3 AITH And CTS %rtiremov1ed ; but M%wi neither shallrfMy ccai the Lord that hath mere /2, . /. I(^ ^^ PRINCETON, N. J. *i^ Purchased by the Hamill Missionary Fund. BV 3410 .C56 B76 1909 Broomhall, Marshall, 1866- Faith and facts FAITH AND FACTS The First CAs^ Book. This illustration is from a photograph of the first China Inland Mission Cash Book earned about by Mr. Hudson Taylor. A facsimile of the first entry, dated as far back as 1S<)0, is given in the illustration facing page 23. Frontispiece. FAITH AND FACTS AS ILLUSTRATED IN THE HISTORY OF THE CHINA INLAND MISSION MARSHALL BROOMHALL, B.A. EDITORIAL SECRKTARY, CHINA INLAND MISSION SECOND IMPRESSION CHINA INLAND MISSION LONDON, PHILADELPHIA, TORONTO, MELBOUPtNE, SHANGHAI MORGAN & SCOTT, Ltd., 12 Paternoster Buildings, LONDON, E.G. ^GbenezerTJehovah Jireh." THE CHINA INLAND MISSION'S MOTTO {see p. 23) PKEFACE The writer of these few lines has been frequently requested for some brief account of God's dealing with the China Inland Mission, for The Story of the C.I.M. by Mrs. Howard Taylor has been out of print for some considerable time, and is now so much out of date as to make it undesirable for it to be republished without the greater part being rewritten. As the Life of the Rev. J. Hudson Taylor, in course of preparation by Dr. and Mrs. Howard Taylor, must necessarily include much of the Mission's history, the present time is not opportune for any new history of the work. The following pages, which deal with one aspect of the work only, will, it is hoped, supply the present need. When in 1907 the total income of the C.I.M. received from the commencement, in England, had reached a sum of over one million pounds sterling, the writer collated every reference to funds which occurs in the pages of the Mission's publications. The perusal of these he found not only full of deep interest but spiritually strengthening. That a Mission, now with over nine hundred missionaries and eleven hundred paid Chinese helpers, should have been sustained and provided for, for over forty years, without any public collections or solicitations of funds, but solely through the faithfulness of God, to whom all needs have been made known through prayer, is a fact full of signi- ficance. vi HAVE FAITH IN GOD Academic questions concerning the inspiration of God's Word may be discussed indefinitely, but experience has proved the practical wisdom of accepting God's promises and venturing forth upon them. The Headmaster of Rugby has recently said : " I feel most strongly that the real way to test the inspiration of the Bible or any other book is not by criticising its text, but by watching its influence upon human lives. In that, after all, we have definite and distinct evidence of its miraculous and supernatural character." The following pages are not in any sense a full story, but only a brief sketch of some of God's dealings with some of His people, written with the purpose of show- ing how faith has been justified and God proved faithful to His promises. Many of the incidents have been told before, but their repetition has been necessary to complete the record. Through faith in God, closed doors have been opened, unoccupied fields have been possessed, funds have been supplied, and fruit obtained in the work undertaken. As truly as Abraham went forth not knowing whither he went, but only knowing Him who promised, so have His servants in modern times gone forth in faith and proved God's presence and salvation. There is no suggestion in these pages that any methods peculiar to the C.I.M. are preferable to those employed by other societies. Whether appeals for funds be made or not, or whether collections be authorised or otherwise, may depend upon various circumstances and individual leading. Both methods may be right and wise in their own place. Nor does the writer desire to imply that this pathway of service has been free from its own trials. Faith has been tried, circumstances have at times been straitened, yet, so far as he knows, no worker has ever lacked " the things needful for life and godliness." But if in God's service hardship has been endured by any, that worker has PREFACE vii had fellowship with the greatest of missionaries who was " in labour and travail, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness." And lastly, this record is published solely as a testimony to God's goodness and not from any thought of exalting a Mission or a method. Our ground of rejoicing is not " our faith," but " God's faithfulness." Tliy only glory we declare, And humbled into nothing own Holy and pure is God alone. M. B. China Inland Mission, LoNnoN, Oct, 18, 1909. Note. — Special thanks are due to Mr. J. N. Hayward, C.I.M. Treasurer in Shanghai, and to Mr. Walter Tucker for valued help in obtaining complete tables of Income received in China, etc. ; to Miss Mabel Parrott for the photo facing page 71, and to Messrs. W. M. Spooner and Co. for riglit to reproduce the photo used on the cover. " I think I can trace every scrap of sorrow in my life to this simple unbelief. How could I be anything but quite happy if I believed always that all the past is forgiven, and all the present furnished with power, and all the future bright with hope because of the same abiding facts which don't change with my mood, do not stumble because I totter and stagger at the promise through unbelief, but stand firm and clear with their peaks of pearl cleaving the air of Eternity and the bases of their hills rooted unfathomably in the Rock of God. Mont Blanc does not become a phantom or a mist because a climber grows dizzy on its side." JAMES SMETHAM. CONTENTS PAGE Preface .......... v The School of Faith ...... i The Challenge to Faith 10 The Response of Faith . . . . . . .19 God's Answer to Faith . . . . , . .23 1. General Testimonies ...... 32 2. Personal Testimonies 36 3. " A Table in the Presence of Mine Enemies " . 45 The Faith of Giving 53 The Last Seven Years . . . . . . .71 Many Infallible Proofs ....... 74 ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE The First Cash Book Frontispiece The Day of Small Things 23 Books of Eemembrance . . . ■ .71 "HOLD GOD'S FAITHFULNESS" (Mark xi. 22) "Such we believe to be the purport of the three words of our Lord, '"Exere ttlo-tlv Qeov,' in our version rendered, 'Have faith in God,' and in the margin, more literally, ' Have the faith of God.' "... Want of trust is at the root of almost all our sins and all our weaknesses ; and how shall we escape from it, but by looking to Him, and observing His faithfulness 1 . . . " The man who holds God's faith will not be foolhardy or reckless, but he will be ready for every emergency. The man who holds God's faith will dare to obey Him, however impolitic it may appear. . . . "How many Christians go mourning, and lose joy, strength, and opportunities of helping others, because they do not hold God's faithfulness ! How many estimate difficulties in the light of their own resources, and thus attempt little, and often fail in the little they attempt ! All God's giants have been weak men, who did great things for God because they reckoned on His being with them. See the cases of David, of Jonathan and his armour-bearer, of Asa, Jehoshaphat, and many others. Oh ! beloved friends, if there is a living God, faithful and true, let us hold His faithfulness. . . . " Holding His faithfulness, we may go into every province of China. Holding His faithfulness, we may face with calm and sober, but confident, assurance of victory, every difficulty and danger. We may count on grace for the work, on pecuniary aid, on needful facilities, and on ultimate success. Let us not give Him a partial trust, but daily, hourly, serve Him, ' Holding God's faithfulness.' " — J. Hudson Taylor, China's Millions, 1875. xu THE SCHOOL OF FAITH " Not many months after my conversion," wrote Mr. Hudson Taylor, in later life, " having a leisure afternoon, I retired to my own chamber to spend it largely in communion with God. Well do I remember that occasion. How in the gladness of my heart I poured out my soul before God ; and again and again confessing my grateful love to Him who had done everything for me — who had saved me when I had given up all hope and even desire for salvation — I besought Him to give me some work to do for Him, as an outlet for love and gratitude ; some self-denying service, no matter what it might be, however trying or however trivial ; something with which He would be pleased and that I might do for Him who had done so much for me. Well do I remember, as in unreserved consecration I put myself, my life, my friends, my all, upon the altar, the deep solemnity that came over my soul with the assurance that my offering was accepted. The presence of God became unutterably real and blessed ; and though but a child under sixteen, I remember stretching myself on the ground, and lying there silent before Him with unspeakable awe and unspeakable joy." For what service God had accepted him he did not then know, but a deep consciousness that he had been set apart for some definite work then took possession of him, which consciousness was never effaced. In the light of this conviction he faced all subsequent developments, ever holding himself free for God's service. It was not long ere the needs of China were impressed upon his mind, and a copy of Medhurst's China was borrowed from a Con- 1 B 2 HAVE FAITH IN GOD gregational minister, that conviction and knowledge might go hand in hand, and every effort was put forth to obtain the necessary spiritual, intellectual, and experimental qualifi- cations. Kealizing how grave was the undertaking of going forth to China, far from all human aid, he felt the need of proving the power of prayer and faith in God at home, and, as with Gideon, God trained His servant in the smaller details of life before laying upon him the burden of enlarged responsibilities. The story of one of these experiences, though connected with so small a sum as half-a-crown, contains within it the essential elements of the greatest trial. This story, told in detail by Mr. Hudson Taylor in A Retrospect may be briefly related as follows : — The thought of going out to China, far from all human aid, and depending solely upon God for protection and supplies, was felt to be so serious that Mr. Taylor realized the need of proving whether he had that faith in God which warranted him in embarking on the enterprise at all. " I thought to myself," he afterwards wrote, " when I get out there, I shall have no claim on any one for anything : my claim will be alone in God ; and I must learn before I leave England to move man through God by prayer alone." His employer, being a very busy man, had requested him to always remind him when his salary was due, but he determined not to do this directly, but by asking God to bring it to his recollection gain encouragement in the power and efficacy of prayer. Upon one occasion the day arrived and passed, though prayer had been made, until one Saturday night, upon settling up his weekly accounts, Mr. Taylor found himself with only half-a-crown, and that in one coin. The following Sunday was a happy one and full of earnest work among the poor in the lodging-houses he was accustomed to visit. At the conclusion of his last service, about ten o'clock at night, a poor man requested him to come and pray with his wife, who was dying. The man was an Irishman and had already been to the priest, who, THE SCHOOL OF FAITH 3 he said, had refused to come without being paid eighteen- pence. Being penniless and his family starving he could not pay this. The remainder of the story, so pregnant in its results to Mr. Taylor and his future service as founder and director of the China Inland Mission, must be told in his own words. " It at once occurred to my mind that all I had in the world was that solitary half-crown, and that it was in one coin ; and that, while the basin of water gruel that I usually took for my supper was awaiting me, and there was sufficient in the house for breakfast, I had nothing for dinner next day. " Somehow or other there was at once a stoppage in the flow of joy in my heart; but instead of reproving myself, I began to reprove the poor man, and to tell him it was very wrong of him to let matters get into such a state as he described — that he ought to have gone to the relieving- oflficer. He had been, he said, and had been told to come at eleven o'clock the next morning, but he feared his wife might not live so long. " ' Ah,' I thought, ' if I had only two shillings and a six- pence instead of half-a- crown, how gladly would I give these poor people one shilling of it ! ' But to part with the half-crown was far from my thoughts. I little dreamed that the real meaning of this feeling was this — I would trust God with one-and-six, but I was not prepared to trust Him without any money at all in my pocket. " My conductor led me into a court, down which I followed him with some nervousness. I had been there before, and at my last visit had been very roughly handled, while my tracts were torn to pieces, and I had received such a warning not to come again, that I felt more than a little concerned. Still, it was the path of duty, and I followed on. Up a miserable flight of stairs, into a wretched room, he led me, and oh, what a sight presented itself to my eyes ! Four or five poor children stood about, their sunken cheeks, and temples, and eyes all telling an unmistakable story of slow starvation ; and lying on a wretched pallet 4 HAVE FAITH IN GOD was a poor, exhausted mother, with a little izifant thirty- six hours old, moaning rather than crying at her side, for it, too, seemed spent and exhausted. " ' Ah,' thought I, ' if I had two shillings and a sixpence instead of half-a-crown, how gladly they should have one shilling and sixpence of it ! ' But still a wretched unbelief practically prevented me from obeying the impulse to relieve their distress at the cost of all I had. " You will not think it strange that I was not able to say very much to comfort these poor people. I needed comfort myself! I began to tell them, however, that they must not be cast down, that though their circumstances were very distressing there was a kind and loving Father in Heaven ; but something said within : ' You hypocrite I You to tell these unconverted people about a kind and loving Father in Heaven with half-a-crown in your pocket, and you are not prepared to trust Him without half-a- crown ! ' " I was nearly choked. How gladly I would have com- promised with conscience if I had had a florin and a sixpence ! I would willingly have given the florin and kept the sixpence, but I was not yet prepared to trust God without the sixpence. " To talk was impossible under these circumstances ; yet, strange to say, I thought I should have no difficulty in praying ! Praying was a delightful exercise to me in those days. I seemed to think that all I should have to do would be to kneel down and engage in prayer, and that relief would come to them and to myself ' You asked me to come and pray with your wife,' I said to the man ; ' Let us pray.' And I knelt down. But I had scarcely opened my lips with ' Our Father, who art in Heaven,' when conscience said within : ' Dare you mock God ? Dare you kneel down and call Him Father, with that half-crown in your pocket ? ' " I went through such a time of conflict as I have never known before or since. How I got through the form of prayer I know not, and whether the words uttered were THE SCHOOL OF FAITH 5 connected or disconnected I cannot say, but I rose from my knees in great distress of mind. " The poor father turned to me and said : ' You see what a terrible state we are in, sir ; if you can help us, for God's sake, do ! ' Just then the Word flashed into my mind : ' Give to him that asketh of thee ' ; and in the word of a king there is power. I put my hand into my pocket, and slowly drawing forth the half-crown, put it into the man's palm, saying that it might seem a small thing to him for me to relieve him, seeing I was well-clad, but that in giving him that coin I was giving him all I had. What I had been trying to tell him was all true — God really WAS a Father, and might be trusted. " The joy all came back in full flood-tide to my heart, and I could say anything to Him and feel it then, and the hindrance to blessing was gone — gone, I trust, for ever. "Not only was the poor woman's life saved, but I felt that I was saved, for my life might have been a wreck — would have been a wreck, probably, as a Christian life — had not grace at that time conquered, and the striving of God's Spirit been obeyed. I well remember how that night as I went home to my lodgings my heart was as light as my pocket. The lonely deserted streets resounded with a hymn of praise which I could not restrain. When 1 took my basin of water gruel before retiring, I would not have exchanged it for a prince's feast. I reminded the Lord as I knelt by my little bedside of His own Word that he who giveth to the poor lendeth to the Lord ; and I asked Him not to let my loan be a long one, or I should have no dinner next day. And with peace within and peace without I spent a happy, restful night. " Next morning for breakfast my plate of porridge re- mained, and before it was consumed the postman's knock was heard at the door. I was not in the habit of receiving letters on Monday. Most of my friends, as well as my parents, abstained from posting letters on Saturday night, so that I was somewhat surprised when my landlady came in. 6 HAVE FAITH IN GOD holding a letter or packet in her wet hand, covered by her apron. " I looked at it, but could not make out the handwriting. It was either a strange hand or a feigned hand, and the post-mark was blurred. Where it came from I could not tell. On opening the envelope I found nothing written within; but inside a sheet of blank paper was folded a pair of kid gloves, from which, as I opened them in astonishment, half-a-sovereign fell to the ground. ' Praise the Lord ! ' I exclaimed ; ' 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 ! ' I determined, then and there, that a bank which would not break should have my savings or earnings, as the case might be, a determination I have not yet learnt to regret. " I cannot tell you how often my mind has recurred to this little incident, or all the help it has been to me in circumstances of difficulty in after-life. If we are faithful to God in little things, we shall gain experience and strength that will be helpful to us in the more serious trials of life." Further experiences of a similar nature followed, each contributing to that knowledge of, and faith in, God so necessary for subsequent responsibilities. At length, after some years of medical study, Mr. Hudson Taylor sailed for China in 1853 in connection with the Chinese Evangelization Society, and after a voyage which lasted from September 19, 1853, to March 1, 1854, reached Shanghai. Trying as the voyage had been, the conditions on landing were worse. The native city of Shanghai was in the hands of rebels, the Taiping Kebellion being at its worst, with an army of Imperial soldiers besieging them. Residence outside the European Settlement was quite impossible, yet rents within were prohibitive. The dollar, now less than 2s., had then risen to 8s. 9d., and the prospects for one with a small English income looked THE SCHOOL OF FAITH 7 dark indeed. Mr. Taylor had been furnished with three letters of introduction to friends at Shanghai, hut the first friend had died during his voyage to China, and the second had left for America. The remaining letter, though given by a comparative stranger, proved, however, to be God's channel of help, and the Eev. Dr. Medhurst of the London Missionary Society, to whom it was addressed, introduced him to Dr. Lockhart of the same Society, who kindly allowed him to reside with him for six months. Later on he removed to a native house outside the settlement and commenced missionary work among his Chinese neighbours, but the unsettled state of the country made it necessary for him ere long to abandon this project and return again to the settlement. The embarrassments, difficulties, and dangers of those early times to one of a sensitive nature can hardly be exaggerated. In addition to all the miseries connected with war, the perplexity of being only able to rent a home at £120 a year with an income of not more than £80 was no small matter. By sub-letting half the house, how- ever, the difficulties were surmounted, but few can realise how distressing such a situation must have been to a young, untried, and lonely pioneer. " The great enemy is always ready with his oft-repeated suggestion. All these things are against me," wrote