Page 90 - Living Epistles

enough, and the cottage far from attractive. To add to the discomforts of the
situation, he was "boarding himself," which meant that he lived upon next to
nothing, bought his meager supplies as he returned from the Surgery, and
rarely sat down, with or without a companion, to a proper meal. His walks
were solitary across the waste, unlighted region on the outskirts of the town;
his evenings solitary beside the little fire in his otherwise cheerless room; and
his Sundays were spent alone, but for the morning meeting and long hours
of work in his district or among the crowds that frequented the Humber
Dock.

And more than this, he was at close quarters with poverty and suffering.
Visiting in such neighborhoods he had been accustomed to for a few hours at
a time, but this was very different. It belonged to him now in a new way, and
outwardly at any rate he belonged to it. He had cast in his lot with those who
needed him, and needed all the help and comfort he could bring. This gave
new purpose to his life and taught him some of its most precious lessons.

" Having now the twofold object in view," he wrote, " of accustoming myself
to endure hardness, and of economizing in order to be able more largely to
assist those amongst whom I spent a good deal of time laboring in the
Gospel, I soon found that I could live upon very much less than I had
previously thought possible. Butter, milk and other luxuries I ceased to use,
and found that by living mainly on oatmeal and rice, with occasional
variations, a very small sum was sufficient for my needs. In this way I had
more than two-thirds of my income available for other purposes, and my
experience was that the less I spent on myself and the more I gave to others
the fuller of happiness and blessing did my soul become..."

At a very young age, Hudson Taylor had turned his heart away from desiring
the material comforts this world affords, and had set his affections on
heavenly aspirations. He was acutely aware of his own shortcomings, and
would often write to his mother or his sister to ask them to pray for him.

" I feel my need of more holiness," he wrote to his sister early in the New
Year, "and conformity to Him who has loved us and washed us in His blood.
Love so amazing should indeed cause us to give our bodies and spirits to Him
as living sacrifices.... Oh, I wish I were ready! I long to be engaged in the
work. Pray for me, that I may be made more useful here and fitted for
extended usefulness hereafter." And again a few weeks later: