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diff --git a/26522-h/26522-h.htm b/26522-h/26522-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..185d5cf --- /dev/null +++ b/26522-h/26522-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,13995 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<html> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1"> +<title>George Müller of Bristol, by Arthur T. Pierson</title> +<style type="text/css"> + body {background:#fdfdfd; + color:black; + font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; + margin-top:100px; + margin-left:12%; + margin-right:12%; + text-align:justify; } + hr.full { width: 100%; + height: 5px; } + hr.narrow { width: 50%; + text-align: center; } + a:link {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + link {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + a:visited {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + a:hover {color:red; + text-decoration: underline; } + pre {font-size: 80%; } +</style> +</head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of George Muller of Bristol, by Arthur T. Pierson + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: George Muller of Bristol + His Witness to a Prayer-Hearing God + +Author: Arthur T. Pierson + +Release Date: September 10, 2008 [EBook #26522] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GEORGE MULLER OF BRISTOL *** + + + + +Produced by Carl D. DuBois + + + + + +</pre> + +<center><img src="images/gmullerfront.jpg" +alt="Frontispiece"></center> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<center> +<h1>GEORGE MÜLLER OF BRISTOL</h1> + +<h5>AND</h5> + +<h3>HIS WITNESS TO A PRAYER-HEARING GOD</h3> +<br> +<h5>BY</h5> +<h3>ARTHUR T. PIERSON</h3> +<h5><i>Author of "The Crisis of Missions," "The New Acts of the +Apostles,"<br>"Many Infallible Proofs," etc.; editor of +"The Missionary Review<br>of the World," etc.</i></h5> +<br> +<h4><i>WITH AN INTRODUCTION</i></h4> +<h5>BY</h5> +<h4>JAMES WRIGHT</h4> +<h5><i>Son-in-law and successor in the work of George Müller</i></h5> +<br> +<h4>Illustrated</h4> +<br> +<h5>NEW YORK CHICAGO TORONTO</h5> +<h3>Fleming H. Revell Company</h3> +<h5>LONDON AND EDINBURGH</h5> + +<br><br><br> + +<h4>Copyright, 1899,<br> +BY<br> +THE BAKER AND TAYLOR CO.</h4> +</center> +<br><br> + +<table border=0 bgcolor="ccccff" cellpadding=10> + <tr> + <td align="center"> + Transcriber's note: + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td align="justify"> +George Müller's family name is Germanic in origin. Everywhere that his +name appears in the printed text, the letter "u" is marked with +two dots above it (called an 'umlaut') to show that it is pronounced +differently from the way the unmarked vowel is normally pronounced. So +his name is usually pronounced in English as Myew-ler, not as Mool-ler +or Mull-ler. + + </td> + </tr> +</table> +<br><br><br> + +<a name="00"></a> +<center><h2>Introduction</h2></center> + +<p>VERY soon after the decease of my beloved father-in-law I began to +receive letters pressing upon me the desirableness of issuing as soon as +possible a memoir of him and his work.</p> + +<p>The well-known autobiography, entitled "Narrative of the Lord's Dealings +with George Müller," had been, and was still being, so greatly used by +God in the edification of believers and the conversion of unbelievers +that I hesitated to countenance any attempt to supersede or even +supplement it. But as, with prayer, I reflected upon the subject, +several considerations impressed me:</p> + +<p>1st. The last volume of the Narrative ends with the year 1885, so that +there is no record of the last thirteen years of Mr. Müller's life +excepting what is contained in the yearly reports of "The Scriptural +Knowledge Institution."</p> + +<p>2d. The last three volumes of the Narrative, being mainly a condensation +of the yearly reports during the period embraced in them, contain much +unavoidable repetition.</p> + +<p>3d. A book of, say, four hundred and fifty pages, containing the +substance of the four volumes of the Narrative, and carrying on the +history to the date of the decease of the founder of the institution, +would meet the desire of a large class of readers.</p> + +<p>4th. Several brief sketches of Mr. Müller's career had issued from the +press within a few days after the funeral; and one (written by Mr. F. +Warne and published by W. F. Mack & Co., Bristol), a very accurate and +truly appreciative sketch, had had a large circulation; but I was +convinced by the letters that reached me that a more comprehensive +memoir was called for, and <i>would be</i> produced, so I was led especially to +pray for <i>guidance</i> that such a book might be entrusted to the author +fitted by God to undertake it.</p> + +<p>While waiting for the answer to this definite petition, though greatly +urged by publishers to proceed, I steadily declined to take any step +until I had clearer light. Moreover, I was, personally, occupied during +May and June in preparing the Annual Report of "The Scriptural Knowledge +Institution," and could not give proper attention to the other matter.</p> + +<p>Just then I learned from Dr. Arthur T. Pierson, of Brooklyn, N. Y., that +he had been led to undertake the production of a memoir of Mr. Müller +for American readers, and requesting my aid by furnishing him with some +materials needed for the work.</p> + +<p>Having complied with this request I was favoured by Dr. Pierson with a +syllabus of the method and contents of his intended work.</p> + +<p>The more I thought upon the subject the more satisfied I became that no +one could be found more fitted to undertake the work which had been +called for on this side of the Atlantic also than this my well-known and +beloved friend.</p> + +<p>He had had exceptional opportunities twenty years ago in the United +States, and in later years when visiting Great Britain, for becoming +intimately acquainted with Mr. Müller, with the principles on which the +Orphanage and other branches of "The Scriptural Knowledge Institution" +were carried on, and with many details of their working. I knew that Dr. +Pierson most thoroughly sympathized with these principles as being +according to the mind of God revealed in His word; and that he could, +therefore, present not merely the history of the external facts and +results of Mr. Müller's life and labours, but could and would, by God's +help, unfold, with the ardour and force of <i>conviction,</i> the secret +springs of that life and of those labours.</p> + +<p>I therefore intimated to my dear friend that, provided he would allow me +to read the manuscript and have thus the opportunity of making any +suggestions that I felt necessary, I would, as my beloved +father-in-law's executor and representative, gladly endorse his work as +the authorized memoir for British as well as American readers.</p> + +<p>To this Dr. Pierson readily assented; and now, after carefully going +through the whole, I confidently recommend the book to esteemed readers +on both sides of the Atlantic, with the earnest prayer that the result, +in relation to the subject of this memoir, may be identical with that +produced by the account of the Apostle Paul's "manner of life" upon the +churches of Judea which were in Christ (Gal. i. 24), viz.,</p> + +<p> "They glorified GOD" in him.<br> + JAMES WRIGHT.<br> + 13 CHARLOTTE STREET, PARK STREET,<br> + BRISTOL, ENG., March, 1899.</p> + +<br><br> +<a name="01"></a> +<center><h2>A Prefatory Word</h2></center> + +<p>DR. OLIVER W. HOLMES wittily said that an autobiography is what every +biography <i>ought to be.</i> The four volumes of "The Narrative of the Lord's +Dealings with George Müller," already issued from the press and written +by his own hand, with a fifth volume covering his missionary tours, and +prepared by his wife, supplemented by the Annual Reports since +published, constitute essentially an autobiography—Mr. Müller's own +life-story, stamped with his own peculiar individuality, and singularly +and minutely complete. To those who wish the simple journal of his life +with the details of his history, these printed documents make any other +sketch of him from other hands so far unnecessary.</p> + +<p>There are, however, two considerations which have mainly prompted the +preparation of this brief memoir: first, that the facts of this +remarkable life might be set forth not so much with reference to the +chronological order of their occurrence, as events, as for the sake of +the lessons in living which they furnish, illustrating and enforcing +grand spiritual principles and precepts: and secondly, because no man so +humble as he would ever write of himself what, after his departure, +another might properly write of him that others might glorify God in +him.</p> + +<p>No one could have undertaken this work of writing Mr. Müller's life-story +without being deeply impressed with the opportunity thus afforded for +impressing the most vital truths that concern holy living and holy +serving; nor could any one have completed such a work without feeling +overawed by the argument which this narrative furnishes for a present, +living, prayer-hearing God, and for a possible and practical daily walk +with Him and work with Him. It has been a great help in the preparation +of this book that the writer has had such frequent converse with Mr. +James Wright, who was so long Mr. Müller's associate and knew him so +intimately.</p> + +<p>So prominent was the word of God as a power in Mr. Müller's life that, in +an appendix, we have given peculiar emphasis to the great leading texts +of Scripture which inspired and guided his faith and conduct, and, so +far as possible, in the order in which such texts became practically +influential in his life; and so many wise and invaluable counsels are to +be found scattered throughout his journal that some of the most striking +and helpful have been selected, which may also be found in the appendix.</p> + +<p>This volume has, like the life it sketches, but one aim. It is simply +and solely meant to extend, emphasize, and perpetuate George Müller's +witness to a prayer-hearing God; to present, as plainly, forcibly, and +briefly as is practicable, the outlines of a human history, and an +experience of the Lord's leadings and dealings, which furnish a +sufficient answer to the question:</p> + +<center><h4>WHERE IS THE LORD GOD OF ELIJAH?</h4></center> + +<br><br> + +<center> +<h2>Table of Contents</h2></center> +<table> +<tr><td><a href="#00">INTRODUCTION BY MR. JAMES WRIGHT</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#01">A PREFATORY WORD</a></td></tr> +</table> +<br>CHAPTER I. +<table> +<tr><td><a href="#1">FROM HIS BIRTH TO HIS NEW BIRTH</a></td></tr> +</table> +<br>CHAPTER II. +<table> +<tr><td><a href="#2">THE NEW BIRTH AND THE NEW LIFE</a></td></tr> +</table> +<br>CHAPTER III. +<table> +<tr><td><a href="#3">MAKING READY THE CHOSEN VESSEL</a></td></tr> +</table> +<br>CHAPTER IV. +<table> +<tr><td><a href="#4">NEW STEPS AND STAGES OF PREPARATION</a></td></tr> +</table> +<br>CHAPTER V. +<table> +<tr><td><a href="#5">THE PULPIT AND THE PASTORATE</a></td></tr> +</table> +<br>CHAPTER VI. +<table> +<tr><td><a href="#6">"THE NARRATIVE OF THE LORD'S +DEALINGS"</a></td></tr> +</table> +<br>CHAPTER VII. +<table> +<tr><td><a href="#7">LED OF GOD INTO A NEW SPHERE</a></td></tr> +</table> +<br>CHAPTER VIII. +<table> +<tr><td><a href="#8">A TREE OF GOD'S OWN PLANTING</a></td></tr> +</table> +<br>CHAPTER IX. +<table> +<tr><td><a href="#9">THE GROWTH OF GOD'S OWN PLANT</a></td></tr> +</table> +<br>CHAPTER X. +<table> +<tr><td><a href="#10">THE WORD OF GOD AND PRAYER</a></td></tr> +</table> +<br>CHAPTER XI. +<table> +<tr><td><a href="#11">TRIALS OF FAITH AND HELPERS TO FAITH</a></td></tr> +</table> +<br>CHAPTER XII. +<table> +<tr><td><a href="#12">NEW LESSONS IN GOD'S SCHOOL OF PRAYER</a></td></tr> +</table> +<br>CHAPTER XIII. +<table> +<tr><td><a href="#13">FOLLOWING THE PILLAR OF CLOUD AND +FIRE</a></td></tr> +</table> +<br>CHAPTER XIV. +<table> +<tr><td><a href="#14">GOD'S BUILDING: THE NEW ORPHAN HOUSES</a></td></tr> +</table> +<br>CHAPTER XV. +<table> +<tr><td><a href="#15">THE MANIFOLD GRACE OF GOD</a></td></tr> +</table> +<br>CHAPTER XVI. +<table> +<tr><td><a href="#16">THE SHADOW OF A GREAT SORROW</a></td></tr> +</table> +<br>CHAPTER XVII. +<table> +<tr><td><a href="#17">THE PERIOD OF WORLD-WIDE WITNESS</a></td></tr> +</table> +<br>CHAPTER XVIII. +<table> +<tr><td><a href="#18">FAITH AND PATIENCE IN SERVING</a></td></tr> +</table> +<br>CHAPTER XIX. +<table> +<tr><td><a href="#19">AT EVENING-TIME-LIGHT</a></td></tr> +</table> +<br>CHAPTER XX. +<table> +<tr><td><a href="#20">THE SUMMARY OF THE LIFE-WORK</a></td></tr> +</table> +<br>CHAPTER XXI. +<table> +<tr><td><a href="#21">CHURCH LIFE AND GROWTH</a></td></tr> +</table> +<br>CHAPTER XXII. +<table> +<tr><td><a href="#22">A GLANCE AT THE GIFTS AND THE GIVERS</a></td></tr> +</table> +<br>CHAPTER XXIII. +<table> +<tr><td><a href="#23">GOD'S WITNESS TO THE WORK</a></td></tr> +</table> +<br>CHAPTER XXIV. +<table> +<tr><td><a href="#24">LAST LOOKS, BACKWARD AND FORWARD</a></td></tr> +</table> +<br>APPENDIX. + +<table> +<tr><td><a href="#a">A. SCRIPTURE TEXTS THAT MOULDED GEORGE +MÜLLER</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td><a href="#b">B. APPREHENSION OF TRUTH</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td><a href="#c">C. SEPARATION FROM THE LONDON SOCIETY, +ETC.</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td><a href="#d">D. THE SCRIPTURAL KNOWLEDGE INSTITUTION FOR HOME +AND ABROAD</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td><a href="#e">E. REASONS WHICH LED MR. MÜLLER TO ESTABLISH AN +ORPHAN HOUSE</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td><a href="#f">F. ARGUMENTS IN PRAYER FOR THE ORPHAN +WORK</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td><a href="#g">G. THE PURCHASE OF A SITE, ETC.</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td><a href="#h">H. GOD'S FAITHFULNESS IN PROVIDING</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td><a href="#k">K. FURTHER RECOLLECTIONS OF MR. +MÜLLER</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td><a href="#l">L. CHURCH FELLOWSHIP, BAPTISM, ETC.</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td><a href="#m">M. CHURCH CONDUCT</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td><a href="#n">N. THE WISE SAYINGS OF GEORGE MÜLLER</a></td></tr> +</table> + +<br><br><br> + +<center><h1>George Müller of Bristol</h1></center> + +<br><br> +<a name="1"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER I</h3></center> +<center><h3>FROM HIS BIRTH TO HIS NEW BIRTH</h3></center> + +<p>A HUMAN life, filled with the presence and power of God, is one of God's +choicest gifts to His church and to the world.</p> + +<p>Things which are unseen and eternal seem, to the carnal man, distant and +indistinct, while what is seen and temporal is vivid and real. +Practically, any object in nature that can be seen or felt is thus more +real and actual to most men than the Living God. Every man who walks +with God, and finds Him a present Help in every time of need; who puts +His promises to the practical proof and verifies them in actual +experience; every believer who with the key of faith unlocks God's +mysteries, and with the key of prayer unlocks God's treasuries, thus +furnishes to the race a demonstration and an illustration of the fact +that "He is, and is a Rewarder of them that diligently seek Him."</p> + +<p>George Müller was such an argument and example incarnated in human +flesh. Here was a man of like passions as we are and tempted in all +points like as we are, but who believed God and was established by +believing; who prayed earnestly that he might live a life and do a work +which should be a convincing proof that God hears prayer and that it is +safe to trust Him at all times; and who has furnished just such a +witness as he desired. Like Enoch, he truly walked with God, and had +abundant testimony borne to him that he pleased God. And when, on the +tenth day of March, 1898, it was told us of George Müller that "he was +not," we knew that "God had taken him": it seemed more like a +translation than like death.</p> + +<p>To those who are familiar with his long life-story, and, most of all, to +those who intimately knew him and felt the power of personal contact +with him, he was one of God's ripest saints and himself a living proof +that a life of faith is possible; that God may be known, communed with, +found, and may become a conscious companion in the daily life. George +Müller proved for himself and for all others who will receive his +witness that, to those who are willing to take God at His word and to +yield self to His will, He is "the same yesterday and to-day and +forever": that the days of divine intervention and deliverance are past +only to those with whom the days of faith and obedience are past—in a +word, that believing prayer works still the wonders which our fathers +told of in the days of old.</p> + +<p>The life of this man may best be studied, perhaps, by dividing it into +certain marked periods, into which it naturally falls, when we look at +those leading events and experiences which are like punctuation-marks or +paragraph divisions,—as, for example:</p> + +<p>1. From his birth to his new birth or conversion: 1805-1825.</p> + +<p>2. From his conversion to full entrance on his life-work: 1825-35.</p> + +<p>3. From this point to the period of his mission tours: 1835-75.</p> + +<p>4. From the beginning to the close of these tours: 1875-92.</p> + +<p>5. From the close of his tours to his death: 1892-98.</p> + +<p>Thus the first period would cover twenty years; the second, ten; the +third, forty; the fourth, seventeen; and the last, six. However thus +unequal in length, each forms a sort of epoch, marked by certain +conspicuous and characteristic features which serve to distinguish it +and make its lessons peculiarly important and memorable. For example, +the first period is that of the lost days of sin, in which the great +lesson taught is the bitterness and worthlessness of a disobedient life. +In the second period may be traced the remarkable steps of preparation +for the great work of his life. The third period embraces the actual +working out of the divine mission committed to him. Then for seventeen +or eighteen years we find him bearing in all parts of the earth his +world-wide witness to God; and the last six years were used of God in +mellowing and maturing his Christian character. During these years he +was left in peculiar loneliness, yet this only made him lean more on the +divine companionship, and it was noticeable with those who were brought +into most intimate contact with him that he was more than ever before +heavenly-minded, and the beauty of the Lord his God was upon him.</p> + +<p>The first period may be passed rapidly by, for it covers only the wasted +years of a sinful and profligate youth and early manhood. It is of +interest mainly as illustrating the sovereignty of that Grace which +abounds even to the chief of sinners. Who can read the story of that +score of years and yet talk of piety as the product of evolution? In his +case, instead of evolution, there was rather a <i>revolution,</i> as marked +and complete as ever was found, perhaps, in the annals of salvation. If +Lord George Lyttelton could account for the conversion of Saul of Tarsus +only by supernatural power, what would he have thought of George +Müller's transformation! Saul had in his favor a conscience, however +misguided, and a morality, however pharisaic. George Müller was a +flagrant sinner against common honesty and decency, and his whole early +career was a revolt, not against God only, but against his own moral +sense. If Saul was a hardened transgressor, how callous must have been +George Müller!</p> + +<p>He was a native of Prussia, born at Kroppenstaedt, near Halberstadt, +September 27, 1805. Less than five years later his parents removed to +Heimersleben, some four miles off, where his father was made collector +of the excise, again removing about eleven years later to Schoenebeck, +near Magdeburg, where he had obtained another appointment.</p> + +<p>George Müller had no proper parental training. His father's favoritism +toward him was harmful both to himself and to his brother, as in the +family of Jacob, tending to jealousy and estrangement. Money was put too +freely into the hands of these boys, hoping that they might learn how to +use it and save it; but the result was, rather, careless and vicious +waste, for it became the source of many childish sins of indulgence. +Worse still, when called upon to render any account of their +stewardship, sins of lying and deception were used to cloak wasteful +spending. Young George systematically deceived his father, either by +false entries of what he had received, or by false statements of what he +had spent or had on hand. When his tricks were found out, the punishment +which followed led to no reformation, the only effect being more +ingenious devices of trickery and fraud. Like the Spartan lad, George +Müller reckoned it no fault to steal, but only to have his theft found +out.</p> + +<p>His own brief account of his boyhood shows a very bad boy and he +attempts no disguise. Before he was ten years old he was a habitual +thief and an expert at cheating; even government funds, entrusted to his +father, were not safe from his hands. Suspicion led to the laying of a +snare into which he fell: a sum of money was carefully counted and put +where he would find it and have a chance to steal it. He took it and hid +it under his foot in his shoe, but, he being searched and the money +being found, it became clear to whom the various sums previously missing +might be traced.</p> + +<p>His father wished him educated for a clergyman, and before he was eleven +he was sent to the cathedral classical school at Halberstadt to be +fitted for the university. That such a lad should be deliberately set +apart for such a sacred office and calling, by a father who knew his +moral obliquities and offences, seems incredible—but, where a state +church exists, the ministry of the Gospel is apt to be treated as a +human profession rather than as a divine vocation, and so the standards +of fitness often sink to the low secular level, and the main object in +view becomes the so-called "living," which is, alas, too frequently +independent of <i>holy</i> living.</p> + +<p>From this time the lad's studies were mixed up with novel-reading and +various vicious indulgences. Card-playing and even strong drink got hold +of him. The night when his mother lay dying, her boy of fourteen was +reeling through the streets, drunk; and even her death failed to arrest +his wicked course or to arouse his sleeping conscience. And—as must +always be the case when such solemn reminders make one no better—he +only grew worse.</p> + +<p>When he came to the age for confirmation He had to attend the class for +preparatory religious teaching; but this being to him a mere form, and +met in a careless spirit, another false step was taken: sacred things +were treated as common, and so conscience became the more callous. On +the very eve of confirmation and of his first approach to the Lord's +Table he was guilty of gross sins; and on the day previous, when he met +the clergyman for the customary "confession of sin," he planned and +practised another shameless fraud, withholding from him eleven-twelfths +of the confirmation fee entrusted to him by his father!</p> + +<p>In such frames of mind and with such habits of life George Müller, in +the Easter season of 1820, was confirmed and became a communicant. +Confirmed, indeed! but in sin, not only immoral and unregenerate, but so +ignorant of the very rudiments of the Gospel of Christ that he could not +have stated to an inquiring soul the simple terms of the plan of +salvation. There was, it is true about such serious and sacred +transactions, a vague solemnity which left a transient impression and +led to shallow resolves to live a better life; but there was no real +sense of sin or of repentance toward God, nor was there any dependence +upon a higher strength: and, without these, efforts at self-amendment +never prove of value or work lasting results.</p> + +<p>The story of this wicked boyhood presents but little variety, except +that of sin and crime. It is one long tale of evil-doing and of the +sorrow which it brings. Once, when his money was all recklessly wasted, +hunger drove him to steal a bit of coarse bread from a soldier who was a +fellow lodger; and looking back, long afterward, to that hour of +extremity, he exclaimed, "What a bitter thing is the service of Satan, +even in this world!"</p> + +<p>On his father's removal to Schoenebeck in 1821 he asked to be sent to +the cathedral school at Magdeburg, inwardly hoping thus to break away +from his sinful snares and vicious companions, and, amid new scenes, +find help in self-reform. He was not, therefore, without at least +occasional aspirations after moral improvement; but again he made the +common and fatal mistake of overlooking the Source of all true +betterment. "God was not in all his thoughts." He found that to leave +one place for another was not to leave his sin behind, for he took +himself along.</p> + +<p>His father, with a strange fatuity, left him to superintend sundry +alterations in his house at Heimersleben, arranging for him meanwhile to +read classics with the resident clergyman, Rev. Dr. Nagel. Being thus +for a time his own master, temptation opened wide doors before him. He +was allowed to collect dues from his father's debtors, and again he +resorted to fraud, spending large sums of this money and concealing the +fact that it had been paid.</p> + +<p>In November, 1821, he went to Magdeburg and to Brunswick, to which +latter place he was drawn by his passion for a young Roman Catholic +girl, whom he had met there soon after confirmation. In this absence +from home he took one step after another in the path of wicked +indulgence. First of all, by lying to his tutor he got his consent to +his going; then came a week of sin at Magdeburg and a wasting of his +father's means at a costly hotel in Brunswick. His money being gone, he +went to the house of an uncle until he was sent away; then, at another +expensive hotel, he ran up bills until, payment being demanded, he had +to leave his best clothes as a security, barely escaping arrest. Then, +at Wolfenbuttel, he tried the same bold scheme again, until, having +nothing for deposit, he ran off, but this time was caught and sent to +jail. This boy of sixteen was already a liar and thief, swindler and +drunkard, accomplished only in crime, a companion of convicted felons +and himself in a felon's cell. This cell, a few days later, a thief +shared: and these two held converse as fellow thieves, relating their +adventures to one another, and young Müller, that he might not be +outdone, invented lying tales of villainy to make himself out the more +famous fellow of the two!</p> + +<p>Ten or twelve days passed in this wretched fellowship, until +disagreement led to a sullen silence between them. And so passed away +twenty-four dark days, from December 18, 1821, until the 12th of January +ensuing, during all of which George Müller was shut up in prison and +during part of which he sought as a favour the company of a thief.</p> + +<p>His father learned of his disgrace and sent money to meet his hotel dues +and other "costs" and pay for his return home. Yet such was his +persistent wickedness that, going from a convict's cell to confront his +outraged but indulgent parent, he chose as his companion in travel an +avowedly wicked man.</p> + +<p>He was severely chastised by his father and felt that he must make some +effort to reinstate himself in his favour. He therefore studied hard and +took pupils in arithmetic and German, French and Latin. This outward +reform so pleased his father that he shortly forgot as well as forgave +his evil-doing; but again it was only the outside of the cup and platter +that was made clean: the secret heart was still desperately wicked and +the whole life, as God saw it, was an abomination.</p> + +<p>George Müller now began to forge what he afterward called "a whole chain +of lies." When his father would no longer consent to his staying at +home, he left, ostensibly for Halle, the university town, to be +examined, but really for Nordhausen to seek entrance into the gymnasium. +He avoided Halle because he dreaded its severe discipline, and foresaw +that restraint would be doubly irksome when constantly meeting young +fellows of his acquaintance who, as students in the university, would +have much more freedom than himself. On returning home he tried to +conceal this fraud from his father; but just before he was to leave +again for Nordhausen the truth became known, which made needful new +links in that chain of lies to account for his systematic disobedience +and deception. His father, though angry, permitted him to go to +Nordhausen, where he remained from October, 1822, till Easter, 1825.</p> + +<p>During these two and a half years he studied classics, French, history, +etc., living with the director of the gymnasium. His conduct so improved +that he rose in favour and was pointed to as an example for the other +lads, and permitted to accompany the master in his walks, to converse +with him in Latin. At this time he was a hard student, rising at four +A.M. the year through, and applying himself to his books till ten at +night.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, by his own confession, behind all this formal propriety +there lay secret sin and utter alienation from God. His vices induced an +illness which for thirteen weeks kept him in his room. He was not +without a religious bent, which led to the reading of such books as +Klopstock's works, but he neither cared for God's word, nor had he any +compunction for trampling upon God's law. In his library, now numbering +about three hundred books, no Bible was found. Cicero and Horace, +Moliere and Voltaire, he knew and valued, but of the Holy Scriptures he +was grossly ignorant, and as indifferent to them as he was ignorant of +them. Twice a year, according to prevailing custom, he went to the +Lord's Supper, like others who had passed the age of confirmation, and +he could not at such seasons quite avoid religious impressions. When the +consecrated bread and wine touched his lips he would sometimes take an +oath to reform, and for a few days refrain from some open sins; but +there was no spiritual life to act as a force within, and his vows were +forgotten almost as soon as made. The old Satan was too strong for the +young Müller, and, when the mighty passions of his evil nature were +roused, his resolves and endeavours were as powerless to hold him as +were the new cords which bound Samson, to restrain him, when he awoke +from his slumber.</p> + +<p>It is hard to believe that this young man of twenty could lie without a +blush and with the air of perfect candor. When dissipation dragged him +into the mire of debt, and his allowance would not help him out, he +resorted again to the most ingenious devices of falsehood. He pretended +that the money wasted in riotous living had been stolen by violence, +and, to carry out the deception he studied the part of an actor. Forcing +the locks of his trunk and guitar-case, he ran into the director's room +half dressed and feigning fright, declaring that he was the victim of a +robbery, and excited such pity that friends made up a purse to cover his +supposed losses. Suspicion was, however, awakened that he had been +playing a false part, and he never regained the master's confidence; and +though he had even then no sense of sin, shame at being detected in such +meanness and hypocrisy made him shrink from ever again facing the +director's wife, who, in his long sickness, had nursed him like a +mother.</p> + +<p>Such was the man who was not only admitted to honourable standing as a +university student, but accepted as a candidate for holy orders, with +permission to preach in the Lutheran establishment. This student of +divinity knew nothing of God or salvation, and was ignorant even of the +gospel plan of saving grace. He felt the need for a better life, but no +godly motives swayed him. Reformation was a matter purely of expediency: +to continue in profligacy would bring final exposure, and no parish +would have him as a pastor. To get a valuable "cure" and a good "living" +he must make attainments in divinity, pass a good examination, and have +at least a decent reputation. Worldly policy urged him to apply himself +on the one hand to his studies and on the other to self-reform.</p> + +<p>Again he met defeat, for he had never yet found the one source and +secret of all strength. Scarce had he entered Halle before his resolves +proved frail as a spider's web, unable to restrain him from vicious +indulgences. He refrained indeed from street brawls and duelling, +because they would curtail his liberty, but he knew as yet no moral +restraints. His money was soon spent, and he borrowed till he could find +no one to lend, and then pawned his watch and clothes.</p> + +<p>He could not but be wretched, for it was plain to what a goal of poverty +and misery, dishonour and disgrace, such paths lead. Policy loudly urged +him to abandon his evil-doing, but piety had as yet no voice in his +life. He went so far, however, as to choose for a friend a young man and +former schoolmate, named Beta, whose quiet seriousness might, as he +hoped, steady his own course. But he was leaning on a broken reed, for +Beta was himself a backslider. Again he was taken ill. God made him to +"possess the iniquities of his youth." After some weeks he was better, +and once more his conduct took on the semblance of improvement.</p> + +<p>The true mainspring of all well-regulated lives was still lacking, and +sin soon broke out in unholy indulgence. George Müller was an adept at +the ingenuity of vice. What he had left he pawned to get money, and with +Beta and two others went on a four days' pleasure-drive, and then +planned a longer tour in the Alps. Barriers were in the way, for both +money and passports were lacking; but fertility of invention swept all +such barriers away. Forged letters, purporting to be from their parents, +brought passports for the party, and books, put in pawn, secured money. +Forty-three days were spent in travel, mostly afoot; and during this +tour George Müller, holding, like Judas, the common purse, proved, like +him, a thief, for he managed to make his companions pay one third of his +own expenses.</p> + +<p>The party were back in Halle before the end of September, and George +Müller went home to spend the rest of his vacation. To account plausibly +to his father for the use of his allowance a new chain of lies was +readily devised. So soon and so sadly were all his good resolves again +broken.</p> + +<p>When once more in Halle, he little knew that the time had come when he +was to become a new man in Christ Jesus. He was to find God, and that +discovery was to turn into a new channel the whole current of his life. +The sin and misery of these twenty years would not have been reluctantly +chronicled but to make the more clear that his conversion was a +supernatural work, inexplicable without God. There was certainly nothing +in himself to 'evolve' such a result, nor was there anything in his +'environment.' In that university town there were no natural forces that +could bring about a revolution in character and conduct such as he +experienced. Twelve hundred and sixty students were there gathered, and +nine hundred of them were divinity students, yet even of the latter +number, though all were permitted to preach, not one hundredth part, he +says, actually "feared the Lord." Formalism displaced pure and undefiled +religion, and with many of them immorality and infidelity were cloaked +behind a profession of piety. Surely such a man, with such surroundings, +could undergo no radical change of character and life without the +intervention of some mighty power from without and from above! What this +force was, and how it wrought upon him and in him, we are now to see.</p> + +<a name="2"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER II</h3></center> +<center><h3>THE NEW BIRTH AND THE NEW LIFE</h3></center> + +<p>THE lost days of sin, now forever past, the days of heaven upon earth +began to dawn, to grow brighter till the perfect day.</p> + +<p>We enter the second period of this life we are reviewing. After a score +of years of evil-doing George Müller was converted to God, and the +radical nature of the change strikingly proves and displays the +sovereignty of Almighty Grace. He had been kept amid scenes of +outrageous and flagrant sin, and brought through many perils, as well as +two serious illnesses, because divine purposes of mercy were to be +fulfilled in him. No other explanation can adequately account for the +facts.</p> + +<p>Let those who would explain such a conversion without taking God into +account remember that it was at a time when this young sinner was as +careless as ever; when he had not for years read the Bible or had a copy +of it in his possession; when he had seldom gone to a service of +worship, and had never yet even heard one gospel sermon; when he had +never been told by any believer what it is to believe on the Lord Jesus +Christ and to live by God's help and according to His Word; when, in +fact, he had no conception of the first principles of the doctrine of +Christ, and knew not the real nature of a holy life, but thought all +others to be as himself, except in the degree of depravity and iniquity. +This young man had thus grown to manhood without having learned that +rudimental truth that sinners and saints differ not in degree but in +kind; that if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation; yet the hard +heart of such a man, at such a time and in such conditions, was so +wrought upon by the Holy Spirit that he suddenly found entrance into a +new sphere of life, with new adaptations to its new atmosphere.</p> + +<p>The divine Hand in this history is doubly plain when, as we now look +back, we see that this was also the period of preparation for his +life-work—a preparation the more mysterious because he had as yet no +conception or forecast of that work. During the next ten years we shall +watch the divine Potter, to Whom George Müller was a chosen vessel for +service, moulding and fitting the vessel for His use. Every step is one +of preparation, but can be understood only in the light which that +future casts backward over the unique ministry to the church and the +world, to which this new convert was all unconsciously separated by God +and was to become so peculiarly consecrated.</p> + +<p>One Saturday afternoon about the middle of November, 1825, Beta said to +Müller, as they were returning from a walk, that he was going that +evening to a meeting at a believer's house, where he was wont to go on +Saturdays, and where a few friends met to sing, to pray, and to read the +word of God and a printed sermon. Such a programme held out nothing +fitted to draw a man of the world who sought his daily gratifications at +the card-table and in the wine-cup, the dance and the drama, and whose +companionships were found in dissipated young fellows; and yet George +Müller felt at once a wish to go to this meeting, though he could not +have told why. There was no doubt a conscious void within him never yet +filled, and some instinctive inner voice whispered that he might there +find food for his soul-hunger—a satisfying something after which he had +all his life been unconsciously and blindly groping. He expressed the +desire to go, which his friend hesitated to encourage lest such a gay +and reckless devotee of vicious pleasures might feel ill at ease in such +an assembly. However, he called for young Müller and took him to the +meeting.</p> + +<p>During his wanderings as a backslider, Beta had both joined and aided +George Müller in his evil courses, but, on coming back from the Swiss +tour, his sense of sin had so revived as to constrain him to make a full +confession to his father; and, through a Christian friend, one Dr. +Richter, a former student at Halle, he had been made acquainted with the +Mr. Wagner at whose dwelling the meetings were held. The two young men +therefore went together, and the former backslider was used of God to +"convert a sinner from the error of his way and save a soul from death +and hide a multitude of sins."</p> + +<p>That Saturday evening was the turning-point in George Müller's history +and destiny. He found himself in strange company, amid novel +surroundings, and breathing a new atmosphere. His awkwardness made him +feel so uncertain of his welcome that he made some apology for being +there. But he never forgot brother Wagner's gracious answer: "Come as +often as you please! house and heart are open to you." He little knew +then what he afterward learned from blessed experience, what joy fills +and thrills the hearts of praying saints when an evil-doer turns his +feet, however timidly, toward a place of prayer!</p> + +<p>All present sat down and sang a hymn. Then a brother—who afterward went +to Africa under the London Missionary Society—fell on his knees and +prayed for God's blessing on the meeting. That <i>kneeling before God in +prayer</i> made upon Müller an impression never lost. He was in his +twenty-first year, and yet he had <i>never before seen any one on his +knees praying,</i> and of course had never himself knelt before God,—the +Prussian habit being to stand in public prayer.</p> + +<p>A chapter was read from the word of God, and—all meetings where the +Scriptures were expounded, unless by an ordained clergyman, being under +the ban as irregular—a printed sermon was read. When, after another +hymn, the master of the house prayed, George Müller was inwardly saying: +"I am much more learned than this illiterate man, but I could not pray +as well as he." Strange to say, a new joy was already springing up in +his soul for which he could have given as little explanation as for his +unaccountable desire to go to that meeting. But so it was; and on the +way home he could not forbear saying to Beta: "All we saw on our journey +to Switzerland, and all our former pleasures, are as nothing compared to +this evening."</p> + +<p>Whether or not, on reaching his own room, he himself knelt to pray he +could not recall, but he never forgot that a new and strange peace and +rest somehow found him as he lay in bed that night. Was it God's wings +that folded over him, after all his vain flight away from the true nest +where the divine Eagle flutters over His young?</p> + +<p>How sovereign are God's ways of working! In such a sinner as Müller, +theologians would have demanded a great 'law work' as the necessary +doorway to a new life. Yet there was at this time as little deep +conviction of guilt and condemnation as there was deep knowledge of God +and of divine things, and perhaps it was because there was so little of +the latter that there was so little of the former.</p> + +<p>Our rigid theories of conversion all fail in view of such facts. We have +heard of a little child who so simply trusted Christ for salvation that +she could give no account of any 'law work.' And as one of the old +examiners, who thought there could be no genuine conversion without a +period of deep conviction, asked her, "But, my dear, how about the +Slough of Despond?" she dropped a courtesy and said, "<i>Please, sir, I +didn't come that way!</i>"</p> + +<p>George Müller's eyes were but half opened, as though he saw men as trees +walking; but Christ had touched those eyes, He knew little of the great +Healer, but somehow he had touched the hem of His garment of grace, and +virtue came out of Him who wears that seamless robe, and who responds +even to the faintest contact of the soul that is groping after +salvation. And so we meet here another proof of the infinite variety of +God's working which, like the fact of that working, is so wonderful. +That Saturday evening in November, 1825, was to this young student of +Halle <i>the parting of the ways.</i> He had tasted that the Lord is +gracious, though he himself could not account for the new relish for +divine things which made it seem too long to wait a week for another +meal; so that thrice before the Saturday following he sought the house +of brother Wagner, there, with the help of brethren, to search the +Scriptures.</p> + +<p>We should lose one of the main lessons of this life-story by passing too +hastily over such an event as this conversion and the exact manner of +it, for here is to be found the first great step in God's preparation of +the workman for his work.</p> + +<p>Nothing is more wonderful in history than the unmistakable signs and +proofs of <i>preadaptation.</i> Our life-occurrences are not <i>disjecta +membra</i>—scattered, disconnected, and accidental fragments. In God's +book all these events were written beforehand, when as yet there was +nothing in existence but the plan in God's mind—to be fashioned in +continuance in actual history—as is perhaps suggested in Psalm cxxxix. +16 (margin).</p> + +<p>We see stones and timbers brought to a building site—the stones from +different quarries and the timbers from various shops—and different +workmen have been busy upon them at times and places which forbade all +conscious contact or cooperation. The conditions oppose all preconcerted +action, and yet, without chipping or cutting, stone fits stone, and +timber fits timber—tenons and mortises, and proportions and dimensions, +all corresponding so that when the building is complete it is as +perfectly proportioned and as accurately fitted as though it had been +all prepared in one workshop and put together in advance as a test. In +such circumstances no sane man would doubt that <i>one presiding +mind</i>—one architect and master builder—had planned that structure, +however many were the quarries and workshops and labourers.</p> + +<p>And so it is with this life-story we are writing. The materials to be +built into one structure of service were from a thousand sources and +moulded into form by many hands, but there was a mutual fitness and a +common adaptation to the end in view which prove that He whose mind and +plan span the ages had a supreme purpose to which all human agents were +unconsciously tributary. The awe of this vision of God's workmanship +will grow upon us as we look beneath and behind the mere human +occurrences to see the divine Hand shaping and building together all +these seemingly disconnected events and experiences into one life-work.</p> + +<p>For example, what have we found to be the initial step and stage in +George Müller's spiritual history? In a little gathering of believers, +where for the first time he saw a child of God pray on his knees, he +found his first approach to a pardoning God. Let us observe: this man +was henceforth to be singularly and peculiarly identified with simple +scriptural assemblies of believers after the most primitive and +apostolic pattern—meetings for prayer and praise, reading and +expounding of the Word, such as doubtless were held at the house of Mary +the mother of John Mark—assemblies mainly and primarily for believers, +held wherever a place could be found, with no stress laid on consecrated +buildings and with absolutely no secular or aesthetic attractions. Such +assemblies were to be so linked with the whole life, work, and witness +of George Müller as to be inseparable from his name, and it was in such +an assembly that the night before he died he gave out his last hymn and +offered his last prayer.</p> + +<p>Not only so, but <i>prayer, on the knees, both in secret and in such +companionship of believers,</i> was henceforth to be the one great central +secret of his holy living and holy serving. Upon this corner-stone of +prayer all his life-work was to be built. Of Sir Henry Lawrence the +native soldiers during the Lucknow mutiny were wont to say that, "when +he looked twice up to heaven, once down to earth, and then stroked his +beard, he knew what to do." And of George Müller it may well be said +that he was to be, for more than seventy years, the man who +conspicuously looked up to heaven to learn what he was to do. Prayer for +direct divine guidance in every crisis, great or small, was to be the +secret of his whole career. Is there any accident in the exact way in +which he was first led to God, and in the precise character of the +scenes which were thus stamped with such lasting interest and +importance?</p> + +<p>The thought of a divine plan which is thus emphasized at this point we +are to see singularly illustrated as we mark how stone after stone and +timber after timber are brought to the building site, and all so +mutually fitted that no sound of any human tool is to be heard while the +life-work is in building.</p> + +<p>Of course a man that had been so profligate and prodigal must at least +begin at conversion to live a changed life. Not that all at once the old +sins were abandoned, for such total transformation demands deeper +knowledge of the word and will of God than George Müller yet had. But +within him a new separating and sanctifying Power was at work. There was +a distaste for wicked joys and former companions; the frequenting of +taverns entirely ceased, and a lying tongue felt new and strange bands +about it. A watch was set at the door of the lips, and every word that +went forth was liable to a challenge, so that old habits of untamed +speech were arrested and corrected.</p> + +<p>At this time he was translating into German for the press a French +novel, hoping to use the proceeds of his work for a visit to Paris, etc. +At first the plan for the pleasure-trip was abandoned, then the question +arose whether the work itself should not be. Whether his convictions +were not clear or his moral courage not sufficient, he went on with the +novel. It was finished, but never published. Providential hindrances +prevented or delayed the sale and publication of the manuscript until +clearer spiritual vision showed him that the whole matter was not of +faith and was therefore sin, so that he would neither sell nor print the +novel, but burned it—another significant step, for it was his <i>first +courageous act of self-denial in surrender to the voice of the +Spirit</i>—and another stone or timber was thus ready for the coming +building.</p> + +<p>He now began in different directions a good fight against evil. Though +as yet weak and often vanquished before temptation, he did not +habitually 'continue in sin,' nor offend against God without godly +sorrow. Open sins became less frequent and secret sins less ensnaring. +He read the word of God, prayed often, loved fellow disciples, sought +church assemblies from right motives, and boldly took his stand on the +side of his new Master, at the cost of reproach and ridicule from his +fellow students.</p> + +<p>George Müller's next marked step in his new path was <i>the discovery of +the preciousness of the word of God.</i></p> + +<p>At first he had a mere hint of the deep mines of wealth which he +afterward explored. But his whole life-history so circles about certain +great texts that whenever they come into this narrative they should +appear in capitals to mark their prominence. And, of them all, that +'little gospel' in John iii. 16 is the first, for by it he found a full +salvation:</p> + +<p>"GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD THAT HE GAVE HIS ONLY-BEGOTTEN SON, THAT +WHOSOEVER BELIEVETH IN HIM SHOULD NOT PERISH, BUT HAVE EVERLASTING +LIFE."</p> + +<p>From these words he got his first glimpse of the philosophy of the plan +of salvation—why and how the Lord Jesus Christ bore our sins in His own +body on the tree as our vicarious Substitute and suffering Surety, and +how His sufferings in Gethsemane and Golgotha made it forever needless +that the penitent believing sinner should bear his own iniquity and die +for it.</p> + +<p>Truly to grasp this fact is the beginning of a true and saving +faith—what the Spirit calls "laying hold." He who believes and knows +that God so loved him first, finds himself loving God in return, and +faith works by love to purify the heart, transform the life, and +overcome the world.</p> + +<p>It was so with George Müller. He found in the word of God <i>one great +fact:</i> the love of God in Christ. Upon that fact faith, not feeling, +laid hold; and then the feeling came naturally without being waited for +or sought after. The love of God in Christ constrained him to a +love—infinitely unworthy, indeed, of that to which it responded, yet +supplying a new impulse unknown before. What all his father's +injunctions, chastisements, entreaties, with all the urgent dictates of +his own conscience, motives of expediency, and repeated resolves of +amendment, utterly failed to effect, the love of God both impelled and +enabled him to do—renounce a life of sinful self-indulgence. Thus early +he learned that double truth, which he afterwards passionately loved to +teach others, that in the blood of God's atoning Lamb is the Fountain of +both forgiveness and cleansing. Whether we seek pardon for sin or power +over sin, the sole source and secret are in Christ's work for us.</p> + +<p>The new year 1826 was indeed a <i>new year</i> to this newborn soul. He now +began to read <i>missionary</i> journals, which kindled a new flame in his +heart. He felt a yearning—not very intelligent as yet—to be himself a +messenger to the nations, and frequent praying deepened and confirmed +the impression. As his knowledge of the world-field enlarged, new facts +as to the destitution and the desolation of heathen peoples became as +fuel to feed this flame of the mission spirit.</p> + +<p>A carnal attachment, however, for a time almost quenched this fire of +God within. He was drawn to a young woman of like age, a professed +believer, whom he had met at the Saturday-evening meetings; but he had +reason to think that her parents would not give her up to a missionary +life, and he began, half-unconsciously, to weigh in the balance his +yearning for service over against his passion for a fellow creature. +Inclination, alas, outweighed duty. Prayer lost its power and for the +time was almost discontinued, with corresponding decline in joy. His +heart was turned from the foreign field, and in fact from all +self-denying service. Six weeks passed in this state of spiritual +declension, when God took a strange way to reclaim the backslider.</p> + +<p>A young brother, Hermann Ball, wealthy, cultured, with every promising +prospect for this world to attract him, made a great self-sacrifice. He +chose Poland as a field, and work among the Jews as his mission, +refusing to stay at home to rest in the soft nest of self-indulgent and +luxurious ease. This choice made on young Müller a deep impression. He +was compelled to contrast with it his own course. For the sake of a +passionate love for a young woman he had given up the work to which he +felt drawn of God, and had become both joyless and prayerless: another +young man, with far more to draw him worldward, had, for the sake of a +self-denying service among despised Polish Jews, resigned all the +pleasures and treasures of the world. Hermann Ball was acting and +choosing as Moses did in the crisis of his history, while he, George +Müller, was acting and choosing more like that profane person Esau, when +for one morsel of meat he bartered his birthright. The result was a new +renunciation—he gave up the girl he loved, and forsook a connection +which had been formed without faith and prayer and had proved a source +of alienation from God.</p> + +<p>Here we mark another new and significant step in preparation for his +life-work—a decided step forward, which became a pattern for his +after-life. For the second time a <i>decision for God had cost him marked +self-denial.</i> Before, he had burned his novel; now, on the same altar, +he gave up to the consuming fire a human passion which had over him an +unhallowed influence. According to the measure of his light thus far, +George Müller was <i>fully, unreservedly given up to God,</i> and therefore +walking in the light. He did not have to wait long for the recompense of +the reward, for the smile of God repaid him for the loss of a human +love, and the peace of God was his because the God of peace was with +him.</p> + +<p>Every new spring of inward joy demands a channel for outflow, and so he +felt impelled to bear witness. He wrote to his father and brother of his +own happy experience, begging them to seek and find a like rest in God, +thinking that they had but to know the path that leads to such joy to be +equally eager to enter it. But an angry response was all the reply that +his letter evoked.</p> + +<p>About the same time the famous Dr. Tholuck took the chair of professor +of divinity at Halle, and the advent of such a godly man to the faculty +drew pious students from other schools of learning, and so enlarged +George Müllers circle of fellow believers, who helped him much through +grace. Of course the missionary spirit revived, and with such increased +fervor, that he sought his father's permission to connect himself with +some missionary institution in Germany. His father was not only much +displeased, but greatly disappointed, and dealt in reproaches very hard +to bear. He reminded George of all the money he had spent on his +education in the expectation that he would repay him by getting such a +'living' as would insure to the parent a comfortable home and support +for his old age; and in a fit of rage he exclaimed that he would no +longer look on him as a son.</p> + +<p>Then, seeing that son unmoved in his quiet steadfastness, he changed +tone, and from threats turned to tears of entreaty that were much harder +to resist than reproaches. The result of the interview was a <i>third</i> +significant step in preparation for his son's life's mission. His +resolve was unbroken to follow the Lord's leading at any cost, but he +now clearly saw that he could be <i>independent of man only by being more +entirely dependent on God, and that henceforth he should take no more +money from his father.</i> To receive such support implied obedience to his +wishes, for it seemed plainly wrong to look to him for the cost of his +training when he had no prospect nor intention of meeting his known +expectations. If he was to live on his father's money, he was under a +tacit obligation to carry out his plans and seek a good living as a +clergyman at home. Thus early in life George Müller learned the valuable +lesson that one must preserve his independence if he would not endanger +his integrity.</p> + +<p>God was leading His servant in his youth to <i>cast himself upon Him for +temporal supplies.</i> This step was not taken without cost, for the two +years yet to be spent at the university would require more outlay than +during any time previous. But thus early also did he find God a faithful +Provider and Friend in need. Shortly after, certain American gentlemen, +three of whom were college professors,* being in Halle and wishing +instruction in German, were by Dr. Tholuck recommended to employ George +Müller as tutor; and the pay was so ample for the lessons taught them +and the lectures written out for them, that all wants were more than +met. Thus also in his early life was written large in the chambers of +his memory another golden text from the word of God:</p> + +<p> "O FEAR THE LORD, YE HIS SAINTS!<br> + FOR THERE IS NO WANT TO THEM THAT FEAR HIM."<br> + (Psalm xxxiv. 9.)</p> + +<p>* One of them, the Rev. Charles Hodge, afterward so well known as +professor at Princeton Theological Seminary, etc.</p> + +<a name="3"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER III</h3></center> +<center><h3>MAKING READY THE CHOSEN VESSEL</h3></center> + +<p>THE workman of God needs to wait on Him to know the work he is to do and +the sphere where he is to serve Him.</p> + +<p>Mature disciples at Halle advised George Müller for the time thus +quietly to wait for divine guidance, and meanwhile to take no further +steps toward the mission field. He felt unable, however, to dismiss the +question, and was so impatient to settle it that he made the common +blunder of attempting to come to a decision in a carnal way. <i>He +resorted to the lot,</i> and not only so, but to the lot as cast in the lap +of the <i>lottery!</i> In other words, he first drew a lot in private, and +then bought a ticket in a royal lottery, expecting his steps to be +guided in a matter so solemn as the choice of a field for the service of +God, by the turn of the 'wheel of fortune'! Should his ticket draw a +prize he would <i>go;</i> if not, <i>stay</i> at home. Having drawn a small sum, +he accordingly accepted this as a 'sign,' and at once applied to the +Berlin Missionary Society, but was not accepted because his application +was not accompanied with his father's consent.</p> + +<p>Thus a higher Hand had disposed while man proposed. God kept out of the +mission field, at this juncture, one so utterly unfit for His work that +he had not even learned that primary lesson that he who would work with +God must first wait on Him and wait for Him, and that all undue haste in +such a matter is worse than waste. He who kept Moses waiting forty years +before He sent him to lead out captive Israel, who withdrew Saul of +Tarsus three years into Arabia before he sent him as an apostle to the +nations, and who left even His own Son thirty years in obscurity before +His manifestation as Messiah—this God is in no hurry to put other +servants at work. He says to all impatient souls: "My time is not yet +full come, but your time is always ready."</p> + +<p>Only twice after this did George Müller ever resort to the lot: once at +a literal parting of the ways when he was led by it to take the wrong +fork of the road, and afterward in a far more important matter, but with +a like result: in both cases he found he had been misled, and henceforth +abandoned all such chance methods of determining the mind of God. He +learned two lessons, which new dealings of God more and more deeply +impressed:</p> + +<p>First, that the safe guide in every crisis is believing prayer in +connection with the word of God.</p> + +<p>Secondly, that continued uncertainty as to one's course is a reason for +continued waiting.</p> + +<p>These lessons should not be lightly passed over, for they are too +valuable. The flesh is impatient of all delay, both in decision and +action; hence all carnal choices are immature and premature, and all +carnal courses are mistaken and unspiritual. God is often moved to delay +that we may be led to pray, and even the answers to prayer are deferred +that the natural and carnal spirit may be kept in check and self-will +may bow before the will of God.</p> + +<p>In a calm review of his course many years later George Müller saw that +he "ran hastily to the lot" as a shorter way of settling a doubtful +matter, and that, especially in the question of God's call to the +mission field, this was shockingly improper. He saw also how unfit he +had been at that time for the work he sought: he should rather have +asked himself how one so ignorant and so needing to be taught could +think of teaching others! Though a child of God, he could not as yet +have given a clear statement or explanation of the most elementary +gospel truths. The one thing needful was therefore to have sought +through much prayer and Bible study to get first of all a deeper +knowledge and a deeper experience of divine things. Impatience to settle +a matter so important was itself seen to be a positive disqualification +for true service, revealing unfitness to endure hardship as a good +soldier of Jesus Christ. There is a constant strain and drain on patient +waiting which is a necessary feature of missionary trial and +particularly the trial of deferred harvests. One who, at the outset, +could not brook delay in making his first decision, and wait for God to +make known His will in His own way and time, would not on the field have +had long patience as a husbandman, waiting for the precious fruit of his +toil, or have met with quietness of spirit the thousand perplexing +problems of work among the heathen!</p> + +<p>Moreover the conviction grew that, could he have followed the lot, his +choice would have been a life-mistake. His mind, at that time, was bent +upon the East Indies as a field. Yet all subsequent events clearly +showed that God's choice for him was totally different. His repeated +offers met as repeated refusals, and though on subsequent occasions he +acted most deliberately and solemnly, no open door was found, but he was +in every case kept from following out his honest purpose. Nor could the +lot be justified as an indication of his <i>ultimate</i> call to the mission +field, for the purpose of it was definite, namely, to ascertain, not +whether <i>at some period of his life</i> he was to go forth, but whether <i>at +that time</i> he was to go or stay. The whole after-life of George Müller +proved that God had for him an entirely different plan, which He was not +ready yet to reveal, and which His servant was not yet prepared to see +or follow. If any man's life ever was a plan of God, surely this life +was; and the Lord's distinct, emphatic leading, when made known, was not +in this direction. He had purposed for George Müller a larger field than +the Indies, and a wider witness than even the gospel message to heathen +peoples. He was 'not suffered' to go into 'Bithynia' because 'Macedonia' +was waiting for his ministry.</p> + +<p>With increasing frequency, earnestness, and minuteness, was George +Müller led to put before God, in prayer, all matters that lay upon his +mind. This man was to be peculiarly an example to believers as an +<i>intercessor;</i> and so God gave him from the outset a very <i>simple, +childlike disposition</i> toward Himself. In many things he was in +knowledge and in strength to outgrow childhood and become a man, for it +marks immaturity when we err through ignorance and are overcome through +weakness. But in faith and in the filial spirit, he always continued to +be a little child. Mr. J. Hudson Taylor well reminds us that while in +nature the normal order of growth is from childhood to manhood and so to +maturity, in <i>grace</i> the true development is perpetually backward toward +the cradle: we must become and continue as little children, not losing, +but rather gaining, childlikeness of spirit. The disciple's maturest +manhood is only the perfection of his childhood. George Müller was never +so really, truly, fully a little child in all his relations to his +Father, as when in the ninety-third year of his age.</p> + +<p>Being thus providentially kept from the Indies, he began definite work +at home, though yet having little real knowledge of the divine art of +coworking with God. He spoke to others of their soul's welfare, and +wrote to former companions in sin, and circulated tracts and missionary +papers. Nor were his labours without encouragement, though sometimes his +methods were awkward or even grotesque, as when, speaking to a beggar in +the fields about his need of salvation, he tried to overcome apathetic +indifference by speaking louder and louder, as though, mere bawling in +his ears would subdue the hardness of his heart!</p> + +<p>In 1826 he first attempted to <i>preach.</i> An unconverted schoolmaster some +six miles from Halle he was the means of turning to the Lord; and this +schoolmaster asked him to come and help an aged, infirm clergyman in the +parish. Being a student of divinity he was at liberty to preach, but +conscious ignorance had hitherto restrained him. He thought, however, +that by committing some other man's sermon to memory he might profit the +hearers, and so he undertook it. It was slavish work to prepare, for it +took most of a week to memorize the sermon, and it was joyless work to +deliver it, for there was none of the living power that attends a man's +God-given message and witness. His conscience was not yet enlightened +enough to see that he was acting a false part in preaching another's +sermon as his own; nor had he the spiritual insight to perceive that it +is not God's way to set up a man to preach who knows not enough of +either His word or the life of the Spirit within him, to prepare his own +discourse. How few even among preachers feel preaching to be <i>a divine +vocation and not a mere human profession;</i> that a ministry of the truth +implies the witness of experience, and that to preach another man's +sermon is, at the best, unnatural walking on stilts!</p> + +<p>George Müller 'got through' his painful effort of August 27, 1826, +reciting this memoriter sermon at eight A.M. in the chapel of ease, and +three hours later in the parish church. Being asked to preach again in +the afternoon, but having no second sermon committed to memory, he had +to keep silent, or <i>depend on the Lord for help.</i> He thought he could at +least read the fifth chapter of Matthew, and simply expound it. But he +had no sooner begun the first beatitude than he felt himself greatly +assisted. Not only were his lips opened, but the Scriptures were opened +too, his own soul expanded, and a peace and power, wholly unknown to his +tame, mechanical repetitions of the morning, accompanied the simpler +expositions of the afternoon, with this added advantage, that he talked +on a level with the people and not over their heads, his colloquial, +earnest speech riveting their attention.</p> + +<p>Going back to Halle, he said to himself, 'This is the <i>true way to +preach,</i>' albeit he felt misgivings lest such a simple style of +exposition might not suit so well a cultured refined city congregation. +He had yet to learn how the enticing words of man's wisdom make the +cross of Christ of none effect, and how the very simplicity that makes +preaching intelligible to the illiterate makes sure that the most +cultivated will also understand it, whereas the reverse is not true.</p> + +<p>Here was another very important <i>step in his preparation</i> for subsequent +service. He was to rank throughout life among the simplest and most +scriptural of preachers. This first trial of pulpit-work led to frequent +sermons, and in proportion as his speech was in the simplicity that is +in Christ did he find joy in his work and a harvest from it. The +committed sermon of some great preacher might draw forth human praise, +but it was the simple witness of the Word, and of the believer to the +Word, that had praise of God. His preaching was not then much owned of +God in fruit. Doubtless the Lord saw that he was not ready for reaping, +and scarcely for sowing: there was yet too little prayer in preparation +and too little unction in delivery, and so his labours were +comparatively barren of results.</p> + +<p>About this same time he took another step—perhaps the most significant +thus far in its bearing on the precise form of work so closely linked +with his name. For some two months he availed himself of the free +lodgings furnished for poor divinity students in the famous <i>Orphan +Houses built by A. H. Francke.</i> This saintly man, a professor of +divinity at Halle, who had died a hundred years before (1727), had been +led to found an orphanage in entire dependence upon God. Half +unconsciously George Müller's whole life-work at Bristol found both its +suggestion and pattern in Francke's orphanage at Halle. The very +building where this young student lodged was to him an object lesson—a +visible, veritable, tangible proof that the Living God hears prayer, and +can, in answer to prayer alone, build a house for orphan children. That +lesson was never lost, and George Müller fell into the apostolic +succession of such holy labour! He often records how much his own +faith-work was indebted to that example of simple trust in prayer +exhibited by Francke. Seven years later he read his life, and was +thereby still more prompted to follow him as he followed Christ.</p> + +<p>George Müller's spiritual life in these early days was strangely +chequered. For instance, he who, as a Lutheran divinity student, was +essaying to preach, hung up in his room a framed crucifix, hoping +thereby to keep in mind the sufferings of Christ and so less frequently +fall into sin. Such helps, however, availed him little, for while he +rested upon such artificial props, it seemed as though he sinned the +oftener.</p> + +<p>He was at this time overworking, writing sometimes fourteen hours a day, +and this induced nervous depression, which exposed him to various +temptations. He ventured into a confectioner's shop where wine and beer +were sold, and then suffered reproaches of conscience for conduct so +unbecoming a believer; and he found himself indulging ungracious and +ungrateful thoughts of God, who, instead of visiting him with deserved +chastisement, multiplied His tender mercies.</p> + +<p>He wrote to a rich, liberal and titled lady, asking a loan, and received +the exact sum asked for, with a letter, not from her, but from another +into whose hands his letter had fallen by "a peculiar providence," and +who signed it as "An adoring worshipper of the Saviour Jesus Christ." +While led to send the money asked for, the writer added wise words of +caution and counsel—words so fitted to George Müller's exact need that +he saw plainly the higher Hand that had guided the anonymous writer. In +that letter he was urged to "seek by watching and prayer to be delivered +from all vanity and self-complacency," to make it his "chief aim to be +more and more humble, faithful, and quiet," and not to be of those who +"say 'Lord, Lord,' but have Him not deeply in their hearts." He was also +reminded that "Christianity consists not in words but in power, and that +there must be life in us."</p> + +<p>He was deeply moved by this message from God through an unknown party, +and the more as it had come, with its enclosure, at the time when he was +not only guilty of conduct unbecoming a disciple, but indulging hard +thoughts of his heavenly Father. He went out to walk alone, and was so +deeply wrought on by God's goodness and his own ingratitude that he +knelt behind a hedge, and, though in snow a foot deep, he forgot himself +for a half-hour in praise, prayer, and self-surrender.</p> + +<p>Yet so deceitful is the human heart that a few weeks later he was in +such a backslidden state that, for a time, he was again both careless +and prayerless, and one day sought to drown the voice of conscience in +the wine-cup. The merciful Father gave not up his child to folly and +sin. He who once could have gone to great lengths in dissipation now +found a few glasses of wine more than enough; his relish for such +pleasures was gone, and so was the power to silence the still small +voice of conscience and of the Spirit of God.</p> + +<p>Such vacillations in Christian experience were due in part to the lack +of holy associations and devout companionships. Every disciple needs +help in holy living, and this young believer yearned for that spiritual +uplift afforded by sympathetic fellow believers. In vacation times he +had found at Gnadau, the Moravian settlement some three miles from his +father's residence, such soul refreshment, but Halle itself supplied +little help. He went often to church, but seldom heard the Gospel, and +in that town of over 30,000, with all its ministers, he found not one +enlightened clergyman. When, therefore, he could hear such a preacher as +Dr. Tholuck, he would walk ten or fifteen miles to enjoy such a +privilege. The meetings continued at Mr. Wagner's house; and on the +Lord's day evenings some six or more believing students were wont to +gather, and both these assemblies were means of grace. From Easter, +1827, so long as he remained in Halle, this latter meeting was held in +his own room, and must rank alongside those little gatherings of the +"Holy Club" in Lincoln College, Oxford, which a hundred years before had +shaped the Wesleys and Whitefield for their great careers. Before George +Müller left Halle the attendance at this weekly meeting in his room had +grown to twenty.</p> + +<p>These assemblies were throughout very simple and primitive. In addition +to prayer, singing, and reading of God's word, one or more brethren +exhorted or read extracts from devout books. Here young Müller freely +opened his heart to others, and through their counsels and prayers was +delivered from many snares.</p> + +<p>One lesson, yet to be learned, was that the one fountain of all wisdom +and strength is the Holy Scriptures. Many disciples practically prefer +religious books to the Book of God. He had indeed found much of the +reading with which too many professed believers occupy their minds to be +but worthless chaff—such as French and German novels; but as yet he had +not formed the habit of reading the word of God daily and systematically +as in later life, almost to the exclusion of other books. In his +ninety-second year, he said to the writer, that for every page of any +other reading he was sure he read ten of the Bible. But, up to that +November day in 1825 when he first met a praying band of disciples, he +had never to his recollection read one chapter in the Book of books; and +for the first four years of his new life he gave to the works of +uninspired men practical preference over the Living Oracles.</p> + +<p>After a true relish for the Scriptures had been created, he could not +understand how he could ever have treated God's Book with such neglect. +It seemed obvious that <i>God's having condescended to become an Author,</i> +inspiring holy men to write the Scriptures, He would in them impart the +most vital truths; His message would cover all matters which concern +man's welfare, and therefore, under the double impulse of duty and +delight, we should instinctively and habitually turn to the Bible. +Moreover, as he read and studied this Book of God, he felt himself +admitted to more and more <i>intimate acquaintance with the Author.</i> +During the last twenty years of his life he read it carefully through, +four or five times annually, with a growing sense of his own rapid +increase in the knowledge of God thereby.</p> + +<p>Such motives for Bible study it is strange that any true believer should +overlook. Ruskin, in writing "Of the King's Treasuries," refers to the +universal ambition for 'advancement in life,' which means 'getting into +good society.' How many obstacles one finds in securing an introduction +to the great and good of this world, and even then in getting access to +them, in securing an audience with the kings and queens of human +society! Yet there is open to us a society of people of the very first +rank who will meet us and converse with us so long as we like, whatever +our ignorance, poverty, or low estate—namely, the society of authors; +and the key that unlocks their private audience-chamber is their books.</p> + +<p>So writes Ruskin, and all this is beautifully true; but how few, even +among believers, appreciate the privilege of access to the great Author +of the universe through His word! Poor and rich, high and low, ignorant +and learned, young and old, all alike are welcomed to the +audience-chamber of the King of kings. The most intimate knowledge of +God is possible on one condition—that we search His Holy Scriptures, +prayerfully and habitually, and translate what we there find, into +obedience. Of him who thus meditates on God's law day and night, who +looks and continues looking into this perfect law of liberty, the +promise is unique, and found in both Testaments: "Whatsoever he doeth +shall prosper"; "that man shall be blessed in his deed." (Comp. Psalm i. +3; Joshua i. 8; James i. 25.)</p> + +<p>So soon as George Müller found this well-spring of delight and success, +he drank habitually at this fountain of living waters. In later life he +lamented that, owing to his early neglect of this source of divine +wisdom and strength, he remained so long in spiritual infancy, with its +ignorance and impotence. So long and so far as his growth in knowledge +of God was thus arrested his growth in grace was likewise hindered. His +close walk with God began at the point where he learned that such walk +is always in the light of that inspired word which is divinely declared +to be to the obedient soul "a lamp unto the feet and a light unto the +path." He who would keep up intimate converse with the Lord must +habitually find in the Scriptures the highway of such companionship. +God's aristocracy, His nobility, the princes of His realm, are not the +wise, mighty, and high-born of earth, but often the poor, weak, despised +of men, who abide in His presence and devoutly commune with Him through +His inspired word.</p> + +<p>Blessed are they who have thus learned to use the key which gives free +access, not only to the King's Treasuries, but to the King Himself!</p> + +<a name="4"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER IV<br> +NEW STEPS AND STAGES OF PREPARATION</h3></center> + +<p>PASSION for souls is a divine fire, and in the heart of George Müller +that fire now began to burn more brightly, and demanded vent.</p> + +<p>In August, 1827, his mind was more definitely than before turned toward +mission work. Hearing that the Continental Society of Britain sought a +minister for Bucharest, he offered himself through Dr. Tholuck, who, in +behalf of the Society, was on the lookout for a suitable candidate. To +his great surprise his father gave consent, though Bucharest was more +than a thousand miles distant and as truly missionary ground as any +other field. After a short visit home he came back to Halle, his face +steadfastly set toward his far-off field, and his heart seeking +prayerful preparation for expected self-sacrifice and hardship. But God +had other plans for His servant, and he never went to Bucharest.</p> + +<p>In October following, Hermann Ball, passing through Halle, and being at +the little weekly meeting in Müller's room, told him how failing health +forbade his continuing his work among Polish Jews; and at once there +sprang up in George Müller's mind a strong desire to take his place. +Such work doubly attracted him, because it would bring him into close +contact with God's chosen but erring people, Israel; and because it +would afford opportunity to utilize those Hebrew studies which so +engrossed him.</p> + +<p>At this very time, calling upon Dr. Tholuck, he was asked, to his +surprise, whether he had ever felt a desire to <i>labour among the +Jews</i>—Dr. Tholuck then acting as agent for the London Missionary +Society for promoting missions among them. This question naturally +fanned the flame of his already kindled desire; but, shortly after, +Bucharest being the seat of the war then raging between the Russians and +Turks, the project of sending a minister there was for the time +abandoned. But a door seemed to open before him just as another shut +behind him.</p> + +<p>The committee in London, learning that he was available as a missionary +to the Jews, proposed his coming to that city for six months as a +missionary student to prepare for the work. To enter thus on a sort of +probation was trying to the flesh, but, as it seemed right that there +should be opportunity for mutual acquaintance between committee and +candidate, to insure harmonious cooperation, his mind was disposed to +accede to the proposal.</p> + +<p>There was, however, a formidable obstacle. Prussian male subjects must +commonly serve three years in the army, and classical students who have +passed the university examinations, at least one year. George Müller, +who had not served out even this shorter term, could not, without royal +exemption, even get a passport out of the country. Application was made +for such exemption, but it failed. Meanwhile he was taken ill, and after +ten weeks suffered a relapse. While at Leipzig with an American +professor with whom he went to the opera, he unwisely partook of some +refreshments between the acts, which again brought on illness. He had +broken a blood-vessel in the stomach, and he returned to Halle, never +again to enter a theatre. Subsequently being asked to go to Berlin for a +few weeks to teach German, he went, hoping at the Prussian capital to +find access to the court through persons of rank and secure the desired +exemption. But here again he failed. There now seemed no way of escaping +a soldier's term, and he submitted himself for examination, but was +pronounced physically unfit for military duty. In God's providence he +fell into kind hands, and, being a second time examined and found unfit, +he was thenceforth <i>completely exempted for life from all service in the +army.</i></p> + +<p>God's lines of purpose mysteriously converged. The time had come; the +Master spake and it was done: all things moved in one direction—to set +His servant free from the service of his country, that, under the +Captain of his salvation, he might endure hardness as a good soldier of +Christ, without entanglement in the affairs of this life. Aside from +this, his stay at the capital had not been unprofitable, for he had +preached five times a week in the poorhouse and conversed on the Lord's +days with the convicts in the prison.</p> + +<p>In February, 1829, he left for London, on the way visiting his father at +Heimersleben, where he had returned after retirement from office; and he +reached the English metropolis March 19th. His liberty was much +curtailed as a student in this new seminary, but, as no rule conflicted +with his conscience, he submitted. He studied about twelve hours daily, +giving attention mainly to Hebrew and cognate branches closely connected +with his expected field. Sensible of the risk of that deadness of soul +which often results from undue absorption in mental studies, he +committed to memory much of the Hebrew Old Testament and pursued his +tasks in a prayerful spirit, seeking God's help in matters, however +minute, connected with daily duty.</p> + +<p>Tempted to the continual use of his native tongue by living with his +German countrymen, he made little progress in English, which he +afterward regretted; and he was wont, therefore, to counsel those who +propose to work among a foreign people, not only to live among them in +order to learn their language, but to keep aloof as far as may be from +their own countrymen, so as to be compelled to use the tongue which is +to give them access to those among whom they labour.</p> + +<p>In connection with this removal to Britain a seemingly trivial +occurrence left upon him a lasting impress—another proof that there are +no little things in life. Upon a very small hinge a huge door may swing +and turn. It is, in fact, often the apparently trifling events that +mould our history, work, and destiny.</p> + +<p>A student incidentally mentioned a dentist in Exeter—a Mr. Groves—who +for the Lord's sake had resigned his calling with fifteen hundred pounds +a year, and with wife and children offered himself as a missionary to +Persia, <i>simply trusting the Lord for all temporal supplies.</i> This act +of self-denying trust had a strange charm for Mr. Müller, and he could +not dismiss it from his mind; indeed, he distinctly entered it in his +journal and wrote about it to friends at home. It was <i>another lesson in +faith,</i> and in the very line of that trust of which for more than sixty +years he was to be so conspicuous an example and illustration.</p> + +<p>In the middle of May, 1829, he was taken ill and felt himself to be past +recovery. Sickness is often attended with strange <i>self-disclosure.</i> His +conviction of sin and guilt at his conversion was too superficial and +shallow to leave any after-remembrance. But, as is often true in the +history of God's saints, the sense of guilt, which at first seemed to +have no roots in conscience and scarce an existence, struck deeper into +his being and grew stronger as he knew more of God and grew more like +Him. This common experience of saved souls is susceptible of easy +explanation. Our conceptions of things depend mainly upon two +conditions: first, the clearness of our vision of truth and duty; and +secondly, the standard of measurement and comparison. The more we live +in God and unto God, the more do our eyes become enlightened to see the +enormity and deformity of sin, so that we recognize the hatefulness of +evil more distinctly: and the more clearly do we recognize the +perfection of God's holiness and make it the pattern and model of our +own holy living.</p> + +<p>The amateur musician or artist has a false complacency in his own very +imperfect work only so far as his ear or eye or taste is not yet trained +to accurate discrimination; but, as he becomes more accomplished in a +fine art, and more appreciative of it, he recognizes every defect or +blemish of his previous work, until the musical performance seems a +wretched failure and the painting a mere daub. The change, however, is +wholly in the <i>workman</i> and not in the <i>work:</i> both the music and the +painting are in themselves just what they were, but the man is capable +of something so much better, that his standard of comparison is raised +to a higher level, and his capacity for a true judgment is +correspondingly enlarged.</p> + +<p>Even so a child of God who, like Elijah, stands before Him as a waiting, +willing, obedient servant, and has both likeness to God and power with +God, may get under the juniper-tree of despondency, cast down with the +sense of unworthiness and ill desert. As godliness increases the sense +of ungodliness becomes more acute, and so feelings never accurately +gauge real assimilation to God. We shall seem worst in our own eyes when +in His we are best, and conversely.</p> + +<p>A Mohammedan servant ventured publicly to challenge a preacher who, in +an Indian bazaar, was asserting the universal depravity of the race, by +affirming that he knew at least one woman who was immaculate, absolutely +without fault, and that woman, his own Christian mistress. The preacher +bethought himself to ask in reply whether he had any means of knowing +whether that was her opinion of herself, which caused the Mohammedan to +confess that there lay the mystery: she had been often overheard in +prayer confessing herself the most unworthy of sinners.</p> + +<p>To return from this digression, Mr. Müller, not only during this +illness, but down to life's sudden close, had a growing sense of sin and +guilt which would at times have been overwhelming, had he not known upon +the testimony of the Word that "whoso covereth his sins shall not +prosper, but he that confesseth and forsaketh them shall find mercy." +From his own guilt he turned his eyes to the cross where it was atoned +for, and to the mercy-seat where forgiveness meets the penitent sinner; +and so sorrow for sin was turned into the joy of the justified.</p> + +<p>This confidence of acceptance in the Beloved so stripped death of its +terrors that during this illness he longed rather to depart and to be +with Christ; but after a fortnight he was pronounced better, and, though +still longing for the heavenly rest, he submitted to the will of God for +a longer sojourn in the land of his pilgrimage, little foreseeing what +joy he was to find in living for God, or how much he was to know of the +days of heaven upon earth.</p> + +<p>During this illness, also, he showed the growing tendency to bring +before the Lord in prayer even the minutest matters which his later life +so signally exhibited. He constantly besought God to guide his +physician, and every new dose of medicine was accompanied by a new +petition that God would use it for his good and enable him with patience +to await His will. As he advanced toward recovery he sought rest at +Teignmouth, where, shortly after his arrival, "Ebenezer" chapel was +reopened. It was here also that Mr. Müller became acquainted with Mr. +Henry Craik, who was for so many years not only his friend, but fellow +labourer.</p> + +<p>It was also about this time that, as he records, certain great truths +began to be made clear to him and to stand out in much prominence. This +period of personal preparation is so important in its bearing on his +whole after-career that the reader should have access to his own +witness.*</p> + +<p>* See Appendix B.</p> + +<p>On returning to London, prospered in soul-health as also in bodily +vigor, he proposed to fellow students a daily morning meeting, from 6 to +8, for prayer and Bible study, when each should give to the others such +views of any passage read as the Lord might give him. These spiritual +exercises proved so helpful and so nourished the appetite for divine +things that, after continuing in prayer late into the evening hours, he +sometimes at midnight sought the fellowship of some like-minded brother, +and thus prolonged the prayer season until one or two o'clock in the +morning; and even then sleep was often further postponed by his +overflowing joy in God. Thus, under his great Teacher, did this pupil, +early in his spiritual history, learn that supreme lesson that to every +child of God the word of God is the bread of life, and the prayer of +faith the breath of life.</p> + +<p>Mr. Müller had been back in London scarcely ten days before health again +declined, and the conviction took strong hold upon him that he should +not spend his little strength in confining study, but at once get about +his work; and this conviction was confirmed by the remembrance of the +added light which God had given him and the deeper passion he now felt +to serve Him more freely and fully. Under the pressure of this +persuasion that both his physical and spiritual welfare would be +promoted by actual labours for souls, he sought of the Society a prompt +appointment to his field of service; and that they might with the more +confidence commission him, he asked that some experienced man might be +sent out with him as a fellow counsellor and labourer.</p> + +<p>After waiting in vain for six weeks for an answer to this application, +he felt another strong conviction: that <i>to wait on his fellow men to be +sent out to his field and work was unscriptural and therefore wrong.</i> +Barnabas and Saul were called by name and sent forth by the Holy Spirit, +before the church at Antioch had taken any action; and he felt himself +so called of the Spirit to his work that he was prompted to begin at +once, without waiting for human authority,—and why not among the Jews +in London? Accustomed to act promptly upon conviction, he undertook to +distribute among them tracts bearing his name and address, so that any +who wished personal guidance could find him. He sought them at their +gathering-places, read the Scriptures at stated times with some fifty +Jewish lads, and taught in a Sunday-school. Thus, instead of lying like +a vessel in dry-dock for repairs, he was launched into Christian work, +though, like other labourers among the despised Jews, he found himself +exposed to petty trials and persecutions, called to suffer reproach for +the name of Christ.</p> + +<p>Before the autumn of 1829 had passed, a further misgiving laid hold of +him as to whether he could in good conscience remain longer connected in +the usual way with this London Society, and on December 12th he +concluded to dissolve all such ties except upon certain conditions. To +do full justice both to Mr. Müller and the Society, his own words will +again be found in the Appendix.*</p> + +<p>* See Appendix C.</p> + +<p>Early in the following year it was made clear that he could labour in +connection with such a society only as they would consent to his +<i>serving without salary and labouring when and where the Lord might seem +to direct.</i> He so wrote, eliciting a firm but kind response to the +effect that they felt it "inexpedient to employ those who were unwilling +to submit to their guidance with respect to missionary operations," etc.</p> + +<p>Thus this link with the Society was broken. He felt that he was acting +up to the light God gave, and, while imputing to the Society no blame, +he never afterward repented this step nor reversed this judgment. To +those who review this long life, so full of the fruits of unusual +service to God and man, it will be quite apparent that the Lord was +gently but persistently thrusting George Müller out of the common path +into one where he was to walk very closely with Himself; and the +decisions which, even in lesser matters furthered God's purpose were +wiser and weightier than could at the time be seen.</p> + +<p>One is constantly reminded in reading Mr. Müller's journal that he was a +man of like frailties as others. On Christmas morning of this year, +after a season of peculiar joy, he awoke to find himself in the Slough +of Despond, without any sense of enjoyment, prayer seeming as fruitless +as the vain struggles of a man in the mire. At the usual morning meeting +he was urged by a brother to continue in prayer, notwithstanding, until +he was again melted before the Lord—a wise counsel for all disciples +when the Lord's presence seems strangely withdrawn. Steadfast +continuance in prayer must never be hindered by the want of sensible +enjoyment; in fact, it is a safe maxim that the less joy, the more need. +Cessation of communion with God, for whatever cause, only makes the more +difficult its resumption and the recovery of the prayer habit and prayer +spirit; whereas the persistent outpouring of supplication, together with +continued activity in the service of God, soon brings back the lost joy. +Whenever, therefore, one yields to spiritual depression so as to +abandon, or even to suspend, closet communion or Christian work, the +devil triumphs.</p> + +<p>So rapid was Mr. Müller's recovery out of this Satanic snare, through +continuance in prayer, that, on the evening of that same Christmas day +whose dawn had been so overcast, he expounded the Word at family worship +in the house where he dined by invitation, and with such help from God +that two servants who were present were deeply convicted of sin and +sought his counsel.</p> + +<p>Here we reach another mile-stone in this life-journey. George Müller had +now come to the end of the year 1829, and he had been led of the Lord in +a truly remarkable path. It was but about four years since he first +found the narrow way and began to walk in it, and he was as yet a young +man, in his twenty-fifth year. Yet already he had been taught some of +the grand secrets of a holy, happy, and useful life, which became the +basis of the whole structure of his after-service.</p> + +<p>Indeed, as we look back over these four years, they seem crowded with +significant and eventful experiences, all of which forecast his future +work, though he as yet saw not in them the Lord's sign. His conversion +in a primitive assembly of believers where worship and the word of God +were the only attractions, was the starting-point in a career every step +of which seems a stride forward. Think of a young convert, with such an +ensnaring past to reproach and retard him, within these few years +learning such advanced lessons in <i>renunciation:</i> burning his manuscript +novel, giving up the girl he loved, turning his back on the seductive +prospect of ease and wealth, to accept self-denial for God, cutting +loose from dependence on his father and then refusing all stated salary +lest his liberty of witness be curtailed, and choosing a simple +expository mode of preaching, instead of catering to popular taste! Then +mark how he fed on the word of God; how he cultivated the habits of +searching the Scriptures and praying in secret; how he threw himself on +God, not only for temporal supplies, but for support in bearing all +burdens, however great or small; and how thus early he offered himself +for the mission field and was impatiently eager to enter it. Then look +at the sovereign love of God, imparting to him in so eminent a degree +the childlike spirit, teaching him to trust not his own variable moods +of feeling, but the changeless word of His promise; teaching him to wait +patiently on Him for orders, and not to look to human authority or +direction; and so singularly releasing him from military service for +life, and mysteriously withholding him from the far-off mission field, +that He might train him for his unique mission to the race and the ages +to come!</p> + +<p>These are a few of the salient points of this narrative, thus far, which +must, to any candid mind, demonstrate that a higher Hand was moulding +this chosen vessel on His potter's wheel, and shaping it unmistakably +for the singular service to which it was destined!</p> + +<a name="5"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER V<br> + +THE PULPIT AND THE PASTORATE</h3></center> + +<p>No work for God surpasses in dignity and responsibility the Christian +ministry. It is at once the consummate flower of the divine planting, +the priceless dower of His church, and through it works the power of God +for salvation.</p> + +<p>Though George Müller had begun his 'candidacy for holy orders' as an +unconverted man, seeking simply a human calling with a hope of a +lucrative living, he had heard God's summons to a divine vocation, and +he was from time to time preaching the Gospel, but not in any settled +field.</p> + +<p>While at Teignmouth, early in 1830, preaching by invitation, he was +asked to take the place of the minister who was about to leave, but he +replied that he felt at that time called of God, not to a stationary +charge, but rather to a sort of itinerant evangelism. During this time +he preached at Shaldon for Henry Craik, thus coming into closer contact +with this brother, to whom his heart became knit in bonds of love and +sympathy which grew stronger as the acquaintance became more intimate.</p> + +<p>Certain hearers at Teignmouth, and among them some preachers, disliked +his sermons, albeit they were owned of God; and this caused him to +reflect upon the probable causes of this opposition, and whether it was +any indication of his duty. He felt that they doubtless looked for +outward graces of oratory in a preacher, and hence were not attracted to +a foreigner whose speech had no rhetorical charms and who could not even +use English with fluency. But he felt sure of a deeper cause for their +dislike, especially as he was compelled to notice that, the summer +previous, when he himself was less spiritually minded and had less +insight into the truth, the same parties who now opposed him were +pleased with him. His final conclusion was that the Lord meant to work +through him at Teignmouth, but that Satan was acting, as usual, the part +of a hinderer, and stirring up brethren themselves to oppose the truth. +And as, notwithstanding the opposers, the wish that he should minister +at the chapel was expressed so often and by so many, he determined to +remain for a time until he was openly rejected as God's witness, or had +some clear divine leading to another field of labour.</p> + +<p>He announced this purpose, at the same time plainly stating that, should +they withhold salary, it would not affect his decision, inasmuch as he +did not preach as a hireling of man, but as the servant of God, and +would willingly commit to Him the provision for his temporal needs. At +the same time, however, he reminded them that it was alike their duty +and privilege to minister in carnal things to those who served them in +things spiritual, and that while he did not desire a gift, he did desire +fruit that might abound to their account.</p> + +<p>These experiences at Teignmouth were typical: "Some believed the things +which were spoken, and some believed not;" some left the chapel, while +others stayed; and some were led and fed, while others maintained a cold +indifference, if they did not exhibit an open hostility. But the Lord +stood by him and strengthened him, setting His seal upon his testimony; +and Jehovah Jireh also moved two brethren, unasked, to supply all the +daily wants of His servant. After a while the little church of eighteen +members unanimously called the young preacher to the pastorate, and he +consented to abide with them for a season, without abandoning his +original intention of going from place to place as the Lord might lead. +A stipend, of fifty-five pounds annually, was offered him, which +somewhat increased as the church membership grew; and so the university +student of Halle was settled in his first pulpit and pastorate.</p> + +<p>While at Sidmouth, preaching, in April, 1830, three believing sisters +held in his presence a conversation about '<i>believers' baptism,</i>' which +proved the suggestion of another important step in his life, which has a +wider bearing than at first is apparent.</p> + +<p>They naturally asked his opinion on the subject about which they were +talking, and he replied that, having been baptized as a child, he saw no +need of being baptized again. Being further asked if he had ever yet +prayerfully searched the word of God as to its testimony in this matter, +he frankly confessed that he had not.</p> + +<p>At once, with unmistakable plainness of speech and with rare fidelity, +one of these sisters in Christ promptly said: <i>"I entreat you, then, +never again to speak any more about it till you have done so."</i></p> + +<p>Such a reply George Müller was not the man either to resent or to +resist. He was too honest and conscientious to dismiss without due +reflection any challenge to search the oracles of God for their witness +upon any given question. Moreover, if, at that very time, his preaching +was emphatic in any direction, it was in the boldness with which he +insisted that <i>all pulpit teaching and Christian practice must be +subjected to one great test,</i> namely, <i>the touchstone of the word of +God.</i> Already an Elijah in spirit, his great aim was to repair the +broken-down altar of the Lord, to expose and rebuke all that hindered a +thoroughly scriptural worship and service, and, if possible, to restore +apostolic simplicity of doctrine and life.</p> + +<p>As he thought and prayed about this matter, he was forced to admit to +himself that he had never yet earnestly examined the Scriptures for +their teaching as to the position and relation of baptism in the +believer's life, nor had he even prayed for light upon it. He had +nevertheless repeatedly spoken against believers' baptism, and so he saw +it to be possible that he might himself have been opposing the teaching +of the Word. He therefore determined to study the subject until he +should reach a final, satisfactory, and scriptural conclusion; and +thenceforth, whether led to defend infant baptism or believers' baptism, +to do it only on scriptural grounds.</p> + +<p>The mode of study which he followed was characteristically simple, +thorough, and business-like, and was always pursued afterward. He first +sought from God the Spirit's teaching that his eyes might be opened to +the Word's witness, and his mind illumined; then he set about a +systematic examination of the New Testament from beginning to end. So +far as possible he sought absolutely to rid himself of all bias of +previous opinion or practice, prepossession or prejudice; he prayed and +endeavoured to be free from the influence of human tradition, popular +custom, and churchly sanction, or that more subtle hindrance, <i>personal +pride in his own consistency.</i> He was humble enough to be willing to +retract any erroneous teaching and renounce any false position, and to +espouse that wise maxim: "Don't be <i>consistent,</i> but simply be <i>true!"</i> +Whatever may have been the case with others who claim to have examined +the same question for themselves, the result in his case was that he +came to the conclusion, and, as he believed, from the word of God and +the Spirit of God, that none but believers are the proper subjects of +baptism, and that only immersion is its proper mode. Two passages of +Scripture were very marked in the prominence which they had in +compelling him to these conclusions, namely: Acts viii. 36-38, and +Romans vi. 3-5. The case of the Ethiopian eunuch strongly convinced him +that baptism is proper, only as the act of a believer confessing Christ; +and the passage in the Epistle to the Romans equally satisfied him that +only immersion in water can express the typical burial with Christ and +resurrection with Him, there and elsewhere made so prominent. He +intended no assault upon brethren who hold other views, when he thus +plainly stated in his journal the honest and unavoidable convictions to +which he came; but he was too loyal both to the word of God and to his +own conscience to withhold his views when so carefully and prayerfully +arrived at through the searching of the Scriptures.</p> + +<p>Conviction compelled action, for in him there was no spirit of +compromise; and he was accordingly promptly baptized. Years after, in +reviewing his course, he records the solemn conviction that "of all +revealed truths, not one is more clearly revealed in the Scriptures—not +even the doctrine of justification by faith—and that the subject has +only become obscured by men not having been willing to take <i>the +Scriptures alone</i> to decide the point."</p> + +<p>He also bears witness incidentally that not one true friend in the Lord +had ever turned his back upon him in consequence of his baptism, as he +supposed some would have done; and that almost all such friends had, +since then, been themselves baptized. It is true that in one way he +suffered some pecuniary loss through this step taken in obedience to +conviction, but the Lord did not suffer him to be ultimately the loser +even in this respect, for He bountifully made up to him any such +sacrifice, even in things that pertain to this life. He concludes this +review of his course by adding that through his example many others were +led both to examine the question of baptism anew and to submit +themselves to the ordinance.</p> + +<p>Such experiences as these suggest the honest question whether there is +not imperative need of subjecting all current religious customs and +practices to the one test of conformity to the scripture pattern. Our +Lord sharply rebuked the Pharisees of His day for making "the +commandment of God of none effect by their tradition," and, after giving +one instance, He added, "and many other such like things do ye."* It is +very easy for doctrines and practices to gain acceptance, which are the +outgrowth of ecclesiasticism, and neither have sanction in the word of +God, nor will bear the searching light of its testimony. Cyprian has +forewarned us that even <i>antiquity</i> is not <i>authority,</i> but may be only +<i>vetustas erroris</i>—the old age of error. What radical reforms would be +made in modern worship, teaching and practice,—in the whole conduct of +disciples and the administration of the church of God,—if the one final +criterion of all judgment were: What do the Scriptures teach?' And what +revolutions in our own lives as believers might take place, if we should +first put every notion of truth and custom of life to this one test of +scripture authority, and then with the courage of conviction dare to do +according to that word—counting no cost, but studying to show ourselves +approved of God! Is it possible that there are any modern disciples who +"reject the commandment of God that they may keep their own tradition"?</p> + +<p>* Matthew xv. 6. Mark vii. 9-13.</p> + +<p>This step, taken by Mr. Müller as to baptism, was only a precursor of +many others, all of which, as he believed, were according to that Word +which, as the lamp to the believer's feet, is to throw light upon his +path.</p> + +<p>During this same summer of 1830 the further study of the Word satisfied +him that, though there is no direct <i>command</i> so to do, the scriptural +and apostolic <i>practice</i> was to <i>break bread every Lord's day.</i> (Acts xx +7, etc.) Also, that the Spirit of God should have unhindered liberty to +work through any believer according to the gifts He had bestowed, seemed +to him plainly taught in Romans xii.; 1 Cor. xii.; Ephes. iv., etc. +These conclusions likewise this servant of God sought to translate at +once into conduct, and such conformity brought increasing spiritual +prosperity.</p> + +<p>Conscientious misgivings, about the same time, ripened into settled +convictions that he could no longer, upon the same principle of +obedience to the word of God, consent to <i>receive any stated salary</i> as +a minister of Christ. For this latter position, which so influenced his +life, he assigns the following grounds, which are here stated as showing +the basis of his life-long attitude:</p> + +<p>1. A stated salary implies a fixed sum, which cannot well be paid +without a fixed income through pew-rentals or some like source of +revenue. This seemed plainly at war with the teaching of the Spirit of +God in James ii. 1-6, since the poor brother cannot afford as good +sittings as the rich, thus introducing into church assemblies invidious +distinctions and respect of persons, and so encouraging the caste +spirit.</p> + +<p>2. A fixed pew-rental may at times become, even to the willing disciple, +a burden. He who would gladly contribute to a pastor's support, if +allowed to do so according to his ability and at his own convenience, +might be oppressed by the demand to pay a stated sum at a stated time. +Circumstances so change that one who has the same cheerful mind as +before may be unable to give as formerly, and thus be subjected to +painful embarrassment and humiliation if constrained to give a fixed +sum.</p> + +<p>3. The whole system tends to the bondage of the servant of Christ. One +must be unusually faithful and intrepid if he feels no temptation to +keep back or in some degree modify his message in order to please men, +when he remembers that the very parties, most open to rebuke and most +liable to offence, are perhaps the main contributors toward his salary.</p> + +<p>Whatever others may think of such reasons as these, they were so +satisfactory to his mind that he frankly and promptly announced them to +his brethren; and thus, as early as the autumn of 1830, when just +completing his twenty-fifth year, he took a position from which he never +retreated, that he would thenceforth <i>receive no fixed salary for any +service rendered to God's people.</i> While calmly assigning scriptural +grounds for such a position he, on the same grounds, urged <i>voluntary +offerings,</i> whether of money or other means of support, as the proper +acknowledgment of service rendered by God's minister, and as a sacrifice +acceptable, well-pleasing to God. A little later, seeing that, when such +voluntary gifts came direct from the givers personally, there was a +danger that some might feel self-complacent over the largeness of the +amount given by them, and others equally humbled by the smallness of +their offerings, with consequent damage to both classes, of givers, he +took a step further: he had a <i>box put up in the chapel,</i> over which was +written, that whoever had a desire to do something for his support might +put such an offering therein as ability and disposition might direct. +His intention was, that thus the act might be wholly as in God's sight, +without the risk of a sinful pride or false humility.</p> + +<p>He further felt that, to be entirely consistent, he should <i>ask no help +from man,</i> even in bearing necessary costs of travel in the Lord's +service, nor even state his needs beforehand in such a way as indirectly +to appeal for aid. All of these methods he conceived to be forms of +trusting in an arm of flesh, going to man for help instead of going at +once, always and only, to the Lord. And he adds: <i>"To come to this +conclusion before God required more grace than to give up my salary."</i></p> + +<p>These successive steps are here recorded explicitly and in their exact +order because they lead up directly to the ultimate goal of his +life-work and witness. Such decisions were vital links connecting this +remarkable man and his "Father's business," upon which he was soon more +fully to enter; and they were all necessary to the fulness of the +world-wide witness which he was to bear to a prayer-hearing God and the +absolute safety of trusting in Him and in Him alone.</p> + +<p>On October 7, 1830, George Müller, in finding a wife, found a good thing +and obtained new favour from the Lord. Miss Mary Groves, sister of the +self-denying dentist whose surrender of all things for the mission field +had so impressed him years before, was married to this man of God, and +for forty blessed years proved an help meet for him. It was almost, if +not quite, an ideal union, for which he continually thanked God; and, +although her kingdom was one which came not with observation,' the +sceptre of her influence was far wider in its sway than will ever be +appreciated by those who were strangers to her personal and domestic +life. She was a rare woman and her price was above rubies. The heart of +her husband safely trusted, in her, and the great family of orphans who +were to her as children rise up even to this day to call her blessed.</p> + +<p>Married life has often its period of estrangement, even when temporary +alienation yields to a deeper love, as the parties become more truly +wedded by the assimilation of their inmost being to one another. But to +Mr. and Mrs. Müller there never came any such experience of even +temporary alienation. From the first, love grew, and with it, mutual +confidence and trust. One of the earliest ties which bound these two in +one was the bond of a <i>common self-denial.</i> Yielding literal obedience +to Luke xii. 33, they sold what little they had and gave alms, +henceforth laying up no treasures on earth (Matthew vi. 19-34; xix. 21.) +The step then taken—accepting, for Christ's sake, voluntary +poverty—was never regretted, but rather increasingly rejoiced in; how +faithfully it was followed in the same path of continued self-sacrifice +will sufficiently appear when it is remembered that, nearly sixty-eight +years afterward, George Müller passed suddenly into the life beyond, a +poor man; his will, when admitted to probate, showing his entire +personal property, under oath, to be but one hundred and sixty pounds! +And even that would not have been in his possession had there been no +daily need of requisite comforts for the body and of tools for his work. +Part of this amount was in money, shortly before received and not yet +laid out for his Master, but held at His disposal. Nothing, even to the +clothes he wore, did he treat as his own. He was a consistent steward.</p> + +<p>This final farewell to all earthly possessions, in 1830, left this +newly married husband and wife to look only to the Lord. Thenceforth +they were to put to ample daily test both their faith in the Great +Provider and the faithfulness of the Great Promiser. It may not be +improper here to anticipate, what is yet to be more fully recorded, +that, from day to day and hour to hour, during more than threescore +years, George Müller was enabled to set to his seal that God is true. If +few men have ever been permitted so to trace in the smallest matters +God's care over His children, it is partly because few have so +completely abandoned themselves to that care. He dared to trust Him, +with whom the hairs of our head are all numbered, and who touchingly +reminds us that He cares for what has been quaintly called <i>"the odd +sparrow."</i> Matthew records (x. 29) how two sparrows are sold for a +farthing, and Luke (xii. 6) how five are sold for two farthings; and so +it would appear that, when two farthings were offered, an odd sparrow +was thrown in, as of so little value that it could be given away with +the other four. And yet even for that one sparrow, not worth taking into +account in the bargain, <i>God cares.</i> Not one of them is forgotten before +God, or falls to the ground without Him. With what force then comes the +assurance: "Fear ye not therefore; ye are of more value than many +sparrows!"</p> + +<p>So George Müller found it to be. He was permitted henceforth to know as +never before, and as few others have ever learned, how truly God may be +approached as "Thou that hearest prayer." God can keep His trusting +children not only from falling but from stumbling; for, during all those +after-years that spanned the lifetime of two generations, there was no +drawing back. Those precious promises, which in faith and hope were +"laid hold" of in 1830, were "held fast" until the end. (Heb. vi. 18, x. +23.) And the divine faithfulness proved a safe anchorage-ground in the +most prolonged and violent tempests. The anchor of hope, sure and +steadfast, and entering into that within the veil, was never dragged +from its secure hold on God. In fifty thousand cases, Mr. Müller +calculated that he could trace distinct answers to definite prayers; and +in multitudes of instances in which God's care was not definitely +traced, it was day by day like an encompassing passing but invisible +presence or atmosphere of life and strength.</p> + +<p>On August 9, 1831, Mrs. Müller gave birth to a stillborn babe, and for +six weeks remained seriously ill. Her husband meanwhile laments that his +heart was so cold and carnal, and his prayers often so hesitating and +formal; and he detects, even behind his zeal for God, most unspiritual +frames. He especially chides himself for not having more seriously +thought of the peril of child-bearing, so as to pray more earnestly for +his wife; and he saw clearly that the prospect of parenthood had not +been rejoiced in as a blessing, but rather as implying a new burden and +hindrance in the Lord's work.</p> + +<p>While this man of God lays bare his heart in his journal, the reader +must feel that "as in water face answereth to face, so the heart of man +to man." How many a servant of God has no more exalted idea of the +divine privilege of a sanctified parenthood! A wife and a child are most +precious gifts of God when received, in answer to prayer, from His hand. +Not only are they not hindrances, but they are helps, most useful in +fitting a servant of Christ for certain parts of his work for which no +other preparation is so adequate. They serve to teach him many most +valuable lessons, and to round out his character into a far more +symmetrical beauty and serviceableness. And when it is remembered how a +godly <i>association</i> in holiness and usefulness may thus be supplied, and +above all a godly <i>succession</i> through many generations, it will be seen +how wicked is the spirit that treats holy wedlock and its fruits in +offspring,—with lightness and contempt. Nor let us forget that promise: +"If two of you agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, +it shall be done for them of My Father which is in heaven." (Matt. +xviii. 19.) The Greek word for "agree" is <i>symphonize,</i> and suggests a +musical harmony where chords are tuned to the same key and struck by a +master hand. Consider what a blessed preparation for such habitual +symphony in prayer is to be found in the union of a husband and wife in +the Lord! May it not be that to this the Spirit refers when He bids +husband and wife dwell in unity, as "heirs together of the grace of +life," and adds, <i>"that your prayers be not hindered"?</i> (1 Peter iii. +7.)</p> + +<p>God used this severe lesson for permanent blessing to George Müller. He +showed him how open was his heart to the subtle power of selfishness and +carnality, and how needful was this chastisement to teach him the +sacredness of marital life and parental responsibility. Henceforth he +judged himself, that he might not be "judged of the Lord." (1 Cor. xi. +31.)</p> + +<p>A crisis like his wife's critical illness created a demand for much +extra expense, for which no provision had been made, not through +carelessness and improvidence, but upon principle. Mr. Müller held that +to lay by in store is inconsistent with full trust in God, who in such +case would send us to our hoardings before answering prayer for more +supplies. Experience in this emergency justified his faith; for not only +were all unforeseen wants supplied, but even the delicacies and +refreshments needful for the sick and weak; and the two medical +attendants graciously declined all remuneration for services which +extended through six weeks. Thus was there given of the Lord more than +could have been laid up against this season of trial, even had the +attempt been made.</p> + +<p>The principle of committing future wants to the Lord's care, thus acted +upon at this time, he and his wife consistently followed so long as they +lived and worked together. Experience confirmed them in the conviction +that a life of trust forbids laying up treasures against unforeseen +foreseen needs, since with God <i>no emergency is unforeseen and no want +unprovided for;</i> and He may be as implicitly trusted for +extraordinary needs as for our common daily bread.</p> + +<p>Yet another law, kindred to this and thoroughly inwrought into Mr. +Müller's habit of life, was <i>never to contract debt,</i> whether for +personal purposes or the Lord's work. This matter was settled on +scriptural grounds once for all (Romans xiii. 8), and he and his wife +determined if need be to suffer starvation rather than to buy anything +without paying for it when bought. Thus they always knew how much they +had to buy with, and what they had left to give to others or use for +others' wants.</p> + +<p>There was yet another law of life early framed into Mr. Müller's +personal decalogue. He regarded any money which was in his hands +<i>already designated for, or appropriated to, a specific use,</i> as <i>not +his to use, even temporarily, for any other ends.</i> Thus, though he was +often reduced to the lowest point of temporal supplies, he took no +account of any such funds set apart for other outlays or due for other +purposes. Thousands of times he was in straits where such diversion of +funds for a time seemed the only and the easy way out, but where this +would only have led him into new embarrassments. This principle, +intelligently adopted, was firmly adhered to, that what properly belongs +to a particular branch of work, or has been already put aside for a +certain use, even though yet in hand, is not to be reckoned on as +available for any other need, however pressing. Trust in God implies +such knowledge on His part of the exact circumstances that He will not +constrain us to any such misappropriation. Mistakes, most serious and +fatal, have come from lack of conscience as well as of faith in such +exigencies—drawing on one fund to meet the overdraught upon another, +hoping afterward to replace what is thus withdrawn. A well-known college +president had nearly involved the institution of which he was the head, +in bankruptcy, and himself in worse moral ruin, all the result of one +error—money given for endowing certain chairs had been used for current +expenses until public confidence had been almost hopelessly impaired.</p> + +<p>Thus a life of <i>faith</i> must be no less a life of <i>conscience.</i> Faith and +trust in God, and truth and faithfulness toward man, walked side by side +in this life-journey in unbroken agreement.</p> + +<a name="6"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER VI<br> + +"THE NARRATIVE OF THE LORD'S DEALINGS"</h3></center> + +<p>THINGS which are sacred forbid even a careless touch.</p> + +<p>The record written by George Müller of the Lord's dealings reads, +especially in parts, almost like an inspired writing, because it is +simply the tracing of divine guidance in a human life—not this man's +own working or planning, suffering or serving, but the <i>Lord's dealings</i> +with him and workings through him.</p> + +<p>It reminds us of that conspicuous passage in the Acts of the Apostles +where, within the compass of twenty verses, God is fifteen times put +boldly forward as the one Actor in all events. Paul and Barnabas +rehearsed, in the ears of the church at Antioch, and afterward at +Jerusalem, not what <i>they had done</i> for the Lord, but all that <i>He had +done</i> with them, and how <i>He had opened</i> the door of faith unto the +Gentiles; what miracles and wonders <i>God had wrought</i> among the Gentiles +by them. And, in the same spirit, Peter before the council emphasizes +how God had made choice of his mouth, as that whereby the Gentiles +should hear the word of the Gospel and believe; how He had given them +the Holy Ghost and put no difference between Jew and Gentile, purifying +their hearts by faith; and how He who knew all hearts had thus borne +them witness. Then James, in the same strain, refers to the way in which +<i>God had visited</i> the Gentiles to <i>take out</i> of them a people for His +name; and concludes by two quotations or adaptations from the Old +Testament, which fitly sum up the whole matter:</p> + +<p>"The Lord <i>who doeth</i> all these things."</p> + +<p>"Known unto God are <i>all His works</i> from the beginning of the world." +(Acts xiv. 27 to xv. 18.)</p> + +<p>The meaning of such repeated phraseology cannot be mistaken. God is here +presented as the one agent or actor, and even the most conspicuous +apostles, like Paul and Peter, as only His instruments. No twenty verses +in the word of God contain more emphatic and repeated lessons on man's +insufficiency and nothingness, and God's all-sufficiency and +almightiness. It was God that wrought upon man through man. It was He +who chose Peter to be His mouthpiece, He whose key unlocked shut doors, +He who visited the nations, who turned sinners into saints, who was even +then taking out a people for His name, purifying hearts and bearing them +witness; it was He and He alone who did all these wondrous things, and +according to His knowledge and plan of what He would do, from the +beginning. We are not reading so much the Acts of the Apostles as the +acts of God through the apostles. Was it not this very passage in this +inspired book that suggested, perhaps, the name of this journal: <i>"The +Lord's dealings with George Müller"</i>?</p> + +<p>At this narrative or journal, as a whole, we can only rapidly glance. In +this shorter account, purposely condensed to secure a wider reading even +from busy people, that narrative could not be more fully treated, for in +its original form it covers about three thousand printed pages, and +contains close to one million words. To such as can and will read that +more minute account it is accessible at a low rate,* and is strongly +recommended for careful and leisurely perusal. But for the present +purpose the life-story, as found in these pages, takes both a briefer +and a different form.</p> + +<p>* Five volumes at 16s. Published by Jas. Nisbet & Co., London. With +subsequent Annual Reports at 3d. each.</p> + +<p>The journal is largely composed of, condensed from, and then +supplemented by, annual reports of the work, and naturally and +necessarily includes, not only thousands of little details, but much +inevitable repetition year by year, because each new report was likely +to fall into the hands of some who had never read reports of the +previous years. The desire and design of this briefer memoir is to +present the salient points of the narrative, to review the whole +life-story as from the great summits or outlooks found in this +remarkable journal; so that, like the observer who from some high +mountain-peak looks toward the different points of the compass, and thus +gets a rapid, impressive, comparative, and comprehensive view of the +whole landscape, the reader may, as at a glance, take in those marked +features of this godly man's character and career which incite to new +and advance steps in faith and holy living. Some few characteristic +entries in the journal will find here a place; others, only in +substance; while of the bulk of them it will be sufficient to give a +general survey, classifying the leading facts, and under each class +giving a few representative examples and illustrations.</p> + +<p>Looking at this narrative as a whole, certain prominent peculiarities +must be carefully noted. We have here a record and revelation of seven +conspicuous experiences:</p> + +<p>1. An experience of frequent and at times prolonged <i>financial straits.</i></p> + +<p>The money in hand for personal needs, and for the needs of hundreds and +thousands of orphans, and for the various branches of the work of the +Scriptural Knowledge Institution, was often reduced to a single <i>pound,</i> +or even <i>penny,</i> and sometimes to <i>nothing.</i> There was therefore a +necessity for constant waiting on God, looking to Him directly for all +supplies. For months, if not years, together, and at several periods in +the work, supplies were furnished only from month to month, week to +week, day to day, <i>hour to hour!</i> Faith was thus kept in lively exercise +and under perpetual training.</p> + +<p>2. An experience of the <i>unchanging faithfulness of the Father-God.</i></p> + +<p>The straits were long and trying, but never was there one case of +failure to receive help; never a meal-time without at least a frugal +meal, never a want or a crisis unmet by divine supply and support. Mr. +Müller said to the writer: "Not once, or five times, or five hundred +times, but thousands of times in these threescore years, have we had in +hand not enough <i>for one more meal,</i> either in food or in funds; but not +once has God failed us; not once have we or the orphans gone hungry or +lacked any good thing." From 1838 to 1844 was a period of peculiar and +prolonged straits, yet when the time of need actually came the supply +was always given, though often at the last moment.</p> + +<p>3. An experience of the working of God upon the minds, hearts, and +consciences of <i>contributors to the work.</i></p> + +<p>It will amply repay one to plod, step by step, over these thousands of +pages, if only to trace the hand of God touching the springs of human +action all over the world in ways of His own, and at times of great +need, and adjusting the amount and the exact day and hour of the supply, +to the existing want. Literally from the earth's ends, men, women, and +children who had never seen Mr. Müller and could have known nothing of +the pressure at the time, have been led at the exact crisis of affairs +to send aid in the very sum or form most needful. In countless cases, +while he was on his knees asking, the answer has come in such close +correspondence with the request as to shut out chance as an explanation, +and compel belief in a prayer-hearing God.</p> + +<p>4. An experience of habitual <i>hanging upon the unseen God</i> and nothing +else.</p> + +<p>The reports, issued annually to acquaint the public with the history and +progress of the work, and give an account of stewardship to the many +donors who had a right to a report—these made <i>no direct appeal for +aid.</i> At one time, and that of great need, Mr. Müller felt led to +<i>withhold</i> the usual annual statement, lest some might construe the +account of work already done as an appeal for aid in work yet to be +done, and thus detract from the glory of the Great Provider.* The Living +God alone was and is the Patron of these institutions; and not even the +wisest and wealthiest, the noblest and the most influential of human +beings, has ever been looked to as their dependence.</p> + +<p>* For example, Vol. II, 102, records that the report given is for +1846-1848, no report having been issued for 1847; and on page 113, under +date of May 25th, occur these words: "not being nearly enough to meet +the housekeeping expenses," etc.; and, May 28th and 30th, such other +words as these: "now our poverty," "in this our great need," "in these +days of straitness." Mr. Wright thinks that <i>on that very account</i> Mr. +Müller did not publish the report for 1847.</p> + +<p>5. An experience of conscientious <i>care in accepting and using gifts.</i></p> + +<p>Here is a pattern for all who act as stewards for God. Whenever there +was any ground of misgiving as to the propriety or expediency of +receiving what was offered, it was declined, however pressing the need, +unless or until all such objectionable features no more existed. If the +party contributing was known to dishonour lawful debts, so that the +money was righteously due to others; if the gift was encumbered and +embarrassed by restrictions that hindered its free use for God; if it +was designated for endowment purposes or as a provision for Mr. Müller's +old age, or for the future of the institutions; or if there was any +evidence or suspicion that the donation was given grudgingly, +reluctantly, or for self-glory, it was promptly declined and returned. +In some cases, even where large amounts were involved, parties were +urged to wait until more prayer and deliberation made clear that they +were acting under divine leading.</p> + +<p>6. An experience of extreme caution lest there should be even a careless +<i>betrayal of the fact of pressing need,</i> to the outside public.</p> + +<p>The helpers in the institutions were allowed to come into such close +fellowship and to have such knowledge of the exact state of the work as +aids not only in common labours, but in common prayers and self-denials. +Without such acquaintance they could not serve, pray, nor sacrifice +intelligently. But these associates were most solemnly and repeatedly +charged never to reveal to those without, not even in the most serious +crises, any want whatsoever of the work. The one and only resort was +ever to be the God who hears the cry of the needy; and the greater the +exigency, the greater the caution lest there should even seem to be a +looking away from divine to human help.</p> + +<p>7. An experience of growing boldness of faith in <i>asking and trusting +for great things.</i></p> + +<p>As faith was exercised it was energized, so that it became as easy and +natural to ask confidently for a hundred, a thousand, or ten thousand +pounds, as once it had been for a pound or a penny. After confidence in +God had been strengthened through discipline, and God had been proven +faithful, it required no more <i>venture</i> to cast himself on God for +provision for two thousand children and an annual outlay of at least +twenty-five thousand pounds for them than in the earlier periods of the +work to look to Him to care for twenty homeless orphans at a cost of two +hundred and fifty pounds a year. Only by <i>using</i> faith are we kept from +practically <i>losing</i> it, and, on the contrary, to use faith is to lose +the unbelief that hinders God's mighty acts.</p> + +<p>This brief resume of the contents of thousands of entries is the result +of a repeated and careful examination of page after page where have been +patiently recorded with scrupulous and punctilious exactness the +innumerable details of Mr. Müller's long experience as a coworker with +God. He felt himself not only the steward of a celestial Master, but the +trustee of human gifts, and hence he sought to "provide things honest in +the sight of all men." He might never have published a report or spread +these minute matters before the public eye, and yet have been an equally +faithful steward toward <i>God;</i> but he would not in such case have been +an equally faithful trustee toward man.</p> + +<p>Frequently, in these days, men receive considerable sums of money from +various sources for benevolent work, and yet give no account of such +trusteeship. However honest such parties may be, they not only act +unwisely, but, by their course, lend sanction to others with whom such +irresponsible action is a cloak for systematic fraud. Mr. Müller's whole +career is the more without fault because in this respect his +administration of his great trust challenges the closest investigation.</p> + +<p>The brief review of the lessons taught in his journal may well startle +the incredulous and unbelieving spirit of our skeptical day. Those who +doubt the power of prayer to bring down actual blessing, or who confound +faith in God with credulity and superstition, may well wonder and +perhaps stumble at such an array of facts. But, if any reader is still +doubtful as to the facts, or thinks they are here arrayed in a deceptive +garb or invested with an imaginative halo, he is hereby invited to +examine for himself the singularly minute records which George Müller +has been led of God to put before the world in a printed form which thus +admits no change, and to accompany with a bold and repeated challenge to +any one so inclined, to subject every statement to the severest +scrutiny, and prove, if possible, one item to be in any respect false, +exaggerated, or misleading. The absence of all enthusiasm in the calm +and mathematical precision of the narrative compels the reader to feel +that the writer was almost mechanically exact in the record, and +inspires confidence that it contains the absolute, naked truth.</p> + +<p>One caution should, like Habakkuk's gospel message—"The just shall live +by his faith"—be written large and plain so that even a cursory glance +may take it in. Let no one ascribe to George Müller such a <i>miraculous +gift of faith</i> as lifted him above common believers and out of the reach +of the temptations and infirmities to which all fallible souls are +exposed. He was constantly liable to satanic assaults, and we find him +making frequent confession of the same sins as others, and even of +unbelief, and at times overwhelmed with genuine sorrow for his +departures from God. In fact he felt himself rather more than usually +wicked by nature, and utterly helpless even as a believer: was it not +this poverty of spirit and mourning over sin, this consciousness of +entire unworthiness and dependence, that so drove him to the throne of +grace and the all-merciful and all-powerful Father? Because he was so +weak, he leaned hard on the strong arm of Him whose strength is not only +manifested, but can only be made perfect, in weakness.*</p> + +<p>* 1 Cor. xii. 1-10.</p> + +<p>To those who think that no man can wield such power in prayer or live +such a life of faith who is not an exception to common mortal frailties, +it will be helpful to find in this very journal that is so lighted up +with the records of God's goodness, the dark shadows of conscious sin +and guilt. Even in the midst of abounding mercies and interpositions he +suffered from temptations to distrust and disobedience, and sometimes +had to mourn their power over him, as when once he found himself +inwardly complaining of the cold leg of mutton which formed the staple +of his Sunday dinner! We discover as we read that we are communing with +a man who was not only of like passions with ourselves, but who felt +himself rather more than most others subject to the sway of evil, and +needing therefore a special keeping power. Scarce had he started upon +his new path of entire dependence on God, when he confessed himself "so +sinful" as for some time to entertain the thought that "it would be of +no use to trust in the Lord in this way," and fearing that he had +perhaps gone already too far in this direction in having committed +himself to such a course.* True, this temptation was speedily overcome +and Satan confounded; but from time to time similar fiery darts were +hurled at him which had to be quenched by the same shield of faith. +Never, to the last hour of life, could he trust himself, or for one +moment relax his hold on God, and neglect the word of God and prayer, +without falling into sin. The 'old man,' of sin always continued too +strong for George Müller alone, and the longer he lived a 'life of +trust' the less was his trust placed upon himself.</p> + +<p>* Vol. I. 73.</p> + +<p>Another fact that grows more conspicuous with the perusal of every new +page in his journal is that in things common and small, as well as +uncommon and great, he took no step without first asking counsel of the +oracles of God and seeking guidance from Him in believing prayer. It was +his life-motto to learn the will of God before undertaking anything, and +to wait till it is clear, because only so can one either be blessed in +his own soul or prospered in the work of his hands.* Many disciples who +are comparatively bold to seek God's help in great crises, fail to come +to Him with like boldness in matters that seem too trivial to occupy the +thought of God or invite the interposition of Him who numbers the very +hairs of our heads and suffers not one hair to perish. The writer of +this journal escaped this great snare and carried even the smallest +matter to the Lord.</p> + +<p>* Vol. I. 74.</p> + +<p>Again, in his journal he constantly seeks to save from reproach the good +name of Him whom he serves: he cannot have such a God accounted a hard +Master. So early as July, 1831, a false rumour found circulation that he +and his wife were half-starving and that certain bodily ailments were +the result of a lack of the necessities of life; and he is constrained +to put on record that, though often brought so low as not to have one +penny left and to have the last bread on the table, they had never yet +sat down to a meal unprovided with some nourishing food. This witness +was repeated from time to time, and until just before his departure for +the Father's house on high; and it may therefore be accepted as covering +that whole life of faith which reached over nearly threescore years and +ten.</p> + +<p>A kindred word of testimony, first given at this same time and in like +manner reiterated from point to point in his pilgrimage, concerns the +Lord's faithfulness in accompanying His word with power, in accordance +with that positive and unequivocal promise in Isaiah lv. 11: "My word +shall not return unto Me void; but it shall accomplish that which I +please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it." It is very +noticeable that this is not said of <i>man's</i> word, however wise, +important, or sincere, but of <i>God's</i> word. We are therefore justified +in both expecting and claiming that, just so far as our message is not +of human invention or authority, but is God's message through us, it +shall never fail to accomplish His pleasure and its divine errand, +whatever be its apparent failure at the time. Mr. Müller, referring to +his own preaching, bears witness that in almost if not quite every place +where he spoke God's word, whether in larger chapels or smaller rooms, +the Lord gave the seal of His own testimony. He observed, however, that +blessing did not so obviously or abundantly follow his open-air +services: only in one instance had it come to his knowledge that there +were marked results, and that was in the case of an army officer who +came to make sport. Mr. Müller thought that it might please the Lord not +to let him see the real fruit of his work in open-air meetings, or that +there had not been concerning them enough believing prayer; but he +concluded that such manner of preaching was not his present work, since +God had not so conspicuously sealed it with blessing.</p> + +<p>His journal makes very frequent reference to the physical weakness and +disability from which he suffered.</p> + +<p>The struggle against bodily infirmity was almost life-long, and adds a +new lesson to his life-story. The strength of faith had to triumph over +the weakness of the flesh. We often find him suffering from bodily ills, +and sometimes so seriously as to be incapacitated for labour.</p> + +<p>For example, early in 1832 he broke a blood-vessel in the stomach and +lost much blood by the hemorrhage. The very day following was the Lord's +day, and four outside preaching stations needed to be provided for, from +which his disablement would withdraw one labourer to take his place at +home. After an hour of prayer he felt that faith was given him to rise, +dress, and go to the chapel; and, though very weak, so that the short +walk wearied him, he was helped to preach as usual. After the service a +medical friend remonstrated against his course as tending to permanent +injury; but he replied that he should himself have regarded it +presumptuous had not the Lord given him the faith. He preached both +afternoon and evening, growing stronger rather than weaker with each +effort, and suffering from no reaction afterward.</p> + +<p>In reading Mr. Müller's biography and the record of such experiences, it +is not probable that all will agree as to the wisdom of his course in +every case. Some will commend, while others will, perhaps, condemn. He +himself qualifies this entry in his journal with a wholesome caution +that no reader should in such a matter follow his example, who <i>has not +faith given him;</i> but assuring him that if God does give faith so to +undertake for Him, such trust will prove like good coin and be honoured +when presented. He himself did not always pursue a like course, because +he had not always a like faith, and this leads him in his journal to +draw a valuable distinction between the <i>gift of faith</i> and the <i>grace +of faith,</i> which deserves careful consideration.</p> + +<p>He observed that repeatedly he prayed with the sick till they were +restored, he <i>asking unconditionally for the blessing of bodily health,</i> +a thing which, he says, later on, he could not have done. Almost always +in such cases the petition was granted, yet in some instances not. Once, +in his own case, as early as 1829, he had been healed of a bodily +infirmity of long standing, and which never returned. Yet this same man +of God subsequently suffered from disease which was not in like manner +healed, and in more than one case submitted to a costly operation at the +hands of a skilful surgeon.</p> + +<p>Some will doubtless say that even this man of faith lacked the faith +necessary for the healing of his own body; but we must let him speak for +himself, and especially as he gives his own view of the gift and the +grace of faith. He says that the <i>gift</i> of faith is exercised, whenever +we "do or believe a thing where the not doing or not believing would +<i>not</i> be sin"; but the <i>grace</i> of faith, "where we do or believe what +not to do or believe <i>would</i> be sin"; in one case we have no unequivocal +command or promise to guide us, and in the other we have. The gift of +faith is not always in exercise, but the grace must be, since it has the +definite word of God to rest on, and the absence or even weakness of +faith in such circumstances implies sin. There were instances, he adds, +in which it pleased the Lord at times to bestow upon him something like +the gift of faith so that he could ask unconditionally and expect +confidently.</p> + +<p>This journal we may now dismiss as a whole, having thus looked at the +general features which characterize its many pages. But let it be +repeated that to any reader who will for himself carefully examine its +contents its perusal will prove a means of grace. To read a little at a +time, and follow it with reflection and self-examination, will be found +most stimulating to faith, though often most humiliating by reason of +the conscious contrast suggested by the reader's unbelief and +unfaithfulness. This man lived peculiarly with God and in God, and his +senses were exercised to discern good and evil. His conscience became +increasingly sensitive and his judgment singularly discriminating, so +that he detected fallacies where they escape the common eye, and foresaw +dangers which, like hidden rocks ahead, risk damage and, perhaps, +destruction to service if not to character. And, therefore, so far is +the writer of this memoir from desiring to displace that journal, that +he rather seeks to incite many who have not read it to examine it for +themselves. It will to such be found to mark a path of close daily walk +with God, where, step by step, with circumspect vigilance, conduct and +even motive are watched and weighed in God's own balances.</p> + +<p>To sum up very briefly the impression made by the close perusal of this +whole narrative with the supplementary annual reports, it is simply +this: CONFIDENCE IN GOD.</p> + +<p>In a little sketch of Beate Paulus, the Frau Pastorin pleads with God in +a great crisis not to forsake her, quaintly adding that she was "willing +to be the second whom He might forsake," but she was "determined not to +be the <i>first."</i>* George Müller believed that, in all ages, there had +never yet been one true and trusting believer to whom God had proven +false or faithless, and he was perfectly sure that He could be safely +trusted who, "if we believe not, yet abideth faithful: He cannot deny +Himself."† God has not only <i>spoken,</i> but <i>sworn;</i> His word is +confirmed by His oath: because He could swear by no greater He sware by +Himself. And all this that we might have a strong consolation; that we +might have boldness in venturing upon Him, laying hold and holding fast +His promise. Unbelief makes God a <i>liar</i> and, worse still, a <i>perjurer,</i> +for it accounts Him as not only false to His word, but to His oath. +George Müller believed, and because he believed, prayed; and praying, +expected; and expecting, received. Blessed is he that believes, for +there shall be a performance of those things which are spoken of the +Lord.</p> + +<p>* Faith's Miracles, p. 43.</p> + +<p>† 2 Timothy ii. 13.</p> + +<a name="7"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER VII<br> + +LED OF GOD INTO A NEW SPHERE</h3></center> + +<p>IF much hangs and turns upon the choice of the <i>work</i> we are to do and +the <i>field</i> where we are to do it, it must not be forgotten how much +also depends on the <i>time</i> when it is undertaken, the <i>way</i> in which it +is performed, and the <i>associates</i> in the labour. In all these matters +the true workman will wait for the Master's beck, glance, or signal, +before a step is taken.</p> + +<p>We have come now to a new fork in the road where the path ahead begins +to be more plain. The future and permanent centre of his life-work is at +this point clearly indicated to God's servant by divine leading.</p> + +<p>In March, 1832, his friend Mr. Henry Craik left Shaldon for four weeks +of labour <i>in Bristol,</i> where Mr. Müller's strong impression was that +the Lord had for Mr. Craik some more lasting sphere of work, though as +yet it had not dawned upon his mind that he himself was to be a +co-worker in that sphere, and to find in that very city the place of his +permanent abode and the centre of his life's activities. God again led +the blind by a way he knew not. The conviction, however, had grown upon +him that the Lord was loosing him from Teignmouth, and, without having +in view any other definite field, he felt that his ministry there was +drawing to a close; and he inclined to go about again from place to +place, seeking especially to bring believers to a fuller trust in God +and a deeper sense of His faithfulness, and to a more thorough search +into His word. His inclination to such itinerant work was strengthened +by the fact that outside of Teignmouth his preaching both gave him much +more enjoyment and sense of power, and drew more hearers.</p> + +<p>On April 13th a letter from Mr. Craik, inviting Mr. Müller to join in +his work at Bristol, made such an impression on his mind that he began +prayerfully to consider whether it was not God's call, and whether a +field more suited to his gifts was not opening to him. The following +Lord's day, preaching on the Lord's coming, he referred to the effect of +this blessed hope in impelling God's messenger to bear witness more +widely and from place to place, and reminded the brethren that he had +refused to bind himself to abide with them that he might at any moment +be free to follow the divine leading elsewhere.</p> + +<p>On April 20th Mr. Müller left for Bristol. On the journey he was dumb, +having no liberty in speaking for Christ or even in giving away tracts, +and this led him to reflect. He saw that the so-called 'work of the +Lord' had tempted him to substitute <i>action for meditation and +communion.</i> He had neglected that still hour' with God which supplies to +spiritual life alike its breath and its bread. No lesson is more +important for us to learn, yet how slow are we to learn it: that for the +lack of habitual seasons set apart for devout meditation upon the word +of God and for prayer, nothing else will compensate.</p> + +<p>We are prone to think, for example, that converse with Christian +brethren, and the general round of Christian activity, especially when +we are much busied with preaching the Word and visits to inquiring or +needy souls, make up for the loss of aloneness with God in the secret +place. We hurry to a public service with but a few minutes of private +prayer, allowing precious time to be absorbed in social pleasures, +restrained from withdrawing from others by a false delicacy, when to +excuse ourselves for needful communion with God and his word would have +been perhaps the best witness possible to those whose company was +holding us unduly! How often we rush from one public engagement to +another without any proper interval for renewing our strength in waiting +on the Lord, as though God cared more for the quantity than the quality +of our service!</p> + +<p>Here Mr. Müller had the grace to detect one of the foremost perils of a +busy man in this day of insane hurry. He saw that if we are to feed +others we must be fed; and that even public and united exercises of +praise and prayer can never supply that food which is dealt out to the +believer only in the closet—the shut-in place with its closed door and +open window, where he meets God alone. In a previous chapter reference +has been made to the fact that three times in the word of God we find a +divine prescription for a true prosperity. God says to Joshua, "This +book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt +meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according +to all that is written therein: <i>for then thou shalt make thy way +prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success"</i> (Joshua i. 8.) Five +hundred years later the inspired author of the first Psalm repeats the +promise in unmistakable terms. The Spirit there says of him whose +delight is in the law of the Lord and who in His law doth meditate day +and night, that "he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, +that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not +wither; and <i>whatsoever he doeth shall prosper."</i> Here the devout +meditative student of the blessed book of God is likened to an evergreen +tree planted beside unfailing supplies of moisture; his fruit is +perennial, and so is his verdure—and <i>whatsoever he doeth</i> prospers! +More than a thousand years pass away, and, before the New Testament is +sealed up as complete, once more the Spirit bears essentially the same +blessed witness. "Whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty and +<i>continueth"</i> (i.e. continueth <i>looking</i>—meditating on what he there +beholds, lest he forget the impression received through the mirror of +the Word), <i>"this man shall be blessed in his deed"</i> (James i. 25.)</p> + +<p>Here then we have a threefold witness to the secret of true prosperity +and unmingled blessing: devout meditation and reflection upon the +Scriptures, which are at once a book of law, a river of life, and a +mirror of self—fitted to convey the will of God, the life of God, and +the transforming power of God. That believer makes a fatal mistake who +<i>for any cause</i> neglects the prayerful study of the word of God. To read +God's holy book, by it search one's self, and turn it into prayer and so +into holy living, is the one great secret of growth in grace and +godliness. The worker <i>for</i> God must first be a worker <i>with</i> God: he +must have power with God and must prevail with Him in prayer, if he is +to have power with men and prevail with men in preaching or in any form +of witnessing and serving. At all costs let us make sure of that highest +preparation for our work—the preparation of our own souls; and for this +we must <i>take time</i> to be alone with His word and His Spirit, that we +may truly meet God, and understand His will and the revelation of +Himself.</p> + +<p>If we seek the secrets of the life George Müller lived and the work he +did, this is the very key to the whole mystery, and with that key any +believer can unlock the doors to a prosperous growth in grace and power +in service. God's word is His WORD—the expression of His thought, the +revealing of His mind and heart. The supreme end of life is to know God +and make Him known; and how is this possible so long as we neglect the +very means He has chosen for conveying to us that knowledge! Even +Christ, the Living Word, is to be found enshrined in the written word. +Our knowledge of Christ is dependent upon our acquaintance with the Holy +Scriptures, which are the reflection of His character and glory—the +firmament across the expanse of which He moves as the Sun of +righteousness.</p> + +<p>On April 22, 1832, George Müller first stood in the pulpit of Gideon +Chapel. The fact and the date are to be carefully marked as the new +turning-point in a career of great usefulness. Henceforth, for almost +exactly sixty-six years, Bristol is to be inseparably associated with +his name. Could he have foreseen, on that Lord's day, what a work the +Lord would do through him in that city; how from it as a centre his +influence would radiate to the earth's ends, and how, even after his +departure, he should continue to bear witness by the works which should +follow him, how his heart would have swelled and burst with holy +gratitude and praise,—while in humility he shrank back in awe and +wonder from a responsibility and an opportunity so vast and +overwhelming!</p> + +<p>In the afternoon of this first Sabbath he preached at Pithay Chapel a +sermon conspicuously owned of God. Among others converted by it was a +young man, a notorious drunkard. And, before the sun had set, Mr. +Müller, who in the evening heard Mr. Craik preach, was fully persuaded +that the Lord had brought him to Bristol for a purpose, and that for a +while, at least, there he was to labour. Both he and his brother Craik +felt, however, that Bristol was not the place to reach a clear decision, +for the judgment was liable to be unduly biassed when subject to the +pressure of personal urgency, and so they determined to return to their +respective fields of previous labour, there to wait quietly upon the +Lord for the promised wisdom from above. They left for Devonshire on the +first of May; but already a brother had been led to assume the +responsibility for the rent of Bethesda Chapel as a place for their +joint labours, thus securing a second commodious building for public +worship.</p> + +<p>Such blessing had rested on these nine days of united testimony in +Bristol that they both gathered that the Lord had assuredly called them +thither. The seal of His sanction had been on all they had undertaken, +and the last service at Gideon Chapel on April 29th had been so thronged +that many went away for lack of room.</p> + +<p>Mr. Müller found opportunity for the exercise of humility, for he saw +that by many his brother's gifts were much preferred to his own; yet, as +Mr. Craik would come to Bristol only with him as a yokefellow, God's +grace enabled him to accept the humiliation of being the less popular, +and comforted him with the thought that two are better than one, and +that each might possibly fill up some lack in the other, and thus both +together prove a greater benefit and blessing alike to sinners and to +saints—as the result showed. That same grace of God helped Mr. Müller +to rise higher—nay, let us rather say, to sink lower and, "in honor +preferring one another," to rejoice rather than to be envious; and, like +John the Baptist, to say within himself: "A man can receive nothing +except it be given him from above." Such a humble spirit has even in +this life oftentimes its recompense of reward. Marked as was the impress +of Mr. Craik upon Bristol, Mr. Müller's influence was even deeper and +wider. As Henry Craik died in 1866, his own work reached through a much +longer period; and as he was permitted to make such extensive mission +tours throughout the world, his witness was far more outreaching. The +lowly-minded man who bowed down to take the lower place, consenting to +be the more obscure, was by God exalted to the higher seat and greater +throne of influence.</p> + +<p>Within a few weeks the Lord's will, as to their new sphere, became so +plain to both these brethren that on May 23d Mr. Müller left Teignmouth +for Bristol, to be followed next day by Mr. Craik. At the believers' +meeting at Gideon Chapel they stated their terms, which were acceded to: +that they were to be regarded as accepting no fixed relationship to the +congregation, preaching in such manner and for such a season as should +seem to them according to the Lord's will; that they should not be under +bondage to any rules among them; that <i>pew-rents should be done away +with;</i> and that they should, as in Devonshire, <i>look to the Lord to +supply all temporal wants through the voluntary offerings of those to +whom they ministered.</i></p> + +<p>Within a month Bethesda Chapel had been so engaged for a year as to risk +no debt, and on July 6th services began there as at Gideon. From the +very first, the Spirit set His seal on the joint work of these two +brethren. Ten days after the opening service at Bethesda, an evening +being set for inquirers, the throng of those seeking counsel was so +great that more than four hours were consumed in ministering to +individual souls, and so from time to time similar meetings were held +with like encouragement.</p> + +<p>August 13, 1832, was a memorable day. On that evening at Bethesda Chapel +Mr. Müller, Mr. Craik, one other brother, and four sisters—<i>only seven +in all</i>—sat down together, uniting in church fellowship <i>"without any +rules,—desiring to act only as the Lord should be pleased to give light +through His word."</i></p> + +<p>This is a very short and simple entry in Mr. Mailer's journal, but it +has most solemn significance. It records what was to him separation to +the hallowed work of building up a simple apostolic church, with no +manual of guidance but the New Testament; and in fact it introduces us +to the THIRD PERIOD of his life, when he entered fully upon the work to +which God had set him apart. The further steps now followed in rapid +succession. God having prepared the workman and gathered the material, +the structure went on quietly and rapidly until the life-work was +complete.</p> + +<p>Cholera was at this time raging in Bristol. This terrible 'scourge of +God' first appeared about the middle of July and continued for three +months, prayer-meetings being held often, and for a time daily, to plead +for the removal of this visitation. Death stalked abroad, the knell of +funeral-bells almost constantly sounding, and much solemnity hanging +like a dark pall over the community. Of course many visits to the sick, +dying, and afflicted became necessary, but it is remarkable that, among +all the children of God among whom Mr. Müller and Mr. Craik laboured, +but one died of this disease.</p> + +<p>In the midst of all this gloom and sorrow of a fatal epidemic, a little +daughter was born to Mr. and Mrs. Müller September 17, 1832. About her +name, Lydia, sweet fragrance lingers, for she became one of God's purest +saints and the beloved wife of James Wright. How little do we forecast +at the time the future of a new-born babe who, like Samuel, may in God's +decree be established to be a prophet of the Lord, or be set apart to +some peculiar sphere of service, as in the case of another Lydia, whose +heart the Lord opened and whom He called to be the nucleus of the first +Christian church in Europe.</p> + +<p>Mr. Müllers unfeigned humility, and the docility that always accompanies +that unconscious grace, found new exercise when the meetings with +inquirers revealed the fact that his colleague's preaching was much more +used of God than his own, in conviction and conversion. This discovery +led to much self-searching, and he concluded that three reasons lay back +of this fact: first, Mr. Craik was more spiritually minded than himself; +second, he was more earnest in prayer for converting power; and third, +he oftener spoke directly to the unsaved, in his public ministrations. +Such disclosures of his own comparative lack did not exhaust themselves +in vain self-reproaches, but led at once to more importunate prayer, +more diligent preparation for addressing the unconverted, and more +frequent appeals to this class. From this time on, Mr. Müller's +preaching had the seal of God upon it equally with his brother's. What a +wholesome lesson to learn, that for every defect in our service there is +a cause, and that the one all-sufficient remedy is the throne of grace, +where in every time of need we may boldly come to find grace and help! +It has been already noted that Mr. Müller did not satisfy himself with +more prayer, but gave new diligence and study to the preparation of +discourses adapted to awaken careless souls. In the supernatural as well +as the natural sphere, there is a law of cause and effect. Even the +Spirit of God works not without order and method; He has His chosen +channels through which He pours blessing. There is no accident in the +spiritual world. "The Spirit bloweth where He listeth," but even the +wind has its circuits. There is a kind of preaching, fitted to bring +conviction and conversion, and there is another kind which is not so +fitted. Even in the faithful use of truth there is room for +discrimination and selection. In the armory of the word of God are many +weapons, and all have their various uses and adaptations. Blessed is the +workman or warrior who seeks to know what particular implement or +instrument God appoints for each particular work or conflict. We are to +study to keep in such communion with His word and Spirit as that we +shall be true workmen that need "not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the +word of truth." (2 Tim. ii. 15.)</p> + +<p>This expression, found in Paul's second letter to Timothy, is a very +peculiar one +(ορθοτομουντα +τον λογον της +αληθειας). It +seems to be nearly equivalent to the Latin phrase <i>recte viam secare—to +cut a straight road</i>—and to hint that the true workman of God is like +the civil engineer to whom it is given to construct a direct road to a +certain point. The hearer's heart and conscience is the objective point, +and the aim of the preacher should be, so to use God's truth as to reach +most directly and effectively the needs of the hearer. He is to avoid +all circuitous routes, all evasions, all deceptive apologies and by-ways +of argument, and seek by God's help to find the shortest, straightest, +quickest road to the convictions and resolutions of those to whom he +speaks. And if the road-builder, before he takes any other step, first +carefully <i>surveys his territory and lays out his route,</i> how much more +should the preacher first study the needs of his hearers and the best +ways of successfully dealing with them, and then with even more +carefulness and prayerfulness study the adaptation of the word of God +and the gospel message to meet those wants.</p> + +<p>Early in the year 1833, letters from missionaries in Baghdad urged +Messrs. Müller and Craik to join them in labours in that distant field, +accompanying the invitation with drafts for two hundred pounds for costs +of travel. Two weeks of prayerful inquiry as to the mind of the Lord, +however, led them to a clear decision <i>not</i> to go—a choice never +regretted, and which is here recorded only as part of a complete +biography, and as illustrating the manner in which each new call for +service was weighed and decided.</p> + +<p>We now reach another stage of Mr. Müller's entrance upon his complete +life-work. In February, 1832, he had begun to read the biography of A. +H. Francke, the founder of the Orphan Houses of Halle. As that life and +work were undoubtedly used of God to make him a like instrument in a +kindred service, and to mould even the methods of his philanthropy, a +brief sketch of Francke's career may be helpful.</p> + +<p>August H. Francke was Müller's fellow countryman. About 1696, at Halle +in Prussia, he had commenced the largest enterprise for poor children +then existing in the world. He trusted in God, and He whom he trusted +did not fail him, but helped him throughout abundantly.</p> + +<p>The institutions, which resembled rather a large street than a building, +were erected, and in them about two thousand orphan children were +housed, fed, clad, and taught. For about thirty years all went on under +Francke's own eyes, until 1727, when it pleased the Master to call the +servant up higher; and after his departure his like-minded son-in-law +became the director. Two hundred years have passed, and these Orphan +Houses are still in existence, serving their noble purpose.</p> + +<p>It is needful only to look at these facts and compare with Francke's +work in Halle George Müller's monuments to a prayer-hearing God on +Ashley Down, to see that in the main the latter work so far resembles +the former as to be in not a few respects its counterpart. Mr. Müller +began his orphan work a little more than one hundred years after +Francke's death; ultimately housed, fed, clothed, and taught over two +thousand orphans year by year; personally supervised the work for over +sixty years—twice as long a period as that of Francke's personal +management—and at his decease likewise left his like minded son-in-law +to be his successor as the sole director of the work. It need not be +added that, beginning his enterprise like Francke in dependence on God +alone, the founder of the Bristol Orphan Houses trusted from first to +last only in Him.</p> + +<p>It is very noticeable how, when God is preparing a workman for a certain +definite service, He often leads him out of the beaten track into a path +peculiarly His own by means of some striking biography, or by contact +with some other living servant who is doing some such work, and +exhibiting the spirit which must guide if there is to be a true success. +Meditation on Franeke's life and work naturally led this man who was +hungering for a wider usefulness to think more of the poor homeless +waifs about him, and to ask whether he also could not plan under God +some way to provide for them; and as he was musing the fire burned.</p> + +<p>As early as June 12, 1833, when not yet twenty-eight years old, the +inward flame began to find vent in a scheme which proved the first +forward step toward his orphan work. It occurred to him to gather out of +the streets, at about eight o'clock each morning, the poor children, +give them a bit of bread for breakfast, and then, for about an hour and +a half, teach them to read or read to them the Holy Scriptures; and +later on to do a like service to the adult and aged poor. He began at +once to feed from thirty to forty such persons, confident that, as the +number increased, the Lord's provision would increase also. Unburdening +his heart to Mr. Craik, he was guided to a place which could hold one +hundred and fifty children and which could be rented for ten shillings +yearly; as also to an aged brother who would gladly undertake the +teaching.</p> + +<p>Unexpected obstacles, however, prevented the carrying out of this plan. +The work already pressing upon Mr. Müller and Mr. Craik, the rapid +increase of applicants for food, and the annoyance to neighbours of +having crowds of idlers congregating in the streets and lying about in +troops—these were some of the reasons why this method was abandoned. +But the <i>central thought and aim</i> were never lost sight of: God had +planted a seed in the soil of Mr. Müllers heart, presently to spring up +in the orphan work, and in the Scriptural Knowledge Institution with its +many branches and far-reaching fruits.</p> + +<p>From time to time a backward glance over the Lord's dealings encouraged +his heart, as he looked forward to unknown paths and untried scenes. He +records at this time—the close of the year 1833—that during the four +years since he first began to trust in the Lord alone for temporal +supplies he had suffered no want. He had received during the first year +one hundred and thirty pounds, during the second one hundred and +fifty-one, during the third one hundred and ninety-five, and during the +last two hundred and sixty-seven—all in free-will offerings and without +ever asking any human being for a penny. He had looked alone to the +Lord, yet he had not only received a supply, but an increasing supply, +year by year. Yet he also noticed that at each year's close he had very +little, if anything, left, and that much had come through strange +channels, from distances very remote, and from parties whom he had never +seen. He observed also that in every case, according as the need was +greater or less, the supply corresponded. He carefully records for the +benefit of others that, when the calls for help were many, the Great +Provider showed Himself able and willing to send help accordingly.* The +ways of divine dealing which he had thus found true of the early years +of his life of trust were marked and magnified in all his +after-experience, and the lessons learned in these first four years +prepared him for others taught in the same school of God and under the +same Teacher.</p> + +<p>* Vol. I. 105.</p> + +<p>Thus God had brought His servant by a way which he knew not to the very +place and sphere of his life's widest and most enduring work. He had +moulded and shaped His chosen vessel, and we are now to see to what +purposes of world-wide usefulness that earthen vessel was to be put, and +how conspicuously the excellency of the power was to be of God and not +of man.</p> + +<a name="8"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER VIII<br> + +A TREE OF GOD'S OWN PLANTING</h3></center> + +<p>THE time was now fully come when the divine Husbandman was to glorify +Himself by a product of His own husbandry in the soil of Bristol.</p> + +<p>On February 20, 1834, George Müller was led of God to sow the seed of +what ultimately developed into a great means of good, known as "The +Scriptural Knowledge Institution, for Home and Abroad." As in all other +steps of his life, this was the result of much prayer, meditation on the +Word, searching of his own heart, and patient waiting to know the mind +of God.</p> + +<p>A brief statement of the reasons for founding such an institution, and +the principles on which it was based, will be helpful at this point. +Motives of conscience controlled Mr. Müller and Mr. Craik in starting a +new work rather than in uniting with existing societies already +established for missionary purposes, Bible and tract distribution, and +for the promotion of Christian schools. As they had sought to conform +personal life and church conduct wholly to the scriptural pattern, they +felt that all work for God should be carefully carried on in exact +accordance with His known will, in order to have His fullest blessing. +Many features of the existing societies seemed to them extra-scriptural, +if not decidedly anti-scriptural, and these they felt constrained to +avoid.</p> + +<p>For example, they felt that the <i>end proposed</i> by such organizations, +namely, <i>the conversion of the world</i> in this dispensation, was not +justified by the Word, which everywhere represents this as the age of +the <i>outgathering of the church</i> from the world, and not the +<i>ingathering of the world</i> into the church. To set such an end before +themselves as the world's conversion would therefore not only be +unwarranted by Scripture, but delusive and disappointing, disheartening +God's servants by the failure to realize the result, and dishonoring to +God Himself by making Him to appear unfaithful.</p> + +<p>Again, these existing societies seemed to Mr. Müller and Mr. Craik to +sustain a <i>wrong relation to the world</i>—mixed up with it, instead of +separate from it. Any one by paying a certain fixed sum of money might +become a member or even a director, having a voice or vote in the +conduct of affairs and becoming eligible to office. Unscriptural means +were commonly used to <i>raise money,</i> such as appealing for aid to +unconverted persons, asking for donations simply for money's sake and +without regard to the character of the donors or the manner in which the +money was obtained. The custom of <i>seeking patronage</i> from men of the +world and asking such to preside at public meetings, and the habit of +<i>contracting debts,</i>—these and some other methods of management seemed +so unscriptural and unspiritual that the founders of this new +institution could not with a good conscience give them sanction. Hence +they hoped that by basing their work upon thoroughly biblical principles +they might secure many blessed results.</p> + +<p>First of all, they confidently believed that the work of the Lord could +be best and most successfully carried on within the landmarks and limits +set up in His word; that the fact of thus carrying it on would give +boldness in prayer and confidence in labour. But they also desired the +work itself to be a witness to the living God, and a testimony to +believers, by calling attention to the objectionable methods already in +use and encouraging all God's true servants in adhering to the +principles and practices which He has sanctioned.</p> + +<p>On March 5th at a public meeting a formal announcement of the intention +to found such an institution was accompanied by a full statement of its +purposes and principles,* in substance as follows:</p> + +<p>* Appendix D. Journal I. 107-113.</p> + +<p>1. Every believer's duty and privilege is to help on the cause and work +of Christ.</p> + +<p>2. The patronage of the world is not to be sought after, depended upon, +or countenanced.</p> + +<p>3. Pecuniary aid, or help in managing or carrying on its affairs, is not +to be asked for or sought from those who are not believers.</p> + +<p>4. Debts are not to be contracted or allowed for any cause in the work +of the Lord.</p> + +<p>5. The standard of success is not to be a numerical or financial +standard.</p> + +<p>6. All compromise of the truth or any measures that impair testimony to +God are to be avoided.</p> + +<p>Thus the word of God was accepted as counsellor, and all dependence was +on God's blessing in answer to prayer.</p> + +<p>The <i>objects</i> of the institution were likewise announced as follows:</p> + +<p>1. To establish or aid day-schools, Sunday-schools, and adult-schools, +taught and conducted only by believers and on thoroughly scriptural +principles.</p> + +<p>2. To circulate the Holy Scriptures, wholly or in portions, over the +widest possible territory.</p> + +<p>3. To aid missionary efforts and assist labourers, in the Lord's +vineyard anywhere, who are working upon a biblical basis and looking +only to the Lord for support.</p> + +<p>To project such a work, on such a scale, and at such a time, was doubly +an act of faith; for not only was the work already in hand enough to tax +all available time and strength, but at this very time this record +appears in Mr. Müller's journal: <i>"We have only one shilling left."</i> +Surely no advance step would have been taken, had not the eyes been +turned, not on the empty purse, but on the full and exhaustless treasury +of a rich and bountiful Lord!</p> + +<p>It was plainly God's purpose that, out of such abundance of poverty, the +riches of His liberality should be manifested. It pleased Him, from whom +and by whom are all things, that the work should be begun when His +servants were poorest and weakest, that its growth to such giant +proportions might the more prove it to be a plant of His own right +hand's planting, and that His word might be fulfilled in its whole +history:</p> + +<p> "I the Lord do keep it: + I will water it every moment: + Lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day:" + (Isa. xxvii. 3.)</p> + +<p>Whatever may be thought as to the need of such a new organization, or as +to such scruples as moved its founders to insist even in minor matters +upon the closest adherence to scripture teaching, this at least is +plain, that for more than half a century it has stood upon its original +foundation, and its increase and usefulness have surpassed the most +enthusiastic dreams of its founders; nor have the principles first +avowed ever been abandoned. With the Living God as its sole patron, and +prayer as its only appeal, it has attained vast proportions, and its +world-wide work has been signally owned and blessed.</p> + +<p>On March 19th Mrs. Müller gave birth to a son, to the great joy of his +parents; and, after much prayer, they gave him the name Elijah—"My God +is Jah"—the name itself being one of George Müllers life-mottoes. Up to +this time the families of Mr. Müller and Mr. Craik had dwelt under one +roof, but henceforth it was thought wise that they should have separate +lodgings.</p> + +<p>When, at the close of 1834, the usual backward glance was cast over the +Lord's leadings and dealings, Mr. Müller gratefully recognized the +divine goodness which had thus helped him to start upon its career the +work with its several departments. Looking to the Lord alone for light +and help, he had laid the corner-stone of this "little institution"; and +in October, after only seven months' existence, it had already begun to +be established. In the Sunday-school there were one hundred and twenty +children; in the adult classes, forty; in the four day-schools, two +hundred and nine boys and girls; four hundred and eighty-two Bibles and +five hundred and twenty Testaments had been put into circulation, and +fifty-seven pounds had been spent in aid of missionary operations. +During these seven months the Lord had sent, in answer to prayer, over +one hundred and sixty-seven pounds in money, and much blessing upon the +work itself. The brothers and sisters who were in charge had likewise +been given by the same prayer-hearing God, in direct response to the cry +of need and the supplication of faith.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile another <i>object</i> was coming into greater prominence before the +mind and heart of Mr. Müller: it was the thought of <i>making some +permanent provision for fatherless and motherless children.</i></p> + +<p>An orphan boy who had been in the school had been taken to the +poorhouse, no longer able to attend on account of extreme poverty; and +this little incident set Mr. Müller thinking and praying about orphans. +Could not something be done to meet the temporal and spiritual wants of +this class of very poor children? Unconsciously to himself, God had set +a seed in his soul, and was watching and watering it. The idea of a +definite orphan work had taken root within him, and, like any other +living germ, it was springing up and growing, he knew not how. As yet it +was only in the blade, but in time there would come the ear and the +full-grown corn in the ear, the new seed of a larger harvest.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the church was growing. In these two and a half years over two +hundred had been added, making the total membership two hundred and +fifty-seven; but the enlargement of the work generally neither caused +the church life to be neglected nor any one department of duty to suffer +declension—a very noticeable fact in this history.</p> + +<p>The point to which we have now come is one of double interest and +importance, as at once a point of arrival and of departure. The work of +God's chosen servant may be considered as fairly if not fully +inaugurated <i>in all its main forms of service.</i> He himself is in his +thirtieth year, the age when his divine Master began to be fully +manifest to the world and to go about doing good. Through the +preparatory steps and stages leading up to his complete mission and +ministry to the church and the world, Christ's humble disciple has +likewise been brought, and his fuller career of usefulness now begins, +with the various agencies in operation whereby for more than threescore +years he was to show both proof and example of what God can do through +one man who is willing to be simply the instrument for Him to work with. +Nothing is more marked in George Müller, to the very day of his death, +than this, that he so looked to God and leaned on God that he felt +himself to be nothing, and God everything. He sought to be always and in +all things surrendered as a passive tool to the will and hand of the +Master Workman.</p> + +<p>This point of arrival and of departure is also a point of <i>prospect.</i> +Here, halting and looking backward, we may take in at a glance the +various successive steps and stages of preparation whereby the Lord had +made His servant ready for the sphere of service to which He called, and +for which He fitted him. One has only, from this height, to look over +the ten years that were past, to see beyond dispute or doubt the divine +design that lay back of George Müllers life, and to feel an awe of the +God who thus chooses and shapes, and then uses, His vessels of service.</p> + +<p>It will be well, even if it involves some repetition, to pass in review +the more important steps in the process by which the divine Potter had +shaped His vessel for His purpose, educating and preparing George Müller +for His work.</p> + +<p>1. First of all, his <i>conversion.</i> In the most unforeseen manner and at +the most unexpected time God led him to turn from the error of his way, +and brought him to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.</p> + +<p>2. Next, his <i>missionary spirit.</i> That consuming flame was kindled +within him which, when it is fanned by the Spirit and fed by the fuel of +facts, inclines to unselfish service and makes one willing to go +wherever, and to do whatever, the Lord will.</p> + +<p>3. Next, his <i>renunciation of self.</i> In more than one instance he was +enabled to give up for Christ's sake an earthly attachment that was +idolatrous, because it was a hindrance to his full obedience and +single-eyed loyalty to his heavenly Master.</p> + +<p>4. Then his <i>taking counsel of God.</i> Early in his Christian life he +formed the habit, in things great and small, of ascertaining the will of +the Lord before taking action, asking guidance in every matter, through +the Word and the Spirit.</p> + +<p>5. His humble and <i>childlike temper.</i> The Father drew His child to +Himself, imparting to him the simple mind that asks believingly and +trusts confidently, and the filial spirit that submits to fatherly +counsel and guidance.</p> + +<p>6. His <i>method of preaching.</i> Under this same divine tuition he early +learned how to preach the Word, in simple dependence on the Spirit of +God, studying the Scriptures in the original and expounding them without +wisdom of words.</p> + +<p>7. His <i>cutting loose from man.</i> Step by step, all dependence on man or +appeals to man for pecuniary support were abandoned, together with all +borrowing, running into debt, stated salary, etc. His eyes were turned +to God alone as the Provider.</p> + +<p>8. His <i>satisfaction in the Word.</i> As knowledge of the Scriptures grew, +love for the divine oracles increased, until all other books, even of a +religious sort, lost their charms in comparison with God's own +text-book, as explained and illumined by the divine Interpreter.</p> + +<p>9. His <i>thorough Bible study.</i> Few young men have ever been led to such +a systematic search into the treasures of God's truth. He read the Book +of God through and through, fixing its teachings on his mind by +meditation and translating them into practice.</p> + +<p>10. His <i>freedom from human control.</i> He felt the need of independence +of man in order to complete dependence on God, and boldly broke all +fetters that hindered his liberty in preaching, in teaching, or in +following the heavenly Guide and serving the heavenly Master.</p> + +<p>11. His <i>use of opportunity.</i> He felt the value of souls, and he formed +habits of approaching others as to matters of salvation, even in public +conveyances. By a word of witness, a tract, a humble example, he sought +constantly to lead some one to Christ.</p> + +<p>12. His <i>release from civil obligations.</i> This was purely providential. +In a strange way God set him free from all liability to military +service, and left him free to pursue his heavenly calling as His +soldier, without entanglement in the affairs of this life.</p> + +<p>13. His <i>companions in service.</i> Two most efficient coworkers were +divinely provided: first his brother Craik so like-minded with himself, +and secondly, his wife, so peculiarly God's gift, both of them proving +great aids in working and in bearing burdens of responsibility.</p> + +<p>14. His <i>view of the Lord's coming.</i> He thanked God for unveiling to him +that great truth, considered by him as second to no other in its +influence upon his piety and usefulness; and in the light of it he saw +clearly the purpose of this gospel age, to be not to convert the world +but to call out from it a believing church as Christ's bride.</p> + +<p>15. His <i>waiting on God for a message.</i> For every new occasion he asked +of Him a word in season; then a mode of treatment, and unction in +delivery; and, in godly simplicity and sincerity, with the demonstration +of the Spirit, he aimed to reach the hearers.</p> + +<p>16. His submission to the <i>authority of the Word.</i> In the light of the +holy oracles he reviewed all customs, however ancient, and all +traditions of men, however popular, submitted all opinions and practices +to the test of Scripture, and then, regardless of consequences, walked +according to any new light God gave him.</p> + +<p>17. His <i>pattern of church life.</i> From his first entrance upon pastoral +work, he sought to lead others only by himself following the Shepherd +and Bishop of Souls. He urged the assembly of believers to conform in +all things to New Testament models so far as they could be clearly found +in the Word, and thus reform all existing abuses.</p> + +<p>18. His <i>stress upon voluntary offerings.</i> While he courageously gave up +all fixed salary for himself, he taught that all the work of God should +be maintained by the freewill gifts of believers, and that pew-rents +promote invidious distinctions among saints.</p> + +<p>19. His <i>surrender of all earthly possessions.</i> Both himself and his +wife literally sold all they had and gave alms, henceforth to live by +the day, hoarding no money even against a time of future need, sickness, +old age, or any other possible crisis of want.</p> + +<p>20. His habit of <i>secret prayer.</i> He learned so to prize closet +communion with God that he came to regard it as his highest duty and +privilege. To him nothing could compensate for the lack or loss of that +fellowship with God and meditation on His word which are the support of +all spiritual life.</p> + +<p>21. His <i>jealousy of his testimony.</i> In taking oversight of a +congregation he took care to guard himself from all possible +interference with fulness and freedom of utterance and of service. He +could not brook any restraints upon his speech or action that might +compromise his allegiance to the Lord or his fidelity to man.</p> + +<p>22. His <i>organizing of work.</i> God led him to project a plan embracing +several departments of holy activity, such as the spreading of the +knowledge of the word of God everywhere, and the encouraging of +world-wide evangelization and the Christian education of the young; and +to guard the new Institution from all dependence on worldly patronage, +methods, or appeals.</p> + +<p>23. His <i>sympathy with orphans.</i> His loving heart had been drawn out +toward poverty and misery everywhere, but especially in the case of +destitute children bereft of both parents; and familiarity with +Francke's work at Halle suggested similar work at Bristol.</p> + +<p>24. Beside all these steps of preparation, he had been guided by the +Lord from his birthplace in Prussia to London, Teignmouth, and Bristol +in Britain, and thus the chosen vessel, shaped for its great use, had by +the same divine Hand been borne to the very place where it was to be of +such signal service in testimony to the Living God.</p> + +<p>Surely no candid observer can survey this course of divine discipline +and preparation, and remember how brief was the period of time it +covers, being less than ten years, and mark the many distinct steps by +which this education for a life of service was made singularly complete, +without a feeling of wonder and awe. Every prominent feature, afterward +to appear conspicuous in the career of this servant of God, was +anticipated in the training whereby he was fitted for his work and +introduced to it. We have had a vivid vision of the divine Potter +sitting at His wheel, taking the clay in His hands, softening its +hardness, subduing it to His own will; then gradually and skilfully +shaping from it the earthen vessel; then baking it in His oven of +discipline till it attained the requisite solidity and firmness, then +filling it with the rich treasures of His word and Spirit, and finally +setting it down where He would have it serve His special uses in +conveying to others the excellency of His power!</p> + +<p>To lose sight of this sovereign shaping Hand is to miss one of the main +lessons God means to teach us by George Müller's whole career. He +himself saw and felt that he was only an earthen vessel; that God had +both chosen and filled him for the work he was to do; and, while this +conviction made him happy in his work, it made him humble, and the older +he grew the humbler he became. He felt more and more his own utter +insufficiency. It grieved him that human eyes should ever turn away from +the Master to the servant, and he perpetually sought to avert their gaze +from himself to God alone. "For of Him, and through Him, and to Him are +all things—to Whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen."</p> + +<p>There are several important episodes in Mr. Müller's history which may +be lightly passed by, because not so characteristic of him as that they +might not have been common to many others, and therefore not +constituting features so distinguishing this life from others as to make +it a special lesson to believers.</p> + +<p>For example, early in 1835 he made a visit to Germany upon a particular +errand. He went to aid Mr. Groves, who had come from the East Indies to +get missionary recruits, and who asked help of him, as of one knowing +the language of the country, in setting the claims of India before +German brethren, and pleading for its unsaved millions.</p> + +<p>When Mr. Müller went to the alien office in London to get a passport, he +found that, through ignorance, he had broken the law which required +every alien semi-annually to renew his certificate of residence, under +penalty of fifty pounds fine or imprisonment. He confessed to the +officer his non-compliance, excusing himself only on the ground of +ignorance, and trusted all consequences with God, who graciously +inclined the officer to pass over his non-compliance with the law. +Another hindrance which still interfered with obtaining his passport, +was also removed in answer to prayer; so that at the outset he was much +impressed with the Lord's sanction of his undertaking.</p> + +<p>His sojourn abroad continued for nearly two months, during which time he +was at Paris, Strasburg, Basle, Tubingen, Wurtemberg, Sehaffhausen, +Stuttgart, Halle, Sandersleben, Aschersleben, Heimersleben, Halberstadt, +and Hamburg. At Halle, calling on Dr. Tholuck after seven years of +separation, he was warmly welcomed and constrained to lodge at his +house. From Dr. Tholuck he heard many delightful incidents as to former +fellow students who had been turned to the Lord from impious paths, or +had been strengthened in their Christian faith and devotion. He also +visited Francke's orphan houses, spending an evening in the very room +where God's work of grace had begun in his heart, and meeting again +several of the same little company of believers that in those days had +prayed together.</p> + +<p>He likewise gave everywhere faithful witness to the Lord. While at his +father's house the way was opened for him to bear testimony indirectly +to his father and brother. He had found that a direct approach to his +father upon the subject of his soul's salvation only aroused his anger, +and he therefore judged that it was wiser to refrain from a course which +would only repel one whom he desired to win. An unconverted friend of +his father was visiting him at this time, before whom he put the truth +very frankly and fully, in the presence of both his father and brother, +and thus quite as effectively gave witness to them also. But he was +especially moved to pray that he might by his whole life bear witness at +his home, manifesting his love for his kindred and his own joy in God, +his satisfaction in Christ, and his utter indifference to all former +fascinations of a worldly and sinful life, through the supreme +attraction he found in Him; for this, he felt sure, would have far more +influence than any mere words: our walk counts for more than our talk, +always.</p> + +<p>The effect was most happy. God so helped the son to live before the +father that, just before his leaving for England, he said to him: "My +son, may God help me to follow your example, and to act according to +what you have said to me!"</p> + +<p>On June 22, 1835, Mr. Müller's father-in-law, Mr. Groves, died; and both +of his own children were very ill, and four days later little Elijah was +taken. Both parents had been singularly prepared for these bereavements, +and were divinely upheld. They had felt no liberty in prayer for the +child's recovery, dear as he was; and grandfather and grandson were laid +in one grave. Henceforth Mr. and Mrs. Müller were to have no son, and +Lydia was to remain their one and only child.</p> + +<p>About the middle of the following month, Mr. Müller was quite disabled +from work by weakness of the chest, which made necessary rest and +change. The Lord tenderly provided for his need through those whose +hearts He touched, leading them to offer him and his wife hospitalities +in the Isle of Wight, while at the same time money was sent him which +was designated for 'a change of air.' On his thirtieth birthday, in +connection with specially refreshing communion with God, and for the +first time since his illness, there was given him a spirit of believing +prayer for his own recovery; and his strength so rapidly grew that by +the middle of October he was back in Bristol.</p> + +<p>It was just before this, on the ninth of the same month, that <i>the +reading of John Newton's Life stirred him up to bear a similar witness +to the Lord's dealings with himself.</i> Truly there are no little things +in our life, since what seems to be trivial may be the means of bringing +about results of great consequence. This is the second time that a +chance reading of a book had proved a turning-point with George Müller. +Franke's life stirred his heart to begin an orphan work, and Newton's +life suggested the narrative of the Lord's dealings. To what is called +an accident are owing, under God, those pages of his life-journal which +read like new chapters in the Acts of the Apostles, and will yet be so +widely read, and so largely used of God.</p> + +<center><img src="images/gmullerfirst.jpg" +alt="First Orphan Houses"></center> +<a name="9"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER IX<br> + +THE GROWTH OF GOD'S OWN PLANT</h3></center> + +<p>THE last great step of full entrance upon Mr. Müller's life-service was +the <i>founding of the orphan work,</i> a step so important and so prominent +that even the lesser particulars leading to it have a strange +significance and fascination.</p> + +<p>In the year 1835, on November 20th, in taking tea at the house of a +Christian sister, he again saw a copy of Francke's life. For no little +time he had thought of like labours, though on no such scale, nor in +mere imitation of Francke, but under a sense of similar divine leading. +This impression had grown into a conviction, and the conviction had +blossomed into a resolution which now rapidly ripened into corresponding +action. He was emboldened to take this forward step in sole reliance on +God, by the fact that at that very time, in answer to prayer, ten pounds +more had been sent him than he had asked for other existing work, as +though God gave him a token of both willingness and readiness to supply +all needs.</p> + +<p>Nothing is more worthy of imitation, perhaps, than the uniformly +deliberate, self-searching, and prayerful way in which he set about any +work which he felt led to undertake. It was preeminently so in +attempting this new form of service, the future growth of which was not +then even in his thought. In daily prayer he sought as in his Master's +presence to sift from the pure grain of a godly purpose to glorify Him, +all the chaff of selfish and carnal motives, to get rid of every taint +of worldly self-seeking or lust of applause, and to bring every thought +into captivity to the Lord. He constantly probed his own heart to +discover the secret and subtle impulses which are unworthy of a true +servant of God; and, believing that a spiritually minded brother often +helps one to an insight into his own heart, he spoke often to his +brother Craik about his plans, praying God to use him as a means of +exposing any unworthy motive, or of suggesting any scriptural objections +to his project. His honest aim being to please God, he yearned to know +his own heart, and welcomed any light which revealed his real self and +prevented a mistake.</p> + +<p>Mr. Craik so decidedly encouraged him, and further prayer so confirmed +previous impressions of God's guidance, that on December 2, 1835, the +<i>first formal step was taken</i> in ordering printed bills announcing a +public meeting for the week following, when the proposal to open an +orphan house was to be laid before brethren, and further light to be +sought unitedly as to the mind of the Lord.</p> + +<p>Three days later, in reading the Psalms, he was struck with these nine +words: + "OPEN THY MOUTH WIDE, + AND I WILL FILL IT." (Psalm lxxxi. 10.)</p> + +<p>From that moment this text formed one of his great life-mottoes, and +this promise became a power in moulding all his work. Hitherto he had +not prayed for the supply of money or of helpers, but he was now led to +apply this scripture confidently to this new plan, and at once boldly to +ask <i>for premises, and for one thousand pounds in money, and for +suitable helpers to take charge of the children.</i> Two days after, he +received, in furtherance of his work, the <i>first gift of money—one +shilling</i>—and within two days more the <i>first donation in furniture</i>—a +large wardrobe.</p> + +<p>The day came for the memorable public meeting—December 9th. During the +interval Satan had been busy hurling at Mr. Müller his fiery darts, and +he was very low in spirit. He was taking a step not to be retraced +without both much humiliation to himself and reproach to his Master: and +what if it were a <i>misstep</i> and he were moving without real guidance +from above! But as soon as he began to speak, help was given him. He was +borne up on the Everlasting Arms, and had the assurance that the work +was of the Lord. He cautiously avoided all appeals to the transient +feelings of his hearers, and took no collection, desiring all these +first steps to be calmly taken, and every matter carefully and +prayerfully weighed before a decision. Excitement of emotion or +kindlings of enthusiasm might obscure the vision and hinder clear +apprehension of the mind of God. After the meeting there was a voluntary +gift of ten shillings, and one sister offered herself for the work. The +next morning a statement concerning the new orphan work was put in +print, and on January 16, 1836, a supplementary statement appeared.*</p> + +<p>* Appendix E. Narrative 1:143-146, 148-152, 154, 155.</p> + +<p>At every critical point Mr. Müller is entitled to explain his own views +and actions; and the work he was now undertaking is so vitally linked +with his whole after-life that it should here have full mention. As to +his proposed orphan house he gives three chief reasons for its +establishment:</p> + +<p>1. That God may be glorified in so furnishing the means as to show that +it is not a vain thing to trust in Him.</p> + +<p>2. That the spiritual welfare of fatherless and motherless children may +be promoted.</p> + +<p>3. That their temporal good may be secured.</p> + +<p>He had frequent reminders in his pastoral labours that the <i>faith of +God's children greatly needed strengthening;</i> and he longed to have some +visible proof to point to, that the heavenly Father is the same faithful +Promiser and Provider as ever, and as willing to PROVE Himself the +LIVING GOD to <i>all who put their trust in Him,</i> and that even in their +old age He does not forsake those who rely only upon Him. Remembering +the great blessing that had come to himself through the work of faith of +Francke, he judged that he was bound to serve the Church of Christ <i>in +being able to take God at His word and rely upon it.</i></p> + +<p>If he, a poor man, <i>without asking any one but God,</i> could get means to +carry on an orphan house, it would be seen that God is FAITHFUL STILL +and STILL HEARS PRAYER. While the orphan work was to be a branch of the +Scriptural Knowledge Institution, only those funds were to be applied +thereto which should be expressly given for that purpose; and it would +be carried on only so far and so fast as the Lord should provide both +money and helpers.</p> + +<p>It was proposed to receive only such children as had been bereft of both +parents, and to take in such from their seventh to their twelfth year, +though later on younger orphans were admitted; and to bring up the boys +for a trade, and the girls for service, and to give them all a plain +education likely to fit them for their life-work.</p> + +<p>So soon as the enterprise was fairly launched, the Lord's power and will +to provide began at once and increasingly to appear; and, from this +point on, the journal is one long record of man's faith and supplication +and of God's faithfulness and interposition. It only remains to note the +new steps in advance which mark the growth of the work, and the new +straits which arise and how they are met, together with such questions +and perplexing crises as from time to time demand and receive a new +divine solution.</p> + +<p>A foremost need was that of able and suitable helpers, which only God +could supply. In order fully to carry out his plans, Mr. Müller felt +that he must have men and women like-minded, who would naturally care +for the state of the orphans and of the work. If one Achan could disturb +the whole camp of Israel, and one Ananias or Saphira, the whole church +of Christ, one faithless, prayerless, self-seeking assistant would prove +not a helper but a hinderer both to the work itself and to all +fellow-workers. No step was therefore hastily taken. He had patiently +waited on God hitherto, and he now waited to receive at His hands His +own chosen servants to join in this service and give to it unity of plan +and spirit.</p> + +<p>Before he called, the Lord answered. As early as December 10th a brother +and sister had willingly offered themselves, and the spirit that moved +them will appear in the language of their letter:</p> + +<p>"We propose ourselves for the service of the intended orphan house, if +you think us qualified for it; also to give up all the furniture, etc., +which the Lord has given us, for its use; and to do this without +receiving any salary whatever; believing that, if it be the will of the +Lord to employ us, He will supply all our need."</p> + +<p>Other similar self-giving followed, proving that God's people are +willing in the day of His power. He who wrought in His servant to will +and to work, sent helpers to share his burdens, and to this day has met +all similar needs out of His riches in glory. There has never yet been +any lack of competent, cheerful, and devoted helpers, although the work +so rapidly expanded and extended.</p> + +<p>The gifts whereby the work was supported need a separate review that +many lessons of interest may find a record. But it should here be noted +that, among the first givers, was a poor needlewoman who brought the +surprising sum of one hundred pounds, the singular self-denial and +whole-hearted giving exhibited making this a peculiarly sacred offering +and a token of God's favour. There was a felt significance in His choice +of a poor sickly seamstress as His instrument for laying the foundations +for this great work. He who worketh all things after the counsel of His +own will, passing by the rich, mighty, and noble somethings of this +world, chose again the poor, weak, base, despised nothings, that no +flesh should glory in His presence.</p> + +<p>For work among orphans a house was needful, and for this definite prayer +was offered; and April 1, 1836, was fixed as the date for opening such +house for female orphans, as the most helplessly destitute. The +building, No. 6 Wilson Street, where Mr. Müller had himself lived up to +March 25th, having been rented for one year, was formally opened April +21st, the day being set apart for prayer and praise. The public +generally were informed that the way was open to receive needy +applicants, and the intimation was further made on May 18th that it was +intended shortly to open a second house for infant children—both boys +and girls.</p> + +<p>We now retrace our steps a little to take special notice of a fact in +Mr. Müller's experience which, in point of time, belongs earlier.</p> + +<p>Though he had brought before the Lord even the most minute details about +his plans for the proposed orphan work and house and helpers, asking in +faith for building and furnishing, money for rent and other expenses, +etc., he confesses that he had never once asked the Lord to send the +orphans! This seems an unaccountable omission; but the fact is he had +assumed that there would be applications in abundance. His surprise and +chagrin cannot easily be imagined, when the appointed time came for +receiving applications, February 3rd, and <i>not one application was +made!</i> Everything was ready <i>except the orphans.</i> This led to the +deepest humiliation before God. All the evening of that day he literally +lay on his face, probing his own heart to read his own motives, and +praying God to search him and show him His mind. He was thus brought so +low that from his heart he could say that, if God would thereby be more +glorified, he would rejoice in the fact that his whole scheme should +come to nothing. The very <i>next day</i> the first application was made for +admission; on April 11th orphans began to be admitted; and by May 18th +there were in the house twenty-six, and more daily expected. Several +applications being made for children <i>under seven,</i> the conclusion was +reached that, while vacancies were left, the limit of years at first +fixed should not be adhered to; but every new step was taken with care +and prayer, that it should not be in the energy of the flesh, or in the +wisdom of man, but in the power and wisdom of the Spirit. How often we +forget that solemn warning of the Holy Ghost, that even when our whole +work is not imperilled by a false beginning, but is well laid upon a +true foundation, we may carelessly build into it wood, hay, and stubble, +which will be burned up in the fiery ordeal that is to try every man's +work of what sort it is!</p> + +<p>The first house had scarcely been opened for girls when the way for the +second was made plain, suitable premises being obtained at No. 1 in the +same street, and a well-fitted matron being given in answer to prayer. +On November 28th, some seven months after the opening of the first, this +second house was opened. Some of the older and abler girls from the +first house were used for the domestic work of the second, partly to +save hired help, and partly to accustom them to working for others and +thus give a proper dignity to what is sometimes despised as a degrading +and menial form of service. By April 8, 1837, there were in each house +thirty orphan children.</p> + +<p>The founder of this orphan work, who had at the first asked for one +thousand pounds of God, tells us that, in his own mind, the thing was +<i>as good as done,</i> so that he often gave thanks for this large sum as +though already in hand. (Mark xi. 24; 1 John v. 13, 14.) This habit of +counting a promise as fulfilled had much to do with the triumphs of his +faith and the success of his labour. Now that the first part of his +Narrative of the Lord's Dealings was about to issue from the press, he +felt that it would much honour the Master whom he served <i>if the entire +amount should be actually in hand before the Narrative should appear, +and without any one having been asked to contribute.</i> He therefore gave +himself anew to prayer; and on June 15th the whole sum was complete, no +appeal having been made but to the Living God, before whom, as he +records with his usual mathematical precision, he had daily brought his +petition for <i>eighteen months and ten days.</i></p> + +<p>In closing this portion of his narrative he hints at a proposed further +enlargement of the work in a third house for orphan boys above seven +years, with accommodations for about forty. Difficulties interposed, but +as usual disappeared before the power of prayer. Meanwhile the whole +work of the Scriptural Knowledge Institution prospered, four day-schools +having been established, with over one thousand pupils, and more than +four thousand copies of the word of God having been distributed.