Hudson Taylor: More Precious Than Rubies

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[00:02:10] In this episode we're covering part two of the life of Hudson Taylor, the father of the China Inland Mission. Before we start part two, I want to make a couple of announcements. Number one, thank you to Steven and Whitney for joining us on Patreon.

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[00:03:33] And we're going to dive right into Hudson Taylor. When we last left him, he was sick and feeling pretty awful and stressed out after six years of being in China, doing full time nonstop ministry.

[00:03:46] And so he set sail with his wife Maria and I believe their daughter Grace. And in the summer of 1860, he heads back to England. Now, before he heads back, he gets news from his sister Louisa that she has decided to

[00:04:00] become a Christian, which is really encouraging to him because she's kind of a stubborn individual. And so once she put her mind to something, she wasn't going to change her mind. So he had great hope that she would have a very faith filled life.

[00:04:15] And he needed that encouragement because the boat ride to England was abysmal. Basically, everything that could go wrong went wrong outside of a shipwreck. The captain was a monster. Hudson had dysentery and Maria had gastrointestinal issues and they also had bed

[00:04:34] bugs. The only saving grace to this trip was that it was shorter. So instead of being six to seven months long, it was four months long. Still seems like a long time, but to them, I'm sure it was a mercy.

[00:04:48] One of the people they brought along with them on this trip back was a Chinese convert named Wang Lijun and he came with them to help them with any translation work that was needed and then also to help any of the new missionaries that he hoped would be

[00:05:02] interested in joining them learn Chinese. When they arrived back in England, they lived with his sister Amelia and her new husband, Benjamin Broomhall. They are an integral part of basically of Hudson's life and we'll see more of them not this episode, but the next episode.

[00:05:19] And you'll hear about some of the incredible ways in which they were indispensable. His sister Louisa is also living with the Broomhalls and when she sees them, she is dismayed by their lack of fashion.

[00:05:32] By their lack of fashion, they're six to seven years out of date and she takes one look at them and takes them to a department store and gets them looking London ready. And after they are London ready, Hudson goes to the doctor and he gets some pretty bad

[00:05:48] news. His liver, his digestion and his immune system are all shot. And the doctor says, if you go back to China and I think that's a really bad idea, but if you go back to China, more than likely it'll be a very long time from now.

[00:06:05] But I say you shouldn't go. So Hudson takes this news and he thinks, well, if I can't go back, then I will help those who can. But he wasn't giving up on the idea that he could.

[00:06:16] He just figured, why would I twiddle my thumbs when I can be working on things? And so he works on translating hymn books and books into Chinese and then articles on China. And then he works with another guy to help reprint and revise the New Testament

[00:06:32] into the Romanized Chinese script. And then if you'll remember, before he leaves to China, he gets asked by his old missions board if he would like to pursue his diploma and become a recognized member of the Royal College of Surgeons.

[00:06:47] And he turns them down because he doesn't want to become an academic and he wants to get there on the ground in China. But he changes his mind because he realizes there is power in being a fully recognized

[00:06:59] surgeon, much like there is power in being a recognized reverend. And so he decides that people can call him reverend, which he vehemently opposed before this point. And it just confused people. And then he decides to go and get his diploma to become a surgeon.

[00:07:15] So that way people don't look at him and go, well, you're kind of halfway a doctor. But what are what are you doing? So that diploma is going to take him about two to three years.

[00:07:26] And so while he's working on that, they move houses and they end up getting one that's really close to the hospital. And then while they're there, their first son, Herbert Hudson Taylor, is born.

[00:07:38] Before he ever left to go back to England, he asked his parents if they could pray that the Lord would send five new missionaries to China. And the first of those five missionaries was a man named James Meadows and his fiance Martha. Now, William Berger, who is phenomenal.

[00:07:56] Honestly, the ministry that Hudson did would be impossible without William Berger. He was a very wealthy businessman who wanted to use his wealth in a way that would promote missions. And he really, really loved Hudson Taylor.

[00:08:10] And so throughout Hudson's story, William Berger pops up again and again and again. And so he's an he's absolutely amazing. And you'll hear his name multiple more times, but he actually pays for the Meadows trip to go back to China in January of 1862.

