HUDSON TAYLOR The man who believed God by Marshall Broomhall

46 THE MAN WHO BELIEVED GOD
would give all the world for a faith like yours". And who
can say how timely that testimony was, for these two
never met again. A sudden stroke, followed by a brief
period of helpless waiting in the country, and the
doctor's last call came. "I cannot but entertain the
hope", wrote Hudson Taylor, "that the Master was
speaking to him through His dealings with me, and that
I shall meet him in the Better Land."
Meanwhile, Hudson Taylor had gone home to Barnsley,
where his joy in God's deliverance was so great that
he was unable to keep the facts to himself. One result of
making the secret of his past life known to his mother
was that he was not allowed to live again in London on
the same frugal lines, and indeed he was not equal to it.
By the end of January, 1853, he was back again in
London, where he soon obtained a post as assistant to
a surgeon living at St. Mary Axe, Bishopsgate. This not
only brought him within easy reach of the Hospital, but
it afforded him the comforts of home life after his
bachelor-like experiences in Hull and London, which
had extended now to some fifteen months. The friends
at Tottenham also gladly welcomed him whenever he
could spare the time to visit them. But unexpected
developments were at hand.
In China the Taiping Rebellion had broken out and
gave great promise of being a real crusade against
idolatry. Its leader, Hung Siu-ts'iien, a disappointed
student, but a professed convert to Christianity, having
persuaded his followers that he had received special revelations
from Heaven, organized them into communities
which observed the Sabbath, forbade idolatry,
banned opium-smoking, and offered prayers in the name
of Christ. He printed and circulated a special edition of
the Bible, on the cover of which he had emblazoned his