and that He is saying to us, ' Be strong and of good courage and do it fear not, nor be dismayed; for the LORD GOD will be with thee, until thou hast finished all the work for the service of the house of the Lord.' If this is really His will, by His grace I will go forward. May He teach me if it be not so.

"Whatsoever ye shall ask in My Name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.' Plead this promise, dear Mother, in behalf of our work. And may He, whose we are and whom we serve, guide us aright."

Nothing is more striking in the records of the period than Mr. Taylor's dependence upon prayer, real dependence for every detail, every need. He leaned his whole weight on God, pleading the promises. Was it Lae-djün's affairs, the wife and child who needed him, or the difficulties of their long task; was it a question of health, their own or the children's, of house-moving, money for daily bread, or guidance as to their return to China? All, all was brought to their Heavenly Father with the directness of little children, and the conviction that He could and would undertake, direct, and provide. It was all so real, so practical!

Equally characteristic was the faithfulness with which he followed when the Lord's way was made plain. Barely two weeks after the above letter was written, the Bible Society reached a decision which bound him more than ever to the revision.

"There is no intention of taking it out of your hands," wrote his friend Mr. Pearse, forestalling the letter of the Committee. "They are evidently satisfied with what you are doing, and the way you are doing it.

"

This meant that the Romanised Testament would be completed, and greatly rejoiced Mr. Taylor as a definite answer to prayer; but it meant also that he was pledged more than ever to his part of the work-and the years were passing on. With returning strength the longing grew upon him to be back in China, especially when the death of Mr. Jones left the Bridge Street converts almost without pastoral care. Great changes had swept over Ningpo with the devastations of the Tai-ping Rebellion. After indescribable sufferings the population had largely lost faith in idols which could

not protect even themselves, and many were ready as never before for the consolations of the Gospel. Mr. Meadows, bereaved of wife and child, was in sore need of companionship, and the native Christians of spiritual help. Everything pointed, humanly speaking, to Mr. Taylor's return, and increased his longing to be in direct missionary work once more. Important as the revision was, he was young and craved activity and the joy of winning souls to Christ. Yet did not the very answers to prayer that had been so marked bind him to continue the work that was detaining him, and carry it to completion?

But all the while another longing was taking possession of his soul, looming large and ever larger with strange persistence. Do what he would, he could not escape the call of inland China, the appeal of those Christless millions for whom no man seemed to care. On his study wall hung the map of the whole vast empire; on the table before him lay the ever-open Bible; and between the two how close and heart-searching the connection! Feeding, feasting, upon the Word of God, his eye would fall upon the map— and oh, the thought of those for whom nothing was prepared!

While on the field," he wrote, "the pressure of claims immediately around me was so great that I could not think much of the still greater need farther inland, and could do nothing to meet it. But detained for some years in England, daily viewing the whole country on the large map in my study, I was as near the vast regions of the interior as the smaller districts in which I had personally laboured-and prayer was the only resource by which the burdened heart could obtain any relief."

Laying aside their work, for Mr. Gough in measure shared this experience, they would call Mrs. Taylor and Lae-djün, and unitedly pour out their hearts in prayer that God would send the Gospel to every part of China. And they did more than pray. Alone, or together, they interviewed the representatives of the larger missionary societies, pleading the cause of those unevangelised millions. Everywhere they were met with sympathy, for the facts were their own argument; but everywhere also it was evident that nothing could, or rather would be done. The objections raised were

twofold in the first place, financially, any aggressive effort was impossible. Neither the men nor the means were forthcoming. And were it otherwise, those remote provinces were practically inaccessible to foreigners. True the treaty of 1860 provided for journeys and even residence inland, but that was merely on paper, and everywhere the conclusion was the same: "We must wait until God's providence opens the door; at present we can do nothing."

These objections, however, did not lessen the need or bring any lightening of the burden. Returning to the East End and his quiet study, Hudson Taylor found himself still challenged by the open Bible, the ever-accusing map. The Master had said nothing about politics or finance in His great commission. Go ye . . . Lo, I am with you." "All the world . . . all the days "-so read command and promise. Was He not worthy of trust and utmost allegiance?