[00:08:27] And then William Parker heads back on this same boat. William Parker had been running the hospital in Ningbo. And then when his wife died, he takes the kids and heads back to England. But now he is remarried. And so he's heading back over to China as well.

[00:08:41] In July of 1862, Hudson becomes a brand new surgeon. He's completed his degree. And while he's been working on that, he's also been touring around with what is essentially the precursor to the Keswick conventions called Middle May or something like that. I'm not entirely sure.

[00:08:59] But they're a movement that is born out of the Plymouth Brethren or the Brethren movement that Hudson was heavily involved with before he left for China. And they have this kind of ecumenical stance in the sense that not everybody but

[00:09:16] Protestants and their kind of motto was all one in Christ. And Hudson speaks at a lot of these throughout the years. The first official Keswick convention that kind of replaced these precursors was in 1875.

[00:09:30] And then here's kind of a fun fact that I came across, and I'm not sure that I knew this before. It's possible that I did and I forgot. It's in the Amy Carmichael episode that I did way long time ago.

[00:09:41] But in 1887, Amy Carmichael hears Hudson speak at one of these Keswick conventions and then dedicates her life to missions. Now that I'm thinking about it, I probably mentioned that because it's a huge deal. But I don't remember. So I'm saying it again.

[00:09:56] Hudson Taylor was ecumenical in the fact that he worked within a variety of Protestant denominations, whether that's Methodist or Presbyterian or other Baptists. He wasn't picky, but he didn't work with heretics. And you had to agree on the basic principles of Christianity.

[00:10:12] But he wasn't going to let denominational stances stand in the way of people hearing the gospel in China. So he went to wherever he was asked to speak and with a variety of churches and Protestant missions orgs.

[00:10:25] And then while he's doing this, he also receives his license to become a midwife. And then after he does that, he's able to assist in a formal capacity with the birth of his second son, Frederick Howard Taylor, whose name you probably recognized

[00:10:40] because he is the husband or would later become the husband of Mary Guinness Taylor, who writes many of Hudson's biographies, the early days of the CIM, the China Inland Mission, and then other missionary biographies.

[00:10:55] So while all this is happening for Hudson in England, things in China are not going all that well for some of his friends. For example, William Parker ends up dying of injuries that he sustained after falling

[00:11:07] off of his horse from a bridge and then he falls into icy waters and then just succumbs to those injuries. And then Martha Meadows, who is the wife of this new missionary couple that joined the very first of the five, she dies of cholera. And then Mr.

[00:11:23] Jones, who was one of his great friends in Ningbo. And then his wife was actually the one who helped set him up with his wife. He dies en route to England from illness.

[00:11:35] So that's a lot of rough news that Hudson hears while he's away in England, unable to do anything. I've mentioned this before, but it's one of my favorite things seeing who overlaps in history that you don't usually think of.

[00:11:50] Just because you look at people within kind of a bubble, you're like, oh, I like this person and they do all of their really cool things. But then it's kind of hard for us to see the overlap with other people.

[00:12:00] In 1863, Hudson Taylor is a guest of George Mueller, who is the director of these famous orphanages. And he's now also the pastor of a Bethesda chapel, which is rapidly growing. And Hudson spoke at both places.

[00:12:13] And Hudson is a young man at this time and George Mueller is an old man. At one point in his life, George Mueller asked the Lord, he writes this down in his diary

[00:12:22] or his journal, and he asked the Lord to provide him with enough money that he can support missions. And so throughout the lifetime of the CIM or throughout the lifetime of George Mueller, he is an ardent supporter of the China Inland Mission.

[00:12:37] Another person that he crossed paths with was Charles Spurgeon. And they're actually the same age, which is kind of weird to think about. But they were great friends. In fact, Hudson actually had a portrait of Spurgeon in his London office.

[00:12:51] So while Hudson's making all these different contacts, he's also trying to convince these various missions organizations to send missionaries to the 11 interior provinces. And every missions organization gives him the exact same answer. They say that our funds are not equal to current demands, let alone new commitments.

