Missions Monday

Missions Monday

Posted by Ashley Hoover

Hudson Taylor-Part 5

by Florence Huntington Jensen

(Part 4 here)

  It was not long after this that he went to London for further preparation. He had very little money, and met with some difficulties, but in due time he found a hospital where he could continue his studies. His lodging-place was a long distance from the hospital, and he could not afford to ride on the omnibus, so he had plenty of exercise going back and forth. He also had chances to exercise his faith.

As an act of kindness to Mrs. Finch, who had rented him his room at "Drainside," Taylor went to the shipping company for which Mr. Finch worked, and obtained his wages, which he sent to Mrs. Finch, saving her the cost of the commission which would have been charged if the money had been forwarded by the company.

Being especially in need of money at one time, she asked him to send the monthly salary as early as possible. Taylor was very busy at the time, and rather than spend a day in going to the city he sent money of his own, expecting to replace it when he should draw his pay. When he went to the company and asked for the money, the clerk said, "In looking this matter up, I find that the officer whose pay you wish to draw has run away from the ship and gone to the gold-diggings. Therefore, we have no money of his to be drawn."

"Well, that is very inconvenient for me, as I have already advanced the money and I know his wife will have no means of repaying it." The clerk could do nothing for him, and it was indeed a test, but he placed his trust in God.

  It was not long until there was another faith test. He pricked his finger one day while sewing some sheets of paper together for a note book to use in the lecture room. The next day he helped dissect the body of some one who had died with a very dangerous fever. He had forgotten all about the finger-prick until he felt himself becoming tired and sick. The poison from the dead body had entered his system through that tiny needle-prick and the surgeon said, "Go home and arrange your affairs as quickly as possible, for you are a dead man."

Hudson Taylor told the surgeon that the thought of being with his Lord very soon filled him with joy, "but," he added, "I do not think I shall die, for unless I am much mistaken I have work to do in China; and if so, however severe the struggle, I must be brought through."

"That is all very well," said the surgeon, who did not believe in God, "but get a carriage and drive home as soon as possible. You have no time to lose, for you will soon be incapable of winding up your affairs."

  When he reached his room he bathed his hand in hot water, and while doing this, talked to the servant about salvation. He was "instant in season, out of season," always watching for an opportunity to say something for Jesus. The doctor who was called to see him told him there was a chance of his pulling through if he had been living simply. "But," he said, "if you have been going in for beer and that kind of thing, there is no manner of chance for you." For some time his meals consisted of brown bread and water, which was about as simple as the diet of the Hebrew children in Babylon, and the plain food worked well in both cases.

When the worst of the disease was over and he was slowly recovering, he was told of the death of two fellow-students who had worked with him in the dissecting room that day. God had work for Hudson Taylor to do and had spared his life. He was advised to take a trip to the country, but had not the necessary money. As usual, he took the matter to the Lord in prayer and God answered in an unexpected way...

Copied by Stephen Ross for WholesomeWords.org from Hearts Aflame by Florence Huntington Jensen. Waukesha, Wisc.: Metropolitan Church Assn., ©1932.