Mr. Taylor. " But oh, how false the world ! The cold, and even the hunger, the watchings and sleeplessness of nights of danger, and the feeling at times of utter isolation and helplessness, were well and wisely chosen, and tenderly and lovingly meted out. What circumstances could have rendered the Word of God more sweet, the presence of God more real, the help of God more precious ? They were times, indeed, of emptying and humbling, but were experiences that made not ashamed, and that strengthened purpose to go forward as God might direct, with His proved promise, ' I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee'. One can see, even now, that ' as for God, His way is 8 HAVE FAITH IN GOD perfect,' and yet can rejoice that the missionary path of to-day is comparatively a smooth and an easy one." Several years of missionary work followed, at times in company with Mr. Burdon (subsequently Bishop), and the Kev. William Burns, and also with Dr. Parker and Mr. Jones of the Chinese Evangelization Society. During these years, when many painful experiences were passed through, Mr. Taylor learned more fully what it was to be brought face to face with death, to be brought to the end of all human resources, and then to prove God as the God of deliverances. The daily perils and removal of all earthly support only led him to prove the more fully the unfailing faithfulness of God, while his contact with the people burned the overwhelming needs of China's unevangelized millions into his very soul. During the year 1857, some three years after his arrival in China, he was led to resign his connection with the Chinese Evangelization Society in consequence of that Society being in debt and not able to pay his salary apart from borrowed money. Such a step was not a little trying to faith, but in all the financial trials which followed, and in trials greater and more searching than these, the faith- fulness of God was constantly proved. Events in China were at that time heading up to the Second Opium War, and in that year Canton had been bombarded and taken by the British, and its Viceroy Yeh sent to Canton as prisoner. The pressing needs and claims of China, and the en- couragement received through the continued experience of God's faithfulness, led Mr. Taylor, some two or three years later, on January 16, 1860, to write to friends at home expressing his earnest longing for more help, and definitely asking for four or five helpers for Ningpo and the Province of Chekiang. There was, however, no immediate response, and Mr. Hudson Taylor's health subse- quently failing, he was obliged to return to England, leaving behind a little church of thirty or forty Chinese Christians. THE SCHOOL OF FAITH 9 During his stay in England the five workers prayed for were given and sailed for China, but larger and more far-reaching undertakings were thrust upon him. Faith had been schooled through many trying personal experiences and small beginnings, and now a larger challenge to his faith confronted him. THE CHALLENGE TO EAITH The challenge to faith came through the burden of China's need together with a consideration of that " solemn and most momentous truth that our every act in this present life — and our every omission too — has a direct and important bearing both on our future welfare and on that of others." How heavily the burden of China's spiritual state lay upon Mr. Taylor's heart is evident on every page of the little book China's Spiritual Needs and Claims which he published during his stay in England. This was no text-book for the mere interest of the reader, but the very heart-throbs of a burdened soul. Six or seven times at least within the limits of about one hundred pages the solemn words of Proverbs xxiv. 11-12 are quoted — " If thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death, and those that are ready to be slain ; if thou sayest, Behold, we knew it not; doth not He that pondereth the heart consider it ? and He that keepeth thy soul, doth not He know it ? and shall not He render to every man according to his works ? " Logically, and with forceful details, the spiritual needs and claims of China are set forth, and were it not that the book is so much out-of-date and so autobiographical in its style as to defy revision by another hand, it would be difficult, if not impossible, to find a better plea for China to-day. " Were all the subjects of the court of Pekin marshalled in single rank and file, allowing one yard between man and man, they would encircle the globe more than ten times at its equator. "Were they to march past the spectator at the 10 THE CHALLENGE TO FAITH 11 rate of thirty miles a day, they would move on and on, day after day, week after week, month after month, and more than twenty-three years and a half would elapse before the last individual had passed by. Estimating the number of converts of all the Protestant missions in China at 3000, the whole of them would pass by in less than an hour and a half of that twenty-three and a half years. Mournful and impressive fact — such is the proportion of those who are journeying Heavenward to those whose downward course can but lead to everlasting woe ! Four hundred million souls, 'having no hope, and without God in the world.' Four hundred millions — an army whose forces, if placed singly, rather more than 400 yards apart and within call of each other, would extend from the earth to the sun ! Who, standing hand in hand, might extend over a greater distance than from this globe to the moon ! The number is inconceivable, the view is appalling. "Among so vast a population the number of deaths continually occurring is necessarily very great. It is stated that the daily mortality of China is 33,000 ! Think of it — a mortality daily out-numbering the whole population of Chester ; weekly exceeding the whole number of the inhabitants of Leeds, exceeding by nearly one-half the inhabitants of Bristol, and more than twice out-numbering the population of Newcastle.^ Think of it — a mortality which in less than three months exceeds the whole population of huge, over-grown London ; which in a year and a half exceeds the total number of the inhabitants of our highly favoured England. The thought is overwhelm- ing. And can the Christians of England sit still with folded arms while these multitudes are perishing — for lack of that knowledge which England possesses so richly, and which has made us what we are ? " After this portrayal of China's millions, the efforts which have been made to introduce Christianity into China are briefly reviewed and the situation as it then existed ^ The populations of these cities have increased since these words were first penned forty-five years ago. 12 HAVE FAITH IN GOD summed up. For upwards of twenty years China, though not fully open to the Gospel, had been more open than the Christian Church was willing to occupy, and at that date there were only ninety-one missionaries in all, labouring in the six coast provinces and Hupeh. The average population of these provinces was twenty-nine millions each, and the average number of missionaries to each province was only thirteen. Yet, deplorable as was this situation in the seven more favoured provinces, the prospect of the other eleven provinces and the dependencies of China was even more distressing. In these eleven provinces, averaging nearly eighteen millions of population to each, and containing nearly two hundred million souls in all, there was not a single resident Protestant missionary. " Dear reader," wrote Mr. Taylor with his burdened heart, "think of the 185 millions beyond the reach of the Gospel in the seven provinces where missionaries have commenced to labour; think of the 197|- millions in those provinces of China Proper, where NO Protestant missionary is labouring ; think of the many millions who inhabit the vast regions of Manchuria, Mongolia, Hi, Tsing- hai, and Thibet, which exceed in extent the whole of Europe, and say, how shall God's name be hallowed by them, His kingdom come among them, and His will be done by them 1 " His name, His attributes, they have never heard. His kingdom is not proclaimed among them. His will is not made known to them. Do you believe that each unit of these millions has an immortal soul ? and that ' there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby they must be saved ' than that of Jesus ? Do you believe that He alone is ' the Door of the sheep ' ; is the Way, the Truth, and the Life ' ? that ' no man cometh unto the Father but by Him ' ? If so, think of the state of these unsaved ones ; and solemnly examine yourself in the sight of God, to see whether you are doing your utmost to make THE CHALLENGE TO FAITH 13 Him known to them. It will not do to say that you have no special call to go to China. With these facts before you, and with the command of the Lord Jesus to go and preach the Gospel to every creature, you need rather to ascertain whether you have a special call to stay at home. If in the sight of God you feel that you have no special call to stay at home, why are you disobeying the Saviour's plain command to go ? why are you refusing to come ' to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty ' ? If, however, you can conscientiously say that duty — not inclination, not pleasure, not business — detains you here, are you labouring in prayer for these helpless ones as you might do ? Is your influence used as far as it legitimately might be to advance the cause of God among them ? Are your means as largely employed as they might be to help forward their salvation ? In short, are you seeking ^rs^, for.yourself and for them, the kingdom of God and His righteousness, leaving to Him to add other blessings ? If you are, in the name of the crucified One, we bid you God-speed ; if not, let us again entreat you to ponder the words of the unchanging God — ' If thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death, and those that are ready to be slain ; if thou sayest, Behold, we knew it not ; doth not He that pondereth the heart consider it ? and He that keepeth thy soul, doth not He know it ? and shall not He render to every man according to his works ? '" Then step by step and point by point the feasibility of more extensive evangelisation was detailed, in which the arguments at last were summed up and pressed home as follows : — " Surely the claims of an empire like this should be not only admitted, but realised ? Shall not the eternal interests of one-third of our race stir the deepest sympathies of our nature, the most strenuous effort of our blood-bought powers ? Shall not the low wail of helpless, hopeless misery, arising from half the heathen world, pierce our sluggish ear, and rouse us — body, soul, and spirit — to one mighty, continued, unconquerable effort for China's weal ; 14 HAVE FAITH IN GOD that, strong in God's strength, and in the power of His might, we may snatch the prey from the hand of the mighty, may pluck these brands from the everlasting burnings, "and rescue these captives from the thraldom of sin and Satan, to grace the triumphs of our sovereign King, and to shine for ever as stars in His diadem ? " Beloved brothers and sisters, we cannot but believe that the contemplation of the solemn facts we have laid before you has awakened in each one the heartfelt prayer, — Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do, that Thy name may be hallowed, Thy kingdom come, and Thy will be done in China ? It is the prayerful consideration of these facts, and the deepening realization of China's awful destitution of all that can make man truly happy, that constrain the writer, by every means in his power, to lay its claims as a heavy burden upon the hearts of those who have already experienced the power of the blood of Christ ; and to seek from the Lord the men and means to carry the Gospel into every province of this benighted land. We have to do with Him who is the Lord of all power and might, whose arm is not shortened that it cannot save, whose ear is not heavy that it cannot hear ; with Him whose unchanging Word directs us to ask and receive that our joy may be full, to open our mouths wide that He may fill them. And we do well to remember that this gracious God, who has con- descended to place His almighty power at the command of believing prayer, looks not lightly upon the blood-guiltiness of those who neglect to avail themselves of it for the benefit of the perishing ; for He it is who has said, ' If thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death, and those that are ready to be slain ; if thou sayest. Behold, we knew it not ; doth not He that pondereth the heart consider it ? and He that keepeth thy soul, doth not He know it ? and shall not He render to every man according to his works ? ' " But this need so great and overwhelming, constituting as it did a loud call to the Church at home, was only one part of the problem. The challenge to faith came in the contemplation of this need when, humanly speaking, it was THE CHALLENGE TO EAITH 15 impossible to meet it. Was not China practically a closed land and all possibility of missionary operations limited to the few ports opened by the Opium War ? And further, did not the real responsibility rest upon the Missionary Societies, which officially represented the Churches of our land ? What could a poor and unknown young man accomplish with no wealthy friends or organization behind him ? Yet, like the man with the withered arm which by no human power could be stretched forth, the command of Christ implied power to perform. The deep conviction that something must be done in- creased daily, while, on the other hand, the fear of and shrinking from personal responsibilities in so great an enterprise oppressed him. The spiritual crisis to which he was brought at this time exercised the deepest emotion of his soul. That the work needed to be done was too awfully apparent, and yet all the leading Missionary Societies upon which he had called found themselves unable either from financial or political considerations to do more than they were doing. But under the pressure of the need and the call and promises of God the reasons for delay were not conclusive. Long and deep ponderings upon the situation which deeply exercised his soul led to the following reflec- tion. " If you see these matters more clearly than others, why not go forward yourself and trust God to accomplish His purposes through you ? What is to hinder ? Five workers have been already given for Ningpo, why not a larger number to meet the greater need ? " From such an undertaking Mr. Taylor shrank to the point of agony, but necessity was laid upon him and to such a pitch did the struggle of soul and mind ]ead that health began to fail. The remainder of this critical ex- perience may be fittingly condensed from that told by Mrs. Howard Taylor in The Story of the China Inland Mission : — It was early spring-tide in the year 1865 when this controversy began and all through the lovely months of April, May, and June the conflict became more intense. " I saw," Mr. Taylor tells us, " that in answer to prayer 16 HAVE FAITH IN GOD the workers needed would certainly be given, and their support secured because asked for in the precious name of Jesus, which is worthy ; but there a trembling unbelief crept in. ' ' Suppose that workers are given,' I asked myself doubt- fully, ' and that they succeed even in reaching Inland China ; what then ? Trials will surely come ; such con- flicts, perhaps, as they have never dreamed of at home. Their faith may fail, and they may even be tempted to reproach one for having brought them into such a plight. Have I strength and ability to cope with such difficulties as these ? ' " And the answer, of course, was always ' No ! ' It was just a bringing in of self through unbelief, the devil getting one to feel that while prayer and faith might lead one into the dilemma one would be left to get out of it as best one might. And I failed entirely to see that the Power that would give the labourers would be sufficient also to sustain them, under any circumstances, no matter how trying." " Week after week the conflict went on, until at last the pressure upon mind and soul became so intense that sleep forsook him, and it seemed as if reason itself must fail. Eest was impossible day or night." " How inconsistent unbelief always is," Mr. Taylor continues. " I had no doubt that if I prayed for fellow- workers they would be given me. I had no doubt that in answer to prayer the means for going forth would also be supplied, and that doors would be opened before us in un- reached parts of the Empire. But I had not then learned to trust God fully for keeping power and grace for myself, so it was not much to be wondered at that I found a difficulty in trusting Him to keep any others who might be led to go out with me." " Summer succeeded spring, and by this time the burden upon his mind began seriously to affect Mr. Taylor's health. Mr. George Pearse, seeing how worn and weary Mr. Taylor was looking, pressed him to come down to Brighton and THE CHALLENGE TO FAITH 17 take a rest by the sea. This kind invitation was gladly accepted, though it seemed more than doubtful whether the change of scene would bring any relief of heart. "Sunday morning came, June 25, and to the music of bells, borne far and wide upon the peaceful air, hundreds of happy churchgoers thronged the quiet streets. But there was one burdened soul that could not join the multitudes on their way to the house of God. The all-absorbing realization in Mr, Taylor's mind, that seemed to darken with its shadow every thought of brighter things, was still that of the need of the vast land to which his life was given. " In distress of mind that seemed to have reached its climax, he left the quiet house and went down the hill to the forsaken beach. It was a lovely summer morning ; the tide was out ; and far away upon the silent sands he met the crisis of his life, alone with God. " At first there was no light, and the conflict was intense. The only ray of comfort he could obtain was from the strange reflection : ' Well, if God, in answer to prayer, does give a band of men for Inland China, and they go and reach those distant regions, and if the worst should come to the worst, and they all die of starvation even, they will all go straight to Heaven; and if only one heathen soul is saved it would be well worth while ! ' But the thought was agony ; for still he could not see that God, if He gave the labourers, would be sure to keep them even in Inland China. " All at once, however, came the further thought : ' Why burdened thus ? If you are simply obeying God, all the responsibility must rest with Him, and not with you.' " What an unspeakable relief ! " ' Very well,' was the immediate, glad reply ; ' Thou, Lord, shalt be responsible for them, and for me too ! ' And the burden from that moment was all gone. " Then and there Mr. Hudson Taylor surrendered himself to God for this service, and lifted up his heart in prayer for fellow-lahourers — two for each of the inland provinces, and c 18 HAVE FAITH IN GOD two for Mongolia. His Bible was in bis band ; and there upon tbe margin of the precious volume he at once recorded the momentous transaction that had taken place between his soul and God. Few and simple are the words he uses ; but oh, how full of meaning ! " ' Prayed for twenty-four willing, skilful labourers, at Brighton, June 25th, 1865.' " ' How restfully I turned away from the shore,' he adds, * when this was done. The conflict was all ended. Peace and gladness filled my soul. I felt almost like flying up that steep hill by the station to Mr. Pearse's house. And how I did sleep that night ! My dear wife thought that Brighton had done wonders for me ; and so it had.' " THE RESPONSE OF FAITH The preceding chapter has told how the Challenge to Faith had been met, and how God's servant had yielded himself for the doing of His will. What was the response ? The crisis at Brighton took place on June 25, 1865, and ere twelve months had passed a party of 22 persons, 16 missionaries, 4 children, a nurse, and Miss Bausum (after- wards Mrs. Barchet), set sail for China, Mr. and Mrs. Hudson Taylor being included in the party. These friends sailed in the Lammermuir on May 26, 1866, while Mr. Berger generously undertook to care for the work at home. It is not easy to-day to realize what that response of faith meant. There was no Church or Organization at home to guarantee the supply of needed funds, and there were no wealthy friends in China to welcome the party on arrival, nothing but a land practically closed to the Gospel. But in praying for the twenty -four new workers, faith had reckoned on a God who