[00:13:09] It is surely better to wait until in God's providence China is widely open to the gospel. But where would European Christianity be? Tite Taylor wondered. If the apostles have waited for better conditions, if the existing missionary societies

[00:13:21] cannot or will not rise to the occasion, then who will do so? I want to point out that all the quotes I'm using in this episode actually come from a book that I didn't use last episode, which is why I'm mentioning it now.

[00:13:35] It's called A Man in Christ by Roger Steer. And it is probably my favorite book that I've read so far on Hudson's life. So I'm actually going to link it in the description so you can check it out.

[00:13:48] And so after he keeps getting rejected by these multiple missionary organizations, he takes it upon himself to write this pamphlet called China, Its Spiritual Needs and Claims. And it's written while being dictated to his wife as he paces around.

[00:14:03] And it's famous because it lays out the reality of China in such a real and and relatable way. For example, he emphasizes the vastness, the geographic vastness of China. He says, if all the Chinese were to march past the spectator at the rate of 30 miles a day,

[00:14:23] they would move on and on day after day, week after week, month after month. And over 17 years and a quarter would elapse before the last individual passed by. And then later on, it gives this very firm call to action.

[00:14:40] Can the Christians of England sit still with folded arms while these multitudes are perishing, perishing for lack of knowledge, for lack of that knowledge which England possesses so richly, which has made England what England is and made us what we are. What does the master teach us?

[00:14:56] Is it not that if one sheep out of 100 be lost, we are to leave the 99 and seek that one? But here the proportions are almost reversed and we stay at home with the one sheep and take no heed to the 99 perishing ones.

[00:15:10] Christian brethren, think of the imperative command of our great captain and leader. Go, go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. After it's published, virtually every Christian and their brother in England and around the world is reading this book.

[00:15:27] And even though that's true, none of these missions organizations were moved by it. And Hudson has this deep burden. He's wrestling with these doubts and excuses because he knows extensively what China needs and he is the best man for that job. But he doesn't agree.

[00:15:44] And he's talking strategy with his friends and family. And he's just so burdened and stressed that it's just wrecking his health. He's barely sleeping two hours a night and he is so close to just a complete mental

[00:15:57] breakdown. And one of his friends sees this and in his journal, it's kind of funny because he writes it down like he's keeping it from everybody. Like, oh, if only my wife knew how I was doing. But I won't burden her with that knowledge.

[00:16:11] But I definitely think his wife knew because if his random friend can invite him to Brighton for a weekend, seeing how stressed he is, I would imagine his wife also knows.

[00:16:21] But he goes there for a weekend and I want to share how that goes for him because it's the it's a catalyst in his life and it's how the China Inland Mission is formed.

[00:16:32] On Sunday morning, Hudson is sitting there in church and then he's unable to bear it any longer. So he leaves. He says, I'm unable to bear the sight of a congregation of a thousand or more Christian

[00:16:41] people rejoicing in their own security while millions were perishing for lack of knowledge. I wandered out on the sands alone in great spiritual agony and there the Lord conquered my unbelief and I surrendered myself to God for this service.

[00:16:56] I told him that all the responsibility as to the issues and consequences must rest with him and that as his servant, it was mine to obey and to follow him. His to direct, to care for and to guide me and those who might labor with me.

[00:17:11] Need I say that peace at once flowed into my burdened heart? There and then I asked him for 24 fellow workers, two for each the 11 inland provinces which were without a missionary and two from Mongolia.

[00:17:23] I returned home with a heart enjoying rest such as it had been a stranger to for months and with an assurance of the Lord would bless his own work and that I should share in the

[00:17:32] blessing. I had previously prayed and asked prayer that workers might be raised up for the 11 unoccupied provinces and thrust forth and provided for but had not surrendered myself to be their leader. He immediately goes out and opens a bank account under the name China Inland Mission and

[00:17:48] deposits 10 pounds, which admittedly is not very much, but all the same he goes around raising awareness about China with a renewed vigor and in recruiting missionaries. Hudson was more interested in the spiritual education of these missionaries than he

[00:18:03] was in the formal education, which was fairly unheard of at the time. A lot of missionaries were academics. And here is one that is absolutely revolutionary for its time and that was that he is open to single women serving on the field.

