Thou on the Lord rely,

So safe shalt thou go on;
Fix on His work thy steadfast eye,
So shall thy work be done.

Far, far above thy thought,
His counsel shall appear,

When fully He the work hath wrought
That caused thy needless fear.

CHAPTER I

IF THOU FORBEAR TO DELIVER

SEPT. 1865. AET. 33.

It was an anxious moment for the young missionaryfraught with possibilities of which he was keenly conscious. From an early hour that morning he had been alone with God, pleading for abiding results from this meeting. Now the great hall with its sea of faces lay before him; but how weak he felt, how inadequate to the opportunity! And no one was expecting his message. A stranger at Perth and indeed in Scotland, it had only been with difficulty he had persuaded the leaders of the Conference to give him a few minutes in which to speak on China-that vast empire with its four hundred millions, a fourth of the entire human race,about which his heart was burdened.

"My dear sir," the Convener had exclaimed, scanning the introductions of this unknown Hudson Taylor, "surely you mistake the character of the Conference! These meetings are for spiritual edification."

But the missionary was not to be denied, nor could he see that obedience to the last great command of the risen Saviour was out of keeping with spiritual edification. To him it seemed rather to lie at the root of all true blessing, and to be the surest way to a deepened experience of fellowship with God. It was at no little cost, however, that he ventured to urge this point of view; for those were not days when foreign missions occupied a place of much importance, and his dread of public speaking was only less than his

sensitiveness about putting himself forward.1 But the facts, the great unseen realities, burned as a fire within him. He could not be at Perth in the midst of the Conference and see those multitudes of Christian people, intelligent, influential, and caring deeply about spiritual things, without longing that they should see and feel needs incomparably greater than their own.2

And now the moment had come. Trembling from head to foot as he rose, Hudson Taylor could only grasp the rail of the platform and command voice enough to ask his hearers to unite with him in prayer to God. To Him it was easy to speak; and unusual as this beginning was, even for a missionary address, it arrested attention and opened the way to many a heart. For there was about that prayer a peculiar reality and power. More simple it could not have been, and yet it revealed a sacred intimacy that awakened longing for just such confidence in and certainty of God. A strange hush came over the people before the prayer ended, and then all else was forgotten in scenes to which they found themselves transported.

For the missionary came at once to the heart of his message. Back again in thought in the land of his adoption, he was travelling by native junk from Shanghai to Ningpo. Among his fellow-passengers, one Chinese, who had spent

1 In the train on his way from Aberdeen to Perth, Mr. Taylor had written to his wife in London, his chief helper in prayer:

"

'Sept. 5, 1865: Through God's goodness I have got some letters of introduction to Perth. May the Lord help and guide and use me there. My hope is in Him. I do desire not to please myself, but to lay myself open for China's sake. I much need to add to faith courage: may God give it me."

2 One of the very few gatherings which, at that time, united Christians of all denominations, Perth was taking much the place in Scotland that the Barnet Conference (afterwards moved to Mildmay) occupied in London. The occasion of Mr. Taylor's visit to Perth was the third Conference, presided over in the City Hall by the Revs. J. Milne of Perth and Macdowall Grant of Arndilly, and attended by Messrs. Stevenson A. Blackwood, R. C. Morgan of The Revival (afterwards The Christian), the Rev. Hay Aitken of Penzance, Brownlow North and other visitors from England, as well as by such well-known Scottish leaders as the Revs. Andrew Bonar, J. Macpherson, Moody Stuart, M'Gregor of Dundee, Yule of Cargill, General Macdowall, George Barbour, Esq., of Bonskeid, Messrs. Colville and Gillett of Glasgow, and Mr. Jenkinson of Edinburgh, who in the Carrubber's Close Mission had for six years been dealing almost nightly with anxious inquirers, seeking and finding salvation, an outcome of the great Revival of 1859. The Conference was attended by about two thousand people.

some years in England and went by the name of Peter, was much upon his heart, for, though not unacquainted with the Gospel, he knew nothing of its saving power. Simply he told the story of this man's friendliness and of his own efforts to win him to Christ. Nearing the city of Sung-kiang, they were preparing to go ashore together to preach and distribute tracts, when Mr. Taylor in his cabin was startled by a sudden splash and cry that told of a man overboard. Springing at once on deck he looked round and missed Peter. Yes," exclaimed the boatmen unconcernedly, "it was over there he went down!

"

To drop the sail and jump into the water was the work of a moment; but the tide was running out, and the low, shrubless shore afforded little landmark. Searching everywhere in an agony of suspense, Mr. Taylor caught sight of some fishermen with a drag-net-just the thing needed.

"Come," he cried as hope revived, "come and drag over this spot. A man is drowning! "

"Veh bin," was the amazing reply: "It is not convenient."

"Don't talk of convenience! Quickly come, or it will be too late."

"Never mind your fishing! Come-only come at once! I will pay you well.”

"How much will you give us?"

"Five dollars!1 only don't stand talking. Save life without delay!"

"Too little!" they shouted across the water. We will not come for less than thirty dollars."

"But I have not so much with me! I will give you all I've got."

"And how much may that be?"

"Oh, I don't know. About fourteen dollars."

Upon this they came, and the first time they passed the net through the water brought up the missing man. But all Mr. Taylor's efforts to restore respiration were in vain. It was only too plain that life had fled, sacrificed

1 Worth at the time more than thirty shillings.-J. H. T.

to the callous indifference of those who might easily have saved it.1

A burning sense of indignation swept over the great audience. Could it be that anywhere on earth people were to be found so utterly callous and selfish! But as the earnest voice went on, conviction struck home all the more deeply that it was unexpected:

"Is the body, then, of so much more value than the soul? We condemn those heathen fishermen. We say they were guilty of the man's death-because they could easily have saved him, and did not do it. But what of the millions whom we leave to perish, and that eternally? What of the plain command, ' Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature,' and the searching question inspired by God Himself, If thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death, and those that are ready to be slain; if thou sayest, Behold, we knew it not; doth not He that pondereth the heart consider it? and He that keepeth thy soul doth not He know it? And shall He not render to every man according to his works? ' ''

China might be far off and little known; we might silence conscience by saying that its vast population was largely inaccessible; but every one of those men, women, and children was a soul for whose salvation an infinite price had been paid; every one of them had a right to know that they had been ransomed by the precious blood of Christ, and to have the offer of eternal life in His Name. While we were busy about other things, quite profitably occupied it may be, they were living, dying without God and without hope-a million every month in that one land passing beyond our reach.

Rapidly, then, Hudson Taylor arrayed before his hearers facts that recent prayer and study had burned afresh upon his soul. Not the coast-board provinces only, to which the little band of Protestant missionaries was confined, but the great unreached interior, every part indeed of the mighty empire passed in review. To most if not all present it was a revelation. Millions upon millions of their fellow-creatures,

1 It was on Friday, October 10, 1856, that this incident took place, when young Hudson Taylor was returning to Ningpo with Mr. J. Jones, whose colleague he became a little later.