HUDSON TAYLOR The man who believed God by Marshall Broomhall

THE MAN HIMSELF
2II
"I am quite sure", he said, in the course of that sermon,
"we cannot obey the command of God with regard to China,
and yet any other country be left unblessed. For the field is ,
the whole world, and the heart of God is so large that no part
of the world is outside His thought."
As he had refused, in his paper read before the 1877
Conference, to discuss the relative value of itinerant and
localized missionary work, any more than he would discuss
the relative merits of land and water, mountain and
plain, so now in his sermon he could say:
"The great Commission which our Master has given us is
expressed in several different ways .... The different wordings
... are all to be considered, the plans of service that He
leads us to adopt are to be diverse in their methods and kinds,
and very inclusive.
"I do not know of any kind of missionary work in China,
and I have never heard of any, on which the Lord's blessing
has not rested, or cannot rest, and in which we may not hope
to see great enlargement."
Only a generous-minded, large-hearted man could
have spoken thus, especially when he felt called to emphasize
widespread evangelism. Though he knew that
there were those who criticized his line of work, he
would not, and he did not, criticize others. He had no
desire to stand aloof, but rejoiced in fellowship and cooperation.
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"Our blessed Lord", he said, "fully realized His oneness
with His disciples and their oneness with Him. He would do
nothing independently of them, and I think there is a lesson
for us to learn, that we should not work independently of one
another. If our Lord worked through His disciples, and
would not work independently, how closely should we be
knit together, and with what practical co-operative oneness
do the work He has given us to do."