And there were others who thought as he did, friends and candidates of the Mission who gathered weekly for prayer at Beaumont Street. Ever since the outgoing of Mr. and Mrs. Meadows this meeting had been held on Saturday afternoons. Few though they were in number, the spirit of prayer was so outpoured that for a couple of hours at a time those fervent hearts went up in continued supplication. Thus as the silent years drew to a close, with their restraining providences and all their deepening and development, to the man upon his knees came at length some apprehension of that for which also he was apprehended of God.

CHAPTER III

THERE WRESTLED A MAN WITH HIM

1865. AET. 33.

AMONG those who attended the prayer meeting at Beaumont Street, none were more interested in the Ningpo Mission than the tall silent merchant and his wife who came up from their beautiful home in Sussex. As the owner of large starch works Mr. Berger was a busy man, but his chief interest lay in the extension of the Kingdom of God. Brought up in the Church of England he had been converted early in life under unusual circumstances. At an evening party he was talking with a girl of his own age when, to his surprise, she introduced the subject of religion. So evident was her sincerity, and the joy she found in Christ as a personal Friend and Saviour, that the young man was deeply moved. In the midst of that gay company he realised the emptiness of all the world can give, apart from the one thing needful. No special sense of sin seems to have come to him till later, but then and there he received the Lord Jesus as his Saviour, " and went behind the drawing-room door to hide his tears of thankfulness."

He was still under forty when he met Hudson Taylor for the first time, then a lad of twenty-one on the eve of sailing for China, and was attracted by his spirit.1 Correspondence increased the interest, and when the missionary was invalided

1 As much was to grow out of this association, it is interesting to recall that the introduction was through a mutual friend, Mr. George Pearse of the Stock Exchange, Secretary of the Society that was sending the young missionary to China, who, after the Hackney Meeting one Sunday morning, took Hudson Taylor and his friend (later on his brother-in-law), Mr. B. Broomhall, to dine with the Bergers, then living at Hornsey Rise.

home seven years later, no warmer welcome awaited him, outside his family circle, than the welcome of Mr. and Mrs. Berger to Saint Hill. From that time their house was open to him and his, and the prolonged task that kept him in London served to deepen the friendship.

With more experience of the world as well as in spiritual things, Mr. Berger was fitted to be just the adviser Hudson Taylor needed, and in his gentle wife Mrs. Taylor found almost a mother's sympathy. Saint Hill, indeed, became a real oasis to all the family at Beaumont Street. How good it was to escape at times from the squalid surroundings of Whitechapel to the hills and lanes of Sussex! The fine old house and grounds, sloping down to a little lake with meadows beyond, were a paradise to the children, quite apart from the good cheer Mrs. Berger's hospitality provided. It was a perfect friendship; and with no family of their own, the Bergers had room in their hearts for all the interests of the Mission.

As time went on and Mr. Taylor became increasingly burdened about the need and claims of inland China, Mr. Berger shared with him much of the exercise of heart involved. He knew of Mr. Taylor's efforts to induce various societies to extend their operations to those waiting provinces, and was in sympathy with his thought of utilising a class of labourers hitherto little drawn upon. But it was in the growing sense of personal responsibility that the chief bond of union lay. Accompanying Mr. Taylor to a farewell meeting for a young worker about to join Mr. Meadows, he was surprised to find a small poor church, without a single influential member, undertaking the whole of his support. The joy with which they were making sacrifices brought to Mr. Berger a new sense of the privilege of giving and suffering for Jesus' sake, and the earnestness of Mr. Taylor's address moved him to a definite resolve. Rising at the close of the meeting he said that what he had seen and heard overwhelmed him with shame because he had done so little, comparatively, for the cause of Christ. It filled him with

1 The beautiful mansion near East Grinstead to which they had moved from London.