On June 25th 1865, Hudson Taylor walked alone on Brighton beach in internal turmoil. In 1859, health reasons necessitated his return home to London from China. As ‘an invalid in London’, Taylor, together with his wife, compiled materials that eventually came together as the book China: Its Spiritual Need and Claims. In the process, Taylor discovered that the number of missionaries in China had declined in the last 5 years. Further, all existing missionaries were based in the 5 treaty ports along the coast—- with none in the 11 interior provinces of China.
To think of a million Chinese dying each month with no knowledge of Jesus Christ! This weighed very heavily on Taylor. He contacted various denominations but no one seemed able to initiate work in the Chinese inland. “And yet, if no one else was prepared to act, far from closing the matter, did it not open it up, leaving a clear field for someone else?” This thought came to his mind with the corresponding— “Well if you see these things why not go forward yourself and do it? Go yourself to inland China!… If power in prayer is given to you, you can get the men and means.”
Source: The Shaping of Modern China: Hudson Taylor’s Life and Legacy Volume One (A. J. Broomhall)