</p> + +<p>George Müller was careful always to consult and then to obey conviction. +Hence his moral sense, by healthy exercise, more and more clearly +discerned good and evil. This conscientiousness was seen in the issue of +the first edition of his Narrative. When the first five hundred copies +came from the publishers, he was so weighed down by misgivings that he +hesitated to distribute them. Notwithstanding the spirit of prayer with +which he had begun, continued, and ended the writing of it and had made +every correction in the proof; notwithstanding the motive, consciously +cherished throughout, that God's glory might be promoted in this record +of His faithfulness, he reopened with himself the whole question whether +this published Narrative might not turn the eyes of men from the great +Master Workman to His human instrument. As he opened the box containing +the reports, he felt strongly tempted to withhold from circulation the +pamphlets it held; but from the moment when he gave out the first copy, +and the step could not be retraced, his scruples were silenced.</p> + +<p>He afterward saw his doubts and misgivings to have been a temptation of +Satan, and never thenceforth questioned that in writing, printing, and +distributing this and the subsequent parts of the Narrative he had done +the will of God. So broad and clear was the divine seal set upon it in +the large blessing it brought to many and widely scattered persons that +no room was left for doubt. It may be questioned whether any like +journal has been as widely read and as remarkably used, both in +converting sinners and in quickening saints. Proofs of this will +hereafter abundantly appear.</p> + +<p>It was in the year 1837 that Mr. Müller, then in his thirty-second year, +felt with increasingly deep conviction that to his own growth in grace, +godliness, and power for service <i>two things</i> were quite indispensable: +first, more <i>retirement for secret communion with God,</i> even at the +apparent expense of his public work; and second, ampler provision for +the <i>spiritual oversight of the flock of God,</i> the total number of +communicants now being near to four hundred.</p> + +<p>The former of these convictions has an emphasis which touches every +believer's life at its vital centre. George Müller was conscious of +being too busy to pray as he ought. His outward action was too constant +for inward reflection, and he saw that there was risk of losing peace +and power, and that activity even in the most sacred sphere must not be +so absorbing as to prevent holy meditation on the Word and fervent +supplication. The Lord said first to Elijah, "Go, HIDE THYSELF"; then, +"Go, SHOW THYSELF." He who does not first hide himself in the secret +place to be alone with God, is unfit to show himself in the public place +to move among men. Mr. Müller afterward used to say to brethren who had +"too much to do" to spend proper time with God, that four hours of work +for which one hour of prayer prepares, is better than five hours of work +with the praying left out; that our service to our Master is more +acceptable and our mission to man more profitable, when saturated with +the moisture of God's blessing—the dew of the Spirit. Whatever is +gained in quantity is lost in quality whenever one engagement follows +another without leaving proper intervals for refreshment and renewal of +strength by waiting on God. No man, perhaps, since John Wesley has +accomplished so much even in a long life as George Müller; yet few have +ever withdrawn so often or so long into the pavilion of prayer. In fact, +from one point of view his life seems more given to supplication and +intercession than to mere action or occupation among men.</p> + +<p>At the same time he felt that the curacy of souls must not be neglected +by reason of his absorption in either work or prayer. Both believers and +inquirers needed pastoral oversight; neither himself nor his brother +Craik had time enough for visiting so large a flock, many of whom were +scattered over the city; and about fifty new members were added every +year who had special need of teaching and care. Again, as there were two +separate congregations, the number of meetings was almost doubled; and +the interruptions of visitors from near and far, the burdens of +correspondence, and the oversight of the Lord's work generally, consumed +so much time that even with two pastors the needs of the church could +not be met. At a meeting of both congregations in October, these matters +were frankly brought before the believers, and it was made plain that +other helpers should be provided, and the two churches so united as to +lessen the number of separate meetings.</p> + +<p>In October, 1837, a building was secured for a third orphan house, for +boys; but as the neighbours strongly opposed its use as a charitable +institution, Mr Müller, with meekness of spirit, at once relinquished +all claim upon the premises, being mindful of the maxim of Scripture: +"As much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men." (Rom. xiii. 18.) +He felt sure that the Lord would provide, and his faith was rewarded in +the speedy supply of a building in the same street where the other two +houses were.</p> + +<p>Infirmity of the flesh again tried the faith and patience of Mr. Müller. +For eight weeks he was kept out of the pulpit. The strange weakness in +the head, from which he had suffered before and which at times seemed to +threaten his reason, forced him to rest; and in November he went to Bath +and Weston-super-Mare, leaving to higher Hands the work to which he was +unequal.</p> + +<p>One thing he noticed and recorded: that, even during this head trouble, +prayer and Bible-reading could be borne better than anything else. He +concluded that whenever undue carefulness is expended on the body, it is +very hard to avoid undue carelessness as to the soul; and that it is +therefore much safer comparatively to disregard the body, that one may +give himself wholly to the culture of his spiritual health and the care +of the Lord's work. Though some may think that in this he ran to a +fanatical extreme, there is no doubt that such became more and more a +law of his life. He sought to dismiss all anxiety, as a duty; and, among +other anxious cares, that most subtle and seductive form of solicitude +which watches every change of symptoms and rushes after some new medical +man or medical remedy for all ailments real or fancied.</p> + +<p>Mr. Müller was never actually reckless of his bodily health. His habits +were temperate and wholesome, but no man could be so completely wrapped +up in his Master's will and work without being correspondingly forgetful +of his physical frame. There are not a few, even among God's saints, +whose bodily weaknesses and distresses so engross them that their sole +business seems to be to nurse the body, keep it alive and promote its +comfort. As Dr. Watts would have said, this is living "at a poor dying +rate."</p> + +<p>When the year 1838 opened, the weakness and distress in the head still +afflicted Mr. Müller. The symptoms were as bad as ever, and it +particularly tried him that they were attended by a tendency to +irritability of temper, and even by a sort of satanic feeling wholly +foreign to him at other times. He was often reminded that he was by +nature a child of wrath even as others, and that, as a child of God, he +could stand against the wiles of the devil only by putting on the whole +armour of God. The pavilion of God is the saint's place of rest; the +panoply of God is his coat of mail. Grace does not at once remove or +overcome all tendencies to evil, but, if not <i>eradicated,</i> they are +<i>counteracted</i> by the Spirit's wondrous working. Peter found that so +long as his eye was on His Master he could walk on the water. There is +always a tendency to sink, and a holy walk with God, that defies the +tendency downward, is a divine art that can neither be learned nor +practised except so long as we keep 'looking unto Jesus': that look of +faith counteracts the natural tendency to sink, so long as it holds the +soul closely to Him. This man of God felt his risk, and, sore as this +trial was to him, he prayed not so much for its removal as that he might +be kept from any open dishonour to the name of the Lord, beseeching God +that he might rather die than ever bring on Him reproach.</p> + +<p>Mr. Müller's journal is not only a record of his outer life of +consecrated labour and its expansion, but it is a mirror of his inner +life and its growth. It is an encouragement to all other saints to find +that this growth was, like their own, in spite of many and formidable +hindrances, over which only grace could triumph. Side by side with +glimpses of habitual conscientiousness and joy in God, we have +revelations of times of coldness and despondency. It is a wholesome +lesson in holy living that we find this man setting himself to the +deliberate task of <i>cultivating obedience and gratitude;</i> by the culture +of obedience growing in knowledge and strength, and by the culture of +gratitude growing in thankfulness and love. Weakness and coldness are +not hopeless states: they have their divine remedies which strengthen +and warm the whole being.</p> + +<p>Three entries, found side by side in his journal, furnish pertinent +illustration and most wholesome instruction on this point. One entry +records his deep thankfulness to God for the privilege of being +permitted to be His instrument in providing for homeless orphans, as he +watches the little girls, clad in clean warm garments, pass his window +on their way to the chapel on the Lord's day morning. A second entry +records his determination, with God's help, to send no more letters in +parcels because he sees it to be a violation of the postal laws of the +land, and because he desires, as a disciple of the Lord Jesus, to submit +himself to all human laws so far as such submission does not conflict +with loyalty to God. A third entry immediately follows which reveals +this same man struggling against those innate tendencies to evil which +compel a continual resort to the throne of grace with its sympathizing +High Priest. "This morning," he writes, "I greatly dishonoured the Lord +by irritability manifested towards my dear wife; and that, almost +immediately after I had been on my knees before God, praising Him for +having given me such a wife."</p> + +<p>These three entries, put together, convey a lesson which is not learned +from either of them alone. Here is gratitude for divine mercy, +conscientious resolve at once to stop a doubtful practice, and a +confession of inconsistency in his home life. All of these are typical +experiences and suggest to us means of gracious growth. He who lets no +mercy of God escape thankful recognition, who never hesitates at once to +abandon an evil or questionable practice, and who, instead of +extenuating a sin because it is comparatively small, promptly confesses +and forsakes it,—such a man will surely grow in Christlikeness.</p> + +<p>We must exercise our spiritual senses if we are to discern things +spiritual. There is a clear vision for God's goodness, and there is a +dull eye that sees little to be thankful for; there is a tender +conscience, and there is a moral sense that grows less and less +sensitive to evil; there is an obedience to the Spirit's rebuke which +leads to immediate confession and increases strength for every new +conflict. Mr. Müller cultivated habits of life which made his whole +nature more and more open to divine impression, and so his sense of God +became more and more keen and constant.</p> + +<p>One great result of this spiritual culture was a growing absorption in +God and jealousy for His glory. As he saw divine things more clearly and +felt their supreme importance, he became engrossed in the magnifying of +them before men; and this is glorifying God. We cannot make God +essentially any more glorious, for He is infinitely perfect; but we can +help men to see what a glorious God He is, and thus come into that holy +partnership with the Spirit of God whose office it is to take of the +things of Christ and show them unto men, and so glorify Christ. Such +fellowship in glorifying God Mr. Müller set before him: and in the light +of such sanctified aspiration we may read that humble entry in which, +reviewing the year 1837 with all its weight of increasing +responsibility, he lifts his heart to his divine Lord and Master in +these simple words:</p> + +<p>"Lord, Thy servant is a poor man; but he has trusted in Thee and made +his boast in Thee before the sons of men; therefore let him not be +confounded! Let it not be said, 'All this is enthusiasm, and therefore +it is come to naught.'"</p> + +<p>One is reminded of Moses in his intercession for Israel, of Elijah in +his exceeding jealousy for the Lord of hosts, and of that prayer of +Jeremiah that so amazes us by its boldness:</p> + +<p> "Do not abhor us for Thy name's sake! + <i>Do not disgrace the throne of Thy glory!"</i>*</p> + +<p>* Comp. Numbers xiv. 13-19; 1 Kings xix. 10; Jer. xiv. 21.</p> + +<p>Looking back over the growth of the work at the end of the year 1837, he +puts on record the following facts and figures:</p> + +<p>Three orphan houses were now open with eighty-one children, and nine +helpers in charge of them. In the Sunday-schools there were three +hundred and twenty, and in the day-schools three hundred and fifty; and +the Lord had furnished over three hundred and seven pounds for temporal +supplies.</p> + +<p>From this same point of view it may be well to glance back over the five +years of labour in Bristol up to July, 1837. Between himself and his +brother Craik uninterrupted harmony had existed from the beginning. They +had been perfectly at one in their views of the truth, in their witness +to the truth, and in their judgment as to all matters affecting the +believers over whom the Holy Ghost had made them overseers. The children +of God had been kept from heresy and schism under their joint pastoral +care; and all these blessings Mr. Müller and his true yoke-fellow humbly +traced to the mercy and grace of the great Shepherd and Bishop of souls. +Thus far over one hundred and seventy had been converted and admitted to +fellowship, making the total number of communicants three hundred and +seventy, nearly equally divided between Bethesda and Gideon. The whole +history of these years is lit up with the sunlight of God's smile and +blessing.</p> + +<a name="10"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER X<br> + +THE WORD OF GOD AND PRAYER</h3></center> + +<p>HABIT both <i>shows</i> and <i>makes</i> the man, for it is at once historic and +prophetic, the mirror of the man as he is and the mould of the man as he +is to be. At this point, therefore, special attention may properly be +given to the two marked habits which had principally to do with the man +we are studying.</p> + +<p>Early in the year 1838, he began reading that third biography which, +with those of Francke and John Newton, had such a singular influence on +his own life—Philip's Life of George Whitefield. The life-story of the +orphan's friend had given the primary impulse to his work; the +life-story of the converted blasphemer had suggested his narrative of +the Lord's dealings; and now the life-story of the great evangelist was +blessed of God to shape his general character and give new power to his +preaching and his wider ministry to souls. These three biographies +together probably affected the whole inward and outward life of George +Müller more than any other volumes but the Book of God, and they were +wisely fitted of God to co-work toward such a blessed result. The +example of Francke incited to faith in prayer and to a work whose sole +dependence was on God. Newton's witness to grace led to a testimony to +the same sovereign love and mercy as seen in his own case. Whitefield's +experience inspired to greater fidelity and earnestness in preaching the +Word, and to greater confidence in the power of the anointing Spirit.</p> + +<p>Particularly was this impression deeply made on Mr. Müller's mind and +heart: that Whitefield's unparalleled success in evangelistic labours +was plainly traceable to two causes and could not be separated from them +as direct effects; namely, his <i>unusual prayerfulness, and his habit of +reading the Bible on his knees.</i></p> + +<p>The great evangelist of the last century had learned that first lesson +in service, his own utter nothingness and helplessness: that he was +nothing, and could do nothing, without God. He could neither understand +the Word for himself, nor translate it into his own life, nor apply it +to others with power, unless the Holy Spirit became to him both +<i>insight</i> and <i>unction.</i> Hence his success; he was filled with the +Spirit: and this alone accounts both for the quality and the quantity of +his labours. He died in 1770, in the fifty-sixth year of his age, having +preached his first sermon in Gloucester in 1736. During this thirty-four +years his labours had been both unceasing and untiring. While on his +journeyings in America, he preached one hundred and seventy-five times +in seventy-five days, besides travelling, in the slow vehicles of those +days, upwards of eight hundred miles. When health declined, and he was +put on 'short allowance,' even that was <i>one sermon each week-day and +three on Sunday.</i> There was about his preaching, moreover, a nameless +charm which held thirty thousand hearers half-breathless on Boston +Common and made tears pour down the sooty faces of the colliers at +Kingswood.</p> + +<p>The passion of George Müller's soul was to know fully the secrets of +prevailing with God and with man. George Whitefield's life drove home +the truth that God alone could create in him a holy earnestness to win +souls and qualify him for such divine work by imparting a compassion for +the lost that should become an absorbing passion for their salvation. +And—let this be carefully marked as another secret of this life of +service—<i>he now began himself to read the word of God upon his knees,</i> +and often found for hours great blessing in such meditation and prayer +over a single psalm or chapter.</p> + +<p>Here we stop and ask what profit there can be in thus prayerfully +reading and searching the Scriptures in the very attitude of prayer. +Having tried it for ourselves, we may add our humble witness to its +value.</p> + +<p>First of all, this habit is a constant reminder and recognition of the +need of spiritual teaching in order to the understanding of the holy +Oracles. No reader of God's word can thus bow before God and His open +book, without a feeling of new reverence for the Scriptures, and +dependence on their Author for insight into their mysteries. The +attitude of worship naturally suggests sober-mindedness and deep +seriousness, and banishes frivolity. To treat that Book with lightness +or irreverence would be doubly profane when one is in the posture of +prayer.</p> + +<p>Again, such a habit naturally leads to self-searching and comparison of +the actual life with the example and pattern shown in the Word. The +precept compels the practice to be seen in the light of its teaching; +the command challenges the conduct to appear for examination. The +prayer, whether spoken or unspoken, will inevitably be:</p> + +<p> "Search me, O God, and know my heart, + Try me, and know my thoughts; + And see if there be any wicked way in me, + And lead me in the way everlasting!" + (Psalm cxxxix. 23, 24.)</p> + +<p>The words thus reverently read will be translated into the life and +mould the character into the image of God. "Beholding as in a glass the +glory of the Lord, we are changed into the same image from glory to +glory, even as by the Lord the Spirit."*</p> + +<p>* 2 Cor. iii. 18.</p> + +<p>But perhaps the greatest advantage will be that the Holy Scriptures will +thus suggest the very words which become the dialect of prayer. "We know +not what we should pray for as we ought"—neither what nor how to pray. +But here is the Spirit's own inspired utterance, and, if the praying be +moulded on the model of His teaching, how can we go astray? Here is our +God-given liturgy and litany—a divine prayer-book. We have here God's +promises, precepts, warnings, and counsels, not to speak of all the +Spirit-inspired literal prayers therein contained; and, as we reflect +upon these, our prayers take their cast in this matrix. We turn precept +and promise, warning and counsel into supplication, with the assurance +that we cannot be asking anything that is not according to His will,* +for are we not turning His own word into prayer?</p> + +<p>* 1 John v. 13.</p> + +<p>So Mr. Müller found it to be. In meditating over Hebrews xiii. 8: "Jesus +Christ the same yesterday and to-day and for ever," translating it into +prayer, he besought God, with the confidence that the prayer was already +granted, that, as Jesus had already in His love and power supplied all +that was needful, in the same unchangeable love and power He would so +continue to provide. And so a promise was not only turned into a prayer, +but into a prophecy—an assurance of blessing—and a river of joy at +once poured into and flowed through his soul.</p> + +<p>The prayer habit, on the knees, with the Word open before the disciple, +has thus an advantage which it is difficult to put into words: It +provides a sacred channel of approach to God. The inspired Scriptures +form the vehicle of the Spirit in communicating to us the knowledge of +the will of God. If we think of God on the one side and man on the +other, the word of God is the mode of conveyance from God to man, of His +own mind and heart. It therefore becomes a channel of God's approach to +us, a channel prepared by the Spirit for the purpose, and unspeakably +sacred as such. When therefore the believer uses the word of God as the +guide to determine both the spirit and the dialect of his prayer, he is +inverting the process of divine revelation and using the channel of +God's approach to him as the channel of his approach to God. How can +such use of God's word fail to help and strengthen spiritual life? What +medium or channel of approach could so insure in the praying soul both +an acceptable frame and language taught of the Holy Spirit? If the first +thing is not to pray but to hearken, this surely is hearkening for God +to speak to us that we may know how to speak to Him.</p> + +<p>It was habits of life such as these, and not impulsive feelings and +transient frames, that made this man of God what he was and strengthened +him to lift up his hands in God's name, and follow hard after Him and in +Him rejoice.* Even his sore affliction, seen in the light of such +prayer—prayer itself illuminated by the word of God—became radiant; +and his soul was brought into that state where he so delighted in the +will of God as to be able from his heart to say that he would not have +his disease removed until through it God had wrought the blessing it was +meant to convey. And when his acquiescence in the will of God had become +thus complete he instinctively felt that he would speedily be restored +to health.</p> + +<p>* Psalm lxiii. 4, 8, 11.</p> + +<p>Subsequently, in reading Proverbs iii. 5-12, he was struck with the +words, "Neither be <i>weary</i> of His correction." He felt that, though he +had not been permitted to "despise the chastening of the Lord," he had +at times been somewhat "weary of His correction," and he lifted up the +prayer that he might so patiently bear it as neither to faint nor be +weary under it, till its full purpose was wrought.</p> + +<p>Frequent were the instances of the habit of translating promises into +prayers, immediately applying the truth thus unveiled to him. For +example, after prolonged meditation over the first verse of Psalm lxv, +<i>"O Thou that hearest prayer,"</i> he at once asked and recorded certain +definite petitions. This writing down specific requests for permanent +reference has a blessed influence upon the prayer habit. It assures +practical and exact form for our supplications, impresses the mind and +memory with what is thus asked of God, and leads naturally to the record +of the answers when given, so that we accumulate evidences in our own +experience that God is to us personally a prayer-hearing God, whereby +unbelief is rebuked and importunity encouraged.</p> + +<p>On this occasion eight specific requests are put on record, together +with the solemn conviction that, having asked in conformity with the +word and will of God, and in the name of Jesus, he has confidence in Him +that He heareth and that he has the petitions thus asked of Him.* He +writes:</p> + +<p>* 1 John v. 13.</p> + +<p>"I believe <i>He has heard me.</i> I believe He will make it <i>manifest</i> in +His own good time <i>that He has heard me;</i> and I have recorded these my +petitions this fourteenth day of January, 1838, that when God has +answered them He may get, through this, glory to His name."</p> + +<p>The thoughtful reader must see in all this a man of weak faith, feeding +and nourishing his trust in God that his faith may grow strong. He uses +the promise of a prayer-hearing God as a staff to stay his conscious +feebleness, that he may lean hard upon the strong Word which cannot +fail. He records the day when he thus takes this staff in hand, and the +very petitions which are the burdens which he seeks to lay on God, so +that his act of committal may be the more complete and final. Could God +ever dishonour such trust?</p> + +<p>It was in this devout reading on his knees that his whole soul was first +deeply moved by that phrase,</p> + +<p> "A FATHER OF THE FATHERLESS." (Psalm lxviii. 5.)</p> + +<p>He saw this to be one of those "names" of Jehovah which He reveals to +His people to lead them to trust in Him, as it is written in Psalm ix. +10:</p> + +<p> "They that know Thy name + Will put their trust in Thee."</p> + +<p>These five words from the sixty-eighth psalm became another of his +life-texts, one of the foundation stones of all his work for the +fatherless. These are his own words:</p> + +<p>"By the help of God, this shall be my argument before Him, respecting +the orphans, in the hour of need. He is their Father, and therefore has +pledged Himself, as it were, to provide for them; and I have only to +remind Him of the need of these poor children in order to have it +supplied."</p> + +<p>This is translating the promises of God's word, not only into praying, +but into living, doing, serving. Blessed was the hour when Mr. Müller +learned that one of God's chosen names is "the Father of the +fatherless"!</p> + +<p>To sustain such burdens would have been quite impossible but for faith +in such a God. In reply to oft-repeated remarks of visitors and +observers who could not understand the secret of his peace, or how any +man who had so many children to clothe and feed could carry such +prostrating loads of care, he had one uniform reply: "By the grace of +God, this is no cause of anxiety to me. These children I have years ago +cast upon the Lord. The whole work is His, and it becomes me to be +without carefulness. In whatever points I am lacking, in this point I am +able by the grace of God to roll the burden upon my heavenly Father."*</p> + +<p>* Journal 1:285</p> + +<p>In tens of thousands of cases this peculiar title of God, chosen by +Himself and by Himself declared, became to Mr. Müller a peculiar +revelation of God, suited to his special need. The natural inferences +drawn from such a title became powerful arguments in prayer, and rebukes +to all unbelief. Thus, at the outset of his work for the orphans, the +word of God put beneath his feet a rock basis of confidence that he +could trust the almighty Father to support the work. And, as the +solicitudes of the work came more and more heavily upon him, he cast the +loads he could not carry upon Him who, before George Müller was born, +was the Father of the fatherless.</p> + +<p>About this time we meet other signs of the conflict going on in Mr. +Müllers own soul. He could not shut his eyes to the lack of earnestness +in prayer and fervency of spirit which at times seemed to rob him of +both peace and power. And we notice his experience, in common with so +many saints, of the <i>paradox</i> of spiritual life. He saw that "such +fervency of spirit is altogether the gift of God," and yet he adds, "I +have to ascribe to myself the loss of it." He did not run divine +sovereignty into blank fatalism as so many do. He saw that God must be +sovereign in His gifts, and yet man must be free in his reception and +rejection of them. He admitted the mystery without attempting to +reconcile the apparent contradiction. He confesses also that the same +book, Philip's Life of Whitefield, which had been used of God to kindle +such new fires on the altar of his heart, had been also used of Satan to +tempt him to neglect for its sake the systematic study of the greatest +of books.</p> + +<p>Thus, at every step, George Müllers life is full of both encouragement +and admonition to fellow disciples. While away from Bristol he wrote in +February, 1838, a tender letter to the saints there, which is another +revelation of the man's heart. He makes grateful mention of the mercies +of God, to him, particularly His gentleness, long-suffering, and +faithfulness and the lessons taught him through affliction. The letter +makes plain that much sweetness is mixed in the cup of suffering, and +that our privileges are not properly prized until for a time we are +deprived of them. He particularly mentions how <i>secret prayer,</i> even +when reading, conversation, or prayer with others was a burden, <i>always +brought relief to his head.</i> Converse with the Father was an +indispensable source of refreshment and blessing at all times. As J. +Hudson Taylor says "Satan, the Hinderer, may build a barrier about us, +but he can never <i>roof us in,</i> so that we cannot <i>look up."</i> Mr. Müller +also gives a valuable hint that has already been of value to many +afflicted saints, that he found he could help by prayer to fight the +battles of the Lord even when he could not by preaching. After a short +visit to Germany, partly in quest of health and partly for missionary +objects, and after more than twenty-two weeks of retirement from +ordinary public duties, his head was much better, but his mental health +allowed only about three hours of daily work. While in Germany he had +again seen his father and elder brother, and spoken with them about +their salvation. To his father his words brought apparent blessing, for +he seemed at least to feel his lack of the one thing needful. The +separation from him was the more painful as there was so little hope +that they should meet again on earth.</p> + +<p>In May he once more took part in public services in Bristol, a period of +six months having elapsed since he had previously done so. His head was +still weak, but there seemed no loss of mental power.</p> + +<p>About three months after he had been in Germany part of the fruits of +his visit were gathered, for twelve brothers and three sisters sailed +for the East Indies.</p> + +<p>On June 13, 1838, Mrs. Müller gave birth to a stillborn babe,—another +parental disappointment,—and for more than a fortnight her life hung in +the balance. But once more prayer prevailed for her and her days were +prolonged.</p> + +<p>One month later another trial of faith confronted them in the orphan +work. A twelvemonth previous there were in hand seven hundred and eighty +pounds; now that sum was reduced to one thirty-ninth of the +amount—twenty pounds. Mr. and Mrs. Müller, with Mr. Craik and one other +brother, connected with the Boys' Orphan House, were the only four +persons who were permitted to know of the low state of funds; and they +gave themselves to united prayer. And let it be carefully observed that +Mr. Müller testifies that his own faith was kept even stronger than when +the larger sum was on hand a year before; and this faith was no mere +fancy, for, although the supply was so low and shortly thirty pounds +would be needed, notice was given for seven more children to enter, and +it was further proposed to announce readiness to receive five others!</p> + +<p>The trial-hour had come, but was not past. Less than two months later +the money-supply ran so low that it was needful that the Lord should +give <i>by the day and almost by the hour</i> if the needs were to be met. In +answer to prayer for help God seemed to say, "Mine hour is not yet +come." Many pounds would shortly be required, toward which there was not +one penny in hand. When, one day, over four pounds came in, the thought +occurred to Mr. Müller, "Why not lay aside three pounds against the +coming need?" But immediately he remembered that it is written: +"SUFFICIENT UNTO THE DAY is THE EVIL THEREOF."* He unhesitatingly cast +himself upon God, and paid out the whole amount for salaries then due, +leaving himself again penniless.</p> + +<p>* Matt. vi. 34.</p> + +<p>At this time Mr. Craik was led to read a sermon on Abraham, from Genesis +xii, making prominent two facts: first, that so long as he acted in +faith and walked in the will of God, all went on well; but that, +secondly, so far as he distrusted the Lord and disobeyed Him, all ended +in failure. Mr. Müller heard this sermon and conscientiously applied it +to himself. He drew two most practical conclusions which he had abundant +opportunity to put into practice:</p> + +<p>First, that he must go into no byways or paths of his own for +deliverance out of a crisis;</p> + +<p>And, secondly, that in proportion as he had been permitted to honour God +and bring some glory to His name by trusting Him, he was in danger of +dishonouring Him.</p> + +<p>Having taught him these blessed truths, the Lord tested him as to how +far he would venture upon them. While in such sore need of money for the +orphan work, he had in the bank some two hundred and twenty pounds, +intrusted to him for other purposes. He might <i>use this money for the +time at least,</i> and so relieve the present distress. The temptation was +the stronger so to do, because he knew the donors and knew them to be +liberal supporters of the orphans; and he had only to explain to them +the straits he was in and they would gladly consent to any appropriation +of their gift that he might see best! Most men would have cut that +Gordian knot of perplexity without hesitation.</p> + +<p>Not so George Müller. He saw at once that this would be <i>finding a way +of his own out of difficulty, instead of waiting on the Lord for +deliverance.</i> Moreover, he also saw that it would be <i>forming a habit of +trusting to such expedients of his own, which in other trials would lead +to a similar course and so hinder the growth of faith.</i> We use italics +here because here is revealed one of the <i>tests</i> by which this man of +faith, was proven; and we see how he kept consistently and persistently +to the one great purpose of his life—to demonstrate to all men that to +<i>rest solely on I the promise of a faithful God</i> is the only way to know +for one's self and prove to others, His faithfulness.</p> + +<p>At this time of need—the type of many others—this man who had +determined to risk everything upon God's word of promise, turned from +doubtful devices and questionable methods of relief to <i>pleading with +God.</i> And it may be well to mark his <i>manner</i> of pleading. He used +<i>argument</i> in prayer, and at this time he piles up <i>eleven reasons</i> why +God should and would send help.</p> + +<p>This method of <i>holy argument</i>—ordering our cause before God, as an +advocate would plead before a judge—is not only almost a lost art, but +to many it actually seems almost puerile. And yet it is abundantly +taught and exemplified in Scripture. Abraham in his plea for Sodom is +the first great example of it. Moses excelled in this art, in many +crises interceding in behalf of the people with consummate skill, +marshalling arguments as a general-in-chief marshals battalions. Elijah +on Carmel is a striking example of power in this special pleading. What +holy zeal and jealousy for God! It is probable that if we had fuller +records we should find that all pleaders with God, like Noah, Job, +Samuel, David, Daniel, Jeremiah, Paul, and James, have used the same +method.</p> + +<p>Of course God does not <i>need to be convinced:</i> no arguments can make any +plainer to Him the claims of trusting souls to His intervention, claims +based upon His own word, confirmed by His oath. And yet He will be +inquired of and argued with. That is His way of blessing. He loves to +have us set before Him our cause and His own promises: He delights in +the well-ordered plea, where argument is piled upon argument. See how +the Lord Jesus Christ commended the persistent argument of the woman of +Canaan, who with the <i>wit of importunity</i> actually turned his own +<i>objection</i> into a <i>reason.</i> He said, "It is not meet to take the +children's bread and cast it to the little dogs."* "Truth, Lord," she +answered, "yet the little dogs under the master's tables eat of the +crumbs which fall from the children's mouths!" What a triumph of +argument! Catching the Master Himself in His words, as He meant she +should, and turning His apparent reason for not granting into a reason +for granting her request! "O woman," said He, "great is thy faith! Be it +unto thee even as thou wilt"—thus, as Luther said, "flinging the reins +on her neck."</p> + +<p>* Cf. Matt. vii. 6, xv. 26, 27. Not κυνις, but +κυναριοις, the diminutive +for little pet dogs.</p> + +<p>This case stands unique in the word of God, and it is this use of +argument in prayer that makes it thus solitary in grandeur. But one +other case is at all parallel,—that of the centurion of Capernaum,* +who, when our Lord promised to go and heal his servant, argued that such +coming was not needful, since He had only to speak the healing word. And +notice the basis of his argument: if he, a commander exercising +authority and yielding himself to higher authority, both obeyed the word +of his superior and exacted obedience of his subordinate, how much more +could the Great Healer, in his absence, by a word of command, wield the +healing Power that in His presence was obedient to His will! Of him +likewise our Lord said: "I have not found so great faith, no, not in +Israel!"</p> + +<p>* Matt. viii. 8.</p> + +<p>We are to argue our case with God, not indeed to convince <i>Him,</i> but to +convince <i>ourselves.</i> In proving to Him that, by His own word and oath +and character, He has bound Himself to interpose, we demonstrate <i>to our +own faith</i> that He has given us the right to ask and claim, and that He +will answer our plea because He cannot deny Himself.</p> + +<p>There are two singularly beautiful touches of the Holy Spirit in which +the right thus to order argument before God is set forth to the +reflective reader. In Micah. vii. 20 we read:</p> + +<p> "Thou wilt perform the <i>truth</i> to Jacob, + The <i>mercy</i> to Abraham, + Which thou hast sworn unto our fathers, + From the days of old."</p> + +<p>Mark the progress of the thought. What was mercy to Abraham was truth to +Jacob. God was under no obligation to extend covenant blessings; hence +it was to Abraham a simple act of pure <i>mercy;</i> but, having so put +Himself under voluntary bonds, Jacob could claim as <i>truth</i> what to +Abraham had been mercy. So in 1 John i. 9:</p> + +<p> "If we confess our sins + He is <i>faithful and just</i> to forgive us our sins, + And to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."</p> + +<p>Plainly, forgiveness and cleansing are not originally matters of +faithfulness and justice, but of mercy and grace. But, after God had +pledged Himself thus to forgive and cleanse the penitent sinner who +confesses and forsakes his sins,* what was originally grace and mercy +becomes faithfulness and justice; for God owes it to Himself and to His +creature to stand by His own pledge, and fulfil the lawful expectation +which His own gracious assurance has created.</p> + +<p>* Proverbs xxviii. 13.</p> + +<p>Thus we have not only examples of argument in prayer, but concessions of +the living God Himself, that when we have His word to plead we may claim +the fulfillment of His promise, on the ground not of His mercy only, but +of His truth, faithfulness, and justice. Hence the 'holy boldness with +which we are bidden to present our plea at the throne of grace. God owes +to His faithfulness to do what He has promised, and to His justice not +to exact from the sinner a penalty already borne in his behalf by His +own Son.</p> + +<p>No man of his generation, perhaps, has been more wont to plead thus with +God, after the manner of holy argument, than he whose memoir we are now +writing. He was one of the elect few to whom it has been given to revive +and restore this lost art of pleading with God. And if all disciples +could learn the blessed lesson, what a period of <i>renaissance</i> of faith +would come to the church of God!</p> + +<p>George Müller stored up reasons for God's intervention, As he came upon +promises, authorized declarations of God concerning Himself, names and +titles He had chosen to express and reveal His true nature and will, +injunctions and invitations which gave to the believer a right to pray +and boldness in supplication—as he saw all these, fortified and +exemplified by the instances of prevailing prayer, he laid these +arguments up in memory, and then on occasions of great need brought them +out and spread them before a prayer-hearing God. It is pathetically +beautiful to follow this humble man of God into the secret place, and +there hear him pouring out his soul in these argumentative pleadings, as +though he would so order his cause before God as to convince Him that He +must interpose to save His own name and word from dishonour!</p> + +<p>These were <i>His</i> orphans, for had He not declared Himself the Father of +the fatherless? This was <i>His</i> work, for had He not called His servant +to do His bidding, and what was that servant but an instrument that +could neither fit itself nor use itself? Can the rod lift itself, or the +saw move itself, or the hammer deal its own blow, or the sword make its +own thrust? And if this were God's work, was He not bound to care for +His own work? And was not all this deliberately planned and carried on +for His own glory? And would He suffer His own glory to be dimmed? Had +not His own word been given and confirmed by His oath, and could God +allow His promise, thus sworn to, to be dishonoured even in the least +particular? Were not the half-believing church and the unbelieving world +looking on, to see how the Living God would stand by His own unchanging +assurance, and would He supply an argument for the skeptic and the +scoffer? Would He not, must He not, rather put new proofs of His +faithfulness in the mouth of His saints, and furnish increasing +arguments wherewith to silence the cavilling tongue and put to shame the +hesitating disciple?*</p> + +<p>* Mr. Müller himself tells how he argued his case before the Lord at +this time. (Appendix F. Narrative, vol. 1, 243, 244)</p> + +<p>In some such fashion as this did this lowly-minded saint in Bristol +plead with God for more than threescore years, <i>and prevail</i>—as every +true believer may who with a like boldness comes to the throne of grace +to obtain mercy and find grace to help in every time of need. How few of +us can sincerely sing:</p> + +<p> I believe God answers prayer, + Answers always, everywhere; + I may cast my anxious care, + Burdens I could never bear, + On the God who heareth prayer. + Never need my soul despair + Since He bids me boldly dare + To the secret place repair, + There to prove He answers prayer.</p> + +<a name="11"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER XI<br> + +TRIALS OF FAITH, AND HELPERS TO FAITH</h3></center> + +<p>GOD has His own mathematics: witness that miracle of the loaves and +fishes. Our Lord said to His disciples: "Give ye them to eat," and as +they divided, He multiplied the scanty provision; as they subtracted +from it He added to it; as they decreased it by distributing, He +increased it for distributing. And it has been beautifully said of all +holy partnerships, that griefs shared are divided, and joys shared are +multiplied.</p> + +<p>We have already seen how the prayer circle had been enlarged. The +founder of the orphan work, at the first, had only God for his partner, +telling Him alone his own wants or the needs of his work. Later on, a +very few, including his own wife, Mr. Craik, and one or two helpers, +were permitted to know the condition of the funds and supplies. Later +still, in the autumn of 1838, he began to feel that he ought more fully +to open the doors of his confidence to his associates in the Lord's +business. Those who shared in the toils should also share in the +prayers, and therefore in the knowledge of the needs which prayer was to +supply; else how could they fully be partakers of the faith, the work, +and the reward? Or, again, how could they feel the full proof of the +presence and power of God in the answers to prayer, know the joy of the +Lord which such answers inspire, or praise Him for the deliverance which +such answers exhibit? It seemed plain that, to the highest glory of God, +they must know the depths of need, the extremities of want out of which +God had lifted them, and then ascribe all honour and praise to His name.</p> + +<p>Accordingly Mr. Müller called together all the beloved brothers and +sisters linked with him in the conduct of the work, and fully stated the +case, keeping nothing back. He showed them the distress they were in, +while he bade them be of good courage, assuring them of his own +confidence that help was nigh at hand, and then united them with himself +and the smaller praying circle which had previously existed, in +supplication to Jehovah Jireh.</p> + +<p>The step thus taken was of no small importance to all concerned. A +considerable number of praying believers were henceforth added to the +band of intercessors that gave God no rest day nor night. While Mr. +Müller withheld no facts as to the straits to which the work was +reduced, he laid down certain principles which from time to time were +reiterated as unchanging laws for the conduct of the Lord's business. +For example, nothing must be bought, whatever the extremity, for which +there was not money in hand to pay: and yet it must be equally a settled +principle that the children must not be left to lack anything needful; +for better that the work cease, and the orphans be sent away, than that +they be kept in a nominal home where they were really left to suffer +from hunger or nakedness.</p> + +<p>Again, nothing was ever to be revealed to outsiders of existing need, +lest it should be construed into an appeal for help; but the only resort +must be to the living God. The helpers were often reminded that the +supreme object of the institutions, founded in Bristol, was to prove +God's faithfulness and the perfect safety of trusting solely to His +promises; jealousy for Him must therefore restrain all tendency to look +to man for help. Moreover, they were earnestly besought to live in such +daily and hourly fellowship with God as that their own unbelief and +disobedience might not risk either their own power in prayer, or the +agreement, needful among them, in order to common supplication. One +discordant note may prevent the harmonious symphony of united prayer, +and so far hinder the acceptableness of such prayer with God.</p> + +<p>Thus informed and instructed, these devoted coworkers, with the beloved +founder of the orphan work, met the crisis intelligently. If, when there +were <i>no funds,</i> there must be <i>no leaning upon man, no debt</i> incurred, +and yet <i>no lack</i> allowed, clearly the only resort or resource must be +waiting upon the unseen God; and so, in these straits and in every +succeeding crisis, they went to Him alone. The orphans themselves were +never told of any existing need; in every case their wants were met, +though they knew not how. The barrel of meal might be empty, yet there +was always a handful when needed, and the cruse of oil was never so +exhausted that a few drops were not left to moisten the handful of meal. +Famine and drought never reached the Bristol orphanage: the supplies +might come slowly and only for one day at a time, but somehow, when the +need was urgent and could no longer wait, there was enough—though it +might be barely enough to meet the want.</p> + +<p>It should be added here, as completing this part of the Narrative, that, +in August, 1840, this circle of prayer was still further enlarged by +admitting to its intimacies of fellowship and supplication the brethren +and sisters who laboured in the day-schools, the same solemn injunctions +being repeated in their case against any betrayal to outsiders of the +crises that might arise.</p> + +<p>To impart the knowledge of affairs to so much larger a band of helpers +brought in every way a greater blessing, and especially so to the +helpers themselves. Their earnest, believing, importunate prayers were +thus called forth, and God only knows how much the consequent progress +of the work was due to their faith, supplication, and self-denial. The +practical knowledge of the exigencies of their common experience begat +an unselfishness of spirit which prompted countless acts of heroic +sacrifice that have no human record or written history, and can be known +only when the pages of the Lord's own journal are read by an assembled +universe in the day when the secret things are brought to light. It has, +since Mr. Müller's departure, transpired how large a share of the +donations received are to be traced to him; but there is no means of +ascertaining as to the aggregate amount of the secret gifts of his +coworkers in this sacred circle of prayer.</p> + +<p>We do know, however, that Mr. Müller was not the only self-denying +giver, though he may lead the host. His true yoke-fellows often <i>turned +the crisis</i> by their own offerings, which though small were costly! +Instrumentally they were used of God to relieve existing want by their +gifts, for out of the abundance of their deep poverty abounded the +riches of their liberality. The money they gave was sometimes like the +widow's two mites—all their living; and not only the last penny, but +ornaments, jewels, heirlooms, long-kept and cherished treasures, like +the alabaster flask of ointment which was broken upon the feet of Jesus, +were laid down on God's altar as a willing sacrifice. They gave all they +could spare and often what they could ill spare, so that there might be +meat in God's house and no lack of bread or other needed supplies for +His little ones. In a sublime sense this work was not Mr. Müllers only, +but <i>theirs</i> also, who with him took part in prayers and tears, in cares +and toils, in self-denials and self-offerings, whereby God chose to +carry forward His plans for these homeless waifs! It was in thus +<i>giving</i> that all these helpers found also new power, assurance, and +blessing in praying; for, as one of them said, he felt that it would +scarcely be <i>"upright to pray, except he were to give what he had."</i>*</p> + +<p>* Narrative, 1: 246.</p> + +<p>The helpers, thus admitted into Mr. Müller's confidence, came into more +active sympathy with him and the work, and partook increasingly of the +same spirit. Of this some few instances and examples have found their +way into his journal.</p> + +<p>A gentleman and some ladies visiting the orphan houses saw the large +number of little ones to be cared for. One of the ladies said to the +matron of the Boys' House: "Of course you cannot carry on these +institutions without a good stock of funds"; and the gentleman added, +"Have you a good stock?" The quiet answer was, "Our funds are deposited +in a bank which cannot break." The reply drew tears from the eyes of the +lady, and a gift of five pounds from the pocket of the gentleman—a +donation most opportune, as there was <i>not one penny then in hand.</i></p> + +<p>Fellow labourers such as these, who asked nothing for themselves, but +cheerfully looked to the Lord for their own supplies, and willingly +parted with their own money or goods in the hour of need, filled Mr. +Müller's heart with praise to God, and held up his hands, as Aaron and +Hur sustained those of Moses, till the sun of his life went down. During +all the years of his superintendence these were the main human support +of his faith and courage. They met with him in daily prayer, faithfully +kept among themselves the secrets of the Lord's work in the great trials +of faith; and, when the hour of triumph came, they felt it to be both +duty and privilege in the annual report to publish their deliverance, to +make their boast in God, that all men might know His love and +faithfulness and ascribe unto Him glory.</p> + +<p>From time to time, in connection with the administration of the work, +various questions arose which have a wider bearing on all departments of +Christian service, for their solution enters into what may be called the +ethics and economics of the Lord's work. At a few of these we may +glance.</p> + +<p>As the Lord was dealing with them by the day, it seemed clear that they +were to <i>live by the day.</i> No dues [Transcriber's note: unpaid debts] +should be allowed to accumulate, even such as would naturally accrue +from ordinary weekly supplies of bread, milk, etc. From the middle of +September, 1838, it was therefore determined that every article bought +was to be paid for at the time.</p> + +<p>Again, rent became due in stated amounts and at stated times. This want +was therefore not unforeseen, and, looked at in one aspect, rent was due +daily or weekly, though collected at longer intervals. The principle +having been laid down that no debt should be incurred, it was considered +as implying that the amount due for rent should be put aside daily, or +at least weekly, even though not then payable. This rule was henceforth +adopted, with this understanding, that money thus laid aside was sacred +to that end, and not to be drawn upon, even temporarily, for any other.</p> + +<p>Notwithstanding such conscientiousness and consistency the trial of +faith and patience continued. Money came in only in small sums, and +barely enough with rigid economy to meet each day's wants. The outlook +was often most dark and the prospect most threatening; but <i>no real need +ever failed to be supplied:</i> and so praise was continually mingled with +prayer, the incense of thanksgiving making fragrant the flame of +supplication. God's interposing power and love could not be doubted, and +in fact made the more impression as unquestionable facts, because help +came so frequently at the hour of extremity, and in the exact form or +amount needed. Before the provision was entirely exhausted, there came +new supplies or the money wherewith to buy, so that these many mouths +were always fed and these many bodies always clad.</p> + +<p>To live up to such principles as had been laid down was not possible +without faith, kept in constant and lively exercise. For example, in the +closing months of 1838 God seemed purposely putting them to a severe +test, whether or not they <i>did trust Him alone.</i> The orphan work was in +continual straits: at times not one half-penny was in the hands of the +matrons in the three houses. But not only was no knowledge of such facts +ever allowed to leak out, or any hint of the extreme need ever given to +outsiders, <i>but even those who inquired, with intent to aid, were not +informed.</i></p> + +<p>One evening a brother ventured to ask how the balance would stand when +the next accounts were made up, and whether it would be as great in +favour of the orphans as when the previous balance-sheet had been +prepared. Mr. Mutter's calm but evasive answer was: <i>"It will be as +great as the Lord pleases."</i> This was no intentional rudeness. To have +said more would have been turning from the one Helper to make at least +an indirect appeal to man for help; and every such snare was carefully +avoided lest the one great aim should be lost sight of: to prove to all +men that it is safe to trust only in the Living God.</p> + +<p>While admitting the severity of the straits to which the whole work of +the Scriptural Knowledge Institution was often brought, Mr. Müller takes +pains to assure his readers that these straits were never a surprise to +him, and that his expectations in the matter of funds were not +disappointed, but rather the reverse. He had looked for great +emergencies as essential to his full witness to a prayer-hearing God. +The almighty Hand can never be clearly seen while any human help is +sought for or is in sight. We must turn absolutely away from all else if +we are to turn fully unto the living God. The deliverance is signal, +only in proportion as the danger is serious, and is most significant +when, without God, we face absolute despair. Hence the exact end for +which the whole work was mainly begun could be attained only through +such conditions of extremity and such experiences of interposition in +extremity.</p> + +<p>Some who have known but little of the interior history of the orphan +work have very naturally accounted for the regularity of supplies by +supposing that the public statements, made about it by word of mouth, +and especially by the pen in the printed annual reports, have +constituted <i>appeals for aid.</i> Unbelief would interpret all God's +working however wonderful, by 'natural laws,' and the carnal mind, +refusing to see in any of the manifestations of God's power any +supernatural force at work, persists in thus explaining away all the +'miracles of prayer.'</p> + +<p>No doubt humane and sympathetic hearts have been strongly moved by the +remarkable ways in which God has day by day provided for all these +orphans, as well as the other branches of work of the Scriptural +Knowledge Institution; and believing souls have been drawn into loving +and hearty sympathy with work so conducted, and have been led to become +its helpers. It is a well-known fact that God has used these annual +reports to accomplish just such results. Yet it remains true that these +reports were never intended or issued as appeals for aid, and no +dependence has been placed upon them for securing timely help. It is +also undeniable that, however frequent their issue, wide their +circulation, or great their influence, the regularity and abundance of +the supplies of all needs must in some other way be accounted for.</p> + +<p>Only a few days after public meetings were held or printed reports +issued, funds often fell to their lowest ebb. Mr. Müller and his helpers +were singularly kept from all undue leaning upon any such indirect +appeals, and frequently and definitely asked God that they might never +be left to look for any inflow of means through such channels. For many +reasons the Lord's dealings with them were made known, the main object +of such publicity always being a <i>testimony to the faithfulness of God.</i> +This great object Mr. Müller always kept foremost, hoping and praying +that, by such records and revelations of God's fidelity to His promises, +and of the manner in which He met each new need, his servant might +awaken, quicken, and stimulate faith in Him as the Living God. One has +only to read these reports to see the conspicuous absence of any appeal +for human aid, or of any attempt to excite pity, sympathy and compassion +toward the orphans. The burden of every report is to induce the reader +to venture wholly upon God, to taste and see that the Lord is good, and +find for himself how blessed are all they that put their trust in Him. +Only in the light of this supreme purpose can these records of a life of +faith be read intelligently and intelligibly.</p> + +<p>Weakness of body again, in the autumn of 1839, compelled, for a time, +rest from active labour, and Mr. Müller went to Trowbridge and Exeter, +Teignmouth and Plymouth. God had precious lessons for him which He could +best teach in the school of affliction.</p> + +<p>While at Plymouth Mr. Müller felt anew the impulse to early rising for +purposes of devotional communion. At Halle he had been an early riser, +influenced by zeal for excellence in study. Afterwards, when his weak +head and feeble nerves made more sleep seem needful, he judged that, +even when he rose late, the day would be long enough to exhaust his +little fund of strength; and so often he lay in bed till six or even +seven o'clock, instead of rising at four; and after dinner took a nap +for a quarter-hour. It now grew upon him, however, that he was losing in +spiritual vigour, and that his soul's health was declining under this +new regimen. The work now so pressed upon him as to prevent proper +reading of the Word and rob him of leisure for secret prayer.</p> + +<p>A 'chance remark'—there is no <i>chance</i> in a believer's life!—made by +the brother at whose house he was abiding at Plymouth, much impressed +him. Referring to the sacrifices in Leviticus, he said that, as the +refuse of the animals was never offered up on the altar, but only the +best parts and the fat, so the choicest of our time and strength, the +best parts of our day, should be especially given to the Lord in worship +and communion. George Müller meditated much on this; and determined, +even at the risk of damage to bodily health, that he would no longer +spend his best hours in bed. Henceforth he allowed himself but <i>seven +hours' sleep</i> and gave up his after-dinner rest. This resumption of +early rising secured long seasons of uninterrupted interviews 'with God, +in prayer and meditation on the Scriptures, before breakfast and the +various inevitable interruptions that followed. He found himself not +worse but better, physically, and became convinced that to have lain +longer in bed as before would have kept his nerves weak; and, as to +spiritual life, such new vitality and vigour accrued from thus waiting +upon God while others slept, that it continued to be the habit of his +after-life.</p> + +<p>In November, 1839, when the needs were again great and the supplies very +small, he was kept in peace: "I was not," he says, "looking at the +<i>little in hand, 'but at the fulness of God."</i></p> + +<p>It was his rule to empty himself of all that he had, in order to greater +boldness in appealing for help from above. All needless articles were +sold if a market could be found. But what was useful in the Lord's work +he did not reckon as needless, nor regard it right to sell, since the +Father knew the need. One of his fellow labourers had put forward his +valuable watch as a security for the return of money laid by for rent, +but drawn upon for the time; yet even this plan was not felt to be +scriptural, as the watch might be reckoned among articles needful and +useful in the Lord's service, and, if such, expedients were quite +abandoned, the deliverance would be more manifest as of the Lord. And +so, one by one, all resorts were laid aside that might imperil full +trust and sole dependence upon the one and only Helper.</p> + +<p>When the poverty of their resources seemed most pinching, Mr. Müller +still comforted himself with the daily proof that God had not forgotten, +and would day by day feed them with 'the bread of their convenience.' +Often he said to himself, If it is even a proverb of the world that +"Man's necessity is God's opportunity," how much more may God's own dear +children in their great need look to Him to make their extremity the fit +moment to display His love and power!</p> + +<p>In February, 1840, another attack of ill health combined with a mission +to Germany to lead Mr. Müller for five weeks to the Continent. At +Heimersleben, where he found his father weakened by a serious cough, the +two rooms in which he spent most time in prayer and reading of the Word, +and confession of the Lord, were the same in which, nearly twenty years +before, he had passed most time as an unreconciled sinner against God +and man. Later on, at Wolfenbuttel, he saw the inn whence in 1821 he ran +away in debt. In taking leave once more of his father he was pierced by +a keen anguish, fearing it was his last farewell, and an unusual +tenderness and affection were now exhibited by his father, whom he +yearned more and more to know as safe in the Lord Jesus, and depending +no longer on outward and formal religiousness, or substituting the +reading of prayers and of Scripture for an inward conformity to Christ. +This proved the last interview, for the father died on March 30th of the +same year.</p> + +<p>The main purpose of this journey to Germany was to send forth more +missionaries to the East. At Sandersleben Mr. Müller met his friend, Mr. +Stahlschmidt, and found a little band of disciples meeting in secret to +evade the police. Those who have always breathed the atmosphere of +religious liberty know little of such intolerance as, in that nominally +Christian land, stifled all freedom of Worship. Eleven years before, +when Mr. Stahlschmidt's servant had come to this place, he had found +scarce one true disciple beside his master. The first meetings had been +literally of but two or three, and, when they had grown a little larger, +Mr. Kroll was summoned before the magistrates and, like the apostles in +the first days of the church, forbidden to speak in His name. But again, +like those same primitive disciples, believing that they were to obey +God rather than men, the believing band had continued to meet, +notwithstanding police raids which were so disturbing, and government +fines which were so exacting. So secret, however, were their assemblies, +as to have neither stated place nor regular time.</p> + +<p>George Müller found these persecuted believers, meeting in the room of a +humble weaver where there was but one chair. The twenty-five or thirty +who were present found such places to sit or stand as they might, in and +about the loom, which itself filled half the space.</p> + +<p>In Halberstadt Mr. Müller found seven large Protestant churches without +one clergyman who gave evidence of true conversion, and the few genuine +disciples there were likewise forbidden to meet together.</p> + +<p>A few days after returning to Bristol from his few weeks in Germany, and +at a time of great financial distress in the work, a letter reached him +from a brother who had often before given money, as follows:</p> + +<p>"Have you any <i>present</i> need for the Institution under your care? I know +you do not <i>ask,</i> except indeed of Him whose work you are doing; but to +<i>answer when asked</i> seems another thing, and a right thing. I have a +reason for desiring to know the present state of your means towards the +objects you are labouring to serve: viz., should you <i>not have</i> need, +other departments of the Lord's work, or other people of the Lord, <i>may +have</i> need. Kindly then inform me, and to what amount, i.e. what amount +you at this present time need or can profitably lay out."</p> + +<p>To most men, even those who carry on a work of faith and prayer, such a +letter would have been at least a temptation. But Mr. Müller did not +waver. To announce even to an inquirer the exact needs of the work +would, in his opinion, involve two serious risks:</p> + +<p>1. It would turn his own eyes away from God to man;</p> + +<p>2. It would turn the minds of saints away from dependence solely upon +Him.</p> + +<p>This man of God had staked everything upon one great experiment—he had +set himself to prove that the prayer which <i>resorts to God only</i> will +bring help in every crisis, even when the crisis is unknown to His +people whom He uses as the means of relief and help.</p> + +<p>At this time there remained in hand but twenty-seven pence ha'penny, in +all, to meet the needs of hundreds of orphans. Nevertheless this was the +reply to the letter:</p> + +<p>"Whilst I thank you for your love, and whilst I agree with you that, in +general, there is a difference between <i>asking for money</i> and <i>answering +when asked,</i> nevertheless, in our case, I feel not at liberty to speak +about the state of our funds, as the primary object of the work in my +hands is to lead those who are weak in faith to see that there is +<i>reality</i> in dealing with God <i>alone."</i></p> + +<p>Consistently with his position, however, no sooner was the answer posted +than the appeal went up to the Living God: "Lord, thou knowest that, for +Thy sake, I did not tell this brother about our need. Now, Lord, show +afresh that there is reality in speaking to Thee only, about our need, +and speak therefore to this brother so that he may help us." In answer, +God moved this inquiring brother to send one hundred pounds, which came +when <i>not one penny was in hand.</i></p> + +<p>The confidence of faith, long tried, had its increasing reward and was +strengthened by experience. In July, 1845, Mr. Müller gave this +testimony reviewing these very years of trial:</p> + +<p>"Though for about seven years, our funds have been so exhausted that it +has been comparatively a rare case that there have been means in hand to +meet the necessities of the orphans <i>for three days</i> together, yet I +have been only once tried in spirit, and that was on September 18, 1838, +when for the first time the Lord seemed not to regard our prayer. But +when He did send help at that time, and I saw that it was only for the +trial of our faith, and not because He had forsaken the work, that we +were brought so low, my soul was so strengthened and encouraged that I +have not only not been allowed to distrust the Lord since that time, but +I have not even been cast down when in the deepest poverty."</p> + +<a name="12"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER XII<br> + +NEW LESSONS IN GOD'S SCHOOL OF PRAYER</h3></center> + +<p>THE teacher must also be a learner, and therefore only he who continues +to learn is competent to continue to teach. Nothing but new lessons, +daily mastered, can keep our testimony fresh and vitalizing and enable +us to give advance lessons. Instead of being always engaged in a sort of +review, our teaching and testimony will thus be drawn each day from a +new and higher level.</p> + +<p>George Müller's experiences of prevailing prayer went on constantly +accumulating, and so qualified him to speak to others, not as on a +matter of speculation, theory, or doctrinal belief, but of long, varied, +and successful personal experiment. Patiently, carefully and frequently, +he seeks to impress on others the conditions of effective supplication. +From time to time he met those to whom his courageous, childlike trust +in God was a mystery; and occasionally unbelief's secret misgivings +found a voice in the question, <i>what he would do if God did not send +help!</i> what, if a meal-time actually came with no food, and no money to +procure it; or if clothing were worn out, and nothing to replace it?</p> + +<p>To all such questions there was always ready this one answer: that <i>such +a failure on God's part is inconceivable,</i> and must therefore be put +among the impossibilities. There are, however, conditions necessary on +man's part: <i>the suppliant soul must come to God in the right spirit and +attitude.</i> For the sake of such readers as might need further guidance +as to the proper and acceptable manner of approach to God, he was wont +to make very plain the scripture teaching upon this point.</p> + +<p>Five grand conditions of prevailing prayer were ever before his mind:</p> + +<p>1. Entire dependence upon the merits and mediation of the Lord Jesus +Christ, as the only ground of any claim for blessing. (See John xiv. 13, +14; xv. 16, etc.)</p> + +<p>2. Separation from all known sin. If we regard iniquity in our hearts, +the Lord will not hear us, for it would be sanctioning sin. (Psalm lxvi. +18.)</p> + +<p>3. Faith in God's word of promise as confirmed by His oath. Not to +believe Him is to make Him both a liar and a perjurer. (Hebrews xi. 6; +vi. 13-20.)</p> + +<p>4. Asking in accordance with His will. Our motives must be godly: we +must not seek any gift of God to consume it upon our own lusts. (1 John +v. 14; James iv. 3.)</p> + +<p>5. Importunity in supplication. There must be waiting on God and waiting +for God, as the husbandman has long patience to wait for the harvest. +(James v. 7; Luke xviii. 1-10.)</p> + +<p>The importance of firmly fixing in mind principles such as these cannot +be overstated. The first lays the basis of all prayer, in our oneness +with the great High Priest. The second states a condition of prayer, +found in abandonment of sin. The third reminds us of the need of +honouring God by faith that He is, and is the Rewarder of the diligent +seeker. The fourth reveals the sympathy with God that helps us to ask +what is for our good and His glory. The last teaches us that, having +laid hold of God in prayer, we are to keep hold until His arm is +outstretched in blessing.