HUDSON TAYLOR The man who believed God by Marshall Broomhall

THE AUDACITY OF FAITH 133
It was this determination to see God only in every
trial, and not to look at second causes, that was his
strength. It was his faith in God over all, through all,
and in all, that gave him the victory. And ·he was prepared
to wait God's time of deliverance, believing, to
quote a quaint expression of one of the PilgrilJl Fathers:
"God outshoots Satan oftentimes in his own bow."
It is easy to read such words, but they fundamentally
affect the life of the man who believes them. And
Hudson Taylor did believe them. It was the audacity of
faith in tribulation. Such trials and such opposition only
spurred him to fresh effort to advance God's Kingdom.
The best defence was to advance. And from the beginning
he had laid his plans for such advance. In his
own words:
"All the operations of the Mission are systematic and
methodical; and in accordance with, and integral parts of,
one general and comprehensive plan for the evangelization of
the whole of China."
Here was an ;mdacious plan indeed. To those who
did not know the secret of his mind he was accused of
encouraging "aimless wanderings". But he had not
studied the map of China so long in vain. His policy
from the first was to seek an opening in the capital of a
province, though it was well known that that was the
most difficult place in which to gather a Church. His
next step w11s to open stations in the prefectures, and
then in subordinate cities. The chief reasons for this
procedure were that the subordinate officials would be
afraid and unfriendly if the higher officials had not
countenanced the foreigner, and it W