had already been proved as faithful to His promises through not a few years of trying experience. Referring to this, Mr. Taylor has written : — " Feeling, on the one hand, the solemn responsibilities that rest upon us, and, on the other, the gracious encourage- ments which meet us everywhere in the Word of God, we do not hesitate to ask the great Lord of the harvest to call forth, to thrust forth, twenty-four European and twenty-four native evangelists, to plant the standard of the Cross in the eleven unevangelized provinces of China Proper and in Chinese Tartary. To those who have never been called to prove the faithfulness of the covenant-keeping God, in supplying, in answer to prayer alone, the pecuniary need of 19 20 HAVE FAITH IN GOD His servants, it might seem a hazardous experiment to send twenty-four evangelists to a distant heathen land, with 'ONLY God to look to.' But in one whose privilege it has been for many years past to put that God to the test, in various circumstances — at home and abroad, by land and by sea, in sickness and in health, in necessities, in dangers, and at the gates of death — such apprehensions would be wholly inexcusable. The writer has seen God, in answer to prayer, quell the raging of the storm, alter the direction of the wind, and give rain in the midst of prolonged drought. He has seen Him, in answer to prayer, stay the angry passions and murderous intentions of violent men, and bring the machinations of His people's foes to nought. He has seen Him, in answer to prayer, raise the dying from the bed of death, when human aid was vain ; has seen Him preserve from the pestilence that walketh in darkness, and from the destruction that wasteth at noonday. For more than eight years and a half he has proved the faithfulness of God in supplying the pecuniary means for his own temporal wants, and for the need of the work he has been engaged in. And recently, he has seen God, in answer to prayer, raising up labourers for a part of this vast Mission-field ; supplying the means requisite for their outfit, passage, and support ; and vouchsafing blessing on the efforts of the first of them, who for some time has been labouring in Ningpo, both among the native Christians and the heathen Chinese." And as to the land being closed, it was believed that the same God who supplied the men would also supply the open doors. " The question, however, might be raised as to whether the interior of China, though evidently needing the Gospel, and nominally open to us by treaty -right, will, in point of fact, prove accessible. We would answer this question by another : When the Lord Jesus gives a definite command, is it our place to ask whether it can be obeyed or not ? The terms of His command are explicit — all ' in the world ' and 'to every creature,' He would have the Gospel preached ; and He answers every objection and meets every difficulty THE EESPONSE OF FAITH 21 in the very outset, by assuring us that all power is given unto Him in heaven and in earth, and that He who is true, and therefore can neither fail nor forget, who hath the key of David, to open or to shut as pleaseth Him, is with us always, even unto the end of the world. The dangers and difficulties in the way will be neither few nor small ; but with Jesus for our leader we may safely follow on. These dangers, and difficulties, and trials, while leading to a greater realization of our own weakness, and poverty, and need, will also constrain us to lean more constantly, to draw more largely, and to rest more implicitly on the strength, the riches, the fulness of Jesus." The step then taken has never been regretted, and He who called His servant has proved that " the gifts and calling of God are without repentance." As years passed by, faith was justified by opened doors and enlarged opportunities, and while never a year has passed without additions to the work, there have been times when special steps have been taken in this work of faith. In November 1881, five years after the Chefoo Convention had opened the interior of China in large measure to the Gospel, the special needs of the work led to definite prayer that God would give seventy new workers during the three years — 18 82-83-84. It was not that funds were abundant, for the Mission had been passing through a time of severe trial in this respect, but the pressing needs of a growing work demanded more helpers if it was to be efficiently carried on. " As to their support, the God who had found no difficulty in sustaining in the wilderness the millions of Israel, was not likely to feel burdened with the care of a few extra workers for Inland China. His arm had not waxed short. There was no fear that we should all have to become vegetarians ! The cattle on a thousand hills and all the fowls of the air are His. And were the currency of the whole world to fail or be insufficient. He has abundance of unmined stores of silver and gold. We can affi)rd to be poor with so rich a Father. So we agreed to pray." 22 HAVE FAITH IN GOD This prayer was answered, and actually 76 new workers were sent out during the three years named. Five years later God had so justified the steps of faith already taken, and so increased the opportunities and multiplied the open doors, that yet greater things were asked from Him. At the first gathering of the China Council in 1886, which assembled in the city of Anking, the needs of 100 stations and out-stations, together with the claims of a rapidly opening China, led the Mission to definitely pray for 100 new workers during the coming year of 1887. That a Mission which had no guaranteed income, and which had already nearly doubled its staff during the last five years, should make so bold a request from God seemed to some presumptuous, if not even foolish, but the response of faith was again justified, and the 100 workers sent forth and their needs graciously supplied. It is now twenty-two years since then, and the Mission has passed through many days of testing, and even of severe persecution, as in 1900, when altogether 58 of its workers, with 2 1 missionaries' children, were martyred. Nevertheless, humbly and sometimes even fearfully, the response of faith has continued until the little one has literally nearly become a thousand, for on January 1, 1909, the foreigner workers in connection with the Mission were 928, assisted by no fewer than 1157 paid Chinese helpers. These workers are scattered far and wide at more than 200 central stations throughout the Empire, the majority far removed from all human protection and practically all without any human guarantee of financial assistance. Were God for one moment to be left out of consideration, the situation would be the most reckless and unjustifiable, yet never in all the history of this work has God's faithfulness failed or His Word been found to be otherwise than trust- worthy. Some few details of God's goodness in providing for the needs of this Mission are given in the following chapter. 'Is ft I s s a: cs 5 5 .S = P := cs jj ?"- 2 to GOD'S ANSWER TO FAITH To fully tell how God has borne witness to the faith of His servants would be impossible. The workers themselves, now more than 900 in number, are all God's answer to believing prayer, for men and women are not accustomed to offer themselves for isolated and lonely posts of service in an inland Mission station with no guarantee of salary unless prompted to it by God Himself Further, the open doors are also part of God's answer to the faith of His servants, for these were all closed when the work began. That story has, however, been told before in previous publications, and this chapter is devoted more especially to the story of how God has answered the prayers of His people by supplying the needed funds, and that without personal solicitation. Right from the commencement the Mottoes of the Mission have been " Ebenezer " and " Jehovah-Jireh," which, together with " Jehovah-Nissi," appear on the first copy of the Occasional Papers which was published in 1866, some time before the sailing of the Lammermuir party. Tlie personal experiences of the earlier years had already afforded sufficient cause for the raising of an " Ebenezer," for " Hither- to the Lord had helped," and justified the belief in " Jehovah- Jireh," who would provide for the future. Upon Him to whom these names belong the Mission placed its trust, and in Him is the Mission's confidence to-day. The accompanying illustration gives the first page of the first Mission Account Book, and in fact goes back to days prior to the Mission's history proper. That was the day of small things, but the small things were supplied, and to-day, 23 24 HAVE FAITH IN GOD when the needs are greater, these are in like manner met. The regularity of God's gifts month by month, and year by year, slowly increasing with the increasing needs of the work, never failing, though at times faith might be tested, is so far beyond the possibilities of fortuitous coincidence and so contrary to the experiences of the world, since all has been received without solicitation, as to constitute a remarkable proof of the trustworthiness of God's promises. To tell the story of each year would weary the reader with the repetition of details, so that it is only possible to select some outstanding cases, both general and personal, as characteristic of a thousand instances of similar mercies. The principles of the Mission in this particular were constituted by Mr. Taylor as follows : — " Considering the great needs of China, and that the Master laid the command to go into all the world upon every believer, would it not be possible, in a simple evange- listic work, for members of various denominations to labour harmoniously side by side, without interference with points of conscience ? We concluded to invite the co-operation of fellow-believers, irrespective of denomination, who fully be- lieved in the inspiration of God's Word, and were willing to prove their faith by going into Inland China with only the guarantees they carried within the covers of their pocket Bibles. " God had said, ' Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things (food and raiment) shall be added to you.' If any one did not believe that God spoke the truth, it would be better for him not to go to China to propagate the faith. If he did believe it, surely the promise sufficed. Again, ' No good thing will He with- hold from them that walk uprightly.' If any one did not mean to walk uprightly, he had better stay at home ; if he did mean to walk uprightly, he had all he needed in the shape of a guarantee fund. " We might, indeed, have had a guarantee fund, if we had wished it ; but we felt it was unneeded and would do GOD'S ANSWER TO FAITH 25 harm. Money wrongly placed, and money given from wrong motives, are both to be greatly dreaded. We can afford to have as little as the Lord chooses to give ; but we cannot afford to have unconsecrated money, or to have money placed in the wrong position. Far better to have no money at all, even to buy food with, for there are ravens in China, and the Lord could send them again with bread and flesh. The Lord is always faithful ; He tries the faith of His people, or rather their faithlessness. People say, ' Lord, increase our faith.' Did not the Lord rebuke His disciples for that prayer ? He said, ' You do not want a great faith, but faith in a great God. If your faith were as small as a grain of mustard-seed, it would suffice to remove this mountain ! ' We need a faith that rests on a great God, and which expects Him to keep His own Word." How God supplied the needs of the Lammermuir party may be briefly detailed. It was estimated that from £1500 to £2000 would be needed to cover the outfits, passage money, and initial expenses of this band of workers, and in Occasional Papers, No. 1, this anticipated need was stated. Upon the same day that the manuscript of this paper was sent to the printers, February 6, 1866, a daily prayer meeting for the needed funds was commenced. In consequence of unexpected delays, partly occasioned by the engraving of the cover design, it was exactly one month and six days before the first printed copies were ready and put into Mr. Taylor's hand on March 12. It was then found that all the necessary funds had been received, £1974 : 5 : 11 having been given during these five weeks of prayer, or £1803 : 17 : 8 more than had been received during the five weeks prior to the commencement of this daily prayer meeting. The money, therefore, being in hand before the statement of need had been circulated, it became necessary to issue a coloured inset with each copy of the paper stating that the funds had already been supplied. Nor was this all, for shortly afterwards Mr. Hudson Taylor, when staying with a gentleman who had acted as 26 HAVE FAITH IN GOD Chairman at a meeting at which he had been speaking, received at the breakfast table a cheque for £500 from his host, and a letter at the same time from the shipping agents offering the whole of the Lammermuir party accommoda- tion. Although all the needed funds had been received, this simultaneous offer of the ship's accommodation and his host's munificent gift — God's exceeding abundantly — came as a great encouragement and confirmation, and the cheque was paid into the shipping agents on account to settle the engagement. Not only was the immediate expenditure connected with the departure of the Lammermuir party provided, but the Mission was enabled to commence its work in China with a balance in hand of £2000. As has been mentioned in a previous chapter, more than seventy new workers were received in China in answer to prayer during the years 1882-83-84. During the first year only nine of the seventy sailed for China, and the year was one of much testing of faith in regard to funds, only £96:9:5 being received in China upon one occasion in October when a sum of no less than £800 was expected. But though faith was thus severely tested at the beginning of this period, prayer was answered and God's promises fulfilled. It was at this time that some change was made in the date for balancing the Home Accounts, so that it is not easy to show the actual advance made, but the following figures will sufficiently indicate the way God answered prayer. Eeferring here only to the moneys received in Great Britain, they are as follows : — May 26, 1881, to May 25, 1882— £9436 : 0 : 9. May 26, 1882, to May 25, 1883— £13,233 : 13 : 3. May 26, 1883, to December 31, 1884 (19 months) —£26,179:8:2. Among the gifts received by the Mission during these years there was one of special value both from the spirit in which it was given and because of its great assistance to GOD'S ANSWER TO FAITH 27 the work. It was from an anonymous donor to be acknowledged as follows : — Psalm ii. 8 " Ask of Me, and I will give thee the heathen for Thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for Thy possession." Father . . . £1000 Mother . . .1000 Mary ... 200 Rosie . . . 200 Bertie . . . £200 Amy . . . 200 Henry . . .200 £3000 We now pass to the supply of funds in connection with sending out of the one hundred new workers during the year 1887. The prayer for one hundred new workers in one year was a large request and entailed much labour, but it was not an arbitrary petition, but sprang from a pro- found conviction that this was the will of God and only arrived at after several days of fasting and prayer. So confident was Mr. Hudson Taylor that God would answer this petition, that during the early part of the year when only thirty-one of the one hundred had sailed, he used the following words at a public meeting in London : — " We have the sure word, ' Whatsoever ye shall ask in My name that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.' Resting on this promise, it would not have added to our confidence one whit if, when we began to pray in November, my dear brother-in-law, Mr. Broomhall, had sent out the printed list of one hundred accepted candidates. We have begun aright — with God — and we are quite sure that we shall end aright." This assurance was fully justified both by the promises of God and by the fulfilment. But such a rapid increase naturally involved heavy expenses. The passages, outfit, and ordinary support were estimated at about £10,000 beyond what had been previously the normal income. Yet without any appeal to man God raised the income of 1886, which was £22,000, to £33,717 : 11 : 3 during 1887. No man was asked for a penny, but the Lord was asked and He 28 HAVE FAITH IN GOD inclined the hearts of His people to give. Eleven contribu- tions, the smallest of which v^as £500 and the largest £2500, supplied £10,000 of this sum, thus, of course, preventing the Headquarters in London from being over- whelmed with correspondence in regard to financial matters at a time when correspondence in regard to candidates was exceedingly heavy. " Each donation," as Mr. Taylor wrote, " was the issue of a distinct spiritual impulse, the work of the Holy Spirit in the heart of some unknown child of God who had been led to send the few pence or the many pounds that he had it in his heart and in his power to give." The preceding references to the special occasions of the sailing of the Lammermuir party, the outgoing of the seventy and the hundred, need not here be enlarged upon. A study of the tables of income given on pages 75-77 will show how year by year the normal needs of the work have been provided for. Amongst some of the larger needs which have arisen have been those connected with the buildings, such as the Headquarters in Shanghai and London, and the Chefoo Schools. Yet the funds necessary for these have been specially contributed, so that the General Funds of the Mission have not been called upon. In all of these buildings could be placed a similar inscription to that which can be seen at Shanghai, and which reads as follows : — " These premises have been erected to the glory of God and the furtherance of His Kingdom in China with funds specially contributed for the purpose." In the extension just added to the Girls' School at Chefoo a brass plate has been placed — " To commemorate the goodness of God in giving this enlarged accommodation in answer to prayer." Thus, in the very bricks and mortar of the Mission buildings, may be seen the monuments of God's goodness. Reference may also be made to the way in which the hand of God has been seen in providing for the passages of new and old workers. How many tens of thousands GOD'S ANSWER TO FAITH 29 of pounds have been spent in the necessary travelling expenses it would take some time to ascertain, and yet there never has been any worker accepted who has been kept back through lack of funds. Among the many instances in which the hand of God has been seen in this matter only one or two can be quoted. The first of these refers, in Mr. Taylor's words, to a band of workers who sailed for China as far back as 1878, and the second refers to an Australasian party who sailed in 1901. " In the latter part of March we were considering the question whether to send another missionary party this spring, or whether we should wait until the autumn. There were brothers and sisters qualified and ready to go ; and the call for missionary effort is always loud and strong, for a million a month in China are passing away beyond the reach of the Gospel. But we had no funds which could be devoted to the purpose of sending them out ; the current income for general expenses being all urgently needed for the support of work already existing. Thus there were weighty reasons both for and against the sending out of another party, and we gave ourselves specially to prayer to God for His help and guidance. The letters which came in about this time pleaded so strongly the need of further reinforcements, that we felt that if sufficient supplies came in we ought gladly to send another party without delay. "On Thursday, March 28, we had a private conversa- tion with some of the candidates, telling them exactly how matters stood. They were anxious to leave at the earliest possible opportunity, and we advised them to wait on God, asking Him to supply the means for their going out, if such were His will. Large contributions had been recently coming in, but as they were principally for the relief of sufferers from the famine and for other special objects, there was need for much prayer not only for means to extend the work, but also that the missionaries already in the field might be adequately sustained. The brethren therefore made the funds a subject of special prayer. "At the usual prayer meeting on Saturday, March 30, 30 HAVE FAITH IN GOD a friend who is only occasionally present with us, and who knew nothing of what was passing