[00:18:16] If you're a longtime listener to this show, you'll know that in some episodes, especially those early days, that there arose some problems from the fact that they had to get married before they went over. And so they weren't marrying for love.

[00:18:28] They weren't marrying for compatibility on any level other than we're both missionaries that want to go to the same place. Hey, do you want to get hitched? And then they get married and they go off. And sometimes it works out beautifully.

[00:18:39] But I would say there were several times that it didn't work out so great. There were a few other defining characteristics of the China Inland Mission. One of those would be that this is a mission dedicated to reaching the unreached people

[00:18:53] groups of the inland provinces while seeking to evangelize the whole of China. So everybody else was really focused on these coastal cities where they were basically following the trade routes. And Hudson decided to buck that system because he wanted to go inland where people had never heard before.

[00:19:12] Secondly, there would be no raising of support and no solicitation of any kind of funds. And they also would not be indebted to anyone, which makes sense when you think about his background and his previous organization being so underwater in debt.

[00:19:28] They would look to God alone to support them and provide for them. Third was that they would identify with the Chinese by wearing Chinese style of clothing and then for men that pigtail. And they would also worship in Chinese style houses.

[00:19:41] So not like the more Gothic style that Europeans worshipped in. And number four is also revolutionary because he wanted Chinese co-workers to assist in the basically the propagation of the ministry. So he didn't want them to be supported by Europeans.

[00:19:58] So one then to be self-governing, self-supporting, working together with the other missionaries there on the ground. And then number five, they didn't want the recruitment of missionaries to be based on education or denominational background, but via spiritual qualification.

[00:20:15] And sixth, and this was one of the ones that I feel like got him in the most trouble or at least the most judgment, as we'll see. But their headquarters would be on the field with the director being the number one.

[00:20:31] That would be him with leaders and workers serving shoulder to shoulder. One of his biggest pet peeves was that so many of these organizations, their head office was in London or wherever. And then they had to get permission for every single thing to move on the ground.

[00:20:47] And so they said, why are we doing that when we can just look at what we need, where we are and decide what needs to be done instead of waiting weeks or months to hear back from the London office and they have no idea what's actually going on.

[00:21:02] So these are the defining principles of China Inland Mission and many of them set them apart from any other organization at the time. Not long after the formation of the China Inland Mission, Hudson gets invited to speak and he tells the man beforehand, hey, I will speak.

[00:21:20] But when I finish speaking, don't solicit any funds from these people. I want the Lord to work on their hearts. I don't want them to be emotionally manipulated by my message. And the guy agrees. So Hudson gives his message and the guy stands up and he says, I

[00:21:36] knew we weren't going to do this. I said it, but we need to give money right now. I've never heard anything more moving in my whole life. And just let's just give to this this mission.

[00:21:46] And Hudson stands up and he says, no, you're not going to do that. What we had in agreement, go home, pray about it. You know what the Lord wants is not necessarily your money, but maybe it's your children, your time.

[00:22:00] Go home, pray to the Lord about how he can best help you. And then if you feel the need to give money to support us or another mission organization, then please do so.

[00:22:11] But do not in the moment get wrapped up in emotion and then throw some money at a pot to basically soothe your conscience. Later on, they're sitting in this guy's living room and he says, I think you made a

[00:22:23] mistake. I think you should let people just give to you. I actually got some donations and I think we could have gotten a lot more if you had let people give. And Hudson insists that he was not wrong. And the next morning, Hudson staying in his house.

[00:22:37] So the next morning, he this guy wakes up and he says, oh my goodness, you were right. I spent all night in prayer, just racked with emotion. And and now I feel led to support you.

[00:22:50] I'm going to give you basically what is the equivalent today of ten thousand pounds. I needed time to pray and to think about how God wanted to use me. And this is the way that I believe he has chosen to lead.

