HUDSON TAYLOR The man who believed God by Marshall Broomhall

178 THE MAN WHO BELIEVED GOD
and affairs of life, as well as in all work for Christ and for
eternity, it is God's will for each child of His that 'Whatsoever
he doeth shall prosper'."
If this prosperity were not experienced by every
child of God he believed there was therein a call for self·
examination, for prosperity was promised, and should
be claimed. But the conditions must be fulfilled.
"The Word of God", he wrote, "shows clearly that abiding
is the condition of fruitfulness, of bearing much fruit,
and fruit that shall remain (unlike that blown from the tree
ere it ripens and comes to perfection) ....
"The distinction between fruit and works is important.
Works do not show the character of the worker, but only his
skill; a bad man may make a good chair. Works, again, may
be good and useful, but do not propagate themselves. Fruit,
on the contrary, reveals the character of the fruit-bearer,
and has its seed in itself-is reproductive."
This passage is not only an illustration of his powers
of exposition, but it is a key to his own life's story, especially
to the unsought development of his world-wide
ministry. This was fruit for which he had not consciously
laboured. And it was unexpectedly abundant,
and fruit to abide. Jacob's prophecy concerning Joseph
was fulfilled in his case:
"Joseph is a fruitful bough,
A fruitful bough by a fountain;
His branches run over the wall."
In the same year as the Hundred sailed, a pressing
invitation arrived in England urging that Hudson Taylor
should visit North America. The invitation came
first by letter, then by a visit in person of Mr. Henry W.
Frost. The support of men like Mr. Moody, Mr. Blackstone,
Dr. Pierson, Dr. Gordon, and Dr. Brookes was