THESE FORTY YEARS 
 
REV. J. HUDSON TAYLCR. 
 
 tVontispiice 
 
THESE FORTY YEARS 
 
 A Short History 
 
 OF THE 
 
 China Inland Mission 
 
 BY 
 
 F. HOWARD TAYLOR 
 
 M.D., London, M.R.C.P. 
 F.R.C.S., England, B.S. 
 
 CHINA INLAND MISSION 
 
 702 Witherspoon Building, - Philadelphia, 
 
 and 
 
 507 Church Street, Toronto. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: 
 PEPPER PUBLISHING COMPANY 
 
 609 Lippincott Building. 
 
Copyrighted, 1903. 
 PEPPER PUBLISHING COMPANY. 
 
TO THE 
 
 NORTH AMERICAN MEMBERS AND FRIENDS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 CHINA INLAND MISSION 
 
 IN MEMORY OF 
 
 GREAT KINDNESS 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Preface ^^^^- 
 
 PART I— In Outline. 
 
 I Introductory j- 
 
 II The Mission— An Outline Sketch 21 
 
 III The Need for the Mission .' 29 
 
 PART II— In More Detail. 
 
 I The People of China -jg 
 
 II An Effort to Meet the Need ..', 44 
 
 III The Inception of the Work 48 
 
 IV The Man for the Work .' .' [ 53 
 
 V Purpose and Preparation 57 
 
 VI Formative Experience in China '. 68 
 
 VII Inauguration ge 
 
 VIII The First Four Years '. 104 
 
 IX The Next Six Years .".'.'.'.".*.■.'.*.■.' 166 
 
 X How God Opened the Far Interior 210 
 
 XI The First Women to go Inland 240 
 
 XII An Ideal Missionary 272 
 
 XIII Other Seventy Also 279 
 
 XIV A New Sphere for Woman 285 
 
 XV Another Answer to Prayer 208 
 
 XVI Ask What Ye Will '..'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'. 315 
 
 XVII Extension; or, The Guiding Hand of God 322 
 
 PART III— Conclusion : Recent Years. 
 
 I A Memorable Journey -i-ty 
 
 II Light and Shade '.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.351 
 
 III Blessedly Uneventful Years 361 
 
 IV The Boxer Crisis , "_" ] 386 
 
 V Reorganization 407 
 
 VI Reconstruction '/'] 414 
 
 VII The Present Situation * ' 422 
 
 VIII The Outlook .'!."..*.';;; 429 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 Rev. J. Hudson Taylor Frontispiece 
 
 Facing Page 
 
 Part of the Shanghai Headquarters 21 
 
 '♦ Never Out of Pain " 35 
 
 Going to Visit Them 35 
 
 Rev. J. Hudson Taylor 53 
 
 Shanghai 53 
 
 Front Page of the Old " Occasional Paper " 95 
 
 * ' In the Midst of Magnificent Scenery " 128 
 
 A Typical Country Scene in South China 150 
 
 Temple at Wen-Chau 182 
 
 •'The Nine Still Unoccupied Provinces " 199 
 
 On the Way to Ho-nan ; the Rocky Barrow Road . 204 
 
 Entrance of East Suburb of Ru-ning Fu 204 
 
 Mr. Robert Powell Traveling by Barrow in Ho-nan 214 
 
 Mule Carts and Escort, in Troublous Times 214 
 
 Coming Down the Rapids of the Yang-tse 222 
 
 In the Imperial Palace Grounds 222 
 
 Horse Market, Tai-yuan 232 
 
 Typical Main Street in a North China City 273 
 
 Market in North China 301 
 
 C. I. M. Home and Office in Toronto 325 
 
 C. I. M. Headquarters in London 329 
 
 C. I. M. Boys' School at Chefoo - 369 
 
 Temple in Shansi , 376 
 
 The Ancestral Burying Place 380 
 
 Engaged in the Carrying Trade 392 
 
 Harrowing a Rice Field with a Water-Buffalo 392 
 
PEEFACE. 
 
 "Remember'' — '^forgot not," said the Lord to 
 Israel, "all the way which Jehovah thy God hath led 
 thee, these forty years." 
 
 It is just forty years now since the earliest be- 
 ginnings of the China Inland Mission. The summer 
 of 1862 saw the first answer to Mr. Hudson Taylor's 
 prayer for five missionaries, for Mng-po and the 
 work he had left behind two years before, when in- 
 valided home. 
 
 He was sure that God would call and send them, 
 in answer to believing prayer. He was equally sure 
 that God would remember and keep them, far away 
 upon the field. And he was not disappointed. 
 
 That prayer answered, he went on to ask for more, 
 in 1865, and to attempt larger things for God. So, 
 praying and believing, the work has grown and ex- 
 tended "these forty years," until now the C. I. M. 
 numbers eight hundred missionaries and eight 
 hundred native helpers, carrjdng on settled work at 
 three hundred stations and out-stations, in fifteen of 
 the eighteen provinces. And through God's blessing 
 upon the work, from the beginning, more than 
 twenty-five thousand souls have been brought to a 
 saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. And if 
 the service involves sacrifice, and even suffering — 
 
 13 
 
14 PREFACE. 
 
 v/lien tlie eternal welfare of untold multitudes is at 
 stake — is it not worth while? Besides, "doth Job 
 serve God for naught?" 
 
 The members of the Mission, drawn from many 
 lands and from all the leading evangelical denomina- 
 tions, are supported, month by month, by funds that 
 come in through the mail, mthout collection or ap- 
 peal. And so unfailing has been the gracious pro- 
 vision of God, that the Mission has never been in 
 debt, though funds are very rarely in hand before 
 they are actually needed. God's clocks keep perfect 
 time. 
 
 May the story of what God has wrought through 
 this Mission, in answer to prayer, be an encourage- 
 ment to those who may read it. And may we learn 
 to trust Him in all things, no matter how great or 
 how small. "He is faithful that promised." "Able 
 also to perform." 
 
PART I. 
 
 IN OUTLINE 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 INTRODUCTOKY. 
 
 Under a profound conviction that the evangeliza- 
 tion of China was God's purpose, — that God wished 
 its people, and all people, to hear about the Lord 
 Jesus, — the China Inland Mission was organized in 
 1865. At that time inland China was as dark as 
 night. ISTot a ray of the coming da^vn was to be seen, 
 save on the eastern coast line and in one or two places 
 on the lower reaches of the Yang-tse. 
 
 ISTot only so, but China was practically closed. To 
 go inland, even a short distance, involved great hard- 
 ship and peril, and was liable to end in arrest and 
 disgrace. Many who knew very well, and cared not 
 a little, said, ^'It cannot be done.'' 
 
 But God the Son had said, "Preach the Gospel to 
 every creature," and what God commands is always 
 possible, because God can do it. 
 
 And God did it. It cost a great deal to His serv- 
 ants who went. It was never meant to be other- 
 wise. It cost Himself much to save the world, poten- 
 tially. Redemption is costly at every stage. The 
 pioneers of inland China counted the cost, and gave 
 it gladly. The result we all know, at anj^ rate in 
 
 17 
 
18 THESE FORTY YEARS. 
 
 part. Through their labors and the work of the mis- 
 sionary arniv wliich has joined hands in the work, 
 from many lands and under many Boards, day is 
 already dawning in China. 
 
 The day-da'vvn has been overcast by a terrific 
 storm, it is true. But the world is forming its own 
 opinion as to whether this has been due to the peace- 
 ful preaching and practical proving of the Gospel of 
 love and good-will or to rapacious foreign aggression. 
 We know which would be most likely to stir up 
 trouble here at home ! 
 
 Already the clouds have lifted; the workers have 
 returned to their stations, many of which are several 
 months' journey up country. May we not hope, must 
 we not pray, that these things may be caused to turn 
 out ^^rather to the furtherance of the GospeF' by Him 
 Who "worketh all things according to the good pleas- 
 ure of His will?'' God reigneth; His shall be the 
 victory. 
 
 In one brief generation, ^^What hath God 
 wrought!" Then, not a soul enlightened in all the 
 vast territory of inland China. ISTow, hundreds of 
 churches dotted all over the country, from the Great 
 Wall on the north to the borders of Ton-kin, from 
 ISTankin away west to Thibet. Then, in 1865, less 
 than three thousand Protestant Christians all told, 
 including Chinese colonists down in the Malay penin- 
 sula. Now, including believers not yet baptized and 
 the children of Christian families, not fewer than a 
 quarter of a million, in China alone. 
 
INTRODUCTORY. 19 
 
 The dawn has come. May we not confidently ex- 
 pect, and pray and work for the Coming Day ? 
 ■3f -x- * -X- * * * -x- 
 
 An appreciative newspaper report of a missionarv' 
 meeting ended as follows: ^'The venerable speaker 
 concluded a long and most interesting address by 
 stating that the members of this Mission were de- 
 pendent upon chance providences for a scanty sub- 
 sistence." The venerable speaker was the Rev. J. 
 Hudson Taylor, and the mission was the China In- 
 land Mission. 
 
 True, the Mission has no income but that which 
 comes in answer to prayer; but it does not come by 
 chance ! True, the work only costs a little more 
 than three Imndred and fifty dollars a worker per 
 annum, including the considerable extra expense of 
 furlough, and it is run on economical lines; but — ask 
 a C. I. M. member if God's provision is scanty, and 
 see what he mil say ! 
 
 I suppose that its missionaries calculate, if He 
 withholds "no good thing from them that walk up- 
 rightly,'' they are all right. That is, if they are 
 v.-alking uprightly; and if they are not, and good 
 things are withheld, the sooner they get right the 
 ])etter. 
 
 This calculation has worked well for thirty-seven 
 years, ever since the work was started. The Mission 
 has never been a penny in debt. Some of its workers 
 have occasionally been short, for a brief testing time, 
 but never have had to sco without a meal. All their 
 
20 THESE FORTY YEAKS. 
 
 needs and most of their wants have been met with a 
 bountiful hand. 
 
 A suitable candidate has never been refused for 
 lack of funds. If the funds have been lacking, he 
 has simply been accepted and invited to join in ask- 
 ing God to send him out; and the money has been 
 sent, and the man has gone, and has perhaps been 
 none the worse for having prayed himself into the 
 work. 
 
 Furloughs are sometimes a difficulty. But when 
 fimds are needed to send workers home an appeal is 
 made for money to Him to Whom it all belongs, so 
 He says. And He sends it. 
 
 Ever since the work began its history has been one 
 of extension. There has never been a retrenchment 
 from shortness of supplies. God has supplied all the 
 need. Is that strange ? At long intervals consolida- 
 tion rather than expansion has been dictated by the 
 Great Treasurer, by His sending only Avhat was 
 sufficient for existing needs. For instance. He did 
 so during the year or two before the recent troubles. 
 We know why, now. What use to open new stations 
 for the Boxers to close, too soon for the infant 
 churches to stand alone? 
 
 It seems to work well — trusting in God to fulfill 
 His promises. The members of the China Inland 
 Mission have not found liviug by faith in God the 
 same thing as depending ^^on chance providences for 
 a scanty subsistence !'' 
 
CHAPTEK 11. 
 
 THE MISSION AN OUTLINE SKETCH. 
 
 The China Inland Mission is an association of 
 missionaries which was suggested and founded in 
 1865 by the Kev. J. Hudson Taylor, with the avowed 
 hope and purpose of commencing the evangelization 
 of the entirely untouched interior of China. 
 
 By the blessing of God it has succeeded in its 
 original aim beyond the hopes of its founder, and 
 noAV numbers over eight hundred missionaries, from 
 many lands and from all the leading evangelical de- 
 nominations, together with an equal number of 
 native helpers. Its members are working in all of 
 the eleven provinces of the interior, which were with- 
 out the Gospel in 1865; it has settled stations and 
 many established churches in ten, and has done itin- 
 erant work in the eleventh; it has also many stations 
 in i-nland districts of provinces on the coast. In all, 
 there are missionaries in one hundred and sixty sta- 
 tions, and an equal number of out-stations in charge 
 of native helpers. 
 
 The way God has dealt with the Mission in the 
 matter of funds has been remarkable and very 
 gracious, and has not only strengthened the faith of 
 its own members, but of many other workers in all 
 parts of the world. When the work was being in- 
 
 21 
 
22 THESE rOETY YEARS. 
 
 aiigurated it was felt to be of great importance, and 
 was a matter of constant concern to Mr. Taylor and 
 his friends, that the new mission should not inter- 
 fere in any way ^vith existing missionary work. It 
 was determined never to take up collections, lest the 
 contributions of the churches to their own Boards 
 should be diminished, and this decision was come to 
 the more readily, because it was realized that God 
 could just as easily provide in other ways. If God 
 wished this work to be done, and they obeyed His 
 command and set about it. He would be sure to look 
 after His side of the contract! Were they not 
 promised, "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His 
 righteousness, and all these things shall be added 
 unto you ?" 
 
 As a matter of fact, all these years every need of 
 the work, large or small, has been met as it has 
 ansen, by moneys sent in unasked — usually through 
 the post — in ansAver to prayer. "He abideth faithful. 
 He cannot deny Himself.^' 
 
 It was manifest that if no human means were used 
 to collect funds, no collections taken and no appeals 
 sent out, the work could go on only so long as it had 
 God's approval. And herein was at once its weak- 
 ness and its strength. It was profoundly important, 
 obviously, to have the right workers, men and women 
 of faith and spiritual power, wdth a single eye to 
 God's glory. It was essential that the work should be 
 done in Scriptural ways, following faithfully the 
 lines laid down by the Holy Spirit. If work which 
 
THE MISSION AN' OUTLINE SKETCH. 23 
 
 had not God's approval were started, or if the work- 
 ers were out of touch with Him, or unscriptural 
 plans were adopted, woe betide the China Inland 
 Mission ! 
 
 It was easy to see also that as the Mission had no 
 endowment or settled income, and God has told us 
 to "owe no man anything," it was impossible for the 
 missionaries to be promised a settled salary. Every 
 worker must go out in simple, direct dependence 
 upon God Himself for everything, not only without 
 salary, but without guarantee even of food and cloth- 
 ing, save indeed the absolute guarantee of God's 
 word, ^^'No good thing will He withhold from them 
 that walk uprightly." They mean to walk uprightly, 
 and God's honor is at stake. ISTeed it be added that 
 their every need is met? 
 
 Taking the Mission as a whole, the ordinary ex- 
 pense per worker will perhaps be two hundred dol- 
 lars a year for personal use, and another hundred 
 dollars for share of house-rents, cost of long journeys, 
 and a variety of other expenses (met by the Mission 
 on a sort of cooperative plan), in all about three 
 hundred dollars a year is the usual expense of a 
 single missionary, besides another seventy-five dol- 
 lars a year, on an average, toward the heavy extra 
 expense of furlough. The missionary cannot live at 
 home as cheaply as in China, and the voyage to and 
 fro is a heavy additional item. 
 
 As to the workers chosen, not only must they be 
 men and women of faith, they must also be soul-win- 
 
24 THESE FORTY YEAKS. 
 
 ners. A sea voyage will not make a missionary of 
 anyone. Spiritual qualifications are of course of 
 higher importance than imiversity training, and 
 Avhile a large number of the workers have been 
 through college, many have only had a good general 
 education. God often uses such, at home; if they are 
 suitable in other ways, why should they not be 
 similarly blessed among the ignorant heathen? — 
 ignorant as judged by Western standards. The 
 worker will need a thorough Chinese education in 
 any case, or he will be counted ignorant by the 
 educated, and soon by the uneducated people among 
 whom he goes to work, and whose respect is of such 
 paramount importance if he would win them for the 
 Master. It will not be supposed, however, that all, 
 or nearly all who offer themselves are accepted. In 
 1887, for instance, when earnest prayer was going 
 up to God for one hundred new missionaries within 
 the year, reinforcements that were urgently needed, 
 there were over six hundred candidates, about eighty- 
 four per cent, of whom were advised either to wait 
 01 to seek some other sphere of service. Those who 
 do go are picked men and women. Health, age, 
 character, temperament, experience, knowledge of 
 the Bible, the equipment of the Spirit, all are taken 
 into account. And above all, God is asked and is ex- 
 pected to guide in every case. 
 
 It is sometimes said that the China Inland Mission 
 is undenominational. This is not strictly correct. 
 The members do not undenominationalize them- 
 
THE MISSION AN OUTLINE SKETCH. 25 
 
 selves. They remain, with rare exceptions, just what 
 they were. It is inter-denoininational, and has room 
 for every suitable worker who is sound in the Faith, 
 irrespective of minor differences in creed. And in 
 China, each member is free to work with those of his 
 own way of thinking; and, as regards church 
 organization, in whatever Avay he believes to be 
 Scriptural and wise. Care is taken, of course, to avoid 
 confusing the Christians by changes of denomi- 
 national teaching, and neighboring stations are 
 usually similar in method for the same reason. Here 
 a district as large as England is worked by Church- 
 men, under their own Bishop (wdio is also a member 
 of the Mission); there half a province is worked by 
 Presbyterians; Yun-nan has mostly Methodist work- 
 ers; another district is wholly Baptist, and so on. On 
 the other hand, in some provinces the missionaries 
 work together, on very primitive, Acts-of-the- Apos- 
 tles lines, scarcely knowing, or not knowing at all, 
 what the others think on denominational matters. 
 These differences loom large at home, but when two 
 or three isolated believers are suiTOunded by multi- 
 tudes of heathen, perhaps hostile heathen, it seems 
 better to agree to differ, and differing to agree. 
 
 The fundamental doctrines of Scripture: That 
 Jesus is the Son of God; that the saved are saved 
 through faith in Him; that the lost are lost because 
 they sin against the light they have; that the Bible 
 is the inspired, authoritative Word of God — these are 
 essential, of course. It is no use to send men out to 
 
26 THESE FORTY YEARS. 
 
 teach a human Gospel that has neither divine au- 
 thority nor power. In China they have enough of 
 human doctrines already. AVhat they need is God's 
 Truth and God's Spirit. 
 
 The entire superintendence of the work on the field 
 is another feature of the Mission. A Council of ex- 
 perienced missionaries, presided over by Mr. Taylor, 
 or in his absence by the China Director, guide the 
 work on the spot, and all minor matters are referred, 
 as far as possible, to the Provincial Superintendents, 
 who are ex-officio members of the Council. Long and 
 varied experience among the people, and thorough 
 knowdedge of local conditions can be brought to bear 
 on all important questions, and, after prayerful con- 
 sideration, decisive action can be taken without de- 
 lay, which is often of profound importance both to 
 the workers and the work. 
 
 As to missionary methods, ^^all things to all men," 
 "that I might gain the more" is the guiding principle. 
 The members wear the native dress and live in native 
 houses. Many eat, with chopsticks instead of knife 
 and fork, the native food, but this last is optional. In 
 dress, in language, in deportment, in the minor 
 courtesies of life, it is easy to follow, as far as may 
 be, what the people respect in their educated fellow- 
 coimtrymen. And it pays. 
 
 Itineration first, then stations in the more im- 
 portant cities as the way opens up, and then out-sta- 
 tions, with a presiding elder or native evangelist, is 
 the usual order of procedure. 
 
THE MISSION AHi OUTLINE SKETCH. 27 
 
 It is very important^ and this can hardly be too 
 much emphasized; to spend as little money as pos- 
 sible in a new station. Asa general rule, large build- 
 ings in a new station, or even considerable personal 
 expenditure, means a small and unsatisfactory 
 church. The richer the missionaiy and the mission 
 seems, the more surely does he become surrounded 
 by unworthy men who come merely for what they 
 can gain. True inquirers are often literally unable 
 to break through such a circle. And pitifully dis- 
 heartening work it is in such a case. Self-sacrifice 
 purchased our pardon. And, in soul-saving work, 
 self-sacrifice is God's way still. "lie hmnbled Him- 
 self.'' So may we. 
 
 Prayer, of course, is the backbone of all the work, 
 as of every Christian enterprise. A weekly prayer- 
 meeting has been held in London, where the work 
 commenced, regularly for thirty-seven years; a daily 
 prayer-meeting is held at the headquarters in Eng- 
 land, America, Australia and China, and at the 
 scattered stations it is the rule, to which there are 
 few if any exceptions, to remember every member of 
 the Mission at the daily prayer-meetings at least 
 cnce a week by name. Every need, not only of the 
 Mission as a whole, but also of each individual 
 member, is met in answer to prayer. 
 
 With all. its faults — and it has many; may the 
 Master enable it to see them clearly and to put them 
 right— God is in it. God's command started it. 
 God's provision has kept it going without ever in- 
 
28 THESE FORTY YEARS. 
 
 curring debt. God's power has opened inland 
 China partly through its means. And God's pres- 
 ence has enabled the workers to face overwhelming 
 difficulties, to endure hardness, and by lore to con- 
 quer opposition, and even in some cases to win the 
 martyr's crown. Untold multitudes have heard the 
 Gospel and many thousands have been ^^added to 
 the Lord." And at last there are signs that, through 
 many Missions, the Truth is slowly beginning to in- 
 fluence the country as a whole. The way of the 
 cross is again proving the way to victory. All glory 
 to God! 
 
CHAPTEE III. 
 
 THE NEED FOR THE MISSION. 
 
 The present condition of China after nearly four 
 thousand years of more or less settled national exist- 
 ence is a remarkable illustration of the insufficiency 
 of mere education, civilization and high moral teach- 
 ing to regenerate a people, A^dthout the re-creating 
 power and life-gi^dng presence of the Lord Jesus 
 Christ Himself. 
 
 Civilized, very highljy civilized as things went then, 
 three thousand years ago, they have enjoyed the 
 fruits of civilization, of settled government, of good 
 laws — among the best, perhaps, that are not based 
 directly or indirectly on the Bible — and of a very 
 considerable degree of culture ever since, and yet the 
 average life of the average Chinaman to-day is dark, 
 degraded, and wicked to a deplorable degree. 
 
 Educated, as a people, more generally perhaps 
 than any other great heathen nation, with a system of 
 education based upon the Confucian classics, that 
 date back in their present form to five hundred years 
 before the birth of our Lord, they are yet, compared 
 with Christian countries, ignorant, superstitious, 
 ciedulous, priest-ridden, almost beyond belief. 
 
 Influenced, dominated mentally, by a moral code 
 so high that it has never been equaled, save by the 
 
 29 
 
30 ' THESE FORTY YEARS. 
 
 direct revelation from God, they are yet to-day so 
 immoral tliat Paul's description of heathendom in 
 his time, in Romans I — that most awful description 
 of godless peoples — applies without the alteration of 
 a word to China as it is at the dawn of the twentieth 
 century. 
 
 So utterly impotent fire civdlization, education and 
 etliics alone, to elevate a people, even with the op- 
 portunity of millenniums. 
 
 We learn something in Genesis of the malignity of 
 the devil, in the sad and but too true story of the fall; 
 we read more in Job of his remorseless cruelty; we 
 gather something of his awful power over the lost, 
 the living lost, in the Gospel narratives, attested by 
 our Lord Himself, of demon-tormented men and 
 women and even children ! We see in the story of 
 the temptation his unabashed audacity in the pres- 
 ence of the very Son of God. 
 
 And one sees in China, with one's own eyes, in a 
 few years' residence up country, proofs, quite as 
 vivid and quite as awful, of the same malevolent in- 
 genuity, proofs not in individual cases only, though 
 these are constantly before one, but in the Chinese 
 a? a people, in their customs and beliefs and fears, ii 
 their dark, superstitious lives and in the terrible 
 agony of terror so sadly common in a heathen's 
 death. 
 
 If ever an individual needed saving the Chinaman 
 does. And if ever a people needed the uplifting, en- 
 nobling, emancipating power of Jesus Christ, surely 
 
THE NEED FOR THE MISSION. 31 
 
 the dark, degraded, godless people of China need it 
 to-day. 
 
 So much, very briefly, for the degree of the need ; 
 now let ns look for a moment at its magnitude. 
 
 We can form some idea of what it would mean for 
 the reader or the writer, instead of being a child of 
 God, to be in the dread power of the enemy of souls, 
 such, doctrinally and actually, is the state of each in- 
 dividual unsaved Chinaman.* Multiply that a 
 hundredfold, a thousandfold, a millionfold, and 
 one begins to feel how unutterable is the need of the 
 four hundred millions of China. God help us to feel 
 that need in the awful depth of its full significance. 
 
 Every one of them, every single soul, is a man or 
 woman or child for whom Christ died. For He is 
 ^^the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the 
 world.'' He "tasted death for every man." 
 
 Jesus has purchased for each one of them pardon 
 and peace and eternal life. It is their birthright to 
 know it. He said, tell "the Gospel to every creature.'' 
 And we have not done it. 
 
 Till our Lord's command is obeyed what tre- 
 mendous responsibility rests upon the Church uni- 
 versal, of which we are members! God help us to 
 feel it and to care. How callous we get sometimes. 
 A man there that we might save, through the power 
 of "Christ in us," if we went and gave him the Gos- 
 
 *"We know," the Holy Ghost teaches, "that we are of 
 God, and the whole world lieth in the evil one." 
 
32 THESE FOKTY YEARS. 
 
 pel — shall we let him pass on, imcared for, from a 
 dark life into a darker and more dreadful eternity ? 
 And to how many such, each additional missionary 
 is able to offer the ineffable gift of Salvation ! 
 
 And if we cannot go shall we let the matter slide ? 
 Or shall we earnestly ask, ^'Is there anything I can do 
 at home toward saving the heathen, that I have not 
 done ? God help me to do it." Would it not be aw- 
 ful to meet men and women at tlie Judgment Throne 
 whom we might have saved if we had only cared 
 enough to do what we could for their present and 
 eternal happiness ? 
 
 It may perhaps help in forming some idea of the 
 darkness of the heathen^s life to visit in imagination 
 an imevangelized city in the heart of China. One 
 Sunday, resting on a journey, the writer's boat was 
 moored opposite the great city of Huai-yuan, in the 
 province of An-huei. It was an intact stronghold 
 of heathen darkness, without a ray of Gospel light. 
 Let us visit it together. 
 
 We enter by the south gate and walk right 
 through the city, from one end to the other, making 
 a mental note of the faces of the people. They are 
 mostly men, of course, women stay at home. But 
 those men's faces impress us. Among all the 
 hundreds, the thousands that we pass on the busy 
 streets, there is not a single one with a restful, satis- 
 fied expression. Many are hostile, many are in- 
 different, but all alike are lacking in inward peace 
 and love and joyfulness, the graces of the Holy 
 
THE NEED FOR THE MISSION. 33 
 
 Ghost. And this lack is manifest in every face. 
 "Without Christ, having no hope; without God in 
 the world." 
 
 A few days later, as we journey up the river, we 
 come to the city of T'ai-ho, and join, perhaps the fol- 
 lowing Sunday, in public worship. E'ow watch the 
 faces, the happy, transformed faces of the Christians, 
 as they listen to the story of the love and life and 
 death of Jesus Christ our Lord. How great the con- 
 trast between those heathen faces and the faces of a 
 company of native Christians. It seems scarcely 
 possible that a few brief years, perhaps only weeks, 
 since they learnt to know Him, could make so great 
 a difference. 
 
 Think of it. The city of Huai-yuan has a popula- 
 tion of perhaps two hundred thousand, no one knows 
 exactly; and there are hundreds of other cities just 
 as large and just as needy. There are more than a 
 thousand governing "cities," that is, capitals of 
 counties, in which a missionary or even a native 
 Christian has never been located, even now. And 
 yet some people think that the needs of China are 
 fairly met. Of course the need was very much 
 greater in 1865. 
 
 If this is the impression left by a single visit to a 
 heathen city, what would be the impression if we 
 could stay long enough to get to know something of 
 the individual lives of the people ? 
 
 Let us stay among them; mingle freely in their 
 streets and markets and fairs; accept invitations into 
 
34 THESE FORTY YEARS. 
 
 their homes ; pay visits to the sick ; rescue the lives of 
 some of the many suicides, and a steadily deepening 
 conviction will grow of the awful needs of the people. 
 
 The men we find on the whole fairly contented 
 with their lot; certainly most of them are industrious. 
 But as one gets to know them more intimately, 
 "There is none good, no not one," is called to mind. 
 They are just heathen, that says it all in one word. 
 They are ^\^cked; we hardly know what w^ickedness 
 is until we go to :x heathen coimtry; they are impure 
 in heart and life; they are selfish, grossly, callously 
 selfish, caring little or nothing for the sufferings of 
 their less fortunate neighbors. They have no asylums 
 for the blind, no hospitals for the sick, jio homes for 
 the lame or maimed or incurable, and in most of the 
 cities no almshouses or other provision for the aged 
 poor. 
 
 Alas, how can they but be so ? — without any ray of 
 that "wisdom that comes from above," and "is first 
 pure, then peaceable — full of mercy and good 
 fruits"? 
 
 Such are the lives of the men on the street. And 
 what shall we say of the millions of unfortunates 
 who are victims to opium, or to intemperance, to im- 
 morality, or that most enthralling of passions, so 
 ubiquitous in China, the passion of gambling — 
 victims without a Saviour? 
 
 But if the lives of the men are sad, those of the 
 women in the homes are sadder. Despised, down- 
 trodden, ill-treated and neglected, the lot of woman in 
 
'•NEVER OUT OF .PAIN. 
 
 GOING TO VISIT THEM. 
 
THE NEED FOR THE MISSION. 35 
 
 China is pitiable indeed. Unwelcome when bom, un- 
 loved in young womanhood, unhonoxed in old age; is 
 it. any wonder that so many commit suicide every 
 year? Unprotected, too, their parents or husbands 
 may kill them, or sell them, and often do. And there 
 is no redress. Do not the women belong to them? 
 
 Saddest of all are the lives of the children, es- 
 pecially the girl children. Take this one fact : From 
 the time she is four or five years old until she 
 is twenty-five a girl is never out of pain, from the 
 cruel custom of foot-binding, which is almost uni- 
 versal, except among the poorest and most degraded. 
 ^The dark places of the earth are full of the habita- 
 tions of cruelty." Heathendom 7ieeds the Gospel. 
 And thirty-seven years ago inland China was utterly 
 without its light, its comfort, its hope. 
 
 To these thoughts as to the need then, might be 
 added in confirmation now, the marvelous results of 
 a third of a century of Christian work. ^^Tot only is it 
 true that God commands us to give them the Gospel, 
 a fact which must ever stand above all other con- 
 siderations, as regards the claim upon us of work 
 among the heathen, but the experience of thirty 
 years has proved that the Gospel just meets their 
 need — the great yearning need of God in every 
 human heart. God's will, again, has vindicated itself. 
 What He commands is wise, as well as right. 
 
 Who could have believed, who could have hoped 
 Qt the commencement of the last third of the nine- 
 teenth century that missionary work would have ac- 
 
36 THESE FORTY YEARS. 
 
 complished what it has? — such a work, judged not 
 merely by numerical results which are astonishing in- 
 deed, as will be seen in later chapters, but by the 
 much more crucial tests of 1900, when the native 
 Christians, in the fires of the bitterest persecution, 
 and even the literal fires of martyrdom, so nobly 
 proved their right to be enrolled in the ranks of the 
 Church of Christ. 
 
 The truth as it is in Jesus is just what they need, 
 and has proved the power of God unto salvation to 
 unnumbered thousands of Chinamen and China- 
 women. 
 
 But in 1865 Han-kow and a few places along the 
 coast, alone, were being touched with the Gospel, and 
 with that small exception China — ^vast, continental 
 China — ^was entirely without the Light of Life. In- 
 land China (excluding the coast belt and the region 
 round Han-kow), with an area of four million square 
 miles, about a third as large again as the United 
 States, and a population of over three hundred 
 millions, was utterly without any knowledge what- 
 ever of the only Name under heaven whereby men 
 may be saved. 
 
 Is it any wonder, when other Missions could not 
 take up that work, so desperately needed, that Hud- 
 son Taylor felt it must be done, even if a new Mis- 
 sion had to be originated for the purpose? 
 
 Huai-yuan, referred to upon pages 21 and 22, has re- 
 cently been opened by missionaries of the Presbyterian 
 Board. May God prosper them! 
 
PART II. 
 IN MORE DETAIL. 
 
CHAPTEK I. 
 
 THE PEOPLE OF CHINA. 
 
 At a picturesque little town on the wild, mag- 
 nificent west coast of New Zealand we were to ad- 
 dress a missionary meeting in the spring of 1900. 
 When my wife and I went on the platform and saw 
 the audience we Avere not a little surprised to find an 
 upturned sea of Chinese faces. They had come early 
 and crowded out the friends we came to meet, so 
 eager were they to get tidings from the fatherland. 
 The church was full of Chinamen, so the missionary 
 meeting had to be held at nine o'clock instead of 
 eight. 
 
 To us, of course, it was deeply interesting to be 
 face to face with that eager, expectant Chinese audi- 
 ence. Closely packed, right across the building, in 
 rows a yard apart, they seemed a picture in miniature 
 of crowded China. But that audience, seated as they 
 were, about eighteen abreast, w^ould need to be con- 
 tinued row after row, row after row, on and on, 
 more than half way round the world, to contain all 
 the Chinese in China. Have we any adequate con- 
 ception of the immense population of that dark, 
 needy land ? 
 
 As we have already seen, thirty-seven years ago 
 the interior of that great empire, which includes one- 
 
 39 
 
40 THESE FORTY YEAES. 
 
 eleventh of the land area of the globe and a popula- 
 tion estimated at four hundred millions, was entirely 
 without the Gospel. 
 
 It was to help bring about a change in this de- 
 plorable state of things that the ^^China Inland Mis- 
 sion" was formed. 
 
 ******* 
 
 Everybody is aware that China is the greatest 
 country in the world, as far as population is 
 concerned, and that it has a past to be proud of; but 
 it is not so generally recognized that the Chinese 
 have national characteristics that, given fair play, 
 promise a future far greater than the past. 
 
 We know something about their industry and their 
 thrift. We know less, probably, about their brilliant 
 commercial instincts and adaptability. We knew 
 little or nothing until quite recently of the per- 
 tinacity of their conservatism, of the determined ad- 
 herence to their own beliefs of right and wrong. 
 They have grit. 
 
 They need new ideas; they need better methods; 
 they need still more, leaders. But they have men; 
 men capable of remarkable development, of brilliant 
 achievements, and under Christian influence as we 
 now know, of magnificent steadfastness under bitter 
 persecution and all the terrible concomitants of 
 martyrdom. 
 
 The filial piety of the Chinese is proverbial. And 
 this goes much deeper than many suppose. A well- 
 trained young Chinaman is as considerate of his 
 
THE PEOPLE OF CHINA. 41 
 
 parents' wishes and feelings and as obedient, at least 
 in many cases, as heart could wish. Then they are 
 also a very grateful people. Every missionary has 
 many evidences of this, perhaps medical missionaries 
 most of all, for they have something to give that the 
 people want, and know they want, and when it is 
 given, the gratitude returned is often most encourag- 
 ing. Again, they are a most religious people. Of 
 which the immense sum spent annually on the public 
 and private worship of the gods and of departed 
 spirits may be adduced as one proof among many. 
 
 The faithfulness of the Chinese is scarcely 
 recognized in the West by those who do not person- 
 ally know them, but in China, in the great foreign 
 banks at the treaty ports, all the silver (i. e. the cur- 
 rent coin) is in the hands of Chinese clerks. The 
 same holds good in Japan, where the wealthier 
 Japanese merchants trust them as cashiers, and in 
 many positions of responsibility, where they would 
 not and could not trust their own people. Their 
 faithfulness was also most conspicuously in evidence 
 during the Boxer outbreak, and the way in which 
 native friends risked even life itself in the effort to 
 help the hunted missionaries will never be forgotten 
 by those who survived that ^Tleign of Terror." 
 
 They are a great people. Faithful, grateful, 
 peace-loving, filial, patient, religious, plodding, 
 teachable and industrious; it is impossible to know 
 them, or at any rate to know their better side, and 
 not to love them. And there is no reason whatever 
 
42 THESE FORTY YEARS. 
 
 why they should not become a much greater people 
 than they are to-day. They have come to a turn of 
 the tide in the affairs of their country which, taken 
 at the flood, may well lead on to glory. 
 
 China is like an ethnic flower-bud; its fragrance is 
 undeveloped; its beauty is hidden, and perhaps lies 
 chiefly in promise; but God can surely cause it to 
 blossom forth. 
 
 Sir Kobert Hart, the greatest Western diplomat in 
 China, tells us that the hope of the country lies in the 
 rapid spread of Christianity, which he regards as 
 "improbable but not impossible." There needs to be, 
 he says, a buffer community between the con- 
 servatism of Confucian China and the progressive 
 civilization of the West, if the horrors of 1900 are 
 not to be repeated. 
 
 What Sir Kobert Hart hopes for so vaguely is, in 
 fact, steadily being brought about. The annual in- 
 crease of the Protestant churches in China is ten 
 thousand communicants, and the annual increase is 
 annually increasing. The total membership of the 
 churches has doubled every eight years for more 
 than a quarter of a century. 
 
 If this means that God is working mightily in 
 China, that He has great pui-poses for her future, 
 which are already in operation, there is hope for that 
 distracted land. 
 
 If the churches at home realize their opportunity, 
 and strengthen the hands of the hundreds, nay 
 thousands of young men and women asking to give 
 
THE PEOPLE OF CHINA. 43 
 
 their lives to such work as this; if, at this crisis, the 
 native Christians and the foreign workers are ear- 
 nestly upheld in prayer by Christendom, there is 
 hope for China. 
 
 Had there been ten righteous men in Sodom the 
 city would not have perished. There are more than 
 ten times ten thousand believers in China. May we 
 not pray God to spare her? Must we not believe, 
 doing all we can ourselves to help, that God will deal 
 with her in mercy ? 
 
 If the rapid spread of the Truth in China be its 
 one only hope, shall we not, by faith and more de- 
 termined effort and through the mighty power of 
 God, bring this to pass ? 
 
CHAPTEK 11. 
 
 AN EFFOET TO MEET THE NEED. 
 
 Forty years ago the entire missionary enterprise 
 was still in its infancy. Each of the leading de- 
 nominations had, as in duty bound, its mission to the 
 heathen, but the work was small. Those were the 
 early days of foreign missions, for till recently "Go 
 ye and preach the Gospel to every creature" had 
 been for many centuries, with rare exceptions, an 
 ignored command. Is it not, to many, a forgotten 
 duty even now? Still, a beginning has been made, 
 and a good one. 
 
 The vast, the continental area of China, however, 
 was largely neglected. In that greatest of un- 
 evangelized countries, missionaries were stationed in 
 some half-dozen treaty ports along the coast, and at 
 Han-kow, the Chicago of the Orient. Inland China 
 was not only unreached, but by competent judges de- 
 clared unreachable. It was closed, barred and sealed 
 against the heralds of the Cross. 
 
 There was one, however, to whom a country closed 
 against God, against His revealed will, was not only 
 theoretically, but practically, beyond belief. "I will 
 give thee the heathen — ^the uttermost parts of the 
 earth for thy possession," said God. "To the utter- 
 most parts of the earth" commanded Jesus, doubt- 
 
 44 
 
AN EFFORT TO MEET THE NEED. 45 
 
 less with that assurance in mind. And what God 
 promises comes to pass; what the Captain of the 
 Lord's host commands His soldiers they can do, for 
 He leads them Himself, and leads always to victory I 
 
 So Hudson Taylor pondered and prayed, and was 
 persuaded "We can do if — "Let us do it, in the 
 name and in the power of God." 
 
 Thus, since "all things are possible to him that be- 
 lieveth," a new mission was started to the new field 
 of inland China. And it had to be run on new lines, 
 as we have seen, to avoid the risk of conflicting with 
 existing work. 
 
 This was the China Inland Mission. It has been 
 called by some a "faith mission." The term is un- 
 fortunate, and is one we regret, for it is invidious. 
 All missions are faith missions and all missionaries 
 are faith missionaries, or they would stay at home. 
 It costs more than many realize to live and work in 
 a heathen land, as every missionary knows. The 
 special feature of the China Inland Mission referred 
 to is that it does not take collections or make in 
 public or in private direct appeals for money. It 
 simply trusts God to provide, through His servants, 
 what He sees is needed to carry on His work. 
 
 And how has that plan worked ? God has provided 
 the funds, and provided royally. Who could suppose 
 it would be otherwise ? The work has been econom- 
 ically conducted, it is true; the money sent in has 
 been made to go as far as it could without loss of 
 effectiveness; but the point is — the money has come, 
 
46 THESE FORTY YEARS. 
 
 and has always come in time. God has been asked 
 for it and He has inclined His servants to give, large 
 gifts and small, mostly the latter; widows' mites and 
 children's, often in postage stamps; and wealthy 
 donors' checks — month by month they have been 
 coming in, all these years. Xever a debt has been in- 
 curred, never a need has been unmet, never a suitable 
 worker has been refused, never a field abandoned, 
 never an invalid worker unable to go home for lack 
 of funds. The experience of the China Inland Mis- 
 sion all these years may be summed up in a word: 
 •'He is faithful that promised." 
 
 As to the workers, they get no stipulated salary, as 
 we have seen; they are promised nothing, not even 
 food. They go out in daily dependence on God to 
 supply their needs and, of course, their every need 
 is met. 
 
 The missionaries wear the Chinese dress. "All 
 things to all men" is their motto in this and other 
 non-essentials. ^'Let us become Chinese," they say, 
 ''to the Chinese, that we may Avin the more." 
 
 They live in native houses, many eat the native 
 food, and all do what they can to get 7iear tlie people, 
 that they may win them to the Master. ''Living 
 epistles known and read of all men," they seek to be 
 known and seen, to be accessible and understandable 
 to all. 
 
 Indemnification for losses is sometimes offered by 
 the authorities, but it is a rule of the Mission never 
 to demand it. "We seek not yours but you," is its 
 
AN EFFORT TO MEET THE NEED. 47 
 
 attitude in all such matters. Moreover, "Resist not 
 evil" is the law of the Kingdom, an explicit command 
 to which God of course expects obedience. 
 
 To the rulers, the mandarins and the recognized 
 leaders among the scholarly classes — the "local 
 gentry," courteous deference is shown. "Honor to 
 whom honor is due." 
 
 And how do these principles answer ? Just as one 
 would expect. Inland China has been opened up, in 
 the first instance largely through the members of the 
 China Inland Mission. Laborious itinerations, total- 
 ing many tens of thousands of miles, have been made, 
 reaching to the remotest parts of the empire, includ- 
 ing Mongolia, Turkestan and the lofty plateaux of 
 Thibet. And, step by step, more than three hundred 
 stations and out-stations have been opened; to many 
 hundreds of thousands the Gospel has been preached, 
 with the happiest result in multitudes of cases. 
 Wherever the work has been established neighbors 
 have become friendly, and most friendly just where 
 these methods have been most enthusiastically car- 
 ried out. 
 
CHAPTEK III. 
 
 THE INCEPTION OF THE WORK. 
 
 In the year 1860, the Eev. J. Hudson Taylor was 
 invalided home from China. He had gone out in '63, 
 had learned the language, had gained experience 
 working with older missionaries, had taken charge of 
 a hospital, had become a Chinaman to the Chinese 
 and had gathered a Church. In other words, he had 
 gone through his missionary apprenticeship; but now 
 his health was so completely wrecked that he would 
 never be able to return, the doctors told him. 
 
 He was a full-fledged missionary. In China he had 
 lived right among the people and had itinerated as 
 widely as circumstances would then permit. He was 
 familiar with the busy life of their great crowded 
 cities and had seen a good deal of the simpler rural 
 population. To him "the millions of China" was not a 
 mere expression, but represented a concrete fact with 
 which he was in some degree familiar. 
 
 More than this, he knew where they were morally 
 and spiritually. The awful wickedness, the deplor- 
 able ignorance of spiritual and energizing Truth, the 
 sufferings of the women, the miseries of the children, 
 especially of the girls, and the hard-hearted selfish- 
 ness of all, with all the unhappiness and sorrow 
 
 48 
 
THE INCEPTION OF THE WOKK. 49 
 
 which spring from such a state of things, these were 
 living and terrible facts to his mind. Had not God 
 some pity? Had He not some plan for their up- 
 lifting? 
 
 Yes, verily! Had not God commanded that His 
 Gospel should be preached to them with all its en- 
 lightening, emancipating power? Surely it was the 
 duty of God^s people to do their part to bring light 
 and liberty to this sordid and suffering nation. 
 
 While at home from China in the early sixties, Mr. 
 Taylor, unable to work in China, determined at least 
 to work for China. And this he did in several ways : 
 By making known its needs, in meetings and through 
 the press; by revising the translation of the New 
 Testament in the vernacular of Mng-po, an im- 
 portant dialect; but he believed that the most im- 
 portant work he could do was by prayer, and 
 he prayed without ceasing. 
 
 The trouble was, the more he prayed the heavier 
 grew the load upon his heart. The awful condition 
 in time and for eternity of those Christless multi- 
 tudes, their miseries now and their hopelessness 
 hereafter, became, like Pilgrim's burden, more than 
 he could bear. Even when he had been five years at 
 home, and had finished the medical curriculum which 
 had been broken off when he first sailed for China, 
 and had held many missionary meetings in various 
 parts of the British Isles, as well as doing not a little 
 literary work for China, even then, when his health 
 was somewhat reestablished, it broke down afresh 
 
50 THESE FOETY YEARS. 
 
 from this burden on his soul. Under medical advice 
 he went to the seaside, but even change and rest 
 could not help him much, unless this burden could be 
 lifted. To make matters worse the conviction was 
 dawning on him that if the existing missionary 
 1-odies could not undertake work toward the 
 evangelization of the great interior of China, he must. 
 He had already been to see the secretaries of the 
 principal English Missionary Boards. Some had 
 work that so urgently needed reenforcing that their 
 new missionaries must go to old fields; others were 
 already using all the funds that were coming to their 
 hands; others said, and said truly, "The country is 
 not open," adding, "How can we send missionaries to 
 inland China?'' In every case he came away with a 
 heavy heart. 
 
 And now God seemed to be saying to him, "This 
 need is laid on you; you have been there; you see it 
 more clearly than most; why not ask the Lord for 
 laborers to go with you to the interior?" 
 
 From this thought Mr. Taylor shrank back, Avith a 
 very keen perception of the gravity of the undertak- 
 ing. The closed door did not deter him because God 
 could open that, and doubtless would, in answer to 
 prayer, when His servants went out in obedience to 
 His will. For his own support and his family's he had 
 no concern; as to their needs when away in China, he 
 was perfectly prepared to trust God for everything. 
 "Your Father knoweth that ye have need of these 
 things" was sufficient for him. But the magnitude of 
 
THE INCEPTION OF THE WORK. 51 
 
 the task, the difficulties of the climate, the obstacles 
 to be overcome, and above all the spiritual deadness 
 which assails missionaries living in the midst of the 
 heathen, seemed overwhelmingly serious to Mr. 
 Taylor as he faced the proposition. 
 
 However, he could get no relief. The conviction 
 deepened that this was God's work for him. And 
 finally, in a lonely spot on the seashore near 
 Brighton, one bright summer morning, the struggle 
 ended. On his knees before God he said, "I will obey 
 Thee.'' And immediately the load was lifted. But 
 he added, ^*Lord, bear Thou all the responsibility in- 
 volved by obedience to Thy command." ^'Seek ye 
 first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and 
 all these things shall be added unto you," seemed ex- 
 actly to meet the case. Might not the words be un- 
 derstood to apply to other and deeper needs than 
 food and clothing, of which the Father knows full 
 well ? Mr. Taylor immediately began to pray for fel- 
 low-workers to go two and two to the eleven un- 
 reached provinces of inland China and to Mongolia. 
 There and then he entered a memorandum in the 
 Bible in his hand: 
 
 "Prayed for twenty-four willing, skillful laborers, at 
 Brighton, June 25th, 1865." 
 
 This was the seed purpose from which sprang the 
 China Inland Mission. Before tracing its growth 
 and development it may perhaps be well to go back 
 for a few minutes to trace the steps by which God 
 
62 THESE FORTY YEARS. 
 
 prepared an instrument for tlie work He was about 
 to do.* 
 
 ♦Those familiar with the early life of Mr. Taylor will 
 perhaps pass over the next three chapters. They give, in a 
 condensed form, some of the experiences by which he was 
 trained and fitted for his life-work — founding and directing 
 the China Inland Mission. 
 
M 
 
 H 
 
 REV. J. HUDSON TAYLOR. 
 
CHAP TEE IV. 
 
 THE MAN FOE THE WOEK. 
 
 Befoee Mr. Taylor was born his parents prayed 
 that if God ever gave them a son lie might become a 
 missionary to China. They were a north-country 
 English family, living in Bamsley, Yorkshire. The 
 father was a chemist, a man of exceptional intelli- 
 gence and thonghtfulness and a local preacher 
 amongst the Methodists of power and general ac- 
 ceptance. The mother was a qniet and deeply spirit- 
 ual woman. Both parents were profoundly impressed 
 with the reality of God and of spiritual things, and of 
 the reasonableness of trusting God in everything and 
 of literally obeying His commands. Any other 
 course seemed not only wrong but folly. 
 
 When their first-born child was given they hoped 
 the little son would prove to be the answer to their 
 prayers; and many were the petitions that went up 
 for the infant boy. He grew, however, into such a 
 delicate lad that he could seldom stay an entire week 
 at school, and reluctantly the father and mother 
 came to the conclusion that for some reason or other 
 their ardent desire was not to be granted. The boy 
 always worked with a will at his lessons, but health 
 constantly gave way under the strain of ordinary 
 
 53 
 
54 THESE FORTY YEARS. 
 
 school duties, attacked vdth the earnestness that 
 characterized everything he did. But, in spite of 
 many prayers and the helpful training of that godly 
 home, young Hudson Taylor came nearly to the end 
 of his school-boy days without knowing the supreme 
 joy of conversion. He tried repeatedly to be a 
 Christian, but had always failed. He did not realize 
 that it was because he had not begun at the be- 
 ginning. 
 
 About this time he came among skeptical com- 
 panions and was not unaffected by their way of think- 
 ing and speaking, in which he was confirmed by the 
 inconsistencies of many of the Christians around him. 
 ^'If I were a Christian,'' he used to say to himself, ^'I 
 would be one in something more than name. If it 
 were possible for me to believe in the God of the 
 Bible I would believe in Him with all my heart, and 
 would put Him to the test, taking His promises to 
 mean just what they say, and if they proved to be 
 untrustworthy, if they would not stand the test, I 
 would throw it up altogether." It may be that the 
 musings of those dark days have tended to strengthen 
 the supreme conviction which has characterized Mr. 
 Taylor's life: That God may be utterly depended on 
 for everything and that His promises were always in- 
 tended to be literally fulfilled in every case. 
 
 It was while still in this frame of mind that, one 
 half-holiday, he picked up a tract in his father's 
 library, saying to himself, '^There will doubtless be 
 a story in the first part of this and a sermon at the 
 
THE MAN FOR THE WORK. 65 
 
 end. I will read the story and leave the moral for 
 those Avho like that sort of thing." So he .took the 
 booklet to an empty barn and stretched himself at 
 length to enjoy and while away the time. As he read 
 the story, certain words in it struck him as re- 
 markable. 
 
 That same afternoon his mother, who was away 
 from home at some little distance on a visit, finding 
 herself free from her ordinary domestic duties, seized 
 the opportunity for more uninterrupted waiting upon 
 God than usual about the conversion of her boy. She 
 WTBstled with God for him hour after hour until at 
 last a great light flooded her heart and she could 
 pray no longer, for she knew that God had granted 
 her petition. 
 
 The words that riveted young Hudson Taylor's at- 
 tention were, ''The finished work of Christ." 
 "Finished," he thought, "then my efforts to make 
 myself a Christian were all beginning in the middle ! 
 If the work is finished there is nothing left for me to 
 do but to joyfully accept Him as my Saviour and to 
 thank Him for His great sacrifice and sufferings for 
 me." He fell on his knees and there and then gave 
 himself to the Lord and claimed Christ as his 
 Saviour and his God. 
 
 He had often dreaded conversion as "becoming se- 
 rious," and shrank from the thought of it accord- 
 ingly. He found, however, that it was becoming 
 happy; he had never had his heart so full of joy and 
 happiness before ! 
 
56 THESE FORTY YEAfiS. 
 
 When the dear mother came home a few days later 
 he met her with a glowing face. ^T. have good news 
 to tell yon, mother." "You need not tell me, my 
 boy," she said, "I have been praising God for that 
 news for days." 
 
 "How did you know; did anyone tell you?" 
 
 "I prayed for you until I knew in my own heart 
 that God had granted my request and had drawn you 
 to Himself." 
 
 Is it any wonder that Mr. Taylor began early to 
 believe in the power of prayer ? 
 
CHAPTEK Y. 
 
 PURPOSE AND PREPAEATION. 
 
 A FEW montlis later a transaction took place that 
 proved of lasting consequence. Having a leisure 
 afternoon the boy determined to spend it in the most 
 delightful way he could think of, the most profitable 
 way as well. Alone, in communion with God, he felt 
 deeply conscious of the love of God as manifested by 
 His great sacrifice of Jesus Christ and by His deal- 
 ings with himself at a time when he had given up all 
 hope of being saved. As he pondered on these things 
 he became so full of glad thankfulness and peace that 
 he asked God to graciously give him some oppor- 
 tunity of showing his gratitude, some service, how- 
 ever insignificant or however trying, that would en- 
 able him to show how profoundly he appreciated the 
 loving kindness of the Lord. 
 
 He arose from his knees that afternoon with a very 
 definite consciousness that God had accepted the 
 offer, but for what service he could not tell. It was 
 not until some months later that the conviction was 
 borne in upon him that God wished him to go to 
 China. Of this wish his parents knew nothing. With 
 China in view he tried to obtain books about the 
 country and people, but experienced considerable 
 
 57 
 
58 THESE FORTY YEARS. 
 
 difficulty. At that time there were very few books to 
 be had, and those few were not easily accessible, at 
 any rate to him. He obtained, however, a book by 
 Medhurst on China, and from that he learned, 
 amongst other things, that medical knowledge would 
 be invaluable in winning the hearts of the people. 
 Then and there he determined to take a thorough 
 medical curriculum. 
 
 Now, of course, it became necessary to consult his 
 parents. When they first heard of the wish to go to 
 China they said nothing of their own prayers and 
 longings all these years but simply encouraged him 
 to wait on God. If God were calling him to China 
 He would open up the way and make all plain in due 
 season, but it would be wise, lest this should be 
 merely his own personal inclination, to be entirely 
 willing to serve God either there or at home or any- 
 where else. And Mr. Taylor has often felt the ms- 
 dom of the counsel. When he did go, it was with the 
 profound conviction that God, Himself, had definitely 
 called him to a definite work in China. His faith, 
 therefore, Avas specific and certain, and no questions 
 arose later on to trouble him as to the wisdom or 
 Tightness of his choice. 
 
 After some preliminary studies at home, it was de- 
 cided that he should commence his medical studies 
 at Hull. There, under one of the lecturers at the 
 Hull School of Medicine, he worked at Materia 
 Medica, Pharmacy and other branches for a year or 
 two. Both previously at home and now again here 
 
PURPOSE AND PREPARATION. 69 
 
 he determined to toughen himself as much as possible 
 for the life of hardship which would probably be his 
 in China, which was then to so large an extent a 
 closed country and therefore necessarily a difficult 
 field of service. He took more regular exercise, did 
 without his soft bedding, lived on the simplest and 
 most inexpensive diet; thus not only accustoming 
 himself to experiences that might be normal in the 
 East but also saving no little part of his slender in- 
 come for use in the Lord's work, into which in his 
 new" surroundings he at once laimched with all the 
 earnestness of his enthusiastic nature. 
 
 It must have been a touching sight to the only One 
 who witnessed it, to see the young medical student, 
 about this time, looking through his little library and 
 going over his slender stock of clothes to see what he 
 could do without, that he might have nothing in his 
 possession that could be better used in other ways. 
 Is not a man's secret life, under the eye of God alone, 
 the best test of what he is ? 
 
 Here in Hull Mr. Taylor made a determination 
 which he thought would help in preparing for the 
 future. He decided never to ask for his doctor's as- 
 sistant salary when it fell due, however much he 
 might need it; for he expected, out in China, to be 
 entirely dependent upon God, and if he could not 
 move a man through God before he went, how could 
 he hope to live by faith in a distant land. More than 
 once he was in difficulties through this decision — on 
 one occasion in very serious difficulty — but in each 
 
60 THESE FOKTY YEAKS. 
 
 case the matter of salary was remarkably brouglit to 
 the doctor's mind, and so the need was met in answer 
 to prayer, and not only was his faith in God 
 strengthened but he was encouraged to hope that 
 God Who heard him in this lesser matter at home 
 would not fail him in the greater need abroad. 
 
 One Sunday, after morning service and a good 
 time of Bible study and prayer, he set out as usual, 
 his heart brimming over with joy and gladness, to an 
 afternoon and evening of Gospel work in tramps' 
 lodging-houses and wherever else he could get a 
 hearing. After his last service that evening was 
 closed, just as with glad thankfulness for good op- 
 portunities and a ready hearing he was about to turn 
 homeward, a poor man came up to him and said, "I 
 wish, sir, you would come and pray with my wife, 
 who I am afraid is dying." 
 
 Gladly, of course, Mr. Taylor went. Noticing from 
 the man's brogue that he was Irish, and therefore 
 probably a Catholic, "Why did you not go to a 
 priest ?" he asked. 
 
 "I did, sir; but he would not come for less than 
 eighteen pence, and we have no money for food, let 
 alone money for him !" 
 
 On hearing what a deplorable condition of want 
 and destitution the family were in, Mr. Taylor asked 
 why the man had not applied for relief to the proper 
 authorities, especially as his wife was the mother of a 
 little one only thirty-six hours old. 
 
 'T did, sir," he said, "and they told me to come 
 
PURPOSE AND PEEPAEATION. 61 
 
 again to-morrow morning at eleven o'clock, but I am 
 afraid my poor wife will hardly live so long." 
 
 Mr. Taylor's supplies had run so low that he had 
 nothing left but a single half-crown (sixty cents), and 
 he could not help thinking as he heard the sad story, 
 "How I wish I had it in change ! If I had only two 
 shillings and a sixpence, how gladly would I give 
 them a shilling." 
 
 When he came to the pitiful home he found it all 
 just as the man had described. A miserable little ill- 
 furnished upper room, the poor mother lying ex- 
 hausted on the bed and four or five little children 
 huddled here and there about the room, whose 
 sunken cheeks and hollow temples told an unmistak- 
 able story of long want and slow starvation. 
 
 "If only I had change," he thought again, "how 
 gladly would I give them a shilling and sixpence, to 
 tide them over till to-morrow." 
 
 And then as he stood there he began to talk to the 
 poor woman, so near her end, about the loving 
 Father who knows and sympathizes with all the 
 sufferings of His creatures. 
 
 "You hypocrite!" a voice seemed to say within 
 him, "How dare you call Him Father and say He 
 will provide for their needs when you are able to do 
 so yourself, but are unwilling to trust God without a 
 shilling in your pocket ?" And the words he was try- 
 ing to say stuck in his throat. 
 
 Mr. Taylor bethought him of another resource. 
 He never had any trouble or difficulty in prayer. But 
 
62 THESE FOETY YEARS. 
 
 as he began to pray, "Our Father, Which art in 
 Heaven/' again he nearly choked. "How dare you 
 call Him your Father when you are not ready to 
 trust Him yourself!" 
 
 SomehoAv or other, he never knew how, he 
 managed to struggle through a fomi of prayer. As 
 he rose from his knees, the poor man said, "You see, 
 sir, what a bad case we are in. If you can help us, 
 for God's sake do !" 
 
 "Give to him that asketh of thee," flashed into Mr. 
 Taylor's mind, and instantly he knew that it was the 
 word of God to him then. Drawing the coin from his 
 pocket he handed it to the man, saying, "It may seem 
 a little thing for me to help you, who am so much 
 better off than you are, but this is all the money I 
 have in the world. I know, however, that our 
 Father in heaven will supply my need in some way 
 or other." And then his mouth was opened and he 
 was able to speak with freedom and gladness of the 
 love and the goodness of God. 
 
 The poor woman's life was saved, and so Mr. Tay- 
 lor has often felt was his. To trust God and God 
 only — ^with no one but God to look to — was just the 
 lesson he needed to learn. 
 
 On the way home Mr. Taylor says he remembers 
 his heart was as light as his pocket. When rather 
 late he reached his lodgings he kneeled down and 
 said, "Thou hast said, ^He that hath pity upon the 
 poor lendeth to the Lord; and that which he hath 
 given will He pay him again;' I cannot afford to 
 
PURPOSE AND PREPARATION. 63 
 
 make a long loan of it, Lord, or I shall have nothing 
 for dinner to-morrow." 
 
 There was water-gruel waiting for his supper and 
 enough oatmeal to suffice for breakfast, but that was 
 all. He felt, however, with a very happy heart, that 
 the blessing of God was upon him. 
 
 Next morning as he was taking his frugal meal 
 the postman came, bringing an unexpected letter. 
 The handwriting he did not know, and when he 
 opened the cover all he saw was a pair of gloves. "A 
 strange gift, indeed," he thought, ^^for one in my 
 circumstances !" As he drew them out, however, a 
 ten-shilling piece dropped to the floor. Picking it up, 
 he said to himself, ^Traise the Lord ! Four hundred 
 per cent, for twelve hours' investment; that is good 
 interest. How glad the merchants of Hull would be 
 if they could lend their money at such a rate !" Then 
 and there he determined that a bank that paid so 
 well, and that coiild not break, should have all his 
 savings. And he has never regretted the decision. 
 
 Many details must of course be omitted in this out- 
 line sketch that are told at length in the "Retrospect," 
 Mr. Taylor's own account of his early life and train- 
 ing for the work that lay ahead. 
 
 After this preparatory work at Hull the young 
 student came up to London to take the regular course 
 of medical study at the London Hospital. 
 
 The life into which he was then plunged is diffi- 
 cult for us to picture now. Even in recent times 
 medical students have had the reputation of being 
 
64 THESE FORTY YEARS. 
 
 rather rowdy, but the medical student of fifty years 
 ago is happily almost an extinct genus now. Drink- 
 ing and gambling and other vices and a general 
 rowdyism were the order of the day out of lecture 
 hours. It was not an uncommon thing for a dozen 
 students, not content with an evening at a West End 
 theatre, in a hilarious condition to link arms and 
 march down the middle of the main thoroughfares, 
 rollicking, shouting, and singing at the top of their 
 voices, and clearing all before them that came in 
 the way. 
 
 It was in the midst of such surroundings as these 
 that the young student came with scarcely, so far 
 as he knew, a Christian student to stand by him. 
 Surely God had him in training to stand alone ! 
 
 Here in London Mr. Taylor sought and found an 
 opportunity of testing his faith in God to meet his 
 daily needs. His father, deeply interested, of course, 
 in his possible future, had offered to meet his ex- 
 penses, which, however, would have entailed a good 
 deal of sacrifice on account of business reverses. The 
 Chinese Evangelization Society, in connection wdth 
 which he expected to go out, had also suggested that 
 they should meet his expenses while carrying on his 
 medical education. Before replying to either of these 
 offers Mr. Taylor brought the matter before God in 
 prayer for some days. He then felt that it would be 
 wise to decline both offers. His parents, who already 
 knew of the offer from the Society, would not be in 
 any anxiety about the supply of his needs, while 
 
PURPOSE AND PREPARATION. 65 
 
 at the same time the Society, knowing of his father's 
 offer, would be perfectly satisfied if he declined 
 theirs, and by this means he would be enabled to 
 commence a very practical life of faith before he 
 went out to the field of his life work. 
 
 In many remarkable ways his needa were met. It 
 was not for lack of supplies, but in order to have 
 as much as possible to give away or to spend in the 
 Lord's work, that he economized as much as he could. 
 An inexpensive room, both bedroom and study, four 
 miles from the hospital, was shared with a cousin; 
 and this involved an eight mile walk each day, which 
 was not without its advantages from the point of 
 view of health and hardihood. For food, a four-cent 
 loaf, bought on his way home from hospital, was suffi- 
 cient for supper and breakfast, with water to drink. 
 This, with occasional variations, and apples or other 
 fruit for lunch at noon, was his sole diet for much 
 of the time of his medical curriculum. 
 
 It was to this simple diet that he owed his life on 
 one occasion. Having pricked his finger with a needle 
 one evening, he forgot all about it and was poisoned 
 next day while dissecting, apparently from this 
 minute wound to which he had never given a thought. 
 Violent septic inflammation set in up his whole arm, 
 and for days life hung trembling in the balance. The 
 prominent surgeon from whom he first sought advice 
 told him that his life would depend upon whether 
 he had been living steadily and avoiding beer and 
 rich foods. 
 
66 THESE FORTY YEAES. 
 
 During his slow convalescence a sum of money 
 unexpectedly came into his hands, which enabled him 
 to return to his home in the north of England for a 
 much-needed holiday. Thus again, in an unlooked- 
 for way, the Lord supplied the need of His servant, 
 whose expectation was from him. 
 
 Shortly before the completion of his medical 
 course an urgent opportunity arose to go out to China 
 at once in connection with the Chinese Evangeliza- 
 tion Society. After earnest waiting upon God for 
 guidance as to whether he should complete his studies 
 and take his diploma or accept this opening and go 
 without delay, Mr. Taylor felt perfectly clear that 
 he should accept and go. 
 
 It was a long and sometimes eventful voyage in 
 those days. Starting in the autumn of 1853, it was 
 nearly six months later before their vessel arrived 
 at Shanghai. 
 
 By the way, the ship was becalmed on one occasion 
 in the tropics and an unfavorable current began to 
 carry them rapidly toward an unfriendly shore. 
 There was not enough wind to move the listless sails, 
 and as the long, hot afternoon wore away they drew 
 nearer and nearer to what they found by the chart 
 to be a cannibal island. The natives, seeing the 
 straits they were in, lighted their fires and began to 
 dance around on the beach in eager prospect of the 
 feast they expected so soon. On that boat there were 
 but four Christians, the captain, the carpenter, the 
 colored steward and Mr. Taylor. Mr. Taylor sug- 
 
PURPOSE AITD PREPARATION. 67 
 
 gested that each of them should go to his cabin and 
 wait on God for a wind to carry them away from 
 the impending and horrible fate. After a short time 
 of prayer Mr. Taylor felt that the petition was 
 granted, and coming up on deck said to the first offi- 
 cer, who was then in charge: ''Won't you let loose 
 your mainsail, for a breeze is coming ?" With an oath 
 the man replied: "I would rather see a breeze than 
 merely hear of one.'' 
 
 ''And don't you see, away up in the topsail, a 
 breeze is coming?" 
 
 "Oh, it's nothing but a cat's-paw," the mate re- 
 plied, as his eye followed Mr. Taylor's upward. 
 
 "Cat's-paw or not, we might as well take advantage 
 of what there is." 
 
 And as the breeze continued to freshen, the offi- 
 cer very gladly let out his clewed-up sails, and in a 
 short time they w^ere sailing away from the disap- 
 pointed cannibals at a good many knots an hour. 
 
 What w^ere the mingled feelings of the young mis- 
 sionary as at last he stepped on shore at Shanghai 
 alone and without a friend or acquaintance, but in a 
 country to which his life was given, can better be 
 imagined than described. 
 
CHAPTEK YI. 
 
 FORMATIVE EXPEEIENOE IN CHINA. 
 
 It is probable tliat no new missionary ever arrives 
 in a heathen country without having a "bad time.'' 
 All the old helps and props are gone; the old asso- 
 ciations are broken. Alone as never before in his 
 life, the newcomer must get into harness. Alone 
 amidst the inconceivable wickedness of a heathen 
 people ; alone with them and with God — does He not 
 seem at times afar off? — he has to ^ghX what are 
 often the fiercest battles of life with the powers of 
 darkness. 
 
 Climate, surroundings, lack of sympathy, loneli- 
 ness, everything seems against him. Health perhaps 
 llags, and a remorseless adversary, with no sense of 
 honor, comes to him — ^when he is down — to crush 
 out spirit and hope and joy if he can. 
 
 "No missionary, probably, even of six months' 
 standing, has any lingering shade of doubt as to the 
 personality of the Evil One. Our warfare, Paul re- 
 minds us, is against principalities and powers of dark- 
 ness. And he believes it. He has good ground to 
 believe it. He has battled with evil within him that 
 is not himself, not even the old worse self he has 
 learned to conquer since he came to know the Lord. 
 
 Is it not highly probable that the great Enemy 
 06 
 
FORMATIVE EXPERIENCE IN CHINA. 69 
 
 plans and carries out a deliberate assault on every 
 young warrior that comes against his old undisputed 
 strongholds, with the deliberate intention to cripple 
 him either in faith, in hope, or in love — to undo 
 him as a missionary if he can? Ask them, you will 
 seldom or never get "iTo." 
 
 If he comes out of the conflict unscathed he comes 
 out the stronger. He is purer, better, brighter; gold 
 refined in the fire. 
 
 Hudson Taylor was no exception. He had his test- 
 ing. When he landed he knew not a soul in China. 
 But he had three introductions. The first friend, the 
 chief hope, was dead — died a month or two before 
 the young missionary arrived in Shanghai. The sec- 
 ond, the next, was at home in America. The third, 
 an unpromising introduction from a casual acquaint- 
 ance, did help. Or the young missionary would have 
 been badly off indeed. 
 
 Civil war was raging, to add to difficulties. The 
 dollar was dear — ^two and a quarter to the English 
 sovereign instead of four or ^Ye as he expected. 
 That halved his income. Moreover, lodgings were 
 scarcely to be had at any price, and food was corre- 
 spondingly expensive from the fact that the rebels 
 were in possession of the native city of Shanghai, 
 and were being slowly starved out and shelled out 
 by the imperial soldiery. 
 
 But God did not desert him. A fellow missionary 
 very kindly shared with him his home for the first 
 few months. Then, to be more among the people, 
 
70 THESE FOETY TEARS. 
 
 he lived in a native house : and though sometimes 
 hungry, often sleepless from the danger of the siege, 
 and always rather short of money — his salary was 
 only eighty pounds — and suffering intensely from the 
 horrors of war all around, and a great hunger of isola- 
 tion within, he pulled through all right. Faithful- 
 ness in the use of the two great energizers, prayer 
 and Bible study, kept him going. He held on to God, 
 and God kept him true. 
 
 In a year from the time he landed, after minor 
 attempts in six months, Mr. Taylor was preaching 
 with some degree of ease in the mandarin dialect, 
 and rejoiced to find that the people really understood 
 him. What an Egyptian puzzle of a language it is ! 
 Did anyone ever master its pei-plexing idioms, its 
 curious sounds and characters, without feeling, as 
 soon as he began to feel his new power, inclined to 
 shout ? 
 
 He and a fellow-missionary, however, had some 
 very rough experiences, and on one occasion they 
 came near losing their lives from some rough native 
 militiamen off duty. But God delivered them. They 
 had more work to do yet. 
 
 Another time the young missionary was preaching 
 in the open air. He enjoyed that day considerable 
 liberty in speaking. His heart was full — full of joy 
 and full of yearning love for the dark souls that 
 faced him. One man, especially, right in front, drew 
 his attention, and seemed deeply interested. Follow- 
 ing a plan which works very well with a Chinese 
 
FORMATIVE EXPEEIENOE IN CHINA. Tl 
 
 audience, Mr. Taylor addressed his remarks to this 
 one attentive hearer, and all the rest looked on and 
 listened. After preaching the grand old Gospel 
 story — a new story to them, of course — fully and 
 with ease for some time Mr. Taylor closed his ad- 
 dress and began at once to engage in ordinary conver- 
 sation with this man, asking first the usual questions 
 of courtesy as to his name, his age, his residence, and 
 replying to similar questions himself. They were 
 now "introduced," and began to chat freely. As soon 
 a? the man seemed thoroughly at home Mr. Taylor 
 gave him an opportunity to ask questions in return. 
 
