Delivered From Cannibals
By W. A. S.
THE China Inland Mission, under the direction of J. Hudson Taylor, has accomplished a great work in the evangelization of the interior provinces. But twenty-five years ago whole provinces were without a missionary. In some, no foreigner was allowed to do evangelistic work. To meet the great need of a progressive policy that should quickly reach the interior with the gospel invitation, the Inland Mission was formed in faith, and has been wonderfully sustained and blessed. As an illustration of the power of prayer for specific needs, this enterprise has been in the missionary field very much what Muller's orphanages, in England, have been in the field of home benevolence. On his first voyage out to China, as a youth, Hudson Taylor had an experience in the power of prayer for specific deliverance. It was in 1853, when the China seas were infested by pirates, and the islands of the Malay Archipelago inhabited by cannibal savages. The story is told as follows:— By the way, the ship was becalmed on one occasion in the tropics, and an unfavorable current began to carry them rapidly toward an unfriendly shore. There was not enough wind to move the listless sails, and as the long, hot afternoon wore away, they drew nearer and nearer to what they found by the chart to be a cannibal island. The natives, seeing the straits they were in, lighted their fires, and began to dance around on the beach in eager prospect of the feast they expected so soon. On that boat there were but four Christians—the captain, the carpenter, the colored steward, and Mr. Taylor. Mr. Taylor suggested that each of them should go to his cabin and wait on God for a wind to carry them away from the impending and horrible fate. After a short time of prayer, Mr. Taylor felt that the petition was granted, and coming up on deck said to the first officer,5who was then in charge: “Won't you let loose your mainsail, for a breeze is coming?” With an oath the man replied: “I would rather see a breeze than merely hear of one.” “And don't you see, away up in the top-sail, a breeze is coming?” “O, it's nothing but a cat's paw,” the mate replied, as his eye followed Mr. Taylor's upward. “Cat's paw or not, we might as well take advantage of what there is.” And as the breeze continued to freshen, the officer very gladly let out his clewed-up sails, and in a short time they were sailing away from the disappointed cannibals at a good many knots an hour. It was another modern illustration of the fact that “He delivereth and rescueth, and he worketh signs and wonders in heaven and in earth, who hath delivered Daniel from the power of the lions.”