Thursday, July 21, 2016

Hudson Taylor: weak men and great things

Satan, too, has his creed : Doubt God's Faithfulness. " Hath God said ? Are you not mistaken as to His commands ? He could not really mean just that. You take an extreme view, give too literal a meaning to the words:" . . . How constantly, and, alas, how successfully are such arguments used to prevent whole-hearted trust in God, whole-hearted consecration to God! ... How many estimate difficulties in the, light of their own resources, and thus attempt little and often fail in the little they attempt! All God's giants have been weak men, who did great things for God because they reckoned on His being with them....

Biography p349

Hudson Taylor: want of trust

Want of trust is at the root of almost all our sins and all our weaknesses ; and how shall we escape it but by looking to Him and observing His faithfulness ? ... The man who holds God's faithfulness will not be foolhardy or reckless, but he will be ready for every emergency. The man who holds God's faithfulness will dare to obey Him, however impolitic it may appear.Abraham held God's faithfulness and offered up Isaac, " accounting that God was able to raise him from the dead."

Biography, p349

Tuesday, July 19, 2016

Hudson Taylor: let people see God working

"If our hearts are right," he often said, we may count upon the Holy Spirit's working through us to bring others into deeper fellowship with God-the way the work began at Pentecost. We do not need to say much about the C.I.M. Let people see God working, let God be glorified, let believers be made holier, happier, brought nearer to Him, and they will not need to be asked to help."

Biography p254

Hudson Taylor: upright veggies

" That Word had said, 'Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things (food and raiment) shall be added unto you.' If any one did not believe that God spoke the truth, it would be better for him not to go to China to propagate the faith. If he did believe it, surely the promise sufficed. Again, 'No good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly.' If any one did not mean to walk uprightly, he had better stay at home ; if he did mean to walk uprightly, he had all he needed in the shape of a guarantee fund. God owns all the gold and silver in the world, and the cattle on a thousand hills. We need not be vegetarians."

Biography, p248
“How long have you had the glad tidings in England?” he asked unsuspectingly.
The young missionary was ashamed to tell him, and vaguely replied that it was several hundreds of years.
“What,” exclaimed Nyi in astonishment, “several hundreds of years! Is it possible that you have known about Jesus so long, and only now have come to tell us? My father sought the truth for more than twenty years,” he continued sadly, “and died without finding it. Oh, why did you not come sooner?”
Biography of Hudson Taylor

Friday, July 08, 2016

Rainy Day work

"One farmer I know keeps his notebook in his pocket to jot down the tasks which can be performed on a rainy day. This enables him to plan quickly the work for a rainy day. In planning rainy day work, do first the jobs which are in danger of getting in the way of the next dry weather work. The rule is to leave no rainy-day work to be done when it is not raining for in this climate our profits are limited by the amount of outdoor work we get done.” –Circular, Issues 46-105, By Agricultural Experiment Station, College of Agriculture , 1914 "

http://www.artofmanliness.com/2010/08/23/the-manly-tradition-of-the-pocket-notebook/