HUDSON TAYLOR The man who believed God by Marshall Broomhall

146 THE MAN WHO BELIEVED GOD
"Let us urge the reader solemnly to consider the weighty
facts contam.ed in the following pages, and whatever his
hand findetli to do, to do it with his might; for not only is
the night coming, in which no man can work, but opportunities--precious
opportunities--are fast passing away, never
to recur. [And then referring to the rebuilding of temples
after the rebellion, he continues.] And wounded hearts, that
might have joyfully accepted the message of God's love, are
tm:ning again to the wretched husks which Satan-less dull
to see, and less slow to improve his opportunities--is again
foisting upon them."
When Hudson Taylor penned those words: "On, on
to do my Father's business", he gave vent to more than
a pious expression, for at the same time he pulled up the
tent-pegs of his own home at Hangchow, and set forth
with wife and family for the heart of China. As leader he
took his place in the vanguard.
The tedious battle with difficulties which followed his
arrival on the Y angtse cannot be told in detail. After
wearying and fruitless negotiations over some thirty
houses in Yangchow, one was at length rented on July
17, 1868, and Hudson Taylor and family, with thankful
hearts, took possession. Midsummer heat in the Valley
of the Y angtse is distressing enough, without the added
burden of house-hunting. But difficulties at Chinkiang
were more formidable than at Yangchow owing to the
bitterly anti-foreign animosity of the local Mandarin.
Not only did he rebuff all Hudson Taylor's efforts to
secure premises, but he checlapated the kindly offices
of the British Consul. His success in frustrating the
foreigner soon became the talk of the tea-shops, and that
encouraged the baser sort at Y angchow to plot the ejection
of the newly-arrived missionary party.
It is not- possible in a few words to convey any adequate
sense of the acute anxiety of the weeks that fol-