 "I have been wanting to ask you a question for 
 some time, foreign teacher.'' 
 
 How the heart of the missionary leaped with hope ! 
 Was this poor idolater indeed feeling after the truth, 
 if haply he might find it? Had he been really under- 
 standing and drinking in the good tidings of sal- 
 vation ? 
 
 "I want to ask," he said, "about this matter. I 
 notice that you have buttons at the front of your 
 coat, and corresponding buttonholes. I understand 
 their use. But what are those buttons for in the 
 middle of your back?" 
 
 Imagine the feelings of Mr. Taylor. The revul- 
 sion from hope to disappointment was almost more 
 than he could bear. "I must get rid of this foreign 
 dress which attracts so much attention," he said to 
 himself. He determined the next time he went on 
 a tour to dress like the people. 
 
Y2 THESE FORTY YEARS. 
 
 He did, and was profoundly impressed by the 
 difference it made. Much to his surprise and delight 
 he succeeded in renting premises on the important 
 island of Tsung-ming, in the main estuary of the 
 Yang-tse, which, however, had to be abandoned later 
 on account of the determined opposition of a native 
 official. 
 
 "Not long after this he went on an evangelistic jour- 
 ney with the saintly and delightfully companionable 
 William C. Burns, than whom a better associate for 
 a young missionary could not be found. Hudson 
 Taylor soon came to love him as his own soul. Their 
 plan was to work a canal-intersected district between 
 Shanghai and Hang-chau as thoroughly as practicable 
 by boat, selling tracts and Scriptures and preach- 
 ing the Gospel at each place they passed. Before 
 long Bums began to notice that he seemed to have 
 all the bad times and Taylor all the courtesies. His 
 young friend was invited here and there into people's 
 homes and obtained a quiet hearing, while he, older 
 and more experienced and with a better knowledge of 
 the language, was declined admission on account of 
 the crowds, and had the noisy lads and the roughs to 
 deal with as best he might. 
 
 Seeing how much better opportunities for work 
 Mr. Taylor was having, after some weeks Mr. Bums 
 also adopted the native dress, and keenly appreciated 
 the change it brought about in the attitude of the 
 people. Shortly after this he wrote in a letter to 
 his mother: 
 
FOEMATIVB EXPERIENCE IN CHINA. T3 
 
 "Fours weeks ago, on December 29th 
 (1855), I put on the Chinese dress, which I 
 am now wearing. Mr. Taylor had made 
 this change a few months before, and I 
 found that he was in consequence so much 
 less incommoded in preaching, etc., by the 
 crowd, that I concluded it was my duty to 
 follow his example.'' 
 
 They were greatly encouraged on this journey. 
 'Not only did they receive a good hearing in many 
 places but were daily refreshed by spiritual inter- 
 course. Bums was a man who lived very near to 
 God. He loved and was deeply taught in the Word, 
 and was a man of prayer. This time of fellowship, 
 in service and the things of God, was one Mr. Taylor 
 long looked back to with pleasure and gratitude. 
 
 On one occasion they met with serious trouble. 
 Border towns in China, between two provinces, are 
 often dangerous places. Bad characters congregate, 
 and when "wanted" in this province flee over into 
 that, beyond the jurisdiction of the offended justice 
 of the peace. It was at a place appropriately called 
 "Black-Town" that this trouble arose. Happily, how- 
 ever, the missionaries escaped with no more serious 
 consequences than a broken-in boat and a curtailed 
 journey. Even so, it had lasted a good many weeks, 
 and both were so much encouraged by their experi- 
 ences on that long itineration and refreshed by one 
 another's company, that they proposed to start out 
 
74 THESE FORTY YEAES. 
 
 again after a few days' rest at Shanghai, with a fresh 
 supply of books, on another similar tour. 
 
 So they proposed. But God had another plan. 
 Through a Christian captain who had recently come 
 from Swatow they heard of a still greater need and 
 an open door in that southern port. From the first 
 Mr. Taylor felt this to be a call from God to him- 
 self to go where no others were working. He faced 
 the proposal, however, very prayerfully, suffering 
 keenly at the thought of parting company with Will- 
 iam Burns. One evening he came to the point, and 
 with tears in his eyes told his companion of his de- 
 cision. Mr. Burns seemed surprised and rather 
 pleased than the reverse, to his astonishment, and 
 told Mr. Taylor that he also had felt this a call from 
 God, and only regretted that in going south he would 
 need to part from his new but very dear friend. 
 
 They went together, the captain giving them a free 
 passage. At Swatow they found a very godless set 
 of foreigners engaged in the then illicit opium traffic 
 and in the coolie business, which was practically a 
 trade in slaves. To be as little as possible associated, 
 in the minds of the people, with these other foreign- 
 ers, they attempted to obtain premises in the native 
 city, but were, however, entirely unsuccessful at first. 
 One day, happily, they met a Cantonese merchant, 
 who was so delighted to hear Mr. Burns speaking his 
 own dialect that he at once became friendly and se- 
 cured them a lodging. The lodging was not much to 
 boast of, it is true — only a single room under the tiles 
 
FORMATIVE EXPERIENCE IN CHINA. 75 
 
 — roastingly hot in the long summer days, and not 
 much better through the still, stifling nights. They 
 made it a point to be as much away as they could on 
 missionary journeys, and were thankful to have a 
 home of any kind among the people. 
 
 After four months at Swatow, Mr. Taylor ren- 
 dered an important medical service to the local man- 
 darin at a time when the native doctors were wholly 
 unable to give relief. Grateful, as usual, for medical 
 help, he advised the missionaries to rent a place for 
 a hospital and dispensary, and through his influence 
 they succeeded in obtaining the whole of the house 
 in which they heretofore had occupied such narrow 
 quarters. 
 
 To open this hospital it was necessary that Mr. 
 Taylor should return to Shanghai and obtain his med- 
 ical supplies and surgical instruments, which had 
 been left behind with a friend. He went, but was 
 disappointed to find they had been destroyed in a 
 fire. Funds were low and medical supplies were very 
 clear in Shanghai, so he decided to obtain what he 
 needed, if possible, from his medical colleague, Dr. 
 Parker, of Ning-po. On the journey to that city he 
 had some very trying experiences and lost all the 
 property he had with him, to the value of about two 
 hundred gold dollars, with which his servant ab- 
 sconded. For a time he was in uncertainty what to 
 do in the matter. He could easily have traced and 
 prosecuted the servant, but determined not to do so 
 on account of our Lord's injunctions in the Sermon 
 
76 THESE FORTY YEARS. 
 
 on the Mount. Mr. Taylor had repeatedly pressed 
 the claims of Christ on the man, and felt that it was 
 far more important in his interest to practice what he 
 preached than that the man should be punished. 
 There was very little prospect of recovering the 
 stolen property in any case, and the man's soul was 
 worth incomparably more than the value of the 
 goods. A friend at home heard of this decision, and 
 was so pleased that he immediately forwarded a 
 check for forty pounds sterling; and not only so, but 
 for the remainder of his life continued to take a pro- 
 found and very practical interest in the work in 
 which Mr. Taylor was engaged, and in its future 
 developments. 
 
 Through this rencontre Mr. Taylor was considerably 
 delayed and suffered no little hardship, being left 
 without money a long distance from Shanghai, and 
 finding great difficulty in returning. 
 
 When, eventually, he had obtained the needed in- 
 struments and medical stores from Dr. Parker, war 
 had broken out — the second Opium War between 
 England and China — and letters from Mr. Bums 
 awaited him at Shanghai saying that missionary oper- 
 ations were for the time being impossible at Swatow. 
 Then Mr. Taylor knew why the Lord had permitted 
 the tantalizing delay, and glad as he was of the oppor- 
 tunities and experience at Swatow, it became quite 
 clear afterwards that the Lord did not wish him 
 to return. 
 
 Mr. Bums remained at Swatow for a time, but was 
 
rOKIklATIVE EXPERIENCE IN CHINA. 77 
 
 arrested on an evangelistic journey, imprisoned and 
 sent in custody all the way to Canton. 
 
 Thus ended an important and most formative 
 period of the young missionary's life. 
 
 The journey to Ning-po, however, resulted in an 
 unexpected development. Mr. Taylor had made the 
 acquaintance there of the Kev. John Jones, he and 
 Dr. Parker being members of the same Society as 
 himseK. The way being closed to Swatow he deter- 
 mined to join his confreres at Mng-po. On the jour- 
 ney, traveling by boat, he came into contact with a 
 Chinaman who knew something of foreigners and 
 had received the name of Peter, but was till now 
 entirely ignorant of the Gospel. The man became 
 interested and requested permission to join Mr. Tay- 
 lor in a preaching expedition in one of the large 
 towns they passed, to Mr. Taylor's great satisfaction, 
 for he longed to see this intelligent listener more 
 completely under the influence of the Truth. Mr, 
 Taylor went into the cabin to get books for use in the 
 city, and while he was there heard a sudden splash. 
 He leaped on deck, but Peter was gone. Evidently 
 he had fallen overboard. In a moment Mr. Taylor 
 had pulled down the sail and jumped into the water, 
 but nothing could be seen of the missing man. Just 
 then a fishing boat came along with a drag net, and 
 Mr. Taylor begged the men at once to draw and see 
 if they could bring up the drowning man. 
 
 "Puh pien," they replied, "it is not convenient." 
 
 "But a man is drowning," Mr. Taylor cried. 
 
78 THESE FORTY YEARS. 
 
 "Drag at once, and I will give you more than your 
 day's fishing is worth." 
 
 "How much will you give us ?" the men demanded, 
 seeing how much the foreigner was in earnest. 
 
 "All I have," Mr. Taylor said, "only drag at once 
 or it will be too late." 
 
 "How much have you?" they continued, with 
 heartless indifference. 
 
 "I don't know exactly, about fourteen dollars." 
 
 And then they dragged and brought up the dead 
 body of the missing man. 
 
 Sick at heart, Mr. Taylor could not but be re- 
 minded of the callous indifference of too many to the 
 condition of the perishing multitudes of heathendom. 
 These fishermen were surely guilty of the death of 
 the man they declined to save until too late. 
 
 May we not be equally guilty before God, in our 
 relation to the lost, if we "forbear to deliver them 
 that are drawn unto death?" He that keepeth thy 
 soul, doth He not know it, and shall He not render 
 to every man according to his work? 
 
 It was now nearing the end of 1856, and the work 
 at Ning-po began to be more and more encouraging. 
 But about this time Mr. Taylor found himself face 
 to face with a serious difficulty. He learned that 
 the Society with which he was connected was in debt, 
 and remembering that we are commanded through 
 the Holy Spirit to "owe no man anything," Mr. Tay- 
 lor made it a matter of prayer, and became increas- 
 ingly convinced that debt was just as much dis- 
 
FOEMATIVE EXPERIENCE IN CHINA. 79 
 
 obedience in an association of Christians as in an in- 
 dividual. After some months of correspondence, find- 
 ing that the Society conld not agree to his proposal 
 to send him money when they had it, and merely to 
 let him know when they were short, Mr. Taylor felt 
 compelled to resign. He did so, without having any 
 "visible means of support," but he put the matter into 
 the Lord's hands and felt sure that He would bless 
 a course of obedience, all the more, probably, because 
 it cost something to take it. He was quite prepared 
 to engage in business if necessary, but told the Lord 
 he would much prefer to be wholly engaged in mis- 
 sionary work, and would be quite willing to live on 
 the least possible income if the Lord would graciously 
 send it in some way or other. 
 
 His colleague, Mr. Jones, entirely agreeing with 
 Mr. Taylor, took the same step at the same time, and 
 in many remarkable ways their needs were all met, 
 though not without their having to endure from time 
 to time a good deal of hardness. But this we are ex- 
 horted to, are we not, '^as good soldiers of Jesus 
 Christ?'' 
 
 It will be remembered that Mr. Taylor was only 
 twenty-four, that he had been but three years in 
 China, and that at this time his name was unknown 
 outside a very limited set of personal friends and 
 acquaintances in the work. On one occasion the two 
 missionaries, Mr. Taylor and Mr. Jones, were re- 
 duced to a single cash, then worth the tenth part of 
 a cent, and their food supply was exhausted. After 
 
80 THESE FORTY TEAES. 
 
 a time of prayer they thought they would try to sell 
 the only marketable thing they possessed, a foreign 
 stove, with which, however, they were very loth to 
 part. Together they went down to the river and were 
 about to cross to the foundry when they saw the 
 bridge of boats had been washed away, and they were 
 without the money to pay for the ferry. "God must 
 be going to supply our needs in some other way," 
 they thought, and returned home. 
 
 Searching a seemingly empty cupboard they found 
 a small remainder of cocoa. This, with boiling water, 
 somewhat refreshed them. Again they waited on the 
 Lord about their need, a need which Mr. Taylor felt 
 the more keenly because he was engaged to be mar- 
 ried in a fortnight, and that very evening the lady 
 in question. Miss Dyer, and a friend, were expected 
 to tea. While they were still on their knees the post- 
 man came with a lettter containing a very welcome 
 I omittance from home. They thanked God and took 
 courage, and the wedding was not postponed. 
 
 Faith wavered at times, but God's faithfulness 
 never failed them. 
 
 On another occasion Mr. Taylor had been nursing 
 a fellow-missionary, Mr. Quarterman, of the Amer- 
 ican Presbyterian Board, through a fatal attack of 
 virulent small-pox. After the sad ministry was ended 
 it was needful to lay aside the clothes he had been 
 wearing for fear of conveying infection. But he had 
 no other clothes, nor money to buy them. ^'!N"o good 
 thing will He withhold" was often a sheet anchor 
 
FORMATIVE EXPERIENCE IN CHINA. 81 
 
 to his faith at such times. He asked God for clothes. 
 And a box of clothes arrived at that very time from 
 Swatow, his own things that had been left with Mr. 
 Burns the year before. Again and again the learner 
 Avas given precious lessons in the faithfulness of God. 
 
 "Those who trust Him wholly. 
 Find Him wholly true." 
 
 And so, thank God, do those who trust TTim very 
 imperfectly. He never changes. "If we believe not, 
 yet He abideth faithful; He cannot deny Himself." 
 
 In the year 1859 a great sorrow came to the little 
 company. ITot long before, Mrs. Taylor had been 
 graciously raised up in answer to definite prayer from 
 an illness that almost ended fatally, during which 
 Dr. Parker's kind services were invaluable. And now 
 Mrs. Parker was stricken with a severe attack of Asi- 
 atic cholera, and after a brief illness passed away. 
 
 For the children's sake Dr. Parker had to return 
 home. The hospital he thought must be closed, for 
 he had supported it by his own private practice 
 among foreigners, and the expenses were consider- 
 able. He had, however, quite a supply of medicines. 
 Would Mr. Taylor keep on the dispensary ? Asking 
 a week for prayer while the doctor was making his 
 preparations for the journey home, Mr. Taylor be- 
 came convinced that he ought to undertake not only 
 the dispensary but the hospital also, since the latter 
 gave a much better opportunity for reaching the 
 hearts of the patients with the Gospel. Dr. Parker 
 
82 THESE FORTY YEARS. 
 
 was much surprised and tried to dissuade him. But 
 Mr. Taylor's mind was made up, and the doctor was 
 able to leave behind enough to pay the salaries of the 
 native assistants for the current month. At the end 
 of that time they resigned, very naturally, when they 
 learned that Mr. Taylor was unable to promise them 
 their usual salary, not having money in hand for the 
 purpose. A little church, however, had been gathered 
 by this time, and several of the native Christians 
 volunteered to help. They agreed to wait upon God 
 in prayer, and to do the work gratuitously unless God 
 should send the needed supplies. This change was, 
 of course, a great help in the spiritual work among 
 the patients. 
 
 Their faith was tested. The supply of rice grew 
 smaller and smaller. The patients, who averaged 
 about fifty in number, were invited to join in prayer 
 to God that the needs of the work might be met. One 
 morning the cook came to Mr. Taylor and said : '^The 
 last bag of rice has been opened." 
 
 "Then God's answer to our prayers must be very 
 near at hand," Mr. Taylor replied, and left the room. 
 He went away for a time of quiet prayer with Mrs. 
 Taylor, with a considerable load on his heart, which 
 the cook had not seen, but which the Father had. 
 They waited earnestly on God to meet their urgent 
 need. That very day a remarkable letter reached 
 Mr. Taylor from England, Avhich contained a check 
 for fifty pounds. The writer had recently lost his 
 father and had inherited a considerable increase of 
 
FORMATIVE EXPERIENCE IN CHINA. 83 
 
 wealth. He said that he did not propose to increase 
 his personal expenditure, for which he had ample 
 before, but intended to hold this additional monc}^ at 
 the Lord's disposal, for use in His service. ^'H you 
 can help me in this stewardship," he concluded, ^^I 
 shall be very grateful, and if you know of any way 
 in which more money can be used in the Lord'^ work 
 I shall be glad if you will let me know." 
 
 After a time of thanksgiving with Mrs. Taylor the 
 native helpers were called in, and they had forthwith 
 a rather noisy but verv hearty praise meeting. Be- 
 fore many moments the patients knew all about it. 
 '^What do you think of this ?" the men said. ''There 
 is a man over in England who has more money than 
 he knows what to do with (an extraordinary condition 
 to the Chinese mind) and has sent two hundred and 
 fifty dollars, he does not know what for, in the hope 
 that it may be needed in the work." The patients 
 confessed they had never heard of such a thing, and 
 were deeply impressed. During the nine months that 
 Mr. Taylor had charge of this hospital forty-eight 
 patients professed faith in the Lord. 
 
 The experience was very valuable, but the strain 
 of all this additional woi-k, besides the responsibility 
 of the gromng little church was too much for Mr. 
 I'aylor's health. He became seriously ill and was 
 obliged, most reluctantly, to leave the little band of 
 earnest native Christians who were becoming such 
 active, hearty fellow-workers. I^othing but sheer 
 necessity would have persuaded Mr. Taylor to leave 
 
84 THESE FORTY Yj£AES, 
 
 at sucli a time. He hoped, however, that a few 
 months at home would restore him, and then he 
 would be able to return to his much-loved service and 
 his earnest fellow-Christians. 
 
 Some months before, impressed by the growing 
 opportunities of the work and the doors that seemed 
 to be opening on every hand, Mr. Taylor had written 
 to relatives at home : 
 
 "Do you know any earnest, devoted 
 young men desirous of serving God in 
 China who, not wishing for more than their 
 actual support, would be willing to come 
 out and labor here ? Oh, for four or five 
 such helpers ! They would probably begin 
 to preach in Chinese in six months' time, 
 and in answer to prayer the necessary 
 means for their support would be found." 
 
 "No help came then, and, not long after, health gave 
 way. But the little church went on and prospered, 
 and became, as the years went by, a bright influence 
 for good in that city and neighborhood. 
 
 In good time for the journey home, funds came to 
 hand, not only ample for their own needs but suflB- 
 cient for Mr. Taylor to bring with him a young native 
 helper, whom he hoped to use both in preparing lit- 
 erature for the growing church and in teaching the 
 language to new missionaries, whom they confidently 
 believed God would send. We shall see how that 
 expectation was fulfilled. 
 
CHAPTEE YII. 
 
 INAUGURATION. 
 
 How remarkably in all these things one traces the 
 hand of God. Of every believer it is true that "we 
 are His workmanship, created . . unto good works, 
 which God hath before ordained that we should walk 
 in them." And is it not abundantly apparent from 
 what we have seen, that God was preparing a special 
 instrument for a great work; a "good work" fore- 
 ordained for Hudson Taylor, that he should com- 
 mence the evangelization of inland China? 
 
 From infancy, in thoughtful childhood, in early 
 manhood among medical students, in the diflBculties 
 of missionary service in China, surely God was fitting 
 His vessel for His use. 
 
 Even disappointments were proving a blessing. As 
 Pastor Stearns, of Germantown, has said, "Disap- 
 pointments are His appointments." They were, cer- 
 tainly, for Hudson Taylor. It had been hard to leave 
 that little church at I^ing-po, whose whole-hearted 
 earnestness and loving, happy faces were opening 
 doors on every hand, doors that might not remain 
 open always if they were not entered, and that were, 
 in point of fact, closed the very next year through 
 the T'ai-p'ing rebellion. But we know now that God 
 
 85 
 
86 THESE FORTY YEARS. 
 
 was resting His servant with a view to a future that 
 no man could foresee. 
 
 It had been hard to hear the doctors say that re- 
 turn to China was impossible, at any rate for many 
 years to come. But without the long recruiting time, 
 and prayer and work at home, the C. I. M. probably 
 would never have been born. 
 
 It had been hard to hear the missionary secretaries 
 say they could not take up work toward the evan- 
 gelization of inland China. But if they could have 
 done so this new Mission would never have been sug- 
 gested. Verilv, God was behind it all. And His serv- 
 ant needed to stand back a little if he was to see, in 
 its true perspective and magnitude, the whole sweep 
 of the need of that vast country. At Ning-po he was 
 too near to see clearly anything but the dark fore- 
 ground of the heathen immediately around him. 
 
 We have seen the conflict that Avent on in Mr. Tay- 
 lor's heart; how he shrank from attempting so impos- 
 sible a task; how at last convinced of the will of God 
 he yielded, and Avith simple, childlike faith said, I 
 Avill if Thou Avilt. I Avill do Avhat thou Avillest, if onlv 
 Thou Avilt bear all the responsibilities entailed by 
 obedience to Thy conunand. This was surely a chal- 
 lenge in which God could take pleasure. ''Con- 
 cei-ning the Avork of My hands command ye Me !" He 
 says. Wo do Avell, Immbly, reverently, to take Him 
 at His Avord. And to do so every time. 
 
 We have seen how that step of faith at Brighton 
 on June 25th, 1865, led up to the prayer "for twenty- 
 
INAUGURATION. 87 
 
 four willing, skillful laborers" to go two and two to 
 the eleven unoccupied provinces and to Mongolia. 
 
 It remains now to trace the answer to that prayer. 
 From the first Mr. Taylor had no doubt the prayer 
 would be answered. Of course not. If he had, he 
 might have prayed in vain. But '^faith without 
 works" was no part of his program. He had far too 
 strong common -sense for that. If God w^as about to 
 start a Mission to unevangelized China he must pray 
 and consider as to the method of the work. "See that 
 thou make all things according to the pattern showed 
 to thee on the mount," God had said to Moses. And 
 it was not less important that this work also should 
 be after the pattern and the plan of God. 
 
 Mr. Taylor recognized that in these days God re- 
 veals His will usually not by visions or dreams or 
 sudden inspirations, as some would seem to suppose, 
 but by His Word, His perennial message to mankind. 
 With a new interest and ambition he came to it^ 
 study. What had it to say about this new venture, 
 built on impossibilities and the direct command of 
 God? 
 
 He valued greatly also the counsel of godly men. 
 The "counsel of the ungodly" he had no use for, even 
 though it were friendly. God has no pleasure in it, 
 for it leaves Him out of account. "Whatsoever He 
 doeth shall prosper" is the portion of those who do 
 not walk in their counsel, but do delight in and walk 
 according to the law of the Lord. 
 
 He was broudit much in contact, at this time, with 
 
88 THESE FORTY YEARS. 
 
 an unusually wise counsellor, Mr. Berger, whose 
 friendship had been given him while stUl in China. 
 It was he who had sent gifts that arrived most op- 
 portunely more than once. And now in his home, 
 two hours' journey by train and drive from London, 
 at Saint Hill in picturesque Surrey, much of the 
 planning for the new Mission was done. More saintly 
 people Mr. Taylor could not have consulted. Mr. 
 and Mrs. Berger took from the first a keen interest 
 in the proposal. To their advice and sympathy the 
 young missionary owed as much as to their coopera- 
 tion and their gifts. In that quiet country home, 
 stately, remote, delightful, or out on its beautiful 
 lawns, or under the weeping limes, looking through 
 at the sunshine on lake and park and undulating 
 country, the foundations were slowly but deeply laid 
 and the new venture received its name — ^the China 
 Inland Mission. 
 
 One thing Mr. and Mrs. Taylor and their friends 
 felt very strongly. The Mission must not conflict in 
 any way with existing agencies. Already twenty 
 different Societies were working in China, in perhaps 
 a dozen stations all around the coast. The first 
 sheaves were being garnered, sheaves which the de- 
 voted workers confidently believed were but the first- 
 fruits of the coming harvest. There was, however, 
 for the new Mission an entirely new sphere. 'No fear 
 of overlapping on the field! Inland China, away 
 from the coast country and Han-kow, was, as we have 
 already seen, entirely without a Protestant mission- 
 
INAUGUEATION. 89 
 
 ary. And the need, as they saw it, for this new 
 sphere of service was new workers and new money : 
 workers who would probably not go out in connec- 
 tion with the existing Boards, and funds which should 
 not curtail or lessen in any way contributions to the 
 old, established work. 
 
 Thus far workers for China had been drawn ex- 
 clusively from the student class and had been men 
 with a college education. As leaders in any mis- 
 sionary movement such workers, Mr. Taylor felt, 
 would always be indispensable, but surely to carry 
 the simple Gospel of faith in God and salvation from 
 sin through our Lord Jesus Christ, men and women 
 who could win souls at home were likely to win souls 
 in China. Moreover, the actual number of men and 
 women available, with high educational advantages, 
 who were not only able but willing to go, was very 
 limited and wholly inadequate to meet the need. And 
 it was not even an open question to this little com- 
 pany of counsellors that spiritual fitness must always 
 take precedence of intellectual attainment. The deep 
 things of the Kingdom have been apt to be hidden 
 from the wise and prudent and revealed to babes. 
 Men and women of childlike faith, and of childlike 
 unquestioning obedience, were what they agreed to 
 ask of God. 
 
 They decided also that the basis of this supple- 
 mentary Mission should be not denominational, but 
 simply Christian. If salvation depends on faith in 
 Christ, aad p^ j;iiat alone, what need to introduce to 
 
90 THESE FOETY YEARS. 
 
 the converts away in the interior of China the little 
 differences of AVestern Christendom? It was in this 
 quiet home also that they finally decided to take up 
 no collections, and to make no definite appeals for 
 funds, for reasons which have been explained. Since, 
 then, there would be no settled income, and as they 
 determined that debt, being dishonoring to God and 
 explicitly forbidden, should never be contracted, it 
 was obviously impossible to promise a settled allow- 
 ance to the members of the Mission. They would 
 have no stipulated salary, and would go out, if they 
 went at all, trusting in a covenant-keeping God to 
 supply their every need. They must, therefore, be 
 men and women who knew what it was, practically, 
 to ''have faith in God.'' 
 
 Mr. Taylor's previous experience in China now 
 stood him in good stead. He determined for himself 
 and his fellow-missionaries that they would be pre- 
 pared to accommodate themselves, in all wise ways, 
 to the conditions among which they worked. In mat- 
 ters of dress, in the houses they occupied, in the 
 minor as well as the major courtesies of life, they 
 would conform as far as possible to the preferences 
 of the people, that they might the more readily make 
 friends, and thus gaining influence and respect among 
 a people who cannot understand Western ways and 
 manners, they would use this leverage in winning 
 men and women to the Master. If the love of Christ 
 constrained them to go, surely love to Christ and to 
 souls would make them willing for all these lesser 
 
INAUGUEATION. 91 
 
 sacrifices. The methods of the work were partly 
 ueAV, perhaps, but the principle was old, the grand 
 old fundamental principle of FAITH. 
 
 The plan of campaign they proposed was equally 
 simple. It was just this: to send out workers as God 
 opened up the way, two and two, into eacli of the 
 unoccupied provinces, and later on, perhaps, if the 
 work should grow still further, to follow out this 
 Apostolic method in greater detail. 
 
 Of course, there would be many who would doubt 
 the feasibility of the whole thing, but there was after 
 all no mystery about it, save the mystery of GOD, 
 Who had commanded, ^^Go ye into all the world and 
 preach the Gospel to every creature." If He in- 
 tended His servants to carry out His command noth- 
 ing would be impossible to Him. 
 
 But not planning only was needed. To find God's 
 men for the work it was necessary to make known the 
 need and the opening for service. This Mr. Taylor 
 did in two ways. He drew up a series of papers 
 on the spiritual needs and claims of China, con- 
 vincing appeals, which won their way to many hearts, 
 and drew forth not a little interest in China and the 
 proposed new Mission. At tlu^ same time Mr. Taylor 
 embraced every opportunity that arose for speaking 
 of the needs of the people in public. He went, about 
 this time, to the annual conference for the deepening 
 of spiritual life at Perth, in Scotland. Such confer- 
 ences, so common now, were rare then, and gathered 
 together some of the most godly and earnest souls 
 
92 THESE FOKTY YEARS. 
 
 to be found in the British Isles. Mr. Taylor met with 
 them from day to day, and enjoyed greatly the fel- 
 lowship with kindred spirits. The burden of his soul, 
 however, they did not share. He longed that they 
 should know more, and pray more, about the con- 
 ditions of millions of our fellow-men in China. At 
 last with much difficulty he overcame his natural 
 reticence and, calling upon the conveners, asked for 
 an opportunity to bring the overwhelming needs of 
 China before the conference. "But," the chairman 
 said with manifest surprise, "this is a meeting for 
 edification!" 
 
 Yes, Mr. Taylor said, he knew, but surely it could 
 not be unedifying to the Lord's people to consider 
 whether they were bound to obey His last command 
 or not, and to let themselves feel some compassion 
 for the starving multitudes of heathendom who had 
 no chance of tasting the Bread of Life. Very ear- 
 nestly he pleaded for the time. 
 
 After some time for consideration, the answer was 
 sent that next morning at the principal session of 
 the conference Mr. Taylor would have twenty min- 
 utes to speak of the needs of China. How much it 
 cost the young missionary to address that great 
 gathering will never, probably, be known. He rose 
 at four in the morning and wrestled with God in 
 prayer for the grace and the power to rightly bring 
 before His people the overwhelming needs of China. 
 And thus from the presence of God he went to that 
 great assembly of His people. As he stood before 
 
INAUGURATION. 
 
 93 
 
 them, that great, surprised, expectant audience, his 
 courage failed. He had not a word to say. There 
 was One, however, to Whom he could speak with 
 freedom of the great need that He only knew suffi- 
 ciently. 
 
 "Let us pray," he said, and five minutes of the 
 precious time was spent in fervent, definite prayer 
 to God for the hundreds of millions of lost souls, souls 
 for whom Christ has died, in that greatest of all 
 heathen countries. When he finished, his nervous- 
 ness was gone. He was conscious only of God, of 
 His presence and His help. 
 
 Then followed a quarter of an hour of vivid de- 
 scription and of burning appeal for the people of 
 China. The audience was hushed and solemnized 
 and deeply interested, and those who were present 
 at that gathering thirty-seven years ago say they can 
 never forget the impression which was left upon their 
 minds. 
 
 From Perth Mr. Taylor went to Liverpool, and 
 from there, in company with Mr. Grattan Guinness, 
 the orator-evangelist of Dublin, visited Ireland. 
 After holding missionary meetings at Dublin, Cork, 
 Limerick, Belfast and other places, Mr. Taylor re- 
 turned to England. And in the same year he was 
 present at the great Mildmay Conference, presided 
 over by that saintly Episcopal clergyman, William 
 Pennefather. 
 
 As a result of these and other meetings not only was 
 sympathy obtained, lasting and prayerful sympathy, 
 
94 THESE FORTY YEARS. 
 
 but men and women offered themselves for the work. 
 Applications were received from over forty volun- 
 teers. The most suitable of these, fifteen or sixteen 
 in number, were selected and invited to stay with Mr. 
 and Mrs. Taylor, to commence work on the language 
 and enjoy a time of fellowship in Bible study, Mr. 
 Taylor having meanwhile the best of opportunities 
 for deciding as to their fitness for the work. The 
 small home in the east end of London, chosen for its 
 proximity to the London Hospital and for its loca- 
 tion among the poor, was of course no longer suffi- 
 cient. They moved, when the first candidates ar- 
 rived, to a larger house in Coborn Street, one of the 
 many turnings out of Bow Road, that main artery 
 of East London. Soon this also became too small. 
 They prayed about the matter, and there and then 
 the next door neighbor vacated his house, and they 
 obtained immediate possession. Day by day at noon 
 the whole company met for united prayer about 
 China and its needs, and about the launching of the 
 Mission, and every Saturday afternoon a similar 
 meeting was held to which friends were invited. 
 
 Thus, in Bible study and work upon the language, 
 the time passed rapidly, until by Christmas a party 
 of approved workers were ready and in training. But 
 the funds were not forthcoming. This, however, did 
 not discourage them. They determined, on the last 
 day of the old year, to have a special time of fasting 
 and prayer about funds and other yet more important 
 matters. And so much blessing resulted to the mem- 
 
FRONT PAGE OF THE OLD OCCASIONAL PAPER. 
 
INAUGURATION. 95 
 
 bers of the little company that the practice of fasting 
 and prayer on IsTew Year's eve became a custom in 
 the China Inland Mission, and it has been ever since, 
 both at home and on the field. 
 
 It seemed desirable now to commence the publica- 
 tion of an '^Occasional Paper" which, three or four 
 times a year, might set forth some account of the 
 work for and in China. In the preliminary number, 
 drawn up in January, 1866, Mr. Taylor mentioned 
 that a party of workers were in training to go out, 
 and would probably sail in May if the way were clear, 
 and that the expense for passage and outfit would 
 probably be from fifteen hundred to two thousand 
 pounds sterling. The manuscript was ready for the 
 printer on the sixth of February. 
 
 As soon as this was out of hand, they felt the time 
 had come to commence waiting regularly on God 
 about this important and immediate need of funds. 
 Daily at the mid-day meeting, the little company 
 united in asking the Lord of the harvest to provide 
 what was needed. 
 
 Thus February passed. Owing to a fire at the 
 printer's it was not until the twelfth of March that 
 the pamphlet was received, just a month and six days 
 from the completion of the manuscript. As soon as 
 the paper came it occurred to Mr. Taylor that before 
 this statement about the work was put into circu- 
 lation they should add up the accounts and see 
 what had already come to hand. From January 1st 
 to Februarv 6th, one month and six days, the equiv- 
 
96 THESE FORTY YEARS. 
 
 alent of eight hundred and fifty dollars ($850) had 
 been received. How much had come in during the 
 next equal period of daily prayer for funds ? It was 
 found that nine thousand eight hundred and fifty 
 dollars ($9,850) had been contributed. It need hardly 
 be added that this was a great encouragement to 
 faith, and confirmed their determination to look to 
 God for everything. 
 
 But an unusual difficulty now occurred to them. 
 Here was the first ^^Occasional Paper" with a refer- 
 ence to a probable expenditure of seven to ten thou- 
 sand dollars for passages and outfits, and now already 
 the entire need was met. It remained simply to add 
 a colored insert saying that the Lord had graciously 
 supplied all that was needed, through His servants. 
 Mr. Taylor was reminded of the dilemma of Moses 
 when the people brought too much for the building 
 of the tabernacle, and had to send out a proclamation 
 that they should cease giving. I wonder, thought he, 
 if the Lord's people laid less emphasis on finance, and 
 more on the spiritual side of work for God, whether 
 such difficulties as this of Moses might not occur more 
 frequently. 
 
 It may be mentioned that during the next month 
 and six days, March 12th to April 18th, there came 
 in only two thousand six hundred dollars ($2,600), 
 abundant for present needs at home and in China. 
 In China, because that prayer of Mr. and Mrs. Taylor 
 as they were leaving China, for ^ve laborers for the 
 growing iN'ing-po work, had not been forgotten by 
 
INAUGURATION. 97 
 
 those who prayed nor unanswered by the God Who 
 heard. The five workers had been on the field some 
 time, and had recently been reinforced by the first 
 three members of the C. I. M., Mr. and Mrs. Steven- 
 son and Mr. Stott. 
 
 With regard to Mr. Stott, there had been some 
 difficulty in Mr. Taylor's mind about his going to 
 China, on account of the fact that, while his health 
 was good, he had lost one leg through an accident. 
 The needs of the country, however, were deeply laid 
 upon his heart. And when Mr. Taylor, at their first 
 interview, asked how it would fare with him in a riot, 
 how he would be able to escape if his life were in 
 danger at some new station, Mr. Stott replied that he 
 had not thought of running away. When Mr. Taylor 
 pressed the question as to how he would get on 
 amoug such an unfriendly people he expressed the 
 conviction that in the Avar of God "the lame shall 
 take the prey.'' In all other respects Mr. Stott's case 
 wsrs perfectly clear, so, of course, he was accepted. 
 
 It will not be supposed that during these early 
 days of planning and preparing, the more serious 
 difficulties were forgotten. As they presented them- 
 selves they were simply made matters of prayer. 
 Would the country prove to be open? Would the 
 workers be able to go and to work inland? And if 
 they were able, would there be sufficient safety to 
 life to make the work reasonably practicable ? And 
 how, if the workers did succeed and opened stations 
 in the far interior, would it be possible to transmit 
 
98 THESE FORTY YEAES. 
 
 funds to these isolated outposts ? All these and many 
 other serious problems faced them, but over against 
 all they placed the great answer — God. He Who 
 openeth and no man shutteth would surely go before 
 them. ISTot only would they not be sent warring at 
 their own charges, but the Captain of salvation would 
 Himself be with them, to Whom all power and ^'all 
 authority hath been given in heaven" with our Father 
 ^'and on earth" with men, and He would prosper 
 them in all the varied difficulties and embarrassments 
 they went to face for Him. 
 
 At this time, March, 1865, the number of mission- 
 aries in China had dwindled down to ninety-one, 
 about one man to four millions. But, of course, in 
 the interior the need was limitless, for among its hun- 
 dreds of millions there was not a single missionary. 
 No wonder these new recruits felt they must go, 
 whatever hindered. 
 
 The party now in readiness consisted of sixteen 
 workers, including Mr. and Mrs. Taylor, returning 
 with their little children (of whom the writer was 
 one), besides Miss Bausam, who was to join Dr. and 
 Mrs. Lord, of the American Baptist Union, and the 
 children's nurse. The next thing to pray for was suit- 
 able accommodation for the journey, not an easy 
 thing to find in those days for a party of twenty-two. 
 
 About that time Mr. Taylor went to Totteridge, 
 a village not far from London, for a lecture on China, 
 which he had promised to give Avith the understand- 
 ing that no collection should be taken. He spoke as 
 
INAUGURATION. 99 
 
 usual of the needs of the country, the deplorable 
 needs that he had seen and felt, and also of the new 
 effort to meet those needs, very earnestly asking 
 prayer for the workers so soon to sail for China. The 
 audience was deeply moved. The chairman, Mr. 
 Puget, in closing the meeting urged that there ought 
 to be a collection, and hoped that as the suggestion 
 came from himself and not from the speaker, Mr. 
 Taylor would not refuse what seemed the unanimous 
 Avish of the audience. Mr. Taylor, however, rose and 
 said that he would very much prefer that the printed 
 announcement of the meeting be adhered to and no 
 collection taken. If any who were present wished 
 to help forward God's work in China, after prayerful 
 consideration they could send what they wished to 
 any of the existing missionary societies that had 
 workers in China, or it could be sent to the China 
 Inland Mission; but what he desired just then was 
 that each one should leave the meeting burdened with 
 a sense of the need of China and the duty of the 
 Lord's people to meet that need. 
 
 When they reached home Mr. Puget told his guest 
 he felt a mistake had been made in refusing to that 
 interested audience an opportunity to share in the 
 good work. Mr. Taylor ventured to differ; he 
 thought that too often the benefit of such a meeting 
 was lost through people easing their consciences by 
 giving what was convenient at the moment and then 
 going away and forgetting the need and the claim 
 upon their sympathy and prayers. 
 
100 THESE FORTY YEARS. 
 
 "Next morning his kind host came down late and 
 looked wearj. He had had a bad night. The awful 
 picture of those ignorant, neglected multitudes going 
 out into the night of eternity without hope, without 
 Christ, kept coming back to him in all its awful sig- 
 nificance. He had spent much of the night in prayer. 
 After breakfast he asked Mr. Taylor to his study, 
 gave him several little contributions that had been 
 left with him the night before, and then handed Mr. 
 Taylor an envelope saying, "I believe you were right. 
 If there had been a collection I should have put in 
 probably a five-pound note, but now after prayer I 
 feel that God would have me give you this." In the 
 envelope was a check for ^ve hundred pounds. This 
 little incident was a great encouragement to Mr. 
 Taylor. 
 
 He went straight from there to the shipping agents, 
 whose letter had reached him that very morning at 
 breakfast, and finding the accommodation of the sail- 
 ing vessel "Lammermuir" ample and convenient, 
 paid the check on account. Thus, in His own ex- 
 ceeding abundant measure, the Lord provided for all 
 the needs of the work. They had prayed for from 
 seven to ten thousand dollars, and the Lord in answer 
 had sent them considerably over fifteen thousand. He 
 knew better than they how much would be needed. 
 
 One other thing remained to settle. Who, when 
 all the workers were out in China, would ^'hold the 
 ropes" at home? Who would receive and forward 
 subscriptions and answer correspondence, and who 
 
INAUGURATION. 101 
 
 would interview and accept suitable candidates that 
 might offer for the work? These double responsibil- 
 ities of representative and treasurer Mr. Berger very 
 cordially undertook. All then was ready. 
 
 The effort to meet the need was a small one, truly, 
 and the workers had not even the certain prospect of 
 a home when they arrived in China. But weak 
 though they were, the Almighty God was with them. 
 "I can do all things" they could say with Paul (lit. 
 ^'I have strength to do all things") ^^in Christ Which 
 strengtheneth me." So, trusting in him, they started 
 out on their difficult and untried way. 
 
 The voyage was not uneventful. 'No one of the 
 party that sailed on the "Lammermuir" will ever for- 
 get it, that is certain, not even the children: two of 
 whom are members of the C. I. M. to-day, the other 
 two are living with Him Who best loves little chil- 
 dren and Who took them from China to be educated, 
 perfected, under His own immediate care. 
 
 Before the ship left the London docks the mission- 
 aries were commended to God by a little circle of 
 friends and well-wishers who saw them off. They 
 said good-bye to England with the confident expecta- 
 tion that the good hand of God would be upon them, 
 and that they would have plenty of opportunities for 
 service on the way. Had they not very definitely 
 asked God to gather a crew to whom He would bless 
 their message? 
 
 The voyage was necessarily long. The Suez Canal 
 was not yet opened, and sailing round the Cape of 
 
102 THESE FORTY YEARS. 
 
 Good Hope could not but occupy several months. All 
 went serenely, however. Captain Bell and his offi- 
 cers were as kind as kind could be, and in studying 
 the language and in fellowship over the Word and 
 in prayer the days sped delightfully. 
 
 In a letter home from Java Mr. Taylor writes of 
 the delightful voyage they were having, very little 
 rough weather, favorable winds and, even in the 
 tropics, cool, delightful days and restful nights. Al- 
 ready, by the blessing of God on meetings held each 
 Sunday, and often on weekday evenings as well, no 
 less than twenty men had been brought to the Lord. 
 The ship's company, including the captain and offi- 
 cers, were only thirty-four in all, so that with three 
 who were Christians before, only eleven remained 
 to be prayed for and won if possible. 
 
 It was hardly to be expected, however, that such a 
 company of earnest soul seekers would be allowed to 
 reach China without any serious obstacle. Soon after 
 leaving Java, in the China Sea, they met with two ter- 
 rific hurricanes, typhoons (great winds) the Cantonese 
 call them. Booms, spars and masts, one after another, 
 and part of the gunwale and deck gear, went over- 
 board, and when, after laboring all through the first, 
 and enjoying a brief season of comparative quiet, the 
 second came on, the crew lost all hope of bringing the 
 leaking wreck to port. Mr. Taylor, however, con- 
 fident that God had work for them to do in China, 
 encouraged the crew, and the whole party, ladies as 
 well as men, helped day and night at the pumps. 
 
INAUGURATION. 103 
 
 Thus at last, by God's great mercy, the poor old 
 'Tammermuir," that had so nearly gone to pieces, 
 was towed safe home into Shanghai harbor. 
 
 It is not hard to imagine the feelings of relief and 
 thankfulness with which the weary, sea-battered 
 party arrived at their desired haven. In spite of all 
 the malice of the Enemy, the prince of the "power of 
 the air," they had reached the land to which their 
 lives were given ! 
 
 Where they would go, what they would do, they 
 could not tell. They had no certainty but One. He 
 Who had called them was mth them, and all was 
 well. 
 
CHAPTER VII I. 
 
 THE FIRST FOUR YEARS. 
 
 ^^A few months' time" was the limit set by critics 
 for the duration of the Mission. "Madmen, luna- 
 tics !" said a Shanghai newspaper in a facetious 
 article, "Why do not their people keep them at home 
 in an asylum, where they would be harmless to them- 
 selves and the community?" But such prophecies 
 and such questions need but one answer — time. 
 
 Probably these comments of those who saw noth- 
 ing in the new departure but vagary were a tonic, a 
 stimulant even, to these adventurers who, in obedi- 
 ence to a divine command, had launched out into the 
 deep on the sea of faith. 
 
 For they needed encouragement. And this may 
 have helped them, casting them back on Him who 
 never fails. Can we picture their position ? 
 
 It was not a strong, or a wise, or a confident party 
 that found themselves moored in the Shanghai har- 
 bor that thirtieth of September, 1866. Yet strong 
 they w^ere in the strength of Him Who was with 
 them; wise they were in that which is wisdom indeed, 
 and confident they were that God would not forsake 
 them. Like many another missionary pioneer, they 
 did not know what to do first, or even where they 
 would live. It was very evident that they were "not 
 
 104 
 
THE FIRST FOUR YBAES. 105 
 
 wanted," not even welcome, in China, and as time 
 passed this would become increasingly evident. But 
 oh, how they were needed ! That at least they knew, 
 and they thanked God: for many mercies thus far 
 and deliverance from a stormy grave; for a great 
 need realized and for the opportunity to meet it — 
 their ''call" to missionary service — they thanked God 
 and strengthened their hearts in Him. 
 
 Not only did they need a temporary shelter for 
 themselves, but where should they store all their 
 baggage, their printing presses and type, their med- 
 ical and surgical armamentarium, and all the private 
 belongings of the party? 
 
 It is easy to say that they prayed, and God an- 
 swered. But it meant a good deal when God's answer 
 came, when that very day of their arrival Mr. Taylor 
 received a cordial invitation from an old friend and 
 Avell-wisher, Mr. W. Gamble, an invitation and a 
 welcome to the whole party, with storage room for 
 all their belongings. 
 
 How heartily, in their thanksgiving, they asked 
 God to reward Mr. Gamble.* And how gladly they 
 exchanged their narrow cabins for the ample space 
 and generous hospitality of his warehouse and his 
 home. 
 
 Here at once they set about preparing for their 
 further journey, for Hang-chau was to be the first 
 headquarters of the Mission. Their baggage had to 
 
 ♦Missionary in charge of the American Presbyterian 
 Mission Press. 
 
106 THESE FORTY TEARS. 
 
 be opened and examined, after the last stage of the 
 voyage, and their things divided and repacked, so that 
 they might take with them as little as possible at first. 
 
 A busy and a very cheerful scene that warehouse 
 presented, scattered over with opened trunks and 
 packing cases, and in one part a regular laundry, pre- 
 sided over by the ladies, disposing of the washing of 
 those four long months at sea. 
 
 Then again, to procure Chinese clothing for so 
 large a party was no small business, for they were all 
 going to travel and to work in native dress, and many 
 were the merry remarks that were passed as one after 
 another donned the strange, loose and, to the unin- 
 itiated, clumsy garb, and as the men, for the Master's 
 sake, with uncomplaining fortitude, had their heads 
 shaved a la Chinois. Passports also had to be ob- 
 tained and names registered at the consulate, while 
 delightful visits with older missionaries made a profit- 
 able variation from the soberer duties of the day. 
 
 Busy they were indeed, and full of hope, though 
 faced with nothing but uncertainty, because of the 
 gracious assurance in all their hearts, "He that sent 
 me is with me." 
 
 While all this was going on, Mr. Taylor, at the 
 first available moment, left for a brief visit to l!^ing- 
 po to see his old friends in the native church, whom 
 he loved with all the strong affection of a "father 
 in the Lord," and to confer mth the seven mission- 
 aries who up till now had been the entire staff of the 
 Mission in China. There went with him Miss Ban- 
 
THE FIRST FOUR TEARS. 107 
 
 sam, to join Dr. and Mrs. Lord, of the A. B. M. U., 
 and Miss Rose, who was shortly afterward married 
 to Mr. Meadows,* the missionary in charge at Mng- 
 po. Mr. Taylor's visit was most encouraging. !N'ot 
 only were the workers delighted to welcome him in 
 China and to hear detailed news about the reinforce- 
 ments, but the formal yet very affectionate saluta- 
 tions of the little company of Chinese Christians 
 were to him especially refreshing. In spite of a sea- 
 son of severe testing through the T'ai-p'ing rebellion, 
 which had devastated the city in '61 and '62, the 
 little church had grown considerably, and Mr. Mead- 
 ows was full of expectation for the future. ]^ot only 
 had the church at Mng-po grown and prospered but 
 three new stations had been opened at important cen- 
 ters within easy distance. 
 
 Of these new stations the most important was 
 Shao-hing, one of the most interesting cities in China. 
 From its situation on many canals and its political 
 prestige it has been aptly termed the Venice of 
 China, and many of the most influential men in China 
 are proud to be its citizens. For the post of private 
 secretary to all the high officials, not only in every 
 province but in every city of the empire, is invariably 
 supplied by alumni of Shao-hing, who protect them- 
 selves against competition by simply ignoring all let- 
 ters, documents and despatches which come from 
 other hands. By this simple yet drastic expedient all 
 this important and remunerative work is kept in the 
 
 ♦Mr. Meadows' first wife had died in 1863. 
 
108 THESE FORTY TEARS. 
 
 one fraternity. It is easy to see the strategic neces- 
 sity for opening work in this city. Mr. and Mrs. 
 Stevenson, who had arrived in China in February, 
 1866, were already located here. 
 
 On returning to Shanghai Mr. Taylor took with 
 him two or three experienced native Christians, as 
 teachers for the new arrivals. 
 
 Meanwhile the preparations at Shanghai were 
 nearly finished, and not many days after Mr. Taylor's 
 return boats were hired for the journey to Hang- 
 chau. On October 20th the whole party, after a very 
 grateful farewell to Mr. Gamble, took possession of 
 their Chinese houseboats. Before leaving the- harbor 
 they pulled alongside the good old "Lammermuir," 
 now nearly ready for sea again, to say good-bye to 
 the ship's company and Captain Bell. Here they 
 were greatly touched by an unexpected proof of sym- 
 pathy and affection, a gift of more than one hundred 
 and twenty dollars for the work from the officers and 
 crew, no names being given. It was the men's own 
 proposal, a generous token of gratitude and love, 
 l^one of the party will ever forget the kind words 
 and hearty handshakes of the men, many of whom 
 were in tears, nor the loud, long cheers that rang out 
 from the rigging as the little procession of native 
 houseboats started on its way. 
 
 Hang-chau, for which they were destined, is one of 
 the oldest as well as one of the most beautiful cities 
 in China. Situated far up the estuary of the pictur- 
 esque, limpid Ts'ien-t'ang, this capital of the Cheh- 
 
THE FIEST FOUR YEAES. 109 
 
 kiang province had been chosen to be the center of 
 the Mission. Easy of access from Shanghai, with 
 five hundred thousand inhabitants, and scarcely a 
 Christian among them, the metropolis of twenty rail- 
 lion people, it was just the basis they needed for the 
 work, a basis of operations from which, please God, 
 should be opened gradually, first in this province and 
 later in less accessible regions, many a center for the 
 diffusion of the Light. 
 
 Hang-chau moreover was already open. Great care 
 would, of course, be needed, coming with so large 
 a party, not to arouse the animosity of the educated 
 classes, always averse to foreigners. Still there 
 would be every prospect of a peaceable location for 
 the present, until such time as progress with the 
 language and acquaintance with the people should 
 make it safe to scatter to other places needier still. 
 
 For already three missionaries were stationed here, 
 with their families. During the early sixties work 
 had been interrupted for two or three years by the 
 T'ai-p'ing rebels, who left the proud old city pitifully 
 devastated. 'Now they were overthrown, through the 
 gallant and godly "Chinese Gordon," and peace was 
 reestablished. But the ruined city, reopened to the 
 Gospel in '64 by the saintly and now venerable 
 Bishop Moule, would be long ere it regained its 
 former magnificence or lost the traces of the quasi- 
 Christian, but more than semi-heathen, T'ai-p'ing 
 warriors. 
 
 From Shanghai it was only nine days' journey to 
 
110 THESE FOETY YEARS, 
 
 the southwest, across a fertile and populous plain that 
 probably at no very remote period formed a delta of 
 the Yang-tse. :Nine days' journey, that is if they 
 wished and were able to travel steadily at an average 
 of twenty miles a day, which, as things go in China, 
 is speedy progress. But this they did not wish. 
 
 While Hang-chau was their main objective, they 
 hoped it might prove possible to station some of the 
 party in one or more of the many cities dotted over 
 the plain they crossed, in none of which at that time 
 were missionaries settled. 
 
 During this journey they became initiated into 
 some of the mysteries of Chinese life. Already 
 dressed in Chinese costume they now made their first 
 acquaintance with chopsticks, and a very amusing 
 introduction it was. Before long, however, they 
 found themselves making good progress with these 
 strange substitutes for knife and fork. 
 
 Their surroundings, moreover, were now strictly 
 C.'hinese, and so was their rate of travel. Some days 
 they did not make any progress at all. The wind, per- 
 haps, was contrary. Other days, when the wind was 
 all right, the boatmen had business and needed to 
 delay. Then, perhaps, the missionaries wished to 
 stop at Kia-hing or some other important city, but 
 the boatmen were impatient, and were with difficulty 
 persuaded to wait while Mr. Taylor hunted for a 
 house. 
 
 After the novelty wore off they discovered that the 
 boats were crowded — close quarters for a protracted 
 
THE FIE8T FOUR YEARS. Ill 
 
 journey, such as this was proving. The daily routine 
 of delays and inconveniences was not entirely miti- 
 gated by the many employments that kept them oc- 
 cupied; study of the language, conference and 
 prayer, and occasional talks from Mr. and Mrs. 
 Taylor as to the ways and the customs of the people. 
 In addition to their slow progress, before they reached 
 Hang-chau the weather was becoming cold, and for 
 the children and the less robust adults, especially on 
 damp and rainy days, the draughty boats were scarce- 
 ly safe. The boatmen, too, were growing eager to re- 
 turn home for the winter, and the native servants, 
 less able than the missionaries to put up with hard- 
 ship, began to talk of leaving. 
 
 Glad indeed they were when at last in the distance 
 they sighted the great city of Hang-chau. Here, 
 however, another difficulty awaited them. Eepeated 
 efforts at renting premises, by the way, had all 
 proved unsuccessful. Seeing that a home for the 
 winter was essential, at any rate for some of the 
 party, very earnest prayers went up to God that He 
 would prosper His servants in this matter. And so, 
 at last, they arrived at the suburbs of Hang-chau. 
 Here a series of locks barred the way, and the boats 
 that had been their home for five weeks could go no 
 further. Leaving his large party unobserved outside 
 the city Mr. Taylor went on ahead, with prayer in his 
 heart and on his Kps, to see what could be done to 
 secure accommodation. 
 
 Calling first on one of the missionaries, he found a 
 
112 
 
 THESE FORTY YEARS. 
 
 surprise awaiting him. The Kev. Mr. Krejer was 
 away at Shanghai to be married, and had left a 
 message that if Mr. Taylor's large party arrived be- 
 fore his return he hoped they would make use of his 
 house, while seeking a home of their own. It was 
 still ^ve or six days before Mr. and Mrs. Kreyer were 
 expected, and with a heart full of thankfulness to 
 God and to His servant Mr. Taylor returned to the 
 expectant party on the boats. 
 
 Next day, Friday, November 28th, the sixteen 
 adults and four children, with their native com- 
 panions, were transferred to smaller boats in which 
 they entered the city unobserved, and made their 
 way to within a block or two of Mr. Kreyer^s home, 
 at the foot of the beautiful City Hill. As gloaming 
 deepened into dusk the boats came to a standstill. 
 The few business houses they had passed were al- 
 ready closed, and the large party filed quietly along 
 one or two silent streets to their temporary quarters, 
 which they reached without attracting attention. 
 
 It was not long before they were all comfortably 
 settled in, and the queer bundles of native bedding 
 unrolled — the men in one part of the house and the 
 women in another, and greatly they enjoyed the re- 
 lief of more convenient and roomy quarters. Here 
 all joined again in thanksgiving to God for this 
 gracious provision and asked with renewed con- 
 fidence that He would speedily pro^dde a more 
 permanent home, for their kind host would be re- 
 turning the following Wednesday with his bride. 
 
THE FIRST FOTTR YEARS. 113 
 
 On Saturday morning, after further waiting on 
 God, Mr. Taylor went out with a native helper to see 
 what could be done towards obtaining a house, and 
 his spirits rose almost to bubbling over when he found 
 that the first place they were taken to see was exactly 
 what was needed. It may be that the substantial, 
 comfortable landlord, or the keen, shrewd middleman 
 read something of this in Mr. Taylor's face. Whether 
 that were so or not, the price demanded was ex- 
 orbitant. With courteous adieux Mr. Taylor and the 
 Chinese teacher bowed themselves away, saying 
 that they were sorry to have troubled the owner, but 
 the price was entirely beyond them. The rest of the 
 day passed all too soon in fruitless searching. Sun- 
 day came opportunely, not only giving time for 
 spiritual refreshment, but also conveying the impres- 
 sion to landlord and middleman that Mr. Taylor was 
 not in any particular hurry, nor so eager as he 
 seemed. On Monday they started again and still met 
 with poor success. ^N'either Mr. Taylor nor his com- 
 panion thought of returning to the first place they 
 had seen, but now Mahomet came to the mountain, 
 since the mountain did not come to Mahomet ! The 
 landlord and middleman, fearing that they might lose 
 their customer, sought out Mr. Taylor, and that put 
 an entirely new face on affairs. Even so, it was no 
 easy matter, and the whole of Tuesday was spent in 
 leisurely and closely calculated bargaining. At last 
 the landlord came to terms, a deed of rental was 
 drawn up and the earnest money paid, to use the 
 
114 tHBSi) FORTY YEARS. 
 
 Chinese idiom "the pen being dropped, the bargain 
 was conchided." 
 
 All now united in thanksgiving, as earnestly as 
 they had prayed before. Preparations were complete 
 by Tuesday evening. Early on Wednesday morning, 
 the day the Kreyers were to return, long before the 
 city was awake, they moved over to the new premises 
 on the Sin-k'ai Lung, and gratefully took possession 
 of their first Chinese home. The great city went on as 
 usual, little imagining how large a party of foreigners 
 had taken up residence among them. 
 
 At once, without delaying a day to put the house 
 in order, steady work was commenced on the 
 language. The "quiet hour'' was carefully observed, 
 of private prayer and meditation, and daily all joined 
 in talking over some portion of the Word, and in glad, 
 thankful waiting upon God for guidance as to the 
 present and future of the work. 
 
 The premises, naturally, were in the ordinary con- 
 dition of unoccupied houses. Not only was there 
 need of cleaning, but also of repairs. As soon as they 
 were in full swing of work, but not before, these 
 household duties occupied their leisure, and it was not 
 long before the whole place began to bear a de- 
 cidedly more Christian aspect. The men had a staii*- 
 case to themselves and a quarter of the house ex- 
 clusively their own, which would commend itself to 
 any visitors who might have the courage to pay a call. 
 A chapel was fitted up, and places foimd for the 
 printing press and the few medical and surgical sup- 
 
THE FIRST FOtR YEARS. 115 
 
 plies that Mr. Taylor had brought on from Shanghai. 
 A guest hall for men and another for women Avere 
 also furnished, that no one might call without being 
 hospitably entertained. 
 
 It was not long before some of the new mission- 
 aries had made sufficient progress with the language 
 to be understood, for the four months of the outward 
 journey, the stay in Shanghai and the long boat trip 
 had all been utilized in study. For some weeks 
 several native families remained in the roomy house, 
 while they sought, leisurely in point of fact, for other 
 quarters. With these near neighbors, of course, they 
 were careful to cultivate acquaintance, and Miss 
 Faulding soon persuaded them to take her visiting at 
 the home of their relations. Indeed, before long, one 
 of these interested women openly confessed faith in 
 Jesus Christ, and became a valuable coadjutor in the 
 women's work. Thus, in at least one convert ajid in 
 not a few friends and acquaintances, their patience 
 with their fellow-lodgers blossomed and bore fruit. 
 
 Missionary work had begun. With much real, 
 hearty effort the time passed rapidly. And day by 
 day Mrs. Taylor's motherly concern for her large 
 household, her uninterrupted walk with God, and her 
 wisdom and good judgment endeared her, increas- 
 ingly, to all. 
 
 Christmas soon came, and was kept with rejoicing 
 and thanksgiving. New Years eve — as it had been 
 at home a year before, so now in the heart of a 
 heathen city — was spent in prayer and fasting. Look- 
 
116 TfiESE FORTY YEARS. 
 
 ing back they acknowledged with great thankfulness 
 God's good hand in many matters; and looking for- 
 ward, they waited very earnestly on Him to prosper 
 each step of the establishment of the Mission on the 
 field. 
 
 Yery abundantly were the prayers with which the 
 old year closed, answered, in 1867. January had 
 not passed before they had the joy of opening another 
 station at the neighboring city of Siao-shan. At 
 first, though a promising opening was found in this 
 city, they were unable to go forward on account of 
 shortness of funds, so, of course, they applied to God 
 for the money. 
 
 This came in a remarkable and most unexpected 
 way. Among their visitors at the new home in 
 Hang-chau had been a more than usually intelligent 
 Chinaman, who told them he came from Singapore. 
 There, of course, he had been accustomed to foreign- 
 ers, but not to such foreigners — dressed in purely 
 native costume, living and eating and acting with all 
 the refinement and courtesy of Chinamen. He did 
 not know what to make of it. After one or two 
 cordial visits he came no more. The reason of this 
 proved to be he had returned to Shanghai. There he 
 told a friend, a foreigner, of the missionaries at 
 Hang-chau, to whom he had been so greatly drawn. 
 His friend was interested and tried to find a rep- 
 resentative of the China Inland Mission in Shanghai. 
 
THE FIBST FOTTR YEARS. 117 
 
 Failing in this, he handed a donation of sixty odd dol- 
 lars to an acquaintance of Mr. Gamble's, through 
 whom it was now forwarded to Mr. Taylor. With it 
 came a message to cheer the hearts of the workers, 
 to the effect that he did not know how sufficiently to 
 admire their devotion and self-renunciation. "He 
 could not imitate it, but he could appreciate it." 
 Happy to tell, this Singapore Chinaman was savingly 
 converted about this time in the home of the hospit- 
 able Mr. Gamble himself. 
 
 Thus the Lord met the need at Siao-shan, and the 
 premises in question were rented; three of the new 
 missionaries taking up residence at once. Before the 
 end of the year at this new station — a year of many 
 vicissitudes, and indeed serious trouble for a time — 
 three or four converts filled their hearts with thanks- 
 giving. 
 
 It need hardly be said that with all the responsi- 
 bilities of six stations, most of them newly opened, 
 and of seven older missionaries besides his own party, 
 Mr. Taylor was very fully occupied, and sometimes 
 he was confronted with questions of no little gravity. 
 In all these matters, however, he shared his burdens 
 with the ever-present Friend, Who cares and under- 
 stands. 
 
 On a visit to the older stations Mr. Taylor found 
 much cause for praise. At ISTing-po there were al- 
 ready sixty-four in membership, and others waiting 
 to be received. At Shao-hing also, Mr. and Mrs. 
 Stevenson were making good progress and were 
 
118 THESE FORTY YEARS. 
 
 greatly encouraged in the work. Yes, there wa8 
 plenty to thank God for, both now and in the out- 
 look. 
 
 Among the early visitors at Shao-hing was one who 
 especially interested Mr. Stevenson. Mr. Ning was a 
 scholarly man of good famil}^; he did not wish to 
 have anything to do with the foreigners' religion, but 
 there were things in their scientific booklets which 
 did interest him greatly and he called to gain further 
 information. This Mr. Stevenson gladly gave, and 
 then sought to lead the conversation into another 
 channel. 
 
 "Have you among your foreign books one called 
 the !N"ew Testament ?" he asked. 
 
 "Yes,'' said Mr. Ning, "I have. But I must con- 
 fess it does not interest me. It has no logical be- 
 ginning, no consecutive argument running through 
 it, nor any peroration at the close. I can make noth- 
 ing of it." 
 
 "Well," Mr. Stevenson replied, "I am not sur- 
 prised at that. Do you know if you could understand 
 that book it would not be worth the paper it is 
 printed on." 
 
 "I do not exactly understand you," said Mr. Ning 
 with courtesy, for he was nothing if not a scholar, 
 and being often reminded of his attainments by his , 
 friends he knew how to value his literary reputation. 
 
 Mr. Stevenson explained, "That book is the book 
 of the Living God. Coming from Him its teachings 
 are deeper than any man can comprehend unaided. 
 
THE FIRST FOUR TEARS. 119 
 
 But if voii pray to God for His Spint to enable you 
 to understand, you will find it a new book and one of 
 absorbing interest and profit." 
 
 '^Well,'' said Mr. IS^ing, '4f that is not the strangest 
 thing I ever heard ! Do you expect me to believe the 
 Heavenly Grandfather has leisure to attend to the 
 prayers of a common man like me ? Why, I could not 
 get an audience with the Governor of the province, 
 however much I tried, not to mention the Emperor. 
 How much less with the Supreme Ruler of the 
 Universe !" 
 
 Mr. Stevenson smiled. ''I see you are good at 
 arguing, my friend; but arguing does not alter facts. 
 You notice the kettle on the fire ? One might argue 
 that fire and water are opposing elements ; that, more- 
 over, they are separated by the iron of the kettle. 
 How can the fire and water mingle ? But while the 
 argument goes forward the lid begins to lift and puffs 
 of steam to issue from the spout. Before the argu- 
 ment is concluded the water is boiling, and I am 
 ready to make you a cup of tea." 
 
 •'You also are good at argument !" replied Mr. 
 King, amused. 
 
 ^^Try it, my friend. Ask God this evening to give 
 you His Spirit that you may be able to understand 
 His Book, of which you can make nothing." 
 
 Again Mr. Mng smiled. "That you must tell to 
 the ignorant, sir, if you wish to be believed. It is 
 no use trying to teach such doctrines to educated 
 men." x\nd then, with many an expression of 
 
120 THESE FORTY YEARS. 
 
 gratitude for the information given and for the 
 courtesy extended, Mr. Ning look his leave. 
 
 During supper he mused, as he looked across at his 
 treasured books. ^'That was a strange notion of the 
 foreigner's ! How can he possibly think an educated 
 man would accept a theory like that ? I will not give 
 the matter another thought," But when he had 
 finished his supper an irresistible longing came over 
 him just to glance at the Book. Mr. Stevenson was 
 praying, 
 
 "I will just look at it," he thought, and taking the 
 Kew Testament down he opened it, with the words 
 "Oh God, if there be a God, enlighten my mind by 
 Thy Spirit, that I may be able to understand this 
 book." And he began to read. And he continued to 
 read. The hours flew until it was nearly midnight. 
 His wife wondered that he did not come to rest. 
 
 ^T have something important on hand just now," 
 he said. "Do not wait for me. I will come later." 
 And he read on till the small hours of the morning. 
 
 N^ext evening, the day's duties over, he again took 
 down the once despised New Testament and became 
 absorbed in its wonderful story. Again he read half 
 the night. And before long the proud Confucianist 
 was a confessed believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 "Wife," he said one morning — he had been want- 
 ing to speak for days but had lacked the courage, for 
 she belonged to a haughty and aristocratic family — 
 "Wife, I have something I should like to say to you 
 this evening, when the children are in bed." He put 
 
THE FIRST FOUR YEARS. 121 
 
 off the difficult moment as long as he could, and when 
 the time arrived his wife had to come to the rescue, as 
 a w^oman often does. 
 
 '^Didn't you want to speak to me this evening?" 
 
 ''Why, yes," he said, "come into my study." And 
 there they sat, he on the left side, and she sat on the 
 right, the lower, as in wifely duty bound. 
 
 •'Well," she asked, again coming to his help, "what 
 is it that you want to say to me ?" 
 
 "It is this," he replied, with a good deal of inward 
 trepidation, "do you know I have discovered that 
 there is a true God after all." 
 
 "Have you?" she said. "Why that is good news! 
 You remember the time when those terrible T'ai- 
 p'ing rebels captured our city and broke into our 
 home? I was alone, and hid in the wardrobe and 
 tried to pray; but who should I pray to? The T'ai- 
 p'ings were stronger than the gods, for they de- 
 stroyed them everywhere. So I prayed to the 
 Heavenly Grandfather that He would take pity on 
 me, a poor defenceless woman, and not let me fall 
 into the hands of those ruthless ruffians. With noisy 
 steps they went through the house. They rushed 
 into the room. They went all over, opening boxes and 
 searching in every comer, and then suddenly went 
 off without touching the wardrobe. I have often 
 wondered whether after all there is not a Living God, 
 who heard my prayer and pitied me. Do tell me all 
 about it." 
 
 Before long Mrs. Mng was as earnest a believer 
 
122 THESE FORTY TEARS. 
 
 as her husband. Having won his wife, Mr. Mng 
 went on to his neighbors, and the more he spoke of 
 his new found Friend the fuller of gladness and bless- 
 ing his heart became. Until one day, speaking on the 
 street with a neighbor, a little knot of interested 
 strangers stood to listen, and before he knew it Mr. 
 Mng was holding his first open-air meeting ! In this 
 he enjoyed great liberty, and realized that he was 
 getting an unexpected opportunity of serving his new 
 Lord and Master. 
 
 The fact that Mr. Ning, the talented B.A., was 
 actually preaching the "foreign devils' religion" on 
 the street became a public scandal. The chief 
 magistrate of the city called informally to re- 
 monstrate with the scholar, and after a short pre- 
 liminary conversation, said, "If you must believe this 
 foreign faith, why do so, but do not bring disgrace 
 upon your name by forgetting yourself in this 
 fashion! Whatever is it that makes you tell every- 
 body you meet about these things V^ 
 
 "The fact is," Mr. Ning replied, "I am so full of 
 the good news that I cannot keep it in ! I must tell 
 what the Lord Jesus has done for me ; what gladness 
 He has put into my life, and how He has washed 
 away my sins and given me hope of endless happiness 
 in Heaven." And from that beginning he preached 
 Jesus Christ to the magistrate, who was glad at the 
 earliest possible moment to beat a dignified retreat ! 
 
 Meeting next day the chancellor of the university, 
 the magistrate drew his attention to the extra- 
 
THE FIRST FOUR TEARS. 123 
 
 ordinary behavior of his "disciple." "I will call upon 
 him/' the proud chancellor replied, with confidence, 
 ^'and persuade him of his foUv. The very idea of a 
 folloAver of Confucius falling in with these new- 
 fangled notions of the foreign immigrants !" Before 
 long he also had heard the Gospel story. 
 
 heedless to say that the work went forward and 
 grew under Mr. and Mrs. Stevenson's care with such 
 earnest and able fellow-workers as Mr. and Mrs. 
 King. 
 
 All being now in working order at Hang-chau Mr. 
 Taylor, on his return, opened a dispensary, which 
 rapidly became very popular among the poorer 
 people, and frequently attracted well-to-do members 
 of the community who heard of wonderful cures per- 
 formed. This medical work was the means of dis- 
 arming prejudice and gaining sympathy and con- 
 fidence. Its chief end, of course, was spiritual, and 
 that was attained in no small degree. The aver- 
 age daily attendance at this dispensary was two 
 hundred, which meant, of course, an immense 
 amount of work for Mr. Taylor and his native 
 assistants. 
 
