HUDSON TAYLOR The man who believed God by Marshall Broomhall

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THE MAN WHO BELIEVED GOD
him to China. But Gutzlaff, though Hudson Taylor
called him the grandfather of the China Inland Mission,
was no builder. He could, and did, profoundly stimulate
others, but his own attempts at organization signally
failed. But in Hudson Taylor, God combined in a remarkable
degree the daring of the innovator with the
constructive gifts of the statesman. He was bold without
being rash, eager but vigilant, confident but prudent,
venturesome but yet far-sighted.
The man who dares to violate custom, to break
through precedents, to brave the censure of the world~
must also possess strong creative faculties, or he may
seem a mere fanatic. It demands rare courage to do
what no one else has done before, but it needs courage
mixed with prudence, or enthusiasm may run riot. Hudson
Taylor possessed both qualities. He did not fear to
be peculiar. Writing on the implicit obedience demanded
of the Nazarite, he said:
"God claims the right to determine the personal appearance
of His servants .... To many minds there is the greatest
shrinking from appearing peculiar; but God would often have
His people unmistakably peculiar .... While we are not to
seek to be peculiar for its own sake, we are not to hesitate to
be so when duty to God renders it necessary, or when the
privilege of self-denial for the benefit of others calls for it."
And so we find him as a pioneer adopting Chinese
dress, conforming to Chinese customs and modes of life,
travelling native fare, encouraging single women to live
in the interior of China, refusing to appeal for funds,
establishing schools for missionaries' children in the
field instead of at home, developing business departments
within the Mission to facilitate the supply of temporal
needs, building interdenominationally and internationally,
and in other ways departing from precedents.