HUDSON TAYLOR The man who believed God by Marshall Broomhall

8 THE MAN WHO BELIEVED GOD
"From that hour", to quote his mother's words, "his
mind was made up. His pursuits and studies were all
engaged in with reference to this object, and whatever
difficulties presented themselves his purpose never
wavered."
In these two outstanding experiences lay, in large
measure, the secret of the life which followed. In one
way or another all God's prophets have received, as their
preparation for their life's work, first the vision of God
Himself, and then the sense of call. Thus, and thus only,
can a man be qualified for any task which surpasses
human powers. It is from such an audience with the
King of kings, and from the commission then received,
that the power for a life of exacting service, and maybe
of suffering and death, proceeds. To understand the life
of Hudson Taylor aright these early and all-important
experiences must be fully appreciated. They were crucial.
They were the inspiration of every subsequent enterprise,
and the ground of his unaltered and unshaken
confidence.
But these initial experiences, though vital, were but
the beginning of an ever-deepening and extending knowledge
of God which accompanied and followed every
fresh adventure of faith. None the less, these early
realizations of God, and of God's call, would have been
improbable, if not impossible, apart from his ancestry.
That his mind and heart were ready are a proof of his
godly heritage. There would, for instance, have been no
Samuel but for Hannah's prayers; no Moses but for
Amram and Jochebed, who were not afraid of the king's
commandment; and no Apostle Paul had he not been
able to say: "I thank God Whom I serve from my forefathers".
All this Hudson Taylor himself acknowledged when