 One afternoon in this month of February, 1867, 
 Avhile Mr. Taylor was engaged in a preliminary 
 service for the patients, imagine his delight and sur- 
 prise to see walk right into the waiting-room strangers 
 from England, reinforcements for the work. Mr. 
 and Mrs. McCarthy and their children, and Miss 
 McLean had just arrived from Shanghai. Mr. 
 
124 THESE FORTY YEAES. 
 
 Taylor rejoiced to see them, as they saw by a glance 
 at his face, but there was a room full of patients who 
 must be seen that afternoon, especially as next 
 day was Sunday, when none but urgent cases could 
 be seen. Glad indeed were the new arrivals to see 
 such signs of progress, and very heartily they wrote 
 home of their unceremonious welcome and of the 
 "large number of benighted heathen listening at- 
 tentively to the story of the Cross; of the wonderful 
 smile on the face of some poor creature conscious of 
 sight being gradually restored, or the gladness of 
 the palsied man as he felt his limbs regaining 
 strength.'^ 
 
 Before many moments Mr. McCarthy was busily 
 engaged in mixing medicines and helping in various 
 ways. How glad they were to see the work so 
 prosperous, ^ext day, Sunday, the chapel was 
 crowded. "Mr. Taylor, mounted on a chair in order 
 to be better heard, explained the nature of our meet- 
 ing and of our worship — that there is no visible form 
 to bow to, no incense, no silver paper, no candles, but 
 the great invisible God HimseK is present, noticing 
 all we do and say and think. 
 
 "Then after singing a hymn and engaging in 
 prayer, when all the people rose as requested and 
 stood very still, a portion of the Gospel story was 
 chosen, which Mr. Taylor explained and illustrated, 
 bringing each point home to tJiem,^^ 
 
 The following Sunday also "the chapel was 
 crowded both morning and evening, and the people 
 
THE FIRST FOUR YEARS. 126 
 
 were not only quiet and attentive but apparently very 
 interested." 
 
 As the months went on there soon arose the 
 ''happy necessity of holding a meeting'' for inquirers, 
 and ere long the first six converts were received into 
 the church amid general rejoicing. 
 
 Shortly after this the first serious blow fell on the 
 Mission. A devoted and greatly beloved brother, Mr. 
 Sell, was called Home from ]!^ing-po. He had been 
 much used of God on the 'Tammermuir" in winning 
 souls, and great hopes were entertained for his use- 
 fulness in China. 
 
 In addition to the daily sewing meeting held by 
 Mrs. Taylor, regular house-to-house visitation was 
 carried on by the ladies. ''In many houses, in every 
 direction," wrote Mr. Taylor, "our sisters have free 
 access to the women. ^' ^' * In its actual influ- 
 ence upon the people at large I am strongly inclined 
 to consider this the most powerful agency we have." 
 
 "It is such a joy to be so welcome," wrote Miss 
 Faulding. "I have only to go out and pass along the 
 street and houses are open to me. Truly God is giv- 
 ing this people an ear to hear." 
 
 The adoption of native dress was found a real help 
 in gaining access to the people, as many of the home 
 letters testify. Only one brief extract from Mrs. 
 Taylor's pen need be quoted: "Notwithstanding 
 much that is said to the contrary, I am satisfied that 
 our Chinese dress gives us a decided advantage. It 
 brings us nearer to the people, whom above all things 
 
126 THESE FORTY TEARS. 
 
 we desire to reach, not to hold at a distance. Before 
 leaving England I had some misgivings about ladies 
 wearing the Chinese dress, on this ground, that the 
 Chinese despise their own women while they respect 
 foreigners. Would they treat us with the same defer- 
 ence, and should we have as much weight with them 
 were we to change our dress. I have found no reason 
 for retaining this misgiving. On the contrary, I am 
 satisfied that force of character, education and 
 Christian principle give us an influence with the 
 natives of both sexes which neither wearing our own 
 dress could impart, nor adopting the Chinese could 
 take away. For myself I have been treated with 
 quite as much respect in the latter as in the former." 
 ^'E"o mightier power," Mr. Taylor wrote, "has 
 been entrusted to us than that of the true sympathy 
 which identifies itself with those whom it seeks to 
 benefit and carries captive the heart. And to get 
 close access to the hearts of the people is our great 
 aim; to win their confidence and love our daily ob- 
 ject. To effect this we seek, as far as possible, to 
 meet them in costume, in language, in manners. And 
 to us this course is not only advantageous, it is indis- 
 pensable. No lady in foreign dress could visit here 
 as our sisters do in the native costume. And, more- 
 over, we conceive that in this we are follovdng the 
 example of the great Apostle of the Gentiles, who 
 became all things to all men that he might gain the 
 more. And further, that we are treading in the foot- 
 steps of Him Who to save men became a man; Who 
 
tttfe FIEST FOUE YIJABS. 127 
 
 to minister especially to the lost sheep of the house of 
 Israel was made one under the law — made one in all 
 points not sinful, with the objects of His ministry." 
 ;N'ow came the anniversary of the sailing of the 
 ^'Lammermuir'' from England, the first birthday of 
 the little Mission. In a brief letter to Mr. Berger, 
 Mr. Hudson Taylor writes of the first year of service : 
 "Burdens such as I have never before sustained, re- 
 sponsibilities such as I have not heretofore incurred 
 and sorrow^s compared wdth which past sorrows have 
 been light, have entered into my experience during 
 this year. But I trust that I have learned, in some 
 measure, the blessed truth : 
 
 " 'Sufficient is His arm alone, 
 And our defense is sure.' 
 
 "I have long felt that our Mission has a baptism to 
 be baptized with. It may not yet be past. It may be 
 heavier than we can foresee. But if by His grace we 
 are kept faithful, in the end all will be well. May 
 the Lord sustain and strengthen you, dear brother, in 
 your department of this service; such is our daily 
 prayer." 
 
 Toward the latter part of the following month of 
 June Mr. Taylor started on an evangelistic tour with 
 the double purpose of preaching the Gospel and of 
 locating, if posible, Mr. McCarthy and Mr. Duncan 
 at two principal cities up the lovely, rapid Ts'ien- 
 t'ang river. Scores of thousands of miles have been 
 traveled since bv the members of the China Inland 
 
128 THESE FORTY YEARS. 
 
 Mission on similar preaching journeys, but this was 
 the first. Mr. Tsiu, a native evangelist of spirit and 
 devotion, went with them, and two Christian 
 servants. They embarked in the afternoon of a long, 
 hot summer day. *'Our fellow passengers we found 
 some lying and some siting about, others eating or 
 smoking, and almost all chatting, the foreigners in 
 their dress forming the staple subject of conversa- 
 tion.'^ As soon as they had weighed anchor they took 
 their "supper in truly primitive style, and commended 
 ourselves to the care of our Heavenly Father, and 
 then settled down for the night, enjoying the beauti- 
 ful moonlight and the cool, favorable breeze — and 
 no mosquitoes !'' 
 
 "Toward morning we awaked to find that the wind 
 had fallen and five or six of the boatmen were towing 
 with long ropes. Having refreshed ourselves with 
 the usual Chinese wash in hot water, '" ^ "^^ we 
 had morning prayers together, the music of the well- 
 known hymn ^There is a Happy Land' resounding 
 through the boat and attracting the attention of the 
 passengers. Mr. Taylor having asked the Lord's 
 blessing, selected a portion of Scripture and took the 
 opportunity of preaching the Gospel, many of those 
 present listening attentively and evidently under- 
 standing what was said." 
 
 After two days of travel in this and another boat 
 they were delayed at Dong-li, in the midst of mag- 
 nificent scenery, for several days, till the flooded river 
 should be less turbulent. Of course they availed 
 
THE FIRST FOUR YEARS. 129 
 
 themselves of the delay to preach the Gospel in the 
 tea shops of the city. And many an attentive audi- 
 ence they gained. 
 
 Now continuing their journey up the beautiful 
 Chih-li gorge, they seized each opportunity of deliv- 
 ering their message in towns and villages, in some of 
 which they were treated with much courtesy. 
 
 At one place it was necessary to replenish their 
 stock of provisions. A strange procession they made 
 on their return. ^Tirst came Mr. Duncan, his shaven 
 crown protected by a white straw hat of considerable 
 dimensions, covering head and shoulders as well; in 
 one hand a palm leaf fan and in the other a live cock 
 which he had secured for dinner. Next came Mr. 
 Taylor with other purchases under his arms, and in 
 the same headgear; followed by myself, with a 
 thousand cash, change of a dollar, slung around my 
 neck. Our gowns had once been white, but alas, a 
 week's wear and traveling had changed their color 
 considerably. We were glad to get back to the boat, 
 and were soon refreshed by hot tea and bathing our 
 faces in hot water.'' 
 
 At the prefectural city or 'Tu" of Yen-chau a 
 place was rented, and Mr. McCarthy remained with 
 a native helper. Mr. Taylor and Mr. Duncan con- 
 tinued their journey up river as far as Lan-k'i, an im- 
 portant and prosperous commercial center, but 
 notoriously wicked. As they tracked up the stream 
 Mr. Taylor wrote home of their experiences, and 
 added : 
 
130 THESE FORTY TEABS. 
 
 '*! trust that during this year we shall be able to 
 commence several new stations. Mr. Meadows is 
 going with Mr. Jackson into another of the unoccu- 
 pied Fu cities of this province, after which I hope to 
 go with him into the adjoining province to see how 
 the land lies. It is now the twenty-third day since 
 we left Hang-chau and nearly ten days since we had 
 any tidings. Absence from so large a family, old and 
 young, at this time of year, and with whooping- 
 cough in the house, casts one much on the Lord, but 
 this, after all, is a position of both peace and safety." 
 
 At Lan-k'i, always full of visitors on business, house 
 accommodation was hard to find. But a JSTing-po man, 
 residing in the town, delighted at hearing his own 
 dialect spoken fluently by a foreigner, helped them. 
 And of the lodging thus obtained Mr. Taylor wrote 
 next day, as he journeyed do^vn the river : ^^I left Mr. 
 Duncan in what we consider comfortable lodgings for 
 a traveler — that is to say, there is a roof over his 
 head, more or less leaky of course, but still a roof; a 
 floor under his feet, and not a floor only, but rich ac- 
 cumulations of dirt in addition, which might only be 
 partially removed by continued exertions. There is 
 also a window-shutter at one side of the house, if no 
 window; and being so well supplied in this respect it 
 would be very uncalled-for censure were we to com- 
 plain of the absence of both door and window at the 
 other end of the room; the more so that in the event 
 of rain beating in beyond endurance it is easy to nail 
 up a few pieces of matting, which lie folded together 
 
THE FIRST FOUK YEARS. 131 
 
 awaiting such an emergency. The room labors under 
 the slight disadvantage of lacking a chinmey, as our 
 poor eyes well know when the worthy old cook pre- 
 pares our meals. In this respect, however, it is only 
 like every other room of the kind in this place, and 
 I may add in all other places here. As to its 
 furniture, it contained five bedsteads for Mr. Dun- 
 can and myself, Mr. Tsiu and our two servants. (We 
 have two with us because when separated we each 
 need one.) These bedsteads are made of two bamboo 
 trestles — value, three-pence the pair — and unplaned 
 deal planks or a bamboo frame resting upon them. 
 On these, being inclined to make them as comfort- 
 able as possible, we placed our railway-rugs for soft- 
 ness, covering them with mats for coolness' sake. 
 This, with a pillow and mosquito curtains, completes 
 our bedding. Besides these articles for the night we 
 boast a table, a stool, and a plank supported by two 
 trestles instead of a form. And I must not forget to 
 mention that, not satisfied with the above supply of 
 furniture, Mr. Dimcan has gone to the lavish ex- 
 penditure of six-pence, and purchased himself a chair. 
 I think I have now enumerated most of the contents 
 of the room — the stove is carried in and out as oc- 
 casion requires — and yet I fear that you will be able 
 to form but a poor idea of our position after all. The 
 Lord has prospered us in enabling us to get a native 
 teacher, and Mr. Duncan is hard at work with him. 
 It is his intention to go out each afternoon to the 
 temples and tea shops to sell portions of Scripture 
 
132 THESE FORTY YEARS. 
 
 and tracts and to talk to the people/' which required 
 not a little courage after so few months in the 
 country; but courage was a virtue which Duncan did 
 not lack ! 
 
 Traveling down the Ts'ien-t'ang by passenger boat 
 Mr. Taylor had many opportunities by the way, and 
 one evening preached to his neighbors till he Avas 
 tired. '^ After a short prayer, I concluded; but no 
 one moved away. They seemed to want to hear 
 more of this new story. I commenced again, and 
 after talking for a long while, again ceased. Still no 
 one moved. A few leading questions were asked, and 
 once more I spoke to them at length." 
 
 At Hang-chau it was encouraging to find the work 
 progressing steadily, and the native Christians show- 
 ing an increasing desire to spread the Gospel them- 
 selves. Already the little church numbered eighteen 
 members, besides fourteen applicants for baptism. 
 Wang, the young man who had accompanied Mr. 
 Taylor to England, was now ordained as pastor, and 
 three deacons were appointed at the same time. To 
 that church, which continued to grow steadily, if 
 slowly at times (until, when the writer was there 
 eight years ago, there were more than two hundred 
 members), Mr. Wang ministered with great accept- 
 ance and blessing until his last illness, only a year or 
 two ago. He was not only an earnest and inde- 
 fatigable worker, but a truly consecrated man. He 
 did not accept a salary, but lived like his colleagues, 
 the missionaries, in simple dependence upon God. 
 
THE FIEST FOUR TEARS. 133 
 
 That his needs were amply met — ^largely apart from 
 the Mission — is evidenced by the following little in- 
 cident: About the year 1894 Mr. Wang came up to 
 Shanghai for conference with Mr. Taylor about a 
 matter that had long been on his heart. Living al- 
 ways with scrupulous economy, which is a great 
 recommendation of the Gospel among a poverty- 
 stricken people like the Chinese, Mr. Wang had been 
 able to save, during twenty-seven years, a sum of a 
 thousand Mexican dollars. His son-in-law, Mr. Ken, 
 who had been for years co-pastor to the Hang-chau 
 Church, had a considerable family, and Mr. Wang 
 had asked him to accept this money and use it to com- 
 plete the education of his children. 
 
 '^No," said Ren, ^'the Lord has always amply sup- 
 plied our needs. I had far rather this money should 
 be used in a way that I know will give you still 
 greater pleasure, in opening up to the Gospel fresh 
 parts of our needy country.*' So Mr. Wang had 
 brought the thousand dollars to Mr. Taylor, and 
 closeted alone with him handed it over. We can im- 
 agine the feelings with which Mr. Taylor accepted 
 this generous donation! 
 
 But the great heat of that first summer told on the 
 health of some of the band of workers. In the height 
 of the summer Mr. and Mrs. Taylor took a little 
 party for a few days' rest among the mountains, in a 
 temple where they rented rooms. They reached 
 their destination too late on Saturday night to go 
 ashore, and therefore spent Sunday on their boats. 
 
134 THESE FORTY YEARS. 
 
 In the cool of the evening they went for a walk, and 
 "on the way my eldest child, only eight years old, saw 
 for the first time a man making an idol. The sight 
 grieved her to the heart. She looked into my face 
 and said, ^Oh, papa, that man does not know Jesus. 
 He would never make an ugly idol if he did! Do 
 tell him about Jesus.' I had not so much faith, as to 
 the result of the message, as my dear child, but I 
 stopped and told the man the story of God's great 
 love. Then we went on. After we had gone a little 
 way we sat down under the trees, and I said to my 
 dear child, seeing that her heart was burdened, 'What 
 shall we sing, Gracie, dear V She said, ^Let us have 
 '*Kock of Ages, Cleft for Me." ' We sang a hymn 
 and then I said to her, ^Will you pray first V She did 
 so, and I never heard such a prayer as she offered. 
 She had seen the man making an idol. Her heart 
 was full, and she prayed to God on his behalf. The 
 dear child went on and on, pleading that God would 
 have mercy on the poor Chinese, and would 
 strengthen her papa to preach to them. I was never 
 so moved. My heart was bowed before God. Words 
 fail me to describe it. 
 
 ^'N"ext morning I was summoned to see a sick mis- 
 sionary at a distance, and had to leave my loved ones. 
 When I came back my dear child was ill and un- 
 conscious, and she never recognized me again. Those 
 prayers for the poor Chinese were almost the last 
 words I heard her speak." 
 
 Writing at this time, Mr. Taylor said : "It was no 
 
THE FUtST FOUK TEABS. 136 
 
 vain nor unintelligent act when, knowing this land, 
 its people and climate, I laid my precious wife and 
 children, with myself, on the altar of consecration 
 for this service. And He Whom we have been seek- 
 ing to serve . . . has not left us now. 
 
 "Beloved brother, the Lord has taken our sweet 
 little Gracie to blossom in the purer atmosphere of 
 His ovm presence. Our hearts bleed, but 
 
 " 'Above the rest this note shall swell, 
 Our Jesus doeth all things well.* " 
 
 "When all was over," writes Miss Bowyer, "it was 
 truly wonderful to see the calmness with which prep- 
 arations were made for returning to Hang-chau, and 
 at midnight, three hours later, Mr. and Mrs. Taylor, 
 Miss Blatchley and Mr. Williamson started with theii* 
 precious charge, no one suspecting what they carried. 
 
 "We all followed next day." 
 
 And so our Gracie obeyed the old, sweet invita- 
 tion : "Suffer the little children to come unto me, and 
 forbid them not, for of such is the Kingdom of 
 Heaven." May God give us like childlike faith and 
 like keen perception of the degradation of idolatry, 
 and of the heathen's need of Jesus Christ. 
 
 * * -x- -x- -x- * * 
 
 About Rye days' journey due south from ]N'ing-po, 
 well up the estuary of another mountain stream, 
 stands the handsome old city of T'ai-chau, center of 
 the prefecture of that name. 
 
 It was the height of summer when Mr. Meadows, 
 
136 THESE FORTY TEARS. 
 
 senior member of the Mission (next to Mr. Tay- 
 lor), and Mr. Jackson set out from Ning-po on 
 the long-proposed attempt to open T'ai-chau to 
 the Gospel. Many prayers had gone up for their 
 success, and it was with hearts full of hope that the 
 two missionaries started on their way. A day by 
 boat brought them to Fung-hua, the second oldest 
 station. Here they found Mr. and Mrs. Crombie 
 vmrking steadily in peace and safety. Four more 
 days overland brought them, as the sun was setting, 
 to their destination, which they found to be a large 
 and well-built city, surrounded on almost every side 
 by hills. Here, without any great difficulty, they 
 succeeded in renting a house, in which Jackson re- 
 mained with a native helper, entertaining day after 
 day large numbers of curious and interested visitors. 
 As usual, there was opposition at first, but prayer 
 was answered, and soon all was quiet and peace- 
 ful. Mr. Jackson, however, was very glad of a visit, 
 a few weeks later, from Mr. Taylor, who found him 
 living just like a Chinaman, and through his constant 
 intercourse with the people, making rapid progress 
 with the language. Not long after Mr. Taylor's re- 
 turn, Mr. and Mrs. Cardwell came to join Mr. Jack- 
 son at T'ai-chau, where he remained without further 
 serious trouble until 1870, when he went south to 
 Wen-chau, the next prefectural city, to help Mr. 
 Stott in the rapidly-growing work at that center. 
 
 Shortly after T'ai-chau was opened, George Dun- 
 can, having returned from Lan-k'i, turned his face 
 
THE FIRST rOHR TEARS. 137 
 
 northward and visited the two capitals of Kiang-su, 
 Su-chau and Nankin, at the latter of which he was, 
 if possible, to settle. He was much impressed on this 
 journey with the great cities he found without a wit- 
 ness for the Master, and especially with Su-chau 
 itself, famous all over the empire for its magnificence, 
 and linked with Hang-chau by general consent as one 
 of the most beautiful cities in the world. 
 
 "Above Is T'ien-t'ang (heaven), 
 Below are Su Hang" (these two cities). 
 
 His journey up the Grand Canal past this impor- 
 tant city brought him in due course to Chin-kiang, 
 now one of the best known cities on the Yang-tse, but 
 at that time without a missionary. From here he 
 turned westward up the Yang-tse, traveling still by 
 native boat, until he reached ISTankin, the old metrop- 
 olis of the empire. 
 
 For ten years Nankin had been the capital of the 
 short-lived T'ai-p^ing dynasty, and Mr. Duncan found 
 its immense area, averaging twelve miles across, 
 largely in ruins, and a population at that time of 
 not more than half a million. But already the in- 
 domitable energy of its inhabitants was making itself 
 felt. The city was rapidly regaining its former 
 prestige and position. 
 
 No missionary had ever been established here, and 
 Mr. Duncan naturally expected difficulty in com- 
 mencing work. To his surprise he was cordially 
 welcomed by the officials, who, after a long and 
 
138 THESE FORTT TEAKS. 
 
 friendly interview, invited him to stay to dinner, 
 whicli for courtesy's sake he thought it wise to ac- 
 cept. Later on he discovered that while he was being 
 so hospitably entertained messengers were going 
 around to every inn in the city, promising the land- 
 lords all sorts of punishment if they dared receive 
 the foreign devil. But many prayers were going up, 
 and about sundown he found himself at the old 
 ^^drum-tower," the ancient fire-alarm of the city. 
 This was not a regular hostelry, and had been over- 
 looked by the hospitable mandarins. 
 
 The old priest was friendly and for a consideration 
 willingly permitted the tall, fair stranger to remain 
 in one of the iipper rooms, on condition that he left 
 at sunrise and did not return until after sundown. 
 As it was mid-autumn this was no great trial to a 
 man of Duncan's physique and force of character. 
 The days he spent where he could, preaching the 
 Gospel and selling tracts, or engaging in conversa- 
 tion with all who would listen, getting his meals in 
 the tea shops and restaurants of the city. 
 
 After awhile, finding Duncan a harmless sort of 
 man, the authorities ceased to pay him much atten- 
 tion, and he succeeded, before winter had com^ 
 menced, in renting half of a small dwelling house. 
 The entire premises consisted of one room with an 
 attic over it, each being about twenty feet by twelve. 
 The house was divided, fairly, into two strips twenty 
 feet by six. The upper half room was Mr. Duncan's 
 bedroom, and the lower was chapel and guest-hall. 
 
THE FIRST FOUR YEARS. 139 
 
 Against each wall a long form was ranged, and at 
 the far end of the room a table and a chair for the 
 preacher completed the furnishings downstairs. Be- 
 ing separated from his landlord's family by so light 
 a partition, and the lady of the house being a woman 
 of spirit and considerable vigor of speech, Mr. Dun- 
 can had ample opportunities of hearing the vernac- 
 ular, including many expressions in which he was suf- 
 liciently initiated not to use in preaching. Here on 
 rainy days he preached the Gospel to all who could 
 crowd into the guest-room, and when the weather 
 was fine the tea shops, the temples and the vacant 
 spaces of the city were his favorite resorts. Some 
 would come to hear the Gospel; to others the Gospel 
 must be taken. 
 
 Thus, rapidly, the weeks passed, and the exchequer 
 began to run low. Mr. Taylor made repeated at- 
 tempts to send money, and Mr. Duncan at Nankin 
 tried to find out some method by which it could be 
 transmitted, but all without avail. Mr. Taylor be- 
 came seriously concerned, lest Brother Duncan 
 should really be in need. He knew his heroic build, 
 physical and mental, and was cei-tain that he would 
 not leave the city if by any possible means he could 
 continue to hold out. Many a time Mr. Taylor would 
 rise in the night, unable to sleep, and very remark- 
 ably the Lord heard and answered prayer. Trained 
 from childhood in economy, the Scotchman made the 
 money go as far as ever it would, but one day his 
 cook said: 
 
140 THESE FORTY TEARS. 
 
 "Teacher, we have had our breakfast, but there is 
 nothing for supper and all the money ia gone. What 
 shall we do?" 
 
 Mr. Duncan smiled at the man's eagerness and 
 said: "My good fellow, I will tell you what we shall 
 do. We will trust in the Lord and do good : so shall 
 we dwell in the land, and verily we shall be fed." 
 And he turned to go, tracts and Scriptures in hand, 
 for his day's work in the city. But just as he was 
 leaving, the cook added: 
 
 "I have something I want to say before you go. 
 I have ^ve dollars of my wages saved, and I want you 
 to accept it for use in the work." 
 
 George Duncan looked at him keenly. "You know 
 I may not accept a loan. If this is merely that under 
 another name, I must decline it; but if you wish to 
 give it to God, from God your reward will surely 
 come, but not from me. Even if I receive a remit- 
 tance to-morrow, I shall not return your money." 
 
 "Ko," said the man, "I understand that, but I, too, 
 believe in the Lord Jesus, and I want to have a share 
 in this good work for Him. Do accept it." 
 
 So the need was met for the time, and very care- 
 fully that ^Ye dollars was expended. A morning 
 came, however, when the cook came again with the 
 question: "What shall we do? Now my wages 
 are gone, and neither of us have anything left at 
 all!" 
 
 "What shall we do?" Mr. Duncan replied. "We 
 shall obey God's command to trust in the Lord and 
 
THE FIBST FOUE YEABS. 141 
 
 do good; so shall we dwell in the land, and verily we 
 shall be fed." And again he went about the King's 
 business with a heart at rest. 
 
 A few days before this Mr. Rudland returned to 
 Ilang-chau for conference with Mr. Taylor about fur- 
 ther extension of the work. Mr. Taylor listened to 
 all he had to say and then replied: 
 
 "These things can wait. George Duncan, I am 
 afraid, must be entirely without supplies at Nankin, 
 and every effort that we have made to send him 
 money has been fruitless. Will you go and take 
 him a roll of dollars f' 
 
 "Why, certainly, with pleasure,'^ Mr. Rudland re- 
 plied. And they knelt down together to ask God's 
 blessing on the journey, which, under ordinary cir- 
 cumstances, takes ten days or a fortnight. A Nankin 
 boatman was found, reasonable terms were arrived at 
 after the inevitable bargaining, and with great satis- 
 faction Mr. Taylor saw his friend start with a fair 
 wind. The wind continued so favorable that the 
 boatmen said, with surprise: "Your God must surely 
 be the God of the winds, for whichever way the 
 Grand Canal turns, the wind is»still with us." A good 
 text for Rudland! 
 
 In a surprisingly short time Su-chaii was reached 
 and left behind, but half way between there and 
 Chin-kiang they came to an unexpected standstill. 
 The banks were burst, and the canal was dry. 
 
 "Wliat shall we do?" said Mr. Rudland to the boat- 
 man. 
 
142 THESE FORTY TEAKS. 
 
 "What shall we do?" replied the captain, "why, 
 wait till they repair the canal." 
 
 "And when will that be?" 
 
 "Who knows?" said the boatman. "Perhaps a 
 month, or perhaps three. Whenever the mandarins 
 have leisure." 
 
 "This will never do," thought Mr. Kudland. "Is 
 there no other way from here to ISTankin?" 
 
 "jSTo, no other way," the man replied. 
 
 But this did not satisfy the foreigner, and going 
 into the city near which they were stranded he 
 learned that there was no regular road, but one could 
 go by footpaths between fields of rice, and by so doing 
 he could save two or three days on the journey. 
 
 "Praise the Lord for the burst canal'" he thought. 
 "Surely Brother Duncan must be getting very low, 
 and the Lord is caring for him." 
 
 He hired a donkey, and in two days' time was 
 standing at Mr. Duncan's door. Great was the de- 
 light of the cook on recognizing Mr. Rudland. For 
 once in his life his Chinese politeness forsook him, 
 and the first words that escaped him were, "'Have you 
 brought any money?" 
 
 "Yes," said Mr. Rudland, "here it is." 
 
 "The visitor was, of course, made welcome, and 
 before long the cook went marketing. When Mr. 
 Duncan retiirned the evening meal was ready, and the 
 cook stationed at the front door awaiting him. Far 
 down the street he saw him, head and shouldei-s 
 above the crowd, and he could wait no longer. Run- 
 
THE FIRST FOUR YEARS. 143 
 
 uing as hard as he could he was soon with Mr. Dun- 
 can, and as soon as he regained his breath sufficiently, 
 still panting, 
 
 "It is all right, sir!'' he said with a beaming face, 
 "it is all right! The money has come, and supper is 
 ready and waiting!'' 
 
 Putting his hand on the cook's shoulder, Mr. Dun- 
 can replied: "Didn't I tell you so? It is always all 
 right to trust in the Lord and do good; so shall we 
 dwell in the land, and verily we shall be fed." 
 
 We can imagine how hearty was the greeting be- 
 tween the two missionaries, and how pleasantly the 
 little visit wore away for both. 
 
 Brief though Mr. Duncan's ministry had been at 
 Lan-k'i, it had not been without fruit. Five years 
 later a man arrived at one of the Hang-chau out- 
 stations, wishing to hear more of the glad tidings he 
 had learned to love, and to understand in part, from 
 the lips of a tall, thin foreigner who spent one sum- 
 mer at his city. All this time he had worshiped only 
 the one true God, "Who had sent His son to die on 
 the Cross for the sins of men." He had now come 
 to learn more, and to join the church. 
 
 Mr. Duncan's health had given way before this 
 time, but not until he had done much good work 
 . at Xanldn and elsewhere, as we shall see later. In 
 1872 he had to return to England, where he passed 
 away, not long after, from rapid phthisis. Mr. Tsiu, 
 his faithful colleague, also ended his course about the 
 
144 THESE FORTY YEARS. 
 
 same time, and it was a great joy to both of them to 
 know of one, at least, who had come to know the Lord 
 through their stay at Lan-k'i. 
 
 One more station was opened this year. Mr. Stott, 
 who had been working at Ning-po up to this time, 
 now felt ready for more strenuous service, and paid 
 a refreshing little visit to Mr. Taylor and the others 
 at headquarters, the outcome of which was that he 
 started, near the end of November, for the city of 
 Wen-chau, the center of a prefecture, the southern- 
 most in the province, with a population of certainly 
 not less than a million souls, and entirely unevan- 
 gelized. 
 
 On the way he passed through T'ai-chau, and as 
 all was peaceful and satisfactory, Mr. Jackson left 
 the work for a brief change, and went on overland 
 across the picturesque mountainous country to Wen- 
 chau, which is delightfully situated on the southern 
 bank of its river, and connected with a populous hin- 
 terland by numerous waterways. It was not without 
 difficulty that accommodations were obtained, and 
 then only at an inn. Mr. Jackson soon returned, leav- 
 ing his fnend in possession. Mr. Stott soon fell in 
 love with his new field of service, and described Wen- 
 chau as the most perfect and the most beautiful city 
 he had seen, thus far, in China. "The rebels did not 
 get into it, so it is preserved and uninjured and is 
 probably a specimen of what Chinese cities used to 
 be before the rebellion, but the idolatry is appalling." 
 Repeated attempts were made to obtain more settled 
 
THE FIRST FOUR TEARS. 145 
 
 and suitable accommodation than the inn afforded, 
 both before Mr. Jackson left and after. Again and 
 again, however, the attempt was foiled by a police- 
 man. 
 
 This man did his level best to stir up trouble. 
 Three or four hundred of the baser sort were gath- 
 ered together on one occasion, but Mr. Stott held 
 his ground and quietly faced the crowd. After a 
 while, having done but little damage, the people went 
 away. He himself was practically uninjured. 'Noth- 
 ing daunted, Mr. Stott soon repaired the more serious 
 damages, and put up a notice on the door that he was 
 about to open a free school. He engaged a teacher, 
 and a solitary pupil appeared on the day school 
 opened. Gradually, however, more and more came, 
 but their studies were often interrupted by threat- 
 ened difficulty. 
 
 "For several months,'' Mr. Stott writes, "I was 
 scarcely ever out of trouble," and he was at the un- 
 usual disadvantage of being unable either to speak 
 or understand the strange dialect of Wen-chau. 
 
 The first inquirers proved to be hypocrites. Not 
 so, however, an unhappy little boy, an orphan of fif- 
 teen years who was one of the earliest pupils in the 
 school. The entire right side of his body had been 
 partly paralyzed from birth. In every way he seemed 
 a most unlikely case, but under Mr. Stott's assiduous 
 care and the teacher's persevering instructions, he 
 made steady progi-ess, his intelligence increasing 
 
 surprisingly as time went on. This lad, before long, 
 10 
 
146 THESE FOETY YEARS. 
 
 became an earnest inquirer, and after a time of pro- 
 bation was admitted to the churcli. His consistent 
 Christian life, and quiet, modest demeanor won their 
 way with alL He became, moreover, quite an at- 
 tractive preacher, and several years later he could 
 hold the attention of several hundred people by the 
 hour. We can imagine Mr. Stott's feelings as he sat 
 and listened, picturing again the pitiful little face of 
 the ragged, palsied lad, and comparing it with the 
 open, intelligent countenance of the speaker. 
 
 "As I listened," he says, "to his soft, musical, yet 
 manly, voice setting forth Jesus Christ and salvation 
 through Him, and pleading with all, old and young, 
 to believe in His name for the forgiveness of sins 
 and for life eternal, it was conclusive evidence to me 
 •f the truth and power of God's Word. May the 
 glory be ascribed to Him to Whom alone it is due." 
 
 Settled work had been done, as we have seen, in 
 six new cities this year, four of which remained open 
 at the close of the year and have never since been 
 closed. The little Mission had not only doubled the 
 number of its stations, but had made its first inroad 
 into a neighboring province. 
 
 The old year closed, as usual, in fasting and wait- 
 ing upon God. 
 
 Entering now upon 1868, much prayer went up 
 that God would graciously grant not only that they 
 might open up more cities in Cheh-kiang, in which 
 they were now well established, but also that "during 
 
THE FIRST FOUR YEARS. 14? 
 
 this year some decided steps might be taken toward 
 the accomplishment of our cherished purpose — tak- 
 ing the Gospel into some of the wholly unoccupied 
 provinces/' nor were these desires disappointed. 
 
 In January, Mr. Crombie, who it will be remem- 
 bered had opened Fung-hua, succeeded in renting 
 premises and conunencing work in the city of Ning- 
 hai, half way between his old station and T'ai-chau. 
 Mr. Meadows, accompanied by Mr. Cordon, also, at 
 the beginning of the year, followed Mr. Dimcan's 
 steps as far as the city of Su-chau. A station here 
 was of great importance, both on account of the size 
 and influence of the city and because it was just half- 
 way from Hang-chau to the Yang-tse. 
 
 Work was now sufficiently advanced in Hang-chau, 
 and the new workers sufficiently at home in the lan- 
 guage, for Mr. and Mrs. Taylor to think of under- 
 taking a forward movement themselves. Starting 
 by boat up the Grand Canal, they took with them 
 three ladies to join Mr. Cordon, his wife and tlie 
 Misses McLean, as well as their own party, including 
 their secretary. Miss Blatchley, the children and the 
 nurse. Having left the three ladies at Su-chau, Mr. 
 Taylor's party continued their journey, and about the 
 end of May reached the great city of Chin-kiang, 
 strategically situated at the jimcture of the Grand 
 Canal and the Yang-tse, but entirely without the Gos- 
 pel. A suitable house was found, after a laborious 
 search, and attempts were made to secure it, which 
 dragged out their weary length for nearly a month. 
 
148 THESE FORTY YEARS. 
 
 Here it was proposed to set up the Mission printing 
 presses under Mr. Rudland's superintendence, and 
 to locate the headquarters of the Mission, for a time, 
 at least. 
 
 A letter was now sent to Hang-ehau, asking Mr. 
 and Mrs. Rudland to come on with the presses and 
 their personal belongings. Through the interference 
 of the native officials, however, the landlord refused 
 point blank to allow them to take possession of the 
 house they had rented, and throughout the city, in 
 business house and tea room, the foreigners^ discom- 
 fiture was the jest of the people. 
 
 Meanwhile Mr. and Mrs. Taylor and their family 
 had gone on to Yang-chau, a day's journey to the 
 north, up the Grrand Canal. This remarkable en- 
 gineering feat, cut some hundred years ago, reaches 
 all the way from Hang-chau to Pekin, and until the 
 introduction of foreign-built steamers, the canal was 
 one of the main arteries for the trade and taxes of 
 the empire, the latter being forwarded half in silver 
 and half in rice. 
 
 Though the accommodation secured at Yang-chau 
 was only an inn, it was an exceptionally comfortable 
 one. The travelers were very thankful, at this hot 
 season of the year, to end their long boat journey. 
 Earnestly they prayed to God that He would give 
 them a permanent footing in this large and flourish- 
 ing city. 
 
 This was not to be, however, without their passing 
 through very serious trials, and nearly losing their 
 
THE FIRST FOUR YEARS. 149 
 
 lives in a riot; an experience terrible, indeed, to the 
 missionary party, but one from which many an in- 
 valuable lesson was learned, to prove of great service 
 later, as the Mission's field of operations gradually 
 expanded west and north and south. 
 
 This riot at Yang-chau is of special significance, 
 Avith the circumstances which led up to it and fol- 
 lowed, as an illustration of the constant danger and 
 difficulty of pioneer work in China, as well as for the 
 helpful warnings it suggested for future use. 
 
 A month passed at the inn, a midsummer month 
 be it remembered, before Mr. Taylor was able to se- 
 cure more permanent premises, and very glad they 
 all were to move into their own home toward the 
 latter part of July. But, unfortunately, a series of 
 troubles now commenced which culminated ere long 
 in the riot. To understand fully the special diffi- 
 culties at Yang-chau, it is necessary to pause a mo- 
 ment to glance at the city and its people. 
 
 Probably no place hitherto entered was prouder 
 of itself — of its antiquity, its noble families, its tradi- 
 tions — than this city of Yang-chau. It consisted 
 really of two cities in one, old and new, or east and 
 west, separated by a substantial wall, and governed 
 each by its OAvn mayor, or rather county magistrate, 
 under one prefect or Fu, who controlled not only the 
 entire city, but twenty other neighboring towns as 
 well. 
 
 The rebuff at Chin-ki^ng was particularly unfavor- 
 able to obtaining a peaceful settlement in this older 
 
150 THESE FORTY YEARS. 
 
 and aristocratic city. Though fifteen miles is almost 
 a day's journey, such welcome news spreads apace 
 even in China, and first the merchants and ofticials, 
 then the scholarly classes, and finally everybody, 
 knew all about the humiliation of the foreigners. 
 
 On first taking up residence in the new house, Mr. 
 and Mrs. 'J'aylor were a little inconvenienced by the 
 curiosity of crowding neighbors, but they soon be- 
 came more or less friendly. Then an unfortunate 
 occurrence in the city brought about fresh trouble. 
 Up till this time not only had there been no Protest- 
 ant missionaries in this city, but even the Catholics 
 had failed to obtain a settlement. They were prepar- 
 ing the way, however, and had already a foundling 
 hospital under the charge of an unscrupulous native 
 helper, who was pocketing the money and staiwing 
 the infants. So many of these died that serious i-u- 
 mors began to spread abroad as to the foreigners* 
 .cannibalistic proclivities. Just at this juncture another 
 of the unfortunate children died. The now thor- 
 oughly-frightened employe attempted to bury the 
 body outside the city wall by stealth. He was caught 
 in the act by the crowd, tried to save himself by say- 
 ing he was employed by foreigners, and for days, as 
 a result, Mr. Taylor's home was besieged by an angry 
 mob, who were with difficulty persuaded that we had 
 nothing to do with the foundling hospital, or with 
 the work it represented. 
 
 Hardly was this trouble over when two foreigners 
 arrived from Chin-kiang on Saturday, August 2 2d, 
 
THE PntST FOUR YEAES. 
 
 161 
 
 to visit the city and see something of its ancient tem- 
 ples and public buildings. Already the party at 
 Yang-chau had been considerably, though very cau- 
 tiously augmented by several members of the Mission 
 who had come to consult with Mr. Taylor about var- 
 ious details of the work. The open arrival of these 
 two additional foreigners seemed to be the match 
 that kindled the imminent conflagration. All Satur- 
 day afternoon the Mission premises were In a state 
 of siege, and soon were broken into. Keeping per- 
 fectly cool and patient, and reasoning with the riot- 
 ers, Mr. Taylor was able gradually to persuade them 
 to retire, and the broken doors were barricaded as 
 far as possible against their return. 
 
 As night drew on, however, and the busy day was 
 finished in the city, the crowd rapidly augmented 
 and became more and more ungovernable, until at 
 last it was manifest that it was impossible to control 
 them any longer. Messages had been repeatedly sent 
 tc the ofiicials, but nothing had been done. The only 
 remaining hope was for Mr. Taylor to go to the 
 Yamen himself, and possibly by God's blessing their 
 lives might thus be saved. After briefly but very 
 earnestly committing his dear ones and fellow-mis- 
 sionaries to the Lord, he and Mr. Duncan managed to 
 evade the rioters by leaving the premises through a 
 neighbor's house. They were soon seen, however, 
 ancf followed by a yelling crowd. The darkness 
 helped them, and through Mr. Taylor's intimate 
 knowledge of the city they were able to take certam 
 
152 THESE FORTY YEARS. 
 
 byways that at once lessened the distance and enabled 
 them better to escape the angry mob.^ 
 
 As they neared the magistrate's ollice the mob 
 caught up with them again, and bruised with stones 
 and faint Avith running, they fell against the Yamen's 
 doors just as they were being closed in their faces to 
 keep out the tumultuous crowd. Happily, just at 
 this moment, the people surged upon them and burst 
 open the gates before they were barred, or they would 
 surely have been torn to pieces on the spot. They 
 rushed through into the middle courtyard crying out 
 loudly ^TLiu ming! Kiu ming!" (Save life), a cry 
 which mandarins are obliged to attend to at any hour 
 of the day or night, especially if, at the same time, 
 the large alarm drum is beaten by the petitioners. 
 This drum, accordingly, is usually enclosed in a cage 
 and carefully guarded against being touched. 
 
 After waiting for a time which seemed intermin- 
 able, at last they were permitted to see the prefect. 
 
 "How is it that you have created all this uproar?" 
 he asked. "And what do you do with the babies, and 
 how many have you bought?" 
 
 As soon as possible Mr. Taylor told the magistrate 
 
 quietly but firmly that the real reason of the rioting 
 
 was the neglect of his subordinates to quell disorder 
 
 in its ea rly stages, of which they were informed, and 
 
 ♦There was very little doubt that in this case, as in so 
 many other similar instances, the mob was being encour- 
 aged by the organized action of the scholars of the city, 
 who very possibly had privately notified the officials of their 
 Intention, and obtained a promise from them to remain neu- 
 tral as long as they could. 
 
THE FIRST FOUR YEARS. 153 
 
 asked him now to save the lives of the foreigners if, 
 indeed, they were not killed already, and afterAvards 
 make any investigations he might think well. 
 
 "Yes, yes," he replied; "first save life and after- 
 wards investigate." 
 
 Mr. Taylor and his friend were then told that 
 the only chance of quieting the people was for 
 themselves to remain in the Yamen, Avhile steps were 
 being taken to rescue the others and dispei-se the 
 crowds. This he set about promptly. But we can 
 imagine the distress of two hours' suspense before 
 the prefect returned. The disturbance had been 
 quelled, he told them, and several of the ringleaders 
 arrested, and the foreign gentlemen could return. 
 Chairs and an escort were provided. 
 
 When they reached the premises they found them 
 largely in ruins, with the wreckage that remained of 
 their belongings scattered around on every hand. 
 But of those so dear to them they saw nothing, and it 
 v'Rs some time before they learned of their where- 
 abouts, in neighboring houses, where at no little risk 
 they had been received and kept in hiding. 
 
 It would avail nothing to tell of the sufferings of 
 the others, nor the details of the wonderful way in 
 which, though battered and bruised, and some of 
 them seriously injured, their lives had been pre- 
 served in the midst of ten or twenty thousand en- 
 raged and reckless rioters. The whole party re- 
 turned to their devastated home, which was pro- 
 tected now by soldiers. 
 
154 THESE FORTY YEARS. 
 
 After a short night's rest the weary and exhausted 
 i?iifferers soon discovered that the night guard of sol- 
 diers had retired and were not replaced. Again the 
 crowds collected, and it seemed as though the experi- 
 ences of yesterday were about to be repeated. Mr. 
 Taylor again faced the crowds, and by quiet reason- 
 ing persuaded them that they were there with their 
 families and friends for the good of the people only, 
 and with no sinister designs. By this means the 
 premises were at length nearly cleared. Taking ad- 
 vantage of this lull, he again proceeded to the pre- 
 fect's, with an aching heart, and reached the Yamen 
 safely. Here further delays were threatened. "The 
 prefect had not risen, had not bathed, had not break- 
 fasted. I sent a message that I did not wish for an 
 interview, but that riotous proceedings had again 
 commenced and that there was no one to suppress the 
 mob." 
 
 The district magistrate was sent for, would soon be 
 there, and would accompany Mr. Taylor to the house. 
 It seemed a long, long time before he came. He 
 then said that he had been first to the house and dis- 
 persed the mob, and had then come to the Yamen. 
 He now requested Mr. Taylor to write a very mild 
 letter to the prefect, calling the trouble not a riot 
 but merely a disturbance, lest the people should be- 
 come more incensed than ever. Finding it absolutely 
 impossible to refuse this unreasonable request, Mr. 
 Taylor promised to write the letter. "In this way," 
 the magistrate said, "we may restore peace before 
 
THE FIRST FOUR YEARS. 165 
 
 night, and you will not be under the necessity of 
 leaving the city." 
 
 A[eanwhile Mr. Duncan and Mr. lludland took 
 their stand at the front of the house, and succeeded 
 iLi keeping the rioters in check until the magistrate 
 Mi'rived. After dispersing the crowd, the soldiers had 
 the loot, what little remained, to themselves. Later 
 in the day, the magistrate told Mr. Taylor, after in- 
 i^dsting on and obtaining a second letter milder than 
 the first, that his men were unable to keep the people 
 in order, and that the only safe way would be to hire 
 boats and retire for the present to Chin-kiang. 
 
 "When you have gone we will gradually quiet the 
 people, and when it is safe in\dte you to return." 
 
 Boats were engaged, and next morning they all set 
 out under escort to Chin-kiang. On the way they 
 were met by a party of friends who had heard of 
 their danger and kindly came to their relief, headed 
 by the acting consul. After seeing the disabled con- 
 dition of the missionaries they went on to Yang-chau, 
 visited the ruined remains of home and property, and 
 then returned. 
 
 Among the party was the French consul at Chin- 
 kiang, who kindly welcomed the whole company into 
 his handsome new consulate. In the midst of it all, 
 however, the hearts of the children were kept in 
 peace, partly through the calmness of the mission- 
 aries and partly through child-like confidence in the 
 protection of Jesus Himself. 
 
 The kind action of the British consul, it may be 
 
156 THESE FORTY YEARS. 
 
 added, was entirely on his own initiative, as were the 
 subsequent proceedings which were taken by the 
 authorities. No request w^as made to the foreign 
 representatives for protection in the first instance, or 
 for justice later on. 
 
 Among the lessons learned from this terrible ex- 
 perience may be mentioned: 
 
 The desirability of first of all paying repeated pre- 
 liminary visits to an important city, both to accustom 
 the people to the presence of foreigners and to ascer- 
 tain the probability of obtaining a peaceable settle- 
 ment. 
 
 Secondly, not to take much luggage to a newly- 
 opened station; for there is no doubt the rioters hoped 
 to obtain valuable plunder, on account of the number 
 of packages brought, including the press and medical 
 supplies. 
 
 And, thirdly, for only two or three people to at- 
 tempt to settle in a newly-opened city; and also not 
 to attempt, at the same time, two neighboring cities, 
 for failure in the one necessarily imperils the other. 
 
 Costly though this experience was, Mr. Taylor and 
 his colleagues have often felt that it was worth all it 
 cost. Mr. Taylor could not help feeling afterwards 
 as he pondered what had happened, that a closer 
 study of God's Word might have prevented this ex- 
 perience. "There is no command to open mission 
 stations in the Word of God, and there is no prece- 
 dent to be found there. The command is to go into 
 all the world, and preach: . . . and the examples 
 
THE FIEST FOITR YEARS. 157 
 
 recorded of tlie earliest missionaries might have led 
 us from the first to give itineration a greater promi- 
 nence than we did." And while stations become 
 necessary, both as a basis for itinerations which could 
 not be continued without them, and in other ways, 
 "it is surely a great mistake to make location our first 
 aim, instead of keeping it in a strictly subordinate 
 position as an auxiliary." 
 
 It was August the 2 2d when the riot occurred, 
 and by November we find the missionaries again 
 safely reinstated at Yang-chau, under the protection 
 of the mayors of the city. In the meanwhile, Mr. 
 Taylor, accompanied by another worker, had evan- 
 gelized northward up the canal as far as Ts'ing-kiang- 
 p'u, a hundred miles or four days beyond Yang-chau. 
 Four large towns and twenty-five cities of some im- 
 portance were visited on this journey, all of which were 
 entirely without the Gospel. "May God soon clear 
 our way," Mr. Taylor wrote, and prayed, "to return 
 to Yang-chau, and to open up new stations further in- 
 land also." Not only was Yang-chau reoccupied that 
 autumn, but the important city of Ts'ing-kiang-p'u 
 was also opened a few months later, a house being 
 obtained by the indefatigable George Duncan, who 
 through God's blessing and his previoiis experience 
 was enabled to enter upon residence in peace. When, 
 later on, he returned to Nankin, he was replaced by 
 Mr. Eeid, one of the worst sufferers at the Yang-chau 
 riot, and the work was greatly owned and prospered 
 of the Lord. For the present, therefore, Yang-chau 
 
158 TItESE FORTY YEARS. 
 
 remained headcpiarters, as well as the home of Mr. 
 Taylor's family. 
 
 This accoimt of the Yang-chau troubles would not 
 be complete without digressing a moment to follow 
 some of the ring-leaders, whom the magistrates either 
 did not dare or did not care to punish. The prefect, 
 whose inactivity was practically and, perhaps, di- 
 rectly the cause of the riot, and who was so loth to 
 interfere, within twelve months "fell into the hands 
 of banditti on his way to Pekin. He and his son 
 both lovSt their lives; all his property was pillaged, 
 and his wives and one or two of his children had to 
 beg their way along the latter part of the journey. 
 
 "The district magistrate at a later period also fell 
 into trouble. The whole family of the literary man 
 Koh, who was one of the chief inciters of the people, 
 has become impoverished. The man who attempted 
 to murder Mr. Eudland, and who was the leader of 
 the ruffians that broke into our house, has not only 
 himself been punished by the authorities, but his 
 family, on ac<?ount of their misdeeds . . . have be- 
 come infamous in the eyes of the Chinese." 
 
 These facts became so well known in the city that 
 an attempt to create still more serious trouble in 
 1871, by a military mandarin, was entirely unavail- 
 ing. The people would have nothing to do with the 
 business. "God can yet say to a people, 'Touch not 
 mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm,' and 
 not infrequently He does." 
 
 The Yang-tse river, now so well known from its 
 
THE FIRST FOUR YEAltS. 159 
 
 new political significance, rising among the eternal 
 snows of Thibet, rims from west to east across China, 
 dividing it into two nearly equal parts, of which one 
 may roughly say that South China (including a large 
 part of the valley of the Yang-tse) eats rice, and 
 North China, wheat. 
 
 After three thousand miles this mighty river 
 empties itself into the sea by a wide double channel 
 through the province of Kiang-su, of which Shanghai 
 has long been the commercial center. To this prov- 
 ince and the one immediately to the south, Cheh- 
 kiang, the young Mission was still limited at the end 
 of 1868. But not so their desires, which were steadily 
 set on the regions beyond. 
 
 Christmas Day, indeed, had been spent by the 
 now experienced Mr. Meadows and his friend, Mr. 
 Williamson, at N^ankin, in the home of George Dun- 
 can and his bride. And ISTew Year's eve found them 
 well on the way up river to Gan-king, capital of one 
 of the eleven unoccupied provinces, to commence 
 work in which, the China Inland Mission had been 
 formed. 
 
 JSTo province had suffered more severely in the T'ai- 
 p'ing rebellion than this province of An-huei, and it 
 had long been a burden on the heart of Mr. Taylor. 
 Probably thirty out of its forty millions had perished 
 through war and famine and plague, "all uncared 
 for, unsought, untaught, unsaved.'' 
 
 The generous immigration schemes of the paternal 
 government had probably added not fewer than ten 
 
160 THESE FORTY YEARS. 
 
 millions to the province, which thus numbered now, 
 approximately, twenty million inhabitants. To Gan- 
 king, then, Meadows and Williamson were on the 
 way. 
 
 They did not expect their task to be a sinecure. 
 Nor was it. Profiting by the past, they lived on 
 their boat for a time, paying daily visits to the city. 
 When they did try to obtain a house, it proved a 
 long and wearisome affair. After many unsuccessful 
 attempts, their evangelistic work going on uninter- 
 ruptedly the while, they had to content themselves 
 with rooms in a rough hotel near the west gate of the 
 city; and this was all they could obtain for months. 
 
 Never before had they met such utter indifference. 
 No one seemed curious or interested about the 
 strangers themselves; no one seemed to care to hear 
 their message, and still less was any one willing to 
 rent a house to the "foreign dogs." 
 
 One day, almost in despair, Mr. Meadows wished 
 they "could find some scoundrel who feared nobody 
 but wanted money, and would be willing to rent a 
 house." Shortly after he ran down to visit his family. 
 No sooner was he gone, than an aged man called to 
 see Mr. Williamson and offered to rent his premises. 
 
 "I am an old man," he said, "and am afraid of no 
 one. Neither mandarins nor scholars will interfere 
 with me." (One of the officials told the missionaries, 
 some months later, that this man was about the worst 
 character in the city. "He feared neither gods nor 
 men.") 
 
THE FIRST FOUR YEARS. 161 
 
 The old man went on to say tliat lie was building 
 premises that would be in every way satisfactory, 
 but had run short of money, and would need a year's 
 rent in advance to complete the house. With due 
 care and caution, deeds were drawn up by trust- 
 worthy middlemen, the year's rent paid over, and at 
 last there was prospect of a settled home. When 
 Mr. Meadows returned he brought his family with 
 him, hoping to enter into residence at once, in which 
 he was disappointed for several weeks. At the end, 
 however, they got safely into their new and very 
 w^elcome home. 
 
 They remained in peace for three months, through 
 the summer, but with the autumn came the annual 
 literary examinations, during which the city is 
 crowded with students, and with business men who 
 come from all the neighboring towns and country to 
 share in the profits of the busiest season in the year. 
 This was obviously a grand opportunity to stir up 
 trouble; and trouble the scholars did stir up, indeed. 
 Another riot occurred, in which many of the features 
 of the Yang-chau experience were repeated. Their 
 home was completely wrecked, and all their belong- 
 ings either stolen or destroyed. 
 
 Early in the day, as trouble was threatened and 
 the city placarded with hostile exhortations, Mr. 
 Meadows and his colleague had called upon the 
 tao-t'ai, who was nominally responsible for the for- 
 eigners' safety. During their absence a furious mob 
 
 gathered and broke into the house ; but Mrs. Meadows 
 11 
 
1G2 THESE FORTY YEARS. 
 
 and the children, after many vicissitudes, succeeded 
 in reaching the Yamen safely by God's gracious pro- 
 tection, and through the courageous devotion of a 
 faithful native servant. 
 
 AYhen the riot was over they had to leave the city 
 for a time, a boat being provided by the Yanien to 
 take them to Kiu-kiang. They suffered from the cold 
 a good deal by the way, for they had nothing with 
 them except the scanty bedding furnished by the 
 authorities, not even soap or towels, or even a comb, 
 still less any books. They were thankful, however, 
 to be alive and safe. Five days' journey brought 
 them to Kiu-kiang, where they were kindly received 
 by the few foreign residents, and a free passage was 
 obtained by steamer down the river. 
 
 The native authorities promptly investigated the 
 riot, punished the student ringleaders, and put out 
 a very satisfactory proclamation, after which the mis- 
 sionaries were invited to return. The brethren did 
 so, and some weeks later, not without some trepida- 
 tion, and not a little courage, also, and confidence in 
 God, Mrs. Meadows took the children back. Difficult 
 as the work proved at Gan-king, the two missionaries 
 were not without encouragement. Five or six con- 
 verts were received into fellowship before it became 
 necessary, on account of failing health and other 
 claims, for them to go down to the coast. George 
 Dimcan took on the work, as an out-station, from 
 Nankin, and about this time took the first missionary 
 itineration in the province of An-huei. 
 
THE FIRST FOUR YEARS. 163 
 
 For fifteen years the China Inland Mission con- 
 tinued to be the only workers in this province. 
 
 But not this province only was opened in 1869. 
 A new missionary had joined the China Inland Mis- 
 sion, who for seven years had been praying for un- 
 evangelized Kiang-si.* Mr. Cardwell, on his first 
 arrival in China, was stationed at T'ai-chau. Here, 
 however, after three months' study of the language, 
 his health gave way so seriously that it was feared 
 he might have to return to England. 
 
 "ISTever,'' he said, "after seven years' prayer for 
 this work.'' 
 
 He tried Kiu-kiang, on the Yang-tse, the commer- 
 cial center of Kiang-si, and 'it suited his health to 
 perfection. He steadily regained strength, and be- 
 fore long we find him taking extensive evangelistic 
 journeys, the first in the province on which his heart 
 had been set so long. 
 
 Thus ended the first four years of the China Inland 
 Mission. In January, 1866, when the first Occa- 
 sional Paper was prepared for the press, its work 
 was limited to i^ing-po, mth four missionaries en- 
 gaged in the work, and three others on the way, 
 beside Mr. and Mrs. Taylor at home. 
 
 Xow, at the beginning of 1870, there were thirty- 
 three missionaries, in thirteen stations with eight out- 
 
 ♦The first worker to settle in this province was the Rev. 
 Dr. Hart, a distinguished "Southern Methodist," who com- 
 menced work in Kiu-kiang shortly after the China Inland 
 Mission was formed. 
 
164 THESE FOETY YEARS. 
 
 Stations, working in two of the old provinces and in 
 two of the eleven nnoccnpied provinces for which 
 prayer had been asked and obtained, at the time of 
 the formation of the Mission. 
 
 Then there were fifty or sixty converts at I^ing-po. 
 Xow there were one hundred and sixty members, 
 connected with a dozen churches, besides some hun- 
 dreds of inquirers waiting to be received. 
 
 In gauging the importance of these facts it will 
 be remembered that the early stages of missionary 
 work are always slow, and that a single convert from 
 heathenism is very real cause for thankfulness ; also, 
 that work in the pioneer stage is always far less pro- 
 ductive in numerical results than it is later. 
 
 Moreover, much of the new missionaries' time had 
 necessarily been spent in learning the language, in 
 becoming acquainted with the manners and customs 
 of the people, in striving to obtain settlement in difil- 
 cult but strategic places, and in gradually, though 
 slowly, obtaining access not only to homes but hearts. 
 
 During all this time Mr. Berger continued to cai^ry 
 the onerous responsibilities of correspondence, and 
 of candidates, and the management of funds at home. 
 Again and again his faith had been tested. Several 
 times the balance in hand was "as low as £20; yet, 
 to the praise of God's gi*ace, I may say, it has never 
 been necessary to send money to China without my 
 being able to do so, and even the full amount that 
 I desired." 
 
 During these years over seventy thousand dollars 
 
THE FIRST FOUR YEARS. 166 
 
 had been received, without any request for money, 
 through the Lord's stewards, who wished to share in 
 what they felt to be His work. 
 
 "Thus tenderly," wrote Mr. Berger, "is He teach- 
 ing us to put our trust in Hiin." 
 
CHAPTEK IX 
 
 THE NEXT SIX YEAKS. 
 
 To the minds of many, as we have seen, the China 
 Inland Mission was foredoomed to failure. It had 
 now, however, passed the stage of an experiment; 
 the thing worked. And had it not thereby, if it was 
 really letting in the Light, proved its right to be ? 
 
 To the inner circle of its members and its friends 
 this, and something more, was proved. They had 
 known, to begin with, that when the Lord said "all 
 these things shall be added/' He intended to fulfill 
 His promise. They knew now that God had set the 
 seal of His approval on the work, as they had hoped 
 He would, and that meant everything. The new 
 methods of finance, of selection of men, the ways of 
 working among the people, and the prayer basis of 
 it all, had been put to the trial, and had stood the 
 test, and deepened faith and confidence in God was 
 the result. 
 
 And that l)eing so, the young Mission being 
 "strengthened, settled, stablished'^ of God, and know- 
 ing it, God was about to temper the proven steel by 
 fire. The year 1870 was the darkest and the hardest, 
 until 1900, that the Mission ever knew. Every sta- 
 tion, most of them young stations, be it remembered, 
 
 166 
 
THE NEXT SIX YEARS. 167 
 
 was in peril. Funds were low. And personal sorrow 
 came on not a few, heaviest of all on Mr. Hudson 
 Taylor. 
 
 In that year took place the terrible massacre of 
 Tien-tsin, in which the Koman Catholic cathedral and 
 the French consulate were demolished and twenty 
 Europeans, priests and nuns, cruelly butchered in 
 cold blood. The news of this spread rapidly, growing 
 as it went, transmitted through the Yamens, by 
 which all outside news still reaches the interior. The 
 whole of China became in a ferment. It seemed for 
 a time as though missionary work must cease, so 
 serious was the trouble. 
 
 From the new inland stations the ladies were with- 
 drawn, the men remaining at their posts. About 
 this tune the viceroy at iN^ankin was murdered, a 
 strong man, just the one needed at that crisis. Writ- 
 ing of this, Mr. Duncan adds, "Is it not strange that 
 the viceroy, who had so many soldiers continually on 
 guard, should thus be laid low by the assassin's hand, 
 while we, who seem so helpless and exposed, are pre- 
 served in safety? Truly, the angel of the Lord en- 
 campeth about them that fear Him, and delivereth 
 
 them." 
 
 Strangely enough, it was along the Yang-tse main- 
 ly that these troubles and rumors were the worst. 
 It seems probable that the diversion of the carrjdng 
 trade, which used to bring goods and tribute and rice 
 from South China to Pekin, either overland or by the 
 Grand Canal, to steamers, had a good deal to do with 
 
168 THESE FORTY YEARS. 
 
 the feeling at these river ports. At Gan-king the 
 utter lack of interest in the foreigners and their 
 teachings was changed to strong and manifest dislike. 
 Special troubles, moreover, enhanced the danger 
 there, especially extensive floods from the overflow- 
 ing of the Yang-tse, which, of course, destroying 
 crops for a wide area, left the poor farm people with- 
 out the means of subsistence for the coming winter. 
 
 Still further up the river, at Kiu-kiang, Mr. Card- 
 well also was in danger. The city was placarded with 
 notices that on the 28th day of the month all the 
 foreigners would be killed. 
 
 Meanwhile, fearing foreign reprisal, large num- 
 bers of soldiers were massed at Tien-tsin, at I^ankin 
 and Gan-king, and other points on the Yang-tse were 
 being fortified. 
 
 By the overruling of God, however, all these trou- 
 bles passed, and by I^ew Year, 1871, the threatenings 
 of war and evil rumors had blown away. The strain, 
 however, upon Mr. Taylor and his colleagues had 
 been severe. 
 
 As already mentioned, personal sorrow had come 
 to several members of the Mission at this time. Early 
 in the year 1870, Mr. Taylor's third son, little Sam- 
 uel, the baby of the ^'Lammermuir,'^ became sud- 
 denly worse; he had been ailing all the winter. "On 
 February 4th," Mr. Taylor wrote, "the tender Shep- 
 herd came to us, seeking this little lamb." 
 
 It had already been decided that the children, ex- 
 cept the youngest, should go home to England. Miss 
 
THE NEXT SIX YEARS. 169 
 
 Blatchlej kindly volunteered to take them, and on 
 the 23d of March they started. It was a sore parting 
 for Mrs. Taylor, herself far from strong. 
 
 Hurrying back to Chin-kiang, Mr. and Mrs. Taylor 
 found Mrs. Judd apparently dying. Every means 
 was tried, and weary days and nights were passed in 
 watching. United prayer was also made, and was 
 heard, for the turning came, and the patient re- 
 covered. 
 
 At the commencement of the summer, Mr. and 
 Mrs. Kudland lost a little one. Mrs. Taylor wrote at 
 once, with her unvarying sympathy, to comfort the 
 sorrowing parents. 
 
 The very next month Mrs. Taylor herself was 
 stricken with cholera. This was July 6th. Two 
 days later little J^oel was bom, but within a fort- 
 night he also was called home. Three days later, 
 the early dawn showed clearly the shadow of death 
 ou Mrs. Taylor's face. "She awoke rejoicing in the 
 Lord, and gave me a bright smile,'' writes Mr. Taylor. 
 "I said, ^My darling, do you know that you are 
 dying?' 
 
 "She answered, with a look of surprise, ^Can it be 
 so? I feel no pain, only very weary.' 
 
 "My precious wife thought of my being left alone 
 at this time of trial, having no companion like herself 
 with whom I had so long been wont to bring every 
 difficulty to the Throne of Grace. She said, 'I am 
 so sorry,' and then paused, as if half correcting her- 
 self for venturing to feel sorry. 
 
170 THESE FORTY YEARS. 
 
 "'You are not sorry to go to be with Jesus?' I 
 ] csponded. 
 
 '^ever shall I forget the smile she gave me, as, 
 looking right into my eyes, she said, ^Oh no! it is not 
 that. You know, dearest, that for ten years past 
 there has not been a cloud between my soul and my 
 Saviour. I cannot be sorry to go to Him. But I 
 grieve to leave you alone at this time. Perhaps I 
 ought not to be sorry, though, for He will be with 
 you, and will supply all your need.' 
 
 ******* 
 
 "On July 23d this beloved one also slept in Jesus. 
 I scarcely knew whether she or I was the more 
 blessed, so real, so constant, so satisfying was His 
 presence, so deep my delight in the consciousness that 
 His will was being done, that that will, which was 
 utterly crushing me, was good, was wise, was best. 
 
 "The next two months were months of personal 
 sickness and prostration, and my beloved youngest 
 child, the only one remaining with me, was brought 
 very near the grave. But God in tender pity spared 
 him." 
 
 The year, however, was not without encourage- 
 ments. "He knoweth our frame; He remembereth 
 that we are dust.'' It being necessary for the ladies 
 to be withdrawn from Yang-chau, as Avell as from 
 the other advanced stations, a quiet work was com- 
 menced at Chin-kiang, a work which had been much 
 on Mr. Taylor's heart. 
 
 For this new venture, the establishment of a school 
 
THE NEXT SIX VKAKS. iTl 
 
 for girls, and a special work for women, carried on 
 hy sisters only, more ample accommodation was 
 needed than it was possible to secure, for Chin-kiang 
 had been so seriously damaged by the T'ai-p'ings 
 that there were scarcely houses enough for the re- 
 quirements of the natives, the trade of the port hav- 
 ing largely recovered meanwhile. Evidently the 
 premises would have to be built. Mr. Taylor did 
 not feel it right, however, to appropriate the money 
 from the slender exchequer of the Mission. If he 
 had had enough money of his own, he would gladly 
 have used it in this way. His own needs^ both in 
 China and at home, had been met for years inde- 
 pendently of the Mission. But the small surplus that 
 he had in hand had already been needed for the 
 home-going of the children. "I had not long been 
 asking God about this matter when there reached me, 
 from a relative of my own, a minister of the Gospel 
 in England, a gift of a hundred pounds, with the 
 request that I would take it for my own private use, 
 and not consider it as a contribution to the Mission." 
 Kever before had so large a sum been put into 
 his hands for his own use. But God knew. An ex- 
 cellent site was secured and after weeks of careful 
 negotiation the deed of purchase was signed, stamped 
 with the Yamen seal, and registered. The ground 
 was leveled and prepared with the remainder of the 
 money. At this juncture another letter arrived from 
 home with another gift of a hundred pounds, also 
 for himself. Some furniture and other articles no 
 
172 THESE FORTY YEARS. 
 
 longer needed by Mr. Taylor were sold, and thus the 
 balance of the money for the buildings was obtained. 
 Admirably situated, opposite the delightfully breezy 
 hills that form one of the chief attractions of Chin- 
 kiang, the new school-house was all that was desired. 
 And before the heat of the summer began, Miss 
 Bowyer and Miss Desgraz commenced this new work 
 among the women and children of that populous city 
 and neighborhood. 
 
 During 1871, moreover, peace being reestablished, 
 Mr. Cardwell was able to leave Kiu-kiang and to 
 commence extensive itinerations throughout his prov- 
 ince. During that year and the next, more than a 
 hundred towns, cities and villages were ^dsited, and 
 upwards of fifteen thousand portions of Scripture and 
 tracts put into circulation in districts which had never 
 before heard the message of salvation. 
 
 In the next province, An-huei, Mr. Duncan, not 
 content with his double charge of ISTankin and Gan- 
 king, undertook extensive itinerations in company 
 with Mr. Harvey. It was in the autumn of 1871 
 that these two missionaries carried the good tidings 
 for the first time to the populous port AYuhu, a city 
 of special importance from the fact that all the salt 
 of the province — salt is a government monopoly in 
 China — has to be obtained either from this town or 
 from another two hundred miles to the north, j^ot a 
 few other important cities heard the Gospel message 
 for the first time through this journey of Duncan 
 and Harvey. 
 
THE NEXT SIX YEARS. 178 
 
 At the same time, itinerations were being made in 
 the two older provinces. It was a great cheer, of 
 course, to the missionaries, that it was possible to 
 travel again without danger. Indeed, this year of 
 1871 was the first in which extensive evangelistic 
 journeys, in the regions beyond, were attempted by 
 members of the Mission. The reestablishment of 
 friendly relations with their neighbors in most, if 
 not all, the stations of the Mssion was another great 
 cause for thanksgiving. But most cheering of all was 
 the way in which the native church at Hang-chau 
 began to lay hold of the 'privilege of missionary serv- 
 ice. This movement, moreover, sprang directly out 
 of the troubles of the year before. 
 
 The Christians had seen that their foreign friends 
 were really cast upon God for protection and preser- 
 vation during that trying time, just as they them- 
 selves needed to be, in their times of difficulty and 
 persecution. About this time one of the native 
 helpers, a convert of the early Ning-po days, re- 
 turned from his out-station to confer with Mr. Mc- 
 Carthy, who was still in charge of the Hang-chau 
 work. 
 
 This Mr. Lo had had a checkered experience. 
 Nearly blind and much run down, he had come for 
 medical help to Mr. Taylor soon after his first arrival 
 at ]Sring-po. ISTot only was his sight restored, but 
 through the kindness of the missionaries he came to 
 understand something of the love of God. He was 
 among the first of many who at that time learned to 
 
174 THESE FOETY YEARS. 
 
 read the Romanized colloquial.* Some time after, 
 when Mr. Taylor took charge of Dr. Parker^s hos- 
 pital, young Lo was one of the little group of native 
 Christians who so willingly lent a hand, and his 
 happy shining face did as much as his earnest words 
 to persuade the patients to believe. For some years 
 the young convert stood well, but during the terrihfe 
 times of the T'ai-p'ing rebellion his faith failed. He 
 went back, and strange to say, health and sight both 
 failed again. 
 
