"A HALF CROWN WAS ALL I HAD"

Hudson Taylor Hudson Taylor, missionary to China, founded the ‘China Inland Mission’ in 1866. He never asked people for money, but depended entirely on God. And God always supplied his needs. Taylor learned to have great faith as a young medical student in England in the 1850s. The following incident shows what he had to go through to learn to depend upon his Lord. You can read this story, plus others from the life of Hudson Taylor, in his autobiography, “To China with Love”. While studying medicine in Hull, England, my kind employer, who was always busily occupied, wished me to remind him whenever my salary became due. This I determined not to do directly, but instead, asked God to bring the fact to his recollection, and thus encourage me by answering my prayer. At one time when the day for the payment of a quarter's salary arrived, my kind friend made no allusion to the matter. As usual, I was much in prayer about it. As the days passed on, I continued praying. But he did not remember. Then one Saturday night, while settling my weekly accounts, I found myself possessed of only a single coin - one half crown piece. Still I had hitherto had no lack, and I continued in prayer. That Sunday was a very happy one. As usual my heart was full and brimming over with blessing. After attending divine service in the morning, my afternoon and evening were filled with Gospel work in various lodging houses in the lowest part of town. After concluding my last service at one of these houses, a poor man asked me to go and pray with his wife, saying that she was dying. I readily agreed. On the way to his house, I asked him why he had not sent for the priest, as his accent told me he was an Irishman. He had done so, he said, but the priest refused to come without a payment of 18 pence. The man did not possess that much. His family was starving. Immediately, it occurred to me that all the money I had in the world was the solitary half crown, and that it was in one coin. Morever, while the bowl of cereal I usually took for supper was awaiting me, and there was sufficient in the house for breakfast, I certainly had nothing for dinner on the coming day. “Ah,” thought I, “if only I had two shillings and a sixpence instead of this half crown, how gladly would I give these poor people one shilling of it!” But to part with the half crown was far from my thoughts. I little dreamed that the real truth of the matter simply was that I could trust in God while I had one-and-sixpence, but not without any money at all in my pocket. The poor man led me up a miserable flight of stairs into a wretched room. And oh, what a sight! Four or five poor children stood about, their sunken cheeks and temples all telling unmistakably the story of slow starvation. And lying on a wretched pallet was a poor exhausted mother with a tiny infant. “Ah!” thought I, “if I had two shillings and a sixpence instead of half a crown, how gladly should they have one-and-sixpence of it!” But still a wretched unbelief prevented me from obeying the impulse to relieve their distress at the cost of all I possessed. It will scarcely seem strange that I was unable to say much to comfort these poor people. I needed comfort myself. I began to tell them, however, that they must not be cast down. Though their circum-stances were very distressing, there was a kind and loving Father in heaven. Something within me said, “You hypocrite, telling these people about a kind and loving Father in heaven, and not prepared yourself to trust Him without half a crown!” I was nearly choked. How gladly would I have compromised with conscience if I had had a florin and a sixpence! I would have given the florin thankfully and kept the rest. But I was not yet prepared to trust in God alone, without the sixpence. To talk was impossible under these circumstances. Yet, strange to say, I thought I should have no difficulty in praying. I seemed to think that all I should have to do would be to kneel down and engage in prayer, then relief would come to them and myself together. “You asked me to come and pray with your wife,” I said to the man. “Let us pray.” And I knelt down. But scarcely had I opened my lips with “Our Father who art in heaven” than conscience said within, “Dare you mock God? Dare you kneel down and call Him Father with that half crown in your pocket?” Such a time of conflict came upon me then as I have never experienced before or since. How I got through that form of prayer I know not. And whether the words uttered were connected or disconnected I cannot tell. But I arose from my knees in great distress of mind. The poor father turned to me and said, “You see what a terrible state we are in, sir. If you can help us, for God's sake, do!” Just then the Word flashed into my mind, “Give to him that asketh of thee,” and “in the word of a king there is power.” I put my hand into my pocket, and slowly drawing forth the half crown, gave it to the man. I told him that it might seem a small matter for me to relieve them, seeing I was comparatively well off. But in parting with that coin I was giving him my all. What I had been trying to tell him was indeed true - God really was a Father, and might be trusted. The joy all came back to my heart! I well remember how that night, as I went home to my lodgings, my heart was as light as my pocket. The lonely, deserted streets resounded with a hymn of praise which I could not restrain. When I took my supper of cereal before retiring, I would not have exchanged it for a prince's feast. I reminded the Lord as I knelt at my bedside of His own Word, that he who giveth to the poor lendeth to the Lord. I asked Him not to let my loan be a long one, or I should have no dinner the next day. And with peace within and peace without, I spent a happy, restful night. The next morning before I could consume my plate of porridge, the postman’s knock was heard at the door. I was not in the habit of receiving letters on Monday, as my parents and most of my friends refrained from posting on Saturday. So I was somewhat surprised when the landlady came in holding a parcel. I looked at the address, but could not make out the handwriting. It was either a strange hand or a feigned one. The postmark was blurred. Where it came from I could not tell. On opening a letter within the parcel, I found nothing written within. But inside a sheet of blank paper was folded a pair of kid gloves. As I opened them in astonishment, half a sovereign ($1.20 or 10 shillings) fell to the ground. “Praise the Lord!” I exclaimed. “Four hundred percent for 12 hours’ investment! That is good interest! How glad the merchants of Hull would be if they could lend their money at such a rate!” I cannot tell you how often my mind has come back to this incident. Nor can I measure the help it has been to me in circumstances of difficulty. If we are faithful to God in little things, we shall gain experience and strength that will be helpful to us in the more serious trials of life.