HUDSON TAYLOR The man who believed God by Marshall Broomhall

THE INCREASE OF GOD 179
promised. But Hudson Taylor did not see his way to
respond.
"The Lord has given me no light", he said. "I do not
think it is His purpose thus to extend the work."
But an independent invitation coming from Mr.
Moody, and another from Dr. W. J. Erdman, caused him
to reconsider the matter, and at length to promise that
he would return to China via America and speak at the
Northfield and Niagara Conventions.
On June 23, 1888, therefore, Hudson Taylor, accompanied
by his son Howard and Mr. and Mrs. Radcliffe,
set sail from Liverpool little knowing what was
before them. One thing they did know, and that was
that God's way was perfect.
"God Himself is at the helm," wrote Hudson Taylor,
"ordering all things after the counsel of His own will. He has
a plan, and He is carrying it out; He has a throne, and that
throne rules over all. Our strength then is to 'sit still', and
look on-it may be with wonder, it may be with awe-but
to look on with reverential trust, knowing that 'as for God,
His way is perfect'."
At the Annual Meetings in London, shortly before he
sailed, he had said: "God is moving, are we also moving?
Are we ready to go on with Him?" He was to find these
words more timely than he had imagined, for, of the
three months which followed in America it is impossible,
in brief space, to give any adequate description. Great
and enthusiastic gatherings were held both in the States
and in Canada. There was an immense concourse of
students at Northfield, and these were deeply impressed
by Hudson Taylor's messages. It wa~ the same at Chicago,
and at Niagara-on-the-Lake. But still the thought
of founding a centre for the China Inland Mission was