[00:23:02] After hearing Hudson's message and reading his book, there are many young missionaries who decide to follow him over to China. And as they're making preparations, Hudson gets this news that this almost brand new two year old clipper ship named the Llamar Muir is available

[00:23:19] for them to use. The captain is a Christian and he has said that they can have the entire ship to themselves. I want to take a minute to look at the different members of the Llamar Muir

[00:23:31] party, which is what they go down in history as being because they're they're a hodgepodge of people. And I think it's exactly the kind of people that Hudson was looking at recruiting. In addition to Hudson and Maria and their four children, there would be 16 other

[00:23:44] people who would be traveling with them from Scotland. You had a blacksmith named Louis Nicol and his wife, Eliza, a carpenter named James Williamson, stonemason George Duncan and Jane McLean, who is known as the

[00:23:57] Bible woman. You also had Emily Blatchley, who is a college graduate and a secretary, Jenny Falding, who had graduated with her and a teacher named Mary Bower, a carpenter and draper named Josiah Jackson and John Sell.

[00:24:12] And then you also had an Irish teacher named Susan Barnes, a blacksmith and farm mechanic named William Rudland and then Mary Bell, who was going to be a nurse to the Taylor children and a Swiss governess named Louise de Gras and then James

[00:24:26] Meadows' new fiance, Elizabeth Rose, rounded out the party. Hi, I'm Dan Jones and This Is History A Dynasty To Die For is back for a brand new season. This time we meet Edward II, a larger than life character who starts out

[00:24:55] as the party boy prince and ends up... Well, I don't want to give too much away. He's got one thing on his mind, not war, not ambition, but love. And it's a love that will get him in burning hot trouble with his barons, his family and his queen.

[00:25:12] The king's affection for his favorite knight kicks off a wild roller coaster reign full of love and hate, war and grief, famine and just about all the horsemen of the apocalypse. Along the way, we'll meet tiger mums, Scottish legends, murderous cousins, a

[00:25:28] herd of camels and one extremely hot iron poker. Listen to and follow This Is History A Dynasty To Die For available wherever you get your podcasts. And you know who understands you like no other? Someone who makes your wishes come true and wants to experience the most beautiful

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[00:26:32] Einfach Shopify.de schrägstrich try eingeben und loslegen. Made for Germany. Powered by Shopify. Those making up the crew of the Llama Mirror were 34 men and boys and only two of them besides Captain Bell were Christians. While they're on the ship, the missionaries, because many of them were

[00:27:00] tradesmen, they were able to make themselves useful with repairs and upgrades to the ship. They had a very long voyage ahead of them. And Mary Bell, because she was pretty, was attracting some unwanted attention from these sailors.

[00:27:13] And so she decided that if she had the attention of these young men, that she was going to utilize that. And she began to hold Bible classes. So one or two, maybe two or three men became believers from this Bible study.

[00:27:27] But there was a bit of a problem because the first mate, whose name was Mr. Brunton, was an awful individual. It was so bad that many of the missionaries thought that he was demon possessed. He was hateful and he was just vitriolic in every possible way.

[00:27:42] He was abusive to the crew. But at some point they're holding these Bible classes and he's been very hostile to them. But then over time he begins to soften and he's actually allowing people to pray for him and actually begging people to pray for him.

[00:27:57] And then at one point, somebody reads to him a section of Romans and he's like, I get it, but it's not about me. And then Hudson's reading this passage in Exodus talking about the marking of the blood over the door.

[00:28:11] And the guy just breaks down and becomes a believer. And he is so apologetic that he gathers the entire crew together and he just starts confessing to them and says, you know, I'm so sorry for the way that I treated you.

[00:28:21] And through his conversion, 24 of the crew become believers. Throughout all this time, they've had pretty good weather as far as sailing goes. But as soon as they leave Indonesia, because they've docked there to do some restocking or supplies or some such.

[00:28:37] But it's about September and they're headed towards China and these massive storms come through. And these storms are so bad that multiple masts on the ship break. Pretty much everything that could break on the ship and then not immediately die, broke.

[00:28:55] Women and children are pumping water off the boat. At one point, Hudson kisses his wife and kids goodbye before heading out into the storm to help because he thinks we're all going to die. But they didn't. Miraculously, they limped themselves into the Shanghai Harbor.

