HUDSON TAYLOR The man who believed God by Marshall Broomhall

188 THE MAN WHO BELIEVED GOD
This related largely to the reasons for adopting the
Chinese dress and Chinese mode of life. As some paragraphs
of this moving article have been already quoted
(see pages 124-5) we must refrain from reproducing
more, as we desire to refer to some even more striking
articles published during 1885 in China's Millions.
They are of priceless value, but our quotations must be
brief, and selected to illustrate the theme of this chapter:
The Design of God.
Under the title The Secret of Success the article proceeds
to show how, after man's vain struggle for deliverance
for four thousand years, "God undertook to
save-at His own time, in His own way, by Himself
alone, and for His own glory".
"Well may we ask when and how did He come, and how
did He undertake His mighty and glorious task? Did He
come when earth's brightest sun was shining with all its
noontide splendour, and pale its glories by His own superior
effulgence, while the awe-struck nobles of the earth vied with
each other in welcoming Him with more than royal honours?
No! In the quiet hours of the night, without pomp, and without
observation, the Lord of glory stole, as it were, unseen
into this sin-stricken world ....
"The Wisdom of God, and the Power of God, has undertaken
our deliverance, and in order to accomplish it He
seeks no alliance with the wisdom, the wealth, the nobility
of earth, but intelligentlytakes the lowest place, as that best
adapted for carrying out His purposes of love and grace ....
"Have we learned this lesson? Are we willing to learn it?
'As the Father hath sent Me into the world, even so send I
you.' Or are we going to repeat the oft-made experimentwhich
always has failed, and always must fail-of trying to
improve upon God's plan? The poverty and weakness- of
apostolic missions necessitated reliance on God alone, and
issued in wondrous success, and in modern missions it will invariably
be found that in proportion to the non-reliance on