How the Lord Intervened by W. A. S.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Mar 11, 1915

How the Lord Intervened

By W. A. S.

TIBET is still “the great closed land” in missionary annals; but there are signs of a breaking down of barriers. At various points on the Indian and Chinese borders, missionaries are camping and working, awaiting the time when they can enter.

Among the pioneers in Tibetan work was Miss Annie Taylor, who died some years ago in England. With a burden on her soul for Tibet, she lived among the Tibetans on the Indian side of the border till she learned the language. Then, in 1890, she pushed over the frontier in spite of regulations,—a young woman, and alone, taking her stand on the forbidden ground, by authority of the gospel commission, “Go ye into all the world.” Of her first experiences, Wm. Carey says in his “Adventures in Tibet:”—

Her presence was obnoxious to the authorities, and she was ordered to leave the valley. The captain of the guard of the Dong-Kya Pass came over from the Chinese fort at Khamba-jong to settle what should be done. Finally she was moved to Tumlong, and given a room in the monastery there. But the people had been told not to sell her any food, and she found it difficult to live. On one occasion she followed a caravan over the stony roads, and eased her hunger a little by picking up the grains of parched corn which dribbled through a small hole in one of the packs carried by a mule.

Again, in emergencies, women would secretly drop their popped corn in the roadway, and “she would pick it up like the birds of the air, thanking God for the timely supply.” Still she held on for Christ and Tibet, refusing to be driven out. At last it was determined to kill her. The Missionary Review (April, 1894) tells part of the story as follows:—

The natives would ask her frequently what they were to do with her body if she died. She told them she was not going to die just then. They have, however, a custom of “praying people dead,” and to this they resorted, taking care to help their prayers in a very effective manner. One day the chief’s wife invited the stranger to eat, and prepared rice and a mixture of eggs for her. Some conversation between the women as she was eating aroused Miss Taylor’s suspicion as to the eggs placed before her, and, sure enough, after she had partaken she became ill, with all the symptoms of aconite poisoning.

How she escaped has perhaps never been put in print, as Miss Taylor said little publicly of the most intimate experiences with the Lord’s delivering hand. But a friend of hers—one of our sisters in London, now dead—told us that Miss Taylor believed that God interposed in a miraculous way to save her from death by the poison. She felt her strength going; her heart was ceasing to act; and as she looked out, she saw a crowd gathering silently about. She knew then that she had been poisoned by deliberate and deadly design, and that the people were gathering in curiosity to see her die.

There she was, a young woman all alone in dark Tibet; yet not alone, for there was One who has promised his messengers, “Lo, I am with you alway.” His angels were there, and his Spirit in that moment brought to her mind the promise, “If they drink any deadly thing,

it shall not hurt them.” The conviction came that God would save her, and with strength ebbing she laid hold of that promise, and asked God to verify it just then, not for her own sake alone, but for Tibet’s sake. Immediately she felt the blood again tingling in her veins, the heart was working normally, strength came to her, and rising up in the strength of the Lord she took her Tibetan Scripture portion and went out to preach Jesus and his power to save to those who had come to see her die. W. A. S.