[00:29:10] And as they arrive there, they are a spectacle. There's everything on that ship is just broken and kind of like waving in the wind and it's bad. But everybody survived. And there's a ship that came in a couple of days later that was about the same size.

[00:29:26] And all but six of them had perished in that exact same storm. When they arrive in Shanghai, they are a massive spectacle. People began calling them the pigtail mission because of the Chinese style haircuts. In English language papers spoke about the missionaries as madmen and lunatics.

[00:29:45] Why did their people not keep them at home in an asylum where they would be harmless to themselves and the community? And then other people around them decided that they would not last and that they would go home and basically be failures.

[00:29:57] And this was how they were greeted, which was not terribly different than Hudson was greeted over a decade before. But luckily for them, they were not headed to Shanghai. They were going towards Hangzhou, which I'm not sure how long it took them to get there back then.

[00:30:13] But now it's an hour ride southwest via bullet train from Shanghai. And I can say from firsthand experience that Hangzhou is an absolutely gorgeous city. Back in the day, a few dynasties ago, it was actually the capital city and it was the arts and cultural center of the

[00:30:31] entire country. So it's just spectacular. And I can imagine even back then before you have all the skyscrapers, it's even more gorgeous. But they moved into this area of town, which we would now consider to be the historic district.

[00:30:44] But then it was known as number one new lane road. New ministry opportunities are exciting. People are ready to get going, but there's a little snag or there will be a snag. His name is George Moulm and his family is actually quite well known and

[00:31:01] respected in England. There's multiple people. He has in his family that are in ministry. He's obviously a ministry overseas and he was actually initially a huge supporter of Hudson Taylor, but he invites several of the CIM missionaries over one of whom being Louis

[00:31:19] Nicol. And eventually it becomes this huge gossip sesh where these missionaries are venting about all of these things, all of these changes and they don't like it. And Moulm is only too willing to listen and this causes a huge problem.

[00:31:37] And Nicol for his part is what appeared to be kind of a pathological liar. He would just say things that were blatantly false constantly and Moulm was only too happy to eat it up. So eventually he's writing letters back to England and Nicol is also writing

[00:31:55] letters back to England. And Nicol even writes to William Berger who then responds to Hudson and says, Hey, if you need to pull this guy off the field, I can send him back. I'll pay you to send this guy back.

[00:32:09] Cause I think he knew what a pain this guy was going to be for a fledgling mission. But Hudson is a lot more patient than I think he would have been years later. Nicol decides that he does not want to wear the Chinese clothing.

[00:32:24] He gets a house kind of outside of everybody else and he's doing his own thing and he comes back to visit the Hongjo mission and he's wearing Western clothing and he has been wearing Western clothing for awhile.

[00:32:36] And Hudson decides, well, I'm not going to bring it up with him just yet. I'll kind of feel them out. And Nicol is just becoming more and more arrogant. But despite Nicol peacocking around the hospital they have set up there in Hongjo is thriving.

[00:32:51] They have this huge base where they can have a hospital, they can have a dispensary, they can have a mission hall, they can have all of the missionaries housed into one giant building. And they're seeing over 200 patients a day.

[00:33:05] And one of these new missionaries, his name is John McCarthy. He arrives and he tells us what he sees. He's walking up to New Lane Road and he sees Hudson up on these two tables and he's preaching to this,

[00:33:18] these people that are on stretchers waiting to be seen in the hospital. And he's just sharing the gospel with them. And he sees McCarthy and gives him like a quick acknowledgement and then goes right on preaching. And McCarthy is really impressed by what he sees.

[00:33:31] And eventually he and Hudson become really good friends. And he's a stalwart companion of Hudson and these, what will be very trying times with this Nicol debacle. Eventually Nicol is just making such a huge deal. And it's spiraling out of control.