 Hearing, later, that Mr. Taylor had returned to 
 China and had commenced medical work at Hang- 
 chau, the sick man trudged wearily the long dusty 
 road, and arrived in a pitiful condition. The same 
 kindly welcome impressed him, and the same means 
 were used and blessed to his physical and spiritual 
 restoration. Again he started on the study of the 
 Testament and studied thoroughly. He would con- 
 fine his attention to one book, until he nearly knew 
 it by heart, before he went on to another, so that 
 what he knew, he hnew, though he often remained 
 surprisingly ignorant of elementary truths in other 
 parts of the Bible. For a time he was employed in 
 household service, but his zeal and consistent life sug- 
 gested that he be allowed a wider sphere for his 
 
 *It is interesting to know that every one of those early 
 students, who mastered the Ning-po Testament, came to 
 know the Lord Jesus as his Saviour. This reminiscence of 
 the result of Bible study in the local dialect, Romanized, is 
 exactly paralleled by the recent experience of Pilkington 
 and his colleagues in Uganda. 
 
THE XEXT SIX YEARS. 17 1 
 
 I . ) 
 
 obvious gifts. First, as a colporteur, he sold tracts 
 and Scriptures, and soon he was doing the work of an 
 evangelist among the border towns of Cheh-kiang 
 and An-huei. 
 
 It was in 1871 that Lo caine to confer wdth Mr. 
 McCarthy, expecting to return to his out-station after 
 a few days' visit. It so happened that at this time 
 Mr. McCarthy was in difficulty; his funds were nearly 
 spent. Indeed, so obvious was the state of the ex- 
 chequer that one of the church members, knowing 
 Mr. McCarthy would not accept a loan, pawned his 
 own clothes, and brought the handsome sum of 
 twenty dollars as a contribution to the work. Lo was 
 not slow to grasp the situation, and feeling that 
 money and men from abroad must necessarily be in- 
 adequate to the immense needs which he was be- 
 ginning to realize, thought and prayed, until a bright 
 idea occurred to him. With Mr. McCarthy's cordial 
 approval he suggested to the little church that they 
 should start a home missionary society. He reminded 
 them that all the privileges they enjoyed, all that 
 made their lives happier and their future infinitely 
 more blessed than their neighbors', they owed to mis- 
 sionaries and to their obedience to our Lord's com- 
 mand. And very earnestly he urged that they, too, 
 should do something to spread the good news they 
 had thus received. He suggested that, month by 
 month, each church member should give as God had 
 prospered him, and that as soon as they had sufficient 
 they should select and send forth their o^vn repre- 
 
176 THESE FORTY YEARS. 
 
 sentatives to preach the Gospel in the neighboring 
 to^\Tis. Five thousand cash was raised at once (then 
 equal to five gold dollars) enough to keep a worker 
 and pay his traveling expenses for a month, and a 
 bright young fellow, named Chang Ling-iong, was 
 selected for the service, which the church entered 
 upon with all the heartiness that Lo and the mis- 
 sionaries could desire. 
 
 This man Chang, trained in that early pioneer 
 effort of the native church at Hang-chau, remains 
 to this day in the work of the ministry. He is the 
 pastor of one of the most successful stations in 
 Kiang-si. 
 
 At Ning-po, the first station of the Mission, the 
 work was now under the charge of a native pastor, 
 Mr. McCarthy paying occasional visits from Hang- 
 chau. The Ning-po pastor was a man named Tsiu,* 
 who had been another of the early converts at Mng- 
 po. At Hang-chau also the native pastor, Wang, was 
 rendering the most invaluable help, as were several 
 of the more active members of the native missionary 
 society. 
 
 Among the women. Miss Faulding continued to 
 work vnth. much acceptance, and to this day the name 
 and memory of "Miss Fu" is cherished in many a 
 mother's heart. 
 
 By midsummer, 1871, less than five years from 
 the commencement of this Hang-chau work, the little 
 
 •Pronounce dzew, rhyming with dew. 
 
THE ]S"EXT SIX TEARS. 177 
 
 church had grown to more than fifty members, and 
 steady work was established in foiir out-stations, 
 ministered to from week to week by the members of 
 the church. 
 
 One of Mr. McCarthy's most important duties all 
 this time had been the training of these native 
 helpers, many of whom worked at their own expense; 
 and from this little band of fellow-laborers, as well 
 as from the boys in Miss Faulding's school, not a 
 few of the present valued pastors and evangelists 
 have come. 
 
 Xative helpers used to go with Mr. McCarthy to 
 the tea shops, where they would take turns with him 
 in speaking to the crowds that gathered round the 
 foreigner. Any who could be trusted were sent 
 further afield to the out-stations and regions beyond, 
 while others were kept with Mr. McCarthy, for a 
 time of Bible study, to learn the tniths they would 
 afterwards teach their neighbors. 
 
 In the early records of the Mission there are many 
 references to the boys' and girls' schools under Miss 
 Faulding's supervision. Many of the pupils became 
 staunch Christians and earnest workers. 
 
 In a letter home we read: "Several have now com- 
 mitted to memory the whole 'New Testament, with 
 the exception of two of the Gospels. 
 
 "The children are all so glad to be here. They 
 look upon it more in the light of a happy home than 
 a school, and I like it to be so." No wonder the 
 pupils turned out well! 
 
 12 
 
IV O THESE FORTY YEARS. 
 
 Hang-chau was not, however, a very healthy city, 
 and her labors early and late, at home and abroad, 
 began to tell upon Miss Faulding's health. In 1871 
 she was ordered home and took the journey with Mr. 
 and Mrs. Meadows. 
 
 Xot long after, Mr. Hudson Taylor, whose health 
 had been failing for some time was obliged to return 
 to England. Happily, however, the journey restored 
 him, and at the commencement of the winter he was 
 united in marriage to Miss Faulding. They settled 
 in North London, near the well-known Mildway Con- 
 ference Hall, at first in lodgings, and then at 6 Pyr- 
 land road, which, with the neighboring houses, con- 
 tinued to be the home center of the Mission for many 
 years. During this visit home two important changes 
 came in the work. 
 
 All these years the entire home department of the 
 Mission had been lovingly and ably carried on by 
 Mr. and Mrs. Berger. They were advanced in years, 
 however, and as the work and the responsibility 
 steadily increased, it became more than they could 
 manage. Very reluctantly, they felt compelled to 
 resign. In doing so, Mr. Berger wrote a loving letter 
 to Mr. Taylor, assuring him of his continued interest 
 in the work. A few lines may be quoted: 
 
 "Failing health on the part of myself and my dear 
 wife, combined with other increasing claims, unmis- 
 takably indicate the necessity for this step. Our 
 sympathies with the work are as warm as ever. . . . 
 
 "My relation with dear Mr. Taylor has been one 
 
THE NKXT SIX YEARS. 179 
 
 of unbroken and harmonious fellowship, to which I 
 shall ever look back with feelings of satisfaction and 
 gratitude. '' 
 
 The work laid down by Mr. and Mrs. Berger, Mr. 
 Taylor undertook. For a time he bore it single- 
 handed, but he was home on furlough and needed 
 rest. A very kind letter came to him about this time 
 from two warm personal friends, Mr. John Challice 
 and Mr. William Hall, reminding Mr. Taylor of the 
 advice of Jethro, "The thing thou doest is not good, 
 thou wilt surely wear away," and offering to render 
 very gladly any help they could. This raised a new 
 question in Mr. Taylor's mind. He had often been 
 helped in China by counsel with the more experienced 
 workers. Why should not a little circle of friends 
 at home, who were agreed in earnest desire for 
 China's enlightenment, and who cordially approved 
 of the main principles of the work, be permanently 
 associated as an advisory council? As a result, after 
 much prayer, such a council was invited. And from 
 this time fonvard, the "London Coimcil" has been 
 one of the mainstays of the China Inland Mission. 
 One of the original members, Mr. Challice, became 
 the Treasurer, and Mr. R. H. Hill the Honorary 
 Secretary, and one of the members of the Mission, 
 Mr. Henry Soltau, became Assistant Secretary. 
 
 Within a year, in the fall of 1872, we find Mr. 
 Taylor returning to China, leaving the entire home 
 department of the work to the new council, and it 
 was easy to understand his gratitude to God and to 
 
180 THESE FORTY YEARS. 
 
 His servants who had thus undertaken this most im- 
 portant ministry. 
 
 It need hardly be said that Mr. and Mrs. Taylor 
 received a very cordial welcome in China. On ar- 
 rival there they proceeded to Hang-chan, and noted, 
 with great satisfaction and thanksgiving, the changes 
 six years had wrought, from the time they settled 
 there, in 1866. Then Mng-po and three neighboring 
 cities were manned by seven workers. Now sixteen 
 stations in four provinces were occupied by thirty 
 missionaries. 
 
 New Year's eve was spent, as usual, in fasting and 
 waiting upon God, praying especially that the new 
 year, 1873, might be one of definite progress toward 
 the interior, those nine inland provinces that were 
 still without a messenger for Christ. The progress 
 they prayed for, undeterred by the fact that 1872 
 had been a year of financial straitness, was granted 
 graciously. The number of stations and out-stations 
 was nearly doubled, eleven new stations and out-sta- 
 tions being opened within the year. But they were 
 all located in four provinces, in which the work had 
 been established for some time. Among the new 
 stations was Shanghai, which has ever since been the 
 business center of the Mission, an obviously necessary 
 arrangement which could be no longer overlooked. 
 Funds continued low, however. The matter was 
 therefore brought before the Lord again at the close 
 of 1873, and, unknown to them, the answer, both in 
 men aud money, was already on the way. 
 
THE NEXT SIX YEATfS. 181 
 
 For some time tlie Council in London had been 
 wishing to send out reinforcements, and two, indeed, 
 had gone; but at the close of the year they were much 
 cast on God for more men and larger means. He 
 sent both. 
 
 In the previous year, 1872, Dr. and Mrs. Grattan 
 Guinness had commenced, in the east end of London, 
 that training institution for missionaries wdiicli has 
 since become so widely known, and from which over 
 a thousand missionaries have gone forth into almost 
 every missionary country in the world. Two of the 
 very first to leave this consecrated home were Henry 
 Taylor and Frederick Bailer, who offered themselves 
 for China. They were heartily recommended by Dr. 
 Guinness, and were accepted with all confidence for 
 the foTAvard movement which was so much on the 
 hearts of all. 
 
 About this time, also, Mr. and Mrs. Judd, whose 
 brief furlough was over, were handed a considerable 
 sum of money for new^ workers and new work. Other 
 remarkable answers to prayer continued to encourage 
 the faith of Mr. Taylor and his fellow-miJ^sionaries. 
 One of these, received early in December, 1873, said: 
 "In two months' time I hope to place in the hands 
 of your council of arrangement the sum of eight hun- 
 dred pounds for the further expansion of the inland 
 China work. Please remember — for fresh prov- 
 inces." 
 
 "Keed I say," Mr. Taylor adds, ^'that when a copy 
 
182 THESE FOPvTY YEARS. 
 
 of this letter reached me in China it caused my heart 
 to sing for joy?" 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Judd went forward to Wu-ch'ang, 
 the capital of Ilii-peh, and there established what 
 they trusted would become the basis for the new 
 western work of the China Inland Mission. 'Not long 
 after, another sum of three thousand pounds was 
 given for work in western China by donors who 
 Avished their names withheld. 
 
 As is well known, Wu-ch'ang is the chief govern- 
 ing city of central China, and is situated at the head 
 of the more na^dgable lower Yang-tse, just opposite 
 Han-kow, that great commercial metropolis to and 
 from which large ocean-going steamers carry mer- 
 chandise. In these two cities and the adjacent Han- 
 yang, three cities in one, there is a total population 
 of not less than two millions. 
 
 AYu-ch'ang is not merely the capital of Hu-peh and 
 residence of the governor, but also the seat of the 
 viceroy of Hu-peh and Hu-nan. 
 
 Time fails to tell of the rapid development during 
 these years of the churches in the older stations, ex- 
 cept in the briefest possible manner. 
 
 AVen-chau, the southernmost station in Cheh-kiang, 
 which was opened, it will be remembered, in 1867, 
 proved an exceptionally difficult place. But the thing 
 that tells in China is hard work and keeping at it. 
 George Stott, and from 1870 onwards Mrs. Stott, 
 were the right kind of people for that post. Mr. Stott 
 had said, in Scotland, ''1 had not thought of nmning 
 
THE NEXT SIX YEARS. 183 
 
 away," and he was put to the test. The city was 
 placarded, the mob gathered, burst into the house, 
 and asked him why he did not go. "We have come 
 to turn you out," they said. "Why don't you run 
 away?" 
 
 Mr. Stott looked them squarely in the faces, cour- 
 ageous because he knew the Lord was Avith him, and 
 had sent him to Wen-chau. "Run away!" he said. 
 "How in the world do you expect a man with one leg 
 to run away?" 
 
 The crowd began to smile. A Chinese crowd is 
 generally won if it can be made to laugh. It proved 
 so in this case. 
 
 They said, "He is harmless, let him alone," and 
 left. 
 
 Mr. Stott is no longer with us. On Easter Sunday, 
 1889, he was called to his reward. 
 
 "This is what we live for," he wrote in one of his 
 letters home, "what we pray and hope for — to lead 
 souls to Christ. If we fail in this, our lives are a 
 failure; if successful here, then our lives are a suc- 
 cess. We want to lay up riches for eternity and to 
 put jewels in the Saviour's crown." 
 
 Once, in the early days, Mr. Stott was for three 
 weeks entirely without money. A merchant, with 
 whom he had done business, called upon him. 
 
 ^^Ir. Stott, how is it that you have not been in to 
 order rice of late? Yours must be nearly finished." 
 
 "The rice is almost come to an end," he answered, 
 "but I cannot order more just now." 
 
18-i THESE FORTY YEARS. 
 
 "Why not?'' queried liis friend, insistently. 
 
 "Well, if you must know, simply because I have 
 no money to pay for it." 
 
 Soon after the man sent, as a gift, two coolie loads 
 of rice and three thousand cash (about three dollars 
 gold). When this was finished, the same kind friend 
 again supplied the need. 
 
 "I certainly had some of the nearest approaches 
 to God during those twenty-one days that I have evev 
 experienced," wrote Mr. Stott. 
 
 Among the early converts was a priest, a Buddhist 
 priest. '*A very unlikely inquirer," thought the 
 native assistant when first they met; but he treated 
 him courteously, and the priest came again. 
 
 ^'I want to buy some more books," he said gravely. 
 "I, too, believe in Chiist." 
 
 And so it proved. Abandoning his profession and 
 his living in the idol temple, he became a private 
 citizen, as the Chinese express it, supporting himself 
 on a farm in his native place. 
 
 Ueference has already been made to Mr. Stott's 
 boys' school which proved of innnense help, like that 
 at Hang-chau, in training Christians for the future 
 work. 
 
 About the time to which w^e have now come, 1874, 
 an out-station was opened at P'ing-yang (locally pro- 
 nounced Bing-yae). Rapidly the work has growm 
 there since. It is now a large and flourishing inde- 
 pendent station. At the present time (1902) there 
 is scarcely a station of the China Inland Mission 
 
THE NEXT SIX YEAKS. 185 
 
 which gives more cause for thankf uhiess to God than 
 this district of Wen-chaii. Quite a nuniLer of un- 
 paid helpers are regularly engaged every Sunday in 
 many of the surrounding towns and villages. The 
 church members number over a thousand, including 
 the whole district, with a number of inquirers on 
 probation, waiting for admission to the church. 
 
 Mrs. Stott's work among the women of that station 
 has been most encouraging, though during the first 
 seven years but one woman had come to know the 
 Lord. Perseverance carried her through, until she 
 was able to say of three of the believers, the outcome 
 of cottage meetings of only twos and threes, "They 
 were the finest Christian women I have known any- 
 where, a perfect joy to me." 
 
 Before we turn from this interesting station, one 
 other little incident, a sample of many similar wild 
 stories circulated against the missionaries, must be 
 told: One Sunday afternoon Mr. Stott was preach- 
 ing to a considerable audience, and had occasion to 
 look once or twice at his watch. One of the men 
 asked his neighbor anxiously: 
 
 "What is that?" 
 
 "That? Don't you know what that is? It is a hocus- 
 pocus instrument by which he can tell just how many 
 people are being deceived by his foolish talk." 
 
 But nothing discouraged George Stott. He kept 
 right on; and now, though he is gone, his work still 
 prospers. 
 
186 THESE FORTY YEARS. 
 
 Xext, to the north, is the miportant city of T'ai- 
 chau, now one of the most important missionary sta- 
 tions in China, one in which converts have been ad- 
 mitted to fellowship, literally, by hundreds. Mr. and 
 Mrs. Eudland have been in charge of the work since 
 1870, when there was a promising little church of six 
 or seven members, until now the membership in that 
 district numbers well over two thousand. Many in- 
 teresting stories of that delightful station might be 
 told if space permitted. One brief incident must 
 suffice. 
 
 One of the most valuable helpers at that center 
 was a man named Yi-chun. He was seated in the 
 street chapel one day, not exactly casting the net for 
 fish, but rather angling. A man came in, bought 
 several books, and seemed interested. 
 
 "You were not, then, always a sing-Yie-su-go- 
 nying?" (Believer-in- Jesus.) 
 
 "Xo,'' answered Yi-chun, naming the religious or- 
 der to which he once belonged. 
 
 "Strange ! I am also an unworthy member of that 
 sect," exclaimed the guest. 
 
 And Yi-chun gave him the reasons why he had 
 abandoned his old faith for the new, and told of the 
 peace he now enjoyed in believing. 
 
 "This is just what I want," the other man replied. 
 And before long he, too, was an out-and-out believer, 
 working earnestly among his neighbors in the coun- 
 tiy. Several of these believed and came into the city 
 to learn more perfectly the way of life. At last a 
 
THE NEXT SIX YEARS. 187 
 
 deputation came, begging for a teacher to go and live 
 among them. 
 
 "We will provide a chapel/' they said, "and a 
 preacher's house." In fact, a house had already been 
 bought and was now placed at the disposal of the 
 Mission. Yi-chun visited this place, Dien-tsi, which 
 soon became an important center of aggressive work. 
 It is now an active, energetic church. 
 
 One important out-station from T'ai-chau was 
 opened by Mr. Taylor himself, or, perhaps, rather 
 was opened at the time of his visit. This was the 
 important city of T'ai-p'ing, where from the first the 
 work proved promising. One of the new members 
 there was called away from home, and before his 
 return his wife was taken seriously ill. A native 
 doctor had been consulted, and had ordered idol wor- 
 ship, which was just in full swing when the husband 
 returned. 
 
 "Take these things away," he said indignantly. 
 "Stop the ceremony at once. I will not have such 
 folly in my house." 
 
 Curses and abuse were showered upon him, but he 
 cared for none of these things. 
 
 "I will pray to the true God, who can and will 
 restore my wife." And He did. The impression 
 thus produced resulted in no small increase of interest 
 in that district. 
 
 "Writing comparatively recently of this work in 
 Cheh-kiang, Mr. Meadow^s for many years superin- 
 tendent of the province, concludes : 
 
188 THESE FORTY YKARS. 
 
 "The gTOwth of tlie converts is most healthy. The 
 number and efficiency of our unpaid pastors and 
 teachers never increased more rapidly. The progress 
 of the schools was never so encouraging, and evan- 
 gelistic work never of greater extent in Cheh-kiang 
 than it has been this year." 
 
 Three or four days' journey to the north of T'ai- 
 chau stands the city of Fung-hua, the first station 
 opened from Ning-po in the early sixties. Here, also, 
 one of the fii*st native workers was a convert of the 
 early days when Mr. Taylor and Mr. Jones were 
 associated in the Mng-po work. His name was Fong. 
 He, too, mth Wang, of Hang-chau, was one of the 
 volunteer helpers in the hospital in 1859. Young 
 Fong had been a basket maker, and strolled into the 
 chapel one day with some companions to hear the 
 strange new doctrine. From the first, his interest 
 in what he heard could not be hid. 
 
 ''You will soon be eating the foreign devils' 
 religion,'' his neighbors warned him, but to no pur- 
 pose. Before long he took a bold stand as a believer, 
 and at once went to his employer to ask a favor. He 
 wanted to be allowed to work so hard that he would 
 do seven days' work in six, and then to keep the 
 Sabbatli. His employer, seeing an advantage, said: 
 
 "Well, yes; but you would lose a day's wages." 
 
 Fong knew this, and also that he Avould lose a 
 day's rice and Avould have to spend Saturday's wages 
 in buying Sunday's food. It meant two-sevenths of 
 his wages; but the bargain was made, and kept, for 
 
THE NEXT SIX YEARS. 180 
 
 a time. One day the basket maker was sent for by 
 some wealthy customers. He waited in the outer hall 
 until the ladies, in their shimmering silks and satins, 
 came out to see him. They explained what they 
 wanted: a kind of basket to hold incense. 
 
 ^Tei neng keo" (I cannot), Fong replied, and ex- 
 plained that he was now a Christian, and not only did 
 not believe in idols, but would have nothing to do 
 with their worship. 
 
 The astonishment and curiosity of the ladies were 
 considerably aroused, and they listened for a while, 
 as the young believer preached with all his heart the 
 glad tidings of salvation. 
 
 "Strange infatuation!" they said to themselves, and 
 tripped lightly away on their tiny feet. 
 
 An artisan whom Fong had not noticed, a man who 
 had been employed in painting the handsome wood- 
 work, came forward and said: 
 
 "What was that you were saying to the ladies? I 
 heard it, but it was so good I want to hear it all 
 again." 
 
 Very gladly did the basket maker repeat the good, 
 glad story, so new to him. The painter's name was 
 Wang Lae-djun, and he became an earnest, whole- 
 hearted believer from the first. He worked among 
 his fellow-countrymen, became a native assistant in 
 the hospital, and in course of time was ordained 
 pastor of the little Hang-chau church. 
 
 But Font's trials were not over. When the busy 
 
190 THESE FORTY YEARS. 
 
 season came around, his master wanted him to work 
 Sundays. 
 
 ^^ut we agreed," the man began to reply. 
 
 "isTever mind what we agreed. I have a great deal 
 of work on hand, and if you mil not come to-morrow 
 you need " not come again at all. You are dis- 
 missed.'^ 
 
 This was a heavy blow, but Fong knew whom he 
 had believed, and he set to work to serve Him with 
 all his heart. After a happy Sunday he tried to ob- 
 tain work on Monday morning. But no one would 
 have him. He found that his master had gone around 
 to the whole "hang" or guild of basket makers, and 
 had obtained a promise that if his man applied for 
 work on Monday they would decline his services. So 
 Fong improved his leisure by preaching in the tea 
 shops. An old man listened with marked interest. 
 They got into conversation, and finally Fong brought 
 him to the "Gospel Hall" to Mr. Taylor. 
 
 "The devil has prevented my getting work to-day 
 because I would not work on Sunday, so I have been 
 working for Jesus instead, and here is a man I have 
 won for Him." And Fong introduced Wang, of 
 Ho-si. 
 
 "If I can't get work to-morrow, I shall tiy to win 
 another soul for the Master." But he did get work. 
 The first man he applied to was only too glad to 
 engage him, for he knew he was dependable and a 
 good worker. 
 
 "I promised your old master I would not take you 
 
THE NEXT SIX YEABS. 191 
 
 on if jou came on Monday, but I said nothing about 
 Tuesday!'' 
 
 So Fong was back at work. Meanwhile, and for a 
 good many days to come, Mr. Taylor was occupied 
 with old Wang, of Ho-si. He had a strange tale to 
 tell. Some months before, he said, he had been lying 
 at the point of death, when a voice called. Too weak 
 to walk unaided, he rose from his bed, and steadying 
 himself by the walls and furniture, crept around to 
 the door and opened it, but there was no one there. 
 A little later the same voice called his name, and 
 again with difficulty he made his way to the door. 
 Still there was no one, and when a third time the 
 same call came, he covered his head and trembled, 
 thinking it must surely be the angel of death! The 
 voice, however, went on quietly to direct him to make 
 an infusion of a well-known herb, which would cer- 
 tainly cure him. Then he was to go into the city, 
 where he would hear a new doctrine which he must 
 believe. His people came home and prepared the 
 medicine; he speedily recovered, and came into the 
 city, cutting grass for a living and selling it where 
 he could. Some months passed, and one day, his 
 grass sold, he went into a tea shop to rest. Here he 
 met Fong, and heard the "new religion," which he 
 was convinced was the one he had been told to be- 
 lieve. 
 
 "Wang became an earnest and most indefatigable 
 evangelist in his own district of Ho-si, where a bright 
 little church sprang up, an out-station of Fung-hua. 
 
192 THESE FORTY TEARS. 
 
 Witliin a radius of ten miles from that old fanner's 
 home, Mr. Taylor tells, there was scarcely an adult 
 who had not heard the Gospel from his lips! 
 
 At Ning-hai, another Fung-hua out-station, Mr. 
 and Mrs. Crombie were greatly encouraged by the 
 steady growth of the church, and by the keen in- 
 terest the Christians took in the work of God else- 
 where. On one occasion, when Mr. Taylor was visit- 
 ing the district, they made many inquiries about the 
 work at other stations, about which they were evi- 
 dently well infonned, and then said: 
 
 "How are Mr. Mu and Mr. Sang getting on? Have 
 you any recent news of themf' 
 
 "Who can Mr. Mu and Mr. Sang be?" thought Mr. 
 Taylor. "We have no workers of those names." 
 
 But they had heard something of Moody and 
 Sankey, and were delighted to hear the further news 
 Mr. Taylor gave them. 
 
 "Ah," said one, "the opium traffic will soon be 
 stopped if so many people are being converted in 
 England." 
 
 Would to Gwl that there were more prospect of 
 that hope being realized. 
 
 * ^5- -H- -K- * * -x- 
 
 The establishment of a new center at Wu-ch'ang, 
 to be the basis of a forward movement into the more 
 remote interior, is the more remarkable, from the 
 fact that this was a time of exceptional difficulty in 
 the matter of funds. 
 
 It required the utmost economy to carry on the 
 
THE NEXT SIX YEARS. 193 
 
 work and keep expenses down to five hundred dollars 
 a week, for, including native helpers, there were 
 more than a hundred workers, besides missionaries' 
 children, and the children in the schools another 
 seventy. There were fifty houses to keep in repair, 
 and rent to pay for most. There were the expenses 
 of traveling between the stations and of evangelistic 
 tours, besides the inevitable and costly furlough for 
 invalid workers. 
 
 As a matter of fact, the first half of this year, 
 1874, was probably one of as great difficulty in this 
 respect as has ever come to the Mission. It may be 
 an encouragement to faith to give some details. Dur- 
 ing the first three months of the year, instead of the 
 income averaging ^ve hundred dollars a week, it was 
 only about half that sum; but, happily, though fimds 
 had been low the previous year also, as we have 
 already seen, there had been a little improvement 
 toward the close, which left small balances on hand 
 at most of the stations. But for this, the workers 
 could not possibly have managed. But this also was 
 of the Lord's arranging. At the end of the first 
 quarter, naturally, funds were low at all the stations, 
 and the balances in hand on January 1st were re- 
 duced to near the vanishing point. On the first of 
 April there were but twenty-five dollars in the gen- 
 eral exchequer. On the '7th of April Mr. Taylor 
 reached Shanghai from a journey, hoping to find 
 considerable remittances from home. 
 
 It may be mentioned that at this time the return 
 
 18 " 
 
194 THESE FORTY YEARS. 
 
 to England of Mr. and Mrs. Stevenson and their 
 family was an imperative necessity. Mrs. Steven- 
 son's life depended upon it; but there were no funds 
 available. Several of the workers united in prayer, 
 and gifts began to come in one after another from 
 various members of the Mission. One sent a hundred 
 dollars; another, a little later, two hundred; a third, 
 two hundred and twenty; three sent ten dollars, and 
 another fifty. Other small gifts provided for the 
 necessary expenditure by the way, and thus, with an 
 empty exchequer, this grave need was met. 
 
 Letters to the home council are, of course, very 
 rarely published, but part of a letter from Mr. Taylor 
 will give, better than anything else, perhaps, an in- 
 sight into the aifairs of the Mission. 
 
 "After proving God's faithfulness for many years, 
 I can testify that times of want have ever been times 
 of special blessing, or have led to them. ISTever has 
 the work entailed more real trial, or so much exercise 
 of faith, as recently. The sickness of our beloved 
 sister. Miss Blatchley, the needs of my dear children, 
 the state of our Mission funds, the changes required 
 to allow of some going home, of others coming out, 
 and of the further extension of the work, and many 
 other things not easily expressed in writing, would 
 be crushing anxieties if we were to bear them. But 
 the Lord bears us, and them too, and makes our 
 hearts so very glad in Himself alone — not in Him- 
 self plus a bank balance — tliat I have never known 
 greater freedom from anxiety and care. 
 
THE NEXT SIX YEARS. 195 
 
 "The other week, when I reached Shanghai (on 
 April 7th), we were in great and immediate need . . . 
 I cast the burden on the Lord, ^ext morning, when 
 awaking, He gave me the word — "I know their sor- 
 rows, and I am come down to deliver them," and 
 before 6 A. M. I was as sure that help was at hand 
 as when, at noon, I received a letter containing more 
 than £300. N"ow our need is again great and urgent, 
 but God is greater and more near, and all will be 
 well. Oh! the joy of knowing the living God! I 
 am but His agent." 
 
 In various ways "the most urgent necessities of 
 May were met, leaving us all the promises of God 
 to meet the expenses of June, and nothing else be- 
 sides. 
 
 "I asked urgent prayer of some of the brethren 
 for £500 to cover the manifest and unavoidable out- 
 lay of that month. Perhaps never in the history of 
 the Mission have we all been so low together. 
 
 ^Trom the Hon. Secretaries at home I received 
 during the month a sum of over £500, and in China, 
 in ways I cannot now detail, $290.75 besides." 
 
 During this time of financial difficulty Mr. Taylor's 
 heart was often cheered by hearty and encouraging 
 words from his fellow-missionaries, which it would 
 take too long to quote in detail. 
 
 One brief letter, acknowledging a remittance re- 
 ceived on the 16th of June, says: "My last cash was 
 spent yesterday morning, and I was waiting on our 
 Heavenly Father to-day for money." 
 
196 THESE FORTY YEARS. 
 
 Another acknowledgment adds, "For the first time 
 I was unable to send for the usual supply of rice for 
 my school children, but neither they nor we have 
 lacked one single meal." 
 
 From another station word was received that on 
 June 12th, when the remittance came, they had not a 
 single dollar left. "How gracious of the Lord," they 
 added, "to hear our united cry!" 
 
 All this was severe testing, of course, but God 
 makes no mistakes. A still more serious difficulty 
 presented itself just at this time in the serious illness 
 of ]\[iss Blatchley. 
 
 From the fall of 1872, when Mr. Taylor left for 
 China, till the early summer of 1874, she had been 
 practical factotum for the Mission at home. It is 
 difficult now to realize how important her life had 
 become to the Mission. In those earlier days there 
 were no clerks, no office, no editorial secretary. 
 iSTo one but Miss Blatchley. And she was just the 
 one. Talented, spiritual, deeply consecrated, and full 
 of love to the Lord and to His service. Miss Blatchley 
 seemed indispensable to the work, and now she was 
 seriously and increasingly prostrated. 
 
 There was no one to fill the gap, so Mr. Taylor 
 himself hurriedly returned from China. As long as 
 possible Miss Blatchley worked on, carrying the 
 heavy correspondence, receiving and acknowledging 
 donations, welcoming and encouraging candidates. 
 
THE NEXT SIX YEARS. 
 
 197 
 
 editing the ''Occasional Paper," addressing wrappers 
 and sending it ont — all those thousand and one things 
 that devolve upon the home department of a Mission. 
 
 The writer and his brothers and sister will never 
 forget the debt which they, personally, owe to this 
 kind friend, who had mothered them during the long 
 absence of Mr. and Mrs. Taylor in China, in addition 
 to all her other duties. It was with great satisfaction 
 that yhe looked forward to the speedy return of Mr. 
 and Mrs. Taylor. 
 
 "Tliey Avill be here in a few weeks," she said, and 
 thanked God. 
 
 But before they could arrive, on the 25th of July, 
 Miss Elatchley received her home call, and was wel- 
 comed to her reward by the Master she loved and 
 served so well. 
 
 The friends of the Mission at home, and especially 
 the council and secretaries, who had done all they 
 could to lighten Miss Blatchley's load, very gladly 
 welcomed home Mr. and Mrs. Hudson Taylor. But 
 trouble came upon trouble. Mr. Taylor himself had 
 had a serious fall on a Yang-tse river steamer shortly 
 before leaving China, and the symptoms of concus- 
 sion of the spine developed, as they frequently do, 
 more markedly as the months went by. Braced up, 
 as usual, by the voyage, Mr. Taylor was able to hold 
 en for a few weeks, but the many responsibilities at 
 home did not facilitate recuperation, and before long 
 we find him a complete invalid, partially paralyzed, 
 and wholly unable to leave his couch. What would 
 
198 THESE FORTY YEAES. 
 
 become of the Mission now? Funds had long been 
 low, the devoted Miss Blatchley was gone, and now 
 Mr. Taylor himself was a helpless invalid, unable 
 even to put pen to paper! 
 
 Ten or twenty letters would come daily, and all 
 the varied responsibilities of the home branch of the 
 work. About this time Mrs. Taylor also was laid 
 aside for awhile. Things looked black, indeed, for 
 the China Inland Mission. 
 
 But are not such crises the very times when the 
 Lord delights to cheer His servants by gracious and 
 refreshing answers to prayer? 
 
 A friend would call on Mr. Taylor. "Can I help 
 you by writing an hour or two this morning?" he 
 would ask. 
 
 'TTes, indeed," was the grateful reply. "See what 
 a number of letters have come in!" 
 
 If this kind friend could not stay long enough to 
 finish, some one else would be sure to call in later 
 in the day. 
 
 "One of the happiest times of my life," Mr. Hud- 
 son Taylor wrote later, "was that period of enforced 
 inactivity, when I could do nothing but rejoice in the 
 Lord and wait patiently on Him, and see Him every 
 day meeting all our needs; and never, before or 
 since that time, was my correspondence so well kept 
 in hand and answered up to date." 
 
 God had surely a purpose in thus caring for the 
 needs of the little Mission. Two hundred millions 
 in inland Cliina were still beyond the reach of the 
 
KIANQ 
 »AM4(0W ; Z. ) "••X, ^ -- 
 
 KlANa-Sl 
 
 FUH-KIEN 
 
 KO/MQ-CHAU 
 
 THE NINE STILL UNOCCUPIED PROVINCES." 
 
THE NEXT SIX YEARS. 199 
 
 Gospel. He had much work yet for the China Inland 
 Mission to do. 
 
 And so, as the months flew by, not only correspon- 
 dence was answered in Mr. Taylor's room, important 
 consultations took place, and prayer meetings were 
 held. And, equally important, Mr. Taylor himseif 
 had time those long nights to ponder and pray over 
 (liina's needs. The outcome was that, toward the 
 end of the year, it was urgently laid on his heart 
 that the Mission, short of funds though it had been, 
 and deeply tried in other ways, ought to go definitely 
 forward. A short article was prepared, and published 
 in several of the leading religious papers, asking 
 prayer that eighteen young men should be raised up 
 to go, two and two, into the nine still unoccupied 
 provinces of China. 
 
 A bold request, indeed! Even if they were given, 
 would they be able to go inland? But this and many 
 other questions were answered by remembering the 
 command of the Master to give the Gospel to every 
 creature in every land. 
 
 "I have the fullest hope," wrote Mr. Hudson 
 Taylor about this time, "that God will enable us 
 during this new year, 1875, to commence work in at 
 least two or three of these unoccupied provinces. 
 
 "The difficulties, it is true, can scarcely be exag- 
 gerated, but ^the people that do know their God shall 
 be strong and do exploits.' Will not our friends join 
 us in asking for such men, and such only, as do know 
 their God, to go to these teeming millions?" 
 
200 THESE FORTY YEARS. 
 
 This hope and prayer, with which the old year 
 ended, was remarkably fulfilled in 1875. In the 
 spring of the year J. W. Stevenson and Henry 
 Soltau volunteered for, and went to work in, the far 
 west, on the Burmese frontier. The former had for 
 years been thinking and praying about this step and 
 the possibility of reaching the people of western 
 Chijia by the shorter and easier route through Bur- 
 mah. 
 
 About a month later Henry Taylor and Chang, a 
 native Christian, started out on a first visit to Ho-nan, 
 the central province in the northern half of China. 
 And in the early simimer Mr. Judd left Wu-ch'ang 
 for a pioneer journey into Hu-nan, immediately 
 southwest; and thus, for the first time, the Gospel 
 Avas taken to these two most bitterly anti-foreign 
 provinces in China. 
 
 A few details about these three journeys — to Bur- 
 mah, to Ho-nan and to Hu-nan — will not be without 
 interest. 
 
 Stevenson and Soltau started for Burmah about 
 March, 1875. On their arrival they found it im- 
 possible to proceed to Bhamo, on the Chinese fron- 
 tier, their prospective destination. At that time 
 upi)er Burmah Avas still an independent kingdom, 
 under the sway of a despotic Prince, whose relations 
 with the Indian government were anything but 
 friendly. 
 
 TJiey at once entered upon work, however, among 
 both Chinese and Burmese, at Kangoon and Moul- 
 
THE ^'EXT SIX YEAK«. 201 
 
 mein, as well as holding evangelistic meetings for 
 the English-speaking residents. And in the fall the 
 way opened for them to go on to Mandalay, the cap- 
 ital of upper Burmah, where they hoped to obtain an 
 audience with the King. An experienced inissionary, 
 Mr. Kose, of the Baptist Board, kindly accompanied 
 them, and on their arrival at the capital a petition in 
 Burmese, expressing their purpose and desires, was 
 handed in, to be presented to his Majesty. Their 
 prayers on the journey up the Irrawaddy were an- 
 swered, and they were granted an audience with- 
 out delay. On their arrival at the palace they were 
 conducted to the council chamber, a lofty wooden 
 room with a handsome painted roof, l^early the 
 whole length of one side of the room was a raised 
 platform, covered by a handsome Brussels carpet. 
 In the center of this was a crimson velvet rug, beau- 
 tifully embroidered, a crimson cushion and a pair of 
 elegant binoculars. 
 
 "We crouched upon the floor some distance from 
 the platform. ISTear us were a dozen or more 
 men with swords, laid in gilded sheaths, on the 
 floor." 
 
 Before long the King "entered the room by a mas- 
 sive carved and gilded door, walked to the center of 
 the platform, and lay down on the velvet rug, resting 
 his arm on the crimson cushion. His attendants came 
 in by the side door, and prostrated themselves." So 
 did the ministers. 
 
 "We could not have been more than eighteen or 
 
202 THESE FORTY YEARS. 
 
 twenty feet from him, but he took up his binoculars 
 and leisurely surveyed us for some time." 
 
 After a short conversation he made us all promise 
 that we would write to our different countries, and 
 ask that a teacher might be sent to live in Mandalay, 
 undertaking himself to support him and give him 
 house and schools. 
 
 "Up there in Bhamo, among those wild people, it 
 is unsafe. They are not to be trusted, but if things 
 are unfavorable, come back, and I will receive you." 
 
 "Will you graciously grant us some land at 
 Ehamo?" 
 
 "Yes, the ministers shall arrange all that for you." 
 
 "To our surprise, three handsome little betel boxes 
 and three Bunnese bags, containing one hundred 
 rupees each, were brought on wooden trays and laid 
 before us. We thanked the King for these presents, 
 and said how unlocked for was this kindness. He 
 seemed pleased by our surprise and gratification. 
 ^When you go among those wild people, act with 
 caution and prudence,' he said, as he rose to leave." 
 
 The next day an official document was handed 
 them, containing instructions to the governor of 
 Bhamo that they were to be permitted to have any 
 eite they pleased for their mission work. And so, 
 rejoicingly, they went on their way. 
 
 The governor proved troublesome, and instead of 
 the land selected, gave them an unhealthy and in- 
 convenient site. There was nothing to be done, how- 
 ever; so they made it a matter of earnest prayer that 
 
THE NEXT SIX YEARS. 203 
 
 the Lord would either change the governor's heart, 
 or at least prevent him from hindering the work. 
 About this time he was suddenly removed from office, 
 and his successor proved most friendly, and gave the 
 land they had selected. 
 
 In addition to their evangelistic work, the two mis- 
 sionaries did what they could, medically, to relieve 
 the sufferings of the people. Serious epidemics of 
 "fever, small-pox and measles'' carried off hundreds. 
 Though neither was a physician, the fame of their 
 medical work spread so rapidly that before long they 
 not only had friends among the Burmese and Chinese 
 residents, but also among the wild hill tribes, the 
 Shans and Kah-chens of the border country, and even 
 further over, into the Chinese province of Yun-nan 
 itself. 
 
 Very gladly they welcomed reinforcements at the 
 beginning of 1876, the more so that one of them. 
 Dr. Harvey, was a medical man. In the fall of this 
 year one of the hill chieftains sent an urgent letter 
 to the missionaries, requesting them to visit a sick 
 relative. He sent a pony and an escort of servants, 
 and made grateful reference to kindness that he him- 
 self had received at Bhamo some time before. Won- 
 dering whether at last the opportunity had come to 
 enter the needy province of Yun-nan, preparations 
 were speedily made for the journey. Just as they 
 were about to start, alas, the British consul wrote 
 that he had strict orders not to permit their leaving 
 the city. 
 
204 THESE FOKTY YEAIvS. 
 
 "The circumstances are peculiar, however," he 
 added. ^'You are specially invited, and are going to 
 take medicine and visit a sick person. If, therefore, 
 you will give me a written document, signed, guar- 
 anteeing that you will not cross over into China, I 
 will allow you to go." 
 
 We can easily imagine their disappointment. 
 "Though we have been thus hindered, the Word of 
 the Lord is not bound; and, thank God, an entrance 
 to Yun-nan has been made by means of the printed 
 page. Chinamen from the east come to Bhamo in 
 crowds, and they have freely taken back the Scrip- 
 tures." 
 
 Six weeks were spent in the mountaineer's home, 
 and they were everywhere treated with great hospi- 
 tality and kindness. Indeed, the people begged them 
 to remain for good and teach them the Gospel. But 
 they could not stay. It was very tantalizing to be 
 so near to China. A descent of two or three hours 
 would have brought them to Yun-nan. From where 
 they stood one day, they looked out over "the noble 
 plain of Long-ch'uan, studded with trees and well 
 watered," but their way was barred. 
 
 A month after these pioneers had left for Buraiah, 
 in April, 1875, Henry Taylor and his companion, 
 Chang, started from Han-kow northward on the first 
 missionary tour in Ilo-nan. They visited a number 
 of important towns and cities, and met with not a few 
 who seemed truly interested, especially at Ru-ning 
 Pu were tliey cordially received. They put up at an 
 
THE NEXT SIX YEARS. 205 
 
 inn outside the gates of the city, and among those 
 who repeatedly "visited the missionaries were four, 
 of whose conversion they had good hope, especially 
 an old vegetarian, who had been seeking for years 
 such truth as they had preached, which satisfied, he 
 said, the deep longings of his soul. 
 
 Pointing to his idols, the old man said: "These I 
 have held to and worshipped because I had nothing 
 better. !N"ow I have found Jesus, and I let them go. 
 This doctrine I know to be a true one. My conscience 
 tells me it is." 
 
 Yery glad, indeed, he was to hear that the mis- 
 sionaries hoped to return in the fall. 
 
 "Do come and open a house in our city,'' he urged. 
 There are many here who, like me, are seeking the 
 true light.'' 
 
 When the missionaries returned, in the autumn, 
 old Hu was gone. He was with the Saviour he had 
 welcomed so eagerly. How thankful the missionaries 
 were they had come when they did! 
 
 Of the four about whom they had been hopeful, 
 in the spring, one had gone elsewhere ; two, Mu and 
 T'ang, remained, and there seemed no doubt of their 
 conversion. They wished to be baptized, but Henry 
 Taylor, expecting soon to come again, thought it 
 wiser for them to wait and learn more before being 
 received into the church. 
 
 On this journey they made some stay at Chau- 
 kia-k'eo (Jo-ja-ko), which is now the principal station 
 in the province, but then had never heard the Gospel. 
 
206 THESE FOETY YEARS. 
 
 This being the most populous center between Han- 
 kow and Pekin, thej stayed for eight days before 
 going further north to the provincial capital, K'ai- 
 fung. The capital was then, as now, strongly anti- 
 foreign, owing to serious trouble with the Roman 
 Catholics some years before. This city of K'ai-fung 
 has a special interest from being the home of a little 
 colony of about a hundred and fifty Jews, who have 
 lived there for centuries^ and who had been visited 
 two years before by three Europeans from Peldn. 
 Ihe visitors had been obliged to beat a hasty retreat, 
 and even the inn where they had stayed was razed 
 to the ground. 
 
 From here they journeyed west to Ho-nan Fu, 
 passing over rough, poor country infested with 
 robbers, but by God's protection they were kept in 
 peace. (Of course, like all other members of the 
 China Inland Mission, they traveled without arms.) 
 
 In the spring of the following year, Henry Taylor 
 made a third visit to Ho-nan, this time accompanied 
 by George Clarke. At Eu-ning they were joyfully 
 welcomed by the inquirers Mu and T'ang, whom, in 
 a stream outside the city, they now baptized, the first 
 in this populous province. They had both been work- 
 ing among their neighbors, and about thirty showed 
 an interest in the Gospel. On this visit they suc- 
 ceeded, as they thought, in opening a station, renting 
 premises in a city about fifteen miles from Ru-ning. 
 But they were not able to stay, for after six happy 
 weeks, in which all went well, the scholars stirred up 
 
THE n:ext six years. 207 
 
 trouble, a riot ensued, and the missionaries had to 
 leave. 
 
 The third pioneer visitation of 18Y5 was shorter — 
 that of Mr. Judd to Hu-nan. He and two native 
 Christians hired a boat and left Wu-ch'ang in the 
 early summer. After nine days' journey up the river 
 they reached Yoh-chau, the chief port of Hu-nan. 
 With great thanksgiving to God they commenced 
 work in this place. Mr. Judd, being dark, was not 
 readily distinguished as a foreigner. They rented, 
 without difficulty, a little house, and preached the 
 Gospel in different parts of the city, which overlooks 
 the vast expanse of the T'ong-t'ing lake to its south 
 and west. But, as so often in pioneer work, all went 
 well at first; but no sooner had premises been ob- 
 tained, £<nd settled work commenced, than the ruling 
 classes began to stir up mischief. Matters went from 
 bad to worse, till, very reluctantly, under the escort 
 of a war junk, Mr. Judd and his companions left the 
 city and returned to Wu-ch'ang. 
 
 Just about the time of this first visit to Hu-nan, an 
 important step was taken at Mr. Taylor's suggestion. 
 Up to this time, all information about the work had 
 been published in an "Occasional Paper," which 
 came out about quarterly. Now, beginning with 
 July, 1875, the plain little octavo was replaced by an 
 illustrated monthly, China s Millions, with which 
 most of the friends of the Mission are now familiar. 
 
 Thus, In 1875, were the prayers that went up from 
 
208 THESE FORTY YEARS. 
 
 that sick-room in December, 1874, fully and gi-a- 
 ciously answered. Moreover, sixteen of the eighteen 
 missionaries prayed for were given before the close 
 of 1875, and five others followed in the spring of 
 187G, making twenty-one in all. 
 
 Thus ended the first decade of tlie China Inland 
 Mission. 
 
 In May, 1876, on the anniversary of the sailing 
 of the "Lammermnir," the first annual meeting was 
 held at the Mildmay Conference Hall. A large 
 audience jcined in thanking God for what had been 
 accomplished, and in prayer for greater things in 
 the future. 
 
 Only ten years earlier there were but a hundred 
 missionaries in China altogether; eleven provinces 
 were entirely without the Truth, and in Cheh-kiang 
 and Kiang-su, in which the young Mission was to 
 commence its work, there were only two stations in 
 the one, ISTing-po and Hang-chau, and one, Shanghai, 
 in the other. Now there were settled stations in five 
 provinces, tAvo cf which were among the unoccupied 
 eleven; sixty missionaries and missionaries' wives 
 were out in China in the China Inland Mission alone, 
 working in. fifty-two stations and out-stations. And 
 already the work had been commenced in two of the 
 remoter provinces, in Ho-nan and Hu-nan, the 
 hardest provinces in China, as well as on the borders 
 of Yun-nan, in the far southwest. 
 
 A quarter of a million dollars had been contrib- 
 uted, mostly in small sums, and another eighteen 
 
THE NEXT SIX YEARS. 209 
 
 thousand dollars was on hand, waiting to be used in 
 new work in the western provinces. 
 
 Little wonder that it was an enthusiastic anniver- 
 sary! And no wonder, as they sought to picture the 
 hundreds of millions of perishing souls, many of 
 them so mlling to welcome the Gospel; no wonder 
 that a feeling of deep solemnity hushed the audience, 
 and that mighty and earnest prayers went up for the 
 future, especially for the opening of the West. 
 
 We shall see how blessedly those prayers pre- 
 vailed. 
 
 14 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 HOW GOD OPENED THE FAR INTERIOK. 
 
 i^ow that the petition for eighteen workers was 
 answered, and more than answered; now that so 
 much prayer was going up steadily for the opening 
 of western China, Mr. Taylor felt convinced that the 
 time had come for the pioneers to go inland. With 
 this conviction he returned to China, to bid them 
 God-speed and encourage their hearts as they started. 
 His steamer calling, as usual, at Hong-kong, Mr. 
 Taylor went ashore, and we can understand the eager- 
 ness Avith which he inquired: ^'What are the prospects 
 of our workers going in ?" 
 
 ^^The prospects were never darker," was the reply. 
 A British official had been murdered, with official 
 connivance at least, in the west of China, near Bur- 
 mah, and negotiations had dragged out their weary 
 length for eighteen months. And they had failed. 
 Sir Thomas Wade had left Pekin, and war seemed in- 
 evitable. ''But prayer," wrote Mr. Taylor, ''had not 
 failed." 
 
 God had given tlie eighteen missionaries — just the 
 very men for the work. I'hey were now all iu Cliina, 
 had learned tlio language, and were ready to go for- 
 ward. What could be the meaning of it all ? Very 
 earnestly Mr. 'J'aylor waited on God, during the three 
 
 210 
 
HOW GOD OPENED THE FAR INTERIOR. 211 
 
 remaining days of the voyage, that He would do 
 what seemed impossible, and open the gates of the 
 West. And while His servant was praying, God was 
 working out the answer. 
 
 On arrival in Shanghai, what was his joy to learn 
 that China's most capable statesman, Li Hung-chang, 
 had been sent to negotiate with Sir Thomas W«de; 
 they had met at Chefoo, and had come to terms! 
 iSTever was a more memorable treaty concluded with 
 China than the "Chefoo Convention," one clause of 
 wliich was that foreigners Avere to be permitted to 
 travel freely in every part of the empire, and that 
 ]>roclamations to that effect were to be posted in 
 OA'ery one of the thousand and more governing cities. 
 Thus, to God's glory, fast-closed inland China was 
 opened at last! 
 
 * * ^ -:f * * * 
 
 Before the treaty was signed, on September 13th, 
 two of the pioneers were already on the way to the 
 far northwest. Frederick Bailer and George King 
 started at the close of the long, hot summer, in the 
 month of August, for the province of Shen-si (at the 
 capital of which, Si-an, the Dowager Empress and 
 the unhappy Emperor of China held their court dur- 
 ing the recent occupation of Pekin by foreign forces). 
 A native of Shen-si, whom they met at Han-kow in 
 Dr. Griffith John's church, told them there was a 
 good water-way as far as Fan-ch'eng (440 miles up 
 the Han river), and from thence two or three much- 
 traveled roads to Si-an. So a small house-boat was 
 
212 THESE FORTY YEARS. 
 
 hired, and the missionaries departed, commended to 
 God for the work. 
 
 A fortnight's journey, sailing or tracking, brought 
 them to Fan-ch'eng: and at this busy port, and at the 
 important city on the opposite side of the river, the 
 Gospel was preached for the first time. But they 
 could only stay three days. From here they hired 
 another boat to Hsing-an Fu, the first prefecture in 
 Shen-si. But this stage of the journey proved trou- 
 blesome and expensive ; for, being autumn, it was the 
 time of the yearly examinations ; many students were 
 traveling, and the native authorities deemed it neces- 
 sary to give them an escort, which proved an ex- 
 pensive luxury. The city of Hsing-an was another 
 four hundred miles northwest. 
 
 It was not only a troublesome journey, but dan- 
 gerous, also, for the river here flows swiftly among 
 glorious mountains, with every here and there a 
 rapid, over which boats have to be laboriously towed 
 by gangs of men. At Yun-yang Fu, the last prefec- 
 ture in Hu-peh (of which province Wu-ch'ang is the 
 capital and Han-kow the commercial center), the mis- 
 sionaries were much encouraged. They not only ob- 
 tained a very favorable and friendly hearing, but 
 were also able to sell a large number of books. Four 
 soldiers were sent by the local mandarin to protect 
 them, and to explain to the people that the foreigners 
 were there not to cut off people's pigtails, but to sell 
 foreign books! Three days further, and they arrived 
 in Shen-si. 
 
 i 
 
HOW GOD OPENED THE FAB INTEEIOK. 213 
 
 The first Sunday in this province was spent in a 
 quiet county town, where considerable audiences 
 heard the Gospel message. A week later, Sunday 
 was spent at Ilsing-an itself, where large gatherings 
 heard the Glad Tidings for the first time for many 
 centuries. "As I pointed out the superiority,'' wrote 
 Mr. Ealler, "of the living Christ over sages long since 
 passed away, the thought seemed to strike them as 
 new and strange." 
 
 Encouraging as was their reception, they were 
 obliged to cut short their visit to Shen-si; for funds 
 were running low on account of the unforeseen ex- 
 penses of the journey. Gladly were they welcomed 
 back with the good news they, brought, and very 
 thankfully they now heard of the signing of the Che- 
 foo Convention, which opened fully the vast interior 
 
 to the Gospel. 
 
 * ^- * * * * * 
 
 First among the pioneers to start after the signing 
 of the treaty were the brethren James and Turner, 
 who were commended to God at Chin-kiang, in 
 October, 1876, to go north on a visit to Shan-si, so 
 sadly notable since as the arena of the sufferings 
 and martyrdoms of 1900. 
 
 As far as Nankin the missionaries traveled by river 
 and then overland, across populous An-huei, in which 
 many traces of the T'ai-p'ing rebels were still appar- 
 ent. Up to this time the two brethren at Gan-king 
 were still the only settled workers in this province. 
 After a fortnight's journey, their hearts were dis- 
 
214 THESE FOBTY YEAKS. 
 
 tressed in the north of the province at "the hundreds 
 of people, all miserably clad and looking starved and 
 wretched, proceeding sonth because of the scarcity 
 of food." For the great famine of 1877 to 1879 was 
 already commencing in North China, though the 
 worst was not yet. 
 
 From Poli-chau, an important commercial center 
 in the north of the province, they traveled on two 
 hundred miles by cart, and any one who has never 
 traveled by a Chinese cart cannot imagine what this 
 means ! Heavy, springless vehicles, with two mas- 
 sive hob-nailed wheels, these mule carts rumble 
 laboi'iously over unmade and unkept roads. They 
 are found in most paii^s of North China, and will 
 cover, it is true, twenty or even thirty miles a day 
 if the weather is good ; but the uninitiated suffer ! 
 The passenger, slung about, as first one wheel and 
 then the other drops into a rut, holds on for dear life, 
 to avoid serious injury. Indeed, when Mrs. Bird 
 Bishop, tlie traveler, took her first journey in a 
 "Pekin cart" she arrived at the end of the first day 
 with a fractured collar-bone ! James and Turner 
 were being initiated. 
 
 Tliey now came to the province of Ilo-nan, and 
 crossed the Yellow river, not far from K'ai-fung, the 
 capital; but it was a month's journey altogether be- 
 fore they arrived in Shan-si. They were the first 
 missionaries to enter the pro\dnce ; and remained for 
 several weeks, itinerating among the cities of the 
 southern prefectures. They were greatly encour- 
 
MR. ROBERT POWELL TRAVELLIN. 
 
 N HONAN. 
 
 MULE CARTS AND ESCORT, IN TROUBLOUS TIMES. 
 
HOW GOD OPENED THE FAK INTERIOR. 215 
 
 aged by tlieir reception, gained valuable information 
 about the province and its needs, preached to inter- 
 ested audiences, and had good sales for their books. 
 Their last Sunday was spent at P'ing-yang Fu, equally 
 important as a governing and commercial center, and 
 then, their funds running low, they made their way 
 southward across mountainous western Ho-nan — a 
 cold, barren route to take in winter ! On Christmas 
 day they entered Ilu-peh, on their way to Fan-ch'eng. 
 From there they took boat down to Han-kow, arriv- 
 ing early in January, 1877. They had traveled 
 seventeen hundred miles through four provinces since 
 
 they started. 
 
 •K- vr -x- •«■ -::- * -X- 
 
 The same month that thetsc brethren started for 
 Shan-si, Messrs. Easton and Parker set out on the 
 long journey to Kan-suh, in the far northwest. For 
 two-thirds of their journey tliey were accompanied 
 by Messrs. King and Budd, who were to pay a second 
 visit to Shen-si. And before the end of the year 
 two other couples were well on the way to the west 
 and southwest — to the provinces of Si-ch^ian and 
 Kuei-chau. 
 
 The four travelers to Shen-si and Kan-suh started, 
 as usual, up the Han river by boat, keeping to the 
 river as far as Lao-ho-k'eo, a city some two or three 
 days beyond Fan-ch'eng. Here they took to the 
 road, and for another fortnight traveled in a north- 
 westerly direction over rough, mountainous roads, 
 through sparsely peopled country, to Si-an, the 
 
210 THESE EOKXr YEAKS. 
 
 Slien-si capital. Here they were glad to rest for 
 awhile, coinmencing, however, their evangelistic 
 work at once. This city, one of the best built and 
 best preserved in China, is beautifully situated on the 
 banks of the Wei, one of the major tributaiies of the 
 Yellow river. It stands near the center of a populous 
 plain, then very fertile and flourishing, but now 
 almost covered with opium and sadly impoverished. 
 This was to be the sphere of King and Budd for the 
 present: while Easton and Parker started westward 
 on their further journey to Kan-suh. 
 
 "We have resolved," wrote Mr. King at this tune, 
 "to make our journey a season of special waiting on 
 the Lord, for more likeness to Himself, more prac- 
 tical holiness, and more brotherly love." On the last 
 Sunday before they separated they went out into the 
 country, and on a quiet mountain-side overlooking 
 the fertile plain, read together Spurgeon's sermon, 
 "Predestined to be Conformed to the Image of His 
 Son." "Blessed hope," Mr. Easton writes. "I pray 
 that we may indeed be conformed to Him in holiness 
 and zeal. . . . May we, too, be about our Fa therms 
 business, and eventually see much blessing amongst 
 these cities." 
 
 More than twenty years have passed, and Mr. 
 Easton still continues at work in the northwest. Hun- 
 dreds of souls have been gathered in, and many 
 churches have been founded where then there was 
 not a single believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. Snow 
 was on the ground when Easton and Parker started 
 
HOW GOD OPEiNED THE FAR IXTERIOK. 217 
 
 for Ivau-suh. They had a good time at the first city 
 they reached, both preaching and selling books. But 
 a Mohammedan happened to buy a small tract on 
 ^'The Prodigal Son/' Before long, however, it was 
 returned. "I am a follower of the Prophet. I do not 
 want a picture with pigs in it V' 
 
 City after city they passed, meeting with a very 
 friendly reception. Over the high Lung range of 
 mountains and across the wide alluvial plain they 
 journeyed until they came to Lan-chau, the provin- 
 cial capital, on the banks of the Yellow river. Here 
 they were thankful to find comfortable inns, and re- 
 ceived numbers of visitors, as well as obtaining good 
 sales for their books. The Catholics were well estab- 
 lished here, but no Protestant had ever before vis- 
 ited Kan-suh ! From the capital the travelers turned 
 southward, visitmg, among other places, the impor- 
 tant city of Ts'in-chau, in which the principal church 
 in this difficult province is to be found to-day. They 
 now turned their faces eastward, and, reentering 
 Shen-si, took the road to Han-chong, the principal 
 commercial center of the province. In this city and 
 district there have since been, thank God, over five 
 hundred men and women admitted to the Church. 
 From here they rapidly descended the river, and 
 were soon back at Han-kow and Chin-kiang. Here 
 they met King and Budd, who, after weeks of itiner- 
 ation in the more important cities on the Si-an plain, 
 had arrived a few days before them. 
 
218 THESE FOKTY YEABS. 
 
 The next missionaries to travel to tlie far interior 
 vvere Xicoll and Cameron, who went up the river at 
 the close of 1876 as far as 1-cliang, on their way to 
 the central western province of Si-ch'uan. 
 
 During the last days of the old year two other 
 pioneers, Messrs. Judd and Broumton, went up river 
 to Wu-ch'ang, and on January 2nd, 1877, they set out 
 for needy Kuei-chau in the southwest, a province 
 with abundant mineral wealth and also, sad to say, 
 with large crops of opium, through which its inhab- 
 itants were even then being rapidly demoralized. It 
 was cold work traveling up river that January in 
 draughty house-boats, but this is among the least of 
 the troubles of a pioneer missionary in China, and 
 was easy to put up with! A week on the Yang-tse 
 brought them to Yoh-chau, at the mouth of the 
 largest lake in China, the T'ong-t'ing; this they then 
 crossed, a distance of seventy miles, to the mouth of 
 the Yuen river, up which they continued their jour- 
 ney steadily onward across northern Hu-nan for 
 three long, icy weeks. 
 
 IN'otorious as the Hu-nanese are for their hostility 
 to foreigners, these early travelers in native dress 
 met with quite a friendly reception, being cared for 
 by the officials and receiving an attentive hearing 
 from the people. 
 
 Much of the kindness shown to these missionary 
 pioneers was doubtless due to the Chefoo Convention. 
 Again and again when the missionaries arrived in 
 f;ome remote city, they v/ere welcomed by the officials 
 
HOW GOD OPENED THE FAR INTERIOR. 219 
 
 and not infrequently detained to lunch, while the 
 Yamen employes were busy all over the city posting 
 up the belated proclamations, lest the foreigners 
 should report to the proper authorities their neglect 
 to publish them ! 'Not so, however, in Hu-nan. "The 
 people are so anti-foreign here," the officials ex- 
 plained, "it would not be wise or safe to put up these 
 proclamations," and nowhere in Hu-nan were they to 
 be found. 
 
 A beautiful river it was up which they traveled, 
 and the boatmen were deeply interested in the stoiy 
 of the Crucifixion. One old lady they met received 
 very gladly the strange new Gospel message. "It is 
 really very kind of you to come so far," she ex- 
 claimed, "to tell these good things. Our people do 
 not know. They go continually to the temples, bum 
 incense and give rice and presents to the gods, and 
 in the end what becomes of it all?" 
 
 They were a superstitious people also, which often 
 indicates a natural craving, unsatisfied and hence dis- 
 torted, for religious light. Strong, resolute, deter- 
 mined, it may be that the Hu-nanese will yet make 
 some of the noblest Christians in China. 
 
 Early in February, Judd and Broumton reached 
 the borders of Kuei-chau. Here at the head of navi- 
 gation they left the river, hired sedan chairs, and 
 commenced a twelve days' journey over lonely moun- 
 tain roads to the capital. As is usual in China, the 
 mountainous regions were sparsely populated, and 
 frequently they put up at night at a lonely cottage 
 
220 THESE FORTY YEARS. 
 
 by the wayside. At one of these their host, a hardy 
 mountaineer, showed deep interest in the message he 
 heard from their lips. "He became deeply inter- 
 ested in the Gospel,'' wrote Mr. Judd. "I trust we 
 may meet him in glory." 
 
 After a week of this overland travel the mission- 
 aries arrived at Chen-yuen, a notoriously anti-for- 
 eign city. Three years before, at this city, Mr. Mar- 
 gary (the British official who was murdered near the 
 Burman border) met with serious difficulty. His 
 boat was dragged ashore and burned by the people! 
 
 It may be interesting to mention in this connection 
 that Mr. Margary's bereaved mother and other rela- 
 tives prayed that his death might result in the open- 
 ing up of western China to the Gospel. And so it 
 did. For it was the negotiations at Pekin about this 
 murder that ended in the signing of the treaty of 
 Chef 00 ! 
 
 Judd and Broumton waited on God very earnestly 
 as they drew near to this place. Their passports were 
 examined on their arrival; but, while the people 
 seemed sui*prised to see the foreigners, there were no 
 signs whatever of unfriendly feeling. Much of the 
 route they had to travel had been desolated by a 
 recent rebellion of the Miao-tse, a tribe of aborigines, 
 who have no idols and who have since shown a re- 
 markable readiness to receive the Gospel. Fine, 
 sturdy, independent hill tribesmen they are ! 
 
 About the middle of February they climbed the 
 last steep pass, and a magnificent view reward '^d 
 
now COD OPENED THE FAR INTERIOR. 221 
 
 them. The sun was shining on the fair plain, wliich 
 stretched out before them — away to the distant moun- 
 tains; and the city of Kuei-yang itself was right be- 
 fore them, with its temples, its towers and its luxuri- 
 ant trees. In this city they met a remarkable man, 
 one of the most interesting men in China, "General" 
 Mesney. An enterprising traveler, he had given val- 
 uable help to the government of the province in sup- 
 pressing the recent rebellion (just referred to), and 
 was rewarded for his services by being raised to offi- 
 cial rank and receiving considerable gifts of property. 
 He was quite delighted to see the foreigners, and very 
 cordially welcomed them to his home. For ten days 
 they were his guests, meeting with considerable num- 
 bers of the local mandarins, who were thus brought 
 within sound of the Gospel. But for Mr. Mesney's 
 help, the missionaries might have been unable to ob- 
 tain a house, for trade was good and premises were 
 scarce. Happily, he himself had a house, which he 
 kindly placed at their disposal. Here Mr. Broumton 
 remained, the solitary Christian worker among four 
 or five millions of people in that province, while Mr. 
 Judd, after a short rest, or rather change of labor, 
 returned to his own station, Wu-ch'ang. Prevented 
 from returning by Hu-nan, he turned his steps north- 
 ward to Ckung-king, the commercial metropolis of 
 Si-ch'uan. Here again, as at Kuei-chau, the Koman 
 Catholics were established in force : but no Protestant 
 missionaries had ever resided in either province! 
 From here, going down river toward I-chang, the 
 
222 THESE EOBTY YEARS. 
 
 missionary was in double danger from the rapids and 
 from pirates, by whom he was taken prisoner and for 
 some hours was in jeopardy of his life; but in answer 
 to prayer he was set free. 
 
 At I-chang Mr. Judd hoped to find Messrs. Cam- 
 eron and Is'icoll; but alas! their house was in ruins 
 and the w^orkers had gone. Like many of the river 
 ports, it is a turbulent place: and a serious riot had 
 arisen on the arriA^al of a small consular staff to open 
 the new treaty port. 
 
 A few more days down river and Mr. Judd reached 
 home about the end of March. Mr. Broumton re- 
 mained on at Kuei-yang alone until mid-summer, 
 w-hen reinforcements joined him. Messrs. George 
 Clarke, Edward Fishe and Landale had been ap- 
 pointed to go west. Landale remained with Broum- 
 ton, while Clarke and Fishe went southward into un- 
 evangelized Kuang-si. Here they learned that there 
 was a population of five millions, but that Roman 
 Catholic attempts to obtain a settlement had always 
 proved unsuccessful. To try and sell books in that 
 province w^as hopeless, they w^ere told, or to seek to 
 influence the people in any way for good. 
 
 "ISTotwithstanding,'' wrote Mr. Clarke, "we started, 
 trusting in God.'' 
 
 It took twelve days' hard traveling over the Xan- 
 ling mountains to bnng them to the border of 
 Kuang-si, which they reached in the middle of July. 
 At the first city, Kin-yuen, mindful of what they had 
 been told, they decided to be cautious. After speak- 
 
HOW GOD OPENED THE FAR INTERIOR. 223 
 
 ing boldly in a cheery voice to tlie people for a few 
 moments, thej offered their books for sale, wonder- 
 ing what success they would have. Eagerly they were 
 bought up, much to their surprise. For more than 
 six weeks the missionaries traveled extensively, visit- 
 ing many important cities in this province where, 
 they had been told, the people were unfriendly and 
 would not buy books! "The people would have 
 books," George Clarke wrote, "and this eagerness to 
 buy was general." 
 
 On their return the travelers were gladly wel- 
 comed home by Broumton and Landale at-Kuei-yang, 
 and as there were only two bedrooms, Landale and 
 Broumton decided to go away for a short missionary 
 tour while their colleagues rested. 
 
 They had not been long gone, however, before a 
 messenger called them back. They returned imme- 
 diately to find George Clarke in high fever in one 
 room, and his companion, Edward Fishe, unconscious 
 and dying in the other. All night long they watched 
 beside him, but early next morning, the 6th of Sep- 
 tember, 1877, he fell asleep; and, all unknowing, at 
 Wu-ch'ang a widow with two children was praying 
 
 for the father who had been called away to rest. 
 * * * -JS- * * * 
 
 Another of the western pioneers was John McCar- 
 thy, of ITang-chau, and latterly of Gan-king. He had 
 cherished a desire to cross China into Burmah for 
 many years, to test the feasibility of traveling and 
 working in the far interior; but the idea was "foolish 
 
224 THESE FO-RTY YEARS. 
 
 and impossible," he was told: and he had worked on 
 in the east. He had been home to England in 1875 
 for the shortest possible furlough, only a few weeks, 
 and had returned with two of the pioneer volunteers, 
 the fifteenth and sixteenth of the eighteen, in the fall. 
 The proposal was, as soon as the brethren could speak 
 Chinese, for him to escort them inland; but in the 
 absence of Mr. Taylor heavy, responsible duties fell 
 upon the experienced missionary, and when the time 
 came the pioneers went inland without his help. 
 
 Immediately on the signing of the Chefoo Conven- 
 tion, as we have seen, two had gone to Shan-si, two to 
 Shen-si and two to Kan-suh, while Taylor and Clarke 
 were already in Ho-nan. Shortly after, two went 
 west toward Si-ch'uan and two southwest to Kuei- 
 chau; followed in the early spring by two more for 
 Kuang-si. Besides these, on the Burman frontier 
 Stevenson and Soltau were already working amongst 
 the Yun-nanese, and had already been reinforced by 
 Dr. and Mrs. Harvey and Mr. Adams. 
 
 On Mr. Taylor's return, however, Mr. McCarthy 
 was set free, and undertook the journey that had been 
 so long upon his heart. Speaking with an earnest 
 native Christian about the matter, Mr. McCarthy 
 was delighted to hear him volunteer to accompany 
 him, but first forewarned him of the dangers of the 
 journey. "If you, a foreigner, can risk it for Jesus' 
 sake and for my people, surely I, a native of the 
 country, may well risk it, too!'^ 
 
 Often on that long journey Mr. McCarthy was 
 
now GOD OPENED THE FAR INTERIOR. 225 
 
 thankful for his friend and fellow-worker's aid. It 
 was abont the end of January, 1877, when they 
 strated up river for Han-kow and I-chang. Thence 
 up the magnificent gorges of the Yang-tse, several 
 weeks' journey by native boat, they continued west- 
 ward to the borders of Si-ch'uan. The first large city 
 they came to in this populous and fertile province — 
 the largest in China — they left the river and con- 
 tinued overland twenty-five days' journey on foot to 
 Chung-king, the commercial capital. Trade they 
 found to be bnsk, the country densely populated and 
 the people very friendly. At one place in this stage 
 of the journey, the city of Kuang-an, they made a 
 considerable stoppage. They found there a man 
 whom they had previously met at Gan-king, and he 
 proved not only very friendly, but very hospitable. 
 One after another of his large clan entertained them, 
 and the travelers greatly enjoyed the rest and the 
 quiet after their continued travel. 
 
 "Does it ever rain in your honorable country?" 
 they would gravely inquire; "and does rain come 
 down as it does in China?" 
 
 "Have you any mountains and valleys, so far 
 away?" 
 
 "Does the sun shine on you as on us ? And is it the 
 same sun?" 
 
 Kind and patient answers to these trivial questions 
 removed misapprehension and gained confidence, win- 
 ning an entrance for the Master's message to dark- 
 ened minds and hearts. 
 
 15 
 
226 THESE FORTY YEARS. 
 
 "In that one district of Si-ch'uan/^ wrote Mr. Mc- 
 Carthy, ''in a circle with a diameter of only forty 
 miles, I might easily have spent four to six months, 
 had time allowed, simply in going about from one 
 place to another, as I received invitations. Many 
 were the pressing calls I was obliged to refuse, and 
 in none of the houses to which I went would the 
 people take anything from me. They did not want 
 my money. They received me freely as a friend, 
 and in every case were glad to have the books and 
 tracts left with them, and to hear the Gospel from 
 my lips.'" 
 
 At Chung-king, Mr. McCarthy made another, 
 though shorter, stay, and impressed by its size and 
 importance, rented a house, which was occupied later 
 by Cameron and IN^icoll, who, it will be remembered, 
 were designated for Si-ch'uan. From here they turned 
 southward to Kuei-yang, still walking. Profiting by 
 previous experience, Mr. McCarthy made it a rule 
 to stop at the first available inn wherever he arrived. 
 By so doing, he was often able to get a wash and his 
 supper before he was surrounded by friendly visitors, 
 and thus avoided a good deal of crowding, which 
 might have inconvenienced and, possibly, endangered 
 him, and was fresh and ready to entertain them when 
 callers came. 
 
 In five days they entered the Kuei-chau province, 
 and as they traveled across it they were much im- 
 pressed and saddened by the prevalence of opium 
 smoking. Ten or twelve days after crossing the 
 
HOW GOD OPENED THE FAB INTERIOR. 227 
 
 border tliej reached Kuei-yang, where they were 
 heartily welcomed by Broumton and Landale. After 
 a short and very refreshing rest, they started on their 
 journey again toward Yim-nan Fu, the capital of the 
 pro^dnce of the same name. Eisky as it was to at- 
 tempt to cross Yun-nan, had not Mr. McCarthy been 
 praying for the province for many years, and were 
 not the people just as needy there as in every other 
 part of China? Prayerful, but determined, McCarthy 
 journeyed onward. It was July when he entered 
 Yun-nan, in which no Protestant missionary had ever 
 set foot before. As he was entering the capital, he 
 was stopped and his business demanded. Friendly 
 explanations and the gift of a few tracts by the Chi- 
 nese fellow-worker, Yang Ts'uen-ling (whose story, 
 by the way, is well worth reading), smoothed matters 
 over, and they entered the city in peace. For a few 
 days they remained, working quietly; but for pru- 
 dence' sake, not much in public, and then continued 
 westward toward the second city of the province, 
 Ta-li. The road lay over magnificent mountains and 
 along beautiful valleys, and the travelers' hearts 
 were refreshed. Wonderfully the Lord had pros- 
 pered them; might they not safely commend them- 
 selves to His good keeping for the perilous remainder 
 of the way? 
 
 Speaking of the various travelers they met, offi- 
 cials, merchants, rich and poor: "We associated,'' 
 Mr. McCarthy writes, "with all sorts and conditions 
 of men, and with but two exceptions never received 
 
228 THESE FORTY YEARS. 
 
 a cross word from any one tlie whole journey tliroiigli. 
 The Chefoo Convention has already effected great 
 good in Yun-nan." It was recognized everj^vhere 
 that foreigners had a right to travel. The only 
 wonder seemed to be that a foreign consul had not 
 yet been sent to Ta-li Fu "to oj^en a foreign store." 
 
 The country was poor, the men degraded, and the 
 women many of them engaged in arduous manual 
 labor, considered in other parts of the country as 
 only suitable for men. Goitre, moreover, was found 
 to be very prevalent in the valleys and among the 
 mountains; ague w^as common, and the people were 
 grateful for such medicines as Mr. McCarthy was 
 able to give away. 
 
 From Ta-li Fu, still westward, they traveled on, 
 crossing higher mountains and finding the roads in- 
 creasingly rough. Ten days further on they came 
 to Momein, where they rested for several days, 
 preaching the Gospel and making friends. They 
 learned that the Bhamo medical mission was known 
 and valued in those parts. Three days from Momein 
 Mr. McCarthy reached the city where Margary had 
 been murdered two years before. The local man- 
 darin was cordial, spoke of the medical work at 
 Bhamo, promised protection while they remained in 
 the city, and warned them not to attempt to cross 
 the borderland without engaging the services of a 
 mountain chief. 
 
 "Traveling simply as you are, you need apprehend 
 no difficulty, except from the wihl tribes on the Kah- 
 
HOW GOD OPENED THE FAR INTERIOR. 229 
 
 clien hills/' Mr. McCarthy was frequently told. They 
 engaged a mountain chief accordingly, and eveiy- 
 where met with not only cordiality, but even gen- 
 erous hospitality. For several days they traveled 
 amongst these mountain tribes, and Mr. McCarthy's 
 heart was much drawn to them. He proposed to stay 
 longer with them on his retuiTi. 
 
 It was the end of August when at last he descended 
 to Bhamo, and right heartily were he and his com- 
 panion welcomed by Messrs. Soltau and Adams. 
 They found it hard to believe that Mr. McCarthy had 
 indeed walked across China. With great joy they 
 united in giving thanks to God for His remarkable 
 journeying mercies. But the British resident at 
 Bhamo absolutely forbade Mr. McCarthy from at- 
 tempting to return. 
 
 "I believed it was God who had brought me safely 
 through China, and if God had wanted me to return 
 that way, neither the Viceroy of India nor any other 
 power could have prevented it. I took the message 
 as from Him, and so could not trouble about it.'' 
 
 Mr. McCarthy spent six months at Bhamo, and 
 
 then returned to England with a blessed story to tell 
 
 of the goodness of God vouchsafed to him ; and, far 
 
 more important, that — AVostern China was open. A 
 
 great impression Avas made at home by the story of 
 
 what Mr. McCarthy had done and heard and seen. 
 * * ^ * * * -H- 
 
 The Shan-si pioneers had to return, as we have 
 seen, for supplies. A brief rest at Wu-ch'ang, a fare- 
 
280 THESE FORTY YEAllS. 
 
 -^ell prayer meeting with Mr. McCarthy ere he 
 started on his long journey across China, and away 
 they started again — this time for a longer visit. 
 
 Up the Han they sailed to Fan-ch'eng — suffering 
 shipwreck, and in danger from pirates, by the way; 
 thence they continued by cart, over the rough and 
 often dangerous mountain roads of West Ho-nan, for 
 several weeks. And so they reached Shan-si. The 
 early wheat here was the first sign of spring that 
 met their eyes, and the fruit trees were already in 
 blossom. Their second visit to Shan-si began Avith 
 a]l the fresh beauty of the new year. This was in 
 the lowlands, in the valley of the Yellow river, but 
 it was soon passed, and they ascended into bare and 
 desolate regions where the famine was already felt. 
 
 "At most places where we stopped for refresh- 
 ment we had a large crowd around us, watching each 
 mouthful, and holding out their empty basins in mute 
 appeal." 
 
 For three hundred miles they traveled through 
 many important cities to the capital, T'ai-yuan. Here 
 they engaged a teacher, that they might more quickly 
 acquire the local dialect; and most of the next two 
 months were given to evangelistic work in the city 
 nnd surrounding country. Pitiful were the experi- 
 ences of those long, dry months! "Night and day," 
 wrote Mr. Turner, "incessant prayer was made for 
 rain — the people crying aloud to their gods, for that 
 which alone could save from death." 
 
 So it continued through the summer, and when 
 
HOW GOD OPENED THE FAR INTERIOR. 231 
 
 autumn came, with no break in the drought, whole 
 families committed suicide, rather than face the 
 hardships of the coming winter. The terrible heat 
 of that long summer, unmitigated by the usual sum- 
 mer rains, and the still more terrible consciousness of 
 the suffering all around them, began to tell on the 
 health of the workers, and both were stricken down 
 with famine fever in the fall. James narrowly 
 escaped with his life, and it was evident that he v'ould 
 have to come to the coast, and Turner must go with 
 him to nurse him by the way. 
 
 Very loth, indeed, they were to leave the province 
 at this time, where they were the only Protestant 
 workers, and where death was working such havoc 
 amongst the starving population. Two months' 
 journey southwards, by cart, to Fan-ch'eng was a 
 serious matter in early winter, for the sick man and 
 his friend; but they suffered most of all from the con- 
 dition of the people among whom they passed. 
 
 "The scenes witnessed upon this journey," wrote 
 Mr. Turner from Han-kow, "have left an indelible 
 impression of horror upon my mind. It is difficult to 
 conceive a country in a worse condition. Many of 
 the trees are destitute of bark, long since stripped off 
 and eaten. The poor are literally starving. In 
 
 the early morning, as we passed, we saw the victims 
 of the preceding night lying dead and stiff where 
 they fell. On the open road men were writhing in 
 the agonies of death; no one pitied them; no one 
 cared — for the sight of death had long since become 
 
232 THESE FORTY YEARS. 
 
 common. Hundreds of corpses were lying on the 
 roads; we saw them ..." 
 
 About this time, the English consul at T'ien-tsin 
 wrote, "The aspect of affairs was simply terrible. 
 I'he autumn crop over the whole of Shan-si and the 
 greater portion of Chili-li and Shen-si had failed; no 
 rain had fallen, and the heavens Avere pitilessly blue." 
 The English Famine Kelief Funds sent to China over 
 $150,000, and the Missionary Societies $55,000, of 
 which the larger half was given through the China 
 Inland Mission. 
 
 As soon as it was possible. Turner retm-ned to 
 Shan-si, entering this time from T'ien-tsin, the port 
 of Pekin, with the Rev. Da^dd Hill, the beloved 
 leader of the English Wesleyan JMission. They and 
 an American missionary, the Eev. A. Whiting, went 
 inland in the spring of 1878, and were warmly wel- 
 comed by the officials of Shan-si, who were already 
 doing all they could to alleviate the suffering, and 
 gladly helped the missionaries in their arduous serv- 
 ice. 
 
 Many at home had given largely to this noble re- 
 lief work, on hearing of the terrible sufferings of the 
 famine-stricken people; but Mr. Whiting gave his 
 life, for within three weeks he caught the famine 
 fever, and before the end of April had gone to his 
 reward. 
 
 The work of distribution was commenced at the 
 capital, T'ai-yuan, and from there Messrs. David Hill 
 and Turner gradually worked their way southward 
 
HOW GOD OPENED THE EAR INTERIOR. 233 
 
 as far as P'ing-yang Eii, where they were cordially 
 welcomed by the prefect and his subordinate man- 
 darins, who rendered them every help in their power. 
 Here tliey soon came across traces of the work that 
 had been done in the previous visits to the province. 
 
 About midsummer Turner again went north and 
 joined Mr. Timothy Eichard, of the English Baptist 
 Mission, who for eight months had been steadily 
 working away at famine relief in and around T'ai- 
 yuan, winning golden opinions from rich and poor, 
 perhaps especially the former. He seems to have a 
 special faculty for making friends with mandarins. 
 
 In the early fall Timothy Eichard returned to his 
 own work in the province of Shan-tung, leaving Tur- 
 ner single-handed at T'ai-yuan. Hard work it was, 
 even harder on the spirits than on the physical frame, 
 for the sufferings of the famine-stricken people can 
 scarcely be imagined, much less described. 
 
 The first really cool weather after the long, hot 
 summer, brought its own dangers with it, as, indeed, 
 it usually does in China. Turner caught a chill and 
 soon developed dysentery. In spite of this, urged by 
 the terrible suffering around, he continued his work 
 as long as possible; but there was a limit. At last 
 he had to send a brief note to David Hill, down south 
 at P'ing-yang Fu, telling him of his condition; and 
 he could do no more, expecting soon to see his Mas- 
 ter's face. 
 
 David Hill, on receiving the message, came with 
 all speed, had a good journey and arrived wdthin a 
 
234 THESE FOBTY YEAES. 
 
 fortnight. The veiy sight of hiiii did Turner good. 
 And his loving ministrations soon resulted in a cure. 
 Soon after they rejoiced to welcome Mrs. Hudson 
 Taylor and two other lady missionaries, who had trav- 
 eled to Shan-si under the experienced escort of Mr. 
 Bailer. 
 
 "The Chinese officials/' wrote the British consul, 
 "now treat the missionaries with the most marked 
 cordiality, and assist them in every way in their 
 power. As for the people, they have at last opened 
 their houses. . . . The advent of the foreigner is 
 now hailed Avith delight. . . . This distribution 
 of funds by the brave and judicious men engaged 
 in the work will do more to open China than a dozen 
 wars.'' 
 
 Were it not for the opium traffic, forced upon 
 China in spite of every protest, that country would 
 long ago have flung its doors wide open, not only to 
 the missionary who first wins their esteem, but also 
 to his compatriots, bringing the material benefits of 
 Western civilization. Generous as were the gifts 
 that came to China during these terrible years of 
 famine, twice every w^eek (on an average) was Eng- 
 land repaid, through the opium revenue, for the en- 
 tire sum of this famine relief! 
 
 Very gratefully, however — forgetting all the 
 wrongs of the past and the present — did the high 
 officials acknowledge this timely help and the gen- 
 erous, self-denying way in which it was administered. 
 
 Probably in no part of the empire is the deplorable 
 
now GOD OPEJNED THK FAR lATERlOll. 235 
 
 effect of the opium trade more terribly manifest than 
 in this very province of Shan-si. Humanly speaking, 
 no victim of intemperance is more hopeless than the 
 confirmed opium-smoker. And yet, in recent years, 
 in this province alone, hundreds, if not thousands, of 
 opium-smokers have been saved, doubly rescued, from 
 the dominance of the opium habit and from the power 
 of the Enemy, by the higher power of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ. But I anticipate. 
 
 Of all the pioneer journeys that followed the Che- 
 foo Convention, none was more remarkable than that 
 made into eastern Thibet, nor among the eighteen 
 brethren who were prayed for in 1875, and went far 
 afield in 1876 and 1877, was there a more remarkable 
 man than James Cameron. Tall, powerful Scot, he 
 was a man of character, of determination and of faith. 
 Starting west with George Mcoll in the fall of 1876, 
 both of them designated for the province of Si-ch'uan, 
 they were detained for a time at I-chang, where they 
 opened a station. From this point, already a thou- 
 sand miles up the Yang-tse, after a serious riot, 
 already mentioned, they continued their joumey 
 westward to Chung-king, Si-ch'uan. Here they 
 rented premises, the first Protestant station in that 
 large and populous province. 
 
 But Cameron was a born pioneer. Even during 
 the comparatively brief stay at I-chang he had sown 
 the Good Seed in the principal centers between that 
 
236 THESE FORTY YEARS. 
 
 city and the borders of Hu-nan. And after a short 
 stay at Chung-king, the two brethren, accompanied 
 now by Mr. Leaman, of the American Presbyterian 
 Board, started westward again for the capital of the 
 province, Ch'eng-tu, a twenty days' journey across 
 rich, fertile country, during which they enjoyed 
 many opportunities of preaching tlie Gospel. At 
 Ch'eng-tu they stayed nine days, gaining attentive 
 hearings and selling large numbers of Scriptures and 
 tracts. 
 
 It was mid-autumn when they continued their 
 journey. First west to the limit of the beautiful, 
 well-watered plain, and then due south, a fort- 
 night's journey in all, to Ya-chau, the commercial 
 entrance to Chinese Thibet. Through this city im- 
 mense quantities of brick tea are yearly imported 
 into the land of eternal snows, Thibet. 
 
 From this point onward their journey became more 
 difficult. The roads were steadily rising to higher 
 altitudes, and the country became more and more 
 barren and inhospitable every stage they went. After 
 another week of this arduous traveling, Mr. Nicoll 
 could go no farther. Kepeated attacks of ague had 
 quite prostrated liim, and it Avould have been folly 
 to proceed. Mr. Leaman volunteered to accompany 
 him back to Chung-king, and early in October Cam- 
 eron only remained to continue the journey. "I miss 
 my companions much," he wrote, "but shall soon get 
 accustomed to being alone." Happy for him that he 
 liad proved the trutli of "Lo, I am with you alway!" 
 
HOW GOD OPENED THE FAR TXTEKIOK. 237 
 
 He traveled light!! His money lie carried in little 
 irregular lumps of silver, se^vn into an inner garment, 
 and his baggage consisted of little more than the in- 
 dispensable bedding and a change or two of clothes. 
 
 A week later he reached the interesting little town 
 of Ta-tsien-lu. This place attracted Mr. Cameron's 
 attention as being the first foreign-looking place he 
 had come to. It has its own lamasery, from which 
 the Thibetans, who form quite half the population, 
 are governed. For these places are not only monas- 
 teries — containing hundreds and sometimes thou- 
 sands of lamas — and temples, but also the residence 
 of the ruling lama, the head official of the neighbor- 
 hood. 
 
 Ahead, then, was Thibet. It was unlikely that he 
 would have access to Thibet proper. But Chinese 
 Thibet, included nominally in the Si-ch'uan province, 
 was open to him. Governed by lamas instead of man- 
 darins, and only partially subject to the court of 
 Pekin, its people, pure Thibetans, are yet much more 
 ready for dealings with the outside world than the 
 population, of Inner Thibet, perhaps through the in- 
 fluence of the migratory population along the banks 
 of the great rivers, which here intersect the country, 
 one of them being the main stream of the Yang- 
 tse. 
 
 From Ta-tsien-lu onward the road ran mostly at a 
 great altitude, seldom descending lower than twelve 
 thousand feet. It was lonely and little traveled, 
 moreover, and any kind of accommodation — any kind 
 
238 THESE FORTY YEARS. 
 
 would do for Cameron — was hard to obtain. The first 
 night after leaving the little border town,* Cameron 
 saw what he must expect for the remainder of his 
 journey through this upland country. It was a mis- 
 erable little inn he had come to, the best there was; 
 no bed was to be had, nothing but a little straw on 
 the rough ground. The only thing homely about it 
 was a smoky fire of green wood. Still, he was thank- 
 ful for that! 
 
 Here, too, he had his first experience of "Tsan-pa," 
 the staple food of Thibet, which consists of a mixture 
 of well-boiled tea, salt, butter and parched wheaten 
 flour. This is stirred by each member of the com- 
 munity in his own basin, and without further prepara- 
 tion the Tsan-pa is ready to eat, the hand doing duty 
 for a spoon. 
 
 Their landlord gave them, moreover, alarming ac- 
 counts of the difiiculties and dangers that lay ahead. 
 Indeed, it was not without considerable difficulty that 
 Cameron's coolie was persuaded to continue. He 
 saw, however, that the foreigner had no fear, and 
 realized that this was due to his faith in God, for, of 
 course, he had no arms. 
 
 "Dangers there are," he wrote, "but God will bring 
 us through." Up they continued next day, away 
 above the snow line, into the intensest cold, for Octo- 
 ber was now well advanced. They saw, as they went, 
 something of the semi-nomadic Man-tse, as these 
 
 ♦Chinese women are not allowed further west than 
 Ta-tslen-lu. 
 
HOW GOD OPENED THE FAR INTERIOR. 239 
 
 Outer Thibetans are called by their Chinese neigh- 
 bors. Dressed in a long, rough sheepskin tunic to 
 the knees, with a colored girdle and long woolen 
 boots, and with long, black, matted hair, the people 
 presented a striking, if somewhat barbarous picture. 
 As to their imkempt hair, "some are mser," wrote 
 Mr. Cameron, who noticed everything, "and cut it 
 off.'^ It is said they wash at New Year time, but it 
 seems improbable that they do so at any other season 
 of the year. 
 
 'Next night they had some difficulty in obtaining a 
 lodging at all. The people evidently wanted to make 
 a "good thing'' out of them, which was more than the 
 Scotchman could stand. Prayer prevailed, and they 
 were admitted. As they entered, a huge dog leaped 
 at them, but was happily kept back by a powerful 
 young woman, who held on to him with all her might. 
 A Chinaman came in with them, and, nothing loth, 
 joined them at a cup of hot tea — delicious and re- 
 freshing by reason of being hot, if for no other rea- 
 son. But Cameron and his man had no basins, which 
 provoked a smile all round. They were accommo- 
 dated, however, by the family, surprised at such un- 
 prepared travelers. 
 
 Supper consisted of bread and eggs, which they 
 had brought with them. After begging for and ob- 
 taining an eggy the Chinaman retired. On his de- 
 parture the fun began. "I wanted to learn a few 
 words of the (Thibetan) language, and my blunders 
 afforded entertainment; it does not seem to be diffi- 
 
240 THESE FORTY YEARS. 
 
 cult. . . . Yerj soon we were on quite friendly 
 terms, only we could not converse much. We were 
 invited to eat Tsan-pa. . . . Supper over, our sit- 
 ting-room became tlie common bedroom, the women 
 taking one side and we another. They only strewed 
 a few skins on the floor, the garments they wore dur- 
 ing the da}^ doing duty as bed covers." Arising early 
 next morning, they gave their good host the equiva- 
 lent of eight cents, at which unexpected liberality he 
 was greatly delighted. 
 
 One of their hardest days was Saturday, on which 
 they had to cross a "huge snow-clad mountain. '^ It 
 w^as bitterly cold, the keen w^ind piercing to their 
 bones. How glad they were, toward evening, to be 
 descending on the farther side ! 
 
 As they hurried along, they were surprised and 
 delighted to hear a friendly Chinese voice, and soon 
 found themselves comfortably ensconced in a little 
 roadside hut. And very grateful they were for the 
 hospitality, after the long, hard week of traveling; 
 and greatly they enjoyed a good, square meal of tea, 
 bread and soup containing meat ! Here they decided 
 to stay over Sunday; and well it was they did. 
 
 For on Monday they had a still more difficult time. 
 They had started early and traveled hard; but as 
 evening drew on they came to a lonely house, and, 
 warned by the appearance of the people, determined 
 to go on. It was on and up. Twilight deepened into 
 darkness; but, happily, the moon rose to light them 
 on their way. Before they reached the highest point 
 
HOW GOD OPENED THE FAR INTERIOR. 241 
 
 they were nearly fourteen thousand feet above the 
 sea. Glad indeed tliey were to reach the summit, for 
 the poor coolie, disheartened and exhausted, had 
 nearly given in. 
 
 It was a rough descent that followed, and when at 
 last they reached the valley it was late, and no one 
 dared to let them in. Prayer again conquered, and 
 just as they had determined to pass the night under 
 the eaves of a temple, the door was opened; they were 
 invited in, and soon were seated by a beautiful warm 
 fire, with hot tea before them. "The people of the 
 house told us that we must have walked fifty-six miles 
 since morning." 
 
 jSText day a twenty-four mile walk brought them to 
 li-tang, a little town of five thousand people, chiefly 
 interesting as being one of the highest cities in the 
 world. The only noteworthy building was the great 
 lamasery, which contained three thousand priests. 
 Lazy, good-for-nothing fellows, haughty, tyrannical, 
 and grossly immoral, these lamas naturally dread the 
 influence of Christian teaching. ^'If the people be- 
 lieve your doctrines,'^ they sa}^, ^Sve shall soon be 
 without our rice." The poor people have to 
 
 pay tithes four times a year, and two-thirds of the 
 land is said to belong to these Buddhist priests. 
 
 Still westward the travelers continued another 
 week's journey to Ba-tang, traveling steadily up and 
 down hill, seldom below the snow line. What a 
 week's journey it was ! 
 
 The first night it was a pitiful place they came to, 
 
 16 
 
242 THESE FORTY YEARS. 
 
 but they were glad enough to have shelter. It was 
 pleasant, too, to be staying with a friendly Chinaman, 
 with whom Mr. Cameron could speak of the Glad 
 News which he longed to give the people. ^^We had 
 no fire, and not feeling well, I had to lie down with 
 i\ burning skin, at the same time almost shivering 
 A\dth cold." Fever, one naturally surmises. But, 
 ^^TTp early, and away, before the sun shone over the 
 mountains," the journal continues. 
 
 This stage of their journey was the worst, the 
 highest and the coldest they had had. It came to an 
 end, however, and one day they found themselves at 
 an altitude of fifteen thousand six hundred feet, look- 
 ing down on the city of Ba-tang, seven thousand feet 
 below. This important border town is on the far 
 side of the Yang-tse (here narrowed to two hundred 
 yards in width) and quite near the boundary of Inner 
 Thibet. 
 
 There were, however, no inns. Many inquiries 
 v/ere made by private citizens as to their respectabil- 
 ity, and after standing to answer questions again and 
 again, they were denied admission. "At last a 
 woman took pity on us, and led us to a resting place — 
 not a very good one, but we were thankful for it. 
 'Hitherto hath the Lord helped us.' " Gratefully 
 they took their supper, and lay down to rest. 
 
 "Sleep I could not. ... At last I struck a light, 
 and, to my dismay, found my Ba-tang bed almost as 
 bad as those that had caused me many a restless night 
 further east. My foes gave me no peace. There 
 
HOW GOT) OPENED THE FAR INTERIOR. 243 
 
 wjis nothing for it but just to heave a sigh and lie 
 down." 
 
 At Ba-tang he spent four days. High mountains 
 surrounded them, running ujo to as much as twentv- 
 two thousand feet, but down in the valley it was mild 
 nnd refreshing. The Chinese mandarin was cordial, 
 but concerned to know whether Mr. Cameron in- 
 tended to attempt Thibet. "No? Ah, that is excel- 
 lent. The lamas are determined in their opposition 
 to foreigners crossing the border; in fact, it cannot 
 he done." 
 
 This, then, was the end of their journey. From 
 here they turned south, a ten days' stage still among 
 n Thibetan population, as far as A-ten-tse, on the 
 liorder of Yun-nan. On the third day he reached 
 and stood on the actual frontier, between Thibet 
 proper and Chinese Thibet. He looked across at the 
 lonely homes of the Thibetans. ^'As I gazed," he 
 writes, "I wondered when the messengers of Jesus 
 would have free access there. It will he open some 
 day:' 
 
 It was the middle of E'ovember before they de- 
 scended from the mountains to the compact little 
 flat-roofed settlement of A-ten-tse. ^N'arrow streets, 
 in a very unsanitary condition, did not add to its at- 
 tractions. But there was an inn, and a small room 
 was vacant, for which they were more than thankful. 
 
 Surely, God had timed their arrival at this place, 
 for poor Cameron that night was stricken down with 
 a severe attack of remittent fever, and for more than 
 
244 THESE FORTY YEARS. 
 
 a fortnight lav, weak and helpless^ more than once 
 thinking the end was near. His heart, however, was 
 in perfect peace. What could be better than to be 
 found bj the Master in the forefront of the battle ? 
 One thing only troubled him. What was to become 
 of his unused silver? ISTot that there would havo 
 been very much of it, at this stage of his journey, 
 one would suppose. '^See, what a trouble it is to be 
 rich!" he writes. 
 
 But far away, continually, prayer was ascending 
 for the lonely traveler. It was heard, and answered. 
 Tlie fever abated, and on the third of December he 
 continued his journey southward, towards Ta-li, one 
 of the principal cities of Yun-nan. He did not start, 
 however, before he had had the satisfaction of fully 
 preaching Christ to all who could understand him, 
 rich and poor, in the remote border town. 
 
 From here onward, happily, the traveling was 
 easier. High, barren, snow-clad uplands were grad- 
 ually exchanged for low, broad valleys, fertile and in- 
 liabited, and the dangers and hardships of Outer 
 Thibet were left behind. 
 
 Very beautiful Ta-li looked, at the southern end 
 of its long, wide lake, and surrounded by a populous, 
 highly cultivated valley. The place was thoroughly 
 open, he found, for Christian work, numerous and 
 attentive audiences hearing the Gospel from his lips 
 in all parts of the city. Moreover, a well-established 
 work was already under way, in charge of a Roman 
 Catholic bishop and two priests. 
 
now GOD OPENED THE FAR INTERIOR. 245 
 
 "When will Protestant missionaries be laboring in 
 these regions?" Cameron wrote, with a sigli, ere he 
 left the city. After spending Christmas in Ta-li, lie 
 continued his jonrnejj following now in the steps of 
 McCarthy, towards Bham'o, on the Burman frontier. 
 A week's journey brought hhii to the important city 
 of Yung-chang, where again he found a ready hear- 
 ing for the Gospel. 
 
 The next stage, to Momieii, was more difficult, for 
 banditti had been committing serious depredations, 
 and trade was at a standstill. A military expedition 
 had just returned, after beheading seventeen of the 
 marauders. Otherwise it might not have been prac- 
 ticable to continue the journey towards Manwyne, 
 the last city in China. At this place they Avere enter- 
 tained by a kindly old lady, who could not say enough 
 of the missionaries in Bhamo. Her son had been 
 lying at death's door, unconscious, in the delirium 
 of high fever, at a lonely place among the Kah-chen 
 hills; but Avhen the mother had arrived she found 
 two missionaries in charge, doing all that could be 
 done, and her son well on the way to complete re- 
 covery. "How can I express my gratitude," she 
 asked, "to the strangers who had saved his life?" 
 They proved to be none other than Stevenson and 
 Soltau, of the China Inland Mission. 
 
 After spending three days at Manwyne, working 
 among the Chinese, Kah-chens and Shans that 
 thronged its busy streets, Cameron continued his 
 journey up into the border highlands, imder the 
 
24:6 THESE FORTY YEARS. 
 
 escort of a mountain chief, sometimes having to sleep 
 in the open, sometimes meeting with cordial hospital- 
 ity, and finding many opportunities for preaching by 
 the way, until at last his road descended into the 
 valley of the Irrawaddy. 
 
 Here, at Bhamo, he made a short stay with Messrs. 
 Soltau and Adams, and then, being forbidden by the 
 British Resident to return, descended the river, took 
 
 steamer to Canton, and so reentered China. 
 * * # -x- * * * 
 
 Within two years from the signing of the Chefoo 
 Convention, in September, 1876, the pioneer workers 
 of the China Inland Mission had traveled in every 
 part of the country, more than thirty thousand miles. 
 A little map was published in May, 1878, giving a 
 vivid impression of the widespread itinerations of 
 these early years. It is not easy, as one looks at the 
 little map, to realize how much of real hardship, of 
 faith, of courage and persistent effort it represents. 
 
 Many have been the happy results of those early 
 journeyings. E'ever before had the country been so 
 open. The new treaty had more force, while it was 
 still new, than it would have later, and in every 
 part of the country the workers were welcomed by 
 the mandarins and, therefore, by the people. 
 
 An immense amount of Christian literature was 
 put into circulation. Friendly impressions were pro- 
 duced by the quiet, unostentatious travelers, and it 
 was well for the people of the remoter provinces that 
 their first contact with Western civilization should be 
 
HOW GOD OPENED THE FAR INTERIOR. 247 
 
 through these earnest, loving, considerate mission- 
 aries, who came in the dress of the people, and 
 brought them nothing but good news and love. 
 Cameron alone, within six years, had visited every 
 province in China but one, and immense numbers of 
 people must have heard the Gospel for the first time 
 from his lips and received it from his hands. 
 
 This, however, after all, was but the scaffolding 
 for future building. Permanent location in these 
 remote districts soon followed, and itineration had 
 shown where a peaceable entrance could most likely 
 be obtained. The missionaries bore in mind, of 
 course, the settled principle to enter first the larger 
 and more important cities. This plan was modified, 
 however, by the duty — "If it be possible, as much as 
 in you lieth, live peaceably with all men.'' 
 
 Commencing with extensive evangelization, more- 
 over, was the plan on which our Lord Himself and 
 the early Apostles worked. When asked to stay 
 where an opening had been won, our Lord replied: 
 *Tet us go into the next towns, that I may preach 
 there, also; for therefore am I sent." And the early 
 disciples, who themselves received the last command 
 to ^'go into all the world," carried out their instruc- 
 tions literally, and "went everywhere, preaching the 
 Word." 
 
 History has proved that this method paid in those 
 early days. Modern history proves that this same 
 method pays among the heathen of to-day. It is 
 much easier to obtain a residence in a city where 
 
248 THESE FORTY YEAES. 
 
 the missionary has visited repeatedly before and does 
 not come as a stranger. It is much easier, also, in 
 this way to avoid serious mistakes in locating. 
 
 The Gospel preached is the same incorruptible seed 
 as of old. It does not perish. Here and there it 
 lies dormant for years, but in every part of the 
 country prepared souls are found, ready to receive 
 it in the good soil of honest hearts. ^'What is the 
 seed?" Mr. Taylor asks, writing of this work. "The 
 seed is the preached Gospel, the proclaimed Good 
 I^ews of something which the heathen, as they are, 
 can appreciate. . . . Talk theory to the heathen, 
 and they are generally unmoved. . . . But, as ex- 
 perience proves, tell your audience that you have an 
 infallible help for every opium smoker, for every 
 dininkard, for every gambler — a Saviour, Avho has 
 never once failed to save immediately any soul that 
 really trusted Him, both from the power of sin and 
 from its eternal consequences, and you will soon see 
 that the Gospel is good news to your hearers ; that it 
 can conmiand attention, and will accomplish the 
 mightiest changes. 
 
 ''But so to preach Christ, we must ourselves be 
 filled with the Spirit; be abiding in Christ; be con- 
 scious of the fullness and power of His great sal- 
 vation." 
 
CHAPTEK XL 
 
 THE FIRST WOMEN TO GO INLAND. 
 
 Thus we have traced the steps by which God an- 
 swered prayer and oi)ened the gates of the west, and 
 the stages by which province after j)rovince was en- 
 tered by these missionary pioneers. All glory to 
 God, Who worketh for them that wait for Him. 
 
 The story of the opening of the far interior would 
 be incomplete, however, without telling of the brave 
 women who were the first to enter these western and 
 northern and southern provinces. For if the two 
 years from the autumn of 1876 to the summer of 
 1878 were remarkable for those early journeyings, 
 the next three years, from the middle of 1878 to the 
 end of 1881, were equally notable for the courageous 
 entrance of women missionaries into the newly 
 opened field. 
 
 The first to go in were Mrs. Hudson Taylor and 
 two single ladies — Miss Home and Miss Crickmay — 
 to the northern province of Shan-si. 
 
 But before following those who went, a prior ques- 
 tion will occur to some: Why did they go at all, so 
 far from civilization and comfort and safety? It goes 
 without saying — Not at the mere dictate of fancy or 
 impulse. Two facts compelled them. Jesus com- 
 mands it: "Preach the Gospel," He says, "to every 
 
 249 
 
250 THESE FORTY YEARS. 
 
 creature." And clearly '•'every creature" in ''all the 
 world" includes the two or three lumdred millions of 
 inland China — includes the women as well as the 
 men. This decided them; this and the women's 
 need. 
 
 Unwelcome when born, untaught in childhood, un- 
 loved in womanhood and unhonored in old age, the 
 women of China need the Gospel of the love of Grod 
 and all it brings as much, surely, as any women in 
 the world! It would seem almost as if Christianity 
 did more for the women than for the men, especially 
 in a country like China, were it not that man gains 
 equally, of course, by all that uplifts woman. 
 
 Every fourth woman in the world is a China- 
 woman, and more than three-fourths of these were 
 utterly beyond all hope of enlightenment if their 
 Christian sisters stayed at the coast. A Christless 
 life must culminate in a Christless death, unless 
 Christ's women, for His sake and theirs, would give 
 them the Gospel. The love of Christ con- 
 
 strained them. And the unspeakable need of the 
 women called almost as clearly as the still, small 
 voice commanded. 
 
 So they went. 
 
 Mrs. Taylor's going was especially difficult. 
 Christmas, 1877, had been a time of great rejoicing, 
 for it brought home Mr. Hudson Taylor, after a sep- 
 aration of a year and more from ^vife and children. 
 
 But the new year of 1878 was still young when a 
 great opportunity arose in China. The famine in the 
 
THE FIRST WOMEN TO GO INLAND. 251 
 
 north had become terrible beyond all precedent. SLx 
 millions were on the verge of starvation by Janiiaiy, 
 1878 (and more than that number, probably not less 
 than nine millions, perished before it was over). 
 Missionaries had embraced the opportunity of show- 
 ing the practical side of our Christian faith, and had 
 gone into the famine-sweiDt regions, rank with death 
 and scourged with famine fever, that most contagious 
 of diseases, at the risk of life, with famine relief. 
 Native authorities welcomed them cordially, and thus 
 their safety from violence and their welcome by the 
 masses were assured. It was the greatest opportunity 
 of the century. 
 
 Among the famine sufferers, the lot of the children 
 was especially pitiful, as indeed that of the weak and 
 helpless invariably is among heathen peoples. Hun- 
 dreds of them were dying every day; hundreds more 
 were being sold into slavery, to go south into lives of 
 misery and shame. Surely something must be done 
 for them. Prayer confirmed this impression, 
 
 and in the spring of 1878, only two or three short 
 months after their reunion, Mr. Hudson Taylor sug- 
 gested to Mrs. Taylor that perhaps she ought to go. 
 jSTone of the exj)erienced workers in China could be 
 spared from their posts. If she did hot go, who 
 could? 
 
 Such a suggestion could neither be declined nor 
 accepted in a hurry. It involved leaving the chil- 
 dren, and separation again so soon for husband and 
 mf e. "VVh^t it cost to make the suggestion Mrs. Tay- 
 
252 THESE FOETY YEARS. 
 
 lor full well knew. Could it be her duty? One thing 
 was sure. If God wished it, He could provide for the 
 children. Would He? At first it seemed not, but 
 further prayer removed this obstacle completely. 
 Still some thought it wrong. So they put God to the 
 test. Mrs. Taylor asked the Lord one day to send 
 her the money for her outfit, and to give her also 
 £50 for a special purpose — ^just that, neither more 
 nor less. If He gave her a sign, and did both, surely 
 her way would be clear. 
 
 That very day a visitor called to see her and in- 
 quired was she really going. On hearing that she 
 expected to go, he handed her a check for the outfit, 
 for that and nothing else — exactly the sum allotted 
 to outgoing missionaries for that purpose. But that 
 was only half her prayer. Yes; but three days later 
 came a check for £50, with express permission to use 
 it for the purpose desired. Is not God more ready 
 to answer than we to pray? 
 
 More than this, God gave Mrs. Taylor a third en- 
 couragement. The proposed orphanage and other 
 work in Shan-si would involve expense. 'Tf you for 
 Christ's sake can separate," wrote a donor, "I cannot 
 give less than this." And he inclosed a check for a 
 thousand pounds sterling ($5,000), which he could ill 
 spare from his business. And his generous gift and 
 kind words came the very day Mrs. Taylor was to sail 
 for China, while they w^ere holding a farewell com- 
 munion service. WTiat a loving Father we have! 
 
 The provision for her fellow-travelers, the others 
 
THE FIRST WOxMEN TO GO INLAND. 253 
 
 of the outgoing party, was scarcely less remarkable; 
 and on May 2n(i they started, full of confidence and 
 expectation, if some of them with aching hearts. 
 They reached China at the beginning of summer, and 
 as soon as it was safe to travel, in the early autumn, 
 cordial letters came from Shan-si inviting Mrs. Tay- 
 lor to come at once, and all necessary arrangements 
 would be made for her. This she did, and was accom- 
 panied by Miss Home and Miss Crickmay, both of 
 whom had been in China long enough to learn the 
 language. An experienced escort was provided for 
 them in the person of Mr. Bailer, and September, 
 1878, found them on the way. 
 
 After a sad journey through desolated towns and 
 cities, with scarcely a child and no babies to be seen, 
 they reached T'ai-yuan in safety, on October 24th. 
 ''With what grateful hearts to God,'' wrote Mr. 
 Taylor when the nev/s reached him, ''do we record 
 the safe arrival of our iirst party of missionary 
 sisters at the capital of one of the nine hitherto un- 
 evangelized provinces!" 
 
 iS^ot long after their arrival, Mr. James returned 
 with his bride, and a little later, Mr. Timothy Eichard 
 came back with his wife. Work was immediately 
 commenced among the women of the city, many 
 visits being paid to their homes and sewing classes 
 being started as a means of giving relief to the desti- 
 tute women. At the same time, premises were se- 
 cured for an orphanage, and a number of little 
 orphan girls received into its loving shelter. 
 
254 THESE FORTY YEARS. 
 
 There was more difficulty, however, than had been 
 expected in gathering children for the home, for the 
 sad reason that there were very few children to 
 gather. Most of the little girls had either died of 
 starvation, or had been sold to the Southerners, who 
 came north with bags of money on their evil errand 
 during the early part of the famine. During the 
 whole of Mrs. Taylor's stay she saw only one little 
 baby in T'ai-yuan! In such ways as these, the 
 
 confidence of the people was soon won, and many 
 homes were opened to them all over the city. 
 
 It is not easy, perhaps, to realize what those 
 months of work in that famine-stricken district in- 
 volved for Mrs. Taylor; but she never regretted the 
 sacrifice, and years aftei-wards she had the joy of 
 seeing four of those children, who had been left at 
 home in the care of others, fellow-laborers with her 
 in China. To children, as well as adults, example 
 speaks louder than precept. 
 
 In the following spring, the way opening for Mr. 
 Taylor to return to China, he was joined at the coast 
 by Mrs. Taylor, the women's work at T'ai-yuan being 
 carried on by her companions. 
 
 In the summer, Mr. Taylor was very seriously ill, 
 his life being despaired of for a time. A visit, how- 
 ever, to Chefoo, then little known as a health resort, 
 Avas used of God to his restoration. Mr. Taylor was, 
 moreover, so impressed with the value of the place 
 
THE FIRST WOMEN TO GO INLAND. 255 
 
 as a health resort, with its invigorating climate, that 
 this visit resulted, later on, in the establishment of 
 a China Inland Mission Sanitarium and a school 
 for missionaries' children. The latter has grown 
 steadily ever since, and can now accommodate two 
 hundred and fifty children. 
 
 It is easy to understand what a benefit the Sani- 
 tarium has been to sick and convalescent missionaries, 
 who would otherwise have had to take the long and 
 expensive journey home, or, if that were impracti- 
 cable from their condition, might have died for lack 
 of just such means of recuperation. It is equally 
 easy to see what a blessing the schools have been, en- 
 abling the children to be educated without leaving 
 China, and at a minimum expense. The education 
 given has been thorough, the boys and girls being 
 prepared for college or university in America or Eng- 
 land. As far as room permitted, the children of other 
 missionaries and of merchants and other residents 
 have been made welcome. The Preparatory School 
 takes children from six or seven to ten, and the Boys' 
 and Girls' Schools keep them until they are seventeen 
 or eighteen years of age. 
 
 As soon as Mr. Taylor was sufficiently restored to 
 health, he and Mrs. Taylor went down to the Yang-tse 
 valley again and did all in their power to facilitate 
 the lady workers' going inland, either with their hus- 
 bands or, if single, under the care of suitable and 
 experienced escorts. 
 
 The next of our lady missionaries to go inland was 
 
256 THESE EOETY YEARS. 
 
 the bride of George Iviiig, wlio had come down to the 
 coast from the far northwest, and they were now re- 
 turning, with mingled joy and concern at the thought 
 of the future and the Avork that lay before them. 
 From Han-kow, the Chicago of mid-China, they 
 started inland, up the great Han river, on their three 
 or four monthis' journey toward Shen-si and Kan-suh, 
 the field of Mr. King's former journey ings. Con- 
 siderable care had to be taken on this trip up river, 
 for the people had been somewhat excited by the 
 advent of the men missionaries from time to time 
 during the previous two or three years, and it was 
 very important to avoid unfriendly rumors traveling 
 up the river before them to increase the difficulty of 
 obtaining a home at the journey's end. 
 
 On the way an amusing incident occurred, the 
 significance of which did not appear at the time, but 
 was duly appreciated later. It happened one day 
 that, the vrnid being contrary, the crew were out on 
 the tow-path. They came in as usual at noon for 
 the mid-day meal, and naturally, their appetites were 
 hearty. As soon as dinner was over, they started 
 out to track again, but before long one of the men 
 Avas seized with violent pains and came on board the 
 boat doubled up with agony. "Ah-yah ! Ah-yah !" 
 he cried, "I am going to die!" — so severe was the 
 pain. Mr. King came out of the little cabin to learn 
 what was the matter, and soon discovered that the 
 patient was suffering from what seemed to be violent 
 indigestion. Among the wedding presents had been, 
 
THE FIRST WOMEN TO GO INLAND. 257 
 
 conveniently, a little homoeopathic medicine chest, 
 containing also Kuddock's ''Yade Mecum.'' This he 
 consulted; the remedy was nux vomica. One or two 
 drops of this tincture were forthwith administered to 
 the suffering coolie, and in a very short time the pain 
 vanished, the bitter medicine acting like a charm. 
 IS'eedless to say, not only the patient, but the whole 
 boat's crew, were greatly delighted. If that man had 
 died upon their hands, the whole trip would have 
 been unlucky, and his spirit would have continued to 
 haunt the boat for no one knows how long: and there 
 he was sitting up, quite well, and smiling! 
 
 The little incident was soon forgotten by Mr. and 
 Mrs. King; but not so by the coolies, who on the tow- 
 path met continually their friends and acquaintances, 
 and gave them a graphic account of the astonishing 
 incident. Far and fast the good news spread, not 
 diminishing as it went, until they reached the great 
 city of Han-chong, after three months' traveling, the 
 fame of Mr. King as a doctor was fairly well recog- 
 nized ! 
 
 The autumn was past. It was now J^ovember, 
 find the weather was getting quite severely cold. 
 Mr. King felt it would be well to end their journey 
 at this point, if possible, at any rate, for the winter. 
 At first, there was, as usual, great difficulty in renting 
 premises, but a mandarin, who had known Mr. King 
 before, and who was particularly glad to welcome 
 him as a doctor, lent his aid at this juncture, and 
 difficulties vanished. A comfortable house was se- 
 
 17 
 
^58 THESE EORTY YEARS. 
 
 cured, with a large giiest-room that would seat a 
 couple of hundred people; just the very thing for 
 their work. The '^doctor'' had crowds of men vis- 
 itors and patients, and Mrs. King was kept just as 
 busy with the scores of women w4io crowded to the 
 "inner" rooms. In the spring they were able to 
 report an attendance of about a hundred at public 
 worship, many of them women; and they added, 
 "Mr. King already has had the joy of baptizing one 
 man, the first-fruits of Shen-si." 
 
 Thus woman's work was commenced in the second 
 of the nine unevangeli^ed provinces of the interior; 
 work which has gone on increasing ever since, and 
 has resulted in the conversion of considerable num- 
 bers of women, who have thus formed the early mem- 
 bers of the Church of Christ in that far northwestern 
 province. 
 
 Sad to tell, little more than a year later, Mrs. 
 King succumbed to the climate and the arduous 
 duties of her overwhelming work. In May, 1881, 
 she passed away with typhoid fever, leaving a little 
 son but five months old. She gave her life for the 
 women, and was the first missionary woman to be 
 laid to rest in the far interior. 
 
 Twelve months before her home call, happily, Mrs. 
 King had the joy of welcoming reinforcements. A 
 middle-aged lady, who had gone to China at her 
 own expense four years before. Miss Elizabeth Wil- 
 son, of Kendal, volunteered to take that long journey 
 up the Han. Her offer was accepted. She and Miss 
 
THE FIRST WOMEN TO GO INLAND. 259 
 
 Faussett, now Mrs. Samuel Clarke, of Kuei-yang, 
 started on their journey in February, 1880, and three 
 months later arrived safely in Han-chong — the first 
 ladies to travel alone into distant parts of the empire. 
 Two native Christians went mth them as servants, 
 but they neither had, nor desired, any other escort 
 than these and the unseen Fellow-traveler, to whose 
 protection they had been lovingly commended, and. 
 who brought them safely on their way. To 
 
 these ladies Mrs. King left the work among the 
 women at Han-chong. 
 
 While Mr. and Mrs. George King were still on 
 their way up the Han, two other brides started west- 
 ward to work among the women in Si-ch'uan and 
 Kuei-chau. 
 
 For in mid-autumn, 1879, two other pioneer evan- 
 gelists had been married in the beautiful cathedral at 
 Shanghai. And in October, Mr. and Mrs. McoU and 
 Mr. and Mrs. George Clarke started together on their 
 long and penlous journey. By steamer they went 
 up the Yang-tse to Han-kow, by native house-boat 
 many stages farther to I-chang; and thence, by Si- 
 ch'uan junk, they traveled up the rapids towards 
 Chung-king. These junks, at once strong and light, 
 are especially built for the ^^rapid'^ region, which 
 commences a short distance above I-chang and 
 reaches upward ahnost as far as Uan-hsien, form- 
 ing, with the magnificent mountains that flank the 
 
260 THESE FORTY YEARS. 
 
 river on eitlier side, the natural frontier of the fertile 
 province of Si-ch'uan. Up the rapids the boat has to 
 be towed by a gang of coolies, fifty or a hundred 
 strong. They attach themselves to a stout hawser (of 
 plaited bamboo-withes) wliich is securely fastened to 
 the junk, and then proceed to haul the boat, inch by 
 inch, up the surging river, being often bent double 
 with the strain on the narrow tow-path. The path 
 itself, in many places, is a piece of engineering, and 
 has been blasted out of the side of precipitous rocks, 
 which rise a thousand or two thousand feet from 
 the river. 
 
 Thus they traveled westward, all l^ovember and 
 December, till nearly Christmas. One day, when 
 they had nearly passed the dangerous region, their 
 boat struck suddenly on a submerged rock and rapidly 
 began to fill. "All ashore," was the cry. The sink- 
 ing boat was quickly brought to the bank, and as 
 rapidly as possible passengers and crew unloaded it. 
 ISTot ouly all the lives, but all their property was 
 saved: the only serious damage being to a large con- 
 signment of Scriptures, but even they were not un- 
 salable. These and their other belongings they now 
 proceeded to dry on shore, while the boatmen labored 
 to make their little vessel water-tight. 
 
 Thus Christmas passed happily enough, the grate- 
 ful little party working by day unpacking and re- 
 packing, and sleeping by night as best they could, 
 with no better protection from wind and rain than 
 their umbrellas! 
 
THE FIRST WOMEN TO GO INLAND. 261 
 
 At leiigtli, on December 29th, the boat was ready. 
 They reembarked, none the worse for their trying 
 experience. Again slowly they tracked up the 
 stream, but before they had made much progress the 
 rope broke, the mast snapped and with all the violence 
 of the foaming stream they were plunged down the 
 river at the mercy of the waves. Boatmen and pas- 
 sengers strained every nerve at the oars, and at last 
 they brought up at the side of the river, at the very 
 spot where they had spent the Christmas week. 
 
 This decided them to finish the journey by a safer 
 route. A servant was sent ahead for sedan chairs, 
 and in them they traveled overland the remaining 
 stages of the journey to Chung-king. This great 
 commercial emporium of the west was to be the home 
 of the l^icolls. Here, accordingly, they made them- 
 selves at home, warmly greeted by Riley and Samuel 
 Clarke. Very soon the forlorn-looking bachelor 
 quarters took on a very different appearance. In a 
 few days Mr. and Mrs. Nicoll had settled into their 
 Chinese home. Here, also, Mr. and Mrs. George 
 Clarke "rested" for a week: a week busy with 
 crowds of women visitors, who came to call and 
 to satisfy their curiosity about the women for- 
 eigners. They came in such numbers that one 
 or two hundred a day was the ordinary number 
 in the inner premises. (Later, during the two or 
 three weeks' holiday which comes each 'New Year, 
 not infrequently as many as five hundred would 
 come in a day!) Thankful indeed were the workers 
 
262 THESE FORTY YEARS. 
 
 for this new field of service, and for the wide-open 
 door to the hearts and homes of the people. But 
 thankful as were the missionaries for this splendid 
 opportunity, it is needless to say that Mrs. Nicoll fre- 
 quently felt the strain to be ahnost more than she 
 could bear. Indeed, sometimes she would faint right 
 away in the midst of her visitors, who appreciated 
 none the less the kindliness of the worker who was 
 spending and being spent for them. One friend she 
 had in particular, a dear old motherly lady, who 
 would insist sometimes upon her coming and spend- 
 ing the day in her home. Early morning would find 
 the old lady's sedan chair at the door, and as soon as 
 the missionary arrived she would take her into a quiet 
 room, having dismissed the children and younger 
 women, and quietly fan her to sleep, while she her- 
 self kept guard. As soon as her loved visitor was 
 quietly resting, she would steal away on her tiny feet 
 to prepare a sumptuous dinner, as tempting as she 
 knew how to provide. At other times, the kind old 
 lady would cook some specially delicious dish and 
 send it round to the Mission House to tempt the 
 appetite of her weary friend. 
 
 Thus, isolated from all her own friends and fellow- 
 country women, Mrs. Mcoll was cheered by love and 
 gratitude from the people amongst whom she had 
 come to live. No wonder the work at times was tax- 
 ing; she was the only woman missionary amongst the 
 forty or sixty millions of that largest of the prov- 
 inces! 
 
THE FIRST WOMEN TO GO INLAND. 263 
 
 It is easy to understand how much Mrs. Nicoll felt 
 the parting when, a week after their arrival, the time 
 came for Mr. and Mrs. George Clarke to continue 
 their journey southward to the capital of Kuei-chau. 
 The double wedding at Shanghai, the long journey 
 together up river, with its vicissitudes and hardships, 
 had knit their hearts together. But now they must 
 part. Together she and Mrs. Clarke knelt in prayer 
 and commended one another to the love and to the 
 companionship of the Fiiend who is closer than a 
 sister. 
 
 Sedan chairs were hired, and away started IMr. and 
 Mrs. George Clarke for a four weeks' journey to the 
 south. By the good hand of God upon them, their 
 difficult but quiet journey came safely to an end: and 
 very warmly were they welcomed on their an-ival at 
 Kuei-yang by Mr. Broumton. Here for a Avhile Mrs. 
 Clarke was the only worker among-st the women of 
 that province, a large proportion of whom, alas ! had 
 become victims during recent years of the terrible 
 opium habit. 
 
 Kot long, however, after the arrival at Kuei-yang 
 of Mr. and Mrs. Clarke, two other ladies started out 
 to join them. Mr. and Mrs. William McCarthy, on 
 their arrival in China about a year before, had 
 been designated for Kuei-chau. The mid-summer 
 heat of mid-China proved too much for Mr. McCar- 
 thy, however, and after a brief illness he passed away 
 with heat-apoplexy, beloved already and regretted by 
 his fellow-workers. ^^His brief career has been a 
 
264 THESE FOKTY YEARS. 
 
 blessing to us all/' said one. "I am a better man for 
 having known him, though for so short a time.'' 
 
 Thus early in her missionary life Mrs. McCarthy 
 was left a widow. "We were going west together, 
 and, God willing, I still will go," she determined. 
 She volunteered and went. Miss Kidd and Mrs. Mc- 
 Carthy left Wu-ch'ang in February, 1880. To avoid 
 the dangers and perils of the journey up the rapids 
 of the Yang-tse, it was decided to travel by the more 
 direct route across Hu-nan. 
 
 They traveled under the escort of Mr. Bailer, and 
 were the first women to evangelize amongst the 
 women of Hu-nan. This province had long been 
 known, with that of Ho-nan farther north, as the 
 most anti-foreign in China. And yet the Lord so 
 prospered these pioneer women that they traveled in 
 perfect safety, preaching to and visiting the women 
 all along the way. "I like these Hu-nan women so 
 much," wrote Miss Kidd. "They have been veiy 
 kind, and most mlling to receive us and to listen to 
 our message. 'Why do you liot stay to teach us?' 
 they would ask at some places. 'Why do you go on 
 to Kuei-chau? We, too, are longing to hear.' We 
 Avere much struck all along our river journey through 
 Hu-nan by the well-to-do appearance of the peoj^le 
 and the remarkable beauty of the scenery." 
 
 We can easily imagine what a welcome awaited the 
 travelers when, having left their boat, a ten days' 
 ride in chairs across the mountains brought them to 
 Kuei-yang. 
 
THE i'lKST WOME2V TO GO l>;i.AND. 205 
 
 A few months later a little son arrived to cheer the 
 hearts of Mr. and Mrs. Clarke, but the first winter 
 proved too much for the little one, and before Christ- 
 mas his little place was empty. ^The Lord gave ; 
 the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name 
 of the Lord!" — felt the stricken parents: and as 
 they waited on God about the matter, the conviction 
 formed and grew in their hearts that God had set 
 them free to go still farther afield to the women of 
 the unreached province beyond. Satisfied that this 
 impression was of God, they \vrote to Mr. Hudson 
 Taylor, volunteering to work in the far southwestern 
 province of Yun-nan. 
 
 And now occurred one of those remarkable coinci- 
 dences that so often happen in connection with 
 prayer. On the Burman frontier of China, just be- 
 yond Yun-nan, two members of the China Inland 
 Mission had been laboring. Four years previously 
 they had gone to Bhamo, in upper Burmah, hoping 
 by that route to enter western China. Their way had 
 been barred from an unexpected quarter. The Brit- 
 ish authorities notified them that the journey across 
 the mountains, among the wild Kah-chens and Shans, 
 was too dangerous to be attempted; especially under 
 the existing treaty relationship with China. Messrs. 
 Stevenson and Soltau settled, therefore, in Bhamo, 
 laboring not only amongst the Chinese merchants, 
 but among the Burmese, the mountaineers and the 
 Europeans in this cosmopolitan city. 
 
 After long years of waiting, the way opened at last. 
 
266 THESE FORTY YEARS. 
 
 An abandoned trade route was reopened, and the sec- 
 ond caravan from Burmah into China counted among 
 its number these patient travelers from the west. ISTo 
 serious vicissitudes befell them, and before 1880 
 ended they arrived safely at Ta-li, the second city 
 of Yun-nan. On the last night of the old year, 
 Messrs. Stevenson and Soltau had a watch-night meet- 
 ing together, and prayed most earnestly for workers 
 to come and labor, not only for the men, but for the 
 women also. Little did they dream that before their 
 petition was registered on high, the answer was al- 
 ready being prepared, six weeks' journey away, in 
 Kuei-yang. 
 
 But this was not all. The missionaries from Bur- 
 mah traveled on across China, taking the northern 
 route through Si-ch'uan. At Chong-king they met a 
 man who owned a house in Ta-li and was willing to 
 rent to them. The matter was referred to Mr. Tay- 
 lor, who immediately closed with the offer. The deed 
 of rental was duly forwarded to the Clarkes at Kuei- 
 yang by the hand of the brother who came to succeed 
 Mr. Clarke. 
 
 Thus it came about that in the spring of 1881 Mr. 
 and Mrs. George Clarke traveled westward to the 
 province of Yun-nan, leaving their old home and the 
 little grave, no doubt, with aching hearts, but longing 
 to bring the knowledge of Jesus Christ to the people 
 of Yun-nan, and praying that their sorrow might be 
 the means of bringing joy to many hearts. Before 
 mid-summer thcv had reached Ta-li. 
 
THE FIRST WOMEN TO GO INLAND. 267 
 
 Their new home was delightfully situated, over- 
 looking the city wall and enjoying a magnificent pan- 
 orama of the high mountains and the lake. Unhap- 
 pily, there were tenants already in possession, and 
 they apparently considered that possession was nine 
 points of the law, and they refused to move ! Great 
 difficulty was caused, moreover, by the unfriendli- 
 ness of the Eoman Catholics, who hindered Mr. 
 Clarke in every possible way, especially by spreading 
 rumors which kept alive and intensified the people's 
 habitual suspicion. Continued prayer was answered, 
 however, and just before it became necessary to move 
 from their first house, the short lease of six months 
 expiring, one of the literati befriended them and 
 rented them a house of his own, in which they were 
 happily settled before Christmas. 
 
 The new place was a great improvement on the old. 
 Far more trying to the missionaries than mere per- 
 sonal considerations was the terrible wickedness of 
 the people. It seemed to them that they had come to 
 stay in a modern Sodom or Gomorrah. 
 
 Xext month a second station was opened in this 
 province, at the capital, Yun-nan. From this point 
 their nearest neighbors, Mr. Andrew and Mr. Eason, 
 visited them six months later. What a joy it must 
 have been to welcome fellow-workers at that lonely, 
 distant post! After a very refreshing time of fellow- 
 ship together, it was decided that the two younger 
 brethren should remain at Ta-li for a time, exchang- 
 ing places with Mr. and Mrs. Clarke, who went, re- 
 
26S THESE FORTY YEARS. 
 
 garclless of inconvenience and danger, to occupy tlie 
 new station at the capital. 
 
 3>ut at Yun-nan nobody would have anything to 
 do with them. Their landlord wanted them to leave, 
 and no one else would let them have a house. The 
 Catholics were cordially hated at this center; and for 
 a long time the people were unable to believe that 
 Mr. Clarke was any different from the Romanists. 
 Mrs. Clarke had no visitors, nor could she secure a 
 servant, but had to do everything for herself, even 
 do^vn to making her shoes. At this juncture a bright 
 idea occurred to her, and she began distributing 
 n) any-colored picture text-cards among the children 
 of the neighborhood, who soon became friendly, and 
 then began to bring their mothers. This led the way 
 to calls in return, and so the ice was broken. Mean- 
 while, Mr. Clarke was making good progress amongst 
 the men, preaching in different parts of the city, and 
 selling tracts and Scriptures. 
 
 Very glad, indeed, they were, however, after about 
 a year at the capital, to return to their ovtu station, 
 Ta-li, where the beautiful mountain and lake scenery 
 reminded Mrs. Clarke of her own loved home among 
 the Alps of Switzerland. Toward the end of the 
 summer in this year, 1883, another little son was 
 born to the Clarkes, very, very welcome at their 
 distant, lonely home. Happily, Mrs. Clarke and the 
 little one did well; but about this time, Mr. Clarke 
 was greatly disturbed by a vivid dream which came 
 to him twice, to the effect that his wife and himself 
 
THE FIRST WOMEN TO GO INLAND, 260 
 
 were to be parted from each other. Before Mrs. 
 darkens convalescence was complete, a turn for the 
 worse took place : and after some days of suffering, on 
 the Yth of October, she passed peacefully home. 
 
 During the last hours, Mr. Clarke told her some- 
 thing of what those years of happiness had meant to 
 him, and how keenly he had appreciated the courage 
 and devotion which had never flagged, in the face 
 of such journey ings and such difficulties as she had 
 met, year after year, so bravely. "Xo, do not 
 
 flatter me,'^ she whispered. ^'I am the least of all 
 Christians. I feel that I have done less than any 
 woman in the Mission." 
 
 "Take care of my little son,'' she said to the Chi- 
 nese nurse. And when the sun sank low that quiet 
 Sunday evening, flooding the room with golden light, 
 the weary, patient, loyal spirit rested in the arms of 
 Him she loved so well. 
 
 A letter, with inclosures, came for her next day 
 
 from the far-off homeland; and in her lonely grave, 
 
 outside the south gate of the city, she was laid to rest 
 
 by loving hands, with fair Swiss flowers upon her 
 
 breast. 
 
 * * * * * -5^ * 
 
 Meanwhile, other lady workers had been entering 
 the newly-opened provinces, two more of which were 
 opened to woman's work in the year 1881, besides 
 the reinforcements who went up to Kuei-yang. 
 
 In the month of January, 1881, the courageous 
 Miss Wilson, whom we have followed up the Han 
 
270 THESE FORTY YEARS. 
 
 to Han-cliong, traveled on with Mr. and Mrs. George 
 Parker to the remote province of Kan-suh, in the 
 far northwest. Here they commenced work among 
 the women of Ts'in-chau; work which has continued 
 ever since, (^ow, 1902, Ts'in-chau is the most suc- 
 cessful station in this difficult province.) This was 
 in January. 
 
 In December of the same year, Mr. Henry Hunt 
 and his bride went up to the province of Ho-nan, and 
 settled in the important prefectural city of Ru-ning. 
 They were not able, however, to stay very long; for 
 evil rumors were circulated about them, which grew 
 and became so serious that it was necessary, early 
 in the following year, to retrace their steps to 
 Han-kow. - U f i 
 
 About midsummer of the year 1881, also, Mr. 
 Broumton and his wife (formerly Mrs. William Mc- 
 Carthy) returned to the capital of Kuei-chau, taking 
 with them ]\liss Charlotte Kerr, and traveling again 
 across Hu-nan, where, as before, they had many op- 
 portunities of preaching to the women. 
 
 Thus, then, in little more than three years, from 
 October, 1878, to December, 1881, lady workers had 
 settled in six of the newly-opened provinces, and had 
 traveled and evangelized in two others, Ho-nan and 
 Hu-nan. Woman's work in the far interior was 
 
 no longer in the experimental stage. It had proved 
 practicable : and from this time onward, work among 
 the women went forward, in every part of the 
 country, 'pari passu with work among the men. 
 
TtlE FIRST WOMEN TO 00 INLAND. 271 
 
 Tt is difficult noAv^ when the work is so well estab- 
 lished ill every part of the country, to realize how 
 much courage, how much real heroism and devotion 
 it required to take these long journeys, and to settle 
 in the hostile, heathen citadels of the far interior. 
 
CHAPTER XI I. 
 
 AN IDEAL AnSSIONARY. 
 
 Meanwhile, there had arrived in China a new misr- 
 sionary and his wife, for whose coming the Mission 
 and the cause will forever be richer. 
 
 Dr. Harold Schofield was a man of the rarest gifts 
 — equally talented and devoted to the Lord Jesus. 
 During his medical curriculum at Oxford, in London, 
 and on the continent, he had achieved the highest 
 success, winning in scholarships alone more than 
 seven thousand dollars: a list of his degrees fills 
 several lines of type. He himself was greater than 
 his degrees. And he counted it gain to forsake 
 
 all and follow Jesus. Urgently pressed by many 
 to stay at home and make the most of his brilliant 
 opportunities, he felt he could not, he must go where 
 the need was greatest. 
 
 The China Inland Mission had his sympathy; its 
 one aim evangelization, its one means to everything 
 prayer, were entirely to his mind. He was heartily 
 accepted by the Coimcil; and in May, 1880, at the 
 age of twenty-nine, he and his bride — entirely one 
 with him in heart and in spirit — sailed for China. 
 They reached Shanghai at the end of June, and after 
 a brief stay went on to Chefoo for the summer to con- 
 serve strength while they worked at the language. 
 
 272 
 
AN IDEAL MISSIONARY. 273 
 
 The newly-opened doors in the far interior, the 
 blessed opportnnities for work among the women, 
 and the courage and devotion of those early pioneers, 
 both men and women, were cause to them for re- 
 joicing and thanksgiving. They rejoiced in the good 
 hand of God upon the work, and felt not a little en- 
 couraged at the outset. The difficulties, the 
 urgent need for more workers, and the shortness of 
 funds did not distress them. They hnew the Lord 
 would pro^dde what was needed for the advancement 
 of His own great ends. 
 
 After four months' study at the language, the time 
 came to go inland; and they set out for the central 
 northern province of Shan-si, in which the extensive 
 famine relief work had resulted in exceptional oppor- 
 tunities. Their destination, T'ai-yuan, the capital, is 
 one of the most important cities in ^NTorth China. To 
 reach it, they crossed a lofty range of mountains, 
 from which one descends gradually to the plateau, 
 three thousand feet above the sea, near the northern 
 end of which the city stands, an admirable vantage 
 point for widespread influence. 
 
 In this center they soon commenced their twofold 
 w^ork; Dr. Schofield being the only medical man in 
 a province larger than England, with a population 
 of, perhaps, ten million souls. His heart's desire 
 had been to labor where the need was greatest. 
 Surely, it was gratified! 
 
 Dr. and Mrs. Schofield naturally felt, and were 
 not alone in feeling, the need for more workers. 
 
 18 
 
274 THESE FORTY YEARS. 
 
 Especially during the closing months of this year, 
 1880, prayer was going np thronghout the Mission 
 for reinforcements, and also for more means to carry 
 on the work. 
 
 His old friends would perhaps have been amused to 
 see the doctor in his blue cotton gown and short black, 
 wide-sleeved overcoat, with his black satin shoes, his 
 shaven head and plaited queue: but the man had 
 foimd his sphere. Dr. Schofield was entirely satis- 
 fied with his field and with his opportunity. "To 
 me it seems unutterably sad,'' he wrote, ''that now, 
 more than eighteen hundred years after the ascend- 
 ing Saviour gave His great commission to 'go into all 
 the world and preach the Gospel to every creature,' 
 there should be hundreds of millions in this vast em- 
 pire who have never so much as heard of Christ! 
 
 "When I was preparing to come to China . . . 
 some of my best friends tried to dissuade me, on the 
 plea that there was so much to be done at home. How 
 much I wish that they, and all who use this argu- 
 ment, could live here for awhile, and see and feel 
 the need for themselves. They would then be dis- 
 posed to ask, not whether I had a special call to go 
 to China, but whether they have any special call to 
 remain in England." 
 
 The doctor's principal difficulty during the year 
 1881 was to obtain sufficient time for the study of 
 the language, in addition to his medical and evan- 
 gelistic duties. Happily, his exceptional gifts stood 
 him in good stead, and he made rapid progress; at 
 
AN IDEAL MISSIONARY. 275 
 
 the same time carrying on, with characteristic enthu- 
 siasm, his double service. In addition to tlie work of 
 dispensary and hospital, wliich might well have ab- 
 sorbed his time, Dr. Schofield made opportunities for 
 preaching the Gospel throughout the city, in street, 
 temple and teashop, wherever a hearing could be 
 gained. 
 
 ^^Did I tell you,'^ one wrote of him, 'Svhat a capital 
 street preacher Dr. Schofield is becoming? I often 
 envy him the power. He reiterates a truth until 
 some one takes it up and translates it into the local 
 dialect, which is very different from the mandarin." 
 
 ^'We are very happy," he wrote himself one day, 
 ^'^nd I feel more thankful every day for the privilege 
 of being permitted to labor for the Lord where the 
 need is so great." 
 
 The doctor wisely limited liis indoor work as much 
 as possible the first year, treating only about fifty 
 in-patients, but thirty times as many out-patients. 
 The following year, however, with a greatly im- 
 proved grasp of the language, the doctor was able 
 to attempt much more, and both in- and out-patients 
 were doubled. The opportunities for work in the 
 surrounding country and neighboring towns, which 
 the medical work created, emphasized the need of 
 reinforcements, for which Dr. Schofield daily prayed, 
 especially during 1882. 
 
 One of his patients, a blind man, laboriously made 
 his way fifty miles to the capital. It took him half 
 a month. First one eve and then the other was 
 
276 THESE FORTY YEARS. 
 
 operated on for cataract, and with restored vision 
 and a thankful heart the man returned, reaching 
 home in two or three days. It was the keenest pleas- 
 ure to the doctor to be able to relieve so much suffer- 
 ing, and to bring the Gospel to bear for the first time 
 upon so many lives. 
 
 During this second year, 1882, thirty cases of sui- 
 cide came under treatment. Of these, twenty-seven 
 were by opium, a drug which has cursed Shan-si per- 
 haps as much as any province in China. It is a com- 
 mon saying among the people that "eleven men out of 
 every ten" habitually use the drug. "Another year's 
 experience," the doctor wrote, ^'deepens my convic- 
 tion that opium smoking is a terrible curse, physi- 
 cally, socially, and morally." 
 
 The work soon outgrew the original premises. And 
 an ever-widening circle of influence and of friends 
 cheered the hearts of the workers. A little son and 
 daughter, also, came to perfect the happiness of their 
 home. 
 
 "The good doctor" the people called him. He was 
 equally beloved and trusted by missionaries and 
 people. During the summer of 1883 the doctor gave 
 much time to prayer, pleading particularly for rein- 
 forcements and for greater blessing on the work. 
 One petition, that was often on his lips, was that 
 God would touch the hearts of young university meUy 
 and cultured and gifted women, and call them out 
 into this needy field, where there was such ample 
 scope for the largest and most varied gifts. He 
 
AN IDEAL MISSIONARY. 277 
 
 prayed for them. And lie felt, and trusted God that 
 they would come. And they did. 
 
