To All Men

D. E. Hoste was one of the Cambridge Seven who left England as a young man to win souls to Christ in inland China.  Later, Hudson Taylor appointed him to the position of Acting General Director of the China Inland Mission, thus becoming his successor.

The following wise words are an extract from one of his letters that is included in the biography by Phyllis Thompson, D. E. Hoste:  "A Prince With God.".

"In the opening passage of the Epistle to the Hebrews, we are told how God, notwithstanding the rejection of His repeated efforts for the good of men through the ministry of the prophets, during preceding ages, 'hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son.'  That is to say, just when we might have expected Him to abandon His efforts for man's blessing and to deal in final judgment, we find that the Lord, so far from giving up, exhibits still greater love towards those who have been slighting His goodness.

"The Lord Jesus, when on earth, manifested the Father amongst men, and told His disciples that they, too, in their measure, were to make Him known, not merely by telling forth with their lips the story of redemption, but by exhibiting in their own persons and conduct the very kindness and forbearance of God towards men.

"In other words, they were to be the channels or vessels in and through which Christ would exhibit His grace, His love and His long-suffering.  As the Apostle Paul puts it in another of his writings, their Gospel was to be 'not in word only, but in deed and in truth.'"

"And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth . . . For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ"  (John 1:14, 17).