</p> + +<p>Where these conditions do not exist, for God to answer prayer would be +both a dishonour to Himself and a damage to the suppliant. To encourage +those who come to Him in their own name, or in a self-righteous, +self-seeking, and disobedient spirit, would be to set a premium upon +continuance in sin. To answer the requests of the unbelieving would be +to disregard the double insult put upon His word of promise and His oath +of confirmation, by persistent doubt of His truthfulness and distrust of +His faithfulness. Indeed not one condition of prevailing prayer exists +which is not such in the very nature of things. These are not arbitrary +limitations affixed to prayer by a despotic will; they are necessary +alike to God's character and man's good.</p> + +<p>All the lessons learned in God's school of prayer made Mr. Müller's +feelings and convictions about this matter more profound and subduing. +He saw the vital relation of prayer to holiness, and perpetually sought +to impress it upon both his hearers and readers; and, remembering that +for the purpose of persuasion the most effective figure of speech is +<i>repetition,</i> he hesitated at no frequency of restatement by which such +truths might find root in the minds and hearts of others.</p> + +<p>There has never been a saint, from Abel's day to our own, who has not +been taught the same essential lessons. All prayer which has ever +brought down blessing has prevailed by the same law of success—<i>the +inward impulse of God's Holy Spirit.</i> If, therefore, that Spirit's +teachings be disregarded or disobeyed, or His inward movings be +hindered, in just such measure will prayer become formal or be +altogether abandoned. Sin, consciously indulged, or duty, knowingly +neglected, makes supplication an offence to God.</p> + +<p>Again, all prayer prevails only in the measure of our real, even if not +conscious, unity with the Lord Jesus Christ as the ground of our +approach, and in the degree of our dependence on Him as the medium of +our access to God.</p> + +<p>Yet again, all prayer prevails only as it is offered in faith; and the +<i>answer</i> to such prayer can be recognized and received only <i>on the +plane of faith;</i> that is, we must maintain the believing frame, +expecting the blessing, and being ready to receive it in God's way and +time and form, and not our own.</p> + +<p>The faith that thus <i>expects</i> cannot be surprised at answers to prayer. +When, in November, 1840, a sister gave ten pounds for the orphans, and +at a time specially opportune, Mr. Müller records his triumphant joy in +God as exceeding and defying all expression. Yet he was <i>free from +excitement and not in the least surprised,</i> because by grace he had been +trustfully waiting on God for deliverance. Help had been so long delayed +that in one of the houses there was no bread, and in none of them any +milk or any money to buy either. It was only a few minutes before the +milkman's cart was due, that this money came.</p> + +<p>However faithful and trustful in prayer, it behooves us to be none the +less careful and diligent in the use of all proper means. Here again Mr. +Müller's whole life is a lesson to other believers. For example, when +travelling in other lands, or helping other brethren on their way, he +besought the Lord's constant guardianship over the conveyances used, and +even over the luggage so liable to go astray. But he himself looked +carefully to the seaworthiness of the vessel he was to sail in, and to +every other condition of safe and speedy transportation for himself and +others. In one case where certain German brethren and sisters were +departing for foreign shores, he noticed the manner in which the cabman +stored away the small luggage in the fly; and observed that several +carpetbags were hastily thrust into a hind boot. He also carefully +counted the pieces of luggage and took note of the fact that there were +seventeen in all. On arriving at the wharf, where there is generally +much hurry and flurry, the dishonest cabman would have driven off with a +large part of the property belonging to the party, but for this man of +God who not only <i>prayed</i> but <i>watched.</i> He who trusted God implicitly, +no less faithfully looked to the cabman's fidelity, who, after he +pretended to have delivered all the luggage to the porters, was +compelled to open that hind boot and, greatly to his own confusion, +deliver up the five or six bags hidden away there. Mr. Müller adds in +his Narrative that "such a circumstance should teach one to make the +very smallest affairs a subject of prayer, as, for instance, that all +the luggage might be safely taken out of a fly." May we not add that +such a circumstance teaches us that companion lesson, quite as important +in its way, that we are to be watchful as well as prayerful, and see +that a dishonest cab-driver does not run off with another's goods!</p> + +<p>This praying saint, who watched man, most of all watched God. Even in +the lesser details of his work, his eye was ever looking for God's +unfailing supplies, and taking notice of the divine leadings and +dealings; and, afterward, there always followed the fruit of the lips, +giving thanks to His name. Here is another secret revealed: +prayerfulness and thankfulness—those two handmaidens Of God—always go +together, each helping the other. "Pray without ceasing: in everything +give thanks." (1 Thess. v. 17, 18.) These two precepts stand side by +side where they belong, and he who neglects one will find himself +disobeying the other. This man who prayed so much and so well, offered +the sacrifice of praise to God continually.</p> + +<p>For example, on September 21, 1840, a specific entry was made in the +Narrative, so simple, childlike, and in every way characteristic, that +every word of it is precious.</p> + +<p>"The Lord, to show His continued care over us, raises up new helpers. +They that trust in the Lord shall never be confounded. Some who helped +for a while may fall asleep in Jesus; others grow cold in the service of +the Lord; others be as desirous as ever to help, but no longer able; or, +having means, feel it to be His will to lay them out in another way. But +in leaning upon God, the Living God alone, we are BEYOND DISAPPOINTMENT +and BEYOND <i>being forsaken because of death, or want of means, or want +of love, or because of the claims of other work.</i> How precious to have +learned, in any measure, to be content to stand with God alone in the +world, and to know that surely no good thing shall be withheld from us, +whilst we walk uprightly!"</p> + +<p>Among the gifts received during this long life of stewardship for God +some deserve individual mention.</p> + +<p>To an offering received in March, 1839, a peculiar history attaches. The +circumstances attending its reception made upon him a deep impression. +He had given a copy of the Annual Report to a believing brother who had +been greatly stirred up to prayer by reading it; and knowing his own +sister, who was also a disciple, to possess sundry costly ornaments and +jewels, such as a heavy gold chain, a pair of gold bracelets, and a +superb ring set with fine brilliants, this brother besought the Lord so +to show her the uselessness of such trinkets that she should be led to +lay them all upon His altar as an offering for the orphan work. This +prayer was literally answered. Her sacrifice of jewels proved of service +to the work at a time of such pressing need that Mr. Müller's heart +specially rejoiced in God. By the proceeds of the sale of these +ornaments he was helped to meet the expenses of a whole week, and +besides to <i>pay the salaries</i> due to the helpers. But, before disposing +of the diamond ring, he wrote with it upon the window-pane of his own +room that precious name and title of the Lord—"JEHOVAH JIREH"—and +henceforth whenever, in deep poverty, he cast his eyes upon those two +words, imperishably written with the point of a diamond upon that pane, +he thankfully remembered that "THE LORD WILL PROVIDE."</p> + +<p>How many of his fellow believers might find unfailing refreshment and +inspiration in dwelling upon the divine promises! Ancient believers were +bidden to write God's words on the palms of their hands, the doorposts +of their houses, and on their gates, so that the employments of their +hands, their goings out and comings in, their personal and home life, +might be constant reminders of Jehovah's everlasting faithfulness. He +who inscribed this chosen name of God upon the window-pane of his +dwelling, found that every ray of sunlight that shone into his room lit +up his Lord's promise.</p> + +<p>He thus sums up the experiences of the year 1840:</p> + +<p>1. Notwithstanding multiplied trials of faith, the orphans have lacked +nothing.</p> + +<p>2. Instead of being disappointed in his expectations or work, the +reverse had been true, such trials being seen to be needful to +demonstrate that the Lord was their Helper in times of need.</p> + +<p>3. Such a way of living brings the Lord very near, as one who daily +inspects the need that He may send the more timely aid.</p> + +<p>4. Such constant, instant reliance upon divine help does not so absorb +the mind in temporal things as to unfit for spiritual employments and +enjoyments; but rather prompts to habitual communion with the Lord and +His Word.</p> + +<p>5. Other children of God may not be called to a similar work, but are +called to a like faith, and may experience similar interposition if they +live according to His will and seek His help.</p> + +<p>6. The incurring of debt, being unscriptural, is a sin needing +confession and abandonment if we desire unhindered fellowship with God, +and experience of His interposition.</p> + +<p>It was in this year 1840, also, that a further object was embraced in +the work of the Scripture Knowledge Institution, namely, the circulation +of Christian books and tracts. But, as the continuance and enlargement +of these benevolent activities made the needs greater, so, in answer to +prayer, the Hand of the great Provider bestowed larger supplies.</p> + +<p>Divine interposition will never be doubted by one who, like George +Müller, gives himself to prayer, for the coincidences will prove too +exact and frequent between demand and supply, times and seasons of +asking and answering, to allow of doubt that God has helped.</p> + +<p>The 'ethics of language' embody many lessons. For example, the term +'poetic retribution' describes a visitation of judgment where the +penalty peculiarly befits the crime. As poetic lines harmonize, rhyme +and rhythm showing the work of a designing hand, so there is often +harmony between an offense and its retribution, as when Adonibezek, who +had afflicted a like injury upon threescore and five captive kings, had +his own thumbs and great toes cut off, or as when Haman was himself hung +on the gallows that he built for Mordecai. We read in Psalm ix. 16:</p> + +<p> "The Lord is known by the judgment which He executeth: + The wicked is snared in the work of his own hands."</p> + +<p>The inspired thought is that the punishment of evil-doers is in such +exact correspondence with the character of their evil doings as to show +that it is the Lord executing vengeance—the penalty shows a designing +hand. He who watches the peculiar retributive judgments of God, how He +causes those who set snares and pitfalls for others to fall into them +themselves, will not doubt that behind such 'poetic retribution' there +is an intelligent Judge.</p> + +<p>Somewhat so the poetic harmony between prayer and its answer silences +all question as to a discriminating Hearer of the suppliant soul. A +single case of such answered prayer might be accounted accidental; but, +ever since men began to call upon the name of the Lord, there have been +such repeated, striking, and marvelous correspondences between the +requests of man and the replies of God, that the inference is perfectly +safe, the induction has too broad a basis and too large a body of +particulars to allow mistake. The coincidences are both too many and too +exact to admit the doctrine of <i>chance.</i> We are compelled, not to say +justified, to conclude that the only sufficient and reasonable +explanation must be found in a God who hears and answers prayer.</p> + +<p>Mr. Müller was not the only party to these transactions, nor the only +person thus convinced that God was in the whole matter of the work and +its support. The <i>donors</i> as well as the receiver were conscious of +divine leading.</p> + +<p>Frequent were the instances also when those who gave most timely help +conveyed to Mr. Müller the knowledge of the experiences that accompanied +or preceded their offerings; as, for example, when, without any +intimation being given them from man that there was special need, the +heart was impressed in prayer to God that there was an emergency +requiring prompt assistance.</p> + +<p>For example, in June, 1841, fifty pounds were received with these words: +<i>"I am not concerned at my having been prevented for so many days from +sending this money; I am confident it has not been needed."</i></p> + +<p>"This last sentence is remarkable," says Mr. Müller. "It is now nearly +three years since our funds were for the first time exhausted, and only +at this period, since then, could it have been said in truth, so far as +I remember, that a donation of fifty pounds was <i>not</i> needed. From the +beginning in July, 1838, till now, there never had been a period when we +so abounded as when this donation came; for there were then, in the +orphan fund and the other funds, between two and three hundred pounds! +The words of our brother are so much the more remarkable as, on four +former occasions, when he likewise gave considerable donations, we were +always in need, yea, great need, which he afterwards knew from the +printed accounts."</p> + +<p>Prevailing prayer is largely conditioned on constant obedience. +"Whatsoever we ask we receive of Him, because we keep His commandments, +and do those things which are well pleasing in His sight." (1 John iii. +22.) There is no way of keeping in close touch with God unless a <i>new +step</i> is taken in advance whenever <i>new light</i> is given. Here is another +of the life-secrets of George Müller. Without unduly counting the cost, +he followed every leading of God.</p> + +<p>In July, 1841, both Mr. Craik and Mr. Müller were impressed that the +existing mode of receiving free-will offerings from those among whom +they laboured was inexpedient. These contributions were deposited in +boxes, over which their names were placed with an explanation of the +purpose to which such offerings were applied. But it was felt that this +might have the appearance of unduly elevating them above others, as +though they were assuming official importance, or excluding others from +full and equal recognition as labourers in word and doctrine. They +therefore decided to discontinue this mode of receiving such offerings.</p> + +<p>Such an act of obedience may seem to some, over-scrupulous, but it cost +some inward struggles, for it threatened a possible and probable +decrease in supplies for their own needs, and the question naturally +arose how such lack should be supplied. Happily Mr. Müller had long ago +settled the question that <i>to follow a clear sense of duty is always +safe.</i> He could say, in every such crisis, "O God, my heart is fixed, my +heart is fixed, trusting in Thee." (Psalm cxii. 7.) Once for all having +made such a decision, such apparent risks did not for a moment disturb +his peace. Somehow or other the Lord would provide, and all he had to do +was to serve and trust Him and leave the rest to His Fatherhood.</p> + +<p>In the autumn of 1841 it pleased God that, beyond any previous period, +there should be a severe test of faith. For some months the supplies had +been comparatively abundant, but now, from day to day and from meal to +meal, the eye of faith had to be turned to the Lord, and, +notwithstanding continuance in prayer, <i>help seemed at times to fail,</i> +so much so that it was a special sign of God's grace that, during this +long trial of delay, the confidence of Mr. Müller and his helpers did +not altogether give way. But he and they were held up, and he +unwaveringly rested on the fatherly pity of God.</p> + +<p>On one occasion a poor woman gave two pence, adding, "It is but a +trifle, but I must give it to you." Yet so opportune was the gift of +these 'two mites' that <i>one of these two pence</i> was just what was at +that time needed to make up the sum required to buy bread for immediate +use. At another time eight pence more being necessary to provide for the +next meal, but <i>seven</i> pence were in hand; but on opening one of the +boxes, <i>one penny</i> only was found deposited, and thus a single penny was +traced to the Father's care.</p> + +<p>It was in December of this same year, 1841, that, in order to show how +solely dependence was placed on a heavenly Provider, it was determined +to <i>delay for a while</i> both the holding of any public meeting and the +printing of the Annual Report. Mr. Müller was confident that, though no +word should be either spoken or printed about the work and its needs, +the means would still be supplied. As a matter of fact the report of +1841-2 was thus postponed for five months; and so, <i>in the midst of deep +poverty</i> and <i>partly because of the very pressure of such need,</i> another +bold step was taken, which, like the cutting away of the ropes that held +the life-boat, in that Mediterranean shipwreck, threw Mr. Müller, and +all that were with him in the work, more completely on the promise and +the providence of God.</p> + +<p>It might be inferred that, where such a decision was made, the Lord +would make haste to reward at once such courageous confidence. And yet, +so mysterious are His ways, that never, up to that time, had Mr. +Müller's faith been tried so sharply as between December 12, 1841, and +April 12, 1842. During these four months, again, it was as though God +were saying, "I will now see whether indeed you truly lean on Me and +look to Me." At any time during this trial, Mr. Müller might have +changed his course, holding the public meeting and publishing the +report, for, outside the few who were in his councils, <i>no one knew of +the determination,</i> and in fact many children of God, looking for the +usual year's journal of 'The Lord's Dealings,' were surprised at the +delay. But the conclusion conscientiously reached was, for the glory of +the Lord, as steadfastly pursued, and again Jehovah Jireh revealed His +faithfulness.</p> + +<p>During this four months, on March 9, 1842, the need was so extreme that, +had no help come, the work could not have gone on. But, <i>on that day,</i> +from a brother living near Dublin, ten pounds came: and the hand of the +Lord clearly appeared in this gift, for when the post had already come +and no letter had come with it, there was a strong confidence suggested +to Mr. Müller's mind that deliverance was at hand; and so it proved, for +presently the letter was brought to him, having been delivered at one of +the other houses. During this same month, it was necessary once to +<i>delay dinner for about a half-hour,</i> because of a lack of supplies. +Such a postponement had scarcely ever been known before, and very rarely +was it repeated in the entire after-history of the work, though +thousands of mouths had to be daily fed.</p> + +<p>In the spring of 1843, Mr. Müller felt led to open a <i>fourth orphan +house,</i> the third having been opened nearly six years before. This step +was taken with his uniform conscientiousness, deliberation, and +prayerfulness. He had seen many reasons for such enlargement of the +work, but he had said nothing about the matter even to his beloved wife. +Day by day he waited on God in prayer, preferring to take counsel only +of Him, lest he might do something in haste, move in advance of clear +leading, or be biassed unduly by human judgment.</p> + +<p>Unexpected obstacles interfered with his securing the premises which had +already been offered and found suitable; but he was in no way +'discomforted.' The burden of his prayer was, "Lord, if <i>Thou</i> hast no +need of another orphan house, <i>I</i> have none"; and he rightly judged that +the calm deliberation with which he had set about the whole matter, and +the unbroken peace with which he met new hindrances, were proofs that he +was following the guidance of God and not the motions of self-will.</p> + +<p>As the public meeting and the publication of the Annual Report had been +purposely postponed to show that no undue dependence was placed even on +indirect appeals to man, much special prayer went up to God, that, +<i>before July 15,</i> 1844, when the public meeting was to be held, He would +so richly supply all need that it might clearly appear that, +notwithstanding these lawful means of informing His servants concerning +the work had for a time not been used, the prayer of faith had drawn +down help from above. As the financial year had closed in May, it would +be more than <i>two years</i> since the previous report had been made to the +public.</p> + +<p>George Müller was jealous for the Lord God of hosts, He desired that +"even the shadow of ground might be cut off for persons to say, 'They +cannot get any more money; and therefore they now publish another +report.'" Hence, while, during the whole progress of the work, he +desired to stand with his Master, without heeding either the favourable +or unfavourable judgments of men, he felt strongly that God would be +much honoured and glorified as the prayer-hearing God if, before the +public had been at all apprised of the situation, an ample supply might +be given. In such case, instead of appearing to ask aid of men, he and +his associates would be able to witness to the church and the world, +God's faithfulness, and offer Him the praise of joyful and thankful +hearts. As he had asked, so was it done unto him. Money and other +supplies came in, and, on the day before the accounts were closed, such +liberal gifts, that there was a <i>surplus of over twenty pounds</i> for the +whole work.</p> + +<a name="13"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER XIII<br> + +FOLLOWING THE PILLAR OF CLOUD AND FIRE</h3></center> + +<p>"THE steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord." (Psalm xxxvii. 23.) +Some one quaintly adds, "Yes, and the <i>stops, too!"</i> The pillar of cloud +and fire is a symbol of that divine leadership which guides both as to +forward steps and intervals of rest. Mr Müller found it blessed to +follow, one step at a time, as God ordered his way, and to stand still +and wait when He seemed to call for a halt.</p> + +<p>At the end of May, 1843, a crisis was reached, which was a new example +of the experiences to which faith is liable in the walk with God; and a +new illustration of the duty and delight of depending upon Him in +everything and for everything, habitually waiting upon Him, and trusting +in Him to remove all hindrances in the way of service.</p> + +<p>Some eighteen months previously, a German lady from Wurtemberg had +called to consult him as to her own plans, and, finding her a +comparative stranger to God, he spoke to her about her spiritual state, +and gave her the first two parts of his Narrative. The perusal of these +pages was so blest to her that she was converted to God, and felt moved +to translate the Narrative into her own tongue as a channel of similar +blessing to other hearts.</p> + +<p>This work of translation she partially accomplished, though somewhat +imperfectly; and the whole occurrence impressed Mr. Müller as an +indication that God was once more leading him in the direction of +Germany, for another season of labour in his native land. Much prayer +deepened his persuasion that he had not misread God's signal, and that +His time had now fully come. He records some of the motives which led to +this conclusion.</p> + +<p>1. First, he yearned to encourage believing brethren who for conscience' +sake had felt constrained to separate themselves from the state +churches, and meet for worship in such conditions as would more accord +with New Testament principles, and secure greater edification.</p> + +<p>2. Being a German himself, and therefore familiar with their language, +customs, and habits of thought, he saw that he was fitted to wield a +larger influence among his fellow countrymen than otherwise.</p> + +<p>3. He was minded to publish his Narrative in his own tongue wherein he +was born, not so much in the form of a mere translation, as of an +independent record of his life's experiences such as would be specially +suited to its new mission.</p> + +<p>4. An effectual door was opened before him, and more widely than ever, +especially at Stuttgart; and although there were many adversaries, they +only made his help the more needful to those whose spiritual welfare was +in peril.</p> + +<p>5. A distinct burden was laid on his heart, as from the Lord, which +prayer, instead of relieving, increased—a burden which he <i>felt</i> +without being able to explain—so that the determination to visit his +native land gave him a certain peace which he did not have when he +thought of remaining at home.</p> + +<p>To avoid mistake, with equal care he records the counter-arguments.</p> + +<p>1. The new orphan house, No. 4, was about to be opened, and his presence +was desirable if not needful.</p> + +<p>2. A few hundred pounds were needed, to be left with his helpers, for +current expenses in his absence.</p> + +<p>3. Money was also required for travelling expenses of himself and his +wife, whose health called for a change.</p> + +<p>4. Funds would be needful to publish four thousand copies of his +Narrative and avoid too high a market-price.</p> + +<p>5. A matron for the new orphan house was not yet found, suitable for the +position.</p> + +<p>In this careful <i>weighing of matters</i> many sincere disciples fail, prone +to be impatient of delay in making decisions. Impulse too often sways, +and self-willed plans betray into false and even disastrous mistakes. +Life is too precious to risk one such failure. There is given us a +promise of deep meaning:</p> + +<p> "The meek will He guide in judgment; + And the meek will He teach His way." + (Psalm xxv. 9.)</p> + +<p>Here is a double emphasis upon <i>meekness</i> as a condition of such +guidance and teaching. <i>Meekness is a real preference for God's will.</i> +Where this holy habit of mind exists, the whole being becomes so open to +impression that, without any <i>outward</i> sign or token, there is an +<i>inward</i> recognition and choice of the will of God. God guides, not by a +visible sign, but by <i>swaying the judgment.</i> To wait before Him, +weighing candidly in the scales every consideration for or against a +proposed course, and in readiness to see which way the preponderance +lies, is a frame of mind and heart in which one is fitted to be guided; +and God touches the scales and makes the balance to sway as He will. +<i>But our hands must be off the scales,</i> otherwise we need expect no +interposition of His, in our favour. To return to the figure with which +this chapter starts, the meek soul simply and humbly waits, and <i>watches +the moving of the Pillar.</i></p> + +<p>One sure sign of this spirit of meekness is the entire <i>restfulness</i> +with which apparent obstacles to any proposed plan or course are +regarded. When waiting and wishing only to know and do God's will, +hindrances will give no anxiety, but a sort of pleasure, as affording a +new opportunity for divine interposition. If it is the Pillar of God we +are following, the Red Sea will not dismay us, for it will furnish but +another scene for the display of the power of Him who can make the +waters to stand up as an heap, and to become a wall about us as we go +through the sea on dry ground.</p> + +<p>Mr. Müller had learned this rare lesson, and in this case he says: <i>"I +had a secret satisfaction in the greatness of the difficulties which +were in the way.</i> So far from being cast down on account of them, they +delighted my soul; for I only desired to do the will of the Lord in this +matter."</p> + +<p>Here is revealed another secret of holy serving. To him who sets the +Lord always before him, and to whom the will of God is his delight, +there pertains a habit of soul which, in advance settles a thousand +difficult and perplexing questions.</p> + +<p>The case in hand is an illustration of the blessing found in such meek +preference for God's pleasure. If it were the will of the Lord that this +Continental tour should be undertaken at that time, difficulties need +not cast him down; for the <i>difficulties could not be of God;</i> and, if +not of God, they should give him no unrest, for, in answer to prayer, +they would all be removed. If, on the other hand, this proposed visit to +the Continent were <i>not</i> God's plan at all, but only the fruit of +self-will; if some secret, selfish, and perhaps subtle motive were +controlling, then indeed hindrances might well be interferences of God, +designed to stay his steps. In the latter case, Mr. Müller rightly +judged that difficulties in the way would naturally vex and annoy him; +that he would not like to look at them, and would seek to remove them by +his own efforts. Instead of giving him an inward satisfaction as +affording God an opportunity to intervene in his behalf, they would +arouse impatience and vexation, as preventing self-will from carrying +out its own purposes.</p> + +<p>Such discriminations have only to be stated to any spiritual mind, to +have their wisdom at once apparent. Any believing child of God may +safely gauge the measure of his surrender to the will of God, in any +matter, by the measure of impatience he feels at the obstacles in the +way; for in proportion as self-will sways him, whatever seems to oppose +or hinder his plans will disturb or annoy; and, instead of quietly +leaving all such hindrances and obstacles to the Lord, to deal with them +as He pleases, in His own way and time, the wilful disciple will, +impatiently and in the energy of the flesh, set himself to remove them +by his own scheming and struggling, and he will brook no delay.</p> + +<p>Whenever Satan acts as a hinderer (1 Thess. ii. 18) the obstacles which +he puts in our way need not dismay us; God permits them to delay or +deter us for the time, only as a test of our patience and faith, and the +satanic hinderer will be met by a divine Helper who will sweep away all +his obstacles, as with the breath of His mouth.</p> + +<p>Mr. Müller felt this, and he waited on God for light and help. But, +after forty days' waiting, the hindrances, instead of decreasing, seemed +rather to increase. Much more money was spent than was sent in; instead +of finding another suitable matron, a sister, already at work, was +probably about to withdraw, so that two vacancies would need to be +filled instead of one. Yet his rest and peace of mind were unbroken. +Being persuaded that he was yielded up to the will of God, faith not +only held him to his purpose, but saw the obstacles already surmounted, +so that he gave thanks in advance. Because Caleb "followed the Lord +fully," even the giant sons of Anak with their walled cities and +chariots of iron had for him no terrors. Their defence was departed from +them, but the Lord was with His believing follower, and made him strong +to drive them out and take possession of their very stronghold as his +own inheritance.</p> + +<p>During this period of patient waiting, Mr. Müller remarked to a +believing sister: "Well, my soul is at peace. The Lord's time is not yet +come; but, when it is come, He will blow away all these obstacles, as +chaff is blown away before the wind." <i>A quarter of an hour later,</i> a +gift of seven hundred pounds became available for the ends in view, so +that three of the five hindrances to this Continental tour were at once +removed. All travelling expenses for himself and wife, all necessary +funds for the home work for two months in advance, and all costs of +publishing the Narrative in German, were now provided. This was on July +12th; and so soon afterward were the remaining impediments out of the +way that, by August 9th, Mr. and Mrs. Müller were off for Germany.</p> + +<p>The trip covered but seven months: and on March 6, 1844, they were once +more in Bristol. During this sojourn abroad no journal was kept, but Mr. +Müller's letters serve the purpose of a record. Rotterdam, Weinheim, +Cologne, Mayence, Stuttgart, Heidelberg, etc., were visited, and Mr. +Müller distributed tracts and conversed with individuals by the way; but +his main work was to expound the Word in little assemblies of believers, +who had separated themselves from the state church on account of what +they deemed errors in teaching, practice, modes of worship, etc.</p> + +<p>The first hour of his stay at Stuttgart brought to him one of the +sharpest trials of faith he had ever thus far experienced. The nature of +it he does not reveal in his journal, but it now transpires that it was +due to the recalling of the seven hundred pounds, the gift of which had +led to his going to Germany. This fact could not at the time be recorded +because the party would feel it a reproach. Nor was this the only test +of faith during his sojourn abroad; in fact so many, so great, so +varied, and so prolonged were some of these trials, as to call into full +exercise all the wisdom and grace which he had received from God, and +whatever lessons he had previously learned in the school of experience +became now of use. Yet not only was his peace undisturbed, but he bears +witness that the conviction so rooted itself in his inmost being that in +all this God's goodness was being shown, that he would have had nothing +different. The greatest trials bore fruit in the fullest blessings and +sometimes in clusters of blessings. It particularly moved him to adoring +wonder and praise to see God's wisdom in having delayed his visit until +the very time when it occurred. Had he gone any earlier he would have +gone too soon, lacking the full experience necessary to confront the +perplexities of his work. When darkness seemed to obscure his way, faith +kept him expectant of light, or at least of guidance in the darkness; +and he found that promise to be literally fulfilled:</p> + +<p>"As thou goest, step by step, the way shall open up before thee." (See +the Hebrew, of Prov. iv. 12.)</p> + +<p>At Stuttgart he found and felt, like Jude, that it was "needful +earnestly to contend for the faith once delivered to the saints." Even +among believers, errors had found far too deep root. Especially was +undue stress laid upon <i>baptism,</i> which was made to occupy a prominence +and importance out of all due proportion of faith. One brother had been +teaching that without it there is no new birth, and that, consequently, +no one could, before baptism, claim the forgiveness of sins; that the +apostles were not born from above until the day of Pentecost, and that +our Lord Himself had not been new-born until His own baptism, and had +thence, for the rest of His mortal life, ceased to be under the law! +Many other fanciful notions were found to prevail, such as that baptism +is the actual death of the old man by drowning, and that it is a +covenant with the believer into which God enters; that it is a sin to +break bread with unbaptized believers or with members of the state +church; and that the bread and the cup used in the Lord's Supper not +only mean but are the very body and blood of the Lord, etc.</p> + +<p>A more serious and dangerous doctrine which it was needful to confront +and confute was what Mr. Müller calls that "awful error," spread almost +universally among believers in that land, that at last "all will be +saved," not-sinful men only, but "even the devils themselves."</p> + +<p>Calmly and courteously, but firmly and courageously, these and kindred +errors were met with the plain witness of the Word. Refutation of false +teaching aroused a spirit of bitterness in opposers of the truth, and, +as is too often the case, faithful testimony was the occasion of +acrimony; but the Lord stood by His servant and so strengthened him that +he was kept both faithful and peaceful.</p> + +<p>One grave practical lack which Mr. Müller sought to remedy was ignorance +of those deeper truths of the Word, which relate to the power and +presence of the Holy Spirit of God in the church, and to the ministry of +saints, one to another, as fellow members in the body of Christ, and as +those to whom that same Spirit divides severally, as He will, spiritual +gifts for service. As a natural result of being untaught in these +important practical matters, believers' meetings had proved rather +opportunities for unprofitable talk than godly edifying which is in +faith. The only hope of meeting such errors and supplying such lack lay +in faithful scripture teaching, and he undertook for a time to act as +the sole teacher in these gatherings, that the word of God might have +free course and be glorified. Afterward, when there seemed to be among +the brethren some proper apprehension of vital spiritual truths, with +his usual consistency and humility he resumed his place as simply a +brother among fellow believers, all of whom had liberty to teach as the +Spirit might lead and guide. There was, however, no shrinking from any +duty or responsibility laid upon him by larger, clearer acquaintance +with truth, or more complete experience of its power. When called by the +voice of his brethren to expound the Word in public assemblies, he +gladly embraced all opportunities for further instruction out of Holy +Scripture and of witness to God. With strong emphasis he dwelt upon the +presiding presence of the Blessed Spirit in all assemblies of saints, +and upon the duty and privilege of leaving the whole conduct of such +assemblies to His divine ordering; and in perfect accord, with such +teaching he showed that the Holy Spirit, if left free to administer all +things, would lead such brethren to speak, at such times and on such +themes as He mighty please; and that, whenever their desires and +preferences were spiritual and not carnal, such choice of the Spirit +would always be in harmony with their own.</p> + +<p>These views of the Spirit's administration in the assemblies of +believers, and of His manifestation in all believers for common profit, +fully accord with scripture teaching. (1 Cor. xii., Romans xii., Ephes. +iv., etc.) Were such views practically held in the church of this day, a +radical revolution would be wrought and a revival of apostolic faith and +primitive church life would inevitably follow. No one subject is perhaps +more misunderstood, or less understood, even among professed believers, +than the person, offices, and functions of the Spirit of God. John Owen, +long since, suggested that the practical test of soundness in the faith, +during the present gospel age, is <i>the attitude of the church toward the +Holy Spirit.</i> If so, the great apostasy cannot be far off, if indeed it +is not already upon us, for there is a shameful ignorance and +indifference prevalent, as to the whole matter of His claim to holy +reverence and obedience.</p> + +<p>In connection with this visit to Germany, a curious misapprehension +existed, to which a religious periodical had given currency, that Mr. +Müller was deputed by the English Baptists to labour among German +Baptists to bring them back to the state church. This rumour was of +course utterly unfounded, but he had no chance to correct it until just +before his return to Britain, as he had not until then heard of it. The +Lord had allowed this false report to spread and had used it to serve +His own ends, for it was due in part to this wrong impression of Mr. +Müller's mission that he was not molested or interfered with by the +officers of the government. Though for months openly and undisguisedly +teaching vital gospel truths among believers who had separated from the +established church, he had suffered no restraint, for, so long as it was +thought that his mission in Germany was to reclaim to the fold of the +state church those who had wandered away, he would of course be liable +to no interference from state officials.</p> + +<p>The Lord went before His servant also in preparing the way for the +publishing of his Narrative, guiding him to a bookseller who undertook +its sale on commission, enabling the author to retain two thousand +copies to give away, while the rest were left to be sold.</p> + +<p>Mr. Müller, about this time, makes special mention of his joy and +comfort in the spiritual blessing attending his work, and the present +and visible good, wrought through the publication of his Narrative. Many +believers had been led to put more faith in the promises of the great +Provider, and unbelievers had been converted by their perusal of the +simple story of the Lord's dealings; and these tidings came from every +quarter where the Narrative had as yet found its way.</p> + +<p>The name of Henry Craik, hitherto affixed to every report together with +George Müller's, appears for the last time in the Report of 1844. This +withdrawal of his name resulted, not from any division of feeling or +diminution of sympathy, but solely from Mr. Craik's conviction that the +honour of being used of God as His instrument in forwarding the great +work of the Scriptural Knowledge Institution belonged solely to George +Müller.</p> + +<p>The trials of faith ceased not although the occasions of praise were so +multiplied. On September 4, 1844, day-dawn, but one farthing was left on +hand, and hundred and forty mouths were to be fed at breakfast!'</p> + +<p>The lack of money and such supplies was, however, only one form of these +tests of faith and incentives to prayer. Indeed he accounted these the +lightest of his burdens, for there were other cares and anxieties that +called for greater exercise of faith resolutely to cast them on Him who, +in exchange for solicitude, gives His own perfect peace. What these +trials were, any thoughtful mind must at once see who remembers how +these many orphans were needing, not only daily supplies of food and +clothing, but education, in mind and in morals; preparation for, and +location in, suitable homes; careful guards about their health and every +possible precaution and provision to prevent disease; also the character +of all helpers must be carefully investigated before they were admitted, +and their conduct carefully watched afterward lest any unworthy or +unqualified party should find a place, or be retained, in the conduct of +the work.</p> + +<p>These and other matters, too many to be individually mentioned, had to +be borne daily to the great Helper, without whose Everlasting Arms they +could not have been carried. And Mr. Müller seeks constantly to impress +on all who read his pages or heard his voice, the perfect +trustworthiness of God. For any and all needs of the work help was +always given, and <i>it never once came too late.</i> However poor, and +however long the suppliant believer waits on God, he never fails to get +help, if he trusts the promises and is in the path of duty. Even the +delay in answered prayer serves a purpose. God permits us to call on Him +while He answers not a word, both to test our faith and importunity, and +to encourage others who hear of His dealings with us.</p> + +<p>And so it was that, whether there were on hand much or little, by God's +grace the founder of these institutions remained untroubled, confident +that deliverance would surely come in the best way and time, not only +with reference to temporal wants, but in all things needful.</p> + +<p>During the history of the Institution thus far, enlargement had been its +law. Mr. Müller's heart grew in capacity for larger service, and his +faith in capacity for firmer confidence, so that while he was led to +attempt greater things for God, he was led also to expect greater things +from God. Those suggestive words of Christ to Nathanael have often +prompted like larger expectations: "Believest thou? thou shalt see +greater things than these." (John i. 50.)</p> + +<p>In the year 1846, <i>the wants of the mission field</i> took far deeper hold +of him than ever before. He had already been giving aid to brethren +abroad, in British Guiana and elsewhere, as well as in fields nearer at +home. But he felt a strong yearning to be used of God more largely in +sending to their fields and supporting in their labours, the chosen +servants of the Lord who were working on a scriptural basis and were in +need of help. He had observed that whenever God had put into his heart +to devise liberal things, He had put into his hand the means to carry +out such liberal purposes; and from this time forth he determined, as +far as God should enable him, to aid brethren of good report, labouring +in word and doctrine, throughout the United Kingdom, who were faithful +witnesses to God and were receiving no regular salary. The special +object he had in view was to give a helping hand to such as for the sake +of conscience and of Christ had relinquished former stipends or worldly +emoluments.</p> + +<p>Whatever enlargement took place in the work, however, it was no sign of +<i>surplus funds.</i> Every department of service or new call of duty had +separate and prayerful consideration. Advance steps were taken only when +and where and so fast as the Pillar moved, and fresh work was often +undertaken at a time when there was a lack rather than an abundance of +money.</p> + +<p>Some who heard of Mr. Müller's absence in Germany inferred plenty of +funds on hand—a conclusion that was neither true nor legitimate. At +times when poverty was most pressing, additional expenditure was not +avoided nor new responsibility evaded if, after much prayer, the Lord +seemed plainly leading in that direction. And it was beautiful to see +how He did not permit any existing work to be embarrassed because at His +bidding new work was Undertaken.</p> + +<p>One great law for all who would be truly led by God's Pillar of cloud +and fire, is to take no step at the bidding of self-will or without the +clear moving of the heavenly Guide. Though the direction be new and the +way seem beset with difficulty, there is never any risk, provided we are +only led of God. Each new advance needs separate and special authority +from Him, and yesterday's guidance is not sufficient for to-day.</p> + +<p>It is important also to observe that, if one branch of the work is in +straits, it is not necessarily a reason for abandoning another form of +service. The work of God depends on Him alone. If the whole tree is His +planting, we need not cut off one limb to save another. The whole body +is His, and, if one member is weak, it is not necessary to cut off +another to make it strong, for the strength of the whole body is the +dependence of every part. In our many-branching service each must get +vitality and vigour from the same source in God. Nevertheless let us not +forget that the <i>stops,</i> as well as the <i>steps,</i> of a good man are +ordered of the Lord. If the work is His work, let Him control it, and, +whether we expand or contract, let it be at His bidding, and a matter of +equal satisfaction to His servant.</p> + +<a name="14"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER XIV<br> + +GOD'S BUILDING: THE NEW ORPHAN HOUSES</h3></center> + +<p>How complex are the movements of God's providence! Some events are +themselves eventful. Like the wheels in Ezekiel's vision—a wheel in the +middle of a wheel,—they involve other issues within their mysterious +mechanism, and constitute epochs of history. Such an epochal event was +the building of the first of the New Orphan Houses on Ashley Down.</p> + +<p>After October, 1845, it became clear to Mr. Müller that the Lord was +leading in this direction. Residents on Wilson Street had raised +objections to the noise made by the children, especially in play hours; +the playgrounds were no longer large enough for so many orphans; the +drainage was not adequate, nor was the situation of the rented houses +favourable, for proper sanitary conditions; it was also desirable to +secure ground for cultivation, and thus supply outdoor work for the +boys, etc. Such were some of the reasons which seemed to demand the +building of a new orphan house; and the conviction steadily gained +ground that the highest well-being of all concerned would be largely +promoted if a suitable site could be found on which to erect a building +adapted to the purpose.</p> + +<p>There were objections to building which were carefully weighed: money in +large sums would be needed; planning and constructing would severely tax +time and strength; wisdom and oversight would be in demand at every +stage of the work; and the question arose whether such permanent +structures befit God's pilgrim people, who have here no continuing city +and believe that the end of all things is at hand.</p> + +<p>Continuance in prayer, however, brought a sense of quiet and restful +conviction that all objections were overbalanced by other and favourable +considerations. One argument seemed particularly weighty: Should God +provide large amounts of money for this purpose, it would still further +illustrate the power of prayer, offered in faith, to command help from +on high. A lot of ground, spacious enough, would, at the outset, cost +thousands of pounds; but why should this daunt a true child of God whose +Father was infinitely rich? Mr. Müller and his helpers sought day by day +to be guided of God, and, as faith fed on this daily bread of contact +with Him, the assurance grew strong that help would come. Shortly Mr. +Müller was as sure of this as though the building already stood before +his eyes, though for five weeks not one penny had been sent in for this +purpose. Meanwhile there went on that searching scrutiny of his own +heart by which he sought to know whether any hidden motive of a selfish +sort was swaying his will; but as strict self-examination brought to +light no conscious purpose but to glorify God, in promoting the good of +the orphans, and provoking to larger trust in God all who witnessed the +work, it was judged to be God's will that he should go forward.</p> + +<p>In November of this year, he was much encouraged by a visit from a +believing brother* who bade him go on in the work, but wisely impressed +on him the need of asking for wisdom from above, at every step, seeking +God's help in showing him the plan for the building, that all details +might accord with the divine mind. On the thirty-sixth day after +specific prayer had first been offered about this new house, on December +10, 1845, Mr. Müller received <i>one thousand pounds</i> for this purpose, +the largest sum yet received <i>in one donation</i> since the work had begun, +March 5, 1834. Yet he was as calm and composed as though the gift had +been only a shilling; having full faith in God, as both guiding and +providing, he records that he would not have been surprised had the +amount been five or ten times greater.</p> + +<p>* Robert C. Chapman, of Barnstaple, yet living—and whom Mr. Müller +cherished as his "oldest friend."</p> + +<p>Three days later, a Christian architect in London voluntarily offered +not only to draught the plans, but gratuitously to superintend the +building! This offer had been brought about in a manner so strange as to +be naturally regarded as a new sign and proof of God's approval and a +fresh pledge of His sure help. Mr. Müller's sister-in-law, visiting the +metropolis, had met this architect; and, finding him much interested to +know more of the work of which he had read in the narrative, she had +told him of the purpose to build; whereupon, without either solicitation +or expectation on her part, this cheerful offer was made. Not only was +this architect not urged by her, but he pressed his proposal, himself, +urged on by his deep interest in the orphan work. Thus, within forty +days, the first thousand pounds had been given in answer to prayer, and +a pious man, as yet unseen and unknown by Mr. Müller, had been led to +offer his services in providing plans for the new building and +superintending its erection. Surely God was moving before His servant.</p> + +<p>For a man, personally penniless, to attempt to erect such a house, on +such a scale, without appeal to man and in sole dependence on God was no +small venture of faith.</p> + +<p>The full risk involved in such an undertaking, and the full force of the +testimony which it has since afforded to a prayer-hearing God, can be +felt only as the full weight of the responsibility is appreciated and +all the circumstances are duly considered.</p> + +<p>First of all, ground must be bought, and it must comprise six or seven +acres, and the site must be in or near Bristol; for Mr. Müller's general +sphere of work was in the city, the orphans and their helpers should be +within reasonable reach of their customary meeting-place, and on many +other accounts such nearness to the city was desirable. But such a site +would cost from two thousand to three thousand pounds.</p> + +<p>Next the building must be constructed, fitted up, and furnished, with +accommodations for three hundred orphans and their overseers, teachers, +and various helpers. However plain the building and its furnishings, the +total cost would reach from three to four times the price of the site.</p> + +<p>Then, the annual cost of keeping such house open and of maintaining such +a large body of inmates would be four or five thousand pounds more.</p> + +<p>Here, then, was a prospective outlay of somewhere between ten thousand +and fifteen thousand pounds, for site and building, with a further +expense of one third as much more every year. No man so poor as George +Müller, if at the same time sane, would ever have <i>thought</i> of such a +gigantic scheme, much less have undertaken to work it out, if his faith +and hope were not fixed on God. Mr. Müller himself confesses that here +lay his whole secret. He was not driven onward by any self-seeking, but +drawn onward by a conviction that he was doing the will of God. When +Constantine was laying out on a vast scale the new capital on the +Bosphorus, he met the misgivings of those about him who wondered at his +audacity, by simply saying, "I am following One who is leading me." +George Müller's scheme was not self-originated. He followed One who was +leading him; and, because confident and conscious of such guidance, he +had only to follow, trust, and wait.</p> + +<p>In proportion as the undertaking was great, he desired God's hand to be +very clearly seen. Hence he forbore even to seem prominent: he issued no +circular, announcing his purpose, and spoke of it only to the few who +were in his councils, and even then only as conversation led in that +direction. He remembered the promise, "I will guide thee with Mine eye," +and looking up to God, he took no step unless the divine glance or beck +made duty "clear as daylight." As he saw the matter, his whole business +was to wait on God in prayer with faith and patience.</p> + +<p>The assurance became doubly sure that <i>God would build for Himself</i> a +large orphan house near Bristol, to show to all, near and far, what a +blessed privilege it is to trust in Him. He desired God Himself so +manifestly to act as that he should be seen by all men to be nothing but +His instrument, passive in His hands. Meanwhile he went on with his +daily search into the Word, where he found instruction so rich, and +encouragement so timely, that the Scriptures seemed written for his +special use—to convey messages to him from above. For example, in the +opening of the Book of Ezra, he saw how God, when His time had fully +come for the return of His exiled people to their own land and for the +rebuilding of His Temple, used Cyrus, an idolatrous king, to issue an +edict, and to provide means for carrying out His own unknown purpose. He +saw also how God stirred up the people to help the returning exiles in +their work; and he said to himself, this same God can and will, in His +own way, supply the money and all the needed help of man, stirring up +the hearts of His own children to aid as He may please.</p> + +<p>The first donations toward the work themselves embody a suggestive +lesson. On December 10th, one thousand pounds had been given in one sum; +twenty days later, fifty pounds more; and the next day, three and +sixpence, followed, the same evening, by a second gift of a thousand +pounds. Shortly after, a little bag, made of foreign seeds, and a flower +wrought of shells, were sent to be sold for the fund; and, in connection +with these last gifts, of very little inherent value, a promise was +quoted, which had been prominently before the giver's mind, and which +brought more encouragement to Mr. Müller than any mere sum of money:</p> + +<p> "Who art thou, O great mountain? + Before Zerubbabel, thou shalt become a plain!" + (Zech. iv. 7.)</p> + +<p>Gifts, however large, were never estimated by intrinsic worth, but as +tokens of God's working in the minds of His people, and of His gracious +working with and through His servant; and, for this reason, a thousand +pounds caused no more sincere praise to God and no more excitement of +mind than the fourpence given subsequently by a poor orphan.</p> + +<p>Specially asking the Lord to go before him, Mr. Müller now began to seek +a suitable <i>site.</i> About four weeks passed in seemingly fruitless +search, when he was strongly impressed that very soon the Lord would +give the ground, and he so told his helpers on the evening of Saturday, +January 31, 1846. Within two days, his mind was drawn to <i>Ashley Down,</i> +where he found lots singularly suited for his needs. Shortly after, he +called twice on the owner, once at his house and again at his office; +but on both occasions failing to find him, he only left a message. He +judged that God's hand was to be seen <i>even in his not finding the man +he sought,</i> and that, having twice failed the same day, he was not to +push the matter as though self-willed, but patiently wait till the +morrow. When he did find the owner, his patience was unexpectedly +rewarded. He confessed that he had spent two wakeful hours in bed, +thinking about his land, and about what reply he should make to Mr. +Müller's inquiry as to its sale for an orphan house; and that he had +determined, if it were applied for, to ask but one hundred and twenty +pounds an acre, instead of two hundred, his previous price.</p> + +<p>The bargain was promptly completed; and thus the Lord's servant, by not +being in a hurry, saved, in the purchase of the site of seven acres, +five hundred and sixty pounds! Mr. Müller had asked the Lord to go +before him, and He had done so in a sense he had not thought of, first +speaking about the matter to the owner, holding his eyes waking till He +had made clear to him, as His servant and steward, what He would have +him do in the sale of that property.*</p> + +<p>* Appendix G.</p> + +<p>Six days after, came the formal offer from the London architect of his +services in surveying, in draughting plans, elevations, sections, and +specifications, and in overseeing the work of construction; and a week +later he came to Bristol, saw the site, and pronounced it in all +respects well fitted for its purpose.</p> + +<p>Up to June 4, 1846, the total sum in hand for the building was a little +more than twenty-seven hundred pounds, a small part only of the sum +needful; but Mr. Müller felt no doubt that in God's own time all that +was required would be given. Two hundred and twelve days he had been +waiting on God for the way to be opened for building, and he resolved to +wait still further until the <i>whole sum</i> was in hand, using for the +purpose only such gifts as were specified or left free for that end. He +also wisely decided that others must henceforth share the burden, and +that he would look out ten brethren of honest report, full of the Holy +Ghost and of wisdom, to act as trustees to hold and administer this +property in God's name. He felt that, as this work was now so enlarging, +and the foundations of a permanent Institution were to be laid, the +Christian public, who would aid in its erection and support, would be +entitled to a representation in its conduct. At such a point as this +many others have made a serious mistake, forfeiting confidence by +administering public benefactions in a private manner and an autocratic +spirit—their own head being the office, and their own pocket the +treasury, of a public and benevolent institution.</p> + +<p>Satan again acted as a hinderer. After the ground for the new orphan +house had been found, bought and paid for, unforeseen obstacles +prevented prompt possession; but Mr. Müller's peace was not disturbed, +knowing even hindrances to be under God's control. If the Lord should +allow one piece of land to be taken from him, it would only be because +He was about to give him one still better; and so the delay only proved +his faith and perfected his patience.</p> + +<p>On July 6th, two thousand pounds were given—twice as large a gift as +had yet come in one donation; and, on January 25, 1847, another like +offering, so that, on July 5th following, the work of building began. +Six months later, after four hundred days of waiting upon God for this +new orphan house, nine thousand pounds had been given in answer to +believing prayer.</p> + +<p>As the new building approached completion, with its three hundred large +windows, and requiring full preparation for the accommodation of about +three hundred and thirty inmates, although above eleven thousand pounds +had been provided, several thousand more were necessary. But Mr. Müller +was not only helped, but far beyond his largest expectations. Up to May +26, 1848, these latter needs existed, and, had but <i>one</i> serious +difficulty remained unremoved, the result must have been failure. But +all the necessary money was obtained, and even more, and all the helpers +were provided for the oversight of the orphans. On June 18, 1849, more +than twelve years after the beginning of the work, the orphans began to +be transferred from the four rented houses on Wilson Street to the new +orphan house on Ashley Down. Five weeks passed before fresh applicants +were received, that everything about the new institution might first be +brought into complete order by some experience in its conduct. By May +26, 1850, however, there were in the house two hundred and seventy-five +children, and the whole number of inmates was three hundred and eight.</p> + +<p>The name—"The New Orphan <i>House"</i> rather than <i>"Asylum"</i>—was chosen to +distinguish it from another institution, near by; and particularly was +it requested that it might never be known as <i>"Mr. Müller's</i> Orphan +House," lest undue prominence be given to one who had been merely God's +instrument in its erection. He esteemed it a sin to appropriate even +indirectly, or allow others to attribute to him, any part of the glory +which belonged solely to Him who had led in the work, given faith and +means for it, and helped in it from first to last. The property was +placed in the hands of eleven trustees, chosen by Mr. Müller, and the +deeds were enrolled in chancery. Arrangements were made that the house +should be open to visitors only on Wednesday afternoons, as about one +hour and a half were necessary to see the whole building.</p> + +<p>Scarcely were the orphans thus housed on Ashley Down, before Mr. +Müller's heart felt enlarged desire that one thousand, instead of three +hundred, might enjoy such privileges of temporal provision and spiritual +instruction; and, before the new year, 1851, had dawned, this yearning +had matured into a purpose. With his uniform carefulness and +prayerfulness, he sought to be assured that he was not following +self-will, but the will of God; and again in the scales of a pious +judgment the reasons for and against were conscientiously weighed. Would +he be going 'beyond his measure,' spiritually, or naturally? Was not the +work, with its vast correspondence and responsibility, already +sufficiently great? Would not a new orphan house for three hundred +orphans cost another fifteen thousand pounds, or, if built for seven +hundred, with the necessary ground, thirty-five thousand? And, even when +built and fitted and filled, would there not be the providing for daily +wants, which is a perpetual care, and cannot be paid for at once like a +site and a building? It would demand eight thousand pounds annual outlay +to provide for another seven hundred little ones. To all objections the +one all-sufficient answer was the all-sufficient God; and, because Mr. +Müller's eye was on His power, wisdom, and riches, his own weakness, +folly, and poverty were forgotten. Another objection was suggested: What +if he should succeed in thus housing and feeding a thousand poor waifs, +what would become of the institution <i>after his death?</i> The reply is +memorable: "My business is, with all my might, to <i>serve my own +generation by the will of God:</i> in so doing I shall best serve the next +generation, should the Lord Jesus tarry." Were such objection valid, it +were as valid against beginning any work likely to outlive the worker. +And Mr. Müller remembered how Francke at Halle had to meet the same +objection when, now over two hundred years ago, he founded the largest +charitable establishment which, up to 1851, existed in the world. But +when, after about thirty years of personal superintendence, Francke was +taken away, his son-in-law, as we have seen, became the director. That +fellow countryman who had spoken to Mr. Müller's soul in 1826, thus +twenty-five years later encouraged him to go forward, to do his own duty +and leave the future to the Eternal God.</p> + +<p>Several reasons are recorded by Mr. Müller as specially influencing +still further advance: the many applications that could not, for want of +room, be accepted; the low moral state of the poorhouses to which these +children of poverty were liable to be sent; the large number of +distressing cases of orphanhood, known to be deserving of help; the +previous experiences of the Lord's gracious leading and of the work +itself; his calmness in view of the proposed expansion; and the +spiritual blessing possible to a larger number of homeless children. But +one reason overtopped all others: an enlarged service to man, attempted +and achieved solely in dependence upon God, would afford a +correspondingly weightier witness to the Hearer of prayer. These +reasons, here recorded, will need no repetition in connection with +subsequent expansions of the work, for, at every new stage of advance, +they were what influenced this servant of God.</p> + +<p>On January 4, 1851, another offering was received, of three thousand +pounds—the largest single donation up to that date—which, being left +entirely to his own disposal, encouraged him to go forward.</p> + +<p>Again, he kept his own counsel. Up to January 25th, he had not +mentioned, even to his own wife, his thought of a further forward +movement, feeling that, to avoid all mistakes, he must first of all get +clear light from God, and not darken it by misleading human counsel. Not +until the Twelfth Report of the Scriptural Knowledge Institution was +issued, was the public apprised of his purpose, with God's help to +provide for seven hundred more needy orphans.</p> + +<p>Up to October 2, 1851, only about eleven hundred pounds had been given +directly toward the second proposed orphan house, and, up to May 26th +following, a total of some thirty-five hundred pounds. But George Müller +remembered one who, "after he had patiently endured, obtained the +promise." He had waited over two years before all means needful for the +first house had been supplied, and could wait still longer, if so God +willed it, for the answers to present prayers for means to build a +second.</p> + +<p>After waiting upwards of nineteen months for the building fund for the +second house, and receiving, almost daily, something in answer to +prayer, on January 4, 1853, he had intimation that there were about to +be paid him, as <i>the joint donation of several Christians, eighty-one +hundred pounds,</i> of which he appropriated six thousand for the building +fund. Again he was not surprised nor excited, though exceeding joyful +and triumphant in God. Just two years previous, when recording the +largest donation yet received,—three thousand pounds,—he had recorded +also his expectation of still greater things; and now a donation between +two and three times as large was about to come into his hands. It was +not the amount of money, however, that gave him his overflowing delight, +but the fact that not in vain had he made his boast in God.</p> + +<p>As now some four hundred and eighty-three orphans were waiting for +admission, he was moved to pray that soon the way might be opened for +the new building to be begun. James i. 4 was deeply impressed upon him +as the injunction now to be kept before him: "But let patience have her +perfect work, that ye may be perfect, and entire, wanting nothing."</p> + +<p>On May 26, 1853, the total sum available for the new building was about +twelve thousand five hundred pounds, and over five hundred orphans had +applied. Twice this sum would be needed, however, before the new house +could be begun without risk of debt.</p> + +<p>On January 8, 1855, several Christian friends united in the promise that +fifty-seven hundred pounds should be paid to him for the work of God, +and of this, thirty-four hundred was by him set apart for the building +fund. As there were now between seven hundred and eight hundred +applicants, it seemed of God that, at least, a site should be secured +for another new orphan house; and a few weeks later Mr. Müller applied +for the purchase of two fields adjoining the site of the first house. As +they could not, however, be sold at that time, the only resource was to +believe that the Lord had other purposes, or would give better ground +than that on which His servant had set his mind.</p> + +<p>Further thought and prayer suggested to him that two houses could be +built instead of one, and located on each side of the existing building, +upon the ground already owned. Accordingly it was determined to begin, +on the south side, the erection of a house to accommodate four hundred +orphans, there being money in the bank, or soon to be available, +sufficient to build, fit up, and furnish it.</p> + +<p>On May 26, 1856, nearly thirty thousand pounds were in hand for the new +Orphan House No. 2; and on November 12, 1857, this house was opened for +four hundred additional orphans, and there was a balance of nearly +twenty-three hundred pounds. The God who provided the building furnished +the helpers, without either difficulty or advertising.</p> + +<p>With the beginning of the new year, Mr. Müller began to lay aside six +hundred pounds as the first of the appropriations for the <i>third</i> orphan +house, and the steps which led to the accomplishment of this work, also, +were identical with those taken hitherto. A purchase was made of +additional ground, adjoining the two buildings; and, as there were so +many applicants and the cost of providing for a larger number would be +but little more, it was determined to build so as to receive four +hundred and fifty instead of three hundred, rejoicing that, in every +enlargement of the work, it would be more apparent how much one poor +man, simply trusting in God, can bring about by prayer; and that thus +other children of God might be led to carry on the work of God in +dependence solely on Him, and generally to trust Him more in all +circumstances and positions.</p> + +<p>Orphan House No. 3 was opened March 12, 1862, and with over ten thousand +pounds in hand for current expenses. All the helpers needed had not then +been supplied, but this delay was only a new incentive to believing +prayer: and, instead of <i>once, thrice,</i> a day, God was besought to +provide suitable persons. One after another was thus added, and in no +case too late, so that the reception of children was not hindered nor +was the work embarrassed.