[00:33:47] And so Hudson calls a team meeting and asks everybody if they remember their agreement before they signed on, they were asked to acknowledge Hudson as their leader and to wear Chinese clothing among other things. And by the end of the meeting,

[00:34:01] everybody except for Nicol and one other guy supported Hudson. But instead of calming things down, Mool instead intensifies his critique. So he just is launching anything hoping that it will stick. So he accuses the CIM missionaries of immoral conduct. He says,

[00:34:19] you've got these single ladies and these married people all together in one house and they're all living together and there's overly familiar touch. What he means by this is there's a couple photos of particularly Emily Blatchley and Jenny folding and they're,

[00:34:37] one of them has her arm around a arm on Hudson's shoulder, I think. And another lady has like her arm wrapped in his arm in a photograph. I will add that these were photographs of the entire team together and they were sent back to supporters in England.

[00:34:53] So it's not like these were hidden photographs and to give Hudson the benefit of the doubt, he is the first person to do this, this kind of interior pioneering in China with single missionaries, with single women missionaries learning how to balance that.

[00:35:09] And they're, they are all living in the same house and they're all reliant on each other. And there's a camaraderie I think that builds there. And that can cause some problems with boundaries, I feel like.

[00:35:21] And one other thing that I will say is that the two ladies in question, one of the ladies had a crush on him and really wanted to marry him later. And the other lady eventually does marry him.

[00:35:34] So it's not that there was anything untoward happening on Hudson's part. And there is no evidence whatsoever of that occurring at all. But if someone was looking to besmirch you, these were easy targets. After these criticisms,

[00:35:48] everyone in the house came together and signed a letter that told everybody that, Hey, there's nothing, everything is above board here. There is nothing going on that's bad. And everybody signed it except for Nichols' wife, Eliza and one other woman who did leave the mission,

[00:36:05] but she remained on good terms with everybody. After this letter goes out, Nichols writes a letter complaining that he has been misunderstood. And so Hudson says, okay, well, why don't you write down your grievances that way I can look at them again.

[00:36:19] So Nichols sends a letter that is three pages of him rambling about mostly clothing because he feels that because he's not fluent in Chinese, that he shouldn't wear Chinese dress. Basically, he feels insecure and he doesn't want to be made fun of by other people.

[00:36:37] And he was very interested in status and wanted to hobnob with everybody. And so he felt uncomfortable. And that seemed to be honestly his biggest concern because he rambles for three pages about it.

[00:36:50] What's funny about this is even though this is going on and he's being a real pain, Nichols still asks Hudson if he can help out his pregnant wife who is sick. And so Hudson is making the trip back and forth quite a long ways to take care

[00:37:05] of Nichols' wife without any kind of grudge, which I think says a lot to Hudson's character. This whole debacle keeps going back to London and eventually it gets so out of control. Nobody knows what's going on. But William Berger,

[00:37:21] George Mueller and others think that Hudson is being maligned. So they're just hoping and waiting and praying for the truth to come out. But meanwhile, the head of the church missionary society who has a rather sizable presence in

[00:37:34] China believes these reports and it's causing a lot of problems for them in London. But instead of engaging in this tit for tat kind of thing, they decide to get on with their work instead. So George Duncan,

[00:37:48] John McCarthy and Hudson take this trip to a nearby city with some boats. One of their first stops is to a Buddhist temple and they're telling these monks about the gospel. And these monks, many of them are convinced of Christianity,

[00:38:03] but they tell the missionaries that they can't become Christians. Otherwise they wouldn't be able to fund the repairs of the Buddhist temple, which is kind of confusing because you wouldn't need one if you were a Christian, but that was their reasoning and they couldn't be swayed otherwise.

[00:38:22] So the missionaries moved along and their boat trip companions were very interesting because you had your normal everyday folks, you had prisoners, you had opium smokers who were all lounging around all together and these missionaries going from town to town to town. On the trip back,

[00:38:41] Hudson finds himself on a boat that is attached to another boat that is also going to the same direction. So this one boat is pulling the other boat. So there are many different people that he can share the gospel with.

[00:38:53] So he preaches to these passengers in both of these boats until he's absolutely worn out and he decided, well, they're probably tired of listening to me. So he tries to step down, but nobody moves.

