HUDSON TAYLOR The man who believed God by Marshall Broomhall

UNTO THE LORD 23!
accomplishment of his life-long desire, namely, the
missionary occupation of the last province of China to
be opened to the Gospel. And here he was to render up
his spirit to God who gave it.
It was Thursday afternoon, the first of June, when
Changsha was reached. Friday was spent in rest and in
visiting parts of this famous city, including the site for
the new hospital. On Saturday morning he spoke to the
Chinese Christians assembled in the Chapel; in the afternoon
he was present at a reception, given in the garden,
to the missionary community of the city; and in the
evening, after twilight had fallen, "in less time than it
takes to write it", he was granted a swift entry into life
immortal. The weary, worn-out warrior had found rest.
And the translation was so sudden that it hardly seemed
like death. He was not, for God took him.
And how wonderful, even dramatic, it all seemed!
There could have been no more fitting spot in the whole
world where he should breathe his last than in Changsha,
the capital of the province which had been the last, and
most resolute, in resisting the entrance of the Gospel.
That he should finish his course there, represented, in
splendid outline at least, the idea for which he had given
his life, and for which he had built up the China Inland
Mission. And it was as beautiful as it was becoming that
the Hunan Christians should insist on providing the
coffin for this Apostle of China. They had hoped that his
dust might have been mingled with the soil of their
province, but as his grave was to be at Chinkiang, beside
his beloved wife and children, they would take no refusal
in the matter of providing the best cask.et that could be
purchased in the city.
In the English cemetery at Chinldang, beside his dear
ones, at the foot of the green hills near to the mighty ··