HUDSON TAYLOR The man who believed God by Marshall Broomhall

54 THE MAN WHO BELIEVED GOD
Here we see that sane and healthy balance of judgment
and character which made Hudson Taylor such a
spiritual and practical builder. In this he was like the
Apostle Paul, who, when shipwrecked, could say, "Sirs,
be of good cheer, for I believe God", and yet, at the
same time, warned the centurion when the sailors sought
to desert the vessel, "Except these abide in the ship ye
cannot be saved". To Paul the technical help the sailors
alone could give was not inconsistent with faith in God.
As already mentioned, Hudson Taylor had reached
Woosung, on Wednesday, March I, 1854. But it was not
until 5 P.M. on the same day that he landed at Shanghai,
a stranger in a strange land. Inevitably it was a day of
deep and varied emotions.
"My feelings on stepping ashore", he wrote, "I cannot
attempt to describe. My heart felt ~ though it had not
room and must burst its bonds, while tears of gratitude and
thankfulness fell from my eyes."
But there were stern and sobering facts to face, and
that without delay, for the day was already far spent.
He had landed unwelcomed, for there was no one to meet
him, nor had he any friends anywhere. This was the
more serious since he had learned from the pilot that
England was on the brink of the Crimean War, that
Shanghai was in the hands of rebels, that the city was
invested by an imperial army of fifty thousand men,
that food was at famine prices, and that the cost of the
dollar had already risen from four to nearly seven shillings,
and was still soaring no one knew whither.
These were not encouraging prospects for a lonely
youth, not yet twenty-two years of age. But as he had
three letters of introduction, he made immediate in~
quiries concerning those to whom they were addressed.
He learned that one of these was dead, another had left