</p> + +<p>Still further enlargement seemed needful, for the same reasons as +previously. There was an increasing demand for accommodation of new +applicants, and past experience of God's wondrous dealings urged him +both to attempt and to expect greater things. Orphan Houses Nos. 4 and 5 +began to loom up above his horizon of faith. By May 26, 1862, he had +over sixty-six hundred pounds to apply on their erection. In November, +1864, a large donation of five thousand pounds was received from a donor +who would let neither his name nor residence be known, and by this time +about twenty-seven thousand pounds had thus accumulated toward the fifty +thousand required. As more than half the requisite sum was thus in hand, +the purchase of a site might safely be made and the foundations for the +buildings be laid. Mr. Müller eyes had, for years, been upon land +adjoining the three houses already built, separated from them only by +the turnpike road. He called to see the agent, and found that the +property was subject to a lease that had yet two years to run. This +obstacle only incited to new prayer, but difficulties seemed to +increase: the price asked was too high, and the Bristol Waterworks +Company was negotiating for this same piece of land for reservoir +purposes. Nevertheless God successively removed all hindrances, so that +the ground was bought and conveyed to the trustees in March, 1865; and, +after the purchase-money was paid, about twenty-five thousand pounds yet +remained for the structures. Both the cost and the inconvenience of +building would be greatly lessened by erecting both houses at the same +time; and God was therefore asked for ample means speedily to complete +the whole work.</p> + +<p>In May, 1866, over thirty-four thousand pounds being at Mr. Müller's +disposal, No. 4 was commenced; and in January following, No. 5 also. Up +to the end of March, 1867, over fifty thousand pounds had been supplied, +leaving but six thousand more needful to fit and furnish the two +buildings for occupancy. By the opening of February, 1868. fifty-eight +thousand pounds in all had been donated; so that, on November 5, 1868, +new Orphan House No. 4, and on January 6, 1870, No. 5, were thrown open, +a balance of several thousand pounds remaining for general purposes. +Thus, early in 1870, the orphan work had reached its complete outfit, in +five large buildings on Ashley Down with accommodations for two thousand +orphans and for all needed teachers and assistants.</p> + +<p>Thus have been gathered, into one chapter, the facts about the erection +of this great monument to a prayer-hearing God on Ashley Down, though +the work of building covered so many years. Between the first decision +to build, in 1845, and the opening of the third house, in 1862, nearly +seventeen years had elapsed, and before No. 5 was opened, in 1870, +twenty-five years. The work was one in its plan and purpose. At each new +stage it supplies only a wider application and illustration of the same +laws of life and principles of conduct, as, from the outset of the work +in Bristol, had with growing power controlled George Müller. His one +supreme aim was the glory of God; his one sole resort, believing prayer; +his one trusted oracle, the inspired Word; and his one divine Teacher, +the Holy Spirit. One step taken in faith and prayer had prepared for +another; one act of trust had made him bolder to venture upon another, +implying a greater apparent risk and therefore demanding more implicit +trust. But answered prayer was rewarded faith, and every new risk only +showed that there was no risk in confidently leaning upon the truth and +faithfulness of God.</p> + +<p>One cannot but be impressed, in visiting the orphan houses, with several +prominent features, and first of all their magnitude. They are very +spacious, with about seventeen hundred large windows, and accommodations +for over two thousand inmates. They are also very substantial, being +built of stone and made to last. They are scrupulously plain; utility +rather than beauty seems conspicuously stamped upon them, within and +without. Economy has been manifestly a ruling law in their construction; +the furniture is equally unpretentious and unostentatious; and, as to +garniture, there is absolutely none. To some few, they are almost too +destitute of embellishment, and Mr. Müller has been blamed for not +introducing some aesthetic features which might relieve this bald +utilitarianism and serve to educate the taste of these orphans.</p> + +<p>To all such criticisms, there are two or three adequate answers. First, +Mr. Müller subordinated everything to his one great purpose, the +demonstration of the fact that the Living God is the Hearer of prayer. +Second, he felt himself to be the steward of God's property, and he +hesitated to spend one penny on what was not necessary to the frugal +carrying on of the work of God. He felt that all that could be spared +without injury to health, a proper mental training, and a thorough +scriptural and spiritual education, should be reserved for the relief of +the necessities of the poor and destitute elsewhere. And again, he felt +that, as these orphans were likely to be put at service in plain homes, +and compelled to live frugally, any surroundings which would accustom +them to indulge refined tastes, might by contrast make them discontented +with their future lot. And so he studied to promote simply their health +and comfort, and to school them to contentment when the necessities of +life were supplied.</p> + +<p>But, more than this, a moment's serious thought will show that, had he +surrounded them with those elegancies which elaborate architecture and +the other fine arts furnish, he might have been even more severely +criticised. He would have been spending the gifts of the poor who often +sorely denied themselves for the sake of these orphans, to purchase +embellishments or secure decorations which, if they had adorned the +humble homes of thousands of donors, would have made their gifts +impossible. When we remember how many offerings, numbering tens of +thousands, were, like the widow's mites, very small in themselves, yet, +relatively to ability, very large, it will be seen how incongruous it +would have been to use the gifts, saved only by limiting even the wants +of the givers, to buy for the orphans what the donors could not and +would not afford for themselves.</p> + +<p>Cleanness, neatness, method, and order, however, everywhere reign, and +honest labour has always had, at the orphan houses, a certain dignity. +The tracts of land, adjoining the buildings, are set apart as +vegetable-gardens, where wholesome exercise is provided for the orphan +boys, and, at the same time, work that helps to provide daily food, and +thus train them in part to self-support.</p> + +<p>Throughout these houses studious care is exhibited, as to methodical +arrangement. Each child has a square and numbered compartment for +clothes, six orphans being told off, at a time, in each section, to take +charge. The boys have each three suits, and the girls, five dresses +each, the girls being taught to make and mend their own garments. In the +nursery, the infant children have books and playthings to occupy and +amuse them, and are the objects of tender maternal care. Several +children are often admitted to the orphanage from one family, in order +to avoid needless breaking of household ties by separation. The average +term of residence is about ten years, though some orphans have been +there for seventeen.</p> + +<p>The daily life is laid out with regularity and goes on like clockwork in +punctuality. The children rise at six and are expected to be ready at +seven, the girls for knitting and the boys for reading, until eight +o'clock, when breakfast is served. Half an hour later there is a brief +morning service, and the school begins at ten. Half an hour of +recreation on the playground prepares for the one-o'clock dinner, and +school is resumed, until four; then comes an hour and a half of play or +outdoor exercise, a half-hour service preceding the six-o'clock meal. +Then the girls ply the needle, and the boys are in school, until +bedtime, the younger children going to rest at eight, and the older, at +nine. The food is simple, ample, and nutritious, consisting of bread, +oatmeal, milk, soups, meat, rice, and vegetables. Everything is adjusted +to one ultimate end; to use Mr. Müller's own words: "We aim at this: +that, if any of them do not turn out well, temporally or spiritually, +and do not become useful members of society, it shall not at least be +<i>our</i> fault." The most thorough and careful examination of the whole +methods of the institution will only satisfy the visitor that it will +not be the fault of those who superintend this work, if the orphans are +not well fitted, body and soul, for the work of life, and are not +prepared for a blessed immortality.</p> + +<center><img src="images/gmullerfive.jpg" +alt="Five New Orphan Houses"></center> +<a name="15"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER XV<br> + +THE MANIFOLD GRACE OF GOD</h3></center> + +<p>SOME one has quaintly said, in commenting upon the Twenty-third Psalm, +that "the coach in which the Lord's saints ride has not only a driver, +but two footmen"—<i>"goodness and mercy shall follow me."</i></p> + +<p>Surely these two footmen of the Lord, in their celestial livery of +grace, followed George Müller all the days of his life. Wonderful as is +the story of the building of those five orphan houses on Ashley Down, +many other events and experiences no less showed the goodness and mercy +of God, and must not be unrecorded in these pages, if we are to trace, +however imperfectly, His gracious dealings; and having, by one +comprehensive view, taken in the story of the orphan homes, we may +retrace our steps to the year when the first of these houses was +planned, and, following another path, look at Mr. Müller's personal and +domestic life.</p> + +<p>He himself loved to trace the Lord's goodness and mercy, and he saw +abundant proofs that they had followed him. A few instances may be +given, from different departments of experience, as representative +examples.</p> + +<p>The Lord's tender care was manifest as to his beloved daughter Lydia. It +became clear in the year 1843, that, both for the relief of the mother +and the profit of the daughter, it would be better that Lydia should be +taught elsewhere than at home; and in answer to prayer, her father was +divinely directed to a Christian sister, whose special gifts in the way +of instructing and training children were manifestly from the Spirit, +who divides unto all believers severally as He will. She seemed to be +marked of God, as the woman to whom was to be intrusted the responsible +task of superintending the education of Lydia. Mr. Müller both expected +and desired to pay for such training, and asked for the account, which +in the first instance he paid, but the exact sum was returned to him +anonymously; and, for the six remaining years of his daughter's stay, he +could get no further bills for her schooling. Thus God provided for the +board and education of this only child, not only without cost to her +parents, but to their intense satisfaction as being under the true +"nurture and admonition of the Lord;" for while at this school, in +April, 1846, Lydia found peace in believing, and began that beautiful +life in the Lord Jesus Christ, that, for forty-four years afterward, so +singularly exhibited His image.</p> + +<p>Many Christian parents have made the fatal mistake of intrusting their +children's education to those whose gifts were wholly intellectual and +not spiritual, and who have misled the young pupils entrusted to their +care, into an irreligious or infidel life, or, at best, a career of mere +intellectualism and worldly ambition. In not a few instances, all the +influences of a pious home have been counteracted by the atmosphere of a +school which, if not godless, has been without that fragrance of +spiritual devoutness and consecration which is indispensable to the true +training of impressible children during the plastic years when character +is forming for eternity!</p> + +<p>Goodness and mercy followed Mr. and Mrs. Müller conspicuously in their +sojourn in Germany in 1845, which covered about three months, from July +19th to October 11th.</p> + +<p>God plainly led to Stuttgart, where brethren had fallen into grievous +errors and needed again a helping hand. When the strong impression laid +hold of Mr. Müller, more than two months before his departure for the +Continent, that he was to return there for a season, he began definitely +to pray for means to go with, on May 3rd, and, within a <i>quarter hour</i> +after, five hundred pounds were received, the donor specifying that the +money was given for all expenses needful, "preparatory to, and attendant +upon" this proposed journey. The same goodness and mercy followed all +his steps while abroad. Provision was made, in God's own strange way, +for suitable lodgings in Stuttgart, at a time when the city was +exceptionally crowded, a wealthy retired surgeon, who had never before +rented apartments, being led to offer them. All Mr. Müller's labours +were attended with blessing: during part of the time he held as many as +eight meetings a week; and he was enabled to publish eleven tracts in +German, and judiciously to scatter over two hundred and twenty thousand +of them, as well as nearly four thousand of his Narrative, and yet evade +interference from the police.</p> + +<p>One experience of this sojourn abroad should have special mention for +the lesson it suggests, both in charity for others' views and loving +adaptation to circumstances. A providential opening occurred to address +meetings of about one hundred and fifty members of the state church. In +his view the character of such assemblies was not wholly conformed to +the Scripture pattern, and hence did not altogether meet his approval; +but such opportunity was afforded to bear testimony for the truth's +sake, and to exhibit Christian unity upon essentials, for love's sake, +that he judged it of the Lord that he should enter this open door. Those +who knew Mr. Müller but little, but knew his positive convictions and +uncompromising loyalty to them, might suspect that he would have little +forbearance with even minor errors, and would not bend himself from his +stern attitude of inflexibility to accommodate himself to those who were +ensnared by them. But those who knew him better, saw that he held fast +the form of sound words with faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. +Like Paul, ever ready to be made all things to all men that by all means +he might save some, in his whole character and conduct nothing shone +more radiantly beautiful, than Love. He felt that he who would lift up +others must bow himself to lay hold on them; that to help brethren we +must bear with them, not insisting upon matters of minor importance as +though they were essential and fundamental. Hence his course, instead of +being needlessly repellant, was tenderly conciliatory; and it was a +conspicuous sign of grace that, while holding his own views of truth and +duty so positively and tenaciously, the intolerance of bigotry was so +displaced by the forbearance of charity that, when the Lord so led and +circumstances so required, he could conform for a time to customs whose +propriety he doubted, without abating either the earnestness of his +conviction or the integrity of his testimony.</p> + +<p>God's goodness and mercy were seen in the fact that, whenever more +liberal things were devised for Him, He responded in providing liberally +means to carry out such desires. This was abundantly illustrated not +only in the orphan work, but in the history of the Scriptural Knowledge +Institution; when, for years together, the various branches of this work +grew so rapidly, until the point of full development was reached. The +time indeed came when, in some departments, it pleased God that +contraction should succeed expansion, but even here goodness ruled, for +it was afterward seen that it was because <i>other brethren</i> had been led +to take up such branches of the Lord's work, in all of which +developments Mr. Müller as truly rejoiced as though it had been his work +alone that was honoured of God.</p> + +<p>The aiding of brethren in the mission fields grew more and more dear to +his heart, and the means to indulge his unselfish desires were so +multiplied that, in 1846, he found, on reviewing the history of the +Lord's dealings, that he had been enabled to expend about <i>seven times</i> +as much of late years as previously. It may here be added, again by way +of anticipation, that when, nineteen years later, in 1865, he sat down +to apportion to such labourers in the Lord as he was wont to assist, the +sums he felt it desirable to send to each, he found before him the names +of <i>one hundred and twenty-two</i> such! Goodness and mercy indeed! Here +was but one branch of his work, and yet to what proportions and +fruitfulness it had grown! He needed four hundred and sixty-six pounds +to send them to fill out his appropriations, and he lacked ninety-two of +this amount. He carried the lack to the Lord, and <i>that evening</i> +received five pounds, and the <i>next morning</i> a hundred more, and a +further "birthday memorial" of fifty, so that he had in all thirty-seven +more than he had asked.</p> + +<p>What goodness and mercy followed him in the strength he ever had to bear +the heavy loads of care incident to his work! The Lord's coach bore him +and his burdens together. Day by day his gracious Master preserved his +peace unbroken, though disease found its way into this large family, +though fit homes and work must be found for outgoing orphans, and fit +care and training for incoming orphans; though crises were constantly +arising and new needs constantly recurring, grave matters daily demanded +prayer and watching, and perpetual diligence and vigilance were needful; +for the Lord was his Helper, and carried all his loads.</p> + +<p>During the winter of 1846-7 there was a peculiar season of dearth. Would +God's goodness and mercy fail? There were those who looked on, more than +half incredulous, saying to themselves if not to others, "I wonder how +it is now with Mr. Müller and his orphans! If he is able to provide for +them now as he has been, we will say nothing." But all through this time +of widespread want his witness was, "We lack nothing: God helps us." +Faith led when the way was too dark for sight; in fact the darker the +road the more was the Hand felt that leads the blind by a way they know +not. <i>They went through that winter as easily as through any other from +the beginning of the work!</i></p> + +<p>Was it no sign that God's 'footmen' followed George Müller that the work +never ceased to be both a work of faith and of prayer? that no +difficulties or discouragements, no successes or triumphs, ever caused +for an hour a departure from the sublime essential principles on which +the work was based, or a diversion from the purpose for which it had +been built up?</p> + +<p>We have heard it said of a brother, much honoured of God in beginning a +work of faith, that, when it had grown to greater proportions, he seemed +to change its base to that of a business scheme. How it glorifies God +that the holy enterprise, planted in Bristol in 1834, has known no such +alteration in its essential features during all these years! Though the +work grew, and its needs with it, until the expenses were twofold, +threefold, fourfold, and, at last, seventyfold what they were when that +first Orphan House was opened in Wilson Street, there has been no +<i>change of base,</i> never any looking to man for patronage or support, +never any dependence upon a regular income or fixed endowment. God has +been, all through these years, as at first, the sole Patron and +Dependence. The Scriptural Knowledge Institution has not been wrecked on +the rocks of financial failure, nor has it even drifted away from its +original moorings in the safe anchorage-ground of the Promises of +Jehovah.</p> + +<p>Was it not goodness and mercy that kept George Müller ever grateful as +well as faithful! He did not more constantly feel his need of faith and +prayer than his duty and privilege of abounding joy and praise. Some +might think that, after such experiences of answered prayer, one would +be less and less moved by them, as the novelty was lost in the +uniformity of such interpositions. But no. When, in June, 1853, at a +time of sore need, the Lord sent, in one sum, three hundred pounds, he +could scarcely contain his triumphant joy in God. He walked up and down +his room for a long time, his heart overflowing and his eyes too, his +mouth filled with laughter and his voice with song, while he gave +himself afresh to the faithful Master he served. God's blessings were to +him always new and fresh. Answered prayers never lost the charm of +novelty; like flowers plucked fresh every hour from the gardens of God, +they never got stale, losing none of their beauty or celestial +fragrance.</p> + +<p>And what goodness and mercy was it that never suffered prayerfulness and +patience to relax their hold, either when answers seemed to come fast +and thick like snow-flakes, or when the heavens seemed locked up and +faith had to wait patiently and long! Every day brought new demands for +continuance in prayer. In fact, as Mr. Müller testifies, the only +difference between latter and former days was that the difficulties were +greater in proportion as the work was larger. But he adds that this was +to be expected, for the Lord gives faith for the very purpose of trying +it for the glory of His own name and the good of him who has the faith, +and it is by these very trials that trust learns the secret of its +triumphs.</p> + +<p>Goodness and mercy not only guided but also <i>guarded</i> this servant of +God. God's footmen bore a protecting shield which was always over him. +Amid thousands of unseen perils, occasionally some danger was known, +though generally after it was passed. While at Keswick labouring in +1847, for example, a man, taken deranged while lodging in the same +house, shot himself. It afterward transpired that he had an impression +that Mr. Müller had designs on his life, and had he met Mr. Müller +during this insane attack he would probably have shot him with the +loaded pistol he carried about on his person.</p> + +<p>The pathway of this man of God sometimes led through deep waters of +affliction, but goodness and mercy still followed, and held him up. In +the autumn of 1852, his beloved brother-in-law, Mr. A. N. Groves, came +back from the East Indies, very ill; and in May of the next year, after +blessed witness for God, he fell asleep at Mr. Müller's house. To him +Mr. Müller owed much through grace at the outset of his labours in 1829. +By his example his faith had been stimulated and helped when, with no +visible support or connection with any missionary society, Mr. Groves +had gone to Baghdad with wife and children, for the sake of mission work +in this far-off field, resigning a lucrative practice of about fifteen +hundred pounds a year. The tie between these men was very close and +tender and the loss of this brother-in-law gave keen sorrow.</p> + +<p>In July following, Mr. and Mrs. Müller went through a yet severer trial. +Lydia, the beloved daughter and only child,—born in 1832 and new-born +in 1846, and at this time twenty years old and a treasure without +price,—was taken ill in the latter part of June, and the ailment +developed into a malignant typhoid which, two weeks later, brought her +to the gates of death. These parents had to face the prospect of being +left childless. But faith triumphed and prayer prevailed. Their darling +Lydia was spared to be, for many years to come, a blessing beyond words, +not only to them and to her future husband, but to many others in a +wider circle of influence. Mr. Müller found, in this trial, a special +proof of God's goodness and mercy, which he gratefully records, in the +growth in grace, evidenced in his entire and joyful acquiescence in the +Father's will, when, with such a loss apparently before him, his +confidence was undisturbed that all things would work together for good. +He could not but contrast with this experience of serenity, that broken +peace and complaining spirit with which he had met a like trial in +August, 1831, twenty-one years before. How, like a magnet among steel +filings, the thankful heart finds the mercies and picks them out of the +black dust of sorrow and suffering!</p> + +<p>The second volume of Mr. Müller's Narrative closes with a paragraph in +which he formally disclaims as impudent presumption and pretension all +high rank as a miracle-worker, and records his regret that any work, +based on scriptural promises and built on the simple lines of faith and +prayer, should be accounted either phenomenal or fanatical.</p> + +<p>The common ways of accounting for its success would be absurdly +ridiculous and amusing were they not so sadly unbelieving. Those who +knew little or nothing, either of the exercise of faith or the +experience of God's faithfulness, resorted to the most God-dishonouring +explanations of the work. Some said: "Mr. Müller is a foreigner; his +methods are so novel as to attract attention." Others thought that the +"Annual Reports brought in the money," or suggested that he had "a +<i>secret treasure."</i> His quiet reply was, that his being a foreigner +would be more likely to repel than to attract confidence; that the +novelty would scarcely avail him after more than a score of years; that +other institutions which issued reports did not always escape want and +debt; but, as to the secret treasure to which he was supposed to have +access, he felt constrained to confess that there was <i>more in that +supposition than the objectors were aware of.</i> He had indeed a Treasury, +inexhaustible—in the promises of a God unchangeably faithful—from +which he admits that he had already in 1856 drawn for twenty-two years, +and in all over one hundred and thirteen thousand pounds. As to the +Reports, it may be worth while to notice that he never but once in his +life advertised the public of any need, and that was the <i>need of more +orphans</i>—more to care for in the name of the Lord—a single and +singular ease of advertising, by which he sought not to increase his +<i>income,</i> but his <i>expenditure</i>—not asking the public to aid him in +supporting the needy, but to increase the occasion of his outlay!</p> + +<p>So far was he from depending upon any such sources of supply as the +unbelieving world might think, that it was in the drying up of all such +channels that he found the opportunity of his faith and of God's power. +The visible treasure was often so small that it was reduced to nothing, +but the invisible Treasure was God's riches in glory, and could be drawn +from without limit. This it was to which he looked alone, and in which +he felt that he had a river of supply that can never run dry.*</p> + +<p>* Appendix H.</p> + +<p>The orphan work had, to Mr. Müller, many charms which grew on him as he +entered more fully into it. While his main hope was to be the means of +spiritual health to these children, he had the joy of seeing how God +used these homes for the promotion of their physical welfare also, and, +in cases not a few, for the entire renovation of their weak and diseased +bodies. It must be remembered that most of them owed their orphan +condition to that great destroyer, Consumption. Children were often +brought to the orphan houses thoroughly permeated by the poison of bad +blood, with diseased tendencies, and sometimes emaciated and +half-starved, having had neither proper food nor medical care.</p> + +<p>For example, in the spring of 1855, four children from five to nine +years old, and of one family, were admitted to the orphanage, all in a +deplorable state from lack of both nursing and nutrition. It was a +serious question whether they should be admitted at all, as such cases +tended to turn the institution into a hospital, and absorb undue care +and time. But to dismiss them seemed almost inhuman, certainly +<i>inhumane.</i> So, trusting in God, they were taken in and cared for with +parental love. A few weeks later these children were physically +unrecognizable, so rapid had been the improvement in health, and +probably there were with God's blessing four graves less to be dug.</p> + +<p>The trials incident to the moral and spiritual condition of the orphans +were even greater, however, than those caused by ill health and +weakness. When children proved incorrigibly bad, they were expelled, +lest they should corrupt others, for the institution was not a +<i>reformatory,</i> as it was not a <i>hospital.</i> In 1849, a boy, of less than +eight years, had to be sent away as a confirmed liar and thief, having +twice run off with the belongings of other children and gloried in his +juvenile crimes. Yet the forbearance exercised even in his case was +marvelously godlike, for, during over five years, he had been the +subject of private admonitions and prayers and all other methods of +reclamation; and, when expulsion became the last resort, he was solemnly +and with prayer, before all the others, sent away from the orphan house, +that if possible such a course might prove a double blessing, a remedy +to him and a warning to others; and even then this young practised +sinner was followed, in his expulsion, by loving supplication.</p> + +<p>Towards the end of November, 1857, it was found that a serious leak in +the boiler of the heating apparatus of house No. 1 would make repairs at +once necessary, and as the boilers were encased in bricks and a new +boiler might be required, such repairs must consume time. Meanwhile how +could three hundred children, some of them very young and tender, be +kept warm? Even if gas-stoves could be temporarily set up, chimneys +would be needful to carry off the impure air; and no way of heating was +available during repairs, even if a hundred pounds were expended to +prevent risk of cold. Again Mr. Müller turned to the Living God, and, +trusting in Him, decided to have the repairs begun. A day or so before +the fires had to be put out, a bleak north wind set in. The work could +no longer be delayed; yet weather, prematurely cold for the season, +threatened these hundreds of children with hurtful exposure. The Lord +was boldly appealed to. "Lord, these are <i>Thy</i> orphans: be pleased to +change this north wind into a south wind, and give the workmen a mind to +work that the job may be speedily done."</p> + +<p>The evening before the repairs actually began, the cold blast was still +blowing; but <i>on that day a south wind blew, and the weather was so mild +that no fire was needful!</i> Not only so, but, as Mr. Müller went into the +cellar with the overseer of the work, to see whether the repairs could +in no way be expedited, he heard him say, in the hearing of the men, +"they will work late this evening, and come very early again to-morrow." +<i>"We would rather, sir,"</i> was the reply, <i>"work all night."</i> And so, +within about thirty hours, the fire was again burning to heat the water +in the boiler; and, until the apparatus was again in order, that +merciful soft south wind had continued to blow. Goodness and mercy were +following the Lord's humble servant, made the more conspicuous by the +crises of special trial and trouble.</p> + +<p>Every new exigency provoked new prayer and evoked new faith. When, in +1862, several boys were ready to be apprenticed, and there were no +applications such as were desired, prayer was the one resort, as +advertising would tend to bring applications from masters who sought +apprentices for the sake of the premium. But every one of the eighteen +boys was properly bound over to a Christian master, whose business was +suitable and who would receive the lad into his own family.</p> + +<p>About the same time one of the drains was obstructed which runs about +eleven feet underground. When three holes had been dug and as many +places in the drain tapped in vain, prayer was offered that in the +fourth case the workmen might be guided to the very spot where the +stoppage existed—and the request was literally answered.</p> + +<p>Three instances of marked deliverance, in answer to prayer, are +specially recorded for the year between May 26, 1864, and the same date +in 1865, which should not be passed by without at least a mention.</p> + +<p>First, in the great drought of the summer of 1864, when the fifteen +large cisterns in the three orphan houses were empty, and the nine deep +wells, and even the good spring which had never before failed, were +almost all dry. Two or three thousand gallons of water were daily +required, and daily prayer was made to the God of the rain. See how God +provided, while pleased to withhold the supply from above! A farmer, +near by, supplied, from his larger wells, about half the water needful, +the rest being furnished by the half-exhausted wells on Ashley Down; +and, when he could no longer spare water, without a day's interval, +another farmer offered a supply from a brook which ran through his +fields, and thus there was abundance until the rains replenished +cisterns and wells.*</p> + +<p>* About twenty years later the Bristol Water Works Co. introduced pipes +and thus a permanent and unfailing supply.</p> + +<p>Second, when, for three years, scarlet and typhus fevers and smallpox, +being prevalent in Bristol and the vicinity threatened the orphans, +prayer was again made to Him who is the God of health as well as of +rain. There was no case of scarlet or typhus fever during the whole +time, though smallpox was permitted to find an entrance into the +smallest of the orphan houses. Prayer was still the one resort. The +disease spread to the other houses, until at one time fifteen were ill +with it. The cases, however, were mercifully light, and the Lord was +besought to allow the epidemic to spread <i>no further.</i> Not another child +was taken; and when, after nine months, the disease altogether +disappeared, not one child had died of it, and only one teacher or adult +had had an attack, and that was very mild. What ravages the disease +might have made among the twelve hundred inmates of these orphan houses, +had it then prevailed as later, in 1872!</p> + +<p>Third, tremendous gales visited Bristol and neighbourhood in January, +1865. The roofs of the orphan houses were so injured as to be laid open +in at least twenty places, and large panes of glass were broken. The day +was Saturday, and no glazier and slater could be had before Monday. So +the Lord of wind and weather was besought to protect the exposed +property during the interval. The wind calmed down, and the rain was +restrained until midday of Wednesday, when the repairs were about +finished, but heavy rainfalls drove the slaters from the roof. One +exposed opening remained and much damage threatened; but, in answer to +prayer, the rain was stayed, and the work resumed. No damage had been +done while the last opening was unrepaired for it had exposed the +building from the <i>south,</i> while the rain came from the <i>north.</i></p> + +<p>Mr. Müller records these circumstances with his usual particularity, as +part of his witness to the Living God, and to the goodness and mercy +that closely and continually followed him.</p> + +<p>During the next year, 1865-6, scarlet fever broke out in the orphanage. +In all thirty-nine children were ill, but all recovered. Whooping-cough +also made its appearance; but though, during that season, it was not +only very prevalent but very malignant in Bristol, in all the three +houses there were but seventeen cases, and the only fatal one was that +of a little girl with constitutionally weak lungs.</p> + +<p>During this same year, however, the Spirit of God wrought mightily among +the girls, as in the previous year among the boys, so that over one +hundred became deeply earnest seekers after salvation; and so, even in +tribulation, consolation abounded in Christ. Mr. Müller and his wife and +helpers now implored God to deepen and broaden this work of His Spirit. +Towards the end of the year closing in May, 1866, Emma Bunn, an orphan +girl of seventeen, was struck with consumption. Though, for fourteen +years, she had been under Mr. Müller's care, she was, in this dangerous +illness, still careless and indifferent; and, as she drew near to death, +her case continued as hopeless as ever. Prayer was unceasing for her; +and it pleased God suddenly to reveal Christ to her as her Saviour. +Great self-loathing now at once took the place of former indifference; +confession of sin, of previous callousness of conscience; and +unspeakable joy in the Lord, of former apathy and coldness. It was a +spiritual miracle—this girl's sudden transformation into a witness for +God, manifesting deepest conviction for past sin and earnest concern for +others. Her thoughtless and heedless state had been so well known that +her conversion and dying messages were now the Lord's means of the <i>most +extensive and God-glorifying work ever wrought up to that time among the +orphans.</i> In one house alone three hundred and fifty were led to seek +peace in believing.</p> + +<p>What lessons lie hidden—nay, lie on the very surface—to be read of +every willing observer of these events! Prayer can break even a hard +heart; a memory, stored with biblical truth and pious teaching, will +prove, when once God's grace softens the heart and unlooses the tongue, +a source of both personal growth in grace and of capacity for wide +service to others. We are all practically too careless of the training +of children, and too distrustful of young converts. Mr. Müller was more +and more impressed by the triumphs of the grace of God as seen in +children converted at the tender age of nine or ten and holding the +beginning of their confidence steadfast unto the end.</p> + +<p>These facts and experiences, gleaned, like handfuls of grain, from a +wide field, show the character both of the seed sown and the harvest +reaped, from the sowing.</p> + +<p>Again, when, in 1866, cholera developed in England, in answer to special +prayer <i>not one</i> case of this disease was known in the orphan houses; +and when, in the same autumn, whooping-cough and measles broke out, +though eight children had the former and two hundred and sixty-two, the +latter, not one child died, or was afterward debilitated by the attack. +From May, 1866, to May, 1867, out of over thirteen hundred children +under care, only eleven died, considerably less than one per cent.</p> + +<p>That severe and epidemic disease should find its way into the orphanages +at all may seem strange to those who judge God's faithfulness by +appearances, but many were the compensations for such trials. By them +not only were the hearts of the children often turned to God, but the +hearts of helpers in the Institution were made more sympathetic and +tender, and the hearts of God's people at large were stirred up to +practical and systematic help. God uses such seeming calamities as +'advertisements' of His work; many who would not have heard of the +Institution, or on whom what they did hear would have made little +impression, were led to take a deep interest in an orphanage where +thousands of little ones were exposed to the ravages of some malignant +and dangerous epidemic.</p> + +<p>Looking back, in 1865, after thirty-one years, upon the work thus far +done for the Lord, Mr. Müller gratefully records that, during the entire +time, he had been enabled to hold fast the original principles on which +the work was based on March 5, 1834. He had never once gone into debt; +he had sought for the Institution no patron but the Living God; and he +had kept to the line of demarcation between believers and unbelievers, +in all his seeking for active helpers in the work.</p> + +<p>His grand purpose, in all his labours, having been, from the beginning, +the glory of God, in showing what could be done through prayer and +faith, without any leaning upon man, his unequivocal testimony is: +"Hitherto hath the Lord helped us." Though for about five years they +had, almost daily, been in the constant trial of faith, they were as +constantly proving His faithfulness. The work had rapidly grown, till it +assumed gigantic proportions, but so did the help of God keep pace with +all the needs and demands of its growth.</p> + +<p>In January, 1866, Mr. Henry Craik, who had for thirty-six years been Mr. +Müller's valued friend, and, since 1832, his coworker in Bristol, fell +asleep after an illness of seven months. In Devonshire these two +brethren had first known each other, and the acquaintance had +subsequently ripened, through years of common labour and trial, into an +affection seldom found among men. They were nearly of an age, both being +a little past sixty when Mr. Craik died. The loss was too heavy to have +been patiently and serenely borne, had not the survivor known and felt +beneath him the Everlasting Arms. And even this bereavement, which in +one aspect was an irreparable loss, was seen to be only another proof of +God's love. The look ahead might be a dark one, the way desolate and +even dangerous, but goodness and mercy were still following very close +behind, and would in every new place of danger or difficulty be at hand +to help over hard places and give comfort and cheer in the night season.</p> + +<a name="16"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER XVI<br> + +THE SHADOW OF A GREAT SORROW</h3></center> + +<p>"WITH clouds He covereth the light." No human life is without some +experience of clouded skies and stormy days, and sometimes "the clouds +return after the rain." It is a blessed experience to recognize the +silver lining on the darkest storm cloud, and, better still, to be sure +of the shining of God's light behind a sky that seems wholly and +hopelessly overcast.</p> + +<p>The year 1870 was made forever pathetically memorable by the decease of +Mrs. Müller, who lived just long enough to see the last of the New +Orphan Houses opened. From the outset of the work in November, 1835, for +more than thirty-four years, this beloved, devoted wife had been also a +sympathetic helper.</p> + +<p>This wedded life had approached very near to the ideal of connubial +bliss, by reason of mutual fitness, common faith in God and love for His +work, and long association in prayer and service. In their case, the +days of courtship were never passed; indeed the tender and delicate +mutual attentions of those early days rather increased than decreased as +the years went on; and the great maxim was both proven and illustrated, +that the secret of winning love is the secret of keeping it. More than +that, such affection grows and becomes more and more a fountain of +mutual delight. Never had his beloved "Mary" been so precious to her +husband as during the very year of her departure.</p> + +<p>This marriage union was so happy that Mr. Müller could not withhold his +loving witness that he never saw her at any time after she became his +wife, without a new feeling of delight. And day by day they were wont to +find at least a few moments of rest together, sitting after dinner, hand +in hand, in loving intercourse of mind and heart, made the more complete +by this touch of physical contact, and, whether in speech or silence, +communing in the Lord. Their happiness in God and in each other was +perennial, perpetual, growing as the years fled by.</p> + +<p>Mr. Müller's solemn conviction was that all this wedded bliss was due to +the fact that she was not only a devoted Christian, but that their one +united object was to live only and wholly for God; that they had always +abundance of work for God, in which they were heartily united; that this +work was never allowed to interfere with the care of their own souls, or +their seasons of private prayer and study of the Scriptures; and that +they were wont daily, and often thrice a day, to secure a time of united +prayer and praise when they brought before the Lord the matters which at +the time called for thanksgiving and supplication.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Müller had never been a very vigorous woman, and more than once had +been brought nigh unto death. In October, 1859, after twenty-nine years +of wedded life and love, she had been laid aside by rheumatism and had +continued in great suffering for about nine months, quite helpless and +unable to work; but it was felt to be a special mark of God's love and +faithfulness that this very affliction was used by Him to reestablish +her in health and strength, the compulsory rest made necessary for the +greater part of a year being in Mr. Müller's judgment a means of +prolonging her life and period of service for the ten years following. +Thus a severe trial met by them both in faith had issued in much +blessing both to soul and body.</p> + +<p>The closing scenes of this beautiful life are almost too sacred to be +unveiled to common eyes. For some few years before her departure, it was +plain that her health and vitality were declining. With difficulty could +she be prevailed on, however, to abate her activity, or, even when a +distressing cough attacked her, to allow a physician to be called. Her +husband carefully guarded and nursed her, and by careful attention to +diet and rest, by avoidance of needless exposure, and by constant resort +to prayer, she was kept alive through much weakness and sometimes much +pain. But, on Saturday night, February 5th, she found that she had not +the use of one of her limbs, and it was obvious that the end was nigh. +Her own mind was clear and her own heart at peace. She herself remarked, +"He will soon come." And a few minutes after four in the afternoon of +the Lord's day, February 6, 1870, she sweetly passed from human toils +and trials, to be forever with the Lord.</p> + +<p>Under the weight of such a sorrow, most men would have sunk into depths +of almost hopeless despair. But this man of God, sustained by a divine +love, at once sought for occasions of thanksgiving; and, instead of +repining over his loss, gratefully remembered and recorded the goodness +of God in <i>taking</i> such a wife, releasing her saintly spirit from the +bondage of weakness, sickness, and pain, rather than leaving her to a +protracted suffering and the mute agony of helplessness; and, above all, +introducing her to her heart's desire, the immediate presence of the +Lord Jesus, and the higher service of a celestial sphere. Is not that +grief akin to selfishness which dwells so much on our own deprivations +as to be oblivious of the ecstatic gain of the departed saints who, +withdrawn from us and absent from the body, are at home with the Lord?</p> + +<p>It is only in those circumstances of extreme trial which prove to +ordinary men a crushing weight, that implicit faith in the Father's +unfailing wisdom and love proves its full power to sustain. Where +self-will is truly lost in the will of God, the life that is hidden in +Him is most radiantly exhibited in the darkest hour.</p> + +<p>The death of this beloved wife afforded an illustration of this. Within +a few hours after this withdrawal of her who had shared with him the +planning and working of these long years of service, Mr. Müller went to +the Monday-evening prayer meeting, then held in Salem Chapel, to mingle +his prayers and praises as usual with those of his brethren. With a +literally shining countenance, he rose and said: "Beloved brethren and +sisters in Christ, I ask you to join with me in hearty praise and +thanksgiving to my precious Lord for His loving kindness in having taken +my darling, beloved wife out of the pain and suffering which she has +endured, into His own presence; and as I rejoice in everything that is +for her, happiness, so I now rejoice as I realize how far happier she +is, in beholding her Lord whom she loved so well, than in any joy she +has known or could know here. I ask you also to pray that the Lord will +so enable me to have fellowship in her joy that my bereaved heart may be +occupied with her blessedness instead of my unspeakable loss." These +remarkable words are supplied by one who was himself present and on +whose memory they made an indelible impression.</p> + +<p>This occurrence had a marked effect upon all who were at that meeting. +Mrs. Müller was known by all as a most valuable, lovely, and holy woman +and wife. After nearly forty years of wedded life and love, she had left +the earthly home for the heavenly. To her husband she had been a +blessing beyond description, and to her daughter Lydia, at once a wise +and tender mother and a sympathetic companion. The loss to them both +could never be made up on earth. Yet in these circumstances this man of +God had grace given to forget his own and his daughter's irreparable +loss, and to praise God for the unspeakable gain to the departed wife +and mother.</p> + +<p>The body was laid to rest on February 11th, many thousands of sorrowing +friends evincing the deepest sympathy. Twelve hundred orphans mingled in +the funeral procession, and the whole staff of helpers so far as they +could be spared from the houses. The bereaved husband strangely upheld +by the arm of the Almighty Friend in whom he trusted, took upon himself +the funeral service both at chapel and cemetery. He was taken seriously +ill afterward, but, as soon as his returning strength allowed, he +preached his wife's funeral sermon—another memorable occasion. It was +the supernatural serenity of his peace in the presence of such a +bereavement that led his attending physician to say to a friend, "I have +never before seen so <i>unhuman</i> a man." Yes, <i>un</i>human indeed, though far +from <i>in</i>human, lifted above the weakness of mere humanity by a power +not of man.</p> + +<p>That funeral sermon was a noble tribute to the goodness of the Lord even +in the great affliction of his life. The text was:</p> + +<p> <i>"Thou art good and doest good."</i> (Psalm cxix. 68.)</p> + +<p>Its three divisions were: "The Lord was good and did good: first, in +giving her to me; second in so long leaving her to me; and third, in +taking her from me." It is happily preserved in Mr. Müller's journal, +and must be read to be appreciated.*</p> + +<p>* Narrative, III. 575-594.</p> + +<p>This union, begun in prayer, was in prayer sanctified to the end. Mrs. +Müller's chief excellence lay in her devoted piety. She wore that one +ornament which is in the sight of God of great price—the meek and quiet +spirit; the beauty of the Lord her God was upon her. She had +sympathetically shared her husband's prayers and tears during all the +long trial-time of faith and patience, and partaken of all the joys and +rewards of the triumph hours. Mr. Müller's own witness to her leaves +nothing more to be added, for it is the tribute of him who knew her +longest and best. He writes:</p> + +<p>"She was God's own gift, exquisitely suited to me even in natural +temperament. Thousands of times I said to her, 'My darling, God Himself +singled you out for me, as the most suitable wife I could possibly wish +to have had.'"</p> + +<p>As to culture, she had a basis of sensible practical education, +surmounted and adorned by ladylike accomplishments which she had neither +time nor inclination to indulge in her married life. Not only was she +skilled in the languages and in such higher studies as astronomy, but in +mathematics also; and this last qualification made her for thirty-four +years an invaluable help to her husband, as month by month she examined +all the account-books, and the hundreds of bills of the matrons of the +orphan houses, and with the eye of an expert detected the least mistake.</p> + +<p>All her training and natural fitness indicated a providential adaptation +to her work, like "the round peg in the round hole." Her practical +education in needlework, and her knowledge of the material most +serviceable for various household uses, made her competent to direct +both in the purchase and manufacture of cloths and other fabrics for +garments, bed-linen, etc. She moved about those orphan houses like an +angel of Love, taking unselfish delight in such humble ministries as +preparing neat, clean beds to rest the little ones, and covering them +with warm blankets in cold weather. For the sake of Him who took little +children in His arms, she became to these thousands of destitute orphans +a nursing mother.</p> + +<p>Shortly after her death, a letter was received from a believing orphan +some seventeen years before sent out to service, asking, in behalf also +of others formerly in the houses, permission to erect a stone over Mrs. +Müller's grave as an expression of love and grateful remembrance. +Consent being given, hundreds of little offerings came in from orphans +who during the twenty-five years previous had been under her motherly +oversight—a beautiful tribute to her worth and a touching offering from +those who had been to her as her larger family.</p> + +<p>The dear daughter Lydia had, two years before Mrs. Müller's departure, +found in one of her mother's pocketbooks a sacred memorandum in her own +writing, which she brought to her bereaved father's notice two days +after his wife had departed. It belongs among the precious relics of her +history. It reads as follows:</p> + +<p>"Should it please the Lord to remove M. M. [Mary Müller] by a sudden +dismissal, let none of the beloved survivors consider that it is in the +way of judgment, either to her or to them. She has so often, when +enjoying conscious nearness to the Lord, felt how sweet it would be now +to depart and to be <i>forever</i> with Jesus, that nothing but the shock it +would be to her beloved husband and child, etc. has checked in her the +longing desire that <i>thus</i> her happy spirit might take its flight. +Precious Jesus! Thy will in this as in everything else, and not hers, be +done!"</p> + +<p>These words were to Mr. Müller her last legacy; and with the comfort +they gave him, the loving sympathy of his precious Lydia who did all +that a daughter could do to fill a mother's place, and with the +remembrance of Him who hath said, 'I will never leave thee nor forsake +thee,' he went on his lonely pilgrim way, rejoicing in the Lord, feeling +nevertheless a wound in his heart, that seemed rather to deepen than to +heal.</p> + +<p>Sixteen months passed, when Mr. James Wright, who like Mr. Müller had +been bereft of his companion, asked of him the hand of the beloved Lydia +in marriage. The request took Mr. Müller wholly by surprise, but he felt +that, to no man living, could he with more joyful confidence commit and +intrust his choicest remaining earthly treasure; and, ever solicitous +for others' happiness rather than his own, he encouraged his daughter to +accept Mr. Wright's proffered love, when she naturally hesitated on her +father's account. On November 16, 1871, they were married, and began a +life of mutual prayer and sympathy which, like that of her father and +mother, proved supremely and almost ideally happy, helpful, and useful.</p> + +<p>While as yet this event was only in prospect, Mr. Müller felt his own +lonely condition keenly, and much more in view of his daughter's +expected departure to her husband's home. He felt the need of some one +to share intimately his toils and prayers, and help him in the Lord's +work, and the persuasion grew upon him that it was God's will that he +should marry again. After much prayer, he determined to ask Miss +Susannah Grace Sangar to become his wife, having known her for more than +twenty-five years as a consistent disciple, and believing her to be well +fitted to be his helper in the Lord. Accordingly, fourteen days after +his daughter's marriage to Mr. Wright, he entered into similar relations +with Miss Sangar, who for years after joined him in prayer, unselfish +giving, and labours for souls.</p> + +<p>The second Mrs. Müller was of one mind with her husband as to the +stewardship of the Lord's property. He found her poor, for what she had +once possessed she had lost; and had she been rich he would have +regarded her wealth as an obstacle to marriage, unfitting her to be his +companion in a self-denial based on scriptural principle. Riches or +hoarded wealth would have been to both of them a snare, and so she also +felt; so that, having still, before her marriage, a remnant of two +hundred pounds, she at once put it at the Lord's disposal, thus joining +her husband in a life of voluntary poverty; and although subsequent +legacies were paid to her, she continued to the day of her death to be +poor for the Lord's sake.</p> + +<p>The question had often been asked Mr. Müller what would become of the +work when he, the master workman, should be removed. Men find it hard to +get their eyes off the instrument, and remember that there is only, +strictly speaking, one AGENT, for an agent is <i>one who works,</i> and an +instrument is what <i>the agent works with.</i> Though provision might be +made, in a board of trustees, for carrying on the orphan work, where +would be found the man to take the direction of it, a man whose spirit +was so akin to that of the founder that he would trust in God and depend +on Him just as Mr. Müller had done before him? Such were the inquiries +of the somewhat doubtful or fearful observers of the great and +many-branched work carried on under Mr. Müller's supervision.</p> + +<p>To all such questions he had always one answer ready—his one uniform +solution of all cares and perplexities: <i>the Living God.</i> He who had +built the orphan houses could maintain them; He who had raised up one +humble man to oversee the work in His name, could provide for a worthy +successor, like Joshua who not only <i>followed</i> but <i>succeeded</i> Moses. +Jehovah of hosts is not limited in resources.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless much prayer was offered that the Lord would provide such a +successor, and, in Mr. James Wright, the prayer was answered. He was not +chosen, as Mr. Müller's son-in-law, for the choice was made before his +marriage to Lydia Müller was even thought of by him. For more than +thirty years, even from his boyhood, Mr. Wright had been well known to +Mr. Müller, and his growth in the things of God had been watched by him. +For thirteen years he had already been his "right hand" in all most +important matters; and, for nearly all of that time, had been held up +before God as his successor, in the prayers of Mr. and Mrs. Müller, both +of whom felt divinely assured that God would fit him more and more to +take the entire burden of responsibility.</p> + +<p>When, in 1870, the wife fell asleep in Jesus, and Mr. Müller was himself +ill, he opened his heart to Mr. Wright as to the succession. Humility +led him to shrink from such a post, and his then wife feared it would +prove too burdensome for him; but all objections were overborne when it +was seen and felt to be God's call. It was twenty-one months after this, +when, in November, 1871, Mr. Wright was married to Mr. Müller's only +daughter and child, so that it is quite apparent that he had neither +sought the position he now occupies, nor was he appointed to it because +he was Mr. Müller's son-in-law, for, at that time, his first wife was +living and in health. From May, 1872, therefore, Mr. Wright <i>shared</i> +with his father-in-law the responsibilities of the Institution, and gave +him great joy as a partner and successor in full sympathy with all the +great principles on which his work had been based.</p> + +<p>A little over three years after Mr. Müller's second marriage, in March, +1874, Mrs. Müller was taken ill, and became, two days later, feverish +and restless, and after about two weeks was attacked with hemorrhage +which brought her also very near to the gates of death. She rallied; but +fever and delirium followed and obstinate sleeplessness, till, for a +second time, she seemed at the point of death. Indeed so low was her +vitality that, as late as April 17th, a most experienced London +physician said that he had never known any patient to recover from such +an illness; and thus a third time all human hope of restoration seemed +gone. And yet, in answer to prayer, Mrs. Müller was raised up, and in +the end of May, was taken to the seaside for change of air, and grew +rapidly stronger until she was entirely restored. Thus the Lord spared +her to be the companion of her husband in those years of missionary +touring which enabled him to bear such worldwide witness. Out of the +shadow of his griefs this beloved man of God ever came to find that +divine refreshment which is as the "shadow of a great rock in a weary +land."</p> + +<a name="17"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER XVII<br> + +THE PERIOD OF WORLD-WIDE WITNESS</h3></center> + +<p>GOD'S real answers to prayer are often seeming denials. Beneath the +outward request He hears the voice of the inward desire, and He responds +to the mind of the Spirit rather than to the imperfect and perhaps +mistaken words in which the yearning seeks expression. Moreover, His +infinite wisdom sees that a larger blessing may be ours only by the +withholding of the lesser good which we seek; and so all true prayer +trusts Him to give His own answer, not in our way or time, or even to +our own expressed desire, but rather to His own unutterable groaning +within us which He can interpret better than we.</p> + +<p>Monica, mother of Augustine, pleaded with God that her dissolute son +might not go to Rome, that sink of iniquity; but he was permitted to go, +and thus came into contact with Ambrose, bishop of Milan, through whom +he was converted. God fulfilled the mother's <i>desire</i> while denying her +<i>request.</i></p> + +<p>When George Müller, five times within the first eight years after +conversion, had offered himself as a missionary, God had blocked his +way; now, at sixty-five, He was about to permit him, in a sense he had +never dreamed of, to be a missionary to the world. From the beginning of +his ministry he had been more or less an itinerant, spending no little +time in wanderings about in Britain and on the Continent; but now he was +to go to the regions beyond and spend the major part of seventeen years +in witnessing to the prayer-hearing God.</p> + +<p>These extensive missionary tours occupied the evening of Mr. Müller's +useful life, from 1875 to 1892. They reached, more or less, over Europe, +America, Asia, Africa, and Australia; and would of themselves have +sufficed for the work of an ordinary life.</p> + +<p>They had a singular suggestion. While, in 1874, compelled by Mrs. +Müller's health to seek a change of air, he was preaching in the Isle of +Wight, and a beloved Christian brother for whom he had spoken, himself a +man of much experience in preaching, told him how 'that day had been the +happiest of his whole life'; and this remark, with others like it +previously made, so impressed him that the Lord was about to use him to +help on believers outside of Bristol, that he determined no longer to +confine his labours in the Word and doctrine to any one place, but to go +wherever a door might open for his testimony.</p> + +<p>In weighing this question he was impressed with seven reasons or +motives, which led to these tours:</p> + +<p>1. To <i>preach the gospel</i> in its simplicity, and especially to show how +salvation is based, not upon feelings or even upon faith, but upon the +finished work of Christ; that justification is ours the moment we +believe, and we are to accept and claim our place as accepted in the +Beloved without regard to our inward states of feeling or emotion.</p> + +<p>2. To <i>lead believers to know their saved state,</i> and to realize their +standing in Christ, great numbers not only of disciples, but even +preachers and pastors, being themselves destitute of any real peace and +joy in the Lord, and hence unable to lead others into joy and peace.</p> + +<p>3. To <i>bring believers back to the Scriptures,</i> to search the Word and +find its hidden treasures; to test everything by this divine touchstone +and hold fast only what will stand this test; to make it the daily +subject of meditative and prayerful examination in order to translate it +into daily obedience.</p> + +<p>4. To <i>promote among all true believers, brotherly love;</i> to lead them +to make less of those non-essentials in which disciples differ, and to +make more of those great essential and foundation truths in which all +true believers are united; to help all who love and trust one Lord to +rise above narrow sectarian prejudices, and barriers to fellowship.</p> + +<p>5. To <i>strengthen the faith of believers,</i> encouraging a simpler trust, +and a more real and unwavering confidence in God, and particularly in +the sure answers to believing prayer, based upon His definite promises.</p> + +<p>6. To <i>promote separation from the world</i> and deadness to it, and so to +increase heavenly-mindedness in children of God; at the same time +warning against fanatical extremes and extravagances, such as sinless +perfection while in the flesh.</p> + +<p>7. And finally to <i>fix the hope of disciples on the blessed coming of +our Lord Jesus;</i> and, in connection therewith, to instruct them as to +the true character and object of the present dispensation, and the +relation of the church to the world in this period of the out-gathering +of the Bride of Christ.</p> + +<p>These seven objects may be briefly epitomized thus: Mr. Müller's aim was +to lead sinners to believe on the name of the Son of God, and so to +<i>have eternal life;</i> to help those who have thus believed, to <i>know</i> +that they have this life; to teach them so to <i>build up</i> themselves on +their most holy faith, by diligent searching into the word of God, and +praying in the Holy Ghost, as that this life shall be more and more a +real possession and a conscious possession; to promote among all +disciples the <i>unity of the Spirit</i> and the <i>charity</i> which is the bond +of perfectness, and to help them to exhibit that life before the world; +to incite them to cultivate an <i>unworldly and spiritual type of +character</i> such as conforms to the life of God in them; to lead them to +the <i>prayer of faith</i> which is both the expression and the expansion of +the life of faith; and to direct their hope to the <i>final appearing of +the Lord,</i> so that they should purify themselves even as He is pure, and +occupy till He comes. Mr. Müller was thus giving himself to the double +work of evangelization and edification, on a scale commensurate with his +love for a dying world, as opportunity afforded doing good unto all men, +and especially to them who are of the household of faith.</p> + +<p>Of these long and busy missionary journeys, it is needful to give only +the outline, or general survey. March 263 1875, is an important date, +for it marks the starting-point. He himself calls this "the beginning of +his missionary tours."</p> + +<p>From Bristol he went to Brighton, Lewes, and Sunderland—on the way to +Sunderland preaching to a great audience in the Metropolitan Tabernacle, +at Mr. Spurgeon's request—then to Newcastle-on-Tyne, and back to London, +where he spoke at the Mildmay Park Conference, Talbot Road Tabernacle, +and 'Edinburgh Castle.' This tour closed, June 5th, after seventy +addresses in public, during about ten weeks.</p> + +<p>Less than six weeks passed, when, on August 14th, the second tour began, +in which case the special impulse that moved him was a desire to follow +up the revival work of Mr. Moody and Mr. Sankey. Their short stay in +each place made them unable to lead on new converts to higher +attainments in knowledge and grace, and there seemed to be a call for +some instruction fitted to confirm these new believers in the life of +obedience. Mr. Müller accordingly followed these evangelists in England, +Ireland, and Scotland, staying in each place from one week to six, and +seeking to educate and edify those who had been led to Christ. Among the +places visited on this errand in 1875, were London; then Kilmarnock, +Saltwater, Dundee, Perth, Glasgow, Kirkentilloch in Scotland, and Dublin +in Ireland; then, returning to England, he went to Leamington, Warwick, +Kenilworth, Coventry, Rugby, etc. In some cases, notably at Mildmay +Park, Dundee and Glasgow, Liverpool and Dublin, the audiences numbered +from two thousand to six thousand, but everywhere rich blessing came +from above. This second tour extended into the new year, 1876, and took +in Liverpool, York, Kendal, Carlisle, Annan, Edinburgh, Arbroath, +Montrose, Aberdeen, and other places; and when it closed in July, having +lasted nearly eleven months, Mr. Müller had preached at least three +hundred and six times, an average of about one sermon a day, exclusive +of days spent in travel. So acceptable and profitable were these labours +that there were over one hundred invitations urged upon him which he was +unable to accept.</p> + +<p>The third tour was on the Continent. It occupied most of the year +closing May 26, 1877, and embraced Paris, various places in Switzerland, +Prussia and Holland, Alsace, Wurtemberg, Baden, Hesse Darmstadt, etc. +Altogether over three hundred addresses were given in about seventy +cities and villages to all of which he had been invited by letter. When +this tour closed more than sixty written invitations remained +unaccepted, and Mr. Müller found that, through his work and his +writings, he was as well known in the continental countries visited, as +in England.</p> + +<p>Turning now toward America, the fourth tour extended from August, 1877, +to June of the next year. For many years invitations had been coming +with growing frequency, from the United States and Canada; and of late +their urgency led him to recognize in them the call of God, especially +as he thought of the many thousands of Germans across the Atlantic, who +as they heard him speak in their own native tongue would keep the more +silence. (Acts xxii. 2.)</p> + +<p>Mr. and Mrs. Müller, landing at Quebec, thence went to the United +States, where, during ten months, his labours stretched over a vast +area, including the States of New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, +Pennsylvania, Maryland, District of Columbia, Virginia, South Carolina, +Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, and Missouri. Thus having swept +round the Atlantic sea-border, he crossed to the Pacific coast, and +returning visited Salt Lake City in Utah—the very centre and stronghold +of Mormonism—Illinois, Ohio, etc. He spoke frequently to large +congregations of Germans, and, in the Southern States, to the coloured +population; but he regarded no opportunity for service afforded him on +this tour as so inspiring as the repeated meetings with and for +ministers, evangelists, pastors, and Christian workers; and, next to +them in importance, his interviews with large bodies of students and +professors in the universities, colleges, theological seminaries, and +other higher schools of education. To cast the salt of the gospel into +the very springs of social influence, the sources whence power flows, +was to him a most sacred privilege. His singular catholicity, charity, +and humility drew to him even those who differed with him, and all +denominations of Christians united in giving him access to the people. +During this tour he spoke three hundred times, and travelled nearly ten +thousand miles; over one hundred invitations being declined, for simple +lack of time and strength.</p> + +<p>After a stay in Bristol of about two months, on September 5, 1878, he +and his wife began the fifth of these missionary tours. In this case, it +was on the Continent, where he ministered in English, German, and +French; and in Spain and Italy, when these tongues were not available, +his addresses were through an interpreter. Many open doors the Lord set +before him, not only to the poorer and humbler classes, but to those in +the middle and higher ranks. In the Riviera, he had access to many of +the nobility and aristocracy, who from different countries sought health +and rest in the equable climate of the Mediterranean, and at Mentone he +and Mr. Spurgeon held sweet converse. In Spain Mr. Müller was greatly +gladdened by seeing for himself the schools, entirely supported by the +funds of the Scriptural Knowledge Institution, and by finding that, in +hundreds of cases, even popish parents so greatly valued these schools +that they continued to send their children, despite both the threats and +persuasions of the Romish priests. He found, moreover, that the pupils +frequently at their homes read to their parents the word of God and sang +to them the gospel hymns learned at these schools, so that the influence +exerted was not bounded by its apparent horizon, as diffused or +refracted sunlight reaches with its illumining rays far beyond the +visible track of the orb of day.</p> + +<p>The work had to contend with governmental opposition. When a place was +first opened at Madrid for gospel services, a sign was placed outside, +announcing the fact. Official orders were issued that the sign should be +painted over, so as to obliterate the inscription. The painter of the +sign, unwilling both to undo his own work and to hinder the work of God, +painted the sign over with water-colours, which would leave the original +announcement half visible, and would soon be washed off by the rains; +whereupon the government sent its own workman to daub the sign over with +thick oil-colour.