in our minds, in a very marked way prayed that help might be sent for the famine, and that in addition ample funds might be sent for the general purposes of the Mission and for its extension. "We felt greatly encouraged by this prayer ; assured that He who had led His servant thus to ask was about to give the needed help. " The Council was to meet on the following Tuesday (April 2), and then the advisability and possibility of sending another party was to be prayerfully considered. Meanwhile our expectation was not disappointed. On Monday and Tuesday three donations gave us great joy and encouragement. One, a donation of six postage stamps, sent anonymously, ' from a believer,' cheered us not a little ; it seemed to come direct from the Master's hand, and told of the love which led the sender, for His sake, to do ivhat he {or she) could. Another donation was larger ; a gift of £50 from Ireland, sent with loving words and earnest desire that the Lord might continue to give His blessing. On Tuesday morning, among other contributions for various purposes, was a letter which commenced thus : — ' Mrs. and I have felt that as you are receiving so evident an answer to your prayer for a large increase in the number of missionaries offering to go out in connection with the China Inland Mission, we cannot do better than send you some additional pecuniary help this year, and I have therefore much pleasure in enclosing a cheque for £500. I regard the £100 which I have sent lately as in the nature of an annual subscription, and this as a special gift, in conse- quence of special circumstances, on our part, etc. etc' Need we say how much our hearts were gladdened. May the Lord liberally reward all the kind donors. " On Tuesday evening the Council assembled. Just as we were about to seek the Lord in prayer, I was called out of the room to see a gentleman who announced a donation of £100 from Scotland, to be sent in a few days, for the purpose of extending the work and increasing the number GOD'S ANSWER TO FAITH 31 of missionary labourers in China. Thus, before we were able to consider the matter, Ireland, England, and Scotland had sent in their responses to the prayer which had been put up at the Throne of Grace. These donations exceeded £650; our need was met, and after providing for needful remittances to China, sufficient remained to pay the sums allowed towards outfits, together with the money for passages and travelling expenses, and to leave us a little more than £2 in hand. " We have not space here to refer to many other interest- ing donations which we have gratefully received in aid of the general work of the Mission and the special objects connected with it. We may, however, briefly add that on the day of the departure of this missionary party the sum of £1384:13:5 reached us, including one munificent donation of £1000 for the Orphanage and Famine Fund, sent through The Christian, under the heading Ps. Ixxii. Thus, at a time when our hearts were exercised in no small degree, the Lord was pleased in a very marked way to put His seal to the work for which our beloved friends were leaving us." In regard to the second party of seven missionaries who were due to leave Sydney for China on Tuesday, December 17, 1901, the facts are as follows: — The advertised day of sailing arrived, but enough money had not been received to pay the passages. The boat was postponed for two days, and on Wednesday a special meeting of the Council in Melbourne was called for prayer, to once more lay the whole matter before the Lord. Afterwards a sum of money was received sufficient to complete the payment of Jive passages. Thursday dawned, and a telegram had to be sent to Sydney instructing the two young men who were tarrying there to wait for the next steamer. The remaining part of the story is best told in Dr. Kitchen's own words : — " To say that we were puzzled is putting it lightly ; for the first time it seemed as if the promises of God had failed us ! We unitedly bowed before Him asking Him to 32 HAVE FAITH IN GOD show us where the mistake had been, and how we had failed to recognize His will, for all of us had felt most clearly that it was His will for all this party to go, that when we came face to face with the fact that two had been left behind, it seemed to us incomprehensible, for we still felt that we were in the line of His Holy will. We humbled ourselves before God, but we could get no light at all, and the riddle seemed insoluble. " Friday morning, the first post brought us a cheque for £25, and the first thought was, 'Why not yesterday. Lord ? It's too late now,' and it was put on one side ; after break- fast the thought came, would it be possible for them to catch the steamer at Brisbane by going overland from Sydney ? but on looking up the time-table, we found that it could not be done in the time, unless the agents would delay her for us. We communicated with the shipping company, and in the afternoon came the delightful news that the Changsha had not left Sydney till that morning at eight o'clock ! If, then, we could only let the young men know, they might still catch her 1 Earlier in the day a preparatory telegram had been sent to our Sydney Secretary, and we now sent word to Mr. Martin for the young men to go on. We felt sure that the Lord who had thus opened up a new way to China would not fail us now, but we were kept waiting till the next evening, when a wire came, ' Webster and Bird caught train. The Lord Jesus meant John xiv. 14.' Of course He did, and we felt most thankful that we had not once doubted His Word or His wisdom." In like manner the workers in North America have proved time and again that God is a God who hears and answers prayer. The following instances, kindly supplied by the Eev. H. W. Frost and Mr. J. S. Helmer, are selected from among many of a like nature. Some time ago special prayer was offered for new workers in view of pressing needs in China, and not long after three ladies, friends of each other, from the State of Iowa offered for the work. The fact that these offers of service were from this Western State was in itself interesting, for none GOD'S ANSWEE TO FAITH 33 had previously volunteered from this locality. Subsequently these three were joyfully accepted for service in China, but when all the money which could be spared for outfits and passages of other parties had been expended, the treasury was found empty. As is customary in such cases, special prayer was made to God, and ere long a letter was received from an altogether new friend in the West, stating that there were three Colleges which had recently become interested in the Mission, and which desired to undertake the support of three lady workers. The correspondent inquired whether the Mission had three persons whom they could suggest as representatives of these Colleges, and desired an immediate answer. The coincidence was striking, and it became more so when it was recognised that the correspondent and the three Colleges were located in the State of Iowa itself The issue was that the three Colleges decided to pay the expenses of the three candidates to China, and to devote their subsequent gifts to their support. This experience, Mr. Frost relates, gave a new impetus to their service, and made the life of faith more delightful than ever. The only other instance which space will allow is related by Mr. Helmer, In March 1901, a letter was received in Toronto from Shanghai, stating that the funds from the home countries had been unusually small. At this time Mr. Frost was in Chefoo, and he also mentioned in his correspondence the same need. This was felt to be a special call for prayer by the friends in Toronto, and the letters having arrived on Monday evening it was agreed that the friends should meet for special prayer at 5 p.m, on Tuesday. The noon mail on Tuesday brought a letter with a cheque for $1000, of which $300 were designated to the General Funds. This was naturally accepted as a gracious token of what God would do, and when the friends met at 5 P.M. the meeting was one both of praise and intercession. On Tuesday it was determined to meet again the following day at 5 p.m. and ask definitely for at least $3000 for the D 34 HAVE FAITH IN GOD Missionary Account in China. Again, the Wednesday- noon mail brought a draft, this time on New York, for $500, and a friend handed in personally $120 in bank- notes. It need hardly be said that the prayer meeting that afternoon was again one of praise as well as of intercession, recognising that the Lord had fulfilled His promise, " Before they call I will answer." Encouraged by these tokens, it was agreed that they should meet the next day to pray for the remainder of the $3000, and to praise God for the tokens of His favour already received. Again, the Thursday noon mail brought another evidence of God's faithfulness in a cheque for $3200, and Mr. Helmer writes: — "You may be sure our hearts were overflowing with praise for these full answers to our prayers." What could they do but agree to meet again on Friday at 5 p.m. to praise God for His gracious dealings. Friday morning and noon mails brought no more funds, but in the afternoon, before the meeting, another letter was received enclosing a cheque for $571. "Oh that men would praise the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men ! " Of remarkable instances of timely supplies the Mission's history is full, and only one or two recent instances where God has proved Himself to be a God of deliverances can be recorded. In February 1905 the funds received were very low, and though daily prayer was made to God at Head- quarters in London, the month closed without any answer to those prayers being received, and with much reluctance the cheque was made out and forwarded to the Bankers for transmission by cable to Shanghai. Next morning the Lord sent through one of His servants the welcome gift of £2000, and a telephonic message to the Bankers reached them just in time to stop the transmission of the cheque already in their hands which would have brought trial and perplexity to the Administration in Shanghai. It was possible with glad and thankful hearts to change the cheque and send an amount sufficient for the needs. In September of the same year a somewhat similar GOD'S ANSWEE TO FAITH 35 experience took place, and only upon the last day of the month, as may be seen by a reference to the Donation List in the November 1905 issue of Chinas Millions, was a gift of £1000 received which relieved the situation. Day by day during that month earnest prayer had been made that God would give a special gift of £1000, and though the answer was delayed to the last day it came in time. Again, in the early part of the year 1900 the funds had fallen short by some £5000 of the usual income at that time of the year, and prior to the Annual Meetings in Exeter Hall, the members of the Mission who were then in London were assembled in prayer, as is the custom for two or three days before the Annual Meetings, and special prayer was made for funds in view of this special need. The next day, at the Annual Meeting, a dear friend, who had travelled far to be present, handed in a cheque for £5000 signed and dated the day previously, or the very day on which special prayer had been made. The last of such instances to which space will allow reference took place during the early part of 1908, when the income received in Great Britain had fallen short of that received during the corresponding quarter of the previous year by about £6000. This need had been keenly recognised, especially at home, and in view of remittances which had to be made from London to Shanghai, earnest prayer was continually made, when upon the very day that the funds had to be apportioned and the cable sent, a generous donation for £5000 was received. Thus before many on the field even knew of the special need — and the remittances for three months depended upon what was then sent — the funds were graciously supplied. Truly this gift came, as the kind donor wrote, as " another proof that you have abundant cause to go forward trusting Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think." These are only a few outstanding cases in the Mission's financial history, but to those conversant with the inner details the way in which advantageous exchanges have 36 HAVE FAITH IN GOD assisted funds when they have been low, or the way in which God has locally supplied the workers' needs, are pro- foundly remarkable. The following pages will briefly relate personal experiences in regard to provision made on the field itself. Some Personal Testimonies One of the Lammermuir party was George Duncan, who subsequently became the first resident missionary in the great city of Nanking, China's southern metropolis, built on the southern bank of the Yangtze. Under the first emperors of the Ming dynasty it was the capital of the Empire, and the tombs of these monarchs are still to be seen in the vicinity of the walls of the city, which are some twenty-four miles in circumference. In 1853 the city was captured by the Taiping rebels and was not retaken by the Imperialists until 1864, when the city was left almost a heap of ruins. It is now the seat of the Viceroy of the Liang Kiang (Kiangsu, Kiangsi, and Anhwei). This important city was visited by Mr. Duncan as early as September 1868, only about four years after the fall of the city when some seven thousand rebels were massacred within the city walls. Moved with compassion by the sight of the city with its three or four hundred thousand in- habitants without a solitary witness for the Truth, he at once determined to live and labour there if so be that that was possible, and what might have appeared impossible to most was possible to him. The authorities, though professing friendship, yet, as has been so frequently the case, secretly sent orders to every householder and innkeeper not to receive him. Such a situation would have deterred most, but not so this noble-hearted, determined Scotsman. Situated in the heart of many cities in China is what is known as the Drum Tower, used among other things as a watch-tower from which to give the alarm of fire or other dangers. George Duncan succeeded in making terms with the man in charge of this tower, and was allowed to sleep GOD'S ANSWER TO FAITH 37 from sunset to sunrise in one of the upper rooms. Early every morning he had to roll up his bedding and leave. His meals he took at some city restaurant, very much devoid of those comforts associated with the name in this country, and his only resting-places during the day were the public tea-shops. What the hardships of such a lot were must be ex- perienced to be appreciated. No place of privacy, no comfort, but only hardship, suspicion from morning to night. Yet the opportunity was welcomed and the Gospel preached and tracts sold the whole day long. As the people became accustomed to his presence he was enabled to rent part of two rooms roughly partitioned off from the other part of a house, and rough as this accommodation was, it was too good to lose. But all the efforts of Mr. Duncan at Nanking and of Mr. Hudson Taylor at Hangchow, and a mutual friend at Shanghai, failed to discover any means of remitting money, and without this how could he hold on? Yet the poor foothold obtained was too valuable to sacrifice, and Mr. Duncan determined to hold on. Mr. Taylor urged him to come down to the coast for supplies, but he feared that did he do so he might altogether lose his hard-earned advantage. So he determined to stay and trust God. The remainder of this story, so far as it relates to the supply of Mr. Duncan's needs, will best be told in the words of Mr. Hudson Taylor : — " I confess that I was not as happy as he was about this matter and found it more difficult to trust for him than he did for himself. Therefore, when for the last time the money I had sent off was returned to me, I felt sure he must be in want, and having no trustworthy messenger by whom I could send it, began very earnestly to pray for immediate help in this matter. Our little band of missionaries were scattered in opposite directions, but God brought one of them to Hangchow to consult about a matter of extension, and when he heard of Brother Duncan's circumstances, he agreed to postpone his own matters and take the money. 38 HAVE FAITH IN GOD " After a few words of prayer, we sallied out together, found and came to terms with a boatman who wished to go to Nanking, and in a very short time I saw them start with a fair wind on their long journey of ten days or a fortnight. They were remarkably prospered on their way, to the surprise of the boatman, who remarked to his missionary passenger, Mr. Eudland, that his God must be the God of the winds, for whichever way the Grand Canal turned they had a fair wind ! They therefore passed Suchow much sooner than they had expected, made good progress until half-way between that city and Chinkiang, but on reaching the city of Changchow, found to their dismay that the bank of the Canal had given way, that the water had flooded the low lands in the neighbourhood, and that they were unable to proceed. On asking the boatman what was to be done, he said that they might have to wait there a month, till the authorities repaired the banks of the Canal. This evidently would never do. Inquiries in the city elicited that there was a bridle path through the fields, by which four days might be saved in the journey to Nanking. A donkey was hired, the journey was taken, and Nanking was reached several days sooner than it would have been had not the Canal been broken. " But what had been Mr. Duncan's experiences ? He had gone on quietly with his work, his Christian servant economising as much as possible until the last coin was spent. After breakfast one morning the servant told him that there was nothing for dinner, and asked what was to be done. ' Done ? ' said Mr. Duncan. ' We must trust the Lord and do good, so shall we dwell in the land, and verily we shall be fed.' Taking up his handful of tracts and books, he was about going forth to his day's work, when his servant, with many apologies, asked him to accept as a gift from himself five dollars which he had saved from his wages, saying he knew he would not accept them as a loan, with his conscientious objection to being in debt. Mr. Duncan hesitated, and said to him, ' Now, are you not really giving them to me as a loan after all ? If you are saying GOD'S ANSWEK TO FAITH 39 to yourself, "Mr. Duncan's remittances are sure to come to hand some day, and then he will doubtless give it back to me," it really would become a loan, and to take it would be to live upon anticipated income. If I take it from you as a gift, I shall never return it to you whatever comes in ; your reward shall be in heaven, not on earth.' On being assured that the man wished it to be an offering to God, Mr. Duncan accepted it, and they lived on it together. "Few men knew how to make money go farther than Mr. Duncan, and in this he was well seconded by his servant. Nevertheless, this money also came to an end, and again one morning after breakfast the servant repeated his question, ' What is to be done ? ' adding that his own wages were all spent, and that he was now as poor as his master. With the same encouragement to trust in God and go on with his work, Mr. Duncan took his books and went out for the day. In the course of that day, however, Mr. Eudland arrived with the money (to the great delight of the servant), and, learning their position, saw very clearly why the Canal bank had been allowed to break and his arrival had been hastened. As evening drew on the servant began to look down the long street, and when in the distance he recognized his weary master, he ran half-way down the street to meet him, saying, ' It's all right, sir, it's all right ; the dinner is ready. Mr. Eudland has come and brought the money.' Putting his hand on the man's shoulder, Mr. Duncan said, ' Didn't I tell you this morning that it was all right ? It is always right to trust in the Lord and do good ; so shall you dwell in the land, and verily you shall be fed.' " Soon after this Mr. Duncan succeeded in renting a comfortable house, and might perhaps have remained there in peace, had not the occurrence of a fire next door drawn the attention of the authorities to him, who brought so much pressure to bear upon his second landlord that Mr. Duncan judged it wiser to retire to his humbler quarters ; and months elapsed ere the house was finally secured in which he lived and laboured till his return to England." 