 Just at the height of the long, hot summer, a 
 patient was brought to see the doctor, suffering from 
 virulent diphtheria. Reluctantly the doctor declined 
 to keep him in the hospital, for the sake of the other 
 patients. Somehow or other the man eluded the 
 gatekeeper, and hid, and remained all night, in a 
 room on a partly unoccupied courtyard. In the 
 morning the doctor was called to see him, and found 
 him dead. A few days later, the doctor himself was 
 seriously unwell; and before long the temperature 
 ran up high, and grave symptoms supervened. Every- 
 thing that could be done under the circumstances 
 was done. His constitution was good : he was young 
 and vigorous. "God grant," they cried, ''that he 
 may pull through!'' 
 
 The beloved physician's own prayer, day by day, 
 was for patience and that the will of God might be 
 done. For a long, terrible week the high fever 
 
 continued, and on the last day of July it began to 
 run still higher, to 106 degrees, 107 degrees, lOS 
 degrees, and in the small hours of next morning he 
 fell asleep. 
 
 "Has the good doctor gone?" the people said. 
 "Alas, alas !" Loving farewell he sent to Mr. 
 
 Taylor and the Council . . . "Tell them these three 
 years in China have been far the happiest of my 
 life." 
 
 It may be that through the story of his life and 
 
278 THESE FORTY TEAKS. 
 
 its crowning years of service in Shan-si the Lord will 
 touch the heart of some other gifted young physi- 
 cian, calling hini^ or her, to turn from the pursuit 
 of earth's emoluments and laurels, to win ^'a crown 
 of glory that fadeth not away" in the service of the 
 Master, in a land that has no doctors, and from 
 which has been held back the knowledge of salvation 
 for nineteen hundred years. Such will regret it as 
 little as did the devoted Harold Schofield. 
 
 Of all men in China, no one is so w^elcome and so 
 readily received, even among those inclined to be 
 hostile, as the missionary-doctor. He has the blessed 
 privilege of folloAving, closely, the footsteps of Him 
 who went everywhere, ''preaching the Gospel and 
 healing the sick." In China, to-day (1902), there is 
 but one medical missionary to each two millions of 
 people. 
 
 x\nd no work is more remunerative in winning 
 souls. The late Dr. McKenzie, of Tien-tsin, operated 
 ''upon the eyes of two girls in one family, and gave 
 them sight, and then the mother was operated on 
 successfully. She had never seen her children, and 
 her delight and gratitude knew no bounds." As the 
 result, all three were converted, the father also, and 
 many others, and a successful church of a hundred 
 or more is now to be found in their village. 
 
 Christ commands it. Pity demands it. And ex- 
 perience has proved its use. 
 
CHAPTER XII I. 
 
 "other seventy also.'' 
 
 As we have seen, about the time that Dr. and .Mrs. 
 Schofield went inland to coninience their medical mis- 
 sion in Shan-si, much prayer went up to God for rein- 
 forcements, and for more abundant funds. For a 
 time it almost seemed as if no answer came. Far 
 from losing heart, however, a spirit of intercession 
 seemed to rest upon the missionaries, and still more 
 earnest prayer ascended the following fall. A special 
 meeting was called at Wu-ch'ang, central China, for 
 the purpose of waiting upon (^od. As nuiny mem- 
 bers of the Mission as practicable were invited for 
 several days of prayer and conference. 
 
 At that time about a hundred members of the 
 Mission were working in seventy stations and out- 
 stations. Laborers, women as well as men, had set- 
 tled in the far interior, but there was yet very much 
 land to be possessed; and open doors, never open be- 
 fore, were inviting the Church to obey her Lord's last 
 command and evangelize the nations. 
 
 It was a strange contrast at Wu-ch'ang— that un- 
 mense heathen city, the seat of the ^dceroy of the 
 two central provinces, Hu-peh and Hu-nan, with its 
 busy life, its commerce, its gayety, its idol worship 
 and all its miserv and degradation on the one hand: 
 
 1^79 
 
280 THESE FORTY YEAllS. 
 
 and that company of men and women, few and un- 
 known, with no strength or might whatever but the 
 strength which comes from knowing God! There 
 
 they gathered, and prayed, and took counsel together 
 before the Lord. What would He have them to do? 
 
 Through His blessing every effort of the Mission 
 thus far had been crowned with success. The work 
 of unordained missionaries and of lady evangelists 
 had been sealed wdth approval and blessing from the 
 King of kings. Souls had been won and churches 
 founded in many scattered centers through the coun- 
 try; but what had been done was as nothing to the 
 work that remained. What were six hundred Prot- 
 estant missionaries, all told, including the little band 
 of a hundred or more in the China Inland Mission, to 
 four hundred millions of proud, superstitious, bigoted 
 heathen? Surely the Lord was purposing to do 
 greater things than these ! Very earnestly they asked 
 the Lord, "What woiildst Thou have us to do?'' 
 
 The needs of each province and of each station 
 were considered in detail: two were urgently needed 
 here to reinforce a work that had been specially 
 prospered ; four were needed there in a distant prov- 
 ince to open two new stations; a married couple were 
 required to relieve two workers who had grown weary 
 through the climate and the multitudes of sin-sick 
 souls that crowded round to listen. One by one the 
 opportunities and opening's were carefully considered ; 
 and the conclusions arrived at, after much prayer and 
 waiting upon God, were recorded by the secretary. 
 
<^r.rrTT^.^T> 0^,r..,.r r„.. ?? 
 
 OTHER SEVENTY ALSO. ' 281 
 
 When they added up the long list, it appeared that 
 seventy new workers were urgently needed. 
 
 But what could they do? For some years funds 
 had been low and suitable missionary candidates few 
 and far between. Certainly there were difficulties, 
 probably more tlian immediately appeared; but two 
 things were certain: one, that they had been 
 earnestly waiting on God for guidance with reference 
 to His work entrusted to them; and tlie other, that 
 they had felt unanimously guided of Him to 3esire 
 these reinforcements. They had asked God to mak<' 
 His will clear, to show them what to pray for; and if 
 they had been guided of Him, as they believed, they 
 might with all confidence pray for the seventy 
 workers needed, assured that He Who had prompted 
 the prayer would also grant the petition. It would 
 not be possible, however, with their present equip- 
 ment — with the then existing premises and statt' — to 
 receive and train and escort to their various stations 
 so large a nmnber at once. They prayed, therefore, 
 with this in mind, that the Lord would graciously 
 send the seventy within three years — 1882, 1883, 
 1884. Funds were short, applicants were few, but 
 God Almighty, the hearer and answerer of prayer, 
 was with them, and on Xovember 25, 1881, they 
 spread out their list and their petition before th(» 
 Lord with one mind and one heart. 
 
 An appeal was then drawn up and forwarded to 
 each member of the Mission for prayerful considera- 
 tion, and, if they cordially approved, for signature. 
 
282 THESE FOETY YEARS. 
 
 After referring to the terrible needs of China, so well 
 known on the field, and to the awful famine in the 
 north in which so many had perished for lack of the 
 earthly bread, it went on to say : "Provinces in China 
 compare in area with kingdoms in Europe. . . . One 
 province has no missionary, another has only one, an 
 umnarried man ; in each of two other provinces only 
 one missionary and his wife are resident, and none 
 are sufficiently supplied with laborers. Can we leave 
 matters thus without incurring the sin of bloodguilti- 
 ness?'' 
 
 It then went on to invite the Church of God at 
 home to join in '^fervent, effectual prayer" for more 
 workers for every Society, of the Old World or New, 
 which was working in China ; and for the China In- 
 land Mission forty-two men and twenty-eight women 
 to continue and enlarge the work. 
 
 "We are not anxious as to means for sending them 
 forth or sustaining them. He has told us to look at 
 the birds and the flowers, and to take no thought for 
 these things. . . . But we are concerned that only 
 men and women called of God, fully consecrated . . . 
 should come out to join us." Seventy-seven members 
 of the Mission joined in this appeal, which Was sent 
 home for publication in China^s Millions and other 
 suitable papers. 
 
 It was not long before the answer began to come. 
 Early next year the first party of the seventy arrived, 
 and slowly others followed. Funds, however, con- 
 tinued to be short, and toward the end of this year 
 
«/^^r,TTT7^T» o-r,TT-r,T.Tmxr » t o^ ?> 
 
 OTHER SEVENTY ALSO." 283 
 
 1882 a good many in the homeland began to be trou- 
 bled about the whole matter, wondering whether the 
 time had really come for such advance. Was the 
 thing of God, after all? 
 
 Hearing of this feeling, a little group of workers 
 at Chefoo joined Mr. Taylor about the end of Janu- 
 ary or beginning of February, in special prayer. 
 "We knew," said Mr. Taylor, "^that our Father loves 
 to please His children. AVhat father does not? And 
 we asked Him lovingly to please us, as well as en- 
 courage the timid ones, by leading one of His 
 wealthy stewards to make room for a large blessing 
 for himself and his family by giving liberally for 
 this special object." Of this little private meeting at 
 Chefoo no record was kept and no word sent home: 
 or, if any, it was telegraphed home by way of the 
 central station before the throne of God. 
 
 On February 2nd there was sent in, mthout any 
 name, about fifteen thousand dollars for this purpose. 
 It was sent with these details written under the text 
 beginning, "Ask of Me and I shall give thee:" 
 
 Father £1,000 
 
 Mother 1,000 
 
 Mary 200 
 
 Rosie 200 
 
 Bertie 200 
 
 Amy 200 
 
 Heni-y 200 
 
 £3,000 
 
284 THESE FORTY YEARS. 
 
 *^I^otice how liberally God had fulfilled our prayer 
 and led His servant to make room for a large blessing 
 for himself and his family. ISTever before had a 
 donation been received and acknowledged in this 
 way. A beautiful instance of a loving father who 
 seeks that his children shall have treasure in heaven!" 
 
 Gift after gift of funds came in, and far more im- 
 portant, "willing, skillful workers" offered, were 
 tested and selected and sent forth to the field. "We 
 had prayed in faith," wrote Mr. Taylor, "and made 
 our boast in God. When the time elapsed, were we 
 put to shame? ISTay, verily!" This, and more also, 
 God did for us. "Exceeding abundantly, above all 
 that ye ask," is His way of answering believing 
 prayer. During the three years, 1882-84, seventy- 
 six workers arrived in China, and yet others were 
 accepted, whose outgoing was delayed on account of 
 the Franco-Chinese War. 
 
 'Not only were the workers sent; but they were the 
 very kind of workers that had been asked. Among 
 them were three medical men and not a few others 
 who have become prominent members of the Mis- 
 sion. The last party included Miss Murray and her 
 sister, who have rendered such invaluable service in 
 the Training Home at Yang-chau, and several of the 
 leaders in a new venture of faith among the women 
 of China. 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 A NEW SPHERE FOR WOMAN. 
 
 Thus far, woman's work in China had been con- 
 siderably restricted. In every sphere of service 
 it is important to consider the prejudices of the 
 people; and in the Orient every young woman is 
 married, almost without exception; and women under 
 forty, except among the poorest classes, are seldom, 
 if ever, seen outside their husbands' homes. The 
 people in the interior seldom travel far, with the ex- 
 ception of the relatively small classes of road coolies, 
 merchants and mandarins; and among those who do 
 travel, only the officials usually take their ladies with 
 them. 
 
 If the coming, then, of the missionaries' wives 
 seems strange, how much stranger must be the ar- 
 rival of young unmarried women! The fact is, the 
 whole system of Christianity is strange and novel in 
 China. The conduct of the missionaries, all of them, 
 in coming so far from home, -with no tangible object 
 (as it seems to many), provokes surprise. But it is 
 only a nine days' wonder, after all, and there are no 
 people more ready and more accustomed to acknowl- 
 edge unaccountable facts than the Chinese. 
 
 The early years of the Mission's history had proved 
 that single ladies could do a blessed work among the 
 
 285 
 
286 THESE EORTY YEARS. 
 
 women, from which the hands of married women 
 were partly hindered by the claims of home and 
 family. Moreover, women in China have a position 
 which it is not very easy for a foreigner to under- 
 stand. Being the weaker, they too often go to the 
 wall, as in every heathen eoimtry in the world; and 
 where they have no strong relatives to defend them, 
 the younger women especially often suffer unspeak- 
 ably. And yet, woman has a place and a power in 
 China which is not accorded her in any other non- 
 Christian land. In the first place, the very seclusion 
 of the women in their homes, among the great ma- 
 jority of the people, is a protection; a protection, the 
 need for which it is hardly possible to estimate away 
 from heathen surroundings. Then, again, the mother 
 of a family, especially the mother of sons, will be 
 the object of worship after death to the children, 
 equally with their father. And while she lives she 
 is respected, and consulted about many things that 
 concern the home. Indeed, in many cases where the 
 wife shows any degree of ability, the affairs of the 
 household are left largely to her control. Thus are 
 developed characteristics of self-reliance and of 
 power which would command respect in any land. 
 
 When, then, into the homes of the people young 
 missionary women enter, with hearts full of love, the 
 bearers of tidings of incredible gladness and comfort 
 to these isolated lives, their kindliness, their help- 
 fulness, their manifest sincerity soon win a place in 
 the esteem of the community. 
 
A NEW SPHERE FOR WOMAN. 28? 
 
 In the spring of 1886, Mr. Taylor, accompanied 
 by Miss Murray, her sister, and one or two others, 
 took a memorable journey through two provinces. 
 Starting from Hang-chau, they journeyed across 
 the Cheh-kiang province, over tlie mountains into 
 Kiang-si, and down the Kuang-sin river to Kiu-kiang, 
 a populous port on the Yang-tse. 
 
 Before we trace their journey, let us look back a 
 decade; for work had been started among those 
 mountains and along the Kuang-sin river, in a deeply 
 interesting way. In 1875, Dr. and Mrs. Douthwaite 
 commenced a medical mission in the city of Kiu-chau, 
 Cheh-kiang, at the foot of the mountains. Its fame 
 soon spread abroad: and from near and far the pa- 
 tients came, hearing, of course, the Gospel from the 
 doctor and his assistants. 
 
 That same year, in the neigliboring city of Kin- 
 hwa. Dr. Douthwaite met a remarkable man: a 
 captain in the army during the T'ai-p'ing rebellion, 
 lie had become a Buddhist devotee, and for years had 
 been preaching the tenets of a reformed Buddhist 
 sect. Traveling extensively, and taking neither 
 money nor provisions for the way, this man had 
 preached his "new religion," and hundreds, and in- 
 deed, thousands had joined the ranks. Earnest, gen- 
 tlemanly, fearless, his influence was felt wherever he 
 went. In him Dr. Douthwaite found at once an eager 
 listener, and soon a true believer. Next year the man 
 applied for baptism, saying: "I believe what you tell 
 me of the God of Heaven is true, and that all my 
 
288 THESE FORTY YEARS. 
 
 preacHing for twenty years has been in vain. I 
 
 have led hundreds on the ^vrong road, and now I want 
 to lead them in the way of Truth. Let me go out to 
 preach. I ask no wages. I want no money. I only 
 seek to serve the Lord Jesus." 
 
 The doctor bade him Godspeed, and sent him out 
 into Kiang-si. Two weeks later he returned with a 
 jovial looking farmer, named Liang, who exclaimed, 
 as he met the missionary, "I have been seeking the 
 Truth for forty years, and only now have found it — 
 found it through you." 
 
 He wanted to be baptized at once. Delay and 
 further teaching were advised, as usual, but the old 
 man would take no denial. He was old. Who 
 knew? He might never be able to come again. ^^Ko, 
 teacher," he said, ^'1 am ready. I believe everything 
 vou say, and there is no reason why I should not be 
 baptized." "I did not see any reason myself," wrote 
 Dr. Douthwaite, "so I baptized him, and he went 
 home rejoicing in his new-found Friend." Ere 
 
 long he returned with six or seven neighbors, who 
 had given up idolatry, and accepted Christ through 
 his means; and later, nine others were brought in 
 through them. 
 
 Little companies of Christians were gathered in 
 this way through the work of Captain Yu. He car- 
 ried his own bed, as many do in China, and preached 
 the Gospel wlierever he could gain a hearing. One 
 day a young farmer, walking with him toward Yuh- 
 shan, kindly offered to carry the old man's bundle for 
 
A NEW SPHERE FOR WOMAN. 289 
 
 a spell. In return, the old Christian told him the 
 Glad Tidings and gave him a 'New Testament, nrging 
 him to read it. ^'Young Tung went home some 
 tv/enty miles to Ta-yang, fully convinced of the truth 
 of the Gospel, and straightway began to preach him- 
 self. Wlien I visited him tliere, nine months later, 
 1 found that every man and woman in the village 
 had heard the Gospel, and for thirty miles around 
 many of the peasants had also been reached." 
 
 The young man's brother was about to be married, 
 and both his family and the bride's desired a Chris- 
 tian wedding. Dr. Douthwaite accordingly married 
 them — the first Christian wedding in that province, 
 probably. Next year Dr. Douthwaite had the joy 
 of baptizing fifteen in that village. 
 
 Thus the good work was started around the upper 
 waters of the Kuang-sin river, and continued to grow 
 during the years whicli followed, a chapel being 
 rented meanwhile in one of the suburbs of Yuh-shan, 
 to which a resident native missionary was duly ap- 
 pointed. By the year 1885 there were fifty con- 
 verts connected with this little church, but still no 
 foreign worker. 
 
 Before this time. Dr. and Mrs. Douthwaite had 
 been transferred to the increasingly important center 
 at Chefoo, where the medical work and his wise judg- 
 ment and true spirituality made him a power for 
 good. Mr. and Mrs. David Thompson took charge 
 of the Kiu-chau work in 1885, and they were joined 
 in the fall by two of the last party of the seventy, 
 
 19 
 
290 THESE FORTY YEARS 
 
 Miss Mackintosh and Miss Gibson. Here tlie ladies 
 continued their study of the language, having been 
 out less than a year; and spent half their tiine, as is 
 the custom in the Mission, in the native work, visit- 
 ing the homes of the women and carrying on a school 
 for the girls. 
 
 After some months of study and work, Miss Gibson 
 Avas feeling considerably wearied and not very well, 
 and was recommended to go away for a week's rest 
 to the beautiful out-station of Ch'ang-shan, among 
 the mountains. 
 
 She went, and was welcomed by a dozen native 
 Christians, all men, who were delighted that their 
 station should have a visit from a lady missionary; 
 for they, poor fellows, had been having an excep- 
 tionally difficult tune. J^ot a single woman had been 
 converted, and if they attempted to pray in their 
 OA\m homes, their wives made so much fun and so 
 much noise that prayer was utterly impossible. Eeal- 
 izing that seasons of prayer were indispensable to 
 their Christian life, the men took counsel together, 
 and hired a little place where they could be alone 
 with God, and might meet for worship on Sundays. 
 They had argued with their wives; they had used 
 every means they could think of to win them to the 
 Saviour, but without avail. The women would have 
 "none of their nonsense.'' 
 
 As soon as it became known that Miss Gibson had 
 arrived, curiosity, a leading characteristic of most 
 Chinese women, got the better of hostility, and they 
 
A NEW SPHEKE FOR WOMAN. 201 
 
 came to pay their respects to the solitary foreigner. 
 Xo detail of Miss Gibson's appearance or dress es- 
 caped their scrutiny. After all the curious (juestionB 
 were answered, Miss Gibson of course improved the 
 occasion by telling them of One they ought to know, 
 One Who had brought a message of comfort and 
 peace and joy, which should gladden the hearts of 
 women all over the world. Tenderly and lovingly 
 she preached to them Jesus. 
 
 It sounded strangely different, this story- which 
 their husbands had told them in fragments, but which 
 now a sister told them so gently and with such mani- 
 fest sympathy and kindness. Their hearts went out 
 to the lonely worker and they did their best to make 
 her feel at home. "You will not be lonely," they 
 said. "We will take care that you shall not l>e lonely 
 as long as you stay with us." 
 
 And they did. Evening came on and still her vis- 
 itors remained. She talked with them as long as she 
 had strength, and then suggested that perhaps it was 
 time for them to go home. But no; their husbands 
 knew where they were, and would not be anxious. Tt 
 was all right. They were in no hurry. And finally 
 Miss Gibson had to retire from sheer exhaustion with 
 them still in her room, and laughingly said, as she 
 blew out the light: "IS^ow you cannot see me any 
 more. You had better go home and come again to- 
 morrow, when I will tell you more about Jesus, the 
 Friend of all who need Him." And laughing, they 
 went awav. 
 
292 THESE FORTY YEAR9 
 
 Early next morning they came, sure enough. Day 
 after day Miss Gibson was kept busy from morning 
 till night preaching the Gospel to the women of 
 Ch'ang-shan. She was sent there for change and rest. 
 Change she certainly had: but the only rest she ob- 
 tained was the heart rest of knowing that these 
 women were now receiving, and many of them gladly 
 receiving, the good tidings of eternal life. 
 
 When Mr. Taylor and his party, after crossing 
 Cheh-kiang, reached this district, they were joined 
 at Kiu-chau by Miss Mackintosh and Miss Gibson. 
 After a brief stay, the journey was continued, and 
 the first out-station they came to was this Ch'ang- 
 shan. 
 
 Here the Christians gathered around Mr. Taylor. 
 (It was some weeks after Miss Gibson's visit.) And 
 there gathered an equal number of women and of 
 men. On previous visits men only had welcomed the 
 missionary: now they and their wives seemed equally 
 eager to greet him! ^Tf," said the men to Mr. Tay- 
 lor, "the visit of a woman missionary among us for a 
 single week can bring about such a change as this, 
 what would not result if we had such a missionary all 
 to ourselves!" 
 
 They wanted Mr. Taylor to assign them a worker 
 at once. This was more than he could promise. Such 
 a thing had never been heard of as single ladies going 
 alone to take charge of a station in China. Finding 
 that Mr. Taylor could not promise them a worker 
 right away, still they pleaded, "Well, will you 
 
A NEW SPHERE FOR WOMAN. 293 
 
 praj?" and Mr. Taylor gave tlieiii his word that he 
 would. 
 
 Farther on, over the border, the party of mission- 
 aries found the little church at Yuh-shan in a very 
 feeble and unsatisfactory condition. Still farther, as 
 they traveled do^vn the Kuang-sin river, they found a 
 little group of inquirers none of whom had been bap- 
 tized, and nothing whatever had been done for the 
 women. At the city of Ih-yang their hearts went out 
 to the crowds of people without the Light, and they 
 prayed God to open a station there. Still lower, at 
 Kwei-k'i, they were present at the baptism of the first 
 convert, but here also nothing had been attempted 
 for the women. Here and there were little compa- 
 nies of Christians, but they were as sheep "without a 
 shepherd; and millions of souls all around were still 
 waiting for the Tidings which had been their birth- 
 right for many centuries. 
 
 There were no men available to take up this work. 
 There were a few women, lliss Gibson had been 
 prospered of the Lord during her visit at Ch'ang- 
 shan; why should not similar and longer visits of 
 lady workers be equally blessed in winning souls? 
 After much thought and prayer, it was determined 
 to make the experiment. And very earnestly were 
 these brave pioneers commended to the safe-keeping 
 of Him Who never slumbers nor sleeps. IsTative pas- 
 tors, trained and ready for the work, were sent out 
 with them. Miss Mackintosh was appointed to work 
 at and around Yuh-shan, and three other ladies also 
 
20-4 THESE FORTY YEARS 
 
 M-ent forward to this work — Miss Webb and Miss 
 Gray to the lower reaches of the river, and Miss 
 Byron to Ch'ang-shan. 
 
 It must have been a touching sight to see these 
 four workers starting out from Kiu-kiang on a little 
 native houseboat on their untried way. Brave hearts 
 and full of faith they must have had to do it! 
 
 Very conspicuously did the blessing of God rest 
 upon the labors of these women and others who fol- 
 lowed. Mr. Hudson Taylor has often said that, to 
 his mind, no station in the Mission is more entirely 
 satisfactory than one of the 'ladies' stations" that 
 were opened the next few years along the Kuang-sin 
 river. 
 
 The work was carried on by lady evangelists and 
 native pastors, and by that very fact the Christian 
 men were all the more developed. What the women 
 missionaries could not and would not do, they must. 
 More than in most stations the strength of the native 
 churches was developed and a blessed work of God 
 went forward through that region. The work at 
 Kwei-k'i has grown until now the parent station is 
 surrounded by twenty or more daughter churches in 
 neighboring villages and towns, vigorous out-stations 
 worked almost entirely by unpaid native helpers. 
 And most of the chapels have been provided by the 
 native Christians unaided. 
 
 This matter of an efficient native agency has long 
 been recognized as the central problem in the evan- 
 gelization of the great heathen nations. And in this 
 
A NEW SPHEEE FOR WOMAN. 296 
 
 way, somewhat unexpectedly, it received one of its 
 solutions. 
 
 It was mid-summer, 1886, when these four ladies 
 started across the Po-yang lake and up the Kuang-sin 
 river to their new sphere of service. For some 
 months Miss Mackintosh worked in the district 
 around Yuh-shan, traveling and visiting the homes 
 of the Christians and preaching the Gospel to the 
 women Avherever she went, while native helpers 
 worked among the men; and it was not until Janu- 
 ary of the folloAving year, 1887, that she obtained a 
 settled home in Yuh-shan. 
 
 Two or three months later, in the spring. Miss 
 Gibson was stationed at Ho-k'eo, and Mr. Hudson 
 Taylor's daughter. Miss M. H. Taylor, settled at 
 Kwei-k'i. Miss Webb and Miss Gray, on their first 
 arrival, also lived chiefly in boats and traveled 
 widely. What difficulties they had to face! What 
 crowds gathered round them! "Are they really 
 women?'' was a question often asked. Mute with 
 terror, one villager vanished into her house on seeing 
 them, and returned with an old woman, wild-eyed 
 and rake in hand, to meet any possible attack. 
 
 Often friendly women would escort them from 
 house to house as they Avent about their blessed busi- 
 ness, saying eagerly as they introduced them to fresh 
 groups of listeners, "Tell them too. Tell them 
 too." "They always listen so anxiously," Miss 
 
 Webb says, "to know if the good news is really for 
 them." Difficulties there Avere indeed, many 
 
296 THESE FOETY YEARS. 
 
 and great, but the Lord was with the workers. And 
 He conquers all. 
 
 A worker from another part of China, visiting the 
 station at Yuh-shan some two or three years later, 
 wrote enthusiastically of the work, and was greatly 
 refreshed in spirit by her fellowship with the Chris- 
 tians, who now numbered more than a hundred — 
 every one of them intimately known by the frail but 
 indefatigable Miss Mackintosh. The visitor was 
 greatly pleased, also, with the perfect sympathy 
 which evidently existed between the missionary and 
 the pastor, Mr. Chang. 
 
 "I never do anything without consulting him," she 
 said, "and the consequence is that he is equally open 
 with me, and we share all the burdens together. The 
 people are aware of this. They know he tells me 
 everything and that I always seek his advice, what- 
 ever the question may be.'' 
 
 'New converts were added to the churches, and new 
 circles entered year by year; and the work has con- 
 tinued to groAv ever since. That chain of women's 
 stations has long passed the stage of experiment, and 
 now, not only in Kiang-si, but in many other prov- 
 inces, are to be found settled stations under the care 
 of lady workers, assisted by native pastors, who take 
 the lead in all the meetings of the church, while the 
 sisters labor and pray continually for the blessing of 
 God on the pastors, on their wives and on the work. 
 Periodical visits are paid to all these stations by the 
 Superintendent of the province, and to his judgment 
 
A NEW SPHERE FOE WOMAN. 297 
 
 all questions of difficulty are referred. Within the 
 last two or three years a married missionary has been 
 located at one of the principal Kuang-sin stations. 
 
 Is there any country in the world with a greater 
 field for consecrated women, or a greater need, than 
 China? 
 
CHAP TEE XY. 
 
 ANOTHER ANSWER TO PRAYER. 
 
 As we have seen, the years 1882, 1883 and 1884 
 witnessed the answer to definite united prayer in the 
 outgoing of more than seventy workers in the China 
 Inland Mission, and that, in addition to those who 
 went, there were others accepted but kept back for a 
 season by the Franco-Chinese War. 
 
 Among the latter were seven young men, whose 
 departure for China attracted more than usual in- 
 terest. This was called forth, not so much by the 
 work they went to do, as by the men that went to 
 do it. The two leaders were widely kno^vn through- 
 out the British Isles as men of physical prowess: 
 Stanley Smith having been the stroke oar of the Cam- 
 bridge eight, and Charles Studd not only the captain 
 cricketer of the Cambridge eleven, but also, perhaps, 
 the finest gentleman bowler in the world. Five of the 
 seven, including these, were graduates of Cambridge, 
 and the remaining two were officers in crack regi- 
 ments, the "Royal Artillery" and '^Dragoon Guards.^' 
 Their outgoing naturally attracted attention, espe- 
 cially that of young university students, to whom the 
 names of Stanley Smith and Charlie Studd were as 
 household words. 
 
 But for tliosc wlio know them, they had another 
 298 
 
ANOTHEi; .VN.SWKi: Tu l'J{AVi;i;. ■2\)[) 
 
 aud a greater attraction. They were men of spiritual 
 power, and relied upon the guidance and the blessing 
 of the Holy Spirit in all they said and did, and their re- 
 nunciation of home and the brilliant prospects around 
 them, to go and ''bury themselves" in the heart of 
 China, among an uncultured, unsympathetic and, in- 
 deed, hostile heathen people, Avas but part of the 
 whole — an entire personal devotion to the Lord 
 Jesus Christ Himself, which led them to desire, above 
 all things, to do His will, and to gratify the longings 
 of His heart. 
 
 Their farewell meeting in London crowded one of 
 its largest halls : and one who was present wrote, after 
 referring to the athletic and other records of the 
 men, "It was a sight to stir the heart, and a striking 
 testimony to the poiuer of the uplifted Christ to draw 
 to Himself, not the weak, the emotional and the illit- 
 erate only, but all that is noblest in strength and finest 
 in culture. 
 
 "As we stood among that vast audience, we could 
 not but be struck by the intense earnestness, the en- 
 thusiasm for Jesus Christ, and the overflowing hap- 
 piness of these outgoing missionaries. It is no un- 
 worthy prospect, surely, no mean ambition which has 
 called forth all that is best and deepest in these young 
 and consecrated lives.'' 
 
 And the purpose and the consecration which were 
 read in their faces, and breathed through their words 
 that evening, have lived and borne fruit in the years 
 that have followed. For all of them are still engaged 
 
300 THESE FORTY YEARS. 
 
 in missionary service. One, under urgent medical 
 necessity, has changed his field, at any rate for a 
 time. The other six remain to-day valued members 
 of the China Inland Mission; one, Lieutenant 
 Hoste, being the Acting General Director during Mr. 
 Taylor's comparative ill-health; another having been 
 consecrated Bishop of Western China by the Arch- 
 bishop of Canterbury, and superintending not only 
 a considerable number of the Episcopal members of 
 the China Inland Mission, but also their fellow- 
 workers of the Church Missionary Society, who are 
 laboring in this inland diocese. 
 
 ^^We do not go to that far field," said Stanley 
 Smith that evening, '^to tell of doctrines merely, but 
 of a living, present Christ. . . . From the Cross of 
 Calvary the face of Jesus still cries, ^I thirst.' 
 
 ^'Ah, that divine thirst ! It has not yet been 
 quenched; it has hardly begun to be quenched. He 
 thirsts for the Chinese, Africans, Hindus, South 
 Americans. Are there none here who would fain 
 quench His thirst? 
 
 "David thirsted for the waters of Bethlehem, and 
 three of his followers broke through the ranks of 
 the enemy, and, at the risk of their lives, brought 
 him this water. Shall not this Mightier than David 
 have His thirst quenched to-night ? Shall not the Man 
 of Sorrows have His great heart rejoiced by men and 
 women offering themselves for the work of spreading 
 the glorious Gospel ? Christ yearns over this earth. 
 What are we going to do? 
 
ANOTHER ANSWER TO PRAYER. 301 
 
 "And now a last word. ... To each He comes 
 with tender love, and pointing to the wounds in His 
 pierced side, He asks, ^Lovest thou me?' 
 
 '' 'Yea, Lord, Thou knowest that I love Thee,' 
 What is the test of love ? 'Ye are my friends if ye 
 do whatsoever I command you.' 
 
 " 'What, Master, do You command V 'Go ye into 
 all the world, and preach the Gospel to every 
 creature.' " 
 
 A year and a half before, a lonely worker was 
 kneeling, away in the heart of North China, pouring 
 out his soul to God in prayer. His wife passing 
 across the open courtyard, heard the burden of his 
 prayer — that God would call forth reinforcements, 
 especially men of the highest gifts and attainments, 
 young men from British universities. 
 
 This prayer was constantly upon the lips and in the 
 heart of Dr. Harold Schofield during the last months 
 of his life at T'ai-yuan. Before that same year, 1883, 
 ended, Stanley Smith had written to Mr. Hudson 
 Taylor, volunteering for missionary service in China, 
 and a few months later the others followed. Who 
 can doubt that this "Cambridge Band" was God's 
 answer to His servant's prayer? 
 
 During the journey to China, both on the steamer 
 and at the ports of call, these missionaries were used 
 of God in winning souls; and also after their arrival 
 in China, among the English-speaking residents at 
 Shanghai, Pekin and elsewhere. 
 
302 THESE FORTY YEARS. 
 
 But not only thus did God set His seal upon His 
 servants. Before they left home, they visited the 
 principal universities of England and Scotland, and 
 were the means in God's hands of bringing about a 
 great revival, both of Christian life and of missionary 
 interest, especially at Edinburgh. 
 
 Dr. Moxey, of Edinburgh, wrote, shortly after the 
 party sailed for China, ''The event that has precipi- 
 tated the shower of blessing that has fallen in our 
 midst, is the visit of the two young Christian evan- 
 gelists from Cambridge, who are now on their w^ay 
 to preach Christ to the Chinese. Students, like other 
 young men, are apt to regard professedly religious 
 men of their own age as wanting in manliness, unfit 
 for the river or the cricket field, and only good for 
 psalm-singing and pulling long faces; but the big, 
 muscular hands and the long arms of the ex-captain 
 of the Cambridge eight, stretched out in pleading, 
 while he eloquently told the old story of redeeming 
 love, capsized their theories.'' 
 
 At Oxford and Cambridge also a great impression 
 was made. From the latter a delegation of forty 
 students was sent up to the farewell meeting at 
 Exeter Hall in London, to which reference has 
 already been made. Their spokesman said at that 
 meeting: "Since I have been in this hall it has been 
 said to me, 'What a pity that such men should be go- 
 ing abroad. We want them here at home. Those who 
 have distinguished themselves as they have, could 
 win young men to Christ, and do a work that others. 
 
ANOTHER ANSWER TO PRAYER, 303 
 
 less known, cannot accomplish.' And he went on to 
 add: ^I hope it will be for the best.' 
 
 ^^ISTow, sirs, I do not hope it. I thank God that I 
 know it is for the best. I know what their going out 
 has done for me. I know what it has done for Cam- 
 bridge. . . . We had meetings in room after 
 room night by night at Cambridge, and at one over 
 forty men stood up and gave themselves to mission- 
 ary work." 
 
 A correspondent of the Record, ^vriting of the 
 farewell meeting which had been held at Cambridge, 
 at which large numbers of students were present, 
 wondered, as he sat in that meeting, what it could 
 be in the China Inland Mission which had attracted 
 to it such men as these. "My main reasons, after all, 
 reduced themselves to one: the uncompromising 
 spirituality and unworldliness of the program of the 
 Mission responded to by hearts that have laid all at 
 the Lord's feet." 
 
 On February 5th, 1885, Stanley Smith and Charles 
 Studd and their companions sailed for China, fol- 
 lowed by the kind wishes and prayers of perhaps a 
 larger number of Christian students in England and 
 Scotland than had ever before taken interest in out- 
 going missionary workers. 
 
 On their arrival in China their heads were shaved, 
 as usual, the Chinese dress donned, borrowed queues 
 attached to their red-buttoned Chinese skull caps 
 (until their own hair should grow), and the study 
 of the language was entered upon in earnest. .Three 
 
304 THESE FORTY YEARS. 
 
 went west, up the great Yang-tse river; and four 
 went north to the province in which Dr. Schofield 
 had labored and prayed and died. 
 
 The unusual friendliness of the people, due, as we 
 have seen, to the famine relief work a few years be- 
 fore, and due at the capital to the medical work of 
 the indefatigable Dr. Schofield, made this appoint- 
 ment a wise one, and gave exceptional opportunities 
 to the newcomers. 
 
 At the time of their arrival, in addition to the two 
 stations of the China Inland Mission — T'ai-yuan in 
 the center of the province, and P'ing-yang in the 
 south — the American Board had recently com- 
 menced work at T'ai-ku, forty miles from the capital. 
 But three stations among ten millions of people, and 
 they as willing and ready to receive the Gospel as 
 any in China. One is reminded of the children of 
 Israel and of their first arrival in the promised land. 
 God had begun to give it, but they were so slow to 
 *^go in and possess." When will the Church enter 
 upon its heritage and claim the promise given to its 
 Master: ^^Ask of Me and I shall give thee the heathen 
 for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the 
 earth for thy possession" ? 
 
 In the south of the province at the time of the 
 arrival of these missionaries, signs of coming bless- 
 ing were abundantly apparent, especially in and 
 around the city of P'ing-yang. Six years before, the 
 Rev. David Hill had been engaged in famine relief 
 in that district, and had come in contact with a man 
 
ANOTHER ANSWER TO PRAYER. 305 
 
 of remarkable gifts, but a slave to opium, and a 
 moral and physical wreck in consequence. 
 
 Mr. Hill had offered a prize of fifty ounces of 
 silver to the man who would write the best essay on 
 certain Christian subjects, the necessary books being 
 supplied gratuitously. At the same time three lesser 
 prizes were offered for the second, third and fourth 
 essays, in order of merit. This opium habitue, a 
 gentleman farmer of the name of Hsi, and a distin- 
 guished scholar, not only carried off the first prize, 
 but also, by essays which he had written for personal 
 friends, had won for them, it transpired afterwards, 
 the second and third prizes! 
 
 David Hill made a point of seeing the successful 
 scholar, and gradually, by kindliness and courtesy, 
 disarmed his prejudice, encouraged him to study the 
 Scriptures further, and ere long had the joy of see- 
 ing him turn wholeheartedly to the Lord. 
 
 No sooner was Hsi converted than he began to 
 work. He was a man who could do nothing by 
 halves. From his lips his aged mother and the other 
 members of his family heard the Gospel; and, still 
 more important, saw the Truth manifested in his 
 consistent life. Working sometimes with David Hill 
 in the city, sometimes at home among his fellow- 
 villagers, and in other places as opportunity offered, 
 Mr. Hsi left no doubt as to the reality of his having 
 turned to God. 
 
 David Hill did not make a long stay in the prov- 
 ince. As soon as the famine began to pass away he 
 
 20 
 
30G THESE FOETY YEARS. 
 
 returned to his own sphere of service in and around 
 Han-kow. After he left, the work at P'ing-yang 
 was carried on for a time by Mr. Turner, and two 
 years later by Mr. Samuel Drake. As soon as it 
 was practicable to organize the little church, Mr. Hsi 
 was ordained an elder with the entire approval of 
 the Christians, among whom he had already proven 
 himself a leader. 
 
 During the years 1882 to 1885, Mr. and Mrs. 
 Drake conducted the work at P'ing-yang with much 
 wisdom, developing the natural gifts of the mem- 
 bers, and encouraging them to take a large part in 
 the work. The church grew slowly, and in 1884 still 
 numbered but fifty adults, for great caution was ex- 
 ercised in admitting new members in order that the 
 church might be pure, and therefore strong. "No 
 one was admitted to fellowship until he had proved 
 his faith by a year of consistent living. 
 
 There were, in addition, a considerable number of 
 recognized inquirers, men and women who, having 
 abandoned idolatry, were regularly attending public 
 worship, either in the city or in their villages, in 
 twenty of which, even at this early date, little 
 gatherings of believers met week by week. There 
 were, by this time, not less than three hundred reg- 
 ular attendants at the various Sunday services. 
 
 When Mr. Hsi was converted he saw clearly, at 
 once, that the opium pipe must go. To so confirmed 
 an opium smoker this involved terrible suffering, 
 suffering so severe that it nearly cost his life. But 
 
ANOTHER ANSWER TO PBAYER. 307 
 
 he determined, with his usual decision of character, 
 that he would die rather than go back to the habit: 
 for even the heathen condemn it, smokers included. 
 After two or three weeks of intolerable suffering liis 
 pains were in an instant entirely removed, as he be- 
 lieved, in answer to prayer and by the direct opera- 
 tion in his '^mortal body" of God the Holy Ghost. 
 
 From the first, therefore, Mr. Hsi felt the keenest 
 sympathy with those who had become enslaved by 
 this degrading and ener\^ating habit, and did all he 
 could to help them. As he studied the Word of God, 
 he tried with all his heart to carry it out in daily life, 
 and wherever he went he strengthened the hands of 
 the Christians, shepherded and cared for inquirers 
 and converts. And from time to time he established 
 opium refuges in important centers, where anti-nar- 
 cotic pills were used which he himself compounded. 
 Indeed, in making out the prescription for these, he 
 believed he was very' definitely guided in answer to 
 special prayer. But though this refuge work became 
 an increasingly important branch of his life-work, 
 wherever he went, and whatever he did, his principal 
 object was to preach the Gospel to all he could reach. 
 
 Early in 1685, Mr. and Mrs. Drake, being in serious 
 need of change, had to leave the promising young 
 church for a time, whereby Mr. Hsi's gifts of leader- 
 ship were still further exercised. This was the con- 
 dition of things when Stanley Smith, Montagu Beau- 
 champ, D. E. Hoste and W. W. Cassels were ap- 
 pointed to this center. Their jonrney from the pro- 
 
308 THESE FORTY YEARS. 
 
 vincial capital southward was taken in the month of 
 June, when the wheat and barley harvests were 
 nearly ready for the reaper, and the young Indian 
 corn and the tall-growing sorghum were already well 
 in evidence. Here and there, also, were brilliant 
 patches of poppy, that remarkable plant so beautiful 
 in summer and so gaunt and hideous in the fall: apt 
 parable of its own delicious exhilaration and the blast- 
 ing, withering results ! 
 
 As they neared the city of P'ing-yang, just the day 
 before they would arrive, a Chinaman accosted Stan- 
 ley Smith, who was walking in front, and gave him 
 a hearty English handshake, much to his surprise. 
 (The Chinese method of salutation is to place the 
 half-closed fists together, hidden by long sleeves, and 
 slowly swing them upwards to the forehead, at the 
 same time slightly bowing.) Surely, this must be 
 someone acquainted mth foreignei-s, and from his 
 manner and his smile pres umably a Christian. ^^Ye- 
 su-tih-men-t'u?" asked Mr. Smith in broken Chinese. 
 ^^Are you a Christian V^ The reply being affirmative, 
 they soon felt at home with crue another. 
 
 A little later, as they were passing the end of a 
 valley, the Christian turned his head in that direc- 
 tion and said, ^'All the people living up there are 
 abandoning their idols. I am not sui-prised to 
 
 see you," he added. ''How is that?" was the reply. 
 "Because I have been praying for missionaries to 
 come." They were invited to take dinner at his 
 home, and there met five or six other Christians, with 
 
ANOTHER ANSWER TO PRAYER. 309 
 
 whom they had a delightful little time: the new- 
 comers greatly enjoying the fellowship and praise and 
 prayer, although, of course, understanding compara- 
 tively little, as yet, of the local dialect. 
 
 At P'ing-yang they soon settled in. Each mis- 
 sionary had a room to himself. Mr. Bailer and Mr. 
 Key, who had come with them, occupied an adjoining 
 courtyard, in which also were the dining-room and 
 kitchen; and a third courtyard was occupied by the 
 native evangelist and his family. How gladly the 
 new missionaries were welcomed by the earnest little 
 church ! Of course, a large part of the time was de- 
 voted to the language at first, but much time also was 
 given to the work. And within eight months the 
 work had been so extended that the four brethren 
 were separated in four important cities, with P'ing- 
 yang as the center. 
 
 A year later a visit, long promised and most wel- 
 come, was paid to these workers by Mr. Hudson 
 Taylor. The missionaries, new and old, went up to 
 T'ai-vuan; and there they had a most delightful sea- 
 son of refreshing, the story of which is told in an 
 admirable little book, ^^Days of Blessing," by Mon- 
 tagu Beauchamp. This is a little work of pennanent 
 interest for the insight it gives into a most successful 
 branch of mission work in China. 
 
 From here Mr. Taylor went south with the return- 
 ing brethren, and important conferences were held 
 r.t Hung-tung and at P'ing-yang. Deeply interestmg 
 and most impressive services were held at both these 
 
310 THESE FORTY YEARS. 
 
 places ; and Mr. Ksi, from being elder, was promoted 
 to the position of superintending pastor of P'ing-yang 
 and the neighboring stations. Other native pastors, 
 and elders, and deacons were also appointed, none 
 of whom received salary, although some of them Tvere 
 helped occasionally when necessity arose. Others, on 
 the contrary, gave largely of their own means, Pastor 
 Ilsi among the number. 
 
 From here Mr. Taylor traveled on still further in- 
 land, past the capital of the neighboring province of 
 Shen-si, nearly a month's journey, to Han-chong; no 
 easy journey at the height of a Chinese summer! 
 And from there he returned by boat to Han-kow. 
 
 The conferences at P'ing-yang and elsewhere not 
 only manifested the high spiritual tone of the native 
 churches, but gave them fresh impetus. As a result, 
 they were introduced as annual or semi-annual re- 
 unions for the scattered members. And on these oc- 
 casions large collections were usually taken to for- 
 ward the interests of the vi^ork, which became thus, 
 to a large extent, self-supporting, especially in the 
 country stations. 
 
 At the commencement of his Christian life, Mr. 
 Hsi had fasted and prayed much for the conversion 
 of his mother and his wife, as well as for other mem- 
 bers of the family. After some months of patient 
 teaching and earnest prayer he had the joy of seeing 
 them both come out boldly on the Lord's side; and 
 al the time which we have now reached, Pastor Hsi 
 had a valuable, sympathetic fellow-worker in his 
 
ANOTHER ANSWER TO PRAYER. 311 
 
 wife, a woman of more than usual gifts and devo- 
 tion. 
 
 About this time Mrs. Hsi expressed surprise one 
 morning at family prayers that her husband kept on 
 pra^dng for Hoh-chau, and yet seemed to do nothing 
 to open Avork in that important city. Mr. Ilsi's reply 
 was that he longed to open it, but that all available 
 funds were already in use : what else could he do but 
 wait on God about the matter? 
 
 Would that many home Christians, who cannot go 
 to the foreign field, and who may be unable to do 
 much, personally, to forward the work abroad, felt 
 equally burdened to accomplish by prayer what they 
 cannot do in other ways. God's work among the 
 heathen would show the difference if they did! 
 Probably nothing in the world could so help forward 
 the worh of Missions as earnest acceptance of this 
 manifest Christian duty by the Church at home. 
 
 !N'ext morning at family prayers, as the pastor rose 
 from his knees, having prayed as usual for Hoh-chau, 
 Mrs. Hsi stepped up to the table and laid on the open 
 Bible a neat little parcel in a handkerchief. Inter- 
 ested and surprised. Pastor Hsi opened the package 
 and saw to his amazement — all Mrs. Hsi's gold and 
 silver rings and ornaments and hairpins. He looked 
 up questioningly at his wife, and she replied, ^Tl can 
 do without these. Let Hoh-chau have the Gospel." 
 
 Tears came to the good man's eyes. His loving, 
 generous heart was touched, for he knew how much 
 the sacrifice of all her jewelry involved, but in the 
 
312 THESE FORTY YEAES. 
 
 same spirit as she gave, he reverently folded them up 
 on the open Book, and accepted them for the work of 
 God at Hoh-chaii. A station was opened and work 
 commenced, which has steadily grown and increased 
 ever since. This station, opened by a Avoman, 
 
 was put in charge of two l^orwegian sisters in the 
 year 1886, through whose prayerful supervision and 
 earnest consecrated influence the little church grew 
 steadily. 
 
 So remarkably did the work prosper in this district 
 that during the conferences in the spring of 1887 no 
 fewer than two hundred and sixteen were baptized at 
 one station, Hung-tung, besides some tens of others 
 in neighboring cities. That conference was a time 
 Avhich will never be forgotten; and wonderful were 
 the testimonies of many of the native Christians. 
 Pastor Hsi's remarkable gifts, both as a speaker of 
 rare spirituality and insight and as a leader among 
 men, came into marked evidence at this impressive 
 gathering. 
 
 It is possible, however, that a mistake was made in 
 baptizing so many without the usual year of proba- 
 tion. As a result a certain percentage (rather more 
 than 25 per cent.) of this number backslid within six 
 years and were lost to the Church. It is a matter, 
 however, for thankfulness to God, that over 70 
 per cent, maintained a good profession. Further ex- 
 periences at that and the surrounding centers brought 
 the workers back to the usual custom of the Mission 
 of keeping the new converts as "inquirers" or cate- 
 
ANOTHER ANSWER TO PRAYER. 313 
 
 chumens for a year or more, until there could be no 
 longer any uncertainty as to the reality and thorough- 
 ness of their conversion. 
 
 In spite of the difficulties that grew out of this mis- 
 take, the work continued to go forward throughout 
 the district, and in four years (between 1886 and 
 1890) six hundred believers had been received into 
 the Church. When Dr. Schofield died, in the sum- 
 mer of 1883, there were but two churches, with per- 
 haps fifty members in all, in the province. Ten years 
 later there were over a thousand Christians being 
 cared for by more than seventy missionaries, with 
 seventeen stations and a considerable numl)cr of out- 
 stations in their charge. 
 
 From that time until now the work has continued 
 to increase at such a steady and encouraging rate that 
 it seems little wonder that the great Enemy of souls 
 sought to eradicate the Christian Church in that 
 province, two or three years ago, through the Boxer 
 uprising. 
 
 Terribly though the Church suffered during that 
 awful time, the work continues and is being pros- 
 pered of God. Nearly a hundred members of the 
 China Inland Mission churches laid down their lives, 
 and very many others suffered beyond the power of 
 words to tell; but God has brought them through. 
 The Church, if smaller, is stronger and purer for the 
 fiery trial which God has pennitted, and many of the 
 native Christians equalled in heroism their foreign 
 missionary brethren and sisters, and have left behind 
 
314 THESE FORTY YEAKS. 
 
 au object lesson of self-surrender and unshaken faith 
 which will assuredly not fail of its results in the years 
 that are to come. 
 
 Will not the reader make it a matter of earnest 
 prayer to God that where the martyr-seed of the 
 Church lias thus been sown, a blessed, commensurate 
 harvest may yet be reaped to the glory of the Lord? 
 
CHAPTER XYI. 
 
 "ask what ye will." 
 
 But to return: not only in Shan-si, but in other 
 parts of the empire, also, the work was being so 
 prospered of God that the need for reinforcements 
 was becoming serious. Since the prayer for the 
 seventy, at the close of 1881, the Mission had al- 
 ready doubled its membership by 1886. From about 
 a hundred missionaries it had increased to fully two 
 hundred, and the work in the interior had been cor- 
 respondingly extended. 
 
 The Mission had grown, moreover, out of being 
 practically a large family of workers, with Mr. Tay- 
 lor its father, into a company of workers and a work 
 too large for any one man to superintend alone. 
 After much prayer, accordingly, several of the older 
 workers, who had shown not only whole-hearted de- 
 votion to the work and to the Master, but had also 
 evinced a talent for leadership, were selected and 
 appointed by Mr. Taylor "Provincial Superintend- 
 ents," having in charge the care of a province, or, 
 occasionally, more than one. 
 
 Moreover, the exigencies of the work demanded 
 that Mr. Taylor should spend part of the time^ at 
 home, and during his absence it was increasingly im- 
 portant that some one should act as his deputy in 
 China. For this central post the Rev. J. W. Steven- 
 
 315 
 
316 THESE FORTY YEAKS. 
 
 son was selected. IVIr. Stevenson, it may be remem- 
 bered, was one of the earliest members of the Mis- 
 sion, and went out early in 1866, before the "Lam- 
 mermuir" party. Since that time, twenty years of 
 service in China and Upper Burmah had proved his 
 fitness for the post. Full of wisdom and of faith, 
 and greatly refreshed and blessed during a recent 
 furlough, Mr. Taylor had no hesitation in asking him 
 to undertake the onerous duties of Deputy Director 
 on the field. 
 
 The new Superintendents and Director met with 
 Mr. Taylor at Gan-king, two days' journey up the 
 Yang-tse, for prayer and conference in ISTovember, 
 1886. Eight days they spent — fasting till sundown 
 each alternate day — in waiting upon the Lord, and 
 conferring together about many important questions, 
 especially the need for reinforcements. 
 
 For urgent letters had been received that year 
 from many stations, asking for brethren and sisters, 
 either to strengthen the staff at strategic centers, 
 or to take the place of workers needing furlough, 
 or to enter open doors in yet unoccupied cities. 
 After much prayer and consideration, the new 
 Deputy Director suggested: ^'Shall we not pray for 
 immediate reinforcements — a hundred new workers 
 during the coming year?" Such a suggestion, made 
 po earnestly, toward the close of the season of fast- 
 ing and prayer, could not be taken lightly. It was 
 prayerfully considered. And after some conference 
 it was unanimously accepted. Never before had 
 
"ask what ye will." 317 
 
 there been such opportunities; never before had 
 there been so great and urgent need for reinforce- 
 ments, if existing work were not to suffer and if 
 doors now open were not to close unentered. The 
 unanimity of the brethren was complete, and with 
 great joy they commenced at once to pray for a hun- 
 dred new workers in 1887. 
 
 Difficulties, of course, had suggested themselves. 
 Tor one thing, a period of abundance financially had 
 been followed during the last year or two by some 
 degree of financial straitness. The membership had 
 increased without a corresponding increase in the 
 income. What would happen if two hundred mem- 
 bers increased to three hundred in a single year? "I 
 presume our Master knows," said Mr. Taylor, ''that 
 this forward step is impossible without a correspond- 
 ing increase of funds." A calculation was made. 
 The income had stood at about a hundred thousand 
 dollars a year for some time, and if a hundred new 
 workers were to be accepted and sent out and main- 
 tained, in the following year, an additional fifty 
 thousand would be needed. 
 
 Another practical difficulty was suggested by a 
 former Secretary. The correspondence at home was 
 heavy. And since collections are never taken, con- 
 tributions both large and small are sent in through 
 the mail. If fifty thousand dollars were received in 
 gifts averaging a dollar, fifty thousand replies would 
 have to be written to the letters of the donors, and 
 fifty thousand receipts made out. ''Enough to kill 
 
318 THESE FORTY YEARS. 
 
 the overworked brethren at home," someone sug- 
 gested. 
 
 ^'I expect the Lord knows that also," said Mr. 
 Taylor, with a smile. ^^Shall we not ask the Lord 
 to incline some of His wealthier stewards to send in 
 the extra money in large sumSj that it may not be 
 necessary to write so many letters?" A triple peti- 
 tion, therefore, was presented to God : for a hundred 
 workers within the year, for fifty thousand dollars 
 extra income, and that the additional money might 
 come in large gifts, that the workers at home might 
 not be overtaxed. 
 
 When the conference was over, ''Pity we could 
 not all gather together again," said one, "for a 
 thanksgiving meeting when the hundred are in 
 China, to praise the Lord for the men and women 
 and the money He had sent." Mr. Taylor suggested, 
 " VYhy not to-night?" And so, that very evening, they 
 all united in thanksgiving and praise to God for the 
 nnswer they felt assured He would grant to their 
 petition. Full of confident hope in God, the workers 
 separated, and thus ended the first meeting of the 
 ''China Council" of the Mission. 
 
 When Mr. Taylor reached Shanghai a few days 
 later, an old and beloved missionary acquaintance 
 met him and said: "Well, Mr. Taylor, I am greatly 
 interested to hear that you are praying for a hundred 
 new workers next year. You will not get a hundred j 
 you know, but you will get many more than you 
 otherwise would!" 
 
"ask what ye will. 319 
 
 "Well, dear brother," was the reply, "I am not a 
 prophet, but I believe you will see the last of the 
 hundred arrive in China in due course." 
 
 Having now decided to wait upon the Lord thus 
 definitely for reinforcements, the matter was laid 
 before the members of the Mission, and as many as 
 approved were invited to join in earnest and definite 
 waiting upon God for the hundred new workers with- 
 in the coming year. 
 
 If this prayer were to be answered, however, as 
 the leaders of the Mission had no doubt it would 
 be, preparation must be made to receive the new- 
 comers. Both for the brethren and for the sisters 
 training homes would be needed. In such numbers 
 they could no longer be scattered through the Mk 
 sion. It would be impracticable either to escort them 
 inland or to receive them at the scattered stations so 
 rapidly. Accordingly, two easily accessible cities 
 were selected for the Homes, and Miss Maria mne 
 Murray was asked to be the ladies' principal at Yang- 
 chau, while Mr. and Mrs. Bailer accepted the super- 
 vision of the Men's Home at Gan-king.* 
 
 ♦Mr. Bailer, in the meantime, commenced the prepara- 
 tion of a series of invaluable text-books of the language, 
 with the assistance of a fellow-missionary and several schol- 
 arly Chinese. A curriculum also was decided upon, which 
 should embrace the ordinary Classics, with which every 
 missionary ought to be familiar, as well as the Bible, "Pil- 
 grim's Progress," a book of Christian evidences, and a cer- 
 tain number of standard Gospel tracts. This thorough cur- 
 riculum is compulsory, and rightly so. The best work can- 
 not be done in illiterate Chinese. 
 
320 THESE FORTY YEARS. 
 
 Word was sent home to England, of course. And 
 there the Home Council, encouraged by the previous 
 answer to prayer for the seventy, gladly united in 
 waiting upon God. Soon after New Year, 1887, Mr. 
 Taylor started home to assist in the work of selecting 
 and equipping the missionaries. 
 
 By the time he reached England, in February, 
 thirty candidates had already been accepted, and 
 about fifteen thousand dollars was already in hand 
 for passages and outfits, enough for at least fifty 
 workers. Beyond a mention in China s Millions, 
 the monthly organ of the Mission, that such prayer 
 was being offered, and a request that friends who felt 
 able would unite in the prayer, no steps whatever 
 had been taken to obtain this money: no steps but 
 the one great step of faith. No friend of the Mission 
 had been asked to give a cent. The Hearer and 
 Answerer of prayer had heard, and this was the be- 
 ginning of His answer. 
 
 Mr. Taylor, it is needless to say, was greatly 
 cheered. Thirty-one were sent out in the spring, and 
 sixty-nine followed in the fall and early winter. 
 ^'We began the matter aright — with God," said Mr. 
 Taylor at the annual meeting in May, "and we are 
 quite sure that we shall end all right. It is a great 
 joy to know that thirty-one of the hundred are already 
 in China." 
 
 "We always accept a suitable volunteer whether 
 we have funds in hand or not. Then we very often 
 say, ^Now, dear friend, your first work will be to 
 
*^ASK WtiAT YE WILL." 821 
 
 join iifl in praying for the money to send you to 
 China/ " He always goes, and that without consider- 
 able delay. ^'Depend upon it, God's work done in 
 God's way will never lack God's supplies." Thus 
 God answered definite, believing prayer. 
 
 The veteran niissionary referred to above lived to 
 see the last party of the hundred arrive in China. A 
 few days later he finished his course with joy, and 
 was called to his reward. 
 
 21 
 
CHAPTEE XV 11. 
 
 extension; or, the guiding hand of god. 
 
 Thus far we have traced the history of the Mission 
 ill some detail, through its first twenty-one years, and 
 have watched its growth from small and limited be- 
 ginnings until it came to be, in numbers and sphere 
 of work, one of the important agencies for the evan- 
 gelization of China. 
 
 By the end of the year 1887, as we have seen, its 
 membership was about three hundred, and its workers 
 were scattered — few and far between, it is true — • 
 over a large part of the ^'eighteen provinces," in- 
 cluding most of those which had been entirely un- 
 evangelized, and Avere indeed untouched at the time 
 of the formation of the Mission. 
 
 From its majority onward it "will only be necessary 
 to follow the work more generally, tracing the main 
 developments which have taken place during the fif- 
 teen years from then till now, September, 1902. 
 
 Toward the end of 1887, an earnest young Amer- 
 ican evangelist came over to London to see Mr. 
 Taylor. For some time he had taken a deep interest 
 in the China Inland Mission, and the thought had 
 come to him, '^Why should not the China Inland 
 Mission draw workers from America, as well as from 
 England?" He made it the subject of prayer for 
 
 322 
 
extension; or, the guiding hand of god. 323 
 
 some time; and finally, strongly impressed that the 
 thought was of God, came to England to talk it over 
 with Mr. Hudson Taylor. 
 
 Mr. Taylor listened intently, and was deeply inter- 
 ested in his new friend and his manifest conviction, 
 but he could not see his way clear to accede to the 
 proposal. ''The Lord has given me no light about 
 it,'' was his reply. Shortly after, another visitor 
 
 called to see Mr. Taylor, bringing a very hearty in- 
 vitation from Mr. D. L. Moody to take part in the 
 important summer Conference for college students, 
 to be held in June, at :N'orthfield, Massachusetts. 
 
 About the same time, moreover, a letter came from 
 the Secretary of the Niagara Conference, inviting 
 Mr. Taylor to take part in that meeting in July. 
 After prayerful consideration, these two invitations, 
 to Northfield and Niagara, were accepted; and about 
 the middle of June, 1888, Mr. Taylor crossed to 
 America, accompanied by his old friends, Mr. and 
 Mrs. Keginald Kadcliffe, and his second son. Dr. 
 Howard Taylor. Mr. Taylor was returning to China, 
 and expected to spend a couple of months en route 
 in the United States and Canada. 
 
 Both at Northfield and Niagara Mr. Taylor met 
 with much kindness and sympathy, Mr. Moody him- 
 self, at the former Conference, becoming quite en- 
 thusiastic over Mr. Taylor's Bible lessons and talks 
 about the work in China. At one of the missionary 
 meetings, the beloved evangelist insisted that they 
 must take up a collection for the work. Knowing 
 
324 THESE EOHTY YEABS. 
 
 Mr. Taylor's unwillingness to make any appeal for 
 funds, he said: "This collection, every one will un- 
 derstand, is not taken up by Mr. Taylor, but by me ; 
 if you all feel as I do, you want to show some practi- 
 cal expression of sympathy in the work of the C^hina 
 Inland Mission." Mr. Taylor's courteous but firm 
 remonstrance proved unavailing; the collection was 
 taken, and at the close of the meeting Mr. Moody, 
 in the name of the audience, insisted upon giving it 
 to Mr. Taylor. But Mr. Taylor, while expressing his 
 deep thankfulness, persisted in refusing it. Mr. 
 Moody afterwards used the money for the cause of 
 Missions in China, but just how he did so Mr. Taylor 
 never knew. 
 
 At the Niagara Conference, also, Mr. Taylor spoke 
 repeatedly, both from the Word and about the work. 
 And after six or eight very happy days at Niagara, 
 he went to the home of Mr. H. W. Frost at Attica, 
 near Buffalo, for a day's rest. While there he heard 
 with no little surprise that funds had been contrib- 
 uted by the friends at Niagara, sufficient to support 
 eight workers in the Mission for a year. 
 
 "Why, here is a dilemma," thought Mr. Taylor. 
 "Here is money for workers, but no workers to use 
 the money! Perhaps the Lord is going to give us 
 workers from America after all." And as he made it 
 a matter of prayer the conviction deepened, and he 
 began to pray for workers to use the money thus pro- 
 vided. One after another offered: among them being 
 Miss Edith Lucas, a sweet singer of Israel, who had 
 
TT""- 
 
extension; oe, the guiding hand of god. 325 
 
 been one of Mr. Moody's helpers at Northfield, and 
 Miss Susie Parker, of whom we shall hear more di- 
 rectly. 
 
 Thus, prayer for workers was answered, suitable 
 men and women coming forward for the work. But 
 the difficulty was that as candidate after candidate 
 was accepted, their personal friends, or churches, or 
 fellow-workers claimed the privilege of their support : 
 and the money already contributed still remained 
 unused. At last, however, the nimiber was made up, 
 and after twelve weeks' of meetings and interviews in 
 the United States and Canada, Mr. and Mrs. Taylor 
 sailed for China with fourteen missionaries; the first, 
 with one exception, to join the China Inland Mission 
 from this side of the Atlantic. 
 
 This proved, as Mr. Frost expected, to be but the 
 beginning of greater things. Ere long, a Council was 
 appointed for North America, Mr. Frost and several 
 members belonging to the United States and the rest 
 to Canada; most of the Canadian members residing 
 at Toronto, which became, ere long, the North Amer- 
 ican headquarters of the Mission. Quite recently the 
 work has been divided more conveniently between 
 Toronto and Philadelphia. 
 
 From the time of Mr. Taylor's visit onward the 
 work has steadily grown, until there are now about 
 a hundred and twenty members of the Mission who 
 have gone out from America. The wonderful 
 
 story of the way in which the work on this continent 
 has grown and prospered and been provided for — not- 
 
326 THESE FORTY YEARS. 
 
 withstanding many difficulties, including not a little 
 hardship at times, and many occasions when it was 
 necessary very earnestly to wait on God for funds — 
 has been wi'itten in some detail by Mr. H. W. Frost, 
 the American Director, and to that account, which 
 will shortly be published, D. Y., the reader is invited 
 to look for further information about this increas- 
 ingly important department of the work. 
 
 If all this work has cost much to Mr. Frost and 
 those associated with him in the conduct of the work, 
 and to those who have gone out to lonely posts in far- 
 off China, it has involved not less, perhaps more, true 
 devotion to the Lord Jesus on the part of many a 
 father and mother who have given their child to Him 
 for China. Of this, one instance may not be out of 
 place. 
 
 At one of the farewell meetings of Mr. Taylor's 
 first party. Miss Susie Parker's father, a devoted 
 Christian worker, was present. Mr. Taylor, knowing 
 something of his strong and loving spirit and whole- 
 hearted devotion, asked him if he would not say a 
 word. This, with some reluctance, he did. 
 
 "Dear friends," he said, "you know what my dear 
 Susie has been to me. In the home she has never 
 given us cause for regret or an anxious moment, and 
 in the mission work in which I am engaged she has 
 for some years been my invaluable helper." And, 
 speaking evidently under deep emotion, and with 
 tears standing in his eyes, he added, "I don't know 
 how I shall get on in the work, I don't know how I 
 
EXTENSION ; OR, THE GUIDING HAND OF GOD. 
 
 327 
 
 shall live without her; but the Lord Jesus has called 
 my daughter to China, and I have nothing too 
 precious for my Jesus." 
 So she went. 
 
 During her first year in China, Miss Parker 
 worked hard at the language, praying meanwhile 
 much for her teacher, whom she had the joy of bring- 
 ing to the Lord before she had been many months in 
 the country. Others, also, were brought in through 
 her life, her prayers and her message. Everyone 
 loved her, fellow-missionaries and natives alike. But 
 during her second year she was seized with a violent 
 attack of fever, was lovingly nursed by fellow-mis- 
 sionaries, but was unable to rally, and went home to 
 be with Christ. 
 
 As soon as Mr. Taylor heard of it, his first thought 
 was of her father, whose whole life seemed bound up 
 in his child. With deep sympathy, and as tenderly as 
 possible, Mr. Taylor ^^Tote and told him the sad news. 
 In reply he received a characteristic letter: ''The 
 Lord Jesus wanted my daughter for China. You 
 know what it cost, but I gave her gladly. I could not 
 withhold her from Him. And now lie has called 
 Susie to be with Himself. All I can say is, it is well; 
 I would not keep her back from Him. I have noth- 
 ing too precious for my Jesus. 
 
 The first American party were very gladly wel- 
 comed in China. Sad news, however, awaited Mr. 
 Taylor on his arrival. Two most valued missionaries 
 had passed away: the one, Adam Dorward, who had 
 
328 THESE FORTY YEAES. 
 
 been striving heroically for years in the face of sick- 
 ness and danger and riot, to obtain a foothold in hos- 
 tile Hu-nan; and the other, Herbert ISTorris, the boys' 
 headmaster at Chefoo. The latter, moreover, had 
 died of hydrophobia, from the bite of a mad dog, re- 
 ceived while protecting the boys. A few days later 
 came the news of the death of Mr. Sayers, and soon 
 after, that Miss Barrett also was dying. This was 
 sad news, indeed, for Mr. Taylor. Stncken in spirit, 
 he wrote: ^'Soon after we learned of the sickness and 
 removal of some of our leading native helpers, of 
 trials in the way of persecution, and of defection too. 
 Then the daughter of beloved Mr. Stevenson, my co- 
 worker, was taken seriously ill. Mr. Eason, also, 
 who had just returned from furlough, took typhoid 
 fever, and a second and a third in the house de- 
 veloped it at the same time and were brought low. 
 AVe could not understand the Lord's dealings, but we 
 knew it was our Father's hand, and felt that perhaps 
 He was giving us these sorrows lest we be lifted up 
 by the blessings of the year, which had been very 
 great. . . . The spiritual tone of the Mission is 
 higher than ever before." 
 
 During the year in which this American party 
 reached China, in spite of much to discourage, thir- 
 teen new stations were opened in different parts of 
 the country, and nearly five hundred converts were 
 added to the Lord. In Ho-nan, moreover, a consider- 
 able amount of relief work had been undertaken in a 
 large district which had been inundated by the Yel- 
 
C. I. M. HEADQUARTERS IN LONDON. 
 
extension; or, the guiding hand of god. 329 
 
 low river, with the result of diminishing decidedly 
 the bitter hostility of the Ho-nanese. 
 
 Some of the native Christians, moreover, had given 
 great encouragement, standing faithful under perse- 
 cution, preaching boldly to their neighbors, and even 
 opening out-stations unaided in jjlaces never visited 
 by foreigners. 
 
 This was in 1888: in the spring of the following 
 year Mr. Taylor had to return to England. And ere 
 long a large new house was obtained near the old 
 headquarters in London, Inglesby House, which was 
 much needed as a home for receiving and testing 
 young men who offered for the work. At the same 
 time two houses, equally near, were secured as a 
 Ladies' Training Home, of which a gifted and experi- 
 enced worker, Miss Soltau, became Superintendent. 
 At this time, also, a Ladies' Council was formed, of 
 which Miss Soltau was the Secretai-y. In the fall of 
 the same year an Auxiliary Council was formed in 
 Scotland, to test and report upon candidates who ap- 
 plied from north of the Tweed. 
 
 The month of JS^ovember Mr. and Mrs. Taylor 
 spent in Scandinavia, accompanied by Dr. Howard 
 Taylor — Pastor Holmgren, who had long been inter- 
 ested in the Mission, making all the arrangements 
 with much kindness and ability, and acting as inter- 
 preter. 
 
 The heartiest possible welcome was accorded Mr. 
 Taylor in Sweden and Norway and Denmark, and 
 
330 THESE FORTY YEARS. 
 
 that by all classes. Even the Queen Sophia herself, 
 a most spiritual and consecrated Christian, invited 
 Mr. Taylor to a private audience on one of the five 
 days spent in Stockholm. A large number of meet- 
 ings were held in twenty-four different centers, and 
 especially among the more evangelical Christians in- 
 terest was deepened in missionary work. Already we 
 had received one or two workers from Sweden. 
 These, from now onwards, were reenforced by others, 
 who were formed into a branch of the China Inland 
 Mission, called the "Swedish Mission in China,'' with 
 Pastor Holmgren as its Secretary and several godly 
 and distinguished gentlemen as the Home Council. 
 Their workers were drawn principally from cultured 
 circles, most of the men having had a thorough uni- 
 versity training. And the funds for the work have, 
 from the first, been entirely separate. (In this par- 
 ticular it has been unlike the i^ortli American branch 
 of the Mission, which has been financially, as well as 
 in every other respect, an integral part of the Mis- 
 sion. 
 