</p> + +<p>Mr. Müller, ready to preach the gospel to those at Rome also, felt his +spirit saddened and stirred within him, as he saw that city wholly given +to idolatry—not pagan but papal idolatry—the Rome not of the Caesars, +but of the popes. While at Naples he ascended Vesuvius. Those masses of +lava, which seemed greater in bulk than the mountain itself, more +impressed him with the power of God than anything else he had ever seen. +As he looked upon that smoking cone, and thought of the liquid death it +had vomited forth, he said within himself, "What cannot God do!" He had +before felt somewhat of His Almightiness in love and grace, but he now +saw its manifestation in judgment and wrath. His visit to the Vaudois +valleys, where so many martyrs had suffered banishment and imprisonment, +loss of goods and loss of life for Jesus' sake, moved him to the depths +of his being and stimulated in him the martyr spirit.</p> + +<p>When he arrived again in Bristol, June 18, 1879, he had been absent nine +months and twelve days, and preached two hundred and eighty-six times +and in forty-six towns and cities. After another ten weeks in Bristol, +he and his wife sailed again for America, the last week of August, 1879, +landing at New York the first week in September. This visit took in the +States lying between the Atlantic Ocean and the valley of the +Mississippi—New York and New Jersey, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan and +Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota—and, from London and Hamilton to +Quebec, Canada also shared the blessing. This visit covered only two +hundred and seventy-two days, but he preached three hundred times, and +in over forty cities. Over one hundred and fifty written invitations +still remained without response, and the number increased the longer his +stay. Mr. Müller therefore assuredly gathered that the Lord called him +to return to America, after another brief stay at Bristol, where he felt +it needful to spend a season annually, to keep in close touch with the +work at home and relieve Mr. and Mrs. Wright of their heavy +responsibilities, for a time.</p> + +<p>Accordingly on September 15, 1880, again turning from Bristol, these +travellers embarked the next day on their seventh mission tour, landing, +ten days later, at Quebec. Mr. Müller had a natural antipathy to the +sea, in his earlier crossing to the Continent having suffered much from +sea-sickness; but he had undertaken these long voyages, not for his own +pleasure or profit, but wholly on God's errand; and he felt it to be a +peculiar mark of the loving-kindness of the Lord that, while he was +ready to endure any discomfort, or risk his life for His sake, he had +not in his six crossings of the Atlantic suffered in the least, and on +this particular voyage was wholly free from any indisposition.</p> + +<p>From Quebec he went to Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, +and Pennsylvania. Among other places of special interest were Boston, +Plymouth—the landing-place of the Pilgrims,—Wellesley and South Hadley +colleges—the great schools for woman's higher education,—and the +centres farther westward, where he had such wide access to Germans. This +tour extended over a smaller area than before, and lasted but eight +months; but the impression on the people was deep and permanent. He had +spoken about two hundred and fifty times in all; and Mrs. Müller had +availed herself of many opportunities of personal dealing with +inquirers, and of distributing books and tracts among both believers and +unbelievers. She had also written for her husband more than seven +hundred letters,—this of itself being no light task, inasmuch as it +reaches an average of about three a day. On May 30, 1881, they were +again on British shores.</p> + +<p>The eighth long preaching tour, from August 23, 1881, to May 30, 1882, +was given to the Continent of Europe, where again Mr. Müller felt led by +the low state of religious life in Switzerland and Germany.</p> + +<p>This visit was extended to the Holy Land in a way strikingly +providential. After speaking at Alexandria, Cairo, and Port Said, he +went to Jaffa, and thence to Jerusalem, on November 28. With reverent +feet he touched the soil once trodden by the feet of the Son of God, +visiting, with pathetic interest, Gethsemane and Golgotha, and crossing +the Mount of Olives to Bethany, thence to Bethlehem and back to Jaffa, +and so to Haipha, Mt. Carmel, and Beirut, Smyrna, Ephesus, +Constantinople, Athens, Brindisi, Rome, and Florence. Again were months +crowded with services of all sorts whose fruit will appear only in the +Day of the Lord Jesus, addresses being made in English, German, and +French, or by translation into Arabic, Armenian, Turkish, and modern +Greek. Sightseeing was always but incidental to the higher service of +the Master. During this eighth tour, covering some eight months, Mr. +Müller spoke hundreds of times, with all the former tokens of God's +blessing on his seed-sowing.</p> + +<p>The <i>ninth</i> tour, from August 8, 1882, to June 1, 1883, was occupied +with labours in Germany, Austria, and Russia, including Bavaria, +Hungary, Bohemia, Saxony, and Poland. His special joy it was to bear +witness in Kroppenstadt, his birthplace, after an absence of about +sixty-four years. At St. Petersburg, while the guest of Princess Lieven, +at her mansion he met and ministered to many of high rank; he also began +to hold meetings in the house of Colonel Paschkoff, who had suffered not +only persecution but exile for the Lord's sake. While the Scriptures +were being read one day in Buss, with seven poor Russians, a policeman +summarily broke up the meeting and dispersed the little company. At Lodz +in Poland, a letter was received, in behalf of almost the whole +population begging him to remain longer; and so signs seemed to +multiply, as he went forward, that he was in the path of duty and that +God was with him.</p> + +<p>On September 26, 1883, the <i>tenth</i> tour began, this time his face being +turned toward the Orient. Nearly sixty years before he had desired to go +to the East Indies as a missionary; now the Lord permitted him to carry +out the desire in a new and strange way, and <i>India</i> was the +twenty-third country visited in his tours. He travelled over 21,000 +miles, and spoke over two hundred times, to missionaries and Christian +workers, European residents, Eurasians, Hindus, Moslems, educated +natives, native boys and girls in the orphanage at Colar, etc. Thus, in +his seventy-ninth year, this servant of God was still in labours +abundant, and in all his work conspicuously blessed of God.</p> + +<p>After some months of preaching in England, Scotland, and Wales, on +November 19, 1885, he and his wife set out on their fourth visit to the +United States, and their <i>eleventh longer mission tour.</i> Crossing to the +Pacific, they went to Sydney, New South Wales, and, after seven months +in Australia, sailed for Java, and thence to China, arriving at Hong +Kong, September 12th; Japan and the Straits of Malacca were also +included in this visit to the Orient. The return to England was by way +of Nice; and, after travelling nearly 38,000 miles, in good health Mr. +and Mrs. Müller reached home on June 14, 1887, having been absent more +than one year and seven months, during which Mr. Müller had preached +whenever and wherever opportunity was afforded.</p> + +<p>Less than two months later, on August 12, 1887, he sailed for South +Australia, Tasmania, New Zealand, Ceylon, and India. This twelfth long +tour closed in March, 1890, having covered thousands of miles. The +intense heat at one time compelled Mr. Müller to leave Calcutta, and on +the railway journey to Darjeeling his wife feared he would die. But he +was mercifully spared.</p> + +<p>It was on this tour and in the month of January, 1890, while at +Jubbulpore, preaching with great help from the Lord, that a letter was +put into Mr. Müller's hands, from a missionary at Agra, to whom Mr. +Wright had sent a telegram, informing his father-in-law of his dear +Lydia's death. For nearly thirty years she had laboured gratuitously at +the orphan houses and it would he difficult to fill that vacancy; but +for fourteen years she had been her husband's almost ideal companion, +and for nearly fifty-eight years her father's unspeakable treasure—and +here were two other voids which could never be filled. But Mr. Müller's +heart, as also Mr. Wright's, was kept at rest by the strong confidence +that, however mysterious God's ways, all His dealings belong to one +harmonious spiritual mechanism in which every part is perfect and all +things work together for good. (Romans viii. 28.)</p> + +<p>This sudden bereavement led Mr. Müller to bring his mission tour in the +East to a close and depart for Bristol, that he might both comfort Mr. +Wright and relieve him of undue pressure of work.</p> + +<p>After a lapse of two months, once more Mr. and Mrs. Müller left home for +other extensive missionary journeys. They went to the Continent and were +absent from July, 1890, to May, 1892. A twelvemonth was spent in Germany +and Holland, Austria and Italy. This absence in fact included two tours, +with no interval between them, and concluded the series of extensive +journeys reaching through seventeen years.</p> + +<p>This man—from his seventieth to his eighty-seventh year—when most men +are withdrawing from all activities, had travelled in forty-two +countries and over two hundred thousand miles, a distance equivalent to +nearly eight journeys round the globe! He estimated that during these +seventeen years he had addressed over three million people; and from all +that can be gathered from the records of these tours, we estimate that +he must have spoken, outside of Bristol, between five thousand and six +thousand times. What sort of teaching and testimony occupied these +tours, those who have known the preacher and teacher need not be told. +While at Berlin in 1891, he gave an address that serves as an example of +the vital truths which he was wont to press on the attention of fellow +disciples. We give a brief outline:</p> + +<p>He first urged that believers should never, even under the greatest +difficulties, be discouraged, and gave for his position sound scriptural +reasons. Then he pointed out to them that the chief business of every +day is first of all to seek to be truly at rest and happy in God. Then +he showed how, from the word of God, all saved believers may know their +true standing in Christ, and how in circumstances of particular +perplexity they might ascertain the will of God. He then urged disciples +to seek with intense earnestness to become acquainted with God Himself +as revealed in the Holy Scriptures, and carefully to form and maintain +godly habits of systematic Bible study and prayer, holy living and +consecrated giving. He taught that God alone is the one all-satisfying +portion of the soul, and that we must determine to possess and enjoy Him +as such. He closed by emphasizing it as the one, single, all-absorbing, +daily aim to glorify God in a complete surrender to His will and +service.</p> + +<p>In all these mission tours, again, the faithfulness of God +conspicuously seen, in the bounteous supply of every need. Steamer fares +and long railway journeys; hotel accommodations, ordinarily preferred to +private hospitality, which seriously interfered with private habits of +devotion, public work, and proper rest—such expenses demanded a heavy +outlay; the new mode of life, now adopted for the Lord's sake, was at +least three times as costly as the former frugal housekeeping; and yet, +in answer to prayer and without any appeal to human help, the Lord +furnished all that was required.</p> + +<p>Accustomed to look, step by step, for such tokens of divine approval, as +emboldened him to go forward, Mr. Müller records how, when one hundred +pounds was sent to him for personal uses, this was recognized as a +foretoken from his great Provider, "by which," he writes, "God meant to +say to my own heart, 'I am pleased with thy work and service in going +about on these long missionary tours. I will pay the expenses thereof, +and I give thee here a specimen of what I am yet willing to do for +thee.'"</p> + +<p>Two other facts Mr. Müller specially records in connection with these +tours: first, God's gracious guiding and guarding of the work at Bristol +so that it suffered nothing from his absence; and secondly, the fact +that these journeys had no connection with collecting of money for the +work or even informing the public of it. No reference was made to the +Institution at Bristol, except when urgently requested, and not always +even then; nor were collections ever made for it. Statements found their +way into the press that in America large sums were gathered, but their +falsity is sufficiently shown by the fact that in his first tour in +America, for example, the sum total of all such gifts was less than +sixty pounds, not more than two thirds of the outlay of every day at the +orphan houses.</p> + +<p>These missionary tours were not always approved even by the friends and +advisers of Mr. Müller. In 1882, while experiencing no little difficulty +and trial, especially as to funds, there were not a few who felt a deep +interest in the Institution on Ashley Down, who would have had God's +servant discontinue his long absences, as to them it appeared that these +were the main reason for the falling off in funds. He was always open to +counsel, but he always reserved to himself an independent decision; and, +on weighing the matter well, these were some of the reasons that led him +to think that the work of God at home did not demand his personal +presence:</p> + +<p>1. He had observed year after year that, under the godly and efficient +supervision of Mr. Wright and his large staff of helpers, every branch +of the Scriptural Knowledge Institution had been found as healthy and +fruitful during these absences as when Mr. Müller was in Bristol.</p> + +<p>2. The Lord's approval of this work of wider witness had been in manner +conclusive and in measure abundant, as in the ample supply of funds for +these tours, in the wide doors of access opened, and in the large fruit +already evident in blessing to thousands of souls.</p> + +<p>3. The strong impression upon his mind that this was the work which was +to occupy the 'evening of his life,' grew in depth, and was confirmed by +so many signs of God's leading that he could not doubt that he was led +both of God's providence and Spirit.</p> + +<p>4. Even while absent, he was never out of communication with the helpers +at home. Generally he heard at least weekly from Mr. Wright, and any +matters needing his counsel were thus submitted to him by letter; prayer +to God was as effectual at a distance from Bristol as on the spot; and +his periodical returns to that city for some weeks or months between +these tours kept him in close touch with every department of the work.</p> + +<p>5. The supreme consideration, however, was this: To suppose it necessary +for Mr. Müller himself to be at home <i>in order that sufficient means +should be supplied,</i> was a direct contradiction of the very principles +upon which, and to maintain which, the whole work had been begun. <i>Real +trust in God is above circumstances and appearances.</i> And this had been +proven; for, during the third year after these tours began, the income +for the various departments of the Scriptural Knowledge Institution was +larger than ever during the preceding forty-four years of its existence; +and therefore, notwithstanding the loving counsel of a few donors and +friends who advised that Mr. Müller should stay at home, he kept to his +purpose and his principles, partly to demonstrate that no man's presence +is indispensable to the work of the Lord. "Them that honour Me I will +honour." (1 Samuel ii. 39.) He regarded it the greatest honour of his +life to bear this wide witness to God, and God correspondingly honoured +His servant in bearing this testimony.</p> + +<p>It was during the first and second of these American tours that the +writer had the privilege of coming into personal contact with Mr. +Müller. While I was at San Francisco, in 1878, he was to speak on +Sabbath afternoon, May 12th, at Oakland, just across the bay, but +conscientious objections to needless Sunday travel caused me voluntarily +to lose what then seemed the only chance of seeing and hearing a man +whose career had been watched by me for over twenty years, as he was to +leave for the East a few days earlier than myself and was likely to be +always a little in advance. On reaching Ogden, however, where the branch +road from Salt Lake City joins the main line, Mr. and Mrs. Müller +boarded my train and we travelled to Chicago together. I introduced +myself, and held with him daily converse about divine things, and, while +tarrying at Chicago, had numerous opportunities for hearing him speak +there.</p> + +<p>The results of this close and frequent contact were singularly blessed +to me, and at my invitation he came to Detroit, Michigan, in his next +tour, and spoke in the Fort Street Presbyterian Church, of which I was +pastor, on Sundays, January 18 and 25, 1880, and on Monday and Friday +evenings, in the interval.</p> + +<p>In addition to these numerous and favourable opportunities thus +providentially afforded for hearing and conversing with Mr. Müller, he +kindly met me for several days in my study, for an hour at a time, for +conference upon those deeper truths of the word of God and deeper +experiences of the Christian life, upon which I was then very desirous +of more light. For example, I desired to understand more clearly the +Bible teaching about the Lord's coming. I had opposed with much +persistency what is known as the premillennial view, and brought out my +objections, to all of which he made one reply: "My beloved brother, I +have heard all your arguments and objections against this view, but they +have one fatal defect: <i>not one of them is based upon the word of God.</i> +You will never get at the truth upon any matter of divine revelation +unless you lay aside your prejudices and like a little child ask simply +what is the testimony of Scripture."</p> + +<p>With patience and wisdom he unravelled the tangled skein of my +perplexity and difficulty, and helped me to settle upon biblical +principles all matters of so-called expediency. As he left me, about to +visit other cities, his words fixed themselves in my memory. I had +expressed to him my growing conviction that the worship in the churches +had lost its primitive simplicity; that the pew-rent system was +pernicious; that fixed salaries for ministers of the gospel were +unscriptural; that the church of God should be administered only by men +full of the Holy Ghost, and that the duty of Christians to the +non-church-going masses was grossly neglected, etc. He solemnly said to +me: "My beloved brother, the Lord has given you much light upon these +matters, and will hold you correspondingly responsible for its use. If +you obey Him and walk in the light, you will have more; if not, the +light will be withdrawn."</p> + +<p>It is a singular lesson on the importance of an anointed tongue, that +forty simple words, spoken over twenty years ago, have had a daily +influence on the life of him to whom they were spoken. Amid subtle +temptations to compromise the claims of duty and hush the voice of +conscience, or of the Spirit of God, and to follow the traditions of men +rather than the word of God, those words of that venerated servant of +God have recurred to mind with ever fresh force. We risk the forfeiture +of privileges which are not employed for God, and of obscuring +convictions which are not carried into action. God's word to us is <i>"use +or lose."</i> "To him that hath shall be given: from him that hath not +shall be taken away even that which he seemeth to have." It is the hope +and the prayer of him who writes this memoir that the reading of these +pages may prove to be an interview with the man whose memorial they are, +and that the witness borne by George Müller may be to many readers a +source of untold and lifelong blessing.</p> + +<p>It need not be said that to carry out conviction into action is a costly +sacrifice. It may make necessary renunciations and separations which +leave one to feel a strange sense both of deprivation and loneliness. +But he who will fly as an eagle does into the higher levels where +cloudless day abides, and live in the sunshine of God, must consent to +live a comparatively lonely life. No bird is so solitary as the eagle. +Eagles never fly in flocks: one, or at most two, and the two, mates, +being ever seen at once. But the life that is lived unto God, however it +forfeits human companionship, knows divine fellowship, and the child of +God who like his Master undertakes to "do always the things that please +Him," can like his Master say, "The Father hath not left me alone." "I +am alone; yet not alone, for the Father is with me." Whosoever will +promptly follow whatever light God gives, without regard to human +opinion, custom, tradition, or approbation, will learn the deep meaning +of these words: "Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord."</p> + +<a name="18"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER XVIII<br> + +FAITH AND PATIENCE IN SERVING</h3></center> + +<p>QUANTITY of service is of far less importance than quality. To do well, +rather than to do much, will be the motto of him whose main purpose is +to please God. Our Lord bade His disciples tarry until endued with power +from on high, because it is such enduement that gives to all witness and +work the celestial savour and flavour of the Spirit.</p> + +<p>Before we come to the closing scenes, we may well look back over the +life-work of George Müller, which happily illustrates both quantity and +quality of service. It may be doubted whether any other one man of this +century accomplished as much for God and man, and yet all the abundant +offerings which he brought to his Master were characterized by a +heavenly fragrance.</p> + +<p>The orphan work was but one branch of that tree—the Scriptural +Knowledge Institution—which owed its existence to the fact that its +founder devised large and liberal things for the Lord's cause. He sought +to establish or at least to aid Christian schools wherever needful, to +scatter Bibles and Testaments, Christian books and tracts; to aid +missionaries who were witnessing to the truth and working on a +scriptural basis in destitute parts; and though each of these objects +might well have engrossed his mind, they were all combined in the +many-sided work which his love for souls suggested.</p> + +<p>An aggressive spirit is never content with what has been done, but is +prompt to enter any new door that is providentially opened. When the +Paris Exposition of 1867 offered such rare opportunities, both for +preaching to the crowds passing through the French capital, and for +circulating among them the Holy Scriptures, he gladly availed himself of +the services of two brethren whom God had sent to labour there, one of +whom spoke three, and the other, eight, modern languages; and through +them were circulated, chiefly at the Exposition, and in thirteen +different languages, nearly twelve thousand copies of the word of God, +or portions of the same. It has been estimated that at this +International Exhibition there were distributed in all over one and a +quarter million Bibles, in sixteen tongues, which were gratefully +accepted, even by Romish priests. Within six months those who thus +entered God's open door scattered more copies of the Book of God than in +ordinary circumstances would have been done by ten thousand colporteurs +in twenty times that number of months, and thousands of souls are known +to have found salvation by the simple reading of the New Testament. Of +this glorious work, George Müller was permitted to be so largely a +promoter.</p> + +<p>At the Havre Exhibition of the following year, 1868, a similar work was +done; and in like manner, when a providential door was unexpectedly +opened into the Land of the Inquisition, Mr. Müller promptly took +measures to promote the circulation of the Word in Spain. In the +streets of Madrid the open Bible was seen for the first time, and +copies were sold at the rate of two hundred and fifty in an hour, so +that the supply was not equal to the demand. The same facts were +substantially repeated when free Italy furnished a field for sowing the +seed of the Kingdom. This wide-awake servant of God watched the signs of +the times and, while others slept, followed the Lord's signals of +advance.</p> + +<p>One of the most fascinating features of the Narrative is found in the +letters from his Bible distributors. It is interesting also to trace the +story of the growth of the tract enterprise, until, in 1874, the +circulation exceeded three and three-quarter millions, God in His +faithfulness supplying abundant means.*</p> + +<p>* Narrative, IV. 244.</p> + +<p>The good thus effected by the distributors of evangelical literature +must not be overlooked in this survey of the many useful agencies +employed or assisted by Mr. Müller. To him the world was a field to be +sown with the seed of the Kingdom, and opportunities were eagerly +embraced for widely disseminating the truth. Tracts were liberally used, +given away in large quantities at open-air services, fairs, races and +steeplechases, and among spectators at public executions, or among +passengers on board ships and railway trains, and by the way. Sometimes, +at a single gathering of the multitudes, fifteen thousand were +distributed judiciously and prayerfully, and this branch of the work +has, during all these years, continued with undiminished fruitfulness to +yield its harvest of good.</p> + +<p>All this was, from first to last, and of necessity, a work of faith. How +far faith must have been kept in constant and vigorous exercise can be +appreciated only by putting one's self in Mr. Müller's place. In the +year 1874, for instance, about forty-four thousand pounds were needed, +and he was compelled to count the cost and face the situation. Two +thousand and one hundred hungry mouths were daily to be fed, and as many +bodies to be clad and cared for. One hundred and eighty-nine +missionaries were needing assistance; one hundred schools, with about +nine thousand pupils, to be supported; four million pages of tracts and +tens of thousands of copies of the Scriptures to be yearly provided for +distribution; and, beside all these ordinary expenses, inevitable crises +or emergencies, always liable to arise in connection with the conduct of +such extensive enterprises, would from time to time call for +extraordinary outlay. The man who was at the head of the Scriptural +Knowledge Institution had to look at this array of unavoidable expenses, +and at the same time face the human possibility and probability of an +empty treasury whence the last shilling had been drawn. Let him tell us +how he met such a prospect: "God, our infinitely rich Treasurer, remains +to us. It is this which gives me peace.... Invariably, with this +probability before me, I have said to myself: 'God who has raised up +this work through me; God who has led me generally year after year to +enlarge it; God, who has supported this work now for more than forty +years, will still help and will not suffer me to be confounded, because +I rely upon Him. I commit the whole work to Him, and He will provide me +with what I need, in future also, though I know not whence the means are +to come.'"*</p> + +<p>* Narrative, IV. 386, 387.</p> + +<p>Thus he wrote in his journal, on July 28, 1874. Since then twenty-four +years have passed, and to this day the work goes on, though he who then +had the guidance of it sleeps in Jesus. Whoever has had any such +dealings with God, on however small a scale, cannot even <i>think</i> of the +Lord as failing to honour a faith so simple, genuine, and childlike a +faith which leads a helpless believer thus to cast himself and all his +cares upon God with utter abandonment of all anxiety. This man put God +to proof, and proved to himself and to all who receive his testimony +that it is blessed to wait only upon Him. The particular point which he +had in view, in making these entries in his journal is the object also +of embodying them in these pages, namely, to show that, while the annual +expenses of this Institution were so exceedingly large and the income so +apparently uncertain, the soul of this believer was, to use his own +words, "THROUGHOUT, without the least wavering, stayed upon God, +believing that He who had through him begun the Institution, enlarged it +almost year after year, and upheld it for forty years in answer to +prayer by faith, would do this still and not suffer this servant of His +to be confounded."* Believing that God would still help, and supply the +means, George Müller was willing, and THOROUGHLY in heart prepared, if +necessary, to pass again through similar severe and prolonged seasons of +trial as he had already endured.</p> + +<p>* Narrative, IV. 389.</p> + +<p>The Living God had kept him calm and restful, amid all the ups and downs +of his long experience as the superintendent and director of this +many-sided work, though the tests of faith had not been light or short +of duration. For more than ten years at a time—as from August, 1838, to +April, 1849, day by day, and for months together from meal to meal—it +was necessary to look to God, almost without cessation, for daily +supplies. When, later on, the Institution was twentyfold larger and the +needs proportionately greater, for months at a time the Lord likewise +constrained His servant to lean from hour to hour, in the same +dependence, upon Him. All along through these periods of unceasing want, +the Eternal God was his refuge and underneath were the Everlasting Arms. +He reflected that God was aware of all this enlargement of the work and +its needs; he comforted himself with the consoling thought that he was +seeking his Master's glory; and that if in this way the greater glory +would accrue to Him for the good of His people and of those who were +still unbelievers, it was no concern of the servant; nay, more than +this, it behooved the servant to be willing to go on in this path of +trial, even unto the end of his course, if so it should please his +Master, who guides His affairs with divine discretion.</p> + +<p>The trials of faith did not cease even until the end. July 28, 1881, +finds the following entry in Mr. Müller's journal:</p> + +<p>"The income has been for some time past only about a third part of the +expenses. Consequently all we have for the support of the orphans is +nearly gone; and for the first four objects of the Institution we have +nothing at all in hand. The natural appearance now is that the work +cannot be carried on. But I BELIEVE that the Lord will help, both with +means for the orphans and also for other objects of the Institution, and +that we shall not be confounded; also that the work shall not need to be +given up. I am fully expecting help, and have written this to the glory +of God, that it may be recorded hereafter for the encouragement of His +children. The result will be seen. I expect that we shall not be +confounded, though for some years we have not been so poor."</p> + +<p>While faith thus leaned on God, prayer took more vigorous hold. Six, +seven, eight times a day, he and his dear wife were praying for means, +looking for answers, and firmly persuaded that their expectations would +not be disappointed. Since that entry was made, seventeen more years +have borne their witness that this trust was not put to shame. Not a +branch of this tree of holy enterprise has been cut off by the sharp +blade of a stern necessity.</p> + +<p>Though faith had thus tenaciously held fast to the promises, the +pressure was not at once relieved. When, a fortnight after these +confident records of trust in God had been spread on the pages of the +journal, the balance for the orphans was less than it had been for +twenty-five years, it would have seemed to human sight as though God had +forgotten to be gracious. But, on August 22nd, over one thousand pounds +came in for the support of the orphans and thus relief was afforded for +a time.</p> + +<p>Again, let us bear in mind how in the most unprecedented straits God +alone was made the confidant, even the best friends of the Institution, +alike the poor and the rich, being left in ignorance of the pressure of +want. It would have been no sin to have made known the circumstances, or +even to have made an appeal for aid to the many believers who would +gladly have come to the relief of the work. But the <i>testimony to the +Lord</i> was to be jealously guarded, and the main object of this work of +faith would have been imperilled just so far as by any appeal to men +this witness to God was weakened.</p> + +<p>In this crisis, and in every other, faith triumphed, and so the +testimony to a prayer-hearing God grew in volume and power as the years +went on. It was while as yet this period of testing was not ended, and +no permanent relief was yet supplied, that Mr. Müller, with his wife, +left Bristol on August 23rd, for the Continent, on his eighth long +preaching tour. Thus, at a time when, to the natural eye, his own +presence would have seemed well-nigh indispensable, he calmly departed +for other spheres of duty, leaving the work at home in the hands of Mr. +Wright and his helpers. The tour had been already arranged for, under +God's leading, and it was undertaken, with the supporting power of a +deep conviction that God is as near to those who in prayer wait on Him +in distant lands, as on Ashley Down, and needs not the personal presence +of any man in any one place, or at any time, in order to carry on His +work.</p> + +<p>In an American city, a half-idiotic boy who was bearing a heavy burden +asked a drayman, who was driving an empty cart, for a ride. Being +permitted, he mounted the cart with his basket, but thinking he might so +relieve the horse a little, while still himself riding, lifted his load +and carried it. We laugh at the simplicity of the idiotic lad, and yet +how often we are guilty of similar folly! We profess to cast ourselves +and our cares upon the Lord, and then persist in bearing our own +burdens, as if we felt that He would be unequal to the task of +sustaining us and our loads. It is a most wholesome lesson for Christian +workers to learn that all true work is primarily the Lord's, and only +secondarily ours, and that therefore all 'carefulness' on our part is +distrust of Him, implying a sinful self-conceit which overlooks the fact +that He is the one Worker and all others are only His instruments.</p> + +<p>As to our trials, difficulties, losses, and disappointments, we are +prone to hesitate about committing them to the Lord, trustfully and +calmly. We think we have done well if we take refuge in the Lord's +promise to his reluctant disciple Peter, "What I do thou knowest not +now, but thou shalt know hereafter," referring this 'hereafter' to the +future state where we look for the solution of all problems. In Peter's +case the hereafter appears to have come when the feet-washing was done +and Christ explained its meaning; and it is very helpful to our faith to +observe Mr. Müller's witness concerning all these trying and +disappointing experiences of his life, that, without one exception, he +had found already in this life that they worked together for his good; +so that he had reason to praise God for them all. In the ninetieth psalm +we read:</p> + +<p> "Make us glad according to the days wherein Thou hast afflicted us + And the years wherein we have seen evil." + (Psalm xc. 15.)</p> + +<p>This is an inspired prayer, and such prayer is a prophecy. Not a few +saints have found, this side of heaven, a divine gladness for every year +and day of sadness, when their afflictions and adversities have been +patiently borne.</p> + +<p>Faith is the secret of both peace and steadfastness, amid all tendencies +to discouragement and discontinuance in well-doing. James was led by the +Spirit of God to write that the unstable and unbelieving man is like the +"wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed." There are two motions +of the waves—one up and down, which we call undulation, the other to +and fro, which we call fluctuation. How appropriately both are referred +to—"tossed" up and down, "driven" to and fro! The double-minded man +lacks steadiness in both respects: his faith has no uniformity of +experience, for he is now at the crest of the wave and now in the trough +of the sea; it has no uniformity of progress, for whatever he gains +to-day he loses to-morrow.</p> + +<p>Fluctuations in income and apparent prosperity did not take George +Müller by surprise. He expected them, for if there were no crises and +critical emergencies how could there be critical deliverances? His trust +was in God, not in donors or human friends or worldly circumstances: and +because he trusted in the Living God who says of Himself, "I am the +Lord, I change not," amid all other changes, his feet were upon the one +Rock of Ages that no earthquake shock can move from its eternal +foundations.</p> + +<p>Two facts Mr. Müller gratefully records at this period of his life: +(Narrative, IV. 411, 418.)</p> + +<p>First. "For above fifty years I have now walked, by His grace, in a path +of complete reliance upon Him who is the faithful one, for everything I +have needed; and yet I am increasingly convinced that it is by His help +alone I am enabled to continue in this course; for, if left to myself, +even after the precious enjoyment so long experienced of walking thus in +fellowship with God, I should yet be tempted to abandon this path of +entire dependence upon Him. To His praise, however, I am able to state +that for more than half a century I have never had the least desire to +do so."</p> + +<p>Second. From May, 1880, to May 1881, a gracious work of the Spirit had +visited the orphans on Ashley Down and in many of the schools. During +the three months spent by Mr. Müller at home before sailing for America +in September, 1880, he had been singularly drawn out in prayer for such +a visitation of grace, and had often urged it on the prayers of his +helpers. The Lord is faithful, and He cheered the heart of His servant +in his absence by abundant answers to his intercessions. Before he had +fairly entered on his work in America, news came from home of a blessed +work of conversion already in progress, and which went on for nearly a +year, until there was good ground for believing that in the five houses +five hundred and twelve orphans had found God their Father in Christ, +and nearly half as many more were in a hopeful state.</p> + +<p>The Lord did not forget His promise, and He did keep the plant He had +permitted His servant to set in His name in the soil on Ashley Down. +Faith that was tried, triumphed. On June 7, 1884, a legacy of over +eleven thousand pounds reached him, the <i>largest single gift</i> ever yet +received, the largest donations which had preceded being respectively +one thousand, two thousand, three thousand, five thousand, eight +thousand one hundred, and nine thousand and ninety-one pounds.</p> + +<p>This last amount, eleven thousand, had been due for over six years from +an estate, but had been kept back by the delays of the Chancery Court. +Prayer had been made day by day that the bequest might be set free for +its uses, and now the full answer had come; and God had singularly timed +the supply to the need, for there was at that time only forty-one pounds +ten shillings in hand, not one half of the average daily expenses, and +certain sanitary improvements were just about to be carried out which +would require an outlay of over two thousand pounds.</p> + +<p>As Mr. Müller closed the solemn and blessed records of 1884, he wrote:</p> + +<p>"Thus ended the year 1884, during which we had been tried, greatly +tried, in various ways, no doubt for the exercise of our faith, and to +make us know God more fully; but during which we had also been helped +and blessed, and greatly helped and blessed. Peacefully, then, we were +able to enter upon the year 1885, fully assured that, as we had God FOR +us and WITH us, ALL, ALL would be well." John Wesley had in the same +spirit said a century before, "Best of all, God is with us."</p> + +<p>Of late years the orphanage at Ashley Down has not had as many inmates +as formerly, and some four or five hundred more might now be received. +Mr. MUller felt constrained, for some years previous to his death, to +make these vacancies known to the public, in hopes that some destitute +orphans might find there a home. But it must be remembered that the +provision for such children has been greatly enlarged since this orphan +work was begun. In 1834 the total accommodation for all orphans, in +England, reached thirty-six hundred, while the prisons contained nearly +twice as many children under eight years of age. This state of things +led to the rapid enlargement of the work until over two thousand were +housed on Ashley Down alone; and this colossal enterprise stimulated +others to open similar institutions until, fifty years after Mr. Müller +began his work, at least one hundred thousand orphans were cared for in +England alone. Thus God used Mr. Müller to give such an impetus to this +form of philanthropy, that destitute children became the object of a +widely organized charity both on the part of individuals and of +societies, and orphanages now exist for various classes.</p> + +<p>In all this manifold work which Mr. Müller did he was, to the last, +self-oblivious. From the time when, in October, 1830, he had given up +all stated salary, as pastor and minister of the gospel, he had never +received any salary, stipend nor fixed income, of any sort, whether as a +pastor or as a director of the Scriptural Knowledge Institution. Both +principle and preference led him to wait only upon God for all personal +needs, as also for all the wants of his work. Nevertheless God put into +the hearts of His believing children in all parts of the world, not only +to send gifts in aid of the various branches of the work which Mr. +Müller superintended, but to forward to him money for his own uses, as +well as clothes, food, and other temporal supplies. He never +appropriated one penny which was not in some way indicated or designated +as for his own personal needs, and subject to his personal judgment. No +straits of individual or family want ever led him to use, even for a +time, what was sent to him for other ends. Generally gifts intended for +himself were wrapped up in paper with his name written thereon, or in +other equally distinct ways designated as meant for him. Thus as early +as 1874 his year's income reached upwards of twenty-one hundred pounds. +Few nonconformist ministers, and not one in twenty of the clergy of the +establishment, have any such income, which averages about six pounds for +every day in the year—and all this came from the Lord, simply in answer +to prayer, and without appeal of any sort to man or even the revelation +of personal needs. If we add legacies paid at the end of the year 1873, +Mr. Müller's entire income in about thirteen months exceeded thirty-one +hundred pounds. Of this he gave, out and out to the needy, and to the +work of God, the whole amount save about two hundred and fifty, expended +on personal and family wants; and thus started the year 1875 as poor as +he had begun forty-five years before; and if his personal expenses were +scrutinized it would be found that even what he ate and drank and wore +was with equal conscientiousness expended for the glory of God, so that +in a true sense we may say he spent nothing on himself.</p> + +<p>In another connection it has already been recorded that, when at +Jubbulpore in 1890, Mr. Müller received tidings of his daughter's death. +To any man of less faith that shock might have proved, at his advanced +age, not only a stunning but a fatal blow. His only daughter and only +child, Lydia, the devoted wife of James Wright, had been called home, in +her fifty-eighth year, and after nearly thirty years of labour at the +orphan houses. What this death meant to Mr. Müller, at the age of +eighty-four, no one can know who has not witnessed the mutual devotion +of that daughter and that father: and what that loss was to Mr. Wright, +the pen alike fails to portray. If the daughter seemed to her father +humanly indispensable, she was to her husband a sort of inseparable part +of his being; and over such experiences as these it is the part of +delicacy to draw the curtain of silence. But it should be recorded that +no trait in Mrs. Wright was more pathetically attractive than her +humility. Few disciples ever felt their own nothingness as she did, and +it was this ornament of a meek and quiet spirit—the only ornament she +wore—that made her seem so beautiful to all who knew her well enough +for this 'hidden man of the heart' to be disclosed to their vision. Did +not that ornament in the Lord's sight appear as of great price? Truly +"the beauty of the Lord her God was upon her."</p> + +<p>James Wright had lived with his beloved Lydia for more than eighteen +years, in "unmarred and unbroken felicity." They had together shared in +prayers and tears before God, bearing all life's burdens in common. Weak +as she was physically, he always leaned upon her and found her a tower +of spiritual strength in time of heavy responsibility. While, in her +lowly-mindedness, she thought of herself as a 'little useless thing,' he +found her both a capable and cheerful supervisor of many most important +domestic arrangements where a competent woman's hand was needful: and, +with rare tact and fidelity, she kept watch of the wants of the orphans +as her dear mother had done before her. After her decease, her husband +found among her personal effects a precious treasure—a verse written +with her own hand:</p> + +<p> "I have seen the face of Jesus, + Tell me not of aught beside; + I have heard the voice of Jesus, + All my soul is satisfied."</p> + +<p>This invaluable little fragment, like that other writing found by this +beloved daughter among her mother's effects, became to Mr. Wright what +that had been to Mr. Müller, a sort of last legacy from his departed and +beloved wife. Her desires were fulfilled; she had seen the face and +heard the voice of Him who alone could satisfy her soul.</p> + +<p>In the Fifty-third Report, which extends to May 26, 1892, it is stated +that the expenses exceeded the income for the orphans by a total of over +thirty-six hundred pounds, so that many dear fellow labourers, without +the least complaint, were in arrears as to salaries. This was the second +time only, in fifty-eight years, that the income thus fell short of the +expenses. Ten years previous, the expenses had been in excess of the +income by four hundred and eighty-eight pounds, but, within one month +after the new financial year had begun, by the payment of legacies three +times as much as the deficiency was paid in; and, adding donations, six +times as much. And now the question arose whether God would not have Mr. +Müller contract rather than expand the work.</p> + +<p>He says: "The Lord's dealings with us during the last year indicate that +it is His will we should contract our operations, and we are waiting +upon Him for directions as to how and to what extent this should be +done; for we have but one single object—the glory of God. When I +founded this Institution, one of the principles stated was, 'that there +would be no enlargement of the work by going into debt': and in like +manner we cannot go on with <i>that which already exists</i> if we have not +sufficient means coming in to meet the current expenses." Thus the godly +man who loved to expand his service for God was humble enough to bow to +the will of God if its contraction seemed needful.</p> + +<p>Prayer was much increased, and faith did not fail under the trial, which +continued for weeks and months, but was abundantly sustained by the +promises of an unfailing Helper. This distress was relieved in March by +the sale of ten acres of land, at one thousand pounds an acre, and at +the close of the year there was in hand a balance of over twenty-three +hundred pounds.</p> + +<p>The exigency, however, continued more or less severe until again, in +1893-4, after several years of trial, the Lord once more bountifully +supplied means. And Mr. Müller is careful to add that though the +<i>appearance</i> during those years of trial was many times as if God had +forgotten or forsaken them and would never care any more about the +Institution, it was only in appearance, for he was as mindful of it as +ever, and he records how by this discipline faith was still further +strengthened, God was glorified in the patience and meekness whereby He +enabled them to endure the testing, and tens of thousands of believers +were blessed in afterward reading about these experience's of divine +faithfulness.*</p> + +<p>* Fifty-fifth Report, p. 32.</p> + +<p>Five years after Mrs. Wright's death, Mr. Müller was left again a +widower. His last great mission tour had come to an end in 1892, and in +1895, on the 13th of January, the beloved wife who in all these long +journeys had been his constant companion and helper, passed to her rest, +and once more left him peculiarly alone, since his devoted Lydia had +been called up higher. Yet by the same grace of God which had always +before sustained him he was now upheld, and not only kept in unbroken +peace, but enabled to "kiss the Hand which administered the stroke."</p> + +<p>At the funeral of his second wife, as at that of the first, he made the +address, and the scene was unique in interest. Seldom does a man of +ninety conduct such a service. The faith that sustained him in every +other trial held him up in this. He lived in such habitual communion +with the unseen world, and walked in such uninterrupted fellowship with +the unseen God, that the exchange of worlds became too real for him to +mourn for those who had made it, or to murmur at the infinite Love that +numbers our days. It moved men more deeply than any spoken word of +witness to see him manifestly borne up as on everlasting Arms.</p> + +<p>I remember Mr. Müller remarking that he waited eight years before he +understood at all the purpose of God in removing his first wife, who +seemed so indispensable to him and his work. His own journal explains +more fully this remark. When it pleased God to take from him his second +wife, after over twenty-three years of married life, again he rested on +the promise that "All things work together for good to them that love +God" and reflected on his past experiences of its truth. When he lost +his first wife after over thirty-nine years of happy wedlock, while he +bowed to the Father's will, how that sorrow and bereavement could work +good had been wholly a matter of <i>faith,</i> for no compensating good was +apparent to sight; yet he believed God's word and waited to see how it +would be fulfilled. That loss seemed one that could not be made up. Only +a little before, two orphan houses had been opened for nine hundred more +orphans, so that there were total accommodations for over two thousand; +she, who by nature, culture, gifts, and graces, was so wonderfully +fitted to be her husband's helper, and who had with motherly love cared +for these children, was suddenly removed from his side. Four years after +Mr. Müller married his second wife, he saw it plainly to be God's will +that he should spend life's evening-time in giving witness to the +nations. These mission tours could not be otherwise than very trying to +the physical powers of endurance, since they covered over two hundred +thousand miles and obliged the travellers to spend a week at a time in a +train, and sometimes from four to six weeks on board a vessel. Mrs. +Müller, though never taking part in public, was severely taxed by all +this travel, and always busy, writing letters, circulating books and +tracts, and in various ways helping and relieving her husband. All at +once, while in the midst of these fatiguing journeys and exposures to +varying climates, it flashed upon Mr. Müller that his first wife, who +had died in her seventy-third year, <i>could never have undertaken these +tours,</i> and that the Lord had thus, in taking her, left him free to make +these extensive journeys. She would have been over fourscore years old +when these tours began, and, apart from age, could not have borne the +exhaustion, because of her frail health; whereas the second Mrs. Müller, +who, at the time, was not yet fifty-seven, was both by her age and +strength fully equal to the strain thus put upon her.</p> + +<a name="19"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER XIX<br> + +AT EVENING-TIME—LIGHT</h3></center> + +<p>THE closing scene of this beautiful and eventful life-history has an +interest not altogether pathetic. Mr. Müller seems like an elevated +mountain, on whose summit the evening sun shines in lingering splendour, +and whose golden peak rises far above the ordinary level and belongs to +heaven more than earth, in the clear, cloudless calm of God.</p> + +<p>From May, 1892, when the last mission tour closed; he devoted himself +mainly to the work of the Scriptural Knowledge Institution, and to +preaching at Bethesda and elsewhere as God seemed to appoint. His health +was marvelous, especially considering how, when yet a young man, +frequent and serious illnesses and general debility had apparently +disqualified him from all military duty, and to many prophesied early +death or hopeless succumbing to disease. He had been in tropic heat and +arctic cold, in gales and typhoons at sea, and on journeys by rail, +sometimes as continuously long as a sea-voyage. He had borne the pest of +fleas, mosquitoes, and even rats. He had endured changes of climate, +diet, habits of life, and the strain of almost daily services, and come +out of all unscathed. This man, whose health was never robust, had gone +through labours that would try the mettle of an iron constitution; this +man, who had many times been laid aside by illness and sometimes for +months and who in 1837 had feared that a persistent head trouble might +unhinge his mind, could say, in his ninety-second year: "I have been +able, every day and all the day, to work, and that with ease, as seventy +years since." When the writer was holding meetings in Bristol in 1896, +on an anniversary very sacred to himself, he asked his beloved father +Müller to speak at the closing meeting of the series, in the Y.M.C.A. +Hall; and he did so, delivering a powerful address of forty-five +minutes, on Prayer in connection with Missions, and giving his own +life-story in part, with a vigour of voice and manner that seemed a +denial of his advanced age.*</p> + +<p>* Appendix K.</p> + +<p>The marvelous preservation of such a man at such an age reminds one of +Caleb, who at eighty-five could boast in God that he was as strong even +for war as in the day that he was sent into the land as one of the +spies; and Mr. Müller himself attributed this preservation to three +causes: first, the exercising of himself to have always a conscience +void of offence both toward God and toward men; secondly to the love he +felt for the Scriptures, and the constant recuperative power they +exercised upon his whole being; and third, to that happiness he felt in +God and His work, which relieved him of all anxiety and needless wear +and tear in his labours.</p> + +<p>The great fundamental truth that this heroic man stamped on his +generation was that the Living God is the same to-day and forever as +yesterday and in all ages past, and that, with equal confidence with the +most trustful souls of any age, we may believe His word, and to every +promise add, like Abraham, our 'Amen'—IT SHALL BE SO!* When, a few +days after his death, Mr. E. H. Glenny, who is known to many as the +beloved and self-sacrificing friend of the North African Mission, passed +through Barcelona, he found written in an album over his signature the +words: "Jesus Christ, the same yesterday and to-day and for ever." And, +like the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews, quoting from the 102nd +Psalm, we may say of Jehovah, while all else changes and perishes:</p> + +<p> "THOU REMAINEST"; + "THOU ART THE SAME."</p> + +<p>Toward the close of life Mr. Müller, acting under medical advice, abated +somewhat of his active labours, preaching commonly but once a Sunday. It +was my privilege to hear him on the morning of the Lord's day, March 22, +1896. He spoke on the 77th Psalm; of course he found here his favourite +theme—prayer; and, taking that as a fair specimen of his average +preaching, he was certainly a remarkable expositor of Scripture even at +ninety-one years of age. Later on the outline of this discourse will be +found.</p> + +<p>* Gen. xv. 6. (Hebrew.)</p> + +<p>On Sunday morning, March 6, 1898, he spoke at Alma Road Chapel, and on +the Monday evening following was at the prayer service at Bethesda, on +both occasions in his usual health. On Wednesday evening following, he +took his wonted place at the Orphan House prayer meeting and gave out +the hymns:</p> + +<p> "The countless multitude on high." +and + "We'll sing of the Shepherd that died."</p> + +<p>When he bade his beloved son-in-law "good-night," there was no outward +sign of declining strength. He seemed to the last the vigorous old man, +and retired to rest as usual. It had been felt that one so advanced in +years should have some night-attendant, especially as indications of +heart-weakness had been noticed of late, and he had yielded to the +pressure of love and consented to such an arrangement <i>after that +night.</i> But the consent came too late. He was never more to need human +attendance or attention. On Thursday morning, March 10th, at about seven +o'clock, the usual cup of tea was taken to his room. To the knock at the +door there was no response save an ominous silence. The attendant opened +the door, only to find that the venerable patriarch lay dead, on the +floor beside the bed. He had probably risen to take some nourishment—a +glass of milk and a biscuit being always put within reach—and, while +eating the biscuit, he had felt faint, and fallen, clutching at the +table-cloth as he fell, for it was dragged off, with certain things that +had lain on the table. His medical adviser, who was promptly summoned, +gave as his opinion that he had died of heart-failure some hour or two +before he had been found by his attendant.</p> + +<p>Such a departure, even at such an age, produced a worldwide sensation. +That man's moral and spiritual forces reached and touched the earth's +ends. Not in Bristol, or in Britain alone, but across the mighty waters +toward the sunrise and sunset was felt the responsive pulse-beat of a +deep sympathy. Hearts bled all over the globe when it was announced, by +telegraph wire and ocean cable, that George Müller was dead. It was said +of a great Englishman that his influence could be measured only by +"parallels of latitude"; of George Müller we may add, and by meridians +of longitude. He belonged to the whole church and the whole world, in a +unique sense; and the whole race of man sustained a loss when he died.</p> + +<p>The funeral, which took place on the Monday following, was a popular +tribute of affection, such as is seldom seen. Tens of thousands of +people reverently stood along the route of the simple procession; men +left their workshops and offices, women left their elegant homes or +humble kitchens, all seeking to pay a last token of respect. Bristol had +never before witnessed any such scene.</p> + +<p>A brief service was held at Orphan House No. 3, where over a thousand +children met, who had for a second time lost a 'father'; in front of the +reading-desk in the great dining-room, a coffin of elm, studiously +plain, and by request without floral offerings, contained all that was +mortal of George Müller, and on a brass plate was a simple inscription, +giving the date of his death, and his age.</p> + +<p>Mr. James Wright gave the address, reminding those who were gathered +that, to all of us, even those who have lived nearest God, death comes +while the Lord tarries; that it is blessed to die in the Lord; and that +for believers in Christ there is a glorious resurrection waiting. The +tears that ran down those young cheeks were more eloquent than any +words, as a token of affection for the dead. The procession silently +formed. Among those who followed the bier were four who had been +occupants of that first orphan home in Wilson Street. The children's +grief melted the hearts of spectators, and eyes unused to weeping were +moistened that day. The various carriages bore the medical attendants, +the relatives and connections of Mr. Müller, the elders and deacons of +the churches with which he was associated, and his staff of helpers in +the work on Ashley Down. Then followed forty or fifty other vehicles +with deputations from various religious bodies, etc.</p> + +<p>At Bethesda, every foot of space was crowded, and hundreds sought in +vain for admission. The hymn was sung which Mr. Müller had given out at +that last prayer meeting the night before his departure. Dr. Maclean of +Bath offered prayer, mingled with praise for such a long life of service +and witness, of prayer and faith, and Mr. Wright spoke from Hebrews +xiii. 7, 8:</p> + +<p> "Remember them which have the rule over you, + Who have spoken unto you the word of God: + Whose faith follow, + Considering the end of their conversation: + Jesus Christ, the same yesterday and to-day and forever."</p> + +<p>He spoke of those spiritual rulers and guides whom God sets over his +people; and of the privilege of imitating their faith, calling attention +to the two characteristics of his beloved father-in-law's faith: first, +that it was based on that immovable Rock of Ages, God's written word; +and secondly, that it translated the precepts and promises of that word +into daily life.</p> + +<p>Mr. Wright made very emphatic Mr. Müller's acceptance of the whole +Scriptures, as divinely inspired. He had been wont to say to young +believers, "Put your finger on the passage on which your faith rests," +and had himself read the Bible from end to end nearly two hundred times. +He fed on the Word and therefore was strong. He found the centre of that +Word in the living Person it enshrines, and his one ground of confidence +was His atoning work. Always in his own eyes weak, wretched, and vile, +unworthy of the smallest blessing, he rested solely on the merit and +mediation of His great High Priest.</p> + +<p>George Müller <i>cultivated</i> faith. He used to say to his helpers in +prayer and service, "Never let enter your minds a shadow of doubt as to +the love of the Father's heart or the power of the Father's arm." And he +projected his whole life forward, and looked at it in the light of the +Judgment Day.</p> + +<p>Mr. Wright's address made prominent one or two other most important +lessons, as, for example, that the Spirit bids us imitate, not the +idiosyncrasies or philanthropy of others, but <i>their faith.</i> And he took +occasion to remind his hearers that philanthropy was not the foremost +aim or leading feature of Mr. Müller's life, but above all else to +magnify and glorify God, <i>"as still the living God who, now as well as +thousands of years ago, hears the prayers of His children and helps +those who trust Him."</i> He touchingly referred to the humility that led +Mr. Müller to do the mightiest thing for God without self-consciousness, +and showed that God can take up and use those who are willing to be only +instruments.</p> + +<p>Mr. Wright further remarked: "I have been asked again and again lately +as to whether the orphan work would go on. It is going on. Since the +commencement of the year we have received between forty and fifty fresh +orphans, and this week expect to receive more. The other four objects of +the Institution, according to the ability God gives us, are still being +carried on. We believe that whatever God would do with regard to the +future will be worthy of Him. We do not know much more, and do not want +to. He knows what He will do. I cannot think, however, that the God who +has so blessed the work for so long will leave our prayers as to the +future unanswered."</p> + +<p>Mr. Benjamin Perry then spoke briefly, characterizing Mr. Müller as the +greatest personality Bristol had known as a citizen. He referred to his +power as an expounder of Scripture, and to the fact that he brought to +others for their comfort and support what had first been food to his own +soul. He gave some personal reminiscences, referring, for instance, to +his ability at an extreme old age still to work without hindrance either +mental or physical, free from rheumatism, ache, or pain, and seldom +suffering from exhaustion. He briefly described him as one who, in +response to the infinite love of God, which called him from a life of +sin to a life of salvation and service, wholly loved God above everybody +and everything, so that his highest pleasure was to please and serve +Him. As an illustration of his humility, he gave an incident. When of +late a friend had said, "When God calls you home, it will be like a +ship going into harbour, full sail."—"Oh no!" said Mr. Müller, "it is +poor George Müller who needs daily to pray, 'Hold Thou me up in my +goings, that my footsteps slip not.'" The close of such lives as those +of Asa and Solomon were to Mr. Müller a perpetual warning, leading him +to pray that he might never thus depart from the Lord in his old age.</p> + +<p>After prayer by Mr. J. L. Stanley, Col. Molesworth gave out the hymn,</p> + +<p> "'Tis sweet to think of those at rest."</p> + +<p>And after another prayer by Mr. Stanley Arnot, the body was borne to its +resting-place in Arno's Vale Cemetery, and buried beside the bodies of +Mr. Müller's first and second wives, some eighty carriages joining in the +procession to the grave. Everything from first to last was as simple and +unostentatious as he himself would have wished. At the graveside Col. +Molesworth prayed, and Mr. George F. Bergin read from 1 Cor. xv. and +spoke a few words upon the tenth verse, which so magnifies the grace of +God both in what we <i>are</i> and what we <i>do.</i></p> + +<p>Mr. E. K. Groves, nephew of Mr. Müller, announced as the closing hymn +the second given out by him at that last prayer meeting at the +orphanage.</p> + +<p> "We'll sing of the Shepherd that died."</p> + +<p>Mr. E. T. Davies then offered prayer, and the body was left to its +undisturbed repose, until the Lord shall come.</p> + +<p>Other memorial services were held at the Y.M.C.A. Hall, and very +naturally at Bethesda Chapel, which brought to a fitting close this +series of loving tributes to the departed. On the Lord's day preceding +the burial, in nearly all the city pulpits, more or less extended +reference had been made to the life, the character, and the career of +the beloved saint who had for so many years lived his irreproachable +life in Bristol. Also the daily and weekly press teemed with obituary +notices, and tributes to his piety, worth, and work.</p> + +<p>It was touchingly remarked at his funeral that he first confessed to +feeling weak and weary in his work that last night of his earthly +sojourn; and it seemed specially tender of the Lord not to allow that +sense of exhaustion to come upon him until just as He was about to send +His chariot to bear him to His presence. Mr. Müller's last sermon at +Bethesda Chapel, after a ministry of sixty-six years, had been from 2 +Cor. v. 1:</p> + +<p>"For we know that, if our earthly house of this tabernacle were +dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, +eternal in the heavens."</p> + +<p>It was as though he had some foretokens of his being about shortly to +put off this his tabernacle. Evidently he was not taken by surprise. He +had foreseen that his days were fast completing their number. Seven +months before his departure, he had remarked to his medical attendant, +in connection with the irregularity of his pulse: "It means <i>death."</i></p> + +<p>Many of the dear orphans—as when the first Mrs. Müller died—wrote, +asking that they might contribute toward the erection of a monument to +the memory of their beloved benefactor. Already one dear young servant +had gathered, for the purpose, over twenty pounds. In conformity with +the known wishes of his father-in-law that only the simplest headstone +be placed over his remains, Mr. Wright thought necessary to check the +inflow of such gifts, the sum in hand being quite sufficient.</p> + +<p>Further urgent appeals were made both from British and American friends, +for the erection of some statue or other large visible monument or +memorial, and in these appeals the local newspapers united. At length +private letters led Mr. Wright to communicate with the public press, as +the best way at once to silence these appeals and express the ground of +rejecting such proposals. He wrote as follows:</p> + +<p>"You ask me, as one long and closely associated with the late Mr. George +Müller, to say what I think would be most in accordance with his own +wishes as a fitting memorial of himself.</p> + +<p>"Will not the best way of replying to this question be to let him speak +for himself?</p> + +<p>"1st. When he erected Orphan House No. 1, and the question came what is +the building to be called, he deliberately avoided associating his own +name with it, and named it 'The New Orphan House, Ashley Down.' N.B.—To +the end of his life he <i>disliked</i> hearing or reading the words 'Müller's +Orphanage.' In keeping with this, for years, in <i>every Annual Report,</i> +when referring to the Orphanage he reiterated the statement, 'The New +Orphan Houses on Ashley Down, Bristol, are not <i>my</i> Orphan Houses,... +they are God's Orphan Houses.' (See, for example, the Report for 1897, +p. 69.)</p> + +<p>"2nd. For years, in fact until he was nearly eighty years old, he +steadily refused to allow any <i>portrait</i> of himself to be published; and +only most reluctantly (for reasons which he gives with characteristic +minuteness in the preface to 'Preaching Tours') did he at length give +way on this point.</p> + +<p>"3rd. In the last published Report, at page 66, he states: 'The primary +object I had in view in carrying on this work,' viz., 'that it might be +seen that now, in the nineteenth century, <i>God is still the Living God, +and that now, as well as thousands of years ago, He listens to the +prayers of His children and helps those who trust in Him.'</i> From these +words and ways of acting, is it not evident, that the only 'memorial' +that George Müller cared about was that which consists in the effect of +his example, Godward, upon his fellow men? Every soul converted to God +(instrumentally) through his words or example constitutes a permanent +memorial to him as the father in Christ of such an one. Every believer +strengthened in faith (instrumentally) through his words or example +constitutes a similar memorial to his spiritual teacher.</p> + +<p>"He knew that God had, already, in the riches of His grace, given him +many such memorials; and he departed this life, as I well know, +cherishing the most lively hope that he should greet <i>above</i> thousands +more to whom it had pleased God to make him a channel of rich spiritual +blessing.</p> + +<p>"He used often to say to me, when he opened a letter in which the writer +poured out a tale of sore pecuniary need, and besought his help to an +extent twice or three or ten times exceeding the sum total of his (Mr. +Müller's) earthly possessions at the moment, 'Ah! these dear people +entirely miss the lesson I am <i>trying</i> to teach them, for they come to +<i>me,</i> instead of going to <i>God.'</i> And if he could come back to us for an +hour, and listen to an account of what his sincerely admiring, but +mistaken, friends are proposing to do to <i>perpetuate</i> his memory, I can +hear him, with a sigh, exclaiming, 'Ah! these <i>dear</i> friends are +entirely missing the lesson that I tried for seventy years to teach +them,' viz., 'That a <i>man</i> can receive nothing except it be <i>given</i> him +<i>from above,'</i> and that, therefore, it is the Blessed <i>Giver,</i> and not +the poor receiver, that is to be glorified.</p> + +<p> "Yours faithfully, + "JAMES WRIGHT."