to our weak and feeble efforts.
“Man cannot compass it; yet never fear,
The leper Naaman
Shows what God will and can;
God who worked there is working here;
Wherefore let shame nor gloom betinge thy brow,
God who worked then is working now.”