 In the following year, 1890, a similar branch of 
 the work arose in Germany, with its headquarters at 
 Barmen, in the Rhineland, and was called the "Ger- 
 man Alliance Mission." Three workers joined 
 the Mission also from the Free Church of Finland 
 during the next three years. 
 
 All this time the heart of Mr. Taylor was greatly 
 burdened about the unreached millions of China. 
 And in October, 18 SO, during a brief season of rest 
 
extension; or, the guiding hand of god. 331 
 
 at the seaside at Hastings, England, he wrote a little 
 paper on the words of Christ, 'To every creature. '^ 
 Pie had pondered and prayed over these words. 
 Did the Lord really mean what He said? He was 
 convinced He did. "Were the government of Eng- 
 land," he wrote, ''to determine upon the conquest of 
 a distant country, they would think it a small matter 
 to land ten thousand troops on any part of the world's 
 circumference. 
 
 '^li, in addition to the workers now in the field, 
 one thousand whole-hearted evangelists . . . were 
 set free, and kept free, for this especial work, they 
 might reach the whole number of China's millions 
 before the end of 1S95; and this, allowing two yoar.s 
 for the study of the language and preparation for the. 
 work." Mr. Taylor then went on to give figures in 
 proof. "Shall an undertaking which a thousand 
 
 men and women might accomplish in three years of 
 steady work, after two years of preparation, be 
 thought chimerical and beyond the resources of the 
 Church of Christ?" 
 
 A few months later, in ]\Iay, 1890, the second 
 General Missionary Conference in China gathered at 
 Shanghai, including representatives of all the prin- 
 cipal Missionary Boards. Toward the close of the 
 Conference they drew up a very striking appeal. 
 With intense earnestness they asked the home 
 churches to provide a thousand workers for China 
 during the next five years. ''We make this appeal," 
 they wrote, '^on behalf of three hundred millions of 
 
332 THESE FORTY YEABS. 
 
 unevangelized heathen. We make it with all the 
 earnestness of our whole hearts^ as men overwhelmed 
 with the magnitude and responsibility of the work.'^ 
 
 In the beginning of the next year, 1891, the Scan- 
 dinavian Christians of the United States equipped 
 and sent out a pai-ty of fifty missionaries as a partial 
 response to this double appeal. To them reference 
 will be made again later. 
 
 Meanwhile, the work of the China Inland Mission 
 was steadily increasing. Commodious premises had 
 been built for the headquarters in Shanghai, the gen- 
 erous gift of one of its members, who provided both 
 land and funds for building. The new Home was 
 opened and dedicated shortly before this General 
 Conference. And during the meeting the new prem- 
 ises were crowded, spacious though they were, with 
 missionaries, most of them belonging to the China 
 Inland Mission. Next spring it was crowded again 
 with the fifty Scandinavian workers, in addition to 
 the regular staff in Shanghai and such members of 
 the Mission as happened to be there, coming or go- 
 ing. In the matter of this beautiful Home, God^s 
 provision was, as always, in good time. 
 
 About the time of this Conference there arrived in 
 China a young Episcopal clergyman, the Rev. C. 
 Parsons, the first of many members to join the Mis- 
 sion from Australia. Shortly before his sailing for 
 China the Lord had laid it upon his heart and that 
 of three prominent ministers — Episcopal, Presby- 
 terian and Baptist — that Australia ought to do some- 
 
extension; or, the guiding hand of god. 333 
 
 thing for the evangelization of her near neighhors 
 in CJhina. 
 
 As a resnlt of their conversation together, an ear- 
 nest invitation was sent to Mr. Hudson Taylor, giv- 
 ing their names and those of others interested, and 
 earnestly nrging him to pay a visit to Australia. 
 Meanwhile, Miss Mary Reed, whose health had given 
 way in China, held a series of drawing-room and 
 other meetings in Melbourne and elsewhere, whloli 
 were largely attended, and a very deep interest was 
 awakened in the hearts of many. 
 
 About midsummer, 1890, Mr. Taylor was free to 
 go. He arrived in July, and spent four months in 
 Australia, holding meetings in the principal colonies. 
 Blessing to many of the churches resulted, and a still 
 deeper interest in C'hina and its imevangelized mil- 
 lions: many agreeing to unite in prayer with Mr. 
 Taylor for a hundred tvorJcers from Australasia. 
 
 Nine years later, in 1899, in response to many 
 cordial invitations, Mr. Taylor paid them a second 
 visit. On his arrival in Brisbane he was met by the 
 news that the last of the hundred had crossed him 
 on the Avay. Thus, before he could reach Australia 
 the second time, the prayer of many had been an- 
 swered to the letter. 
 
 In 1890, a Council was formed in Melbourne, with 
 corresponding members in adjacent colonies: and 
 later. Auxiliary Councils were started in Adelaide, 
 Sydney, Brisbane, and at Auckland and Duuedin, in 
 New Zealand, by whose means interest was main- 
 
334 THERE FORTY YEARS. 
 
 tained and workers selected and sent forth. For the 
 support of these workers funds have been provided 
 ahnost entirely from Australasia : though occasionally 
 it has been necessary to supplement them from the 
 General Fund. 
 
 Thus, by God's blessing, the work has steadily ex- 
 panded. 
 
PART III. 
 
 conclusion: recent years 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 A MEMORABLE JOURNEY. 
 
 By the blessing of God, the roeeiit liistory of tlie 
 Mission has been charnotei-ized by steady growth in 
 numbers and regular extension on the field. To this 
 an intermission occurred, of course, during the time 
 of the ^'Boxer" uprising. In 1892 its membership 
 consisted of about four hundred and seventy men 
 and women, ^ow, at the end of 1902, there are 
 about eiglit hundred. And, besides this net increase 
 of three hundred and thirty, we must remember one 
 hundred and twenty who, during this decade, have 
 been called to their reward, including sixty-one who 
 entered into rest through the fiery portal of 
 martyrdom. 
 
 This would give a total of four liundred and fifty 
 new members in tlio last ten years: or, more cor- 
 rectly, allowing for those who for various reasons, 
 including failure of health, have not been able to 
 continue in the work, about five hundred. How 
 much this addition has involved of devotion to the 
 Lord Jesus, and of sacrifice on the part of parents 
 and friends, of donors, and of the missionaries them- 
 selves, the last day alone will reveal. 
 
 It may not be out of place to mention here that 
 the mortality among the members of the Mission 
 22 ^ 337 
 
338 THESE FORTY YEARS. 
 
 from natural causes has been at a very low rate, 
 many years as low as ten per thousand, or lower. 
 And when the sub-tropical climate, and the people's 
 utter disregard of sanitation, are borne in mind, with 
 all the other adverse surroundings of missionary life 
 in the interior, it will be seen that this low death- 
 rate is indeed a cause for profound gratitude to God. 
 
 Shortly before this last decade commenced, in the 
 year 1891, a missionary movement arose among the 
 Scandinavian churches of America. Evangelist 
 Fransen, a man full of spiritual power, was the 
 means used to bring about the revival. He visited 
 the churches, preached clearly and definitely on the 
 obvious duty of obedience to the Lord's command to 
 evangelize the nations, and called forth the fifty 
 missionaries, to whom reference has already been 
 made. The same year they went out to China in 
 two parties of thirty-five and fifteen, being supported 
 by the churches to which they belonged. 
 
 Within a few hours of their landing, bright sunny- 
 faced men and women, they were arrayed in Chinese 
 costume, and soon they were hard at work on the 
 "Primer" under Mr. Bailer's able and genial tuition! 
 Xot long after they went inland, the majority to 
 l^Torth China. Most of them settled eventually on 
 the Si-an plain in Shen-si, or on the borders of Mon- 
 golia in North Shan-si. 
 
 Two and a half years from that first memorable 
 arrival — thirty-five strong, guitars in hand, and al- 
 most unannounced — Mr. Hudson Taylor paid a wel- 
 
A MEMORABLE JOURNEY. 339 
 
 come visit to them, and to other missionaries in the 
 northern provinces, to confer about important ques- 
 tions of method, and to strengthen their hands in 
 the work. 
 
 At the time when this visitation was decided upon, 
 the writer and his bride were away on a liouseboat 
 in Cheh-kiang, visiting two of the oklost centers of 
 the Mission. On their return to Slianghai, after three 
 weeks' absence, what was their surprise to learn that 
 during this brief interval Mr. Taylor had considered, 
 decided and started on this journey. 
 
 But to take such a journey — of four months, in 
 the summer — at Mr. Taylor's age was, to say the 
 least of it, perilous! The same day bride and groom 
 started up river for Han-kow, hoping to overtake Mr. 
 Taylor. How they prayed that he might still be 
 there when they arrived! And he was. Every argu- 
 ment was tried to dissuade him from that journey. 
 Anyone who knows the hardship and physical danger 
 involved by such a tour, all through the summer, 
 ^11 realize how much there was to say in favor of 
 at least postponing the trip. But to the Director of 
 the Mission the line of duty was clear. ''We ought 
 to lay down our lives for the brethren." And that 
 settled the question. 
 
 Then, might his son and daughter go with him, 
 and do what they could to lighten the load of respon- 
 sibility in meetings, and to help by the way? This 
 request being granted, on May 22nd, 1894, Mr. and 
 Mrs. Hudson Taylor, their son-in-law, Mr. J. J. 
 
340 THESE FORTY YEARS. 
 
 Coulthard, and Dr. and Mrs. Howard Taylor started 
 on that long inland journey. 
 
 Native boats took them a day's .trip across the 
 swampy country behind Han-kow, always flooded in 
 summer from the melting of Thibetan snows, and 
 then a two weeks' barrow ride completed the first 
 stage of the journey, to the heart of Ho-nan. 
 
 Happily, those wheelbarrows were large and com- 
 modious "sociables," intended for two: which was a 
 great satisfaction to several members of the party. 
 A coolie in front pulls by two handles, with a stout 
 canvas strap across his shoulders to steady the 
 weight, and another coolie, with similar strap and 
 handles, pushes behind. A strong wheel in the center 
 supports the machine and throws up dust in the faces 
 of the travelers — who ride backward, side by side — 
 blinding, suffocating, almost burying the victims! 
 The road is just a rough foot-track, not made, but 
 simply worn by barrow wheels and coolies' feet. In 
 spite of a total absence of springs, and the rugged and 
 often rocky road; in spite of the long hours, from 
 4 A. M. till 7 or 8 P. M., tliese wheelbarrows are 
 not nearly so uncomfortable as might be supposed, 
 especially under certain circumstances and when well 
 padded with Chinese bedding. 
 
 A few days were now spent in Clieo-kia-k'eo, the 
 oldest station in Ho-nan. The native Christians 
 naturally were greatly delighted to welcome Mr. 
 Hudson Taylor on this, his first, visit to the province. 
 In addition to the public welcome of the church, 
 
A MEMORABLE JOURNEY. 341 
 
 many individual acts of kindness and sympathy ^vill 
 long be remembered. Dear old Mr. Ch'en prepared 
 with his own hands some delicious, savory hashes, 
 native concoctions of mutton and pork, sufficiently 
 salt to keep; one special jar, being entirely free 
 from pepper or spices, for the private consumption 
 of Mr. Taylor himself! Many a time, on the road, 
 were the travelers thankful for his thoughtful pro- 
 vision. 
 
 One of the Christians at this station came to his 
 pastor, some months later, saying, ^'I am deeply 
 grieved to hear of Mr. Taylor's delicate health, and 
 I have just been transacting an important matter with 
 the Lord. I want you to know about it, as my pastor, 
 in case anything should happen suddenly to me. 1 
 am not an old man yet, might have, perhaps, ten 
 }'ears more to live ; but my life is of no consequence, 
 and I have asked the Lord to take these years and 
 add them on to dear Mr. Taylor's life." It was 
 quietly said, Avitli evident sincerity, out of a loving 
 and grateful heart. 
 
 On the cart journey from here to Si-an, the capital 
 of Shen-si, which occupied three weeks, the travelers 
 were delayed among the mountains by heavy rains. 
 As soon as the rivers had sufficiently subsided, they 
 continued the journey, and had a most providential 
 escape from serious accident. The carts came to a 
 ford and were just making ready to go down into 
 the river, when another vehicle came up b(>liind and, 
 rudely hurrying past, plunged into the stream. The 
 
342 THESE FORTY YEAES. 
 
 carters were indignant at this affront, contrary to all 
 the usages of the road, and were angry to the swear- 
 ing point. They were easily pacified, however, by 
 the reminder that the first cart to cross would take 
 the measure of the river and gauge the current for 
 the rest. 
 
 Down into the rushing stream the heavy springless 
 wagon plunged, drawn by two substantial mules 
 driven tandem. Higher and higher up the wheels 
 the water crept, eddying around the spokes and rim 
 and soon about the axle. Still it rose, until it nearly 
 flooded the cart, the driver meanwhile directing his 
 animals by voice and by whip, for they use no reins. 
 On the cart struggled through the surging stream, 
 until at last it began to rise out of the water on a 
 sand bank in the middle. They were half way acrosa. 
 And there they stood, on dry ground, to rest the 
 panting animals. 
 
 We stood waiting. 
 
 After a brief interval, down they went on the 
 farther side into the stream. Again the rushing 
 waters swirled around the wheels and body of the 
 wagon. Still they traveled laboriously on, until they 
 began to draw near to the farther shore. Just then 
 the water became deeper, too deep for the cart to hold 
 steady. It was swept over on one side. Then the 
 wheels were up in the air and the poor mules out 
 of sight. They were carried a long way down the 
 river, and thrown up on the further bank. Strange 
 to say, no one was seriously the worse for the duck- 
 
A MEMORABLE JOURNEY. 343 
 
 ing, not even the sick man who was lying in the bot- 
 tom of the cart! Surely, the Lord must iiave heard 
 our prayers for them. Fifty ounces of silver wore 
 lost and some thousands of cash, but nothing else of 
 much consequence. Wo wont some miles further up 
 the river and crossed by ferry. 
 
 At Si-an a busy week of conference followed, 
 which would have been a time of unmixed happiness, 
 as it was of blessing, had it not been for the knowl- 
 edge that Mrs. Botham was lying at the point of 
 death, four stages to the west. How much her life 
 meant to the party gathered there we must pause a 
 moment to recall. 
 
 Seven years before, Mr. and Mrs. Botham had 
 gone up to work on the Si-an plain. Previous to their 
 arrival all efforts to open a station had been in vam. 
 So their plan of campaign was as follows: They 
 would visit a city, put up at an inn and stay for two 
 or three days, or as long as all was quiet and friendly, 
 preaching the Gospel and selling tracts and Scrip- 
 tures. As soon as they began to be persecuted, ac- 
 cording to the Lord's injunction, they fled to another 
 city. But they fled in a circle! And in this way, 
 visiting fifteen or twenty cities, they made a circuit 
 of the plain. How much discomfort and sacrifice 
 this all involved can be imagined. They were the 
 right kind of pioneers. ^^ 
 
 "Never in my life have I been more happy, wrote 
 Botham, ^'than when traveling thus on this plain, 
 with my wife on one donkey and all our worldly pos- 
 
344 THESE FOETY YEAES. 
 
 sessions on another." After years of patient effort^ 
 they at last succeeded in opening Feng-siang, a per- 
 fectual city. Other pioneers had joined them mean- 
 while, including Messrs. Bland and Redfern, kindred 
 spirits with themselves; and in May, 1892, their long 
 labors were crowned with success. "In one month 
 houses Avere rented in five places," including the 
 capital, Si-an. Public suspicion had been allayed by 
 these repeated visits on which no harm, but only good 
 was done. One after another fresh stations were 
 opened, until the most important cities on the plain 
 were occupied. The Swedish brethren had a large 
 sliare in opening these stations. 
 
 The opening of Si-an was specially interesting. 
 Holman, one of the fifty, an earnest, spiritually- 
 minded fellow, put up at an inn, and set to work 
 quietty, preaching the Gospel and making friends. 
 About this time another foreigner who came to the 
 city asked Holman: "Was it not a mistake for him 
 to come to iliat city? The people needed to be caught 
 with guile. If we taught them astronomy, and 
 mathematics and science, we might gradually interest 
 them and bring in more important things." . 
 But Holman, undiscouraged, referred the question to 
 the Lord. He went on with his work, and ere long, 
 by God's blessing, he had secured a house. 
 
 Some of the leading citizens heard of it, and came 
 with a rabble to turn him out. Holman received 
 them as befitted gentlemen, and after the usual for- 
 malities, took up his guitar and sang to them some 
 
A MEMORABLE JOURNEY. 345 
 
 of the sweet songs of the Kingdom. They were de- 
 lighted at his courtesy and cordiality, and completely 
 won. So the first station in that ancient capital of the 
 empire was opened, and kept open by the hand of 
 God. 
 
 On the arrival of Mr. Taylor's party at Si-an, on 
 Tuesday evening, June 26th, they were infoi-med of 
 the critical condition of Mr^. Bothani. Innucdiately 
 it was made the subject of earnest prayer to God. 
 He was reminded how precious her life was to them, 
 and to the cause; and united request was made that 
 she might be spared and restored to health. Dr. 
 Howard Taylor went across to Feng-siang: and was 
 prospered by the way, accomplishing the four thirty- 
 mile stages in three days. But the Lord Himself had 
 been there first, and when the doctor arrived ^Irs. 
 Bothani was already well! 
 
 On the Tuesday evening, at the time wiien united 
 prayer began to be made at Si-an, hope was well uifih 
 gone. For seventy-two hours Mrs. Bothani had been 
 unable to sleep, the fever continuing high; and mut- 
 tering delirium, that beginning of the end, was su- 
 pervening. But that evening the j)atient fell into a 
 quiet slumber, rested peacefully all night, and awoke 
 in the morning with a sigh of relief: ''Oh, I do feel 
 60 much better!" The fever was gone, the restless- 
 ness had passed away, and Mrs. Bothani made unin- 
 terrupted convalescence. 
 
 Dr. Howard Taylor spent a delightful Sunday 
 with the Bothams and returned to join the party. 
 
346 THESE FOETY YEARS. 
 
 They, meanwhile, had concluded the Conference, in 
 which twenty missionaries took part, and started for 
 Yuin-ch'eng, in South Shan-si, the center of a large 
 salt-producing district, and also of the government 
 monopoly for its sale over the extensive area. This 
 influential city is important also in the China Inland 
 Mission, as being the headquarters of its older Scan- 
 dinavian branch — the "Swedish Mission in China,'' 
 with which we are already acquainted. 
 
 The heat was sultry and very oppressive on that 
 week's journey from Si-an, often as high as 120 de- 
 grees in the carts! And when Mr. Taylor arrived, 
 about noon on July 17th, he was seriously ill in con- 
 sequence. A long drought made the heat unusually 
 trying on these dusty roads. Dr. Howard Taylor 
 was now only half a day behind, and just as he 
 reached the city that evening rain began to fall, and 
 soon fell heavily, an answer to many prayers. By 
 the blessing of God, the medical treatment adopted 
 was soon successful, and after a day or two of rest, 
 Mr, Taylor had a time of conference with about 
 twenty members of the "Swedish Mission" at this 
 station. 
 
 The next point on the tour was P'ing-yang, the 
 principal governing center in southern Shan-si. This 
 section of the journey and several that followed were 
 taken by night, to avoid the heat. Kather more than 
 half way to P'ing-yang, a brief stay was made at 
 K'uh-wu, an important station under the charge of 
 Mr. and Mrs. Duncan Kay, two lovely and very sue- 
 
A MEMORABLE JOURNEY. 347 
 
 cessful missionaries, who, sad to say, were martyred 
 in 1900. 
 
 About midnight, on one stage of this section^ the 
 sleeping travelers were awakened by their carts sud- 
 denly stopping and by voices in the darkness. Rous- 
 ing themselves, they saw two tall figures by the road- 
 side. The voice of one was surely that of Mr. Iloste ? 
 So it proved. And his companion was none other 
 than Pastor Hsi, that blessed man of God, who was 
 so greatly used among his fellow-countrymen in this 
 and neighboring provinces, and whose life-story in 
 two volumes is just being completed.* They had 
 come out a good many miles from P'ing-yang to greet 
 and welcome Mr. Hudson Taylor and his companions. 
 
 The conference which followed at P'ing-yang was 
 a time of great refreshment, and was marked by 
 three rather remarkable answers to prayer, which 
 greatly encouraged the hearts of the thirty-five 
 workers who were present. 
 
 A visit to Pastor Hsi's home followed. The good 
 man did everything in his power, lavishing money 
 and affection in the endeavor to express his gratitude 
 to Mr. Taylor for what he had done for his country 
 and for himself. It was a memorable visit in a godly 
 and cultured home — the center of all the opium ref- 
 uge work carried on by Pastor Hsi at forty-five sta- 
 
 *"One of China's Scholars" and "One of China's Chris- 
 tians," by Mrs. Howard Taylor. The latter is almost ready 
 for publication, and may be ordered from the offices of the 
 Mission at Philadelphia or Toronto. 
 
348 THESE FOETY YEARS. 
 
 tions in no less than five different provinces — an ag- 
 gressive I^ative Missionary Society, with a one-man 
 directorate. 
 
 At P'ing-yang Miss Brooinhall and Mr. Hoste, 
 who had recently become engaged, joined the party. 
 Brief visits were paid at Hung-tung, Mr. Hoste's own 
 station, and at Hoh-chaii, where the work was under 
 the charge of lady missionaries, very appropriately, 
 since the station had been opened some years before, 
 as we have seen, by the devotion of Mrs. Hsi. 
 
 Midw^ay between these two cities was the out-sta- 
 tion of Chao-ch'eng, now a full station under the 
 charge of Ernest Taylor, Mr. Taylor's youngest son. 
 Here, dear old Elder Song was in charge, and a large 
 courtyard, full of bright and happy faces, were 
 gathered to welcome Mr. Taylor. Kealizing that the 
 opium refuge had been the starting point of the work, 
 Mr. Song was asked: "Have any of these happy, 
 hearty-looking Christians ever been opium smokers?" 
 He looked up with some surprise. "I don't quite 
 understand you." The question was repeated. 
 "Why," he said, ^'they were all of them opium smok- 
 ers, every one." And there they were, two hundred 
 hearty, sunshiny men, attesting more eloquently than 
 words the power of Jesus Christ to save, even when 
 all other hope is gone. 
 
 Several more stations were passed on the way north 
 to T'ai-yuan, the capital of Shan-si, where more 
 meetings followed, in the hospitable home of Dr. and 
 Mrs. Edwards. 
 
A MEMORABLE JOURNEY. 349 
 
 From here eastward, the journey to tlie coast was 
 made by "mule litters" as far as Pao-ting Vu, tlio cap- 
 ital of C'hih-li. This method of travel was certainly 
 novel. A long Saratoga trunk, or something closely 
 resembling one, has a hole cut out on either side, half 
 a yard square for the "door" and a foot square for the 
 window. This lightly-constructed box is firmly at- 
 tached to two long poles on which it is carried, sedan- 
 chair fashion, by two hardy mules. How does one 
 get in? — the passenger wonders. After a while he 
 learns to get in backwards, limbs and head last, like a 
 hermit-crab, and to take his seat at one end on a 
 couple of short planks. Facing him at the other end, 
 his fellow-traveler will be seated, their knees almost 
 touching. Bedding does duty for cushions, and bag- 
 gage goes under the seats. 
 
 It will not be supposed that tlie litter is fastened 
 to the mules in any way. Saddles from which a spike 
 stands up, are thrown across their shoulders, a stout 
 leather strap, with a hole for the spike, goes across 
 the saddle, and by this strap the eiids of the poles 
 are carried. After the passengers are seated, the 
 whole concern is lifted by four or six men on to the 
 backs of the mules. The saddles, however, are merely 
 laid across the backs of the animals, and have no 
 girths, or anything that might impede their falling off 
 if the animals stumble. The litter simply rolls over, 
 and the mules are usually none the worse. The hapless 
 passengers do the best they can, but are not taken 
 into account in this arrangement ! 
 
350 THESE FOBTY YEAES. 
 
 At this stage of the journey a delightful visit was 
 paid at Sheo-yang, high up among the mountains, 
 with Mr. and Mrs. T. "W. Pigott — noble, devoted mis- 
 sionaries — ^who were among those beheaded six years 
 later at T'ai-yuan. 
 
 From Pao-ting Pu to T'ien-tsin, the port of Pekin, 
 the last three days of the journey were by house-boat, 
 the cool restfulness of which was greatly appreciated, 
 after the hot overland travel. They arrived at 
 
 T'ien-tsin early in September, and a day or two later 
 a very interesting event took place at the. British 
 consulate! Miss Broomhall and Mr. Hoste were 
 united in marriage. Shortly afterwards they re- 
 turned to Shan-si. 
 
 Prom T'ien-tsin, after a brief visit to Shanghai, 
 Mr. Taylor again went inland on a shorter journey, 
 accompanied by Mr. Russell. And Mr. Coulthard 
 and the Howard Taylors returned to their sphere of 
 service in the province of Ho-nan. 
 
CHAPTER 11. 
 
 LIGHT AND SHADE. 
 
 The last decade of the work lias been full of vicis- 
 situdes. It opened with tokens of divine approval 
 and blessing, and at its close there is much cause for 
 encouragement. We shall tell of the latter in the 
 concluding chapters. A few details of the former 
 may be given here. 
 
 The year 1892 had been one of unprecedented suc- 
 cess, judged by numerical results. This was so, not- 
 withstanding an unusually low exchequer. During 
 the previous three years the funds from England, 
 the largest source of income, had been steadily dimin- 
 ishing, in all by 15 per cent. This was in part com- 
 pensated for by a more favorable rate of exchange, 
 consequent on a fall in the price of silver; and in 
 part by increasing gifts from America and Australia, 
 as well as from friends in China itself. 
 
 It had been a year, also, of much sickness: eight 
 out of five hundred having laid down their lives, 
 which, though still low, was considerably above the 
 usual percentage. In spite of these things, and two 
 serious riots (one of them in the far west, on the 
 borders of Thibet), more were added to the Church 
 than in any previous year. There was much cause 
 for prayer. There was still more reason for praise. 
 
 351 
 
352 THESE FORTY YEARS. 
 
 The first of the last ten years, 1893, by God's 
 blessing, was still more suceessful. In this year eight 
 hundred and twenty-one were added to the Church, 
 in connection with the China Inland Mission, as com- 
 pared with six hundred and ninety-three the year 
 before. And this encouraging improvement has not 
 only been maintained, but considerably increased in 
 more recent years. In addition to this number re- 
 ceived into the Church, there were fully a thousand 
 more inquirers upon the rolls at the end of 1893, 
 waiting for admission, than there had been four 
 years before. 
 
 This steady advance in numerical results is, of 
 course, easy to explain, and is what one should ex- 
 pect. Pioneer work, as we have seen, is necessarily 
 slow, and consists largely in laying foundations upon 
 which the superstructure of organized churches may 
 be erected later. The foundations had now been laid. 
 The right time for building up had come at last, 
 thank God! 
 
 A large proportion of the baptisms, for the same 
 reason, were at the older stations, the highest num- 
 ber being in the province of Cheh-kiang, where the 
 work of the China Inland Mission commenced. Next 
 to this statistically came Shan-si in the north, and 
 then Kiang-si in the south. The work in eastern Si- 
 ch'uan under Mr. Cassels (now Bishop of western 
 China) had also been much owned of God. 
 
 The old church at Hang-chow, Cheh-kiang, under 
 Pastor Wang, and his son-in-law, Pastor Ken, to- 
 
LIGHT AND SHADE. 363 
 
 gether with tlie branch churches in neighboring 
 towns, had now become practically self-supporting. 
 And they were getting along so well under a native 
 ministry (with occasional foreign supervision) that 
 the Mission was greatly encouraged in its efforts to 
 develop self-sustaining and self-extending churches. 
 This must, of course, be the ultimate aim of all mis- 
 sionary work, as well as its principal hope for rapid 
 increase. At T'ai-chau, in the fall of 1893, after a 
 hundred had been baptized, three hundred inquirers 
 still remained on the rolls. 
 
 Even in hard, opiimi-besotted Kan-suh, the work 
 was beginning to be more hopeful. 
 
 This brings us to 1894, the year of Mr. Taylor's 
 long journey through the northern provinces. There 
 was a slight diminution in the total number admitted 
 to the Church. But this did not discourage the 
 workers, as it might have done, for the diminution 
 was more than accounted for at the one station of 
 T'ai-chau, where bitter persecution temporarily 
 checked the work. With this one exception the 
 steady increase was maintained. Strange to say, the 
 total income this year was 8 per cent, less still than 
 the year before! But by the gracious over-ruling 
 Providence of God, this was again compensated for 
 by further improvement in the rate of exchange. 
 
 By this time another of the older stations had be- 
 come self-supporting, as far as the native part of the 
 work was concerned, eighty Mexican dollars being 
 
 23 
 
354 THESE FOETY YEAES. 
 
 « 
 
 provided by the church for the Chinese pastor's 
 salary, besides a number of lesser contributions. 
 
 With few exceptions the whole work was encour- 
 aging. The reason may, perhaps, be found in the 
 following words, from a letter written at this time 
 by Mr. Taylor: ''Never was there a stronger bond of 
 unity and love in the Mission; never before were so 
 many qualified for aggressive service." 
 
 An epoch-marking event occurred at the close 
 of 1894. November 12th was the sixtieth birth- 
 day of the Dowager Empress, who has since become 
 so well known. In preparation for this anniversary, 
 the Christian women of China had contributed be- 
 tween one and two thousand dollars, with which was 
 produced a remarkable book: an edition of a single 
 copy of the New Testament, in classical Chinese.* 
 The book was elegantly printed in large clear type, 
 with an ornate gold border around each page. It 
 was bound in solid silver, elegantly chased with 
 graceful sprays of bamboo. A gold plate, in the 
 center of the design, bore the characters "Holy 
 Classic of Salvation," and on the other face of the 
 binding, a similar plate bore the name of the Em-- 
 press, with a few words of congratulation. The book 
 was enclosed in a handsome silver casket, lined with 
 old gold plush, and this was encased in an elegantly 
 carved teak-wood box. It was presented to the 
 
 ♦A second edition was printed afterward from the same 
 type, with a less costly border, and handsomely bound in 
 leather, in memory of the occasion. 
 
LIGHT AND SHADE. 3.' 
 
 <)0 
 
 Empress with due ceremony, by the British and 
 American ambassadors. 
 
 A few days later the Emi^eror sent an eunuch to 
 the American Bible Society's depot, to purchase for 
 his own use both Old and New Testaments. And it 
 is related that, day by day, a chapter was copied for 
 him from the Gospels by a scribe, it being unusual 
 for a Chinese Emperor to read printed books (which 
 ordinary mortals read): and obscure passages were 
 explained to his Majesty by a native Christian, whose 
 attendance was commanded for the purpose. May 
 God grant that the truths that thus obtained access, 
 not merely to the palace, but to the mind of the 
 Emperor himself, may yet bring forth fruit in his 
 life, to the great blessing of the country. 
 
 The year which followed was memorable in more 
 respects than one. When it began, the war with 
 Japan, declared while Mr. Taylor and his fellow- 
 travelers were returning to the coast, was at its 
 height. The suzerainty of Korea, it will be remem- 
 bered, was the bone of contention. And peace was 
 not secured until the middle of April, 1895; peace, 
 with its most humiliating terms for China. 
 
 In the same month of April, the Mohammedans 
 of the far northwest, taking advantage of the pre- 
 occupation of the government, as they have often 
 done in the past, broke out in rebellion. And as a 
 result, the lives of the Kan-suh missionaries were 
 in jeopardy for many months. To the great credit 
 of China be it recalled that all through the Japanese 
 
,056 THESE FORTY YEARS. 
 
 war the lives and property of foreigners had been 
 most carefully safeguarded throughout the country. 
 But now the scanty imperial soldiery were being 
 worsted by the rebels. The Chinese Mohammedans, 
 always unruly, in times of civil war are the most 
 blood-thirsty savages. It was a time of peril, indeed. 
 The worst trouble centered at and around Si-ning, 
 not far from the Thibetan border. 
 
 In this city were stationed Mr. and Mrs. Kidley 
 with their little baby girl, and Mr. Hall. "What shall 
 we do V they cried to God, when the revolt began. On 
 the one hand was the utter ruthlessness of the fierce 
 and fanatical Moslems, and the imminent peril to 
 themselves and the sweet little babe; on the other 
 hand was the work. Difficult it had been all along. 
 Should they leave the little beginnings of a church? 
 Or should they stand by it, and do what they could, 
 niedically and surgically, for the wounded soldiers 
 and the often terribly burned and injured civilians 
 who fled into the city? 
 
 After much prayer they determined to stay, and 
 so graciously were their hearts kept in peace that 
 during the seven long months that followed, amid 
 all the blood-curdling horrors of such barbarous war- 
 fare, only once did their hearts fail them — though, 
 of course, it was a time of terrible strain — and that 
 was when a poor little infant was brought to them 
 from a neighboring village, horribly gashed by the 
 swords of the vandals. Mrs. Eidley, whose training 
 as a nurse made her surgeon-in-chief, might well 
 
LIGHT AND SUA Dp:. 357 
 
 recoil from such a sight. After attending to the 
 pitiful little patient, Mrs. llidley went alone, and 
 cried to God as if her heart would break. 
 
 God heard; and comforted the mother's heart with 
 peace, and with the assurance that He would protect 
 both the little one and themselves. For seven long 
 months they were besieged, cut off from communi- 
 cation with the outside world: and day by day, and 
 night after night savage onslaughts were made, with 
 the awful prospect of the rebel soldiers brealdng 
 through into the city. During all this time it was 
 impossible, of course, to send them money; or rather, 
 the money that was sent could not be forwarded. 
 How would God meet their need? 
 
 A mandarin called to thank them, one day, for 
 all they were doing for the wounded soldiers, of 
 whom many hundreds had been treated, and he was 
 surprised to notice his host preparing tea for himself. 
 Wondering whether this could possibly be the for- 
 eigner's compliment to his official guest, he inquired, 
 ^^Why do you not let your servant make the tea?" 
 Mr. Kidley had to confess that he had no servant. 
 "Why, that is too bad," said the official. "I will 
 send at once four of my body-guard to serve you." 
 Mr. Eidley thanked him, and declined. ''But you 
 must have servants," he said, with evident astonish- 
 ment. 'Teople like you are not accustomed to wait 
 upon yourselves : and it is a disgrace to our city that 
 you should be without help when you are spending 
 all your time and strength upon others! I ^vill send 
 
358 THESE FOETY YEARS. 
 
 jou four soldiers at once." There was nothing for 
 it, then, but to explain : that, being cut off from sup- 
 plies, they could not afford to keep servants. And 
 thus the official discovered how low the exchequer 
 had run. He promptly ordered a load of wheat and 
 a supply of fuel, and sent several of his own men 
 to grind the grain. In this and in other ways all 
 their needs were met during that trying time: and 
 they were able to minister to over two thousand 
 surgical and medical patients, including a large nmn- 
 ber of cases of diphtheria. 
 
 At last the siege was raised, the rebellion put down, 
 and the severely tested workers relieved from the 
 strain. 'Not till two or three years later, however, 
 would they leave that station for furlough. And in 
 the interval they found, very naturally, the entire 
 attitude of the people changed. Such help, rendered 
 at such a cost, could not but make a profound impres- 
 sion upon the ruling classes and the people. 
 
 This was the second serious trouble in 1895. The 
 third threatened to be even more perilous. At the 
 end of May a serious riot occurred at Ch'eng-tu, the 
 capital of Si-ch'uan. Several causes contributed to 
 bring it about. The widespread anti-foreign feeling 
 of the people was at the root of it. The indifference, 
 or, more probably, the open sympathy of the then 
 viceroy encouraged it, and the scholarly classes, as 
 usual, organized the disturbance behind the scenes. 
 
 The death of a woman operated on in one of the 
 Mission hospitals seems to have been the spark that 
 
LIGHT AND SHADE. 359 
 
 ignited tlie gunpowder. But the mine was laid and 
 in readiness beforehand. From Ch'eng-tu the riot- 
 ing spread to Kia-ting and other neighboring cities: 
 and continued spreading until, within ten days, it 
 had reached Pao-ning, Bishop Cassels' center, at the 
 other end of the province. It seemed for a time as 
 if every station in Si-ch'uan would be closed. But 
 in the midst of all this trouble it was decreed, 'Thus 
 far and no farther." Not one life was lost, and at 
 many of the stations the missionaries were able to 
 remain, either in hiding at the Yamen or under pro- 
 tection at the Mission premises. Sixty-five, however, 
 had to leave the province, and it was several months 
 before all the work could be resumed. 
 
 The fourth sad event of the year 1895 occurred 
 on the first of August. On that day, at Ku-ch'eng, 
 in Fuh-kien, South China, the Kev. K. W. and Mrs. 
 Stewart and their child and seven other missionaries 
 were suddenly surrounded and murdered by vege- 
 tarian fanatics. They were most devoted workers, 
 members of the English Episcopal Mission. This 
 terrible catastrophe shot a pang of horror through 
 the heart of Christendom, and the noble spirit in 
 which it was borne by the relatives of the martyrs 
 and their fellow-workers — in the Church [Missionary 
 Society and the Church of England Zenana [Mission — 
 will not be quickly forgotten. It should be added 
 that, both in this province and in Si-ch'uan, the gov- 
 ernment did all it could to make amends. 
 
 Moreover, at the close of the war with Japan the 
 
360 THESE FORTY YEARS. 
 
 Emperor of China, for the first time in the history 
 of the country, took personal cognizance of services 
 rendered by individual missionaries, conferring upon 
 eleven medical missionaries the high distinction of 
 the Order of the Double Dragon, with its jeweled 
 insignia. In addition to this imperial recognition, 
 medical services to wounded soldiers and civilians 
 were also formally acknowledged, in various ways, 
 by local mandarins. 
 
 In this year, also, was completed the period of five 
 years, from the Shanghai Missionary Convention of 
 1890, within which the Conference asked for a thou- 
 sand men to reinforce the work in China. This 
 appeal, translated by many into the language of 
 prayer, God heard as well as the home churches. But 
 God often disposes otherwise than we propose. They 
 asked for a thousand. He sent more, by a hundred 
 and fifty-three. They asked for men. He sent, 
 through forty-five Societies, both men and women — 
 four hundred and eighty-one men, one hundred and 
 sixty-seven missionary wives and five hundred and 
 five single ladies. And thus He met the need as He 
 saw best, l^ot that it was met completely: very far 
 from that ! Even now, at the end of 1902, there i^ 
 still very much "land to be possessed.'' But as many 
 went out, probably, as could be satisfactorily trained 
 and located within five years. For this readiness to 
 give at home, and to go, all glory be ascribed to God. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 BLESSEDLY UNEVENTFUL YEARS. 
 
 Blessedly uneventful were the years which imme- 
 diately followed troublous 1895; uneventful, save in 
 that chief event for which all missionary work exists 
 — the salvation of souls. Unhampered by serious 
 difficulties without, or by grave troubles within, the 
 work of all Missions in China, and the China Inland 
 Mission among them, went forward in a way to re- 
 joice the heart. 
 
 Missions to the heathen serve many subsidiary 
 ends: civilizing, educating, uplifting the do^^^l-trod- 
 den, emancipating woman, and bringing medical and 
 surgical aid to countless sufferers. All these are 
 things we cannot but be thankful for, we who are 
 followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, who "went about 
 
 doing good.'' 
 
 But the one supreme blessing of Salvation, which 
 it is their privilege to bring, immeasurably out- 
 weighs all else: involving, as it does, deliverance in 
 the future from eternal perdition, involving the pres- 
 ent redemption of wrecked and miserable lives, in- 
 volving happiness instead of cruelty, love and loveli- 
 ness instead of hatred and hatefulness: this one all- 
 inclusive blessing so far outweighs all others that 
 without accomplishing this, no missionary's heart can 
 361 
 
362 THESE rOETY YEAKS. 
 
 ever be satisfied; liis work, judged by the highest 
 standard, is in vain, and he knows it. 
 
 This, moreover, was the object set before us in our 
 general marching orders: ^^Go ye into all the world, 
 and preach the Gospel to every creature." And "he 
 that believeth . . . shall be saved." Those at 
 home who give and send, and those on the field who 
 go and sacrifice, and all who' pray, work together 
 therefore to this one supreme end. And who can es- 
 timate the value of one lost soul reclaimed for Jesus 
 Christ? "Well may God Himself rejoice over each 
 individual salvation ! 
 
 Missionary work involves, necessarily, great sacri- 
 fices, but are they not sacrifices for ends incompar- 
 ably greater? And neither supporter at home, nor 
 worker on the field — no, nor God Himself — will ever 
 regret the price paid for the redemption of lost men 
 and women. 
 
 Hard though 1895 had been, especially in the 
 west, the hearts of the workers were cheered by 
 abundant ingathering in many of the stations. "This 
 is what we live for." The bad year became a good 
 year, through the blessing of the Lord. Spite of 
 all there was to hinder, as we have seen, in the east 
 and west, in the northwest and northeast, a larger 
 number of converts were baptized than ever before; 
 eight hundred and forty-seven being added to the 
 Church. 
 
 In the year of peace which followed, 1896, this im- 
 provement was maintained, and much more than 
 
BLESSEDLY UNEVENTFUL YEARS. 363 
 
 maintained: for twelve hundred and sixty-two were 
 baptized, and at the close of the year a larger num- 
 ber of applicants for church fellowship were on the 
 rolls than ever before. Growth, thank God, steady 
 growth, is the rule of the Kingdom; and the liistory 
 of the Church in China has been no exception to the 
 rule. 
 
 It was not only the number added that was encour- 
 aging. Mrs. Bird Bishop, after extensive joumcyings 
 in the far interior, spoke of the transformations which 
 she herself had seen, not only in the lives, but in the 
 very appearance of the Christians. She has often 
 said that in China her camera knew the difference be- 
 tween a Christian and a heathen. There is a light in 
 the Christians' faces and an earnestness of demeanor, 
 which tell of an inner spring of happiness and rest- 
 fulness that is never found apart from Christ. This 
 distinguished traveler also remarks that, so far as her 
 observation had gone, the little churches are pure 
 and the members unmistakably converted. Mrs. 
 Bishop was especially impressed with the value and 
 success of medical missionary work, not only as a di- 
 rect evangelistic agency of the highest value, but also 
 as a means of disanning prejudice and suspicion, and 
 of conquering the many supei'^titions which bar tlie 
 progress of the Truth. 
 
 Mr. Hudson Taylor, speaking this year at the Lon- 
 don Annual Meeting, drew attention to the striking 
 change in attitude which lie and many others had 
 noticed recently. There was not, of coui-se, eager- 
 
364 THESE FORTY YEARS. 
 
 ness to hear the Gospel; one would hardly expect to 
 find that among heathen, who do not even know there 
 is a Gospel! But there was a willingness to listen, a 
 more respectful bearing and much more readiness to 
 receive the message when it began to be understood. 
 
 These encouraging features of the work in 1896, 
 after the war with Japan and the many riots and 
 other troubles of the preceding year, were just what 
 was prayed for and expected. Times of great bless- 
 ing are usually preceded by special onslaughts of the 
 Enemy. It is important to remember at such times of 
 trial, indeed, at all times, that he cannot go one inch 
 beyond the permission he obtains from the King of 
 kings; and that there can be no such thing as defeat 
 to the cause of Jesus Christ. All things shall be put 
 in subjection under His feet. 
 
 And now, at last, the time had come for the "key 
 of David^' to unlock the entrance to the province of 
 Hu-nan. It was to a woman that God gave the honor 
 of being the first missionary to settle in that province. 
 Miss Jacobson, a E'orwegian associate of long experi- 
 ence, with rare courage and devotion, undertook to 
 do her best. 
 
 She went, with suitable native helpers, and passed 
 the border, where a posse of soldiers were detailed to 
 intercept her, in the garb of a peasant, apron, shoes 
 and all; the soldiers taking little notice of the coun- 
 trywoman and her servants. She commenced work 
 very quietly in a country village : afterwards moving, 
 as the way opened, into a neighboring city. Several 
 
BLESSEDLY UNEVENTFUL YEARS. 365 
 
 other stations, with resident missionaries, have been 
 opened since, including the capital of the province, 
 but this work in the Ch'a-ling district was the first. 
 
 Some years previously a member of the [Mission, 
 having been very roughly handled in this province, 
 reported to Mr. Taylor with a radiant face: "Those 
 Hu-nanese are worth working for; there is such 
 energy about them, and such vigor; we must have 
 them on the Lord's side!" 
 
 One more encouraging fact must be mentioned. 
 The work under Bishop Cassels continued to steadily 
 expand, in answer to special and united prayer. The 
 Bishop, during the first year after his consecration by 
 the Archbishop of Canterbury, traveled in visiting 
 the various centers in his diocese, considerably over 
 three thousand miles: and had the satisfaction of bap- 
 tizing forty-seven new members, as well as confinn- 
 ing one hundred and sixty Christians. 
 
 It was one of the Christians from Pao-ning, the 
 headquarters of this Episcopal branch of the Mission, 
 who so heroically undertook, some time before, a pub- 
 lic flogging at Sung-p'an, near the Thibetan border. 
 By this expedient of substituting the native Christian, 
 the mandarin, who was in imminent peril himself, 
 was able to deliver Mr. and Mrs. Polhill Turner from 
 the fury of the populace, who believed the serious 
 drought to be due to the presence of the foreigners 
 and the anger of the gods. When this man came 
 home to his o^vn church he had not a word to say 
 about his beating, and, indeed, when lovingly asked 
 
366 THESE FOETY YEARS. 
 
 about it, only said: "Oh, that is of no consequence; 
 Jesus bore much more than that for me." 
 
 During these years the membership of the Mission 
 was steadily increasing; from 1894 to 1897, inclusive, 
 there was an annual addition of over seventy new 
 workers, nearly three hundred in all. Over against 
 this must be placed those who had laid down their 
 lives in the work, about eight or ten each year. And, 
 of course, there were other losses from failing health 
 and other reasons. But after allowing for these, 
 there was a large increase in the membership. 
 
 There was not, however, a corresponding increase 
 in the funds. In 1896, for instance, the income was 
 $215,000, only $400 more than the year before. It 
 need hardly be said that this involved great care on 
 the part of the Financial Secretaries in China to avoid 
 hardship to the workers. By gTcat economy, how- 
 ever, and by postponing repairs and other movable 
 expenditures, the usual average remittances to the 
 workers were maintained. 
 
 It may not, perhaps, be out of place to mention 
 here an impression that exists in certain quarters, 
 that the members or associates of the China Inland 
 Mission are frequently reduced to great straits for 
 want of money; an impression wdiich, happily, is not 
 borne out by facts. During one of the hardest years 
 the Mission ever had, the year 1900, Mr. Hudson 
 Taylor found that it had only been necessary to re- 
 duce the remittance to individual missionaries by two 
 and a half per cent., a practically unappreciable dim- 
 
BLESSEDLY UNEVENTFUL YEARS. 367 
 
 inution of the ordinary average income. It is not 
 without good reason that the members of the Mission 
 make their boast in the Lord, that He is faithful that 
 promised ! To Him be all the glory ! 
 
 1897 was a still more blessed year than 1896. 
 Many souls were born into the Kingdom, and in the 
 China Inland Mission alone we had the joy of re- 
 ceiving into the Church 1,325 believers. All of these 
 had been on probation for several months at least, 
 and in many cases for a 3-ear or more. The impor- 
 tance of keeping the churches pure, of avoiding tlie 
 baneful influence of false brethren, can scarcely be 
 over-estimated. In addition to these, of course, many 
 inquirers were enrolled, as desirous to join the 
 Church; a still larger number than before. 
 
 As we have seen already, seventy new members 
 joined the Mission in 1897, bringing the membership 
 to 744. The native helpers also, paid or self-sup- 
 porting, were increased by a hundred, from rather 
 more than 500 to 600. Forty-one new stations and 
 out-stations were opened in various parts of the 
 country. In the province of Ilu-nan, so long closed 
 against the Gospel, another more important station 
 was opened at Chang-teh. And the Kev. George 
 Hunter, who took a much-needed furlough this year, 
 left behind a little native church in the northwest 
 corner of this province. 
 
 Yet another advance on the field cheered the hearts 
 of many, both in China and at home. The prayers 
 of years, for the far southwest, began to have an 
 
368 THESE FORTY YEAES. 
 
 answer. So long ago as 1865, mncli prayer went up 
 to God tliat He would make it possible to enter one 
 great district of the then untouched field of inland 
 China from the southwest, by way of Burmah. Ten 
 years later, the work in China itself being well estab- 
 lished, two missionaries were dispatched to the 
 Burmese frontier. They were met, as we have seen, 
 by serious obstacles. They obtained, through the 
 good hand of God upon them, an audience of King 
 Mindano at Mandalay, and were given a site at 
 Bhamo (after further delay), which was all that could 
 be desired in the interests of the work. The center 
 thus opened became a regular station of the Mission, 
 in which a many-sided work was carried on among 
 Chinese residents and traders, among the Burmese 
 and hill-tribesmen, and among the English soldiers 
 on garrison duty. 
 
 Twenty-two more long years had passed, however, 
 before it became possible to regularly use this en- 
 trance to the province of Yun-nan. During this 
 period, at long intervals, missionaries had crossed the 
 frontier in both directions. ITow at last the British 
 authorities had conquered the difficulties with the 
 Kah-chens and other mountaineers and, far more 
 serious, with the Chinese government, and a regular 
 trade route was opened, with a British consulate at 
 the first Chinese city across the border: a city best 
 known to foreigners by its Burmese name, Momien, 
 but in Chinese, T'eng-ueh Chau. Here two mission- 
 aries were stationed: and settled work was com- 
 
BLESSEDLY UNEVENTFUL YEARS. 3G9 
 
 mencecl among its peaceable citizens. For prayer, 
 thus answered after many (lays, much pralsn went 
 up to God. 
 
 In this year extensive improvements and enlarge- 
 ments at the Chefoo Schools were completed. Tlie 
 new Boys' School, airy, convenient and healthy, could 
 accommodate one hundred and twenty pupils. The 
 enlarged Girls' School could comfurtably receive 
 eighty, and the Preparatory School another fifty, 
 making a total accommodation of about two hundred 
 and fifty. This was, it need hardly be said, a greatly 
 appreciated addition to these schools for missionaries' 
 children. 
 
 In the year 1897, also, a most interesting departure was 
 taken by the native missionary association in Shan-si. 
 Opium refuge work having been so greatly prospered in the 
 northern provinces, the brethren now sent forth two native 
 missionaries to carry on a similar work, nearly a thousand 
 miles away, in the difficult province of Hu-nan. They went 
 to the station opened by Miss Jacobsou in the previous year. 
 Needless to say, the prayers of Chinese and foreigners went 
 with them. 
 
 As an illustration of one of the many vicissitudes of 
 travel, and of the ever-present help of God, tlie following 
 instance which happened about this time will not be without 
 interest. Mr. Karlsson, one of tlie Swedish-American pio- 
 neers on the Si-an plain, was out on a five months' evan- 
 gelistic tour. Five Chinamen accompanied him, and in 
 addition to preaching the Gospel they sold Scriptures and 
 tracts wherever they went. He sat one evening on the 
 k'ang (the warm brick bed which is common in that part 
 of China) as he preached the Gospel, having removed the 
 shoes from his weary feet before commencing. He preached 
 on till dark, and then discovered that his shoes had disap- 
 peared. 
 
 What could be done? There were none to be had in 
 24 
 
370 THESE FORTY YEAES. 
 
 the village, and the journey was to be continued in the 
 morning. The missionary and his companions united in 
 prayer, asking earnestly that the thief might return the 
 shoes. They then had supper and retired. "Early in the 
 morning some one outside pushed my shoes through the 
 paper window and said, 'Here are your shoes; stop your 
 praying, for I am afraid of your God.' " They had a little 
 praise meeting before continuing the journey. 
 
 Before we pass from 1897, it will not be without interest 
 to compare it with ten years before. At the beginning of 
 1887 there were about 225 members of the Mission, now 
 there were more than three times as many — 744. Then 
 there were 1,650 communicants in the churches, most of 
 which were young; now there were 7,147. Then there were 
 117 native helpers, now 605. Then there were 14 schools 
 for native children, with 200 scholars; now there were 114 
 schools, with 1,600 scholars, mostly the children of Christian 
 parents, girls as .well as boys. And the necessity of these 
 will be apparent when we remember that the worship of 
 Confucius is compulsory at all the ordinary schools, and 
 that the heathen have no schools for girls. 
 
 The Lord, wlio was thus steadily increasing the 
 work of the Mission, now graciously brought about, 
 through many of his stewards, a decided increase of 
 the General Fund, from which most of its members 
 are supported; an increase, as compared with the 
 year before, of $25,000, or about 15 per cent, which 
 fully provided for the year's increase of workers. 
 For this gracious answer to prayer, it need hardly 
 be said, much grateful praise went up to God ! 
 
 * -x- -5^ ->5- -X- -X- -x- 
 
 Mr. Hudson Taylor arrived in China, for the tenth 
 time, early in January, 1898, being accompanied by 
 Mrs. Taylor, Miss Hanbury (who now became prin- 
 cipal of the Girls' School at Chef oo) and Miss Soltau. 
 At Mr. Taylor's request, Miss Soltau had come out 
 
BLESSEDLY UNEVENTFUL YEARS. 371 
 
 for a year's visit, with a very definite object in view. 
 Before referring to this, a tliought whiclv was form- 
 ing in Mr. Taylor's mind at this time, a most im- 
 portant plan for the more thorough evangelization 
 of China, must be mentioned. 
 
 As in India, so in China, nine-tenths of the popula- 
 tion are on the soil, and are dependent directly upon 
 the products of agriculture for a subsistence. These 
 are still, and of necessity, very largely outside the 
 pale of missionary influence. For it is strategically 
 right that missionary work should commence in the 
 cities, as we have seen. 
 
 But the time had now come, Mr. Taylor felt, when 
 the villages and hamlets, the rural nine-tenths of the 
 people ought to hear the message of salvation. With 
 this end in view, a plan was drawn up, in the year 
 1898, for a definite Forward Movement to these 
 largely unreached masses. The proposal was to send 
 missionaries, two and two, two natives and two for- 
 eigners, to work on a definite system through all the 
 villages and hamlets and country towns in a given 
 district, with the aim in view of literally preaching 
 the Gospel, as far as possible, to every creature. To 
 accomplish this, it would be necessary to divide the 
 field into workable districts. 
 
 To this end, a commencement was made with the 
 province of Kiang-si. With the exception of two 
 sections, in which rural evangelization was already in 
 progress, the province was divided into five evan- 
 gelistic districts, of an average area half as large 
 
372 THESE FOETY YEAES. 
 
 again as Massachusetts, and with an average popula- 
 tion of four millions. 
 
 In order to man these districts effectively, earnest, 
 united prayer was requested for twenty evangelists, 
 men of strong physique, of courage, and of faith in 
 the power of the Gospel. Prayer was also asked for 
 twenty native Christians of suitable gifts for this 
 ministry, and for wisdom and good success in estab- 
 lishing, in each of these districts, a center which 
 should be the headquarters and home of four evan- 
 gelists, and from which they would ^^go out into the 
 liighways and hedges and constrain them to come in." 
 
 Tliose who offered for this work went out to 
 China under a definite agreement not to settle down 
 or marry for five years, but to give themselves wholly 
 to this service. Three-fourths of their time, after 
 the first year, would be given to systematic visitation 
 through the district, the other quarter being devoted 
 to spiritual refreshment and continued study of the 
 language hj the foreigners, and to a regular course 
 of Bible study by the natives. 
 
 It can easily be demonstrated that a thousand such 
 evangelists could reach with the Gospel the men, 
 women and children of China, within three, or at the 
 outside, five years. Surely it was high time to set 
 about a work so promising, so unspeakably needed, 
 and so calculated to bring about a large increase in 
 the Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ! 
 
 This Forward IMovement, for which special funds 
 were available, was inaugurated in 1898, and was 
 
BLESSEDLY UNEVENTFUL YEAKS. 373 
 
 entered upon in the Kiang-si province during the 
 next two years: one of the first workers to join it 
 being Mr. Taylor's youngest son, Ernest Taylor. 
 
 The Boxer catastrophe, so sadly reducing the 
 number of missionaries available for existing work, 
 has temporarily interfered with the prosecution of 
 this new plan of campaign. If, however, our Lord's 
 return is not yet, it is hoped that this definite effort 
 toward fulfilling His last wish may be used to hasten 
 His coming, Who has said that "this Gospel . . . 
 shall be preached in the whole world for a testimony 
 unto all the nations, and then shall the end come." 
 
 For such a forward movement to be effective, as 
 effective as it might, it was obviously necessary that 
 much prayer should ascend to God for a widespread 
 outpouring of the Holy Spirit in China. Such Pen- 
 tecostal blessings have usually, perhaps always in the 
 history of the Church, been preceded by times of 
 definite waiting upon God. Pentecost begins with 
 the praying disciples, and overfiows to unconverted 
 multitudes. 
 
 That this blessing might begin with the mission- 
 aries, the members of the Mission were invited to 
 very definite agreed prayer. For the same reason 
 Miss Soltau went out to China. And a few months 
 later a deputation from Keswick, consisting of Mr. 
 and Mrs. Charles Inwood, went out with the definite 
 purpose of aiding, as God might prosper them, in 
 this direction. 
 
 Miss Soltau herself was an English lady who had 
 
374 THESE FORTY YEAES. 
 
 been for many years a partial invalid, but had been 
 graciously restored in answer to prayer and with a 
 view to definite service. Her visit to China was 
 greatly blessed of God. First of all on arrival in 
 Shanghai she had some remarkable meetings there. 
 Then at the Ladies' Training Home at Yang-chau 
 she was yet more blessedly used of God: while at the 
 Men's Home at Gan-king, Mr. Stevenson, who was 
 present, believed that every student in the Home re- 
 ceived a fresh enduement of the Holy Spirit. Much 
 blessing was granted also on a visit to the "ladies' 
 stations" in Kiang-si. And later, at E'ankin, mem- 
 bers of many Missions were astonished, not only at 
 the grace but also at the physical endurance given to 
 this frail servant of the Lord, for from morning to 
 night was one long sequence of meetings and inter- 
 views, day after day. After a year of arduous labor, 
 Miss Soltau returned home, followed by the grati- 
 tude of many to whom she had been made a blessing. 
 The Rev. Charles Inwood's visit was also a means 
 of great refreshment to many, both in the China In- 
 land Mission and other Societies. 
 
 During this same year, 1898, the China Inland 
 Mission Prayer Union, which had been a valued aux- 
 iliary in ISTorth America for five years, was launched 
 in England, and became an integral part of the Mis- 
 sion as a whole. This Union is an organized form of 
 that heart union in prayer, which has existed among 
 the friends of the Mission, and has been so largely 
 honored of God from the beginning. Its members, 
 
BLESSEDLY UNEVENTFUL YEARS. 375 
 
 while bound by no pledge, give some time each day 
 to prayer for the extension of God's Kingdom in 
 China, for all its missionaries, and in particular for 
 the workers, native and foreign, of the China Inland 
 Mission. The members of this Union are rendering 
 a profoundly important service, and with tlie in- 
 creasing circle of regular subscribers, fonu an inner 
 circle of "laborers together" for China, upon whom 
 the success of the work in large measure depends. 
 
 The year 1898 will long be memorable in the his- 
 tory of China as the Year of Refonn. During the 
 summer, within the short space of three months, the 
 young Emperor — whose progressive sympathies and 
 earnest consideration of the problems of his country 
 entitle limi to its lasting gratitude — promulgated 
 no less than ninety edicts, most of wliicli were dis- 
 tinctively "reform" edicts, and whicli, taken to- 
 gether, would have done much to lift China out 
 of the old ruts, and place her in a strong position 
 before the world. 
 
 It is true that the inertia of China is very great, 
 and it may be that the Emperor Kwang-su was going 
 too fast for his people in his attempt to introduce the 
 civilization of the West. At any rate, so thought 
 the former Queen Regent, the Dowager Empress, 
 but the strange thing was that the people at large 
 seemed content, and many of the most intelligent 
 more than content, at what was so rapidly trans- 
 piring. This was so, even when, toward the end of 
 the series, that astounding proclamation went forth 
 
376 THESE FORTY YEAES. 
 
 that the idol temples of the country were to be 
 closed (with the sole exception of those to Confucius 
 and the god of w^ar, which are used for state func- 
 tions), were to be emptied of their images, and were 
 to be reopened as schools and colleges of Western 
 learning! 
 
 This was, perhaps, the most remarkable imperial 
 proclamation since the days of Nebuchadnezzar. 
 And still more remarkable, and still more encour- 
 aging, was the way the people took it. The news 
 was soon telegraphed to the government offices all 
 over the empire, and before the Shanghai and the 
 T'ien-tsin newspapers could bring exact information 
 to foreigners in the interior, the natives. Christians 
 and heathen alike, were eagerly discussing this aston- 
 ishing decree. 
 
 Church members at T'ai-kang, a month's journey 
 from the coast, gathered round the writer, asking: 
 "Can it be true?" How he wished it might be, but 
 it seemed too good! 'Not long after, the papers came 
 with the news: and profound thanksgiving ascended 
 to God, from this and many other stations, as the 
 news spread across the empire. 
 
 Of course this change of policy brought about an 
 immense change in the scholarly classes. From the 
 missionaries alone, in most cases, could they obtain 
 authoritative information, as to what was the "West- 
 ern learning," and how books could be obtained on 
 mathematics, geography, astronomy, and the history 
 of the world. 
 
BLESSEDLY UNEVENTFUL YEARS. 377 
 
 At the same time, also, of course, their haughty 
 contemptuous attitude was entirely changed to one 
 of equality and even cordiality toward tlie foreigner. 
 This vras valuable primarily as giving a golden oppor- 
 tunity of reaching, with the Gospel, many who had 
 hitherto held aloof. Secondarily, it was of great 
 value because the masses of the people always in- 
 stinctively follow, very naturally, their leaders, and 
 this would result in greater personal safety and much 
 more freedom from petty annoyance. 
 
 It was not to be expected, however, that the great 
 Enemy of God, and of mankind, would permit this 
 terrific blow to be hurled at idolatry from the throne, 
 without straining every nerve to ward it off. He 
 succeeded, too, for the time, and did so by causing the 
 downfall of the Emperor before the Dowager Em- 
 press: who has ever since been the actual, and to a 
 certain extent even the nominal ruler of the country. 
 Space fails to tell the details of the story. Suffice it 
 to say that this coup d'etat resulted in the abrogation 
 of all these progressive edicts, including that doing 
 away with the old-fashioned literary essay as the 
 principal element of the civil service examination of 
 candidates for official positions and emoluments. It 
 resulted in the decapitation of some of the most en- 
 lightened and progressive statesmen of the country, 
 and the flight of others. It seemed as though the 
 hopes of China were being put back by decades at 
 a stroke. 
 
 Happily, however, after this policy had culminated 
 
3Y8 THESE FORTY YEARS. 
 
 iii the terrible Boxer cataclysm, more enlightened 
 counsel again prevailed at Pekin. "Western learn- 
 ing" is now again ascendant, and is becoming a part 
 of the civil service curriculum throughout the em- 
 pire. Once more there seems good hope, if the em- 
 pire can hold together, of rapid progress being made 
 during the next few years. 
 
 But to return: from the missionary point of view 
 the most important event of the year 1898 was the 
 opening up of additional stations in the province of 
 Hu-nan, for which so many thousands of prayers had 
 gone up to God. Three new stations were opened 
 by the China Inland Mission, one or more by the 
 Christian Alliance ; the London Mission also consider- 
 ably extended its work, mainly by native agents un- 
 der foreign supervision, and converts came to be 
 numbered by scores, in this province which had so 
 long held out against the entrance of the Truth. 
 
 Seventy-one new missionaries were sent out within 
 the year, bringing up the total to about eight hun- 
 dred. The death rate was mercifully low, only 9.9 
 per thousand. And the General Fund was again 
 increased at the same rate as the membership, as in 
 the previous year; in addition to which there was a 
 further increase of over $50,000 for special purposes, 
 which permitted many much-needed repairs to be 
 effected, besides considerable extension of the work. 
 
 There was a slight diminution in the number of 
 baptisms, explained by a serious rebellion in western 
 China and grave troubles in other districts, which 
 
BLESSEDLY UNEVENTFUL TEARS. 379 
 
 considerably liampered the work in these localities. 
 It was comforting to find, moreover, that the de- 
 crease, slight as it was, was wholly accoimted for in 
 the one province of Cheh-kiang, most of the other 
 provinces showing a decided improvement. 
 
 It had long been a cause for profound gratitude to 
 God that, through all these years of the iMission's 
 history, not one life had been lost by accident, on 
 land or sea, and that 7iot one member or associate had 
 been called upon to win a martyr's crown. That this 
 was the answer to definite prayer no one doubted. 
 And praise and thanksgiving often went up to God 
 on this account from members and friends of the 
 Mission. 
 
 !N'ow, at last, an exception occurred. Away in the 
 west a missionary was working alone among the 
 Aborigines at P'ang-hai, in the province of Kuei- 
 chau. A plot was made against his life, one of the 
 chief instigators of which was a small military man- 
 darin. It became advisable to leave the station, 
 which the missionary did, with a native evangelist 
 and teacher. They traveled thirteen miles toward 
 the capital of the province, lunched at a wayside vil- 
 lage, and shortly afterwards the native evangelist 
 (himself a native of the Miao tribe of Aborigines) 
 was set upon by three men with swords and quickly 
 killed. Mr. Fleming, who might have easily escaped 
 upon his mule, leaped from the animal, in the hope of 
 persuading the men to cease attacking the evangelist, 
 and in a few minutes had paid with his life for the 
 
380 THESE FORTY YEARS. 
 
 attempt to save liis brotlier. The teacher fled by 
 circuitous paths, and brought the sad news to Kuei- 
 yang. 
 
 An official and soldiers were dispatched mth Mr. 
 Adam, who went immediately to make arrangements 
 for the funeral. The bodies had meanwhile been 
 placed in coffins and were under the care of an official 
 guard. A piece of land w^as given at P'ang-hai by 
 the Chinese authorities for the purpose, and with 
 due ceremony the two martyrs were reverently 
 buried at the station for which their lives had been 
 given. Thirty or more Miao inquirers were present 
 at the funeral, and gave all the help they could. And 
 it is solemnly encouraging to learn that a wide and 
 effectual door for the preaching of the Gospel was 
 opened in that region as the sequel to this sad event. 
 
 Within about a year from Mr. Fleming's death 
 there were remarkable evidences of a revival in the 
 district around P'ang-hai, which can be satisfactorily 
 accounted for in no other way than as a gracious 
 operation of the Holy Spirit in answer to much 
 prayer, called forth by the martyrdom of Mr. Flem- 
 ing and his colleague. 
 
 Within twelve months Mr. Waters, of Ivuei-yang, 
 sent home an interesting account of a visitation in 
 that district, which was published in extenso in 
 China's MillionSj from which we can only now 
 quote the brief concluding paragraph: "I do not 
 know the exact number of those who desire their 
 names to be enrolled as inquirers, but there must be 
 
BLESSEDLY UNEVENTFUL YEARS. 381 
 
 over two hnndred. In the villages I visited, I went 
 into many houses, and all traces of idolatry had dis- 
 appeared, their place being taken by texts of Scrip- 
 tures, Gospel tracts, and Christian calendars.'' Ver- 
 ily, God can make the wrath of man to praise Him! 
 
 May the Lord grant that the recent terrible trou- 
 bles in China may likewise result, as indeed they are 
 already resulting, in greatly increased facilities for 
 preaching the Gospel. And may a mighty outpour- 
 ing of the Holy Spirit, in answer to the earnest prayer 
 of many, bring about a large ingathering of souls in 
 the not distant future. 
 
 In many respects, 1899 was a year of gratifying 
 progress. The work of the Mission was carried on 
 satisfactorily throughout the country; the number of 
 baptisms was slightly larger than the year before; 
 there was also an addition of forty-seven new mem- 
 bers to the Mission; and while the hearts of the 
 workers were saddened by the loss of eleven of their 
 number, this was, after all, only at the rate of 13 J 
 per thousand. 
 
 The income this year was somewhat less than the 
 year before. But 1898 was most exceptional in this 
 respect, as we have seen, showing the total increase 
 on the year before of $80,000. The income of 1899 
 was half-way between the two, less by $40,000 than 
 that of 1898, but more by $40,000 than that of 1897. 
 There was, therefore, no hardship involved for any 
 of the workers, and the only noticeable result was 
 that certain aggressive steps, certain enlargements 
 
382 THESE FORTY YEARS. 
 
 of the work and improvements of Mission premises, 
 which would otherwise have been undertaken, were 
 necessarily postponed. While the leaders of the 
 Mission were conscious of this restraint, it did not 
 cause them any anxiety. The Lord makes no mis- 
 takes. Little did they divine the reason which 
 prompted the Great Treasurer to dictate, in this way, 
 a policy of consolidation rather than expansion. It 
 was all made clear enough next year ! For a while all 
 went well outwardly. But signs were not wanting in 
 certain parts of China, especially in the northeastern 
 pro^dnces, that below the surface forces were at work 
 which threatened the gravest peril. 
 
 Li the province of Shan-tung, especially in the 
 wild western mountainous region toward Ho-nan, 
 there had been in existence for upward of a hundred 
 years, a society now notorious, but then little known. 
 Its hidden purpose, like that of many other secret 
 societies in China, had been to liberate the people 
 from the present semi-foreign Manchu dynasty, and 
 to seat once more on the throne a Chinaman as the 
 "Son of Heaven," "the Yicar of the Supreme Ruler 
 on the earth.'' This society had been firmly held in 
 check by the authorities, and had done no harm to 
 speak of, at any rate not sufficient for its fame to 
 spread. 
 
 The astonishing German reprisal for the murder 
 of two Catholic missionaries in this province, which 
 included the seizure of the prosperous port of Kiao- 
 chau and the territory for miles around, and the con- 
 
BLESSEDLY UNEVENTFUL YEABS. 383 
 
 cession of mining and railroad monopolies tlirougli- 
 out the province, besides the building of memorial 
 chapels and monuments where the double murder 
 had taken place, and the indemnification of the mis- 
 sionaries' relatives, so outraged the sense of justice 
 of the governor and of every intelligent official in 
 the province that the usual animosity against for- 
 eigners was as a furnace seven times heated. This 
 one can easily understand, when to radical hatred is 
 added fierce indignation at outrageous wrong. The 
 consequence might well be serious. 
 
 Eussia, moreover, in addition to her steady en- 
 croachment in Manchuria, now seized Port Arthur 
 and a large tract of adjacent country, besides giving 
 evidence of a covetous eye toward Korea, the inde- 
 pendence of which had been guaranteed, mainly 
 through Russian influence, at the close of China's 
 disastrous war with Japan. 
 
 "To maintain the balance of power" in the East, 
 England demanded the cession of a strip of the main- 
 land overlooking the island of Hong-kong, as well as 
 a long lease of Wei-hai-wei, the northern port which 
 had just been evacuated by the Japanese, their war 
 indemnity having been paid in full. And only a few 
 years before, it will be remembered, France had 
 seized the large and fertile province of Ton-kin, to 
 the south of China proper. 
 