40 HAVE FAITH IN GOD Among the few members of the Mission who sailed for China before the going forth of the Lamnurrmdr party was Mr. G. Stott. He had had the misfortune to lose one leg in early life, but could not accept this fact either as an excuse or disqualification. In fact when asked by Mr. Taylor whether he did not think it might go hardly with him in a riot, he humorously replied, " It is not beyond the power of God to cause the lame to take the prey." The sphere of Mr. Stott's labours for some years was the prefectural city of Wenchow situated at the Southern extremity of the Chekiang province. This city, according to one of the British Government's Blue , books, has a population of over three hundred thousand persons with some three and a half million souls in the whole district. " There," wrote Mr. Stott, " I commenced single-handed to preach the Gospel — a poor solitary man. I was once over a year — I think about fourteen months — without seeing a European face or hear- ing a word of the English language, and God proved Himself faithful to me all the time." Concerning one special ex- perience the following account is given in Mr. Stott's own language : — " Once I fell very short of funds — in fact, so short that I had not a dollar in the house. I was without a dollar, I think, for twenty or twenty-one days — I forget which — and I had nearly twenty people in the house to feed. Now, how were they to be fed ? I think this will be an illustration of God's faithfulness to a poor weak man. You know, I daresay, that it is also one of our principles never to incur debt. No matter what may come, we never will incur debt. My money was gone and my food also was nearly exhausted. Well, there was a man of whom I had bought rice several times ; and he came to me one day and said, ' Mr. Stott, how is it you have not been to order rice ? Your rice must be out.' I replied, ' Well, the rice is nearly gone, but I cannot order any.' ' Why ? ' said he. ' Well, if you must know the reason, it is simply because I have not got the money to pay for it.' Soon GOD'S ANSWEE TO FAITH 41 after that he sent me two loads of rice and 3000 cash, equal in value to perhaps 10s. or 12s. "Well, this rice also was done, and the money w^as spent ; but still no help came. But when that was gone, he again supplied my need, and my tongue would fail to tell you the joy I had with God during those days. I shall remember, I think, as long as life or reason remains, how I sat sometimes for two hours together upon the floor of my bedroom and lifted up my heart to my God, and sometimes I felt almost stretching out my hands to embrace my dear Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. I had some of the nearest approaches to God during those twenty or twenty-one days that I ever experienced in my life, and God kept me in perfect peace. I think I never doubted that help would come. Well, during the time that I was waiting upon God for that help, I received a letter from our friend Mr. Berger, informing me that a young friend had already started from England, and perhaps by the time that I received the letter would be more than half-way to China, who was to become my wife, I daresay many would think that it was not a very bright prospect to get married on. Well, I found God faithful, for before she arrived I was delivered out of that trouble." Mr. Stott died in 1889 after twenty-three years of arduous service, during which time he and Mrs. Stott laid the foundations of the prosperous work at Wenchow.^ The next testimony is by Dr. A. W. Douthwaite, who gave twenty-five years of service to China as a medical missionary connected with the C.I.M. His period of service in that country commenced in 1874 and terminated by his death in 1899, he having, among other honours, received the Chinese Imperial Order of the Double Dragon for help given to the Chinese wounded soldiers during the Chino-Japanese war. Speaking one day in 1885 at the C.I.M. Annual Meeting, See Twenty-Six Years in China, by Mrs. Stott (Hodder and Stoughton). 42 HAVE FAITH IN GOD he gave the following testimony, which was, he said, one out of many instances of a similar nature : — " When I was in the city of Wenchow, with two other families of our missionaries belonging to the C.I.M., we were a long time without a supply of funds. We had run very short of money, and as it drew towards Christmas-time, we began to expect some from England, which was our usual source of supply. All the money was used up, but we said, 'The steamer will be in at Christmas, and then we shall surely get some more.' Christmas evening came, and with it the steamer, but not a cent of money for us. Our hopes seemed dashed to the ground. We had in our house just a little flour and some potatoes and a few other things. We knew that we could get no more money from our usual source for probably fifteen days, and our colleagues in the city were in just about the same fix. Just at this time I was subject to a little temptation, for I was offered a situation under the Chinese Government of £800 a year. This would have involved giving up missionary work, but God enabled me to resist this temptation. I am sure it was a temptation from the devil. It came just at the time when we were depressed and had been short of money for a long time ; and probably had not my wife remained so staunch and firm and true, and so determined not to give up, I might have yielded. She would not think of such a thing. Well, as I said, the steamer came, and with it no money — nothing to encourage us at all. We went, as usual, and told the Lord all about it, for we went out to China knowing that we had only God to depend upon ; and we were quite satisfied that that was enough for us, and we told our wants to Him. " Now you will see how that day the Lord, having shut up one source to try our faith, opened others. Before dinner-time, a Chinaman came along with a large piece of beef, and said, ' I want you to accept this as a present. I have received a great deal of medicine from you. You have done me good, and you would not take any money. GOD'S ANSWEK TO FAITH 43 Will you please take this ? ' I took it, and thanked God for it. Soon afterwards, in came another Chinaman, a gentleman, with a coolie walking behind him with a large bamboo over his shoulder, and a basket hanging from each end. The man put the things down in the reception room, and I was asked to come down. I went down and opened the baskets and found in them four hams, and some little things besides. He said, ' I want you to accept this as a present.' The usual thing with a Chinaman is to expect you to take a little of what he brings and give him back the rest ; but I saw that this man intended me to take all, and I did so, and thanked God for it. In came another Chinaman, with a fat pheasant and some chickens and a basket of eggs, and he asked me to accept these ; I did accept them and thanked God for them. But that was not all. Before evening, a European connected with the consular service came along, bringing with him a coolie carrying a huge turkey. He said, ' See, I have been feeding this turkey for you for six months, will you accept it ? ' You see that the Lord knew six months before that we were going to be short on that day, and He provided for us. Thus we had an abundance of food for the whole of us, although our usual supply was cut off. Several other things came in. A week or two before then I had my umbrella stolen, and during this day in comes a Chinaman with a foreign umbrella, a silk one. He said, ' I have been to Shanghai, and I wanted to get a present for you, and I did not know what else to get, so I have brought this umbrella.' " Towards evening I received a letter from the custom- house officers, saying that, as I had gratuitously attended to them in cases of sickness, they had subscribed to purchase a case of instruments for me, but not knowing what I wanted, would I kindly accept the money ? Of course I kindly did ! They sent with the letter a roll of seventy doUars. Our hearts were full of joy. "We gave God thanks for all that He had done for us ; and it is always a joy to me to look back upon that occasion and upon other 44 HAVE FAITH IN GOD similar occasions, and remember what God has done. ' The young lions do lack and suffer hunger ; but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing.' I have proved that, and all who trust in Him will also prove it." One other illustration connected with the opening of one of the far western provinces may conclude this section. Looking at China to-day with its many Mission stations and so many lines of communication from one station to another, it is not easy now to appreciate the full extent of the trial of faith and the joy of deliverance experienced by some of the workers in the early days. To-day in the great city of Chengtu, the capital of the western province of Szechwan, with its many Mission houses connected with at least seven different Societies, its University and large foreign printing-press, things have greatly advanced since Mr. Sam. Clarke of the C.I.M. first rented a house in 1881, He and Mr. Eiley were the only two Protestant Missionaries in the whole province at the time, Mr. Eiley holding the fort at Chungking alone while Mr. S. Clarke pushed forward to open Chengtu. Telling of the difficulties and trials of those days, Mr. Clarke gave the following testimony : — " I will only add that God was with me all the time, and that He provided for my wants. I can tell you that on two separate occasions I ate my breakfast in that city not knowing where my next meal was coming from. I had not a penny, nor did I know of a friend in the whole city to whom I could fly for help ; and yet when the next meal-time came there was something for me." When we remember that Mr. Clarke was nearly 2000 miles inland away from Shanghai, the reality of faith and of God's faithfulness will be the more readily appreciated. GOD'S ANSWER TO FAITH 45 " A Table in the Presence of Mine Enemies " In the autumn of 1890 a party of six young men set sail from England, all bound for the first time to China. After the ordinary period of language study at Anking had expired, the six, with many others who had arrived from America and Australasia, were scattered to stations separated by many hundreds of miles. Had it been known that one among that little band of new workers would, ere many years were past, have to pass through all the horrors of a terrible rebellion and be called upon to care for the sick, wounded, and dying, it is very probable that the members of that party would in their limited wisdom have suggested that some one of their number physically more fitted for such hardships than H. F. Pddley should be appointed to that service. Yet it was he who, though naturally not over-robust physically and who more perhaps than many shrank from the coarser side of life, was called upon with his wife to pass through a time which would have tested severely the hardiest of all. In 1894 Mr. Ridley with his wife were appointed to the distant city of Sining, almost on the borders of Kokonor. The district of Sining is about the size of the English county of Yorkshire, and the inhabitants of the district comprise Tibetans, Mongolians, Aborigines, Chinese, and Mohammedans. To the west of the city in Kokonor are eighteen tribes of Mongolians, to the south-west some twenty-five tribes of the Hongmaotze, all unreached by the Gospel. To the north-west was the great province of Sinkiang, fifty-four days' journey from the one end to the other, open to travel and missionary work, and up to the present with only one missionary, Mr. George Hunter of the C.I.M., if the Swedish brethren stationed at Kashgar and Yarkand at the extreme west be excepted. When Mr. and Mrs. Ridley reached Siningfu, where they found Mr. Hall holding the fort alone, the only re- ception they received from the Chinese was : " There are more foreign devils coming." Ungodliness and indifference 46 HAVE FAITH IN GOD prevailed, and Mrs. Eidley was fifteen days in the city before a single woman called upon her, and some four months elapsed before any man so much as crossed the threshold of their home, with the exception of those serving. Preaching on the street fortunately gathered a good crowd, but any effort at personal conversation at once dispersed them all. For about twelve months the work proceeded under these conditions, when the ordinary work was brought suddenly to a stop by a serious Mohammedan rising. This was at the time of China's war with Japan, and all the soldiers who could possibly be spared had been drafted off from Kansu and the other provinces to the war. A quarrel now broke out between the two rival Mohammedan sects, the " Black Caps " and " White Caps," at Stinhwa, some three and a half days' journey to the south-east of Sining. The Taotai of Sining was, at the orders of the Governor- General, despatched to Stinhwa, but his policy of repression only centred the fury of the Mohammedans upon himself, and he was surrounded and imprisoned in the city. Major "Wang with his small detachment of soldiers was, through the treachery of their guide, defeated, and great consterna- tion prevailed. The terrible rebellion of 1862, when large portions of Kansu and Shensi were devastated, were called to mind, and the Governor-General in panic ordered a wholesale extermination of the " Black Caps." Though this edict was subsequently recalled and a milder one substituted, the rebellion had now advanced too far to be stayed by such belated forbearance. The revolt spread from village to village and reached the district of Sining on July 24. For months past the people within the city had been almost daily expecting a siege and the excitement became intense. The smiths were constantly engaged making and sharpening swords. Trade had come to a standstill, and the country people, leaving their farms, were flocking into the city for protection, though only a paltry two hundred :Soldiers remained to man the walls. GOD'S ANSWEK TO FAITH 47 The closing days of July were days of great stress to Mr. and Mrs. Eidley and Mr. Hall. What was the right course to follow ? The city gates were not yet finally closed, for hundreds and thousands of poor people were yet seeking admission with the few belongings they had managed to save from the hands of the rebels. It was impossible to preach, for the excited state of the people was too great, and the supplies of food and money were too limited to last out a long siege. Then Mr. and Mrs. Eidley had their little baby, not a year old, to consider. To stay and face a siege was a terrible outlook, but should the city fall into the hands of the rebels the consequences would be even more dreadful. The responsibilities of decision were great and the strain on heart and mind severe. After earnest prayer to God for guidance, God showed them what He would have them do, and He graciously took out of their hearts any fear in doing it. Their little one and themselves they committed to God's care and then asked for guidance as to any service they could perform. By this time the city gates were closed and letters could neither be sent nor received. For long weary months Mr. Hudson Taylor and others at the coast waited eagerly for tidings and for some opportunity of sending supplies. Of this time Mr. Taylor subsequently said : " It was a time of great suspense and of much prayer. We did rest in the Lord and knew that He was doing the best thing, but we felt a very great responsibility to be instant in prayer for these dear missionaries, for we knew not what their necessities or their straits might be at any given time. We only knew that they were alive by one thing, and that was that the Holy Spirit led us to constant prayer for them, and we were sure that the Spirit of God never taught any one to pray for the dead." While friends outside the city were thus interceding on their behalf, the little band within the city were daily casting their care upon God and finding that He cared for them. Their money came to an end, and their little stock 48 HAVE FAITH IN GOD of supplies came to an end, but, to quote again Mr. Taylor, " God had not come to an end, and here is the beauty of the principle upon which we rest — the faithfulness of God." There was plenty of money for them at the coast and some was sent, but it never reached them. For five and a half months they had not so much as any com- munication even with the nearest Mission station, and no letters or supplies could reach them for nine months. But God was with them, close at hand, and He provided for all their need, and probably during those terrible months they were enabled to do more for the glory of God, and more to teach the people that there was a living God, than many years of ordinary service would have accomplished. Let us see how their time was spent and how God provided. Some ten days after the rebellion had broken out in the city neighbourhood a poor old beggar came to the door. He had a sore leg and he asked for medicine that he might get it healed. When tending the old man he said, " Don't you think you might go down and do a little good to some of the poor wounded people lying in the temple of the god of literature ? " As the workers had been seeking for guidance as to the best work to do, they thought this might be a call. Ordinary preaching to the people was out of the question, and the street chapel had had to be shut, but it might be possible to help the sick and wounded. So down they went to the temple, and such a sight met their eyes as they had never expected to see. Here were one hundred and twenty poor people in the most abject state of need ; men, women, and children who had been lashed, cut, and lacerated by the rebels, and who had in that most pitiable condition dragged themselves some eighteen or twenty miles to this poor place of shelter. The majority of them have been from eight to ten days on the road. To stop the flowing of their blood the poor people had plastered themselves with mud, with such results as can be more easily imagined than described. As it was already dusk and no artificial light was possible, GOD'S ANSWEK TO FAITH 49 there was nothing for it but to return to the Mission house and make such preparations as were possible, and then wait until the morning. The morning came, and away Messrs. Hall and Eidley went. But the real condition of the sufferers was worse than had been imagined, the dusk of the night before having made a thorough examination impossible. With wounds undressed for days and even weeks, and huddled together with not even the most elementary provision for sanitary arrangements, the condition of the poor people was repulsive in the extreme. Even the Chinese, who are strangely unaffected by sights and smells which almost overcome the European, stood at a distance, and would not come near, and the Chinese doctors with their wide sleeves placed over mouth and nose would not give help in any way. While the abject needs of the people appealed to all that was sympathetic in the missionaries, yet the conditions were such as to make them almost physically unable to help through sheer sickness and revulsion. They felt that they needed special strength from God for such work and for this they looked not in vain. Strength was given in answer to prayer, and one by one the wounds were washed and dressed, and for a long time loving care was bestowed upon them with the gratifying result that nearly every one recovered. Though not able to preach to them in words tliey preached in deeds. Later on another company of some two hundred wounded entered the city, and these were cared for in the same way, and during the nine months as many as two thousand sick and wounded passed through their hands. The medical and surgical appliances were ill-adapted to such work, but with poor instruments good results were obtained. During that time some forty bullets alone were extracted, some by Mrs. Eidley, with no better instruments than a razor and a pocket-knife,^ and although unskilled at such work, ^ Mr. Ridley subsequently received a presentation set of surgical instruments from a foreign-trained Chinese doctor who learned of what he had done. E 50 HAVE FAITH IN GOD through the goodness of God no life was lost through the cutting of an artery. It is not easy to depict the horrors of these days. The streets of the city became veritable dung-heaps, with thou- sands of poor people huddled together like pigs in a sty. More than a thousand patients suffering from diphtheria came for treatment to the " Gospel Hall " — the name of which the people changed to " Salvation Hall," so many lives having been saved. Such a heavy demand upon the limited medicine chest was a serious matter. After some eight pounds of sulphur had been exhausted in treating the throats of the diphtheria