HUDSON TAYLOR The man who believed God by Marshall Broomhall

XVI
THE AUDACITY OF FAITH
ON Saturday, May 26, r866, Hudson Taylor, his wife
and four children, together with one married couple,
five single men, and nine unmarried women, a party of
twenty-two in all, set sail for China in the Lammermuir,
a three-masted sailing ship of 760 tons burden. To all
but Mr. and Mrs. Hudson Taylor, the Land of Sinim was
an unknown country. They were going out, not knowing
whither they went. They had no one at home to guarantee
them support; they had no one in China to welcome
them; they had no home ready to receive them;
there were no unmarried European women anywhere in
China away from the ports; and yet there were nine unmarried
women in the party, and all were destined to
the interior of an anti-foreign country. It was a daring
adventure, without precedent, and certain of criticism.
To many such audacity was wiwise, to others it was
presumption, and to some, especially in Shanghai, reckless
folly, and calling for official intervention. But in
Hudson Taylor burned the flame of a passionate belief,
and from such master-passions come "the great
miracles of action in history". He knew his God, was .
strong, and did exploits. He believed, to quote his own
words, "in the wisdom, as well as the: blessedness, of
literally obeying the Scriptures", and was prepared to
stake his all upon them. He was assured that "the eyes
of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth,
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