 For all these national outrages China could see, 
 very naturally, neither rhyme nor reason; neither 
 could any one else. It was enough to stir the bitterest 
 
3 84 THESE FORTY YEARS. 
 
 animosity that can be stirred in any people's national 
 consciousness, especially when taken in conjunction 
 with the long-standing injustice, the unmitigated 
 iniquity of the opimn traffic; than which, probably, 
 no greater national crime has ever been committed 
 in the history of the world. For, a hundred years 
 ago China was practically free from the vice of opium 
 smoking, and now all classes of its people are being 
 degraded, steadily and increasingly, by the use of 
 what is still called the "foreign drug.'' This, as every 
 one knows, was forced upon them by British con- 
 querors, in spite of every protest, in spite of every 
 appeal to reason, to pity, and to righteousness. Well 
 may the Chinese hate the foreigner; the only wonder 
 is that they do not hate him more ! 
 
 In the year 1899 Italy followed up the various 
 acts of rapacity which have already been mentioned, 
 by asking for a naval station at San-mun bay, some 
 distance south of Shanghai. "Even a worm will 
 turn:" and the indignant government of China turned 
 at this last affront, and definitely refused. Their 
 attitude was firm, and their position was right; and 
 Italy had sufficient moral rectitude to accept the 
 refusal. 
 
 But an unexpected outcome resulted. Certain ad- 
 visers of the government felt : We have only to op- 
 pose all this reckless aggression, and our territory 
 will remain our own. "China for the Chinese,^' was 
 their position; one with which every right-minded 
 man must surely sympathize. And the counsels of 
 
BLESSEDLY UNEVENTFUL YEAES. 385 
 
 these courageous, if misguided, advisers prevailed. 
 But the rest of that story must be told in the follow- 
 ing chapter. From this time forward trouble began 
 to brew. 
 
 25 
 
CHAPTEK ly. 
 
 THE BOXER CRISIS. 
 
 The year 1899 ended ominously. In the month of 
 November the Dowager Empress issued an edict 
 which fanned the smouldering embers of resentment. 
 After reference to the grave difficulties under which 
 the empire was laboring, the edict continued, only 
 too truly, ''The various powers cast upon us looks of 
 tiger-like voracity, hustling each other in their en- 
 deavors to be first to seize upon our territories. They 
 think that China, having neither money nor troops, 
 would never venture to go to war. They fail to un- 
 derstand, however, that there are certain things to 
 which this empire can never consent. 
 
 "Should any official find himself so hard pressed 
 that nothing but war would settle matters, he is ex- 
 pected to set himself, resolutely, to work out his duty 
 to this end. . . . Under such circumstances 
 there is no possible chance of . . . immediate 
 negotiation. ISTever should the word ^peace' fall from 
 tlie lips of our high officials, nor should it even for a 
 moment rest within their hearts. With such a coun- 
 try as ours, with her vast area, her immense re- 
 sources, and hundreds of millions of inhabitants, what 
 indeed is there to fear from the invader? Let no one 
 think of making peace, but let each seek tO' preserve 
 
 386 
 
THE BOXER CRISIS. 
 
 387 
 
 his ancestral home and graves from destruction and 
 spoliation at the ruthless hand of the invader." 
 
 The effect of such an incendiary proclamation — 
 with so much truth behind it — going throughout the 
 empire and posted in large characters in each city, 
 could not but be tremendous. And the last day of 
 the old year brought sad warning of the coming storm 
 in the death of the Kev. S. P. Brooks, of the S. P. G., 
 in the boundary country between Shan-tung and 
 Chih-li. 
 
 Before continuing the dark story of the troubles in 
 China, it will perhaps be well to leave the regular 
 historical sequence for a moment to recall one or two 
 occasions whereby the hearts of many were prepared 
 of God for what would follow. 
 
 The last week of April, 1900, witnessed the great- 
 est missionary gathering that the world has ever seen. 
 Representatives of all the principal Missionary Socie- 
 ties, Directors, Secretaries, Board-men, Councillors, 
 and 800 missionaries of over 100 Societies, gathered 
 together on the 23rd of April, in the great and hos- 
 pitable city of New York. 
 
 The Conference was greeted and welcomed at its 
 opening session by the President of the United States 
 and the Governor of the ^'Empire'' State. Between 
 four and five thousand people crowded the Carnegie 
 Music Hall, beside two simultaneous overflow meet- 
 ings, with an attendance of two or three thousand 
 each. And these multitudes gathered day by day for 
 a week and a half to hear of the progress and consider 
 
388 THESE FOETY TEARS. 
 
 the problems of Avorld-wide evangelization. The Con- 
 ference closed on the 1st of May, with a farewell 
 address from an ex-President of the United States, 
 Benjamin Harrison. The whole city was stirred. 
 The news of the meetings was telegraphed all over 
 the continent, and indeed through Christendom. 
 And the great heart of the Church universal 
 ^'thanked God'' for the results which the nineteenth 
 century had witnessed, ^^and took courage" for the 
 days to come, little thinking what dark days would 
 supervene in the immediate future. 
 
 It is hardly possible to doubt that the Providence 
 of God timed this great gathering — for which such 
 an array of incontrovertible facts had been brought 
 together, as to the progress of the cause of Christ 
 throughout the world. 
 
 For the members and friends of the China Inland 
 Mission, the Annual Meetings held in London four 
 weeks later were also profoundly encouraging in 
 many ways; and especially, perhaps, by reason of one 
 significant incident which occurred on May 29th. 
 
 For a day or two previously, thirty or forty mem- 
 bers on furlough gathered three times a day for 
 special prayer. At one of these meetings, Mr. 
 Sloan, the Secretary, mentioned the matter of funds, 
 which he felt perfectly free to do, as no one else was 
 present. "For three months," he said, "our receipts 
 have been considerably below the average, and have 
 fallen short of our usual income by £5,000. Of 
 course, we are not in debt; we never do go into debt, as 
 
THE BOXER CRISIS. 389 
 
 you know; but I grieve to think of the embarrassment 
 that may result on the field to many branches of the 
 work. Happily, the personal needs of all the mis- 
 sionaries have been provided for, but in order that 
 the work may go on unimpeded, I should be glad if 
 we might all unite in agreed prayer to God, that He 
 will graciously mahe up the deficiency.''^ 
 
 Prayer followed, and praise— one worker, after 
 thanking the Lord for all His gracious provision for 
 the work during thirty-five years, went on to praise 
 Him for the coming answer to the petition for 
 
 £5,000. 
 
 l^ext day, just before the great evening meeting, 
 the other Secretary, Mr. "Wood, recognized in the 
 rear of the hall a warm friend and regular con- 
 tributor from the north of England. After shaking 
 hands with him, and asking him if he had come three 
 hundred miles on purpose to be present, which proved 
 to be the case, Mr. Wood invited him to take a seat on 
 the platform, where he would hear better. This he de- 
 clined, on account of the necessity of catching a return 
 train after the meeting. And then he handed Mr. 
 Wood an envelope, saying that from the published 
 list of donations in CUna's Millions he had noticed 
 that for three months the receipts had been consid- 
 erably below par, and added that he felt the Lord had 
 laid it on his heart to ''make up the deficiency." The 
 envelope contained a check for £5,000, and was 
 signed and dated the day before, the very day on 
 which such earnest and expectant prayer went up to 
 
390 THESE rOKTY YEAKS. 
 
 God, three hundred miles away, for just that 
 sum. The grateful conviction — the Lord is 
 
 with us — came to the scattered members of the Mis- 
 sion, as they heard of this gracious provision of the 
 Lord. 
 
 January, 1900, was but five days old, when the now 
 infamous "father of the Boxers,'^ Yu-hsien, was sum- 
 moned to Pekin, and superseded as governor of Shan- 
 tung by an enlightened and honorable statesman, the 
 present Viceroy Yuan Wei-t'ing (better known 
 among foreigners by his less dignified given name of 
 Yuan Shi-k'ai), whose personal friendship has been 
 both a pleasure and a help to the writer. 
 
 So far, good. For Yu-hsien, who had been rapidly 
 promoted a year or so previously from being prefect 
 of Ts'ao-chau to the governorship of Shan-tung, had 
 encouraged and fostered the feeble society of 
 "Boxers" until it had become a very formidable or- 
 ganization. 'Now, however, he was at Pekin, nomi- 
 nally under the imperial displeasure. 
 
 Only two months later, after lavish expenditure of 
 money at the capital, Yu-hsien was appointed gov- 
 ernor of Shan-si, in spite of the fact that he had been 
 degraded so shortly before for acknowledged com- 
 plicity in the grave troubles in Shan-tung, which cul- 
 minated in the murder of Mr. Brooks. 
 
 Remonstrance at this extraordinary appointment 
 was of no avail. The new governor was accompa- 
 nied, or preceded, to T'ai-yuan the capital of Shan-si, 
 
THE BOXER CRISIS. 391 
 
 by companies of Boxers, who drilled in their military 
 arts and initiated into their occult practices, num- 
 berless men and boys throughout this and neighbor- 
 ing provinces. Thus, through the northeast of 
 China, the Boxer peril grew. 
 
 Within a few weeks of this time the storm clouds 
 began to burst. Yu-hsien was appointed governor of 
 Shan-si on the 15th of March; on the 14th day a lead- 
 ing Christian, Elder Si, was fiercely attacked and 
 stabbed by the Boxers. This man Si, a greatly be- 
 loved member of the Church at Hung-tung, was a 
 man of a beautiful spirit, and had been unanimously 
 elected four years previously as the successor to the 
 lamented Pastor Hsi, as superintendent of the opium 
 work and native" missionary society in N^orth China, 
 to which reference has been made. 
 
 Dr. Millar Wilson, reckless of the risk to his own 
 life, went immediately to do what he could for the 
 elder, and as a result his life was saved. The shock, 
 however, seriously affected his health, followed as it 
 was by months of terrible sufferings and privations. 
 And after about a year, this worthy, faithful follower 
 of the Master went to his reward. 
 
 It was natural that he should be the first to suffer. 
 Was he not the leader of the most important native 
 missionary movement in ^orth China, at once more 
 exposed to the fury of the Boxers in his country 
 home, and less under the protection of the author- 
 ities than the missionaries? Malice and cowardice 
 equally pointed him out as the first butt of the Boxer 
 
392 THESE FORTY YEAES. 
 
 iury. This, however, was but the beginning of 
 troubles. Nine days later the home of Pastor Hsi's 
 widow was attacked and this courageous and devoted 
 lady severely beaten. This was before any of the 
 missionaries in Shan-si had suffered violence. 
 
 In considering the events that follow, we shall 
 bear in mind, of course, that for all this exhibition 
 of antipathy, there were great and sufficient national 
 reasons. There were, in addition, several important 
 local causes. The diversion of the carrying trade — 
 an immense industry in a country like China — from 
 the old channels, by land, canal, and river, to foreign- 
 built and foreign-officered steamships, has already 
 been referred to as a cause of discontent to many 
 among the laboring classes. The building now of 
 railroads, involving the survey of tracks across home- 
 steads and farms, and, worst of all, ancestral burying 
 places, aggravated by the rapacity of the native offi- 
 cials, through whom was and is transacted the busi- 
 ness of acquiring the necessary land, called forth 
 wide-spread and often bitter resentment. 
 
 These operations would surely interfere with and 
 perhaps ruin the Feng-shui — the geomantic influences 
 that make for weal or woe. Of this there was ample 
 proof, to those whose minds were already made up, 
 by the long-continued drought and famine. Even 
 the telegraph wires and poles, now found in every 
 province, were serious disturbers of the peace! 
 
 Moreover, in the year 1899, the long struggle of 
 the Roman Catholic priests for political power and 
 
ft 
 
 ENGAGED IN THE CARRYING TRADE. 
 
 
 HARROWING A RICE FIELD WITH A WATER BUFFALO. 
 
THE BOXER CRISIS. 393 
 
 prestige came to a climax, we cannot say to a suc- 
 cessful issue, when, as the result of long-continued 
 pressure from the French ambassador and others, 
 an imperial decree was promulgated conferring offi- 
 cial status upon every Catholic priest in the country, 
 and very high official status at that. For bishops 
 rank with viceroys, archdeacons with great provin- 
 cial mandarins, and the ordinary clergymen with pre- 
 fects and other local magnates. 
 
 It was all they had desired and agitated for for 
 years. At last they had gained the day. And with it 
 they had gained also an added hatred throughout the 
 empire. For the interference of the Koman Catholic 
 priests, in civil and legal matters at the native law 
 court's, is one of the greatest of all the grievances 
 which the Chinese complain of, and writhe under, 
 at the hands of foreigners. Again and again 
 
 during the troubles which followed the lives of 
 Protestant missionaries were saved by their being 
 able to prove that they were not Catholic, but Prot- 
 estant, workers. 
 
 And, probably, the last and culminating cause of 
 trouble was the open proposal to "partition the em- 
 pire'' among the "Powers" of the West. Anyone can 
 see that, groaning under such wrongs and grievances, 
 serious trouble might well not only be feared, but 
 be expected. 
 
 As will long be remembered. May ended with the 
 representatives of foreign Powers and a number of 
 
394 THESE FOETY YEAKS. 
 
 missionaries beleaguered in Pekin. On the last day 
 of the month some hundreds of foreign soldiers and 
 marines arrived to protect the legations, and from that 
 time onward communication with the coast was cut 
 off by the destruction of the Pekin-T'ien-tsin Rail- 
 way. It is needless here to describe the six weeks of 
 siege which followed: six weeks during which the 
 diplomatic representatives of the Western world and 
 the missionaries were brought into contact under 
 exceptionally trying circumstances. The opinion 
 formed from that association will be gathered from 
 the following letter from United States Minister 
 
 Conger: 
 
 "Peking, August 16th, 1900. 
 
 "The Besieged American Missionaries: To one and all 
 of you, so providentially saved from certain massacre: 
 
 "I beg, in this hour of our deliverance, to express what I 
 know to be the universal sentiment of our diplomatic corps 
 — the sincere appreciation of, and profound gratitude for 
 the inestimable help which you and the native Christians 
 under you have rendered toward our preservation. Without 
 your intelligent and successful planning, and the uncom- 
 plaining execution of work by the Chinese, I believe our 
 salvation would have been impossible. 
 
 "By your courteous consideration of me, and your con- 
 tinued patience under most trying occasions, I have been 
 most deeply touched, and for it all I thank you most 
 heartily. 
 
 "I hope and believe that somehow, in God's unerring 
 plan, your sacrifices and danger will bear rich fruit in the 
 material and spiritual welfare of the people to whom you 
 have so nobly devoted your lives and works. 
 
 "Assuring you of my personal respect and gratitude, 
 very sincerely yours, 
 
 "E. H. Conger." 
 
THE BOXER CRISIS. 395 
 
 The first members of the China Inland Mission 
 to lay down their lives were thirteen Swedish mis- 
 sionaries in the far north of Shan-si. They were 
 martyred on or about the 29th of June. Previously 
 to this two more members of the English Episcopal 
 S. P. G. were murdered in the south of Chih-li; 
 and on the 27th of the same month a member of the 
 Sheo-yang Mission laid down her life at T'ai-yuan. 
 On the last day of the same sad month, Miss Whit- 
 church and Miss Searell, of the China Inland Mis- 
 sion, were murdered at a station three days south 
 of the Shan-si capital. 
 
 For full and authentic details concerning these 
 and other workers, and their triumphant death, the 
 reader is referred to the profoundly interesting hisr 
 tory, ^'Martyred Missionaries,"* which not only con- 
 tains a record of the grace and courage given to these 
 martyrs before and in the hour of death, but also 
 contains thrilling accounts of how scores of other 
 missionaries were delivered, as by a miracle, from 
 countless dangers and perils and hardships, and 
 finally, by the good hand of God were brought down 
 to the coast and to peace. 
 
 Mr. Moody was once asked, after one of his great 
 and successful meetings: "Have you grace to be a 
 martyr?" "ISTo," he replied, "I have not. But if 
 God wanted me to be one. He would give me a 
 martyr's grace." That this was indeed so with those 
 
 ♦"Martyred Missionaries" may be ordered from the 
 offices of the Mission. Price, $1.25, postpaid. 
 
396 THESE FORTY YEARS. 
 
 who were called to lay down their lives at this time 
 there can be little doubt. The last letters of the 
 martyrs are among the most touching things that 
 have ever been written, some of them especially. 
 Space will only admit of quoting three out of many 
 other similar letters that might be adduced. 
 
 On the 28th of June, after the legations had been 
 besieged for four weeks, and the missionaries further 
 inland had come through weeks of gravest anxiety 
 and peril. Miss Edith Sear ell wrote to a fellow- 
 missionary in a neighboring station: "A mighty fort- 
 ress is our God: and in Him we are safe for time 
 and for eternity. Shall we murmur if we have less 
 of time than we expected? The less of time the more 
 of heaven." Two days later she was with the Lord. 
 When this Miss Searell was leaving home (E'ew Zea- 
 land) for China in 1895, just before the steamer 
 sailed, she said to a friend: "There is nothing I would 
 count a greater honor than to wear a martyr's 
 crown." 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Peat were old and valued workers 
 of the Mission. When hiding among the hills prior 
 to their martyrdom Mr. Peat wrote to his loved ones 
 at home: "The soldiers are just on us. . . . We 
 shall soon be with Christ, which is very far better 
 for us. We can only now be sorry for you who are 
 left behind, and our dear native Christians. Good- 
 bye. We rejoice that we are made partakers of the 
 Bufferings of Christ." 
 
 At the same time Miss May I^athan was in hiding 
 
THE BOXER CRISIS. 397 
 
 with two other missionaries not very far away from 
 Mr. and Mrs. Peat. In her last long letter to her 
 mother she says: "Who will be the next? Perhaps 
 we shall. . . . Darling mother, don't be anxious, 
 whatever news you may hear of me. It will seem 
 useless in the eyes of the world to come out here 
 for a year, to be just getting on with the language, 
 then to be cut off. Many will say, ^Why did she go? 
 Wasted life.' Darling, no. Trust: — God does His 
 very best, and never makes mistakes. . . . We 
 are glad to suffer with Jesus. . . . Death is but 
 the gate of life; we shall see His face, and darling 
 mother, I'll wait and long for you there." 
 
 The worst time of all was that long, hot, temble 
 mid-summer month of July. On its first day the 
 Deputy Director in China, Mr. William Cooper, uni- 
 versally beloved throughout the Mission, was mur- 
 dered at Pao-ting Eu, Chih-li, with Mr. Bagnall and 
 his wife and child. 
 
 About this time was. promulgated that cruelest of 
 all the decrees of the Dowager Empress, the in- 
 famous secret edict: 
 
 "Yang-ren pi shah, 
 T'ui huei ki shah." 
 
 "All foreigners must be killed; 
 Though fleeing homeward, kill them." 
 
 After this, of course, rioting became general in 
 the provinces nearest to the capital. Happily, how- 
 
398 THESE FORTY YEARS. 
 
 ever, the resolute stand taken by the two Yang-tse 
 Viceroys, their Excellencies Chang Chih-tung and 
 Liu K'un-yi, prevented the spread of this sanguinary 
 persecution throughout the empire; indeed, pre- 
 vented it in three-fourths of China, with the sole ex- 
 ception of a disturbed district in the southern prov- 
 ince of Cheh-kiang. Here the provincial judge pre- 
 vailed ujDon the governor to forward to Kiu-chau the 
 above-mentioned "secret edict,'' delaying until too 
 late the friendly agreement entered into by the Yang- 
 tse viceroys with the foreign Powers, which was to 
 the effect that, come what may, they would afford 
 adequate protection to foreigners and native Chris- 
 tians alike. 
 
 The most terrible occurrence of all this deplorable 
 time was on the afternoon of July 9th, at T'ai-yuan, 
 where the governor of Shan-si beheaded twenty-five 
 Protestant missionaries, nine children and eleven 
 Roman Catholic priests. The suspense and anxiety 
 and hardships through which they had come lasted 
 for several weeks, but it is comforting to know that 
 the end was brief, and that none of the adults showed 
 any signs of fear, some of the children merely cover- 
 ing their faces with their hands. After beheading 
 these missionaries, the governor reported this action 
 to Pekin, and there and then claimed the prize-money 
 — sixty ounces of silver each — ^for the foreigners, 
 most of whom he had invited into his Yamen for 
 protection. 
 
 Among the missionaries' children who thus laid 
 
THE BOXER CRISIS. 399 
 
 down their lives on July 9tli, were the two little 
 daughters of Mr. and Mrs. Atwater, of the American 
 Board, who themselves, five weeks later, were mar- 
 tyred near Fen-chau Fu. One of Mrs. Atwater's last 
 letters (written after two months of suspense) refers 
 to the death of her step-daughters with the rest of 
 the missionary company at T'ai-yuan, and continues, 
 ^'I am preparing for the end very quietly and calmly. 
 The Lord is wonderfully near, and He will not fail 
 me. I was very restless and excited wliile there 
 seemed a chance of life, but God has taken away that 
 feeling, and now I just pray for grace to meet the 
 terrible end bravely. The pain will soon be over; 
 and oh, the sweetness of the welcome above ! My 
 little baby will go with me. I think God will give it 
 to me in heaven. ... I cannot imagine the Saviour's 
 welcome. That will compensate for all these days 
 of suspense. . . . I do not regret coming to China, 
 but I am sorry I have done so little. My married 
 life, two precious years, has been so very full of hap- 
 piness. We will die together, my dear husband 
 and I." 
 
 About the same time as the T'ai-yuan tragedy, 
 rioting commenced in the province of Ho-nan, im- 
 mediately to the south. But here, as by a miracle, 
 every life was spared, and although the missionaries 
 escaped as best they could, and had to suffer many 
 perils and privations, they all at last, in answer to 
 many prayers, came safely to the coast. Wonderful, 
 indeed, was the escape of Mr. and Mrs. Conway and 
 
400 THESE FORTY YEARS. 
 
 their little infant, with Dr. Whitfield Guinness and 
 Miss Watson, from Shae-k'i-tien. 
 
 The Mission premises were wrecked when the riot- 
 ing began, and were soon entirely destroyed. For 
 fifteen long days the four missionaries and the month- 
 old baby were in hiding in the homes mostly of 
 heathen friends and neighbors, through whose gen- 
 erous aid they finally succeeded in escaping. During 
 these two awful weeks they were being pursued by 
 mandarins, soldiers, and rioters that they might kill 
 them, in obedience to the imperial edict. After 
 almost incredible escapes they at last got clear away 
 in carts. Some miles below the town they were 
 transferred to a boat, and so came safely down, by 
 the Han river, to Han-kow. 
 
 Of all these long and terrible journeys, the most 
 eventful, probably, was that of Mr. Saunders, his 
 family and fellow-missionaries, who traveled for 
 seven long weeks through Shan-si, Ho-nan, and Hu- 
 peh. Two days south of T'ai-yuan is the important 
 banking center of P'ing-yao, where Mr. Saunders 
 had been stationed for many years. Toward the 
 end of June this station was rioted and looted. The 
 missionaries escaped safely to the Yamen; but find- 
 ing that it would be impossible for the officials to 
 protect them there, they left next morning at day- 
 break, under official escort, for T'ai-yuan. When 
 within seven miles of that city they were met, provi- 
 dentially, by a native Christian, who told them of 
 the rioting in the city, that Miss Coombs had already 
 
THE BOXER CRISIS. 
 
 401 
 
 been killed, and that the rest were surrounded by 
 thousands of people in the home of the Rev. G. B. 
 Farthing, of the English Baptist Mission. 
 
 Seeing that it was certain death to proceed, they 
 turned southward. Another week's journey, paying 
 blackmail repeatedly, brought them to Lu-ch'eng, 
 where they foimd Mr. and Mrs. E. J. Cooper and 
 other missionaries. These heard now for the first 
 time authentic reports of what was going on at the 
 capital, and so, through the soldier escort, did the 
 people of the district. 
 
 After the briefest possible delay they all started 
 out together, eight missionaries and six children, and 
 the account of the next week's travel is one of the 
 crudest things on record. During that week one of 
 his company was beaten to death, all of the party 
 were for two days without food and water, save grass 
 and the dirty puddles by the roadside. They were 
 robbed of everything they possessed, being left for 
 part of the time with only one garment apiece, bare- 
 headed, bare-shouldered, and barefooted, under that 
 almost tropical summer sun: yet not one of them suf- 
 fered from sunstroke. They were reminded of the 
 promise, "The sun shall not smite thee by day." But 
 as a result of those eight days of hardship and priva- 
 tion, of cruel beatings and persecutions, another mis- 
 sionary, Miss Huston, died a month later from a 
 wound in the head, and Mrs. Ernest Cooper followed 
 her within a week. 
 
 As soon as they passed beyond the jurisdiction of 
 
402 THESE FORTY YEARS. 
 
 Governor Yu-hsien, things became a little better. 
 But even then they were forwarded across Ho-nan, 
 from city to city, as common criminals, and suffered 
 severely from the hardships of such traveling by day, 
 and from being crowded together in filthy prisons by 
 night. At K'ioh-shan, which for a short time, years 
 before, had been a station of the Mission, they re- 
 ceived some kindness; and at Sin-yang (the present 
 limit, 1902, of the railroad that is rapidly being 
 pushed northward from Han-kow) they were very 
 kindly treated by the mandarin. 
 
 No sooner had they reached the province of Hu- 
 peh than they, and some otlier missionaries who had 
 joined them at Sin-yang, were treated with every 
 possible kindness, owing to the friendly attitude of 
 his Excellency Chang Chih-tung. And after seven 
 long weeks and a journey of 900 miles, much of it 
 on foot, they at last reached safely the Mission Home 
 at Han-kow. 
 
 A hundred miles north of this city, Mrs. Cooper 
 could go no farther. Her life had been beautiful: 
 and in deatli her faith was strong, and her love for 
 the people unabated after all that had transpired. 
 There was just one regret on her mind, beside the 
 natural pain of leaving husband and children, and 
 this was — that she could not return to Shan-si, which 
 she so ardently desired, that she might tell the people 
 more of the love of Jesus for them. 
 
 It is not necessary here to give further details of 
 this period. But it is only right to say that certain 
 
THE BOXER CRISIS. 403 
 
 grievous statements about lady missionaries, which 
 appeared in many of the daily papers at the time, 
 were absolutely untrue.* The facts which have been 
 given above are examples, in briefest outline, of what 
 did actually happen ; permitted of God in wisdom, we 
 cannot doubt, and in love, for some sufficient reason. 
 We may safely look to Him to vindicate Himself in 
 due season. Of this there will be more to say later. 
 
 One other case may, perhaps, be mentioned — the 
 experience of Mr. and Mrs. Green and Miss Gregg, 
 of Hwai-lu, in the province of Chih-li. These mis- 
 sionaries, after fleeing to the mountains and remain- 
 ing in hiding for some weeks, at length fell into the 
 hands of the Boxers. (The whole story is most 
 touchingly told, without a trace of unkindly feeling 
 toward their persecutors, in "Martyred Missionaries" 
 and in the booklet, "In Death's Oft," by Mr. Green.) 
 For three months they remained in the hands of the 
 Boxers, suffering many hardships and privations, and 
 hurried from one place to another. On seven suc- 
 cessive occasions the Boxers determined to put them 
 to death. But their time was not yet: each time it 
 was prevented, until at length their captors said, 
 "These people live a charmed life; we cannot kill 
 them: we had better let them go." 
 
 On one occasion they were taken from the city, 
 where they had been imprisoned for soiil^ time, down 
 the river. Their guard had secret orders from the 
 
 ♦See China's Millions for February, 1901. Article by B. 
 Broomhall, on page 18 (London Edition). 
 
404 THESE FOKTY YEARS. 
 
 mandarin to put them to death in a lonelj spot by 
 the river, that no blame might fall on the city or on 
 him. As they floated down the stream the callous 
 soldiers sharpened their swords before the eyes of 
 their victims. Remonstrance was useless. The boat 
 was brought to anchor and they were told to go 
 ashore. Mr. Green, carrying baby John in his arms, 
 left the boat first, in order to help the ladies ashore, 
 and little five-year-old Vera and the ladies followed. 
 "When they reached the bank Mr. Green turned and 
 gave the captain of the boat a bow in Chinese style, 
 saying as he did so, "Thank you, sir." Little Vera 
 then crossed her hands, and making the captain a 
 charming bow (like a little Chinese lady), repeated 
 her father's words, and said, "Thank you, sir.'' All 
 this was too much for the burly captain. He turned 
 to his men, and said, "Look here, men, we cannot kill 
 these people; we had better leave them alone." And 
 he sprang on his boat, called off his followers, and 
 again they were saved ! At last God raised up 
 
 a friend, in a Chinaman, who, after secretly convey- 
 ing a message of sympathy to them announcing his 
 plan and good wishes, went down to T'ien-tsin and 
 brought a rescue party, by whom, at last, they were 
 escorted to the coast. 
 
 This was, of course, far on in the autumn. One 
 other party still remained in Shan-si, under official 
 protection, after many weeks of hiding among the 
 hills. During the winter they came do^vn to Han- 
 kow under suitable escort, arriving early in 1901. 
 
THE BOXER CRISIS. 405 
 
 Such is a brief outline of the suffenngs of the mis- 
 eionaries. It has not been possible to say much about 
 the similar experiences of the native Christians, 
 which have not only endeared them to the hearts of 
 their missionary brethren, but have raised them high 
 in the esteem of the Christian world. 
 
 Their old contemptuous nickname of "rice Chris- 
 tians" (mercenary pretenders), is now seldom, if ever, 
 heard at the treaty ports. ISTearly three hundred 
 Protestant church members were killed in the prov- 
 ince of Shan-si. In Chih-li and Shan-tung many 
 more were massacred, refusing to recant; refusing, 
 even though it was explained to them as a purely 
 nominal recantation. ]^o, they would not deny their 
 Lord and Saviour. Cruelties, like those of the Inqui- 
 sition, were tried in vain. Others were hunted away 
 from their homes ; they hid in dens and caves of the 
 earth; they were "destitute, afflicted, tormented," "of 
 whom the world was not worthy," and in many, many 
 cases they were faithful unto death. 
 
 Some there w^ere, of course, who recanted under 
 the double strain of those awful times, and of kindly 
 official persuasion. Little wonder that some failed 
 and fell! Surely, imder similar circumstances — if 
 such were possible — it would have been much the 
 same in a Christian country. And since missionary 
 operations have been resumed, bitter has been the 
 sorrow and repentance expressed by many of those 
 who recanted. 
 
 As to the sufferings of beloved friends at home, 
 
406 THESE FORTY YEARS. 
 
 it is needless, perhaps, to saj mucli in this place. God 
 knows : and God will not forget the anguish they suf- 
 fered for His sake. Mr. Hudson Taylor, who was in 
 Switzerland slowly convalescing after serious over- 
 work, suffered all that terrible summer as poignantly 
 as any one out of China. So keen was his anguish of 
 heart for his dear friends in the field that for some 
 time he could not sleep, he could not eat, he could 
 hardly think or even pray. His condition became so 
 serious that it was necessary to withhold the cable- 
 grams and other news until he was able to recover a 
 little and hear in outline the remainder of the long, 
 sad tale. When it was all over, and the escaped 
 workers were at last safely at the coast, he repeatedly 
 expressed the wish that he might return to China, if 
 it were only to weep with those who had come 
 through so much for Jesus' sake. 
 
 Mr. Taylor did not have that privilege, and still 
 (at seventy-one years of age) has to spend most of the 
 time in Switzerland. His general health is in large 
 measure restored, in answer to many prayers, and he 
 still continues to exercise a general directorate over 
 the work. All matters of detail are left in other 
 hands, but grave problems affecting the policy and 
 v/ell-being of the Mission as a whole, are regularly re- 
 ferred to him. Of course, many such problems have 
 arisen in connection with the work of reconstruction, 
 which is now nearing completion, at the end of 1902. 
 
CHAPTER Y. 
 
 REORGANIZATION. 
 
 Before the work of reconstruction could be com- 
 menced, there was necessarily an interval during 
 which large numbers of missionaries were gathered at 
 the coast. Many naturally availed themselves of the 
 opportunity for furlough — both those whose health 
 had been seriously injured by the anxiety and trou- 
 bles in the north, and those whose vacation was due, 
 or nearly due, in point of time or health. A much 
 larger number, however, remained at Shanghai, 
 where there were gathered during the winter of 
 1900, in the China Inland Mission alone, several hun- 
 dred missionaries. The opportunity, it need hardly 
 be said, was improved for conference and study of 
 the Word, and for very earnest prayer, especially 
 that God would work all these things together for the 
 furtherance of the Gospel. Special meetings were 
 held, addressed among others, by Mr. Henry Frost 
 and Mr. Walter Sloan, who went out to China on 
 purpose, and thus the time was not lost. 
 
 It was well from another point of view that there 
 should be this interval for waiting upon God, for the 
 problem of reorganization which had now to be faced, 
 was one of the gravest and most complex which had 
 ever come before the leaders of the Mission. 
 
 There were, perhaps, five principal elements in 
 407 
 
408 THESE FORTY YEARS. 
 
 this problem. First of all, as concerned the Church 
 itself, what should be said and what should be done 
 in the case of those who had denied their faith in 
 Christ, and thus, by their own act, severed their con- 
 nection with the Church? Due weight, of course, 
 would be given to the terrible stress which had driven 
 some of the Christians to this expedient. E'othing 
 would be gained, however, in the future of the work 
 by overlooking the gravity of the step thus taken. 
 On the other hand, there was the precedent, the 
 authoritative precedent, of the restoration of Peter. 
 That would, of course, largely rule the course to be 
 taken by the returning missionaries. 
 
 Secondly, came the allied questions of official in- 
 demnification for the losses of the Mission and the 
 compensation which was due to the native Christians, 
 many of whom had lost their all and were without the 
 means of commencing life afresh. As to the former, 
 there was uncertainty for a time. The government 
 of the country had taken action, deliberately, which 
 resulted in the loss of hundreds of thousands of dol- 
 lars' worth of Mission property. For this they were 
 obviously responsible, both morally and legally; and 
 while it has been a rule in the China Inland Mission 
 never to claim indemnification, it might yet be right 
 to accept it under these circumstances, both in view 
 of the past and the future. 
 
 This imj)ortant question was under considera- 
 tion for some months. But when the facts began 
 to transpire of the shameful and outrageous con- 
 
REORGANIZATION. 409 
 
 duct of soldiers representing Russia and various so- 
 called Christian countries, this decided the ques- 
 tion. Mr. Hudson Taylor felt that money wrung 
 from the Chinese in such a way as this (we purposely 
 draw a veil over the revolting details), could not help 
 forward the work of God. The Lord does not need to 
 use, to accomplish the end He has in view — the 
 evangelization of the world — money stained with 
 ruthless outrage and the murder of civilians in cold 
 blood! War is bad enough but this was surely de- 
 testable. Under these circumstances Mr. Taylor 
 cabled to China, and afterwards wrote in more detail, 
 that, as a Mission, we would accept no indemnifica- 
 tion either for life or property. 
 
 The question of the native Christians, however, 
 was different. Their near neighbors had been en- 
 riched by their spoliation, under sanction of the cen- 
 tral and the local authorities. In common equity, in 
 view of their deplorable present condition, and in view 
 of the hopelessness of their future, it was absolutely 
 necessary that something should be done for them. 
 And we may anticipate here that the line of action 
 taken was to carefully audit the estimates, encour- 
 aging the Christians to manifest a generous and for- 
 giving spirit, and rather to underestimate their act- 
 ual losses. In many cases their claims were as low as 
 fifty per cent, of their actual losses. Mr. Orr-Ewing, 
 for instance, wrote from one section of Shan-si that 
 he could not conscientiously have asked the Chris- 
 tians to accept so little as they claimed and received. 
 
410 THESE FOKTY YEARS. 
 
 Thirdly, there was a consideration of peculiar sig- 
 nificance in a country like China — ^the missionaries' 
 loss of "face." They had been publicly insulted and 
 put to shame before the people by the authorities. 
 Unless they were publicly and officially reinstated in 
 the respect of their neighbors they would continue 
 to be at the mercy of every ill-disposed person, and 
 would be subject to insult and attack, both at home in 
 their stations, and, still more, abroad when traveling. 
 The importance of this factor will be easily under- 
 stood by all who are acquainted with the Oriental 
 and his way of viewing things. All that is up is up 
 because it ought to be, and that which is down is down 
 by its own demerits. This is the general impression 
 in China, and it is easy to understand the gravity of 
 the situation from this point of view. 
 
 These three aspects of the problem refer primarily 
 to the past, the deplorable past. The other two have 
 reference mainly to the future. 
 
 One of these was a new danger. Would the pendu- 
 lum of public opinion swing over to the opposite ex- 
 treme? When the native Christians were recouped 
 for their losses and restored to their homes; when 
 the missionaries were reinstated in their rights as 
 men and as law-abiding residents, might there not be 
 a danger of people seeking to join the Church from 
 unworthy motives? What the authorities give out 
 goes in China: just as what the papers say goes at 
 home, for most, and with equal reason. When the 
 local mandarians and gentry combine to "welcome 
 
REORGANIZATION. 411 
 
 back the missionaries, and to express their sorrow for 
 the past (which, indeed, many of them deplored 
 deeply at the time), there might be a revulsion of 
 feeling that would itself constitute a fresh danger 
 to the Church by inclining many to seek admission 
 without understanding the Truth or undergoing any 
 change of heart. Proclamations favorable to Chris- 
 tianity and affording protection to church members 
 might be misconstrued as a sort of general invitation 
 to join the now ascendant cause! 
 
 This new incentive would especially appeal to 
 people engaged in lawsuits, who constitute a con- 
 siderable proportion of the population. In many 
 cases they would imagine that they could obtain a 
 "pull" over their opponents by connecting them- 
 selves with the Christians. For this impression has 
 gained a firm hold in many parts of China, owing to 
 the invariable custom of the Roman Catholic priests 
 of claiming temporal authority over their converts, 
 and the right to interfere on their behalf in legal 
 proceedings. As is well known, the attitude of the 
 Eoman Catholics in this matter has brought do^vn 
 upon them the cordial hatred of their neighbors in 
 many provinces. There would need then, for this 
 reason, to be the greatest possible caution in enrolling 
 new inquirers, and afterwards in admitting- them to 
 membership. 
 
 Fifthly and lastly, the question arises of the meth- 
 ods to be adopted in connection with the native 
 church. How best shall the capacities of native lead- 
 
412 THESE FORTY YEARS. 
 
 ers be developed, and the churclies made strong and 
 aggressive? In tlie past they had relied too much 
 on foreign workers and on foreign funds. The im- 
 portance of developing self-supporting and self-pro- 
 progating churches throughout the country is increas- 
 ingly felt among the missionary community. The 
 contrast in 1900 between certain churches which 
 stood fast and firm, scarcely losing a member and 
 not intermitting once their regular Sunday wor- 
 ship, and others which more or less completely suc- 
 cumbed under similar surroundings, has greatly em- 
 phasized the significance of this point. 
 
 And in this connection one or two other important de- 
 tails may be referred to. Mr. Hudson Taylor has drawn 
 attention to the fact that one thing probably more than any 
 other tends to develop a strong native Church, and that is 
 the regular and loyal observance of the Lord's day. "Those 
 churches," he said years ago, "where Sabbath observance 
 has been faithfully taught and systematically cultivated, 
 would stand fast and continue to prosper even if the mis- 
 sionaries were withdrawn; but in every case that I have 
 had the opportunity of observing, where the Christians have 
 been allowed to be lax in this respect, the Church has been 
 weak and would in all probability dwindle or disappear if 
 the foreigners were to leave." The writer's limited experi- 
 ence entirely corroborates this impression. Obedience to 
 the will of God in this particular seems to be indispensable, 
 if He is to establish any given work. And this the Word 
 clearly teaches. The cause may go forward more slowly at 
 first, owing to the grave difficulties that surround its faith- 
 ful observance in a heathen land like China, but it grows 
 more rapidly in the long run, and much more surely and 
 strongly. 
 
 The absence of material inducements to attend services 
 or Join the Church is perhaps an equally important factor 
 
REORGANIZATTON. 413 
 
 in gaining the same slow but sure beginning, followed by- 
 strong and steady growth. Where food is provided by the 
 missionaries on Sunday for those who attend the services, 
 "that they may be able to stay for the afternoon meetings," 
 and where tradesmen know that by joining the Church they 
 can secure the foreigners' custom, a weak and most dis- 
 couraging Church invariably, or almost invariably, results. 
 "Loaves and fishes Christians" are worse than none at all. 
 The practical importance of these two points is sufficient 
 apology for reference to them at this time. 
 
 These five principal considerations, and many 
 others also, occupied the time and thoughts, and had 
 a large place in the prayers of the Directors and the 
 members of the China Council, and have largely 
 decided the procedure of the individual missionaries 
 ii.; returning to their work. 
 
CHAPTEK VI 
 
 RECONSTRUCTIOiq". 
 
 There is a possibility that the terrible happenings 
 of 1900 may convey a wrong impression. It is 
 natural that the conclusion should suggest itself that 
 the Chinese are a fierce and cruel people, whereas 
 the fact is exactly the reverse. Under ordinary cir- 
 cumstances they are peaceable and hospitable, and 
 quick to recognize true worth when it appeals to 
 them in a form they can appreciate. Of course, they 
 are heathen, and if the statement of the Holy Ghost 
 be true, that ^'the whole world lieth in the Wicked 
 One" (believers only excepted), we may not judge of 
 them by Christian standards. 
 
 To show how far they are from being sanguinary, 
 the two following facts may be adduced. In the 
 first thirty-three years of the China Inland Mission, 
 including the inauguration of the work throughout 
 the interior, with all the special risks of pioneering 
 in new districts, not one life was lost by violence. 
 And secondly, in the province of Shan-si itself, until 
 1900, there had never been a single riot from any 
 cause during all the twenty-four years of service 
 since the first China Inland Mission workers visited 
 the province. Indeed, even then, to the credit of 
 Shan-si be it remembered, the dastardly w^ork was 
 mostly done by "Boxers,'' "people of a strange, un- 
 couth speech," from the province of Shan-tung, the 
 
 414 
 
RECONSTRUCTION. 415 
 
 "heavenly soldiers/^ as they were euphemistically 
 called by the terrorized people. 
 
 Before passing from this aspect of the question, it 
 is right, also, to refer to the great kindness shown to 
 many missionaries by Chinese officials, high and low, 
 even at the worst period of the Boxer crisis. At no 
 little peril the viceroys of the Yang-tse provinces 
 suppressed the imperial proclamations commanding 
 the extirpation of foreigners and native Christians, 
 and published, on their own responsibility, counter- 
 proclamations, protecting the life and property of 
 both! But for their commanding influence in the 
 country, and the fact that the sequel proved them 
 in the right, they would doubtless have paid for their 
 generous audacity with their lives. 
 
 At the same time Tuan Fang, the acting governor 
 of Shen-si, treated the missionaries of the northwest 
 with the greatest consideration and kindness, saving 
 the lives of ninety, and going beyond the limits of 
 his own territory in affording them protection. In 
 addition to supplying them bountifully with travel- 
 ing expenses, he refunded money which had been 
 seized by robbers, and even went so far as to give 
 personal presents to several who specially won his 
 admiration and regard. 
 
 These are outstanding instances. Many more could 
 be adduced, if space permitted, of similar kindness 
 from local officials, some of whom lost valuable posts 
 in consequence, posts which it had cost large sums 
 of monev to secure. 
 
416 THESE FORTY YEARS. 
 
 The actual work of reopening the stations was 
 necessarily gradual. Before the last refugee had left 
 Shan-si, work was already resumed in some stations 
 in the more accessible provinces. Several, for in- 
 stance, were reentered in Cheh-kiang and Kiang-si 
 before the close of the disastrous year. Even Chung- 
 king, in the West, was reported quiet and peaceable 
 by Mr. James, of our Si-ch'uan staff, and reopened 
 in December. Glad, indeed, were the Christians to 
 welcome him back! 
 
 During the spring the province of Kiang-si was 
 pronounced safe for lady workers by the British 
 consul-general, and by the end of April work was 
 resumed in the principal ladies' stations there. About 
 the same time the ladies' stations on the Grand Canal 
 were reopened. Great was the joy of the native 
 Christians in both of these districts at the return of 
 the workers, who were sho^vn great courtesy and 
 respect by the local mandarins. 
 
 In May, work was resumed by the men in the far 
 northwest, but it was several months before it was 
 advisable for ladies to return, on account of the pres- 
 ence of the court at Si-an. 
 
 During the same month of May, Mr. Andrew 
 Wright revisited the scenes of martyrdom in Che- 
 kiang, and reported the people quiet and friendly. 
 But one of the most encouraging events of this period 
 was the opening, in the early summer, of the capital 
 of Hu-nan, so long the most anti-foreign province in 
 the empire, by Dr. Keller, of the China Inland Mis- 
 
RECONSTRUCTION. 417 
 
 sion. It is interesting to know that tlie ^^foreign 
 office" at the city of Ch'ang-sha rendered the doctor 
 every possible assistance in securing a suitable house, 
 the mandarin in charge entertaining hmi meanwhile 
 with generous hospitality. 
 
 About the same time, either before or after, a 
 visit was paid to this city by the distinguished mis- 
 sionary veteran, Dr. Griffith John, of the London 
 Mission. He was cordially welcomed by the gover- 
 nor, who even lent his own private steam launch to 
 take him to an out-station further up the i-iver, and 
 to bring him back all the way to Han-kow ! 'Not long 
 after this same official sent Dr. John a very friendly 
 letter and his photograph. 
 
 Later in the summer work was recoim^nenced in the 
 southwest ; in Yun-nan under the experienced leader- 
 ship of the Kev. John McCarthy, and in Kuei-chau 
 with Mr. Charles T. Fishe as Superintendent. 
 
 But the most important, as well as the most 
 onerous work of reconstruction was in Shan-si, and 
 this was undertaken by eight missionaries, four be- 
 longing to other Boards, and four members of the 
 China Inland Mission, including Mr. D. E. Iloste, its 
 Acting General Director. They arrived at the capi- 
 tal of Shan-si ^n July 9th, exactly a year from the sad 
 day of carnage in that city. But to this ^dsit, and 
 the official reception, and the public funeral of the 
 mai-tyrs which followed, reference will be made 
 later. 
 
 In the fall of the yeax work was resumed in the 
 
 27 
 
418 THESE FORTY YEARS. 
 
 difficult province of Ho-nan. And before tlie end 
 of 1901, the last of the missionaries to the interior 
 had left Shanghai, and work was resumed in most of 
 the stations. Permission had even been given for 
 lady missionaries to return to work in the five great 
 provinces of the west, though not yet in Shan-si. 
 Indeed, it was not until the fall of 1902 that it Avas 
 deemed advisable for single ladies to return to that 
 j)rovince. One of these, who had been home for a 
 short furlough after the experiences of 1900, feared 
 that her mother might be distressed at the thought 
 of her return. ^'ISTo, indeed, my darling,'' said the 
 noble mother, '^if the native Christians have been 
 willing to suffer so much for you, the least you can 
 do is to return to help and comfort them, now that 
 peace is reestablished. I am glad that you should 
 return to serve the Lord Jesus there." 
 
 But Ch'ang-sha in Hu-nan was not the only pro- 
 vincial capital to be opened after the troubles, and 
 as the direct result of the crisis. Ch'ang-sha was 
 opened, as we have seen, in the summer of 1901 ; and 
 in the following winter Mr. Powell, of the China 
 Inland Mission, deeming it wise to take advantage 
 of the political reaction, endeavored to open K'ai- 
 fung, the capital of Ho-nan in Xorth China. He had 
 repeatedly visited the city before, with no apparent 
 result: but now, after considerable difficulty and no 
 little prayer, succeeded in renting premises. There- 
 upon he was Adsited every day for a week by manda- 
 rins, and warned of the unfriendliness of the city, and 
 
EECONSTRUCTION. 419 
 
 of its undesirability from the point of view of health 
 (it is very damp owing to the saline soil) ; one official, 
 especially, bringing forth fresli arguments each day 
 to persuade the courageous missionary to retire. 
 
 All persuasion failing, this "foreign office'' man- 
 darin said: "Well, if you must stay, I will do all in 
 my power, of course, to protect you." "And will you 
 protect my landlord?" inquired Powell, who had had 
 some experience. Hesitating a moment, and realiz- 
 ing that this also was his duty, he said, "Yes, I will." 
 "Then everything is peaceably settled," replied the 
 missionary, somewhat to the amusement and sur- 
 prise of the disappointed official. 
 
 Two other important cities were opened about this 
 time, in different parts of China. One of them, Yen- 
 chau Fu, in Cheh-kiang, was the direct result of 
 the martyrdoms in the neighboring district: it had 
 been the only unoccupied Fu (or prefectural city) 
 in the province. The other, Kuang-sin Fu, in Kiang- 
 si, the chief city on the Kuang-sin river, was opened 
 by lady missionaries in FebiTiary, 1902. 
 
 A very important feature of this reconstruction 
 period was the public memorial service held at each 
 place that had been rendered sacred by martyr blood. 
 The first of these was solemnized at Pao-ting Fu, 
 within one hundred miles of Pekin, on March 23d 
 and 24th, 1901, and the last not until eighteen 
 months later (after long negotiation) at Kiu-chau 
 in Cheh-kiang. 
 
 The most important of the whole series was that 
 
420 THESE FOKTY YEARS. 
 
 held at T'ai-juan, in July, 1901, where so many pre- 
 cious lives had been laid down the year before. This, 
 the first of the memorial services in Shan-si, may be 
 taken as an example of what occurred, Avith minor 
 modifications, at each center. 
 
 Before the arrival at T'ai-yuan of the returning 
 missionaries, when they were yet thirty miles from 
 the city, they were welcomed by a company of 
 cavalry, in charge of a military mandarin, wdio, after 
 Avelcoming the missionaries in the name of the gov- 
 ernor, inquired at what time he might expect them 
 at the capital. Ten miles from the city a larger and 
 more imposing company, the governor's bodyguard, 
 with banners and trumpets, was added to their escort. 
 At the south gate an immense crowd was gathered. 
 Here a large pavilion had been erected; a herald 
 greeted them "in the name of the Emperor," and 
 leading mandarins and city magnates gave them a 
 formal and cordial w^elcome. After a light luncheon, 
 presided over by an English-speaking mandarin, they 
 entered the city and were conducted to a handsome 
 official residence, wdiich had been prepared for their 
 use. Here again they were welcomed by high offi- 
 cials and leading citizens. After partaking of a feast 
 which was awaiting them, return visits were paid 
 that day and the next, July 9th and 10th. But of 
 course, the most touching welcome was from the 
 native Christians, the joy on whose seamed and 
 scarred faces touched the missionaries to the heart. 
 A suitable cemeterv had alreadv been secured and 
 
RECONSTRUCTIOX. 421 
 
 walled in at a beautiful situation, on a hillside over- 
 looking the city and the plain. Here the remains of 
 the missionaries and children had been interred, each 
 grave being marked by a pedestal surmounted by a 
 cross, in appropriate recognition of the cause in which 
 they fell. 
 
 After all the arrangements were complete, on July 
 ISth, a memorial service was held, attended by most 
 of the principal dignitaries, on the very spot where 
 the martyrs were beheaded. Then the procession 
 started, headed by the mandarins, for whom the way 
 was cleared by outrunners beating gongs; next came 
 the funeral wreaths presented by the officials and 
 gentry, two hundred foot soldiers and fifty cavalry; 
 then the foreigners, in four-bearer chairs of state, 
 and native Christians, followed by nineteen large red 
 satin banners inscribed with the names of the mar- 
 tyrs in gold; then more Christians, and last of all, 
 another small company of soldiers. The slow, solemn 
 procession took three hours to reach the new ceme- 
 tery. Here a laudatory address in memoriam, by the 
 governor, was read by a mandarin; a salaam was 
 made by the officials before the graves, and then 
 followed a Christian service, led by Mr. Hoste. 
 
 It was a sad day for the missionaries, but one for 
 which they and the native Christians were profoundly 
 thankful as thev looked forward to the future. 
 
CHAPTEK YIL 
 
 THE PRESENT CONDITIOIS'. 
 
 Missionary operations have now been resumed all 
 over China, very few of the stations remaining closed 
 at the end of 1902. As to the present condition of 
 the work, the following facts will aid in forming an 
 opinion : 
 
 As early as April, 1901, it was possible to report 
 at the home headquarters: "From the missionary 
 point of view, the position of affairs in China is, we 
 think, steadily improving. A considerable number 
 of our missionaries have returned to their stations 
 and more are returning. . . . The native Chris- 
 tians are delighted to have our brethren back. In 
 some places . . . the welcome to the returning 
 missionaries was overwhelmingly joyful. 
 
 "A cheery feature in the condition of things, as 
 regards the Church in China, is, that during the en- 
 forced absence of the missionaries the work has not 
 sustained so serious a check as might naturally have 
 been expected, excepting, of course, in the province 
 of Shan-si. . . . The native Christians have 
 themselves been carrying on the work, and we hear 
 that in some places not only has there been no back- 
 ward movement, but on the contrary the tendency 
 has been to go forward." 
 
 422 
 
THE PRESENT CONDITION. 423 
 
 Of course, during the Boxer troubles, a large num- 
 ber of missionaries had gone home on furlough. 
 Their work was at a standstill and many of them ur- 
 gently needed rest, and it was important that as soon 
 as work could be resumed the missionaries should be 
 fresh and ready for strenuous service. 
 
 Within a year of the "Keign of Terror" we read 
 that "tranquillity is being restored throughout 
 China." The leaders of the Mission in China cabled 
 home accordingly for the missionaries on furlough to 
 return. 
 
 By this time, mid-summer, 1901, the premises in 
 Shanghai, which had been so crowded in the winter, 
 had resumed their normal condition. (The additional 
 temporary homes which had to be rented in the fall 
 of 1900, had all been closed, of course, for months.) 
 And from far and near the returning missionaries 
 were sending in encouraging tidings of the churches. 
 The local mandarins had officially w^elcomed them on 
 their return, always with courtesy and in most cases 
 with marked cordiality. Indeed, in many places they 
 were accorded quite an ovation ! 
 
 The following extracts, taken from a large number 
 
 of similar reports, will be of interest as throwing light 
 
 on the condition of things during the six, nine, or 
 
 twelve months of the missionaries' absence : 
 
 Taking them in the order in which work was resumed, 
 we hear from Cheh-kiang: "In the midst of all the trouble 
 last year, Pastor Ren had many applications for baptism. 
 In July he baptized four, in September three, and at the 
 end of the year six. All of these came into the Church 
 
424 THESE FORTY YEARS. 
 
 ready for, and in fact expecting, persecution. Thank God 
 for such a work!" This was at Hang-chau. 
 
 From Kiang-si Mr. William Taylor, of Kih-an, re- 
 ported: "All the Christians, tliough persecuted and threat- 
 ened, remained faithful." At Kwei-k'i, in the same prov- 
 ince: "The Christians are very bright, with few excep- 
 tions." This is the most important and the most successful 
 of the chain of ladies' stations on the Kuang-sin river. "At 
 Yuh-shan, another very encouraging ladies' station, on our 
 arrival, we found to our surprise that the house had been 
 cleaned and put in order. . . . The spirit of love and 
 unity among the four native Christians who were in re- 
 sponsibility during our absence is beautiful. They have 
 been of one mind and heart all the time. . . . It is so 
 clear that the Lord .... has given them a love for 
 souls and a burning desire to do His work that they never 
 had before." 
 
 In the next province west, Hu-nan, we hear from the 
 comparatively new station of Ch'en-chau, from Mr. Bruce 
 (since martyred): "Everything seems to be running 
 smoothly here. The Sabbath services continue to be well 
 attended. Among others whose interest in spiritual things 
 seems to be deepening I might mention Mr. Liu, a school- 
 teacher." 
 
 From Si-ch'uan, still farther west, Mr. James had 
 been able to telegraph as early as December, 1900, that 
 the native Christians at Chung-king had been greatly re- 
 joiced at the commencing return of their missionary 
 friends. Two or three months later, from the capital, 
 Ch'en-tu, we hear: "The natives did not know of my com- 
 ing, and it was a welcome surprise that morning when 
 I walked in. Each one vied with the other in showing 
 their joy over my return. The converts had all stood firm 
 and loyal to their profession, and now tliey are less liable 
 to fall away than before." 
 
 From the central province of An-huei we read: "On 
 arrival here the service was going on in the chapel. Liu of 
 Siang-hsien was leading. There was great joy on seeing 
 us. The Christians were all present. The people seemed 
 
THE PRESENT CONDITION. 425 
 
 friendly." This was at Chen-yang-l^uan. From Ning-kuoh, 
 in the same province, we read: *'The Christians have, on 
 the whole, done well," 
 
 Most of the above reports were sent in during the first 
 three months of 1901. A little later we hear from one of 
 the far northwestern provinces: "The meetings have been 
 kept up very well, and many new inquirers have been added. 
 Two have been allured by the 'golden pill' to join the 
 Roman Catholics." (Han-chong.) 
 
 About this time it became practicable to resume work 
 in the distracted province of Shan-tung, where the Boxer 
 movement had its inception. The governor of this province 
 had sought to help the native Christians in 1900, so far as 
 he dared, by suggesting a "purely nominal" recantation, 
 which was to be made by some leading member on behalf 
 of each church. In this way he had hoped to avoid the diflEl- 
 culty of dealing with individuals, some of whom might re- 
 fuse to recant. This enlightened statesman, Yuan Shi-k'ai, 
 now did all he could to make amends for the deplorable 
 past, and issued a proclamation so favorable to Christianity 
 that it has often been spoken of as the "Magna Charta of 
 Protestant Missions in Shan-tung." 
 
 When at last, in the summer of 1901, it was possible for 
 missionaries to return to Shan-si, not only was it a pa- 
 thetic experience to be on the spot where so many foreign 
 and native Christians had suffered and fallen, but it was 
 sad also by reason of the many who, under terrible pressure, 
 had recanted. Happily, the leaders of the Church were the 
 first to recognize the gravity of the mistake they had made, 
 and with deep humiliation and tears to make confession of 
 their sin to God. After a time of conference and prayer 
 with the most prominent pastors and elders, Mr. Hoste ap- 
 pointed a committee of native Christians — men conspicuous 
 for their piety, trustworthiness, and sound common sense — 
 to prepare an estimate of losses at each station, with a 
 view to compensation; the whole work being under the 
 oversight and superintendence of duly appointed leaders. 
 Although, as we have seen, not a few in this province had 
 accepted the tokens of recantation, most of them, it was 
 
426 THESE FOETY YEARS. 
 
 found, had not really gone back, but were still true to the 
 Lord in purpose and in life. For this, heartfelt thanksgiv- 
 ing went up to God. 
 
 In the autumn of 1901 work was resumed in Ho-nan, 
 and the following reports, which had been previously sent 
 in by leading church members, proved to be correct. In 
 spite of very bitter persecution, "only one woman had gone 
 back" at Siang-hsien. "We were enabled to meet to- 
 
 gether for worship just as usual and to keep the Sabbath. 
 Although a few of the women were timid, after a little ex- 
 hortation they took courage. The mandarin had issued an 
 order that all Christians should enter their names, saying 
 that they were willing to recant, and he would protect 
 them. Not one of the members, however, was willing to do 
 so; they sought to serve the Lord with greater earnestness 
 than ever. For this we do praise God!" (Ch'en-chau.) 
 "They met regularly on the Sabbath day to worship God." 
 (T'ang-li, Ch'en-chau out-station.) "We have been enabled 
 to meet together in Ko Lao-siang's house every Sunday 
 since you left, to worship God." Another letter says that 
 shortly after the missionaries had left, the city was in an 
 uproar, noisy crowds clamoring for the lives of the Chris- 
 tians; but, it being Sunday, they met in this brother's 
 house for public worship, and expounded the Scriptures, 
 united in prayer and "sang the praises of God with a loud 
 Noice, and were not afraid." (T'ai-kang). 
 
 Much more of a similar nature might easily be 
 added, but this will suffice to show that through a 
 time of unparalleled trial and persecution the native 
 Church, as a whole, had stood firm. A few tares had 
 been weeded out here and there: but by far the 
 greater part had proved to be ^'the good seed of the 
 Kingdom." The churches, slightly diminished in 
 numl)crs, had been greatly strengthened in purity. 
 Even in Shan-si the most prominent of all the native 
 
THE PRESENT CONDITION. 427 
 
 Christians, Elder Hsii, stated : ^'Tliank the Lord, the 
 Church of God is in the most hopeful condition, and 
 there are signs of great interest and prosperity. 
 Wherever we preach, the people are willing to listen 
 to the Gospel: and what is better still, numbers have 
 given up idolatry and are worshiping God. There 
 are, moreover, signs of advance in the Church also." 
 He goes on to give details of the generous gifts of 
 the Christians toward rebuilding the churches. All 
 had given a tenth, and some even a fifth of their 
 compensation, which had been based on very mod- 
 erate estimates. "Best of all, there are some who are 
 serving the Lord with intense earnestness. Praise 
 the Lord, the sufferings of 1900 have been a great 
 blessing to the Church. The good are truly like gold 
 that has been refined in the fire, while the worth- 
 lessness of the bad has become manifest. . . . ^All 
 things work together for good to them that love God,' 
 is certainly true!" 
 
 One more statement must be added to complete this 
 brief review of the conditions on the field. On 
 jSTovember 20th, 1901, Bishop Cassels, of the West 
 China Episcopal Diocese, wrote to the Mission head- 
 quarters as follows: ^'There is a great movement 
 towards Christianity spreading over this district, and 
 there are many open doors. Scores of idols have 
 been destroyed; hundreds of taels have been given 
 toward preparing churches to meet in, and large 
 numbers of Bibles have been bought; and now the 
 people are begging me to send preachers to teach 
 
428 THESE FORTY YEAES. 
 
 tliem. The matter is urgent. There is no time to 
 be lost. The flood tide is just coming in. . . . If we 
 seem to turn a deaf ear to the present appeals for 
 help, the people's hearts will harden, and they will 
 grow careless again. . . . We must strike while the 
 iron is hot. 
 
 '^1 have just returned from a forty-five days' jour- 
 ney into eleven different counties, covering about 
 1,000 miles. In twenty or thirty places I have met 
 with companies of people, numbering from a little 
 handful up to one or two hundred, who desired to 
 enter the Church, and who have in some places been 
 most importunate in their entreaties that I would 
 send them missionaries. My native catechist was 
 almost forcibly detained in several places, so anxious 
 were the people to have a preacher. 
 
 ''Is it not a sad picture ? Churches prepared, peo- 
 ple with Bibles in their hands, ready to be taught, 
 and glad to kneel in prayer to God. (Oh, what a 
 contrast with past years !) And yet no one to go 
 and preach to them !'' 
 
 Assurances have since been received that the above 
 is largely true of the remainder of Si-ch'uan; and, 
 indeed, with minor modifications, it describes the con- 
 dition of things in many parts of the empire. 
 
 If the present condition of affairs in China means 
 anything, it surely means — that the time is come 
 for the Church of God to GO FORWARD. 
 
CHAPTEE VIII. 
 
 THE OUTLOOK. 
 
 Arp: there any data available by which an estimate 
 may be formed as to the possible future of China 
 from the Christian point of view? Anything ap- 
 proaching a mathematical certainty is, of course, out 
 of the question, but there are several facts that may 
 help in forming an opinion. 
 
 First and foremost of these is the steady progress 
 which has been made in the work. During the last 
 quarter of the old century there was a regailar in- 
 crease in the Protestant Church in China at the rate 
 of ten or twelve per cent, every year. And this re- 
 sulted in a Christian community, at the close of the 
 nineteenth century, of a quarter of a million," in- 
 cluding church members, applicants for fellowship 
 and children of believers. It is easy to see that, if 
 this progress is maintained, the first quarter of the 
 twentieth century will see a marked change come 
 over the face of China, and there are many reasons 
 for hoping that this ratio will not only be maintained 
 but increased. Be that as it may, a simple calcula- 
 tion will show that at the old rate of progress 
 (doubling each eight years, as it did during the last 
 
 ♦See also Warneck, quoted in appendix to "Martyred 
 Missionaries," on page 323, footnote. 
 
 429 
 
430 THESE FORTY YEAES. 
 
 quarter of a century), in twenty-four years from now 
 the Protestant community will number two millions. 
 God grant that it may! That would be one in two 
 hundred of the entire population, instead of about 
 one in twelve thousand, as it was just twenty-five 
 years ago. And yet some people say that Christian- 
 ity is not overtaking heathenism! 
 
 Hand in hand with christianization will, of course, 
 go education and material progress. A Christian 
 community of two millions, including many of the 
 most enlightened and most highly educated and 
 thoughtful people in the country, would obviously 
 go far toward forming the public opinion. 
 
 Of course there is a prior question. Will the 
 present dispensation run on another five and twenty 
 years? And this no man can say. But if our Lord 
 should return sooner than some of His people expect, 
 what could please Him better than to find His dis- 
 ciples earnestly working for and accomplishing the 
 evangelization of China? For a Christian community 
 of two millions would not only mean that that number 
 had been brought into the Fold, but also that the 
 remaining one hundred and ninety-nine of each two 
 hundred would also have heard, or at least have had 
 a chance of hearing, of the Way of Life as it is in 
 Jesus Christ our Lord. 
 
 Seeing then that a literal compliance with the de- 
 sire of our Saviour Friend is so easily within the lim- 
 its of practical missionary politics, why should not 
 
THE OUTLOOK. ^^^ 
 
 the Church of Christ unite, earnestly and deter- 
 minedly, to cause Him to "see of the travail of His 
 soul and be satisfied?" 
 
 We are His. We live to serve Him. The very 
 reason of our existence is that we may "glorify Hun" 
 now "and enjoy Him forever." Since this is what 
 He bids us do, and what is actually being accom- 
 plished before our eyes, ought we not all of us to 
 take some share in the uplifting of this most popu- 
 lous and most potent of the heathen races of the 
 
 earth? . . 
 
 There are other indications, also, which point m 
 the same direction. The present attitude of the 
 ffovernment is not comparable with anythmg that 
 has been witnessed in the past. The uniform cour- 
 tesy and friendliness of mandarins all over the em- 
 pire (with rare exceptions) proves, beyond a doubt, 
 that this is the accepted policy of the government. 
 There never has been such an opportunity before. 
 
 The war indemnity tax is, of course, an adverse 
 element in the problem. Decimated by the foreign 
 forces in the northeast and by the Mohammedan 
 rebellion in the northwest, desolated by faimne 
 throughout the northern provinces, and at the best 
 of times one of the poorest of all civilized peoples- 
 necessarily so on account of the density of the popu- 
 lation-this indemnity is pressing, and will press, 
 much more heavily than is realized by the Western 
 world. And this burden is greatly increased by the 
 rapacitv of the native officials through whose hands 
 
432 THESE FORTY YEARS. 
 
 the taxes have to pass. Even in ordinary times the 
 normal land tax for governmental purposes presses 
 heavily enough. But the interest on three hundred 
 million dollars, together with a sinking fund of one 
 fortieth of the principal, will be a heavy burden, in- 
 deed, and one that wdll be apt to create unrest and 
 discontent among the people. That this is a very 
 serious element of the question cannot be denied. 
 The government understands, however, that there is 
 nothing to do but to pay, and will probably do all in 
 its power to maintain friendly relations. 
 
 Another grave element in the situation is the ex- 
 travagant compensation demanded by the Roman 
 Catholics all over the empire. And more serious still 
 is their settled policy of claiming temporal power and 
 civil authority over their adherents. This is con- 
 stantly bringing them into collision with the native 
 officials, who cannot but resent such continued inter- 
 ference with the process of the law. 
 
 Judged from the human standpoint, it is greatly 
 to be regretted that two of China's most enlightened 
 statesmen should have passed away at this juncture. 
 On ]^ovember 7th, 1901, His Excellency Li Hung- 
 chang, fo^' many ^^ears the prime minister of China, 
 died, and -wdtliin a year he was followed by the en- 
 lightened viceroy of Nankin, His Excellency Liu 
 K'un-i. In them China lost two of her safest and 
 wisest advisers, and the Foreign PoAvers the assist- 
 ance of two diplomats who knew, better than most of 
 their countrymen, the value of peace and the ruinous 
 
THE OUTLOOK. 433 
 
 costliness of war. Happily they are succeeded by two 
 men equally alive to the gravity of the present situa- 
 tion, and the necessity of maintaining amicable rela- 
 tions with the AVest. Their Excellencies Chang Chili- 
 tung and Yuan Shi-k'ai, may be trusted to do all in 
 their power to avoid further trouble. 
 
 Among many other signs of the enlightened and 
 progressive policy that has now been adopted by 
 China may be mentioned the following : 
 
 Among the articles of the Peace Protocol, signed at 
 Pekin on September Gth, 1901, is one promising that the 
 Chinese government will post in every county town in the 
 empire, edicts: (a) Prohibiting perpetually membership in 
 an anti-foreign society, under pain of death; {b) enumer- 
 ating the punishments inflicted by the government on 
 princes, officials, and others (including the death sentence 
 on ex-Governor Yu-hsien); (c) suppressing examinations 
 for five years in all towns where foreigners have been ill- 
 treated or killed; (d) declaring provincial and local officials 
 responsible in the event of further trouble. 
 
 In the spring of 1901 the highest officials in China, vice- 
 roys and governors, were commanded to report on the Em- 
 peror's reform edicts of 1898. They agreed to recommend, 
 among others, the following improvements: (a) Princes and 
 nobles should study abroad; {h) students of good family 
 must study abroad before becoming officials; (c) all the 
 examinations need to be thoroughly revised; (d) more 
 schools and colleges are required; (e) the Imperial Post 
 should be extended over the whole empire; (f) the silver 
 dollar should be made the universal legal tender. (These 
 should be adopted immediately; mining laws, etc., should 
 follow.) 
 
 So recently as September 5th, 1902, a commercial treaty 
 was signed with England, among the articles of which are: 
 (a) China will protect British trade-marks; (h) will permit 
 removal of obstructions to navigation on upper Yang-tse 
 
434 THESE FOETY YEAES. 
 
 (above I-chang); (<?) will provide a uniform national cur- 
 rency; ((/) will abolish li-kin (a most galling inter-state 
 customs tax); (e) will energetically amend existing rules for 
 inland navigation; if) desires to reform her judicial system 
 in accordance with that of Western nations. 
 
 Ill addition to the above may be mentioned the 
 Anglo-Japanese treaty, which was concluded on Jan- 
 ary 30th, 1902, and which should go far to maintain 
 peace in the Orient, backed np strongly^ as it is, by 
 tlie community of interest of the United States. For 
 the principal end in viev/ in the agreement is the 
 maintenance of (a) the integrity of the Chinese Em- 
 pire, and (b) an "open door'' to the commerce of the 
 world. 
 
 These things being so — the country being more 
 open for evangelization than ever before, the gov- 
 ernment and officials being more conciliatory and 
 earnestly desirous for progress and reform, and being 
 for the most part as friendly toward Protestant mis- 
 sionaries as one could reasonably expect, and the peo- 
 ple being so ready to listen to the "new teaching" of 
 Christianity, including the scholarly classes hitherto 
 so inaccessible — it is surely incumbent upon all who 
 love the Lord Jesus Christ to do what they can to 
 improve the present priceless opportunity vdiile it 
 lasts. 
 
 To be as practical as possible, it is suggested that 
 the reader should set aside, without delay, a conveni- 
 ent time, either longer or shorter, to wait upon God, 
 asking, "Lord, Avhat wouldst Thou have me to do?" 
 
THE OUTLOOK. 435 
 
 earnestly expecting guidance and dcterniined to obey 
 it. For the Harvest Home is drawing near, wlien he 
 that soweth and he that reapeth shall rejoice to- 
 gether in the presence of our Lord. This blessed 
 service is not, as we have seen, without result: nor 
 will it be, assuredly, without commensurate reward.