patients, alum was used, then borax. For wounds, beeswax, resin, lard, borax, and zinc were re- sorted to, 350 feet of calico was used by October and many pounds of cotton. Oil had risen from forty-three cash per pound to over two hundred, and coal had run short, with a temperature down to zero and many of the poor destitute of their clothing, which had been either robbed or burned by the rebels. The missionaries had to cook their bread with dried manure. And now about the middle of September the food-supply began to run short. Busy from sunrise to dusk caring for the sick, they had hardly noticed the emptying larder. And now all the grain shops in the city were closed, for the city was getting into the straits of a prolonged siege and grain could not be bought on the streets. And so they took this matter to the Lord, knowing that He who had led them to stay in the city would also provide for them, and the text, " Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you," came forcibly home to their minds. Having very definitely committed the matter to the Lord, they went on with their work among the wounded, believing in the word, " Trust in the Lord and do good, and so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed." A few days afterward, when only two or three pounds of flour were left at the bottom of the barrel, an official came down from his post on the wall to thank them for GOD'S ANSWER TO FAITH 51 what they were doing for the wounded. As the very servants had gone to join the volunteers in the defence of the city, the Eidleys had no servant, and as it is customary to give tea to any guest who calls, Mr. Pddley prepared and served the tea himself This fact was not lost upon the official, who, however, said nothing but reported it to the Prefect. Next morning they were invited to visit the official on the city wall. They responded and went, and during the visit the official remarked, " Yesterday, when I was at your house, I noticed that you had no servant. The Prefect has told me to lend you four soldiers to help you." This was an unexpected kindness, but such help would rather be an anxiety than otherwise with only two or three pounds of flour in the house, and so, while thanking the official most cordially, they declined the offer. However, he sent for two, who came and saluted the missionaries. " Now," he said, " take these two with you." Feeling that it was best to be frank with the man rather than perplex him by again declining his offer without an explanation, they said, " If you really want to know why we do not accept your offer, it is because we cannot feed the men." He replied, " Of course you cannot have them if you have no food for them," and there the matter was allowed to drop and the visitors returned home. The next morning when they were as usual attending to the wounded, two soldiers appeared at the door, each man carrying on his back a big sack of grain of about one hundred pounds weight. " We were not surprised," re- lated Mr. Ptidley subsequently, " for we knew that God would supply our need." Later on another two soldiers appeared with similar loads, while two or three days later the Prefect's secretary called and said, " The Prefect will be very glad to send you a tan (=600 lb.) of grain," and in fulfilment of this promise six soldiers shortly appeared, each laden with a sack of grain, and thus was sufficient grain supplied, not only to last until the rebellion was quelled, but for six months more. And not only was grain supplied, but 52 HAVE FAITH IN GOD a supply of coal was also sent, with an offer to supply any- thing else they might want, if only they would make their wants known and the city could furnish the needed articles. The Prefect of the city, who had personally visited the temple of the god of literature several times that he might see the good work the missionaries were doing, was probably the prime mover in this kindness, but his heart was doubtless stirred by Him who holds the hearts of all men in His hands. The workers had trusted in the Lord, and had sought to do good, and they experienced the fulfil- ment of the promise to the very letter — " So shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed." THE FAITH OF GIVING Probably more is thought and said about the faith necessary in those who go to the foreign field trusting in God for their supplies than about the faith of those who give of their substance. While it is doubtless true to-day as in the days of Christ that many cast into the treasury " of their superlluity," yet there are others who, like the widow of old, cast in all that they have, "even all their living." With such the act of giving is a sacrifice through faith. While the Gospels do not give so much detail regarding the widow who received the Lord's commendation, a fuller insight into the faith of giving may be gained by the story of the widow to whom Elijah was sent. Apart from faith on Elijah's part, his request to the widow would have been both cruel and callous ; and apart from faith on the widow's part her response would have been impossible. How could she take the last " morsel of bread " from her own son and give it to a stranger but for her faith in the promise of God that " the barrel of meal shall not waste, nor the cruise of oil fail, until the day that the Lord sendeth rain upon the earth " ? Only on the ground of that promise was her action consistent with maternal instinct, and only by faith in that promise would she be able to respond. Without in any way forgetting the right and proper claims of commercial and domestic life to-day, are there not lessons to be learned for most of us from the acts of faith on the part of these widows in the Old and New Testa- ments ? The command of Christ to preach the Gospel to every creature is as binding on those who stay as on those who go, and if there is to be a worthy self-denial both at 53 54 ^ HAVE FAITH IN GOD home and abroad, it can only be by a full reliance on those promises which pledge God to provide all things needful to those who seek first His kingdom. How far human fore- thought and thrift are necessary to avoid the condemnation of St. Paul on those who provide not for their own, and how far the promises of God call forth the venture of faith, each person must be fully persuaded in his own mind. What may be God's way for one may not of necessity be His way for another. Among the many who out of their poverty have most generously given to the support of the Lord's work the following pages will tell of one. Of the early life of the one of whom we write little is known, nor does that lack of knowledge seriously detract from the story. She was born on December 27, 1827, and was left a widow in her fifty- eighth year, that is in 1885. In humble circumstances, and left, by the death of her husband, improvided for, she subsequently was accustomed to receive 2 s. a week from the Parochial Board of Perth, in which town she lived. With this small assistance and with the kind gifts of friends who were interested in her, she was enabled to maintain her little home. Poor in this world's goods, she was yet rich in faith and abounded in good works, and for many years was accustomed to send her own donations to the C.I.M., in addition to subscribing regularly for China's Millions, of which magazine she was a most devoted reader. Her sympathies were wide, and her love great, for, as the following letters will show, the work of God in China was not the only object of her affections, as she evidently contributed for many years to Dr. Barnardo's work, and also, through Dr. Maxwell, to the London Medical Missionary Association. How she came in touch with the C.I.M. the present writer cannot ascertain, but the following letters, most of which were sent to Mr. B. Broomhall, who was then the Secretary of the Mission, must be left to tell their own tale in their inimitable way. It may be that THE FAITH OF GIVING 55 some who read may be inclined to question the right of one who was in receipt of parish relief to make donations to any cause. Without entering into any discussion on this point, it should, however, be borne in mind that had it not been for the unsolicited gifts of friends who were personally interested in her, she obviously would not have been able to contribute anything, and if she preferred with her uncommon spirit of self-sacrifice to deny herself those things which most would have regarded as the barest necessities of life that she might give to the Lord, surely the right and wrong of that must be left to herself. As the letters will show, she herself was exercised in mind on this very point, but the fact that the giving did not inter- fere with her joy or her liberty in prayer and praise was evidently accepted by her as a proof that she was not wrong in her procedure, and surely no one could have had the heart to decline her offerings. To the majority of readers her faith and self-sacrifice will call forth such humbling reflections that criticism will be impossible. With only such editing as is necessary to make the letters in- telligible, they are now given almost word for word as they were received. The first letter, which is undated, will help to introduce the reader to the widow referred to. Dear Mr. Broomhall — I enclose an order for the China Inland Mission. I will just say to you a few words to glorify God, as He is my only real Friend. Now after I sent the last five shillings I received a letter with an order for ten shillings, so I enclose five of it as an off'ering of thankfulness to God. I am a frail widow woman, will be 60 years old on the 27th of December, never was strong. My husband died on the 2nd April 1885 ; he was long ill and was getting 3 shillings a week off the Parochial Board (at his death I got 2s.). I got out of a funeral Society £5, and I had only a few shillings out of it after his funeral expenses was all paid, hut my Heavenly Father gave me so much through friends I could then, as an offering to Him, send £1 to the China Inland Mission, that was my first offering to your Society. I don't know how much I have sent since then, I keep no account of it, I give it to Him on my knees. All I can depend on is 2s. a week, yet I seem 56 HAVE FAITH IN GOD sometimes better than some with 25. The Lord is good ; He never fails, praise His Name, all His Promises are yea and Amen in Jesus. I am sometimes in a strait but He sends help. I can endorse what Mr. Hudson Taylor says, I am one who has known straits and trouble. I tell you all this as when you address meetings it is useful to be able to bear testimony such as that, for I can say it is more blessed to give than to receive. No one would believe I give so much the ravens give me. Some would not give one penny to Missions but they will give me sixpence to get a bit beef, so I can want the beef. I hope you will manage to read this and also to forgive me for troubling you. May the Lord pour out His Spirit and convert thousands and tens of thousands is the prayer of — Yours sincerely. 2Uh Jan. 1889. Dear Mr. Broomhall — I received this forenoon the monthly magazine [China's Millions\ and as I am not well I have just gone through it all. There is very much in it to call forth praise and thanksgiving, yea, and thank-offerings too, for His great goodness in answering prayer. Let us hold on believing for there is a sound of abundance of rain. . . . I was speaking to one of your missionaries here two weeks ago, and he was telling me Mr. Dorvvard had lived for two weeks with him a year ago, and that he had a letter from him not long before his death, and the last words of it were, " Pray for Hunan for Christ." " Yes," I said, " that is good, but ' China for Jesus ' is far better, and though Mr. Dorward is gone he will yet rejoice in Hunan for Christ." What a glorious work is going on there, and what noble men and women are spending their lives in His honourable work. The Lord prosper the work and increase the number of labourers a thousandfold. . . . I felt very sad in reading the statements [in the magazine about the famine] though not new, and I enclose two postal orders — 5s. for the C.I.M. and 3s. for the sufferers through famine. I had a battle about it, but thank God I was enabled to overcome and also cheerfully. Satan said, " Where will you get your thirty-two shillings for rent in May ? " I said, " I don't know, but the Lord knows it is to be got and I cannot be in debt." I thought of what Jesus had done for me, and of the blessings I Avas always asking from Him, and I just spread the money before Him on my chair and knelt and gave it over to Him, each 5s. As I gave it how happy I felt. Ah, dear friend, the Lord will not be in any one's debt THE FAITH OF GIVING 57 long. Oh, it is good to get spiritual blessings for temporal gifts. He is so good, praise the Lord. . . . Shortly after the receipt of this letter a Manchester magistrate called upon Mr. B. Broomhall, to whom during conversation he showed the letter just quoted. The reading of the letter so deeply moved him that he dived his hand into his pocket and with almost tears in his eyes handed to Mr. Broomhall the sum of thirty-two shillings, to be sent to the old lady in Perth. The money was sent, and the two following letters, one to Mr. Broomhall and the other to the kind friend in Manchester, were her replies : — 12f.h February ISS9. Dear Mr. Broomhall — Another long letter for you. You will have to read it by times. I received yours in due time with the three orders. I was amazed — could not make out what they meant until I read your note. My Dear Friend, it filled me Avith awe. If I had been like Billy Bray, I would have shouted and danced, but I could not do either. I felt so overpowered at God's great love to me and His goodness. After a while I just spread out the whole before the Lord and cried with a full heart. My tears Avere all my words for a little. Then I asked of God blessings spiritual and temporal on you first, and on Mr. . I know He will bless you. Dear Mr. Broomhall, you are so kind to me, and I shall pray constantly for Mr. — — . I am at a loss for words to thank him. You must speak for me to him when you see him again. Thank you for giving me his address. I wrote him thanking him and got a beautiful letter back, which I shall keep and prize. I am very unworthy of such favours and of such condescension. If the cup of cold water gets its reward, surely more will follow such kindness. I must tell you how I came by so much money. I have been ill a lot this while, and a lady came to see me and gave me eleven shillings to get coals and meat and some nourishment. Well, I thought, I needed various things, but as it was about midway to the term I would do the best I could and keep it for the rent. But China, poor China, with its millions dying with- out Jesus, and many without bread [it being famine time]. I could not keep it, 0 no. I had a home and bed and food. I am promised bread and water and I have often more than that. Oh, if I could do more. The Enemy tried me sore, but what 58 HAVE FAITH IN GOD a sweet peace I had when I gave it over to my Lord. Yes, I rejoice in that. He does say ugly things, but he was a liar from the beginning, and I can eat or no eat as I please for him. The devil preaches from half a text always ; he suits the words for himself. 0, for grace to overcome ! I was trying to get something for the starving in China. All I could get was one sixpence and one threepenny piece. I gave the rest and send 3s. for them and 5s. for the Mission. The soul is before the body. They will die even though not now. May they soon all find Eternal Life, for that is better. You know when I got 6s. instead of 4s. off the Board, I gave one to the Lord. I have a box just for China, and all I can goes in there. It is never empty. I could not take out the last three- penny. No, I showed it to Mr. Hudson Taylor [who, when having meetings in Perth, called to see the old lady], and if I was to die, your name and address is in the inside of it, so though no one knows, I am sure you would get what was in. Some are able and willing to give, let us hope and pray. — Yours very lovingly and sincerely, J C . The following is her letter to the kind friend at Manchester : — 75 Leonard Street, Perth. 4 February 1889. Mr. , Dear Sir — I hope you will bear with me a little, and I will try and write so as you will be able to read. I am old and not a scholar, but I hope I speak the truth when I say I am grateful. I had a letter last Friday from Mr. Broomhall with three orders in it for thirty-two shillings. I was amazed when I read his letter. I was simply awed, I was not able to speak. I have a closet Avhicli I call Bethel. It has been honoured by Mr. Hudson Taylor's presence, and there I spread letter, orders, and all out before the Lord, and I could only cry for a while. Then I said, " Lord, I thank Thee for my rent, and I thank Thee for shutting up the Enemy. I don't know the giver of all this money, but Thou knowest him by name. Blessed Father, reward him a thousandfold even in money, and bless him and his wdth all spiritual blessings." I thank you, dear Sir, and I shall have your name before me when I pray. I have another gentleman, he is in London, who sent me himself once 10s., but only gave his initials, and Mr. Hudson Taylor would not tell me though I showed him the THE FAITH OF GIVING 59 letter, so I laid the letter in His sight, for all are known to God. I have some names for conversions, but you and he for blessings. I could tell you strange things. Of course Dear Mr. Broom- hall would tell you of my income. I am simply afraid to tell my experience, it is so strange. No one knows of my giving but the Father of all and Mr. Broomhall. Yes, there is another, and very ill he is at it, and tries all sorts of lies with me ; but he is done this time. I must say no more or he will tell me I am begging on the sly. The Lord bless you and make you a blessing, and multiply your income, and keep you from harm is the prayer of — Yours humbly, J C . Such letters as these need uo comment. The lessons of whole-hearted devotion and simple yet victorious faith are obvious, and few will be able to read them without feeling their own weakness in these graces are in some measure, at least, rebuked. Before the writer of these lines there lies a pile of other letters, all from the same correspondent, ex- tending over a period of some twelve years from 1889 to 1901, when she was well over seventy. Age and infirmity clearly show their marks upon the correspondence of the closing years of her life, yet to the very end the ruling passion of giving was strong even unto death. From among these many letters the following pages are extracted, all of which breathe the same spirit of devotion and love to her Master and the same self-sacrificing generosity. 75 Leonard Stkeet, Perth. 5 April 1889. My dear Mr. Broomhall — I enclose you an order for 5s. Just use it as you please, either for the Mission or the famine fund. I have not been very well, and a niece of mine in Dundee has asked me down for two or three weeks. I go to-night. . . . I see all the good news in the monthly [China's Millions], Praise the Lord, He doeth wonders, let us sing praise. I have reason to praise Him, for though it is four years since my husband was buried, and I have been in straits often, it has not been for long. I hope you will accept this small offering to His cause as a thank-offering. The next letter was written to Mr. Broomhall when he was in Scotland. 60 HAVE FAITH IN GOD 75 Leonard Street, Perth. 