[00:39:03] They just keep watching him and they make it clear that they want to hear more. So then Hudson begins talking again and he talks for a very long time and then he finishes and nobody moves. And then suddenly they start asking a bunch of different questions and these

[00:39:18] questions last forever and ever. And so now Hudson has the really strange and probably one of the first times this ever happened to him. He said, it was I who had after urging them on the immediate importance of turning to Christ,

[00:39:31] had to remind them of the lateness of the hour and to suggest that it was time to retire. And John McCarthy writes later, he said, all the way either on the boat or on the shore or in the tea shops,

[00:39:42] in the streets or in the temples, wherever people congregated, they heard the story of redeeming love. It was evident that the real motive power of the life of the Lord's servant was that the love of God had been shed abroad in his heart.

[00:39:56] And that there was a real love for the Chinese people and a true appreciation of the many sterling qualities in the Chinese character, which raised them so entirely above the other unchristian nations. And it's here in Hudson's story that we get, in my opinion,

[00:40:12] one of the saddest stories and he's not the only person this has happened to. In fact, anytime you read these, these missionary biographies, one of the inevitable facts of their life is that they lose somebody, whether that's a child or whether that's a wife or multiple children or

[00:40:28] multiple wives. But I will say it never gets easier to read them. And I think one of the saddest ones that I read was this one. Grace is their oldest daughter and their oldest child actually.

[00:40:41] And in August they're up kind of in the mountains getting away from the oppressive heat when she suddenly falls ill and she stops eating and she's just kind of getting worse and worse. And Hudson, who was away at the time,

[00:40:52] comes back and he realizes that she has meningitis. And then eventually that meningitis turns into pneumonia and he tells everybody she's not going to recover. And then as she gets weaker and weaker, and then eventually it's clear that she's going to die soon.

[00:41:10] Everybody in the family plus the closest friends gather around together and they're praying and they're singing hymns. And then she slips into unconsciousness and then shortly thereafter she dies. The entire mission is wrecked by her death and Hudson writes this,

[00:41:24] our dear little Gracie, how I miss her sweet voice in the morning. One of the first sounds to greet us when we woke and through the day and the even tide. And as I take the walks I used to take with her tripping at my side,

[00:41:36] the thought comes a new like a throb of agony. Is it possible that I shall never more feel the pressure of that little hand nevermore hear the sweet paddle of those dear lips. Nevermore see the sparkle of those bright eyes. And yet she is not lost.

[00:41:50] I would not have her back again. The gardener came and plucked a rose. A few months later on Christmas morning, Mary Bell who led the Bible studies on the ship over to China, married William Bell. And then after they got married, the houses were able to expand.

[00:42:07] So now there is number one new lane and number two new lane. So some married couples and all the single women are at one house. And then some of the married couples and all of the single men are at the other

[00:42:19] house. So everything is completely above board now, which is exactly what William Berger's advice was to Hudson to make sure that you are above reproach, that nobody can say anything about you and that Mool has nothing to write back.

[00:42:33] Those first year of starting CIM and then expanding it has taken its toll on Hudson's health. Now China Inland Mission is almost as big as the London Missionary Society, which had the largest presence in China at the time. While Hudson is stressed out in China,

[00:42:49] William Berger is stressed out in London trying to interview candidates and get the right matches to send over. So Hudson writes him a letter and says this, we as a mission differ from all other missions. As soon as some persons arrive here,

[00:43:02] they find a sufficient answer to every question in the American missionaries do this or the church missionaries do that. Why can't we? The missionaries of almost all the societies have better houses, finer furniture, more European fare than we have, or are likely to ever have.

[00:43:19] But there is not one of them settled in the interior among the people. Unless persons are prepared to stand alone separate from these societies and those who imitate them, they should never join our mission at all.

[00:43:30] Let them know too beforehand that if they are hardy loyal members of this mission, they may even expect the sneers and even opposition of good godly men. China is not to be won for Christ by quiet ease loving men and women.

[00:43:44] The stamp of men and women we need is such as we'll put Jesus China souls. First and foremost in everything. And at every time, even life itself must be secondary of such men and such women do not fear to send

[00:43:59] us too many. They are more precious than rubies. And this is where we will end part two as always. Thank you for listening to martyrs and missionaries. I'm Elise.

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