15 August 1889. My DEAii Mr. Broomhall — I received yours this morning and was delighted to see you were in Scotland. I do hope and pray that you will be the better for the change and rest. ... I hope you will fall in with kindred spirits so as you will enjoy spiritual refreshment as well as temporal. Not but that we have always, in all places, access to our Father which is in Heaven. I am one of those, dear Mr. Broomhall, who love to talk with those who love our Lord Jesus Christ. It refreshes me and kindles up one's faith to speak of our Jesus — blessed word. My Jesus, My Saviour. To them that believe He is precious. I was at a loss to make out where your letter came from. I could not make it out, so I went to Mr. M the grocer. He is a friend of mine, and as there was no mention of money in the letter I let him read the whole. If he knew I gave you any money for Mission work he would think me mad, for he knows my income. ... It was he who told me to write and tell you how very near the station I am. . . . My house is a very small one, all alone. It was not inhabited when I took it, nor could they get a tenant to it, yet I got it in answer to prayer and it looks well enough now for me. I have had sorrow and joy in it, poverty and suffering, but I can say. Dear Friend, I have had the presence of the King in it. I have not been strong this summer. Of course I don't expect ever to be so, but I have not been able to go away. One day I met Dr. B , a real child of God, and he asked me how I was. I told him, and it was the first time he knew I was on the Board. He seemed horrified. I Avas obliged to laugh at him, but he would not laugh. He gave me half a sovereign. The C.I.M. got 5s. of it and Dr. Maxwell of the London Medical Mission 2s. 6d., and I paid my Is. beside. I had not much of it to self, but the joy I had in helping was much. Well, I am not sure if the good doctor trusted me or no, but ere he went away on his holidays he came and told me to go to the dairy for eight weeks and get twopence worth of milk daily, and he gave me a few potatoes himself. Well, I have no chance of giving anything of that, but when I get money or earns a shilling, I don't measure by the tenth, 0 no. I got one shilling this day ; one sixpence went into His treasury for the Mission and the other five pence I gave otherwise. The thing is, dear Mr. Broomhall, God is the one who won't take anything for nought, so He gives me and I Him. How much I could tell of His love to me. I sometimes sing THE FAITH OF GIVING 61 in my bed at nights all alone with Him. People ask me, " Do you no weary here, Mrs. C all alone V " Never," I tell them, "never," and I don't. Sometimes when very frail, in the mornings ere I get that cup, I feel as if I would like some one with me, but I check myself, and even then try to sing. Did you ever notice how David in his Psalms cries so often, " Praise the Lord " 1 The very last words of his in the last psalm is " Praise the Lord." Sometimes I don't feel that happy to sing, but I do sing and get happy, " Praise ye the Lord." I was twice in the city Hall hearing Mr. Wookey from Dr. Barnardo's Homes. That brings to my mind where the other half - crown of Dr. B 's went. I have contributed for twenty years to them and used to collect for him, but no one will give me now. They tell me to mind myself, I have more need. But I have not. Well, I was quite delighted with what I heard and saw, but I must admit I don't like the doctor's begging. Well, it is very amusing how I get my money, and the straits I am in sometimes. I had the last 5s. for your Mission but I had not the money to get it away. A little boy I love who calls me Granny C came and gave me of his own earnings six- pence to go on Saturday night to the Hall. I think that was on Thursday, so I went and sent off to you the offering. Ere Saturday night came I got sixpence again. The Homes got the sixpence and still I could pay for my admission, which was twopence, and I paid for another boy. You see if one is looking out instead of in, we see so much to be done and we have just one life to work in. The last spell I had in bed I was always saying, for I was not able to sing — Soon my journey shall be ended, Life is drawing to a close, I shall then be well attended. This my Father knows. I am sure. Dear Friend, it is so pleasant to know this, and it is no hardship to be poor with such a knowledge. There is no one troubles me but the devil. He harasses me about rent day and the great sin of taking the money I get for my comfort and give it away. Sometimes I wonder if it is him or is it the Spirit. It does trouble me, but it don't stop the giving, nor the joy, nor the praying, no, nor the praising. Praise the Lord, 0 my soul. I have Avrote you such a long letter as you are so near me, and if you are to come this way on your way home, could you 62 HAVE FAITH IN GOD not let me know what day, so I may not be out, for although it was ever so short a visit we should see each other's face on earth. If it cannot be, well, we shall meet beyond the river whether we know each other or no, and we will know as we are known. May you have always His presence who dwelleth in the bush. Mr, Broomhall arranged to meet Mrs. C when he passed through Perth on his journey south, while upon another occasion Miss Broomhall (now Mrs, D. E. Hoste) called upon the dear old saint. About this visit the follow- ing account from the pen of Mrs. Hoste herself is given : — "It was during my first furlough, about 1892, I was travelling in Scotland with dear Uncle Hudson Taylor, assisting sometimes in his meetings at the different places. We were on our way to Dundee for a conference there, and having several hours to spare, I arranged to leave him at Perth, for him to go forward alone, while I spent a few hours with Mrs. C . Mrs. C and I had never met, but during my time in China my dear father (then Secretary of the Mission) having learnt to know Mrs. C by correspondence, through her frequent gifts for the work, had enlisted her prayers especially for his own children who were working in China, So I was glad to avail myself of this only opportunity of meeting Mrs. C in person. " It had been arranged that we were to know each other at Perth station by a copy of China's Millions in our hands, but this was scarcely necessary to me, for, looking out at the station, I felt sure the little Scotch body in her plaid shawl and neat black bonnet was the unknown friend whose gifts and prayers had been given to the Mission through past years. " As I had several hours before the next train, I told Mrs. C that I had time to come with her to her home, and I remember noticing a slight hesitancy in her manner, as though this was scarcely what she wanted. But she quickly brightened, and we went together the short distance from the station to her little lonely home. It was morning, THE FAITH OF GIVING 63 so the fact that the room was not in the best order scarcely surprised me, but after a short talk Mrs. C herself apologised for the unmade bed and the tub of partly washed clothes in words which I have never forgotten. They were to this effect : ' You see the room is not sorted, my dear, but this morning I had such enlargement of prayer for you that I had to give myself up to it, and I know you are going to have a good time in Dundee ' ; doubtless referring to the meetings we were expecting to hold there. " I had gone to Mrs. C expecting to be able to give her a good deal of information, but as I sat in her little home I felt the position was reversed. She was the teacher and I was the learner. Her knowledge of persons and things in China was amazing, but one learnt most as one listened to her simple stories of her life of prayer and self-denial for God's kingdom. There was a little money- box into which her gifts were put for two Missions — the C.I.M., the other, if I remember rightly, Mr. Quarrier's Orphan Homes of Scotland (or possibly Dr. Barnardo's Homes). At the bottom of the box was a slip of paper saying for what purpose this money was put into the box, so that in the event of her dying not a penny would be put to any other use. "Mrs. C 's frequent and generous gifts of money to the Mission had long been a source of deep interest and often wonderment to my dear father, as to how such a poor woman could send so often and so much. Sentences in her own letters to him had revealed a good deal of the self- sacrifice of her life, but it was a very different thing to sit beside her in her little home and hear from her own lips the history of her giving. Mrs. C' received a small sum every week for cleaning an office, and also a regular sum allowed her from the parish poor rates. As far as I remember, she received 2s. per week from the Parish, and a shilling a week for cleaning the office. On receipt of her half-monthly allowance from the parish, she always put a fixed sum straight into her box, from which it was never taken back. In addition to these regular supplies, Mrs. C 64 HAVE FAITH IN GOD received gifts in money and kind from different sources. Of one of these gifts she told me the story. It was a Queen Victoria Jubilee five-shilling piece, given her as an acknowledgment of a special kindness shown. Oh, how many things Mrs. C thought she could do with this five-shilling piece. While it was still in her possession the Perth Conference was held, and Mrs. C was greatly helped and blessed, and began to wish to give a special thank-offering to the Lord for this. Almost to her dismay the only thing she could think of to give was this treasured five -shilling piece. Her own words were to the effect, 'It was a battle with the devil' as to whether she could give it up or not, and she told me how she laid the five-shilling piece on a chair and knelt down beside it, and yielded it up entirely to the Lord. This five-shilling piece doubled the amount of her usual gift to the C.I.M. and was a fresh cause of wonder and thankfulness to my dear father when he received it among other gifts sent into the Lord's treasury. He could scarcely speak about Mrs. C without deep emotion, and surely to come into personal touch with such an one among the Lord's hidden ones is amongst the most humbling and yet stimulating experiences that could come to a returned missionary. Truly we can say we can thank God upon every remembrance of dear Mrs. C of Perth." The next letter is the following : — Perth, 1 February 1890. My dear Mr. Broomhall — I have been ill and after getting much better I did my washing and was laid up again. It was while at my worst your kind letter with the book arrived. . . . I am sending on a photograph for Miss Broomhall [now Mrs. Hoste]. I could not send her a small one, I have such a wee face she would scarcely see it and she has my love and deserves the very best I can give. I am sorry you have the paying of the postage [in forwarding it to China]. May she ever realize the blessed presence of her Saviour. May she be blessed and made a blessing. I remember you all and all your loved ones at the Throne of THE FAITH OF GIVING 65 Grace, and as I pray for others I am so helped to plead and gets such comfort myself. What a real thing religion is ; how sweet to tell out all one feels in the ear of such a loving Father, never weary, never stinting, never unwilling. Oh, for more faith and love, deeper yearning after souls for whom Jesus died. My dear Mr. Broomhall, how you must rejoice in having loved ones in the harvest-field. Oh, if I had money to send out more. I am sometimes downcast as I feel my uselessness. I can only pray for all, and I do and will while able. I am not strong but I am very happy. How much have I to thank and praise God for, for all His love and grace in ajid through Jesus the Redeemer. What a long letter I have wi-ote ; I know you will forgive, — Yours sincerely, J— — C . The next letter which lies on the desk before me as I write is dated July 1891, and was sent in acknowledg- ment of a book which had been lent her, while at the same time Mrs. C took occasion to enclose another postal order for 5s. for the work of the Mission in China. Perth, 1 July 1891. Dear Mr. Broomhall — I received the second volume of Dr. Paton's life and work all right, and I did devour- it. I really cannot find words to express the joy and pleasure I had in read- ing it. I never will forget Litsi the Heathen and Litsi the Christian. What she suffered from her husband and yet held firm to Jesus. And then to become a missionary to others. How little I feel myself to be. I won't say much, only accept my grateful thanks, and may God reward you for all you have been and done to me and for me. You will have received the volume back, I hope, all right and I hope none the worse. My friend Mr. of the Post Office paid the return postage of both volumes. You see how I am helped. I received the monthly [China^s Millions] to-day and I had the copy of National Pdghteousness before. I see Mr. Stevenson is home just now. Mr. Hudson Taylor will be stay- ing till he returns. May the Lord bless each one in whatever way they are engaged in the Lord's work. I am not going to say much about myself this time. I have much to thank God for. I enclose for the C.I.M. postal order for 5 shillings and wish it were 5000. — Yours in sincerity, j__ C . 66 HAVE FAITH IN GOD From July 1891 we pass on to January of the following year when the letter given below, which contained 18s. 6d. for the General Funds of the Mission, and Is. 6d. for Chinas Millions, was received. Perth, 2 January 1892. My dear Mr. Broomhall — Many thanks for your letter and beautiful Almanac. It is really beautiful. I am very pleased to think I was not forgotten. Do you know the wee housie on the cover is as like the thatched house in which I was born 63 years ago past 27 th December. There is not one stone upon another now. I hope the first text on the beginning will be realized in my case. I vnW be safe if so. I have been ill and had the doctor attending me. ... I thought I was dying, but I am spared. I am at loss to speak of the lovingkindness of the Lord. What a God we have. What a loving Father. How He has blessed me, even in temporal things. I am sending one pound to you in two postal orders. Take Is. 6d. to pay for next year's monthly [China's Millions'] ; I got this month's to-day. They are very helpful in letting one see of the Lord's dealings among His own and how the work goes on. You will use what is over, 18s. 6d., for the C.I.M. I wish I could keep a missionary myself out in China. It was the being ill kept me from writing, as I wished to send, and as I have just what is given me I really could not ask any one to get the postal orders for me. I have been getting so many shillings and sixpences that it has grown to 20s. instead of 10s. I could not eat, so I was not needing anything. I got my whole rent sent me in November, 31s. 3d. Praise the Lord with me. Let us exalt His name together. There has been so much trouble in our small city ; so many deaths, alas ! so many unprepared. How my pen runs on. I hope you are well and that Miss Gertrude [Mrs. Hoste] is better. Love to all and best wishes at the commencement of another year. — Your loving friend, J C . In December of the same year the following letter was received : — THE FAITH OF GIVING 67 Perth, If) December 1892. My dear Mr. Broomhall — I enclose postal order for 5s. One shilling and sixpence for the monthly for next year and 3s. 6d. for the Mission. Praise God with me and for me. I am here to speak for Him and to offer my small offering. It is very near the close of '92, but I lift up again my Ebenezer and say I have no debt. Surely I ought to be very humble and very thankful. I was grieved to see from the last Monthly [China's Millions] of the death of another Avorker. Oh, Mr. Broomhall, I wonder about the removal of such an one as Mr. Macoun and such an one as I left. Verily God's ways are not as ours. I had the joy and honour of spending an hour with your dear Gertie [Mrs. Hoste]. . . . I was sorry to see, also, of the trials Mr. and Mrs. Cecil Polhill [Turner] has come through, but they were brought out of it all. When shall all China know the Lord ! There are heathen as dark at heart in Perth as in China and who does persecute, though not in the same way. . . . From this time to the end the letters become much briefer and the handwriting exhibits considerable weakness, for sickness and advancing age were telling upon this saint of God. Nevertheless, right up to the close of 1901 brief letters from her continued to come containing her choice gifts. On September 29, 1896, she wrote: "I got £1 for my own use, but divided it into four for God's work, and this 5s. is China's share. Dr. Maxwell got 5 s. for the Medical Mission. I am not able to say more at present." In June 1897, when forwarding lis., she wrote: "I do not forget the C.I.M. with its workers. I enclose postal orders for lis. and pray God to bless it a thousandfold," In December 1897, after a severe illness, she managed to write a few lines to Mr. Sloan, enclosing her gift in the shape of postal orders for 7s. She writes : " Take Is. 6d. for the Monthly for '98, if I am spared to receive it. I have been very ill and God has been so good to me, I cannot praise Him aright. If spared till the 27th I will 68 HAVE FAITH IN GOD be seventy years old. Will I be remembered to God on that day ? " The next two letters, both addressed to Mr. Sloan, are on black-edged paper. Her only son had suddenly dropped down dead with heart disease. Writing on January 14, 1898, when sending a postal order for 5s., she said : " It has been to me an awful shock, but I have been mercifully dealt with, and must say to the glory of His name He hath done all things well." In September of the same year she wrote again, sending another 5s. and asking for prayer for the forthcoming Perth Conference. " Perth," she says, " is very dead and is needing a revival, I hope I may be out sometimes at the Conference. I have felt very near Heaven there in years gone by, and very loath to leave the building. I am not going to say anything of my poor frail self, but will ask to be remembered in your prayers." The last letter she ever wrote was dated December 30, 1901, and contained 58. with the following prayer: "May the Lord bless the offering and multiply it a thousandfold, and bless every worker at home and abroad. Excuse all mistakes as I am suffering so. This year is nearly over, and although it has been a year of suffering to me I must raise my Ebenezer, for God has blessed me very abundantly." Up to this time the fact of her giving had been kept a sacred secret, but now she was laid aside, and unless she obtained the help of another's pen, she saw no way of communication with London. In the past many a gift had been delayed until returning health had allowed her to go personally to the Post Office ; but this was no more to be, and much as she shrank from speaking of her love to another, the passion and love of giving mastered even this difficulty, so that on May 26, 1902, a letter in a strange handwriting was received from her at the Mission-house. It is impossible to read this letter and at the same time to picture the aged saint in her weakness sending her last message of love and last offering to the work without real emotion. The letter is addressed to Mrs. Harris, one of THE FAITH OF GIVING 69 the helpers in the London Office, who had called upon her when in Scotland. It reads as follows : — " Just a few lines for Mrs. C , as she is so poorly. She received your kind letter some time ago and was greatly cheered by it. She is suffering great pain and she is very patient. Poor body, it is sad to see her, and one can do so little to relieve her. She has not got her bed made for six weeks. The doctor and the city nurse come every day, and I am here as many hours as I can, but I stay the length of a street from her and I have my own home to attend to. " I will enclose the postal order for 5 s. from Mrs. C for the Mission. She wishes to send her love to all the friends she knows and bid them all good-bye as long as she is sensible. She is very weak, but I really could not say if the end be near. This is the fifth month she has been lying. She can't bear out much longer. If you have time to send her a line to comfort her, I would be so pleased." The earthly course was nearly run, and the good fight of faith fought to the end, and the aged servant was soon to receive that crown of righteousness promised to all them that love His appearing. In a little less than a month from the date of her message given above, this poor lone widow, only a pauper in the world's estimation, was, as was Lazarus of old, carried by angels to those mansions in glory prepared by her Lord, whom she had loved and served. Her service had been in secret, but her reward will be openly. Her precious ointment had been given to her Master, and this brief record is a short memorial unto her. It would be possible to give extracts from other corres- pondence, sometimes in connection with small and sometimes in connection with large gifts, but the preceding pages may be taken as one illustration among many. The story of the widow's generosity may fittingly close with a brief account of what occurred at the breakfast table of a gentleman in London. This incident illustrates the liberality of those who give out of their greater wealth, and were it possible 70 HAVE FAITH IN GOD or right to tell the whole story of the " Faith of Giving " as known by the C.I.M. alone, it would be clear that gifts of hundreds and thousands of pounds have meant as real self-denial in their own way as the gifts of the widow. The story of Eobert Haldane, who sold his beautiful estate of Airthrey in Stirlingshire that he might give himself and his wealth to the cause of Christ in India, in the days of the East India Company, is unfortunately not so well known as it should be. Yet, thank God, there are not wanting men to-day who are possessed with a like devotion, though it may not be manifested in exactly the same way. The five who met for the breakfast meeting referred to were men of this spirit. The facts briefly related are as follows : — A gentleman, whose name would be well known were it mentioned, invited the writer's father, Mr. B. Broomhall, then Secretary of the Mission, to breakfast in a West-End home. There were about eight persons present, and during breakfast many questions concerning the work of God in China were asked, and answered by my father, who, in the course of his remarks took from his pocket one of the widow's letters printed above and read it aloud. One who was present states, in a letter written in the spring of this year, that " it came to all of us as a shock to our personal indulgence, which put us to shame." At the close of the breakfast the host, who was a generous helper of Christian work, said that all he had ever given had not cost him a mutton chop. He had chiefly helped home work — but he would like to do something for Foreign Missions, and he would give £500 to the China Inland Mission. Turning to the one next to him he asked what he would do. Then followed a little private con- versation among the friends present, with the result that three others decided to make a similar offering, while a fourth friend, who had been invited but was unable to be present, decided to do the same, so that this small break- fast party led to the contribution of no less than £2500 to the work of God in China. O t, "= ^1 ^5o5 O h rH ^ i^' r^ ? c -^ p, S ;; o 0. THE LAST SEVEN YEAES In any attempt to adequately appreciate what God has been pleased to do in China through the ministry of the C.I.M., and how graciously He has continued to supply the funds in proportion to the growing needs of the Mission, it is necessary to briefly survey the progress made during a course of several years. To enable the friends of the Mission to do this, the accompanying table has been prepared. It illustrates the work of the C.I.M. during the last seven years since the Boxer crisis. TABLE OF COMPARISON Year. ome from all Sources. g cfl 1 1 0 a 05 1 £ IS .§„• 0 « . a a 1 1 0 S B^ c t3 - 1902 £72,066 190 319 476 763 541 200 7,774 83 1903 60,498 194 417 580 783 690 256 10,245 116 1904 65,624 200 521 703 825 821 332 12,002 150 1905 72,926 205 632 827 849 888 394 14,078 188 1906 78,531 204 719 915 875 988 443 16,969 198 1907 93,1992 206 769 970 900 1050 546 19,054 201 1908 84,111 211 790 995 928 1157 560 20,993 216 The careful study of this table can hardly fail to impress the thoughtful reader with the encouraging progress made, and with the goodness of God in so faithfully supplying those spiritual and temporal blessings without which this ^ This short section is taken from the 1909 Report, China and the Gospel, prepared by the writer. ^ This sum includes £8009 for famine funds. 71 72 HAVE FAITH IN GOD work not only could not have prospered at all, but must inevitably have terminated long ago. Though the attention of the reader is especially directed to the figures themselves, there are one or two observations which may, perhaps, not inappropriately be made. It will be noted that while the number of central stations has not greatly increased, the average number of missionaries to each centre being less than 5, the out-stations have advanced from 319 to 790, and the number of chapels from 476 to 995. These figures clearly indicate how rapidly centres are being opened and established where native leadership becomes essential. Again, while the number of missionaries has increased from 763 to 928, a net gain of 165, the number of Chinese helpers in the Mission's employ has advanced from 541 to 1157, a net gain of 616. Thus, for every new mission- ary by whom the work has been reinforced during the last seven years, there have been added nearly 4 new Chinese helpers. In addition to this, it must be noted that the voluntary Chinese helpers have advanced from 200 to 560. Tew figures could be more gratifying than these, for they prove that the Chinese Christians are seriously beginning to undertake the evangelization of their own people. And since China's millions can only be fully reached by a great increase of native agency, the fact that to an increase of 21 per cent in the missionary staff there has been given an increase of 130 per cent in the Chinese staft' is no small cause for joy. Further, the communicants have increased from 7700 to 21,000, no allowance being made for the many who during the seven years have gone to be with the Lord ; and the schools for children of Christian parents have also proportionately advanced from 83 to 216. That, without any appeal for funds, God should have moved His people so to give of their substance that the income steadily increased with the increasing demands, is wholly inexplicable on any other ground than that our Father knoweth what things we have need of. Faith has THE LAST SEVEN YEAES 73 been tested, self-denying economies have been practised, but the unfailing faithfulness of God has always been experienced. To reduce living facts to cold statistics is to rob them of much of their throbbing interest, but no report could contain the full story of all that these few figures signify. God alone knows how much the sowing in tears has meant before there has been this reaping in joy, and God alone knows how many tears have been wiped away from heathen faces, how much sighing and sadness has been banished from heathen homes, how much life has been gladdened and death robbed of its terrors, and how great has been the joy in the presence of the angels of God over sinners who have turned to repentance. Surely the toil of these years, the sorrow and suffering, the lives laid down in willing service, and all the self-denial of those who have contributed of their substance are not worthy to be compared with the salvation of immortal souls, and with the joy of Christ in seeing of the travail of His soul and being satisfied. Shall we not pray that this progress may be more than maintained in the years to come, and that those funds which are necessary for the efficient development of such a growing work may be constantly supplied ? And should not a consideration of these figures help us again to raise our " Ebenezer " and to declare our trust in our " Jehovah- Jireh " as we go forward in the sacrifice of service and of giving, seeking to do yet greater things for Him who hath loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and made us kings and priests unto God ? To Him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. MANY INFALLIBLE PEOOFS The following tables show the income of the C.I.M. as received in Great Britain, North America, Australasia, and China. All these moneys have been received in answer to prayer, without personal solicitation, or authorised collec- tions, or any appeal to man. The funds of the Associate Missions are not shown, as these are simply transmitted by the Mission to the Associate workers in the field. In presenting these tables to the public, the last thing that the Mission desires is any appearance of self-con- gratulation. The past has been all of grace, and the future, whatever that may be, must be the same. These figures, remarkable as they are, are not adduced as the basis for any theory, but rather as noteworthy confirmations of a policy undertaken depending upon a firmer foundation than man's experience, even the promises of God. The Christian has " many infallible proofs " far greater than these, yet these experiences of a Mission dating back, as the tables show, to January 1864, and to an even earlier date, if the facsimile of Mr. Hudson Taylor's cash book facing page 23 be noted, do at least demonstrate, if any human experience can demonstrate Divine things, the wisdom and safety of seek- ing first God's kingdom and His righteousness, believing that all things needful in so doing shall be added. Will every Christian who reads these lines earnestly pray that there may be no departure, on the part of the Mission, from that devotion and singleness of heart so characteristic of the founder and of those associated with him in the early days of the work. 74 MANY INFALLIBLE PEOOFS 75 INCOME RECEIVED IN GREAT BRITAIN UP TO DECEMBER 31, 1908 £ s. d. January 1864 51 14 0 January to December 1865 . 1,130 9 2 January to 25th May 1866 . 4,094 12 3 26th May 1866 to 25th May 1867 2,971 19 9 1867 „ 1868 3,358 3 9 1868 1869 4,102 19 4 1869 1870 3,912 11 1 1870 1871 3,711 2 6 1871 1872 3,205 1 2 1872 1873 3,373 18 10 1873 1874 4,426 3 7 1874 1875 7,311 15 7 1875 1876 8,119 14 2 1876 1877 7,726 17 11 1877 1878 8,644 9 0 1878 1879 9,983 11 11 1879 1880 8,692 11 2 1880 1881 10,054 5 11 1881 1882 9,436 0 9 1882 1883 13,233 13 3 1883 to December 1884 (19 months ) 26,179 8 2 January to December 1885 19,401 4 4 „ ,, 1886 21,366 16 3 1837 29,961 10 3 ,, ,, 1888 32,924 10 10 1889 48,662 19 3 ,, „ 1890 29,932 17 2 1891 26,188 4 0 1892 24,496 3 8 1893 32,178 14 6 1894 29,751 17 9 1895 33,775 5 0 „ ,, 1896 34,430 15 3 1897 37,521 4 4 1898 53,460 13 6 » ,, 1899 43,280 16 4 1900 42,149 15 3 „ ,, 1901 46,392 16 7 1902 51,446 10 7 1903 38,206 11 1 1904 42,026 7 5 1905 45,034 5 1 1906 45,370 18 9 1907 51,401 8 4 1908 51,159 15 1 £ 1,054,243 3 10 76 HAVE FAITH IN GOD INCOME RECEIVED IN NORTH AMERICA UP TO DECEMBER 31, 1908 Dollars. January to December 1888 3,389-55 >» ) 1889 1890 . 6,841-57 . 16,398-72 1891 . 17,014-85 1892 . 21,297-78 1893 . 20,823-66 >> I 1894 . 27,514-25 tt > 1895 . 33,320-41 »» > 1896 1897 . 31,878-33 . 35,912-52 t> ) 1898 . 35,097-45 1899 . 45,814-81 1900 . 40,693-70 1901 . 49,798-51 1902 . 61,437-14 1903 . 38,699-45 1904 . 46,579-02 >• > 1905 1906 . 51,786-22 . 65,488-19 »» > 1907 (including G. $10,541-33 for famine) 73,451-88 »> ' 1908 50,985-00 £154,844 12 0 = G. $774,223-01 INCOME RECEIVED IN AUSTRALASIA UP TO DECEMBER 31, 1908 • £ s. d. To 30th April 1891 2006 14 5 1892 2871 11 9 1893 1783 12 8 1894 2132 0 2 1895 2103 12 11 1896 2118 7 1 1897 2710 7 2 1898 3103 17 11 1899 (8 months) 3280 3 2 To 31st December 1900 4065 18 2 1901 2657 12 10 1902 3848 0 6 1903 3708 17 6 1904 3667 16 8 1905 3225 11 0 1906 (including £70 : 5 : 0 for famine) . . 3799 18 4 1907 (including £2606 : 10 : 2 for famine) . 7163 3 8 1908 6309 9 6 £60,556 15 5 MANY INFALLIBLE PEOOFS 77 INCOME RECEIVED IN CHINA UP TO DECEMBER 31, 1908 £ s. (/. From Beginning to May 1876 2,200 0 0 May 1876 to May 1877 123 3 2 „ 1877 ,, 1878 109 13 4 „ 1878 ,, 1879 717 19 0 July 1879 to March 1880 408 17 11 April 1880 ,, 1881 916 19 4 ,, 1881 „ 1882 1260 9 11 „ 1882 ,, 1883 1349 10 1 ,, 1883 ,, 1885 1192 0 10 To December 1885 1002 4 2 1886 1057 16 2 1887 3756 1 0 1888 1770 5 8 1889 2702 4 2 1890 1732 10 6 1891 5146 5 2 1892 5385 15 3 1893 3832 11 1 1894 2627 10 6 1895 3713 8 10 1896 2813 10 0 1897 1952 1 3 1898 1876 0 8 „ 1899 2604 3 11 1900 5267 8 8 1901 2633 10 10 1902 1411 13 3 1903 2100 7 0 1904 2647 14 9 „ 1905 3002 7 4 „ 1906 2688 9 5 ,, 1907 (including £2371 : 16 : 5 for famine) . . 6605 0 0 „ 1908 4017 16 5 £80,625 9 j; N.B. — These amounts do not include moneys simply trausmitted for Associates. SUMMARY OF TOTALS, APART FROM ASSOCIATE FUNDS £ s. d. Great Britain 1,054,243 3 10 North America 154,844 12 0 Australasia ' . . 60,556 15 5 China 80,625 9 7 Total . . £1,350,270 0 10 78 HAVE FAITH IN GOD These tables, which aggregate a total of £1,350,270 contributed to the C.I.M. from the commencement of the work, apart from the funds of the Associate workers, of whom there are 198, are but the briefest summaries of countless thousands of mercies. Every year thousands of separate gifts are received, all the spontaneous and voluntary offering of the donors and thus specially acceptable to Him who loveth the cheerful giver. Eternity alone will reveal the many prayers of faith and the many gifts of faith which have contributed to the situation represented by these tables. The consideration of them humbles the writer and will probably do the same with many a reader. They seem to echo the words of the Master to His disciples of old, " Why are ye so fearful ? " " How is it that ye have no faith ? " Truly we are called upon to " Have faith in God," "to attempt great things for God and expect great things from God," for even " if we are faithless, He abideth faithful ; for He cannot deny Himself" If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, Let Israel now say ; If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, Then the waters had overwhelmed us, The stream had gone over our soul : Blessed be the Lord, ... Our help is in the name of the Lord, Who made heaven and earth. THE END Printed by R. & R. Clark, Limited, Edinburgh. Th.e follo'wing books are all published by the China Inland Mission, Newington Green, London, N., and Morgan & Scott, Ltd., 12 Paternoster Buildings, London, E.G. CHINA. " Too much cannot be written about China by those who are in a position to add to our knowledge of the country and its people from actual observation, or who have taken the pains to acquire information on the subject and set it forth in a convenient and instructive manner." — Geographical Journal, April 1908. JUST PUBLISHED. Price 10/6 net. Atlas of the Chinese Empire (23 A/a/Js /■/? 4 Colours, Full opening, 13 inches by 17^^ inches.) With an Index to all the Names on the Maps and a List of all Protestant Mission Stations, etc. All Telegraph Stations, Pro- testant Mission Stations, Railways, Treaty Ports, and each City's rank, etc., etc., are clearly indicated by separate marks or type. SPECIALLY PREPARED BY Mr. EDWARD STANFORD FOR THE CHINA INLAND MISSION. This Atlas has received the recommendation of the War Office. The Royal Geographical Society's Journal sajys: " To all who are interested in China from a missionary point of view, or who are concerned with the commercial development of the country, this Atlas cannot fail to be of the greatest value. The maps are entirely new, and have been compiled with great care. The price of the Atlas, ros. 6d. , is remarkably low, considering the amount of time and labour the production has entailed." The Spectator says: "This is a very valuable addition to our knowledge of Eastern Geography — an incidental advantage, by the way, that we get from the work of Missions. We can know more about China than we do of France, which still in the ordinary Atlas is represented by a single map." The London and China Telegraph sajs: " An admirable series of accurate and most useful maps, which has advanced our knowledge much beyond the information available when Bretschneider made his excellent maps of China." Published by the Chitia Inland Mission, London, Philadelphia., Toronto^ Melbourne, and Shanghai. Also by Morgan dr' Scott, Ltd., in London, England. Just Published. Price 21/- A New Wall Map of China MOUNTED ON CANVAS AND ROLLERS OR TO FOLD IN BOOK FORM. (Size 3 ft. 7 in. X 2 ft II in.) This Map is an entirely New work, based on the latest surveys, including those of the late Lieut. J. Brooke, only received in the Spring of 1909. The Spelling is that adopted by the Chinese Imperial Post and Telegraph Department. All Telegraph Stations, Protestant Mission Stations — of all Societies, European or American, etc. — all Railways, Treaty Ports, etc., are shown by special marks ; and the rank of each city is made clear by variations in type. A Complete Index, with latitude and longitude of every place marked on the Map — about 7000 in all — is sold with the Map. SPECIALLY PREPARED BY Mr. EDWARD STANFORD FOR THE CHINA INLAND MISSION China Inland Mission, Newingion Green, London. 2 THE MARCHES OF THE MANTZE. By J. H. EDGAR. Being an account of the Missionary Situation on the Chinese Tibetan Border. "X jQ post free. The Friend says: "Geographically, historically, and religiously there is much fresh interest in this volume. " The Shanghai Mercury says: "A most interesting account of a little- known region." The Geographical Journal says : " Miscellaneous notes on the interest- ing frontier region between China and Tibiet proper by a missionary who knows it well. Mr. Ekigar's account wiU be new to most readers." THE REVIVAL IN A\ANCHURIA. 6d. By Rev. JAMES WEBSTER. 6d. ' ' A booklet full of the most thrilling interest, and calculated to do much good." 1/6 MY FATHER'S BUSINESS; i/s «*'• or, «^^- The Life and Work of Agnes Gibson. By MARIAN H. FISHE. Preface fay Rev. J. STUART HOLDEN, M.A. ' ' No one can read it without wonderment, nor lay it down without praise — and prayer." — From the Rev. J. Stuart Holden's Preface. EYE GATE; or, Native Arts in the Evangelization of China. By Dr. WILLIAM WILSON. Chinese Picture Postcards. Published by the China Inland Mission, London, Philadelphia, Toronto, Melbourne, and Shanghai. Also by Morgan ^ Scott, Ltd., in London, England. 3 Pastor Hsit Confucian Scholar and Christian. By Mrs. HOWARD TAYLOR. 3/6 net, two volumes in one. 1/6 each, bound in paper. 70|000 cojiies of these books have already been issued. The Sword and Trowel says: • ' We cannot too highly praise this most remarkable volume. Nothing more fascinating and inspiring to the devout reader can be imagined." The Missionary Record of the United Free Church of Scotland says : "This is a book of exceptional interest, and well deserves the attentive perusal of every student of Missions. " The Church Missionary Gleaner says ' ' Its perusal must move many hearts to pray fervently that scores of such Spirit-filled men and women may be raised up. " The Record says : "The fascinating story of a beautiful life." The Methodist Times says: • ' We have never read a more wonderful or beautiful missionary story than this." Dr. Horton says: "An amazing commentary on the Gospel narrative." Dr. A. T. Pierson: ' ' The story of Pastor Hsi ; the most wonderful book on record on this subject (demon possession) 1 have seen." Rev. F. B. Meyer, B.A.: "Pastor Hsi's Biography, by Mrs. Howard Taylor, will rank with Dr. Paton and Gilmour's lives as indispensable to all missionary libraries. It is absorbingly interesting, and very stimulating to pra)'er, consecration, and faith." Published by the China Inlajid Mission, Lo}ido?j, Philadelphia, Toronto, Melbourne, and Shatighai. Also by Morgan ^ Scott, Ltd., in London, England. 4 By MARSHALL BROOMHALL, B.A. 2« PIONEER WORK IN HUNAN, ^j Church of Scotland Magazine says : "No story of the Spanish Main, or of Hawkins or Drake or Frobisher, is more enthralhng." PRESENT-DAY CONDITIONS IN IS. CHINA. is. post post free. Notes designed to show the Moral and Spiritual Claims free. of the Chinese Empire. 3VITH DIAGRAMS, MAPS, AND ILLUSTRATIONS. «<<■ DOCTOR LEE. e**- net. net. Preface by WALTER B. SLOAN. A Remarkable Story of a Chinese Christian Doctor. Neatly bound in cream cloth, and three-colour design. Martyred Missionaries of the C.I.M. 2/6 net. AND 2/6 net. Last Letters of Martyred Missionaries. 2/6 2/6 In Memoriam : J. Hudson Taylor. 1/6 net. 1/6 net. PASTOR HSrS CONVERSION. 6d. net. By Mrs. HOWARD TAYLOR. 6d. net. Eight Chapters from *' Pastor Hsi, Scholar and Christian." Neatly bound in cream cloth and three-colour design. A Large Supply of Booklets at Id., 2d. and upwards. China's Millions — The Mission's Organ — Id. Monthly. Pnblished bythe Chz?ia /nhi7id Missioji, London., PJdladelphia, Torojito, Melbourne., and Shanghai. Also by Morgan Ssr= Scott, Ltd., In London, England. 5 THE CHINA INLAND MISSION Foimder—'Y\ie. late Rev. J. Hudson Taylor, M.R.C.S. General Director — D. E. HOSTE. London, England . Philadelphia, U.S.A. Toronto, Canada . Melbourne, Australia Home Offices of the Mission Newington Green. 1329 Walnut Street. 507 Church Street. 267 Collins Street. All Donations or Correspondence should be addressed to the Secretary at any of the addresses given above, who will gladly give any information about the Mission which may be desired, and from whom China's Millions, the organ of the Mission, or China and the Gospel, the official Report, may be obtained. Telegraphic Address. The registered Telegraphic Address of the China Inland Mission at Shanghai, and all stations in China at which there are Telegraph Offices, also at Philadelphia, Toronto, and Melbourne, is INLAND. At London and Glasgow alone, the Telegraphic Address is LAMMERMUIR. Form of Bequest. / bequeath to the China Inland Mission (Office, ''"New- iNGTON Green, London, N.), the S2ivi of. ,free of Legacy duty ; and I direct that this sum be paid to the Tj'easurer for the time being of the said Mission, whose receipt shall be a sufficient discharge for the same. * To be altered according to the country. 6 01 2 01082 0431 Date Due 'l 'iliiT T"" n ■! ■wimi' W*i«^io 1 1 ^K^*— ^ 1 1 1 ->^--^ yT IS^ ' '*■ ■ ^^-^-^-v.^ 1 i ' 1 i 1 1 ! i 1 i \ ! i 1 ^