</p> + +<a name="20"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER XX<br> + +THE SUMMARY OF THE LIFE-WORK</h3></center> + +<p>DEATH shuts the door upon earthly service, whatever door it may open to +other forms and spheres of activity. There are many intimations that +service beyond the grave is both unceasing and untiring: the blessed +dead "rest indeed from their <i>labours"</i>—toilsome and painful +tasks—"but their works"—activities for God—"do follow them," where +exertion is without exhaustion.</p> + +<p>This is therefore a fit point for summing up the results of the work +over which, from its beginning, one man had specially had charge. One +sentence from Mr. Müller's pen marks the purpose which was the very +pivot of his whole being: "I have joyfully dedicated my whole life to +the object of exemplifying how much may be accomplished by prayer and +faith." This prepared both for the development of the character of him +who had such singleness of aim, and for the development of the work in +which that aim found action. Mr. Müller's oldest friend, Robert C. +Chapman of Barnstaple, beautifully says that "when a man's chief +business is to serve and please the Lord, all his circumstances become +his servants"; and we shall find this maxim true in Mr. Müller's +life-work.</p> + +<p>The Fifty-ninth Report, issued May 26, 1898, was the last up to the date +of the publication of this volume, and the first after Mr. Müller's +death. In this, Mr. Wright gives the brief but valuable summary not only +of the whole work of the year preceding, but of the whole work from its +beginning, and thus helps us to a comprehensive survey.</p> + +<p>This report is doubly precious as it contains also the last contribution +of Mr. Müller's own pen to the record of the Lord's dealings. It is +probable that on the afternoon of March 9th he laid down his pen, for +the last time, all unconscious that he was never again to take it up. He +had made, in a twofold sense, his closing entry in life's solemn +journal! In the evening of that day he took his customary part in the +prayer service in the orphan house—then went to sleep for the last time +on earth; there came a waking hour, when he was alone with God, and +suddenly departed, leaving his body to its long sleep that knows no +waking until the day of the Lord's coming, while his spirit returned +unto God who gave it.</p> + +<p>The afternoon of that day of death, and of 'birth' into the heavenly +life—as the catacomb saints called it—found the helpers again +assembled in the same prayer room to commit the work to him "who only +hath immortality," and who, amid all changes of human administration, +ever remains the divine Master Workman, never at a loss for His own +chosen instruments.</p> + +<p>Mr. Wright, in this report, shows himself God's chosen successor in the +work, evidently like-minded with the departed director. The first +paragraph, after the brief and touching reference to his father-in-law, +serves to convey to all friends of this work the assurance that he to +whom Mr. Müller left its conduct has also learned the one secret of all +success in coworking with God. It sounds, as the significant <i>keynote</i> +for the future, the same old keynote of the past, carrying on the melody +and harmony, without change, into the new measures. It is the same +oratorio, without alteration of theme, time, or even key: the leading +performer is indeed no more, but another hand takes up his instrument +and, trembling with emotion, continues the unfinished strain so that +there is no interruption. Mr. Wright says:</p> + +<p>"It is written (Job xxvi. 7): 'He hangeth the earth upon +<i>nothing'</i>—that is, no <i>visible</i> support. And so we exult in the fact +that 'the Scriptural Knowledge Institution for Home and Abroad' hangs, +as it has ever hung, since its commencement, now more than sixty-four +years ago, 'upon nothing,' that is, upon no VISIBLE support. It hangs +upon no human patron, upon no endowment or funded property, but solely +upon the good pleasure of the blessed God."</p> + +<p>Blessed lesson to learn! that to hang upon the invisible God is not to +hang "upon nothing," though it be upon nothing <i>visible.</i> The power and +permanence of the invisible forces that hold up the earth after sixty +centuries of human history are sufficiently shown by the fact that this +great globe still swings securely in space and is whirled through its +vast orbit, and that, without variation of a second, it still moves with +divine exactness in its appointed path. We can therefore trust the same +invisible God to sustain with His unseen power all the work which faith +suspends upon His truth and love and unfailing word of promise, though +to the natural eye all these may seem as nothing.</p> + +<p>Mr. Wright records also a very striking answer to long-continued prayer, +and a most impressive instance of the tender care of the Lord, in the +<i>providing of an associate,</i> every way like-minded, and well fitted to +share the responsibility falling upon his shoulders at the decease of +his father-in-law.</p> + +<p>Feeling the burden too great for him, his one resource +was to cast his burden on the Lord. He and Mr. Müller had asked of God +such a companion in labour for three years before his departure, and Mr. +Wright and his dear wife had, for twenty-five years before that—from +the time when Mr. Müller's long missionary tours began to withdraw him +from Bristol—besought of the Lord the same favour. But to none of them +had any <i>name</i> been suggested, or, if so, it had never been mentioned.</p> + +<p>After that day of death, Mr. Wright felt that a gracious Father would +not long leave him to sustain this great burden alone, and about a +fortnight later he felt assured that it was the will of God that he +should ask Mr. George Frederic Bergin to join him in the work, who +seemed to him a <i>"true yoke-fellow."</i> He had known him well for a +quarter-century; he had worked by his side in the church; and though +they were diverse in temperament, there had never been a break in unity +or sympathy. Mr. Bergin was seventeen years his junior, and so likely to +survive and succeed him; he was very fond of children, and had been much +blessed in training his own in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, +and hence was fitted to take charge of this larger family of orphans. +Confident of being led of God, he put the matter before Mr. Bergin, +delighted but not surprised to find that the same God had moved on his +mind also, and in the same direction; for not only was he ready to +respond to Mr. Wright's appeal, but he had been led of God to feel that +he should, after a certain time, <i>go to Mr. Wright and offer himself.</i> +The Spirit who guided Philip to the Eunuch and at the same time had made +the Eunuch to inquire after guidance; who sent men from Cornelius and, +while they were knocking at Simon's house, was bidding Peter go with +them, still moves in a mysterious way, and simultaneously, on those whom +He would bring together for cooperation in loving service. And thus Mr. +Wright found the Living God the same Helper and Supplier of every need, +after his beloved father-in-law had gone up higher; and felt constrained +to feel that the God of Elijah was still at the crossing of the Jordan +and could work the same wonders as before, supplying the need of the +hour when the need came.</p> + +<p>Mr. Müller's own gifts to the service of the Lord find in this +posthumous report their first full record and recognition. Readers of +the Annual Reports must have noticed an entry, recurring with strange +frequency during all these thirty or forty years, and therefore +suggesting a giver that must have reached a very ripe age: "from a +servant of the Lord Jesus, who, constrained by the love of Christ, seeks +to lay up treasure in heaven." If that entry be carefully followed +throughout and there be added the personal gifts made by Mr. Müller to +various benevolent objects, it will be found that the aggregate sum from +this "servant" reaches, up to March 1, 1898, a total of <i>eighty-one +thousand four hundred and ninety pounds eighteen shillings and +eightpence.</i> Mr. Wright, now that this "servant of the Lord Jesus" is +with his Master, who promised, "Where I am there shall also My servant +be," feels free to make known that this donor was no other than <i>George +Müller himself</i> who thus gave out of his own money—money given to him +for his own use or left to him by legacies—the total sum of about +sixty-four thousand five hundred pounds to the Scriptural Knowledge +Institution, and, in other directions, seventeen thousand more.</p> + +<p>This is a record of personal gifts to which we know no parallel. It +reminds us of the career of John Wesley, whose simplicity and frugality +of habits enabled him not only to limit his own expenditure to a very +small sum, but whose Christian liberality and unselfishness prompted him +to give all that he could thus save to purely benevolent +objects. While he had but thirty pounds a year, he lived on twenty-eight +and gave away forty shillings. Receiving twice as much the next year, he +still kept his living expenses down to the twenty-eight pounds and had +thirty-two to bestow on the needy; and when the third year his income +rose to ninety pounds, he spent no more than before and gave away +sixty-two. The fourth year brought one hundred and twenty, and he +disbursed still but the same sum for his own needs, having ninety-two to +spare. It is calculated that in the course of his life he thus gave away +at least thirty thousand pounds, and four silver spoons comprised all +the silver plate that he possessed when the collectors of taxes called +upon him. Such economy on the one hand and such generosity on the other +have seldom been known in human history. But George Müller's record will +compare favourably with this or any other of modern days. His frugality, +simplicity, and economy were equal to Wesley's, and his gifts aggregated +eighty-one thousand pounds. Mr. Müller had received increasingly large +sums from the Lord which he <i>invested</i> well and most profitably, so that +for over sixty years he never lost a penny through a bad speculation! +But his investments were not in lands or banks or railways, but in the +<i>work of God.</i> He made friends out of the mammon of unrighteousness that +when he failed received him into everlasting habitations. He continued, +year after year, to make provision for himself, his beloved wife and +daughter, by laying up treasure—in heaven. Such a man had certainly a +right to exhort others to systematic beneficence. He gave—as not one in +a million gives—not a tithe, not any fixed proportion of annual income, +but <i>all that was left</i> after the simplest and most necessary supply of +actual wants. While most Christians regard themselves as doing their +duty if, after they have given a portion to the Lord, they spend all the +rest on themselves, God led George Müller to reverse this rule and +reserve only the most frugal sum for personal needs, that the entire +remainder might be given to him that needeth. The utter <i>revolution</i> +implied in our habits of giving which would be necessary were such a +rule adopted is but too obvious. Mr. Müller's own words are:</p> + +<p>"My aim never was, how much I could <i>obtain,</i> but rather how much I +could give."</p> + +<p>He kept continually before him <i>his stewardship</i> of God's property; and +sought to make the most of the one brief life on earth, and to use for +the best and largest good the property held by him in trust. The things +of God were deep realities, and, projecting every action and decision +and motive into the light of the judgment-seat of Christ, he asked +himself how it would appear to him in the light of that tribunal. Thus +he sought prayerfully and conscientiously so to live and labour, so to +deny himself, and, by love, serve God and man, as that he should not be +ashamed before Him at His coming. But not in a spirit of <i>fear</i> was this +done; for if any man of his generation knew the perfect love that casts +out fear, it was George Müller. He felt that God is love, and love is of +God. He saw that love manifested in the greatest of gifts—His +only-begotten Son at Calvary—he knew and believed the Love that God +hath to us; he received it into his own heart; it became an abiding +presence, manifested in obedience and benevolence, and, subduing him +more and more, it became perfected so as to expel tormenting fear and +impart a holy confidence and delight in God.</p> + +<p>Among the texts which strongly impressed and moulded Mr. Müller's habits +of giving was Luke vi. 38:</p> + +<p>"Give and it shall be given unto you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken +together and running over shall men give into your bosom."</p> + +<p>He believed this promise and he verified it. His testimony is: "I had +GIVEN, and God had caused to be GIVEN TO ME AGAIN, and bountifully."</p> + +<p>Again he read: "It is more blessed to give than to receive."</p> + +<p>He says that he BELIEVED what he found in the word of God, and by His +grace sought to ACT ACCORDINGLY, and thus again records that he was +blessed abundantly and his peace and joy in the Holy Ghost increased +more and more.</p> + +<p>It will not be a surprise, therefore, that, as has been already noted, +Mr. Müller's <i>entire personal estate</i> at his death, as sworn to, when +the will was admitted to probate, was only 169 pounds 9s. 4d., of which +books, household furniture, etc., were reckoned at over one hundred +pounds, the only <i>money</i> in his possession being a trifle over sixty +pounds, and even this only awaiting disbursement as God's steward.</p> + +<p>The will of Mr. Müller contains a pregnant clause which should not be +forgotten in this memorial. It closes with a paragraph which is deeply +significant as meant to be his posthumous word of testimony—"a last +testament":</p> + +<p>"I cannot help admiring God's wondrous grace in bringing me to the +knowledge of the Lord Jesus when I was an entirely careless and +thoughtless young man, and that He has kept me in His fear and truth, +allowing me the great honour, for so long a time, of serving Him."</p> + +<p>In the comprehensive summary contained in this Fifty-ninth Report, +remarkable growth is apparent during the sixty-four years since the +outset of the work in 1834. During the year ending May 26, 1898, the +number of day-schools was 7, and of pupils, 354; the number of children +in attendance from the beginning, 81,501. The number of home +Sunday-schools, 12, and of children in them, 1341; but from the +beginning, 32,944. The number of Sunday-schools <i>aided</i> in England and +Wales, 25. The amount expended in connection with home schools, 736 +pounds 13s. 10d.; from the outset, 109,992 pounds 19s. 10d. The Bibles +and parts thereof circulated, 15,411; from the beginning, 1,989,266. +Money expended for this purpose the past year, 439 pounds; from the +first, 41,090 pounds 13s. 3d. Missionary labourers aided, 115. Money +expended, 2082 pounds 9s. 6d; from the outset, 261,859 pounds 7s. 4d. +Circulation of books and tracts, 3,101,338. Money spent, 1001 pounds +3s.; and from the first, 47,188 pounds 11s. 10d. The number of orphans +on Ashley Down, 1620; and from the first, 10,024. Money spent in orphan +houses, last year, 22,523 pounds 13s. 1d.; and from the beginning, +988,829 pounds.</p> + +<p>To carry out conviction into action is sometimes a costly sacrifice; but +whatever Mr. Müller's fidelity to conviction cost in one way, he had +stupendous results of his life-work to contemplate, even while he lived. +Let any one look at the above figures and facts, and remember that here +was one poor man who, dependent on the help of God only in answer to +prayer, could look back over threescore years and see how he had built +five large orphan houses and taken into his family over ten thousand +orphans, expending, for their good, within twelve thousand pounds of a +round million. He had given aid to day-schools and Sunday-schools, in +this and other lands, where nearly one hundred and fifty thousand +children have been taught, at a cost of over one hundred and ten +thousand pounds more. He had circulated nearly two million Bibles and +parts thereof at the cost of over forty thousand pounds; and over three +million books and tracts, at a cost of nearly fifty thousand pounds +more. And besides all this he had spent over two hundred and sixty +thousand pounds to aid missionary labourers in various lands. The sum +total of the money thus spent during sixty years has thus reached very +nearly the astonishing aggregate of one and a half million of pounds +sterling ($7,500,000).</p> + +<p>To summarize Mr. Müller's service we must understand his great secret. +Such a life and such a work are the result of one habit more than all +else,—daily and frequent communion with God. Unwearied in supplications +and intercessions, we have seen how, in every new need and crisis, +prayer was the one resort, the prayer of faith. He first satisfied +himself that he was in the way of duty; then he fixed his mind upon the +unchanging word of promise; then, in the boldness of a suppliant who +comes to a throne of grace in the name of Jesus Christ and pleads the +assurance of the immutable Promiser, he presented every petition. He was +an unwearied intercessor. No delay discouraged him. This is seen +particularly in the case of individuals for whose conversion or special +guidance into the paths of full obedience he prayed. On his prayer list +were the names of some for whom he had besought God, daily, by name, for +one, two, three, four, six, ten years before the answer was given. The +year just before his death, he told the writer of two parties for whose +reconciliation to God he had prayed, day by day, <i>for over sixty years,</i> +and who had not as yet to his knowledge turned unto God: and he +significantly added, "I have not a doubt that I shall meet them both in +heaven; for my Heavenly Father would not lay upon my heart a burden of +prayer for them for over threescore years, if He had not concerning them +purposes of mercy."</p> + +<p>This is a sufficient example of his almost unparalleled perseverance and +importunity in intercession. However long the delay, he held on, as with +both hands clasping the very horns of the altar; and his childlike +spirit reasoned simply but confidently, that the very fact of his own +spirit being so long drawn out in prayer for one object, and of the +Lord's enabling him so to continue patiently and believingly to wait on +Him for the blessing, was a promise and prophecy of the answer; and so +he waited on, so assured of the ultimate result that he praised God in +advance, believing that he had practically received that for which he +asked.</p> + +<p>It is most helpful here to add that one of the parties for whom for so +many years he unceasingly prayed has recently died in faith, having +received the promises and embraced them and confessed Jesus as his Lord. +Just before leaving Bristol with this completed manuscript of Mr. +Müller's life, I met a lady, a niece of the man referred to, through +whom I received a knowledge of these facts. He had, before his +departure, given most unequivocal testimony to his faith and hope in the +Saviour of sinners.</p> + +<p>If George Müller could still speak to us, he would again repeat the +warning so frequently found in his journal and reports, that his fellow +disciples must not regard him as a <i>miracle-worker,</i> as though his +experience were to be accounted so exceptional as to have little +application in our ordinary spheres of life and service. With patient +repetition he affirms that in all essentials such an experience is the +privilege of all believers. God calls disciples to various forms of +<i>work,</i> but all alike to the same <i>faith.</i> To say, therefore, "I am not +called to build orphan houses, etc., and have no right to expect answers +to my prayers as Mr. Müller did," is wrong and unbelieving. Every child +of God, he maintained, is first to get into the sphere appointed of God, +and therein to exercise full trust, and live by faith upon God's sure +word of promise.</p> + +<p>Throughout all these thousands of pages written by his pen, he teaches +that every experience of God's faithfulness is both the reward of past +faith and prayer, and the preparation of the servant of God for larger +work and more efficient service and more convincing witness to his Lord.</p> + +<p>No man can understand such a work who does not see in it the +<i>supernatural</i> power of God. Without that the enigma defies solution; +with that all the mystery is at least an open mystery. He himself felt +from first to last that this supernatural factor was the key to the +whole work, and without that it would have been even to himself a +problem inexplicable. How pathetically we find him often comparing +himself and his work for God to "the Burning Bush in the Wilderness" +which, always aflame and always threatened with apparent destruction, +was not consumed, so that not a few turned aside wondering to see this +great sight. And why was it not burnt? Because Jehovah of hosts, who was +in the Bush, dwelt in the man and in his work: or, as Wesley said with +almost his last breath, "Best of all, God is with us."</p> + +<p>This simile of the Burning Bush is the more apt when we consider the +<i>rapid growth of the work.</i> At first so very small as to seem almost +insignificant, and conducted in one small rented house, accommodating +thirty orphans, then enlarged until other rented premises became +necessary; then one, two, three, four, and even five immense structures +being built, until three hundred, seven hundred, eleven hundred and +fifty, and finally two thousand and fifty inmates could find shelter +within them,—how seldom has the world seen such vast and, at the same +time, rapid enlargement! Then look at the outlay! At first a trifling +expenditure of perhaps five hundred pounds for the first year of the +Scriptural Knowledge Institution, and of five hundred pounds for the +first twelve month of the orphan work, and in the last year of Mr. +Müller's life a grand total of over twenty-seven thousand five hundred, +for all the purposes of the Institution.</p> + +<p>The cost of the houses built on Ashley Down might have staggered a man +of large capital, but this poor man only cried and the Lord helped him. +The first house cost fifteen thousand pounds; the second, over +twenty-one thousand; the third, over twenty-three thousand; and the +fourth and fifth, from fifty thousand to sixty thousand more—so that +the total cost reached about one hundred and fifteen thousand. Besides +all this, there was a yearly expenditure which rose as high as +twenty-five thousand for the orphans alone, irrespective of those +occasional outlays made needful for emergencies, such as improved +sanitary precautions, which in one case cost over two thousand pounds.</p> + +<p>Here is a burning bush indeed, always in seeming danger of being +consumed, yet still standing on Ashley Down, and still preserved because +the same presence of Jehovah burns in it. Not a branch of this +many-sided work has utterly perished, while the whole bush still +challenges unbelievers to turn aside and see the great sight, and take +off the shoes from their feet as on holy ground where God manifests +Himself.</p> + +<p>Any complete survey of this great life-work must include much that was +wholly outside of the Scriptural Knowledge Institution; such as that +service which Mr. Müller was permitted to render to the church of Christ +and the world at large as a preacher, pastor, witness for truth, and +author of books and tracts.</p> + +<p>His preaching period covered the whole time from 1826 to 1898, the year +of his departure, over seventy years; and from 1830, when he went to +Teignmouth, his preaching continued, without interruption except from +ill health, until his life closed, with an average through the whole +period of probably three sermons a week, or over ten thousand for his +lifetime. This is probably a low estimate, for during his missionary +tours, which covered over two hundred thousand miles and were spread +through' seventeen years, he spoke on an average about once a day +notwithstanding already advanced age.</p> + +<p>His church life was much blessed even in visible and tangible results. +During the first two and a half years of work in Bristol, two hundred +and twenty-seven members were added, about half of whom were new +converts, and it is probable that, if the whole number brought to the +knowledge of Christ by his preaching could now be ascertained, it would +be found to aggregate full as many as the average of those years, and +would thus reach into the thousands, exclusive of orphans converted on +Ashley Down. Then when we take into account the vast numbers addressed +and impressed by his addresses, given in all parts of the United +Kingdom, on the Continent of Europe, and in America, Asia, and +Australia, and the still vaster numbers who have read his Narrative, his +books and tracts, or who have in various other ways felt the quickening +power of his example and life, we shall get some conception—still, at +best, inadequate—of the range and scope of the influence he wielded by +his tongue and pen, his labours, and his life. Much of the best +influence defies all tabulated statistics and evades all mathematical +estimates; it is like the fragrance of the alabaster flask which fills +all the house but escapes our grosser senses of sight, hearing, and +touch. This part of George Müller's work we cannot summarize: it belongs +to a realm where we cannot penetrate. But God sees, knows, and rewards +it.</p> + +<a name="21"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER XXI<br> + +THE CHURCH LIFE AND GROWTH</h3></center> + +<p>THROUGHOUT Mr. Müller's journal we meet scattered and fragmentary +suggestions as to the true conception of Christian teaching and +practice, the nature and office of the Christian ministry, the +principles which should prevail in church conduct, the mutual relations +of believers, and the Spirit's relation to the Body of Christ, to pure +worship, service, and testimony. These hints will be of more value if +they are crystallized into unity so as to be seen in their connection +with each other.</p> + +<p>The founder of the orphan houses began and ended his public career as a +preacher, and, for over sixty years, was so closely related to one body +of believers that no review of his life can be complete without a +somewhat extended reference to the church in Bristol of which he was one +of the earliest leaders, and, of all who ministered to it, the longest +in service.</p> + +<p>His church-work in Bristol began with his advent to that city and ended +only with his departure from it for the continuing city and the Father's +House. The joint ministry of himself and Mr. Henry Craik has been traced +already in the due order of events; but the development of church-life, +under this apostolic ministry, furnishes instructive lessons which yield +their full teaching only when gathered up and grouped together so as to +secure unity, continuity, and completeness of impression.</p> + +<p>When Mr. Müller and Mr. Craik began joint work in Bristol, foundations +needed to be relaid. The church-life, as they found it, was not on a +sufficiently scriptural basis, and they waited on God for wisdom to +adjust it more completely to His word and will. This was the work of +time, for it required the instruction of fellow believers so that they +might be prepared to cooperate, by recognizing scriptural and spiritual +teaching; it required also the creation of that bond of sympathy which +inclines the flock to hear and heed the shepherd's voice, and follow a +true pastoral leadership. At the outset of their ministry, these +brethren carefully laid down some principles on which their ministry was +to be based. On May 23, 1832, they frankly stated, at Gideon Chapel, +certain terms on which alone they could take charge of the church: they +must be regarded as simply God's servants to labour among them so long +as, and in such way as might be His will, and under no bondage of fixed +rules; they desired pew-rents to be done away with, and voluntary +offerings substituted, etc.</p> + +<p>There was already, however, a strong conviction that a new start was in +some respects indispensable if the existing church-life was to be +thoroughly modelled on a scriptural pattern. These brethren determined +to stamp upon the church certain important features such as these: +Apostolic simplicity of worship, evangelical teaching, evangelistic +work, separation from the world, systematic giving, and dependence on +prayer. They desired to give great prominence to the simple testimony of +the Word, to support every department of the work by free-will +offerings, to recognize the Holy Spirit as the one presiding and +governing Power in all church assemblies, and to secure liberty for all +believers in the exercise of spiritual gifts as distributed by that +Spirit to all members of the Body of Christ for service. They believed +it scriptural to break bread every Lord's day, and to baptize by +immersion; and, although this latter has not for many years been a term +of communion or of fellowship, believers have always been carefully +taught that this is the duty of all disciples.</p> + +<p>It has been already seen that in August, 1832, seven persons in all, +including these two pastors, met at Bethesda Chapel to unite in +fellowship, without any formal basis or bond except that of loyalty to +the Word and Spirit of God. This step was taken in order to start anew, +without the hindrance of customs already prevailing, which were felt to +be unscriptural and yet were difficult to abolish without discordant +feeling; and, from that date on, Bethesda Chapel has been the home of an +assembly of believers who have sought steadfastly to hold fast the New +Testament basis of church-life.</p> + +<p>Such blessed results are largely due to these beloved colleagues in +labour who never withheld their testimony, but were intrepidly +courageous and conscientiously faithful in witnessing against whatever +they deemed opposed to the Word. Love ruled, but was not confounded with +laxity in matters of right and wrong; and, as they saw more clearly what +was taught in the Word, they sought to be wholly obedient to the Lord's +teaching and leading, and to mould and model every matter, however +minute, in every department of duty, private or public, according to the +expressed will of God.</p> + +<p>In January, 1834, all teachers who were not believers were dismissed +from the Sunday-school; and, in the Dorcas Society, only believing +sisters were accepted to make clothes for the destitute. The reason was +that it had been found unwise and unwholesome to mix up or yoke together +believers and unbelievers.* Such association proved a barrier to +spiritual converse and injurious to both classes, fostering in the +unbelievers a false security, ensnaring them in a delusive hope that to +help in Christian work might somehow atone for rejection of Jesus Christ +as a Saviour, or secure favour from God and an open door into heaven. No +doubt all this indiscriminate association of children of God with +children of the world in a "mixed multitude" is unscriptural. +Unregenerate persons are tempted to think there is some merit at least +in mingling with worshippers and workers, and especially in giving to +the support of the gospel and its institutions. The devil seeks to +persuade such that it is acceptable to God to conform externally to +religious rites, and forms, and take part in outward acts of service and +sacrifice, and that He will deal leniently with them, despite their +unbelief and disobedience. Mr. Müller and Mr. Craik felt keenly that +this danger existed and that even in minor matters there must be a line +of separation, for the sake of all involved.</p> + +<p>* 2 Cor. vi. 14-18.</p> + +<p>When, in 1837, in connection with the congregation at Bethesda, the +question was raised—commonly known as that of close communion—whether +believers who had not been baptized as such should be received into +fellowship, it was submitted likewise to the one test of clear scripture +teaching. Some believers were conscientiously opposed to such reception, +but the matter was finally and harmoniously settled by "receiving all +who love our Lord Jesus into full communion, irrespective of baptism," +and Mr. Müller, looking back forty-four years later upon this action, +bears witness that the decision never became a source of dissension.*</p> + +<p>* Appendix L.</p> + +<p>In all other church matters, prayer and searching the Word, asking +counsel of the Holy Oracles and wisdom from above, were the one resort, +and the resolution of all difficulties. When, in the spring of 1838, +sundry questions arose somewhat delicate and difficult to adjust, Mr. +Müller and Mr. Craik quietly withdrew from Bristol for two weeks, to +give themselves to prayer and meditation, seeking of God definite +direction.</p> + +<p>The matters then at issue concerned the scriptural conception, mode of +selection and appointment, scope of authority and responsibility, of +<i>the Eldership;</i> the proper mode of observance of the <i>Lord's Supper,</i> +its frequency, proper subjects, etc. Nothing is ever settled finally +until settled rightly, nor settled rightly until settled scripturally. A +serious peril confronted the church—not of controversy only, but of +separation and schism; and in such circumstances mere discussion often +only fans the embers of strife and ends in hopeless alienation. These +spiritually minded pastors followed the apostolic method, referring all +matters to the Scriptures as the one rule of faith and practice, and to +the Holy Spirit as the presiding Presence in the church of God; and they +purposely retired into seclusion from the strife of tongues and of +conflicting human opinion, that they might know the mind of the Lord and +act accordingly. The results, as might be foreseen, were clear light +from above for themselves, and a united judgment among the brethren; but +more than this, God gave them wisdom so to act, combining the courage of +conviction with the meekness and gentleness of Christ, as that all +clouds were dispelled and peace restored.*</p> + +<p>* Appendix M.</p> + +<p>For about eight years, services had been held in both Gideon and +Bethesda chapels; but on April 19, 1840, the last of the services +conducted by Mr. Müller and Mr. Craik was held at Gideon,—Bethesda, +from this time on, becoming the central place of assembly. The reasons +for this step were somewhat as follows:</p> + +<p>These joint pastors strongly felt, with some others, that not a few of +the believers who assembled at Gideon Chapel were a hindrance to the +clear, positive, and united testimony which should be given both to the +church and world; and it was on this account that, after many meetings +for prayer and conference, seeking to know God's mind, it was determined +to relinquish Gideon as a place of worship. The questions involved +affected the preservation of the purity and simplicity of apostolic +worship, and so the conformity of church-life to the New Testament +pattern. These well-yoked pastors were very jealous for the Lord God of +hosts, that, among the saints to whom they ministered, nothing should +find a lodgment which was not in entire accord with scriptural +principles, precepts, and practices.</p> + +<p>Perhaps it is well here to put on record, even at risk of repetition, +the principles which Mr. Müller and his colleague were wont to enforce +as guards or landmarks which should be set up and kept up, in order to +exclude those innovations which always bring spiritual declension.</p> + +<p>1. Believers should meet, simply as such, without reference to +denominational lines, names, or distinctions, as a corrective and +preventive of sectarianism.</p> + +<p>2. They should steadfastly maintain the Holy Scriptures as the divine +rule and standard of doctrine, deportment, and discipline.</p> + +<p>3. They should encourage freedom for the exercise of whatever spiritual +gifts the Lord might be pleased by His Spirit to bestow for general +edification.</p> + +<p>4. Assemblies on the Lord's day should be primarily for believers, for +the breaking of bread, and for worship; unbelievers sitting +promiscuously among saints would either hinder the appearance of meeting +for such purposes, or compel a pause between other parts of the service +and the Lord's Supper.</p> + +<p>5. The pew-rent system should be abolished, as promoting the caste +spirit, or at least the outward appearance of a false distinction +between the poorer and richer classes, especially as pew-holders +commonly look on their sittings as private property.</p> + +<p>6. All money contributed for pastoral support, church work, and +missionary enterprises at home and abroad should be by free-will +offerings.</p> + +<p>It was because some of these and other like scriptural principles were +thought to be endangered or compromised by practices prevailing at +Gideon Chapel before Mr. Müller and Mr. Craik took charge, that it +seemed best on the whole to relinquish that chapel as a place of +worship. As certain customs there obtaining had existed previously, it +seemed to these godly-minded brethren that it would be likely to cause +needless offence and become a root of bitterness should they require +what they deemed unscriptural to be renounced; and it seemed the way of +love to give up Gideon Chapel after these eight years of labour there, +and to invite such as felt called on to separate from every sectarian +system, and meet for worship where free exercise would be afforded for +every spiritual gift, and where New Testament methods might be more +fully followed, to assemble with other believers at Bethesda, where +previous hindering conditions had not existed.</p> + +<p>Mr. Müller remained very intimately connected with Bethesda and its +various outgrowths, for many years, as the senior pastor, or +elder,—though only <i>primus inter pares,</i> i.e., leader among equals. His +opinions about the work of the ministry and the conduct of church-life, +which did so much to shape the history of these churches, therefore form +a necessary part of this sketch of the development of church-life.</p> + +<p>It was laid upon his heart frequently to address his brethren in the +ministry of the Word and the curacy of souls. Everywhere, throughout the +world, he welcomed opportunities for interviews, whether with many or +few, upon whom he could impress his own deep convictions as to the vital +secrets of effective service in the pulpit and pastorate. Such meetings +with brethren in the ministry numbered hundreds and perhaps thousands in +the course of his long life, and as his testimony was essentially the +same on all occasions, a single utterance may be taken as the type of +all. During his American tours, he gave an hour's address which was +reported and published, and the substance of which may therefore be +given.</p> + +<p>First of all he laid great stress upon the <i>need of conversion.</i> Until a +man is both truly turned unto God and sure of this change in himself he +is not fitted to convert others. The ministry is not a human profession, +but a divine vocation. The true preacher is both a <i>herald</i> and a +<i>witness,</i> and hence must back up his message by his personal testimony +from experience.</p> + +<p>But even conversion is not enough: there must be an <i>intimate knowledge +of the Lord Jesus.</i> One must know the Lord as coming near to himself, +and know the joy and strength found in hourly access. However it be +done, and at any cost, the minister of Christ must reach this close +relationship. It is an absolute necessity to peace and power.</p> + +<p><i>Growth in happiness and love</i> was next made very prominent. It is +impossible to set limits to the experience of any believer who casts +himself wholly on God, surrenders himself wholly to God, and cherishes +deep love for His word and holy intimacy with Himself. The first +business of every morning should be to secure happiness in God.</p> + +<p>He who is to nourish others must carefully <i>feed his own soul.</i> Daily +reading and study of the Scriptures, with much prayer, especially in the +early morning hours, was strenuously urged. Quietness before God should +be habitually cultivated, calming the mind and freeing it from +preoccupation. Continuous reading of the Word, in course, will throw +light upon the general teaching of the Word, and reveal God's thoughts +in their variety and connection, and go far to correct erroneous views.</p> + +<p><i>Holiness</i> must be the supreme aim: prompt obedience to all known truth, +a single eye in serving God, and zeal for His glory. Many a life has +been more or less a failure because habits of heart well pleasing to God +have been neglected. Nothing is more the crowning grace than the +unconscious grace of <i>humility.</i> All praise of man robs God of His own +honour. Let us therefore be humble and turn all eyes unto God.</p> + +<p>The <i>message</i> must be gotten from God, if it is to be with power. "Ask +God for it," said Mr. Müller, "and be not satisfied until the heart is +at rest. When the text is obtained ask further guidance in meditating +upon it, and keep in constant communion so as to get God's mind in the +matter and His help in delivery. Then, after the work is done, pray much +for blessing, as well as in advance." He then told some startling facts +as to seed sown many years before, but even now yielding fruit in answer +to prayer.</p> + +<p>He laid also special emphasis upon <i>expounding the Scripture.</i> The word +of God is the staple of all preaching; Christ and nothing else the +centre of all true ministry of the Word. Whoever faithfully and +constantly preaches Christ will find God's word not returning to him +void. Preach simply. Luther's rule was to speak so that an ignorant +maid-servant could understand; if she does, the learned professor +certainly will; but it does not hold true that the simple understand all +that the wise do.</p> + +<p>Mr. Müller seldom addressed his brethren in the ministry without giving +more or less counsel as to the conduct of church-life, giving plain +witness against such hindrances as unconverted singers and choirs, +secular methods of raising money, pew-rents and caste distinctions in +the house of prayer, etc.; and urging such helps as inquirers' meetings, +pastoral visits, and, above all else, believing prayer. He urged +definite praying and importunate praying, and remarked that Satan will +not mind how we labour in prayer for a few days, weeks, or even months, +if he can at last discourage us so that we cease praying, as though it +were of no use.</p> + +<p>As to prayers for past seed-sowing, he told the writer of this memoir +how in all supplication to God he looked not only forward but +<i>backward.</i> He was wont to ask that the Lord would be pleased to bless +seed long since sown and yet apparently unfruitful; and he said that, in +answer to these prayers, he had up to that day evidence of God's loving +remembrance of his work of faith and labour of love in years long gone +by. He was permitted to know that messages delivered for God, tracts +scattered, and other means of service had, after five, ten, twenty, and +even sixty years, at last brought forth a harvest. Hence his urgency in +advising fellow labourers to pray unceasingly that God would work +mightily in the hearts of those who had once been under their care, +bringing to their remembrance the truth which had been set before them.</p> + +<p>The humility Mr. Müller enjoined he practised. He was ever only the +<i>servant</i> of the Lord. Mr. Spurgeon, in one of his sermons, describes +the startling effect on London Bridge when he saw one lamp after another +lit up with flame, though in the darkness he could not see the +lamplighter; and George Müller set many a light burning when he was +himself content to be unseen, unnoticed, and unknown. He honestly sought +not his own glory, but had the meek and quiet spirit so becoming a +minister of Jesus Christ.</p> + +<p>Mr. Henry Craik's death in 1866, after thirty-four years of co-labour in +the Lord, left Mr. Müller comparatively alone with a double burden of +responsibility, but his faith was equal to the crisis and his peace +remained unbroken. A beloved brother, then visiting Bristol, after +crowded services conducted by him at Bethesda, was about leaving the +city; and he asked Mr. Müller, "What are you going to do, now that Mr. +Craik is dead, to hold the people and prevent their scattering?" "My +beloved brother," was the calm reply, "we shall do what we have always +done, <i>look only to the Lord."</i></p> + +<p>This God has been the perpetual helper. Mr. Müller almost totally +withdrew from the work, during the seventeen years of his missionary +tours, between 1875 and 1892, when he was in Bristol but a few weeks or +months at a time, in the intervals between his long journeys and +voyages. This left the assembly of believers still more dependent upon +the great Shepherd and Bishop of souls. But Bethesda has never, in a +sense, been limited to any one or two men, as the only acknowledged +leaders; from the time when those seven believers gathered about the +Lord's table in 1832, the New Testament conception of the equality of +believers in privilege and duty has been maintained. The one supreme +Leader is the Holy Ghost, and under Him those whom He calls and +qualifies. One of the fundamental principles espoused by these brethren +is that the Spirit of God controls in the assemblies of the saints; that +He sets the members, every one of them, in the Body as it pleaseth Him, +and divides unto them, severally as He will, gifts for service in the +Body; that the only true ordination is His ordination, and that the +manifestation of His gifts is the sufficient basis for the recognition +of brethren as qualified for the exercise of an office or function, the +possession of spiritual gifts being sufficient authority for their +exercise. It is with the Body of Christ as with the human body: the eye +is manifestly made for seeing and the ear for hearing, the hand and foot +for handling and walking; and this adaptation both shows the design of +God and their place in the organism. And so for more than threescore +years the Holy Spirit has been safely trusted to supply and qualify all +needed teachers, helpers, and leaders in the assembly. There has always +been a considerable number of brethren and sisters fitted and disposed +to take up the various departments of service to which they were +obviously called of the Spirit, so that no one person has been +indispensable. Various brethren have been able to give more or less time +and strength to preaching, visiting, and ruling in the church; while +scores of others, who, like Paul, Priscilla and Aquila, the tent-makers, +have their various business callings and seek therein to "abide with +God," are ready to aid as the Lord may guide in such other forms of +service as may consist with their ordinary vocations. The prosperity of +the congregation, its growth, conduct, and edification, have therefore +been dependent only on God, who, as He has withdrawn one worker after +another, has supplied others in their stead, and so continues to do.</p> + +<p>To have any adequate conception of the fruits of such teaching and such +living in church-life, it is needful to go at least into one of the +Monday-night prayer meetings at Bethesda. It is primitive and apostolic +in simplicity. No one presides but the unseen Spirit of God. A hymn is +suggested by some brother, and then requests for prayer are read, +usually with definite mention of the names of those by and for whom +supplication is asked. Then prayer, scripture reading, singing, and +exhortation follow, without any prearrangement as to subject, order in +which or persons by whom, the exercises are participated in. The fullest +liberty is encouraged to act under the Spirit's guidance; and the fact +of such guidance is often strikingly apparent in the singular unity of +prayer and song, scripture reading and remarks, as well as in the +harmonious fellowship apparent. After more than half a century these +Monday-night prayer services are still a hallowed centre of attraction, +a rallying-point for supplication, and a radiating-point for service, +and remain unchanged in the method of their conduct.</p> + +<p>The original congregation has proved a tree whose seed is in itself +after its kind. At the time of Mr. Müller's decease it was nearly +sixty-six years since that memorable evening in 1832 when those seven +believers met to form a church; and the original body of disciples +meeting in Bethesda had increased to ten, six of which are now +independent of the mother church, and four of which still remain in +close affiliation and really constitute one church, though meeting in +Bethesda, Alma Road, Stokes Croft, and Totterdown chapels. The names of +the other churches which have been in a sense offshoots from Bethesda +are as follows: Unity, Bishopston, Cumberland Hall, Charleton Hall, +Nicholas Road, and Bedminster.</p> + +<p>At the date of Mr. Müller's decease the total membership of the four +affiliated congregations was upwards of twelve hundred.</p> + +<p>In this brief compass no complete outline could be given of the church +life and work so dear to him, and over which he so long watched and +prayed. This church has been and is a missionary church. When on March +1, 1836, Mr. and Mrs. Groves, with ten helpers, left Bristol to carry on +mission work in the East Indies, Mr. Müller felt deeply moved to pray +that the body of disciples to whom he ministered might send out from +their own members labourers for the wide world-field. That prayer was +not forgotten before God, and has already been answered exceeding +abundantly above all he then asked or thought. Since that time some +sixty have gone forth to lands afar to labour in the gospel, and at the +period of Mr. Müller's death there were at work, in various parts of the +world, at least twenty, who are aided by the free-will offerings of +their Bristol brethren.</p> + +<p>When, in 1874, Mr. Müller closed the third volume of his Narrative, he +recorded the interesting fact that, of the many nonconformist ministers +of the gospel resident in Bristol when he took up work there more than +forty-two years before, <i>not one remained,</i> all having been removed +elsewhere or having died; and that, of all the Evangelical clergy of the +establishment, only <i>one</i> survived. Yet he himself, with very rare +hindrance through illness, was permitted to preach and labour with +health and vigour both of mind and body; over a thousand believers were +already under his pastoral oversight, meeting in three different +chapels, and over three thousand had been admitted into fellowship.</p> + +<p>It was the writer's privilege to hear Mr. Müller preach on the morning +of March 22, 1896, in Bethesda Chapel. He was in his ninety-first year, +but there was a freshness, vigour, and terseness in his preaching that +gave no indication of failing powers; in fact, he had never seemed more +fitted to express and impress the thoughts of God.</p> + +<p>His theme was the seventy-seventh psalm, and it afforded him abundant +scope for his favourite subject—prayer. He expounded the psalm verse by +verse, clearly, sympathetically, effectively, and the outline of his +treatment strongly engraved itself on my memory and is here reproduced.</p> + +<p>"I cried unto God with my voice." Prayer seeks a voice—to utter itself +in words: the effort to clothe our desires in language gives +definiteness to our desires and keeps the attention on the objects of +prayer.</p> + +<p>"In the day of my trouble." The Psalmist was in trouble; some distress +was upon him, perhaps physical as well as mental, and it was an +unceasing burden night and day.</p> + +<p>"My soul refused to be comforted." The words, "my sore ran in the +night," may be rendered, "my hand reached out"—that is in prayer. But +unbelief triumphed, and his soul refused all comfort—even the comfort +of God's promises. His trouble overshadowed his faith and shut out the +vision of God.</p> + +<p>"I remembered, or thought of God, and was troubled." Even the thought of +God, instead of bringing peace, brought distress; instead of silencing +his complaint, it increased it, and his spirit was overwhelmed—the sure +sign, again, of unbelief. If in trouble God's promises and the thought +of God bring no relief, they will only become an additional burden.</p> + +<p>"Thou holdest mine eyes waking." There was no sleep because there was no +rest or peace. Care makes wakeful. Anxiety is the foe of repose. His +spirit was unbelieving and therefore rebellious. He would not take God +at His word.</p> + +<p>"I have considered the days of old." Memory now is at work. He calls to +remembrance former experiences of trouble and of deliverance. He had +often sought God and been heard and helped, and why not now? As he made +diligent search among the records of his experience and recollected all +God's manifest and manifold interpositions, he began to ask whether God +could be fickle and capricious, whether His mercy was exhausted and His +promise withdrawn, whether He had forgotten His covenant of grace, and +shut up His fountains of love.</p> + +<p>Thus we follow the Psalmist through six stages of unbelief:</p> + +<p>1. The thought of God is a burden instead of a blessing.</p> + +<p>2. The complaining spirit increases toward God.</p> + +<p>3. His spirit is agitated instead of soothed and calmed.</p> + +<p>4. Sleep departs, and anxiety forbids repose of heart.</p> + +<p>5. Trouble only deepens and God seems far off.</p> + +<p>6. Memory recalls God's mercies, but only to awaken distrust.</p> + +<p>At last we reach the <i>turning-point</i> in the psalm: he asks as he reviews +former experiences, WHERE IS THE DIFFERENCE? IS THE CHANGE IN GOD OR IN +ME? "Selah"—the pause marks this turning-point in the argument or +experience.</p> + +<p>"And I said, This is <i>my infirmity."</i> In other words, "I HAVE BEEN A +FOOL!" God is faithful. He never casts off. His children are always dear +to Him. His grace is exhaustless and His promise unfailing. Instead of +fixing his eyes on his trouble he now fixes his whole mind on God. He +remembers His work, and meditates upon it; instead of rehearsing his own +trials, he talks of His doings. He gets overwhelmed now, not with the +greatness of his troubles, but the greatness of his Helper. He recalls +His miracles of power and love, and remembers the mystery of His mighty +deeds—His way in the sea, His strange dealings and leadings and their +gracious results—and so faith once more triumphs.</p> + +<p>What is the conclusion, the practical lesson?</p> + +<p>Unbelief is folly. It charges God foolishly. Man's are the weakness and +failure, but never God's. My faith may be lacking, but not His power. +Memory and meditation, when rightly directed, correct unbelief. God has +shown Himself great. He has always done wonders. He led even an +unbelieving and murmuring people out of Egypt and for forty years +through the wilderness, and His miracles of power and love were +marvelous.</p> + +<p>The psalm contains a <i>great lesson.</i> Affliction is inevitable. But our +business is never to lose sight of the Father who will not leave His +children. We are to roll all burdens on Him and wait patiently, and +deliverance is sure. Behind the curtain He carries on His plan of love, +never forgetting us, always caring for His own. His ways of dealing we +cannot trace, for His footsteps are in the trackless sea, and unknown to +us. But HE IS SURELY LEADING, and CONSTANTLY LOVING. Let us not be +fools, but pray in faith to a faithful God.</p> + +<p>This is the substance of that morning exposition, and is here given very +inadequately, it is true, yet it serves not only to illustrate Mr. +Müller's mode of expounding and applying the Word, but the exposition of +this psalm is a sort of exponent also of his life. It reveals his habits +of prayer, the conflicts with unbelief, and how out of temptations to +distrust God he found deliverance; and thus is doubly valuable to us as +an experimental commentary upon the life-history we are studying.</p> + +<a name="22"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER XXII<br> + +A GLANCE AT THE GIFTS AND THE GIVERS</h3></center> + +<p>THERE is One who still sits over against the Treasury, watching the +gifts cast into it, and impartially weighing their worth, estimating the +rich man's millions and the widow's mites, not by the amount given, but +by the motives which impel and the measure of self-sacrifice accepted +for the Lord's sake.</p> + +<p>The ample supplies poured into Mr. Müller's hands came alike from those +who had abundance of wealth and from those whose only abundance was that +of deep poverty, but the rills as well as the rivers were from God. It +is one of the charms of this life-story to observe the variety of +persons and places, sums of money and forms of help, connected with the +donations made to the Lord's work; and the exact adaptation between the +need and the supply, both as to time and amount. Some instances of this +have been given in the historic order; but to get a more complete view +of the lessons which they suggest it is helpful to classify some of the +striking and impressive examples, which are so abundant, and which +afford such valuable hints as to the science and the art of giving.</p> + +<p>Valuable lessons may be drawn from the beautiful spirit shown by givers +and from the secret history of their gifts.</p> + +<p>In some cases the facts were not known till long after, even by Mr. +Müller himself; and when known, could not be disclosed to the public +while the parties were yet alive. But when it became possible and proper +to unveil these hidden things they were revealed for the glory of God +and the good of others, and shine on the pages of this record like stars +in the sky. Paul rejoiced in the free-will offerings of Philippian +disciples, not because he desired a gift, but fruit that might abound to +their account; not because their offerings ministered to his necessity, +but because they became a sacrifice of a sweet smell acceptable, well +pleasing to God. Such joy constantly filled Mr. Müller's heart. He was +daily refreshed and reinvigorated by the many proofs that the gifts +received had been first sanctified by prayer and self-denial. He lived +and breathed amid the fragrance of sweet-savour offerings, permitted for +more than threescore years to participate in the joy of the Lord Himself +over the cheerful though often costly gifts of His people. By reason of +identification with his Master, the servant caught the sweet scent of +these sacrifices as their incense rose from His altars toward heaven. +Even on earth the self-denials of his own life found compensation in +thus acting in the Lord's behalf in receiving and disbursing these +gifts; and, he says, "the Lord thus impressed on me from the beginning +that the orphan houses and work were HIS, <i>not</i> MINE."</p> + +<p>Many a flask of spikenard, very precious, broken upon the feet of the +Saviour, for the sake of the orphans, or the feeding of starving souls +with the Bread of Life, filled the house with the odour of the ointment, +so that to dwell there was to breathe a hallowed atmosphere of devotion.</p> + +<p>Among the first givers to the work was a poor needlewoman, who, to Mr. +Müller's surprise, brought <i>one hundred pounds.</i> She earned by her work +only an <i>average, per week,</i> of <i>three shillings and sixpence,</i> and was +moreover weak in body. A small legacy of less than five hundred pounds +from her grandmother's estate had come to her at her father's death by +the conditions of her grandmother's will. But that father had died a +drunkard and a bankrupt, and her brothers and sisters had settled with +his creditors by paying them five shillings to the pound. To her +conscience, this seemed robbing the creditors of three fourths of their +claim, and, though they had no legal hold upon her, she privately paid +them the other fifteen shillings to the pound, of the unpaid debts of +her father. Moreover, when her unconverted brother and two sisters gave +each fifty pounds to the widowed mother, she as a child of God felt that +she should give double that amount. By this time her own share of the +legacy was reduced to a small remainder, and it was out of this that she +gave the one hundred pounds for the orphan work!</p> + +<p>As Mr. Müller's settled principle was <i>never to grasp eagerly at any +gift whatever the need or the amount of the gift,</i> before accepting this +money he had a long conversation with this woman, seeking to prevent her +from giving either from an unsanctified motive or in unhallowed haste, +without counting the cost. He would in such a case dishonour his Master +by accepting the gift, as though God were in need of our offerings. +Careful scrutiny, however, revealed no motives not pure and Christlike; +this woman had calmly and deliberately reached her decision. "The Lord +Jesus," she said, "has given His last drop of blood for me, and should I +not give Him this hundred pounds?" He who comes into contact with such +givers in his work for God finds therein a means of grace.</p> + +<p>This striking incident lends a pathetic interest to the beginnings of +the orphan work, and still more as we further trace the story of this +humble needlewoman. She had been a habitual giver, but so unobtrusively +that, while she lived, not half a dozen people knew of either the legacy +or of this donation. Afterward, however, it came to the light that in +many cases she had quietly and most unostentatiously given food, +clothing, and like comforts to the deserving poor. Her gifts were so +disproportionate to her means that her little capital rapidly +diminished. Mr. Müller was naturally very reluctant to accept what she +brought, until he saw that the love of Christ constrained her. He could +then do no less than to receive her offering, in his Master's name, +while like the Master he exclaimed, "O woman, great is thy faith!"</p> + +<p>Five features made her benevolence praiseworthy. First, all these deeds +of charity were done in secret and without any show; and she therefore +was kept humble, not puffed up with pride through human applause; her +personal habits of dress and diet remained as simple after her legacy as +before, and to the last she worked with her needle for her own support; +and, finally, while her <i>earnings</i> were counted in shillings and pence, +her <i>givings</i> were counted in sovereigns or five-pound notes, and in one +case by the hundred pounds. Her money was entirely gone, years before +she was called higher, but the faithful God never forgot His promise: "I +will never leave thee nor forsake thee." Never left to want, even after +bodily weakness forbade her longer to ply her needle, she asked no human +being for help, but in whatever straits made her appeal to God, and was +not only left to suffer no lack, but, in the midst of much bodily +suffering, her mouth was filled with holy song.</p> + +<p>Mr. Müller records the <i>first bequest</i> as from a dear lad who died in +the faith. During his last illness, he had received a gift of some new +silver coins; and he asked that this, his only treasure in money, might +be sent for the orphans. With pathetic tenderness Mr. Müller adds that +this precious little legacy of <i>six shillings sixpence halfpenny,</i> +received September 15, 1837, was the first they ever had. Those who +estimate all donations by money-worth can little understand how welcome +such a bequest was; but to such a man this small donation, bequeathed by +one of Christ's little ones, and representing all he possessed, was of +inestimable worth.</p> + +<p>In May, 1842, a gold watch and chain were accompanied by a brief note, +the contents of which suggest the possibilities of service, open to us +through the voluntary limitation of artificial or imaginary wants. The +note reads thus: "A pilgrim does not want such a watch as this to make +him happy; one of an inferior kind will do to show him how swiftly time +flies, and how fast he is hastening on to that Canaan where time will be +no more: so that it is for you to do with this what it seemeth good to +you. It is the last relic of earthly vanity, and, while I am in the +body, may I be kept from all idolatry!"</p> + +<p>In March, 1884, a contribution reached Mr. Müller from one who had been +enabled in a like spirit to increase the amount over all previous gifts +by the sale of some jewelry which had been put away in accordance with 1 +Peter iii. 3. How much superfluous ornament, worn by disciples, might be +blessedly sacrificed for the Lord's sake! The one ornament which is in +His sight of great price would shine with far more lustre if it were the +only one worn.</p> + +<p>Another instance of turning all things to account was seen in the case +of a giver who sent a box containing four old crown pieces which had a +curious history. They were the wedding-day present of a bridegroom to +his bride, who, reluctant to spend her husband's first gift, kept them +until she passed them over, as heirlooms, to her four grand-children. +They were thus at last put out to usury, after many years of gathering +"rust" in hoarded idleness and uselessness. Little did bridegroom or +bride foresee how these coins, after more than a hundred years, would +come forth from their hiding-place to be put to the Lord's uses. Few +people have ever calculated how much is lost to every good cause by the +simple withdrawal of money from circulation. Those four crown pieces had +they been carefully invested, so as to double in value, by compound +interest, every ten years, would have increased to one thousand pounds +during the years they had lain idle!</p> + +<p>One gift was sent in, as an offering to the Lord, instead of being used +to purchase an engagement-ring by two believers who desired their lives +to be united by that highest bond, the mutual love of the Lord who +spared not His own blood for them.</p> + +<p>At another time, a box came containing a new satin jacket, newly bought, +but sacrificed as a snare to pride. Its surrender marked an epoch, for +henceforth the owner determined to spend in dress only what is needful, +and not waste the Lord's money on costly apparel. Enlightened believers +look on all things as inalienably God's, and, even in the voluntary +diversion of money into sacred rather than selfish channels, still +remember that they give to Him only what is His own! "The little child +feels proud that he can drop the money into the box after the parent has +supplied the means, and told him to do so; and so God's children are +sometimes tempted to think that they are giving of their own, and to be +proud over their gifts, forgetting the divine Father who both gives us +all we have and bids us give all back to Him."</p> + +<p>A gift of two thousand pounds on January 29,1872, was accompanied by a +letter confessing that the possession of property had given the writer +much trouble of mind, and it had been disposed of from a conviction that +the Lord "saw it not good" for him to <i>hold so much</i> and therefore +allowed its possession to be a curse rather than a blessing. Fondness +for possessions always entails curse, and external riches thus become a +source of internal poverty. It is doubtful whether any child of God ever +yet hoarded wealth without losing in spiritual attainment and enjoyment. +Greed is one of the lowest and most destructive of vices and turns a man +into the likeness of the coin he worships, making him hard, cold, +metallic, and unsympathetic, so that, as has been quaintly said, he +drops into his coffin "with a chink."</p> + +<p>God estimates what we <i>give</i> by what we <i>keep,</i> for it is possible to +bestow large sums and yet reserve so much larger amounts that no +self-denial is possible. Such giving to the Lord <i>costs us nothing.</i></p> + +<p>In 1853, a brother in the Lord took out of his pocket a roll of +bank-notes, amounting to one hundred and ten pounds, and put it into Mr. +Müller's hand, it being <i>more than one half of his entire worldly +estate.</i> Such giving is an illustration of self-sacrifice on a large +scale, and brings corresponding blessing.</p> + +<p>The <i>motives</i> prompting gifts were often unusually suggestive. In +October, 1857, a donation came from a Christian merchant who, having +sustained a heavy pecuniary loss, <i>wished to sanctify his loss by a gift +to the Lord's work.</i> Shortly after, another offering was handed in by a +young man in thankful remembrance that twenty-five years before Mr. +Müller had prayed over him, as a child, that God would convert him. Yet +another gift, of thirty-five hundred pounds, came to him in 1858, with a +letter stating that the giver had further purposed to give to the orphan +work the chief preference in his will, but had now seen it to be far +better to <i>act as his own executor</i> and give the whole amount while he +lived. Immense advantage would accrue, both to givers and to the causes +they purpose to promote, were this principle generally adopted! There is +"many a slip betwixt the cup" of the legator and "the lip" of the +legatee. Even a wrong wording of a will has often forfeited or defeated +the intent of a legacy. Mr. Müller had to warn intending donors that +nothing that was reckoned as real estate was available for legacies for +charitable institutions, nor even money lent on real estate or in any +other way derived therefrom. These conditions no longer exist, but they +illustrate the ease with which a will may often be made void, and the +design of a bequest be defeated.</p> + +<p>Many donors were led to send thank-offerings for <i>avoided</i> or <i>averted +calamities:</i> as, for example, for a sick horse, given up by the +veterinary surgeon as lost, but which recovered in answer to prayer. +Another donor, who broke his left arm, sends grateful acknowledgment to +God that it was not the <i>right</i> arm, or some more vital part like the +head or neck.</p> + +<p>The offerings were doubly precious because of the unwearied faithfulness +of God who manifestly prompted them, and who kept speaking to the hearts +of thousands, leading them to give so abundantly and constantly that no +want was unsupplied. In 1859, so great were the outlays of the work that +if day by day, during the whole three hundred and sixty-five, fifty +pounds had been received, the income would not have been more than +enough. Yet in a surprising variety and number of ways, and from persons +and places no less numerous and various, donations came in. Not one of +twenty givers was personally known to Mr. Müller, and no one of all +contributors had ever been asked for a gift, and yet, up to November, +1858, over <i>six hundred thousand pounds</i> had already been received, and +in amounts varying from eighty-one hundred pounds down to a single +farthing.</p> + +<p>Unique circumstances connected with some donations made them remarkable. +While resting at Ilfracombe, in September, 1865, a gentleman gave to Mr. +Müller a sum of money, at the same time narrating the facts which led to +the gift. He was a hard-working business man, wont to doubt the reality +of spiritual things, and strongly questioned the truth of the narrative +of answered prayers which he had read from Mr. Müller's pen. But, in +view of the simple straightforward story, he could not rest in his +doubts, and at last proposed to himself a test as to whether or not God +was indeed with Mr. Müller, as he declared. He wished to buy a certain +property if rated at a reasonable valuation; and he determined, if he +should secure it at the low price which he set for himself, he would +give to him one hundred pounds. He authorized a bid to be put in, in his +behalf, but, curious to get the earliest information as to the success +of his venture, he went himself to the place of sale, and was surprised +to find the property actually knocked off to him at his own price. +Astonished at what he regarded as a proof that God was really working +with Mr. Müller and for him, he made up his mind to go in person and pay +over the sum of money to him, and so make his acquaintance and see the +man whose prayers God answered. Not finding him at Bristol, he had +followed him to Ilfracombe.</p> + +<p>Having heard his story, and having learned that he was from a certain +locality, Mr. Müller remarked upon the frequent proofs of God's strange +way of working on the minds of parties wholly unknown to him and leading +them to send in gifts; and he added: "I had a letter from a lawyer in +your very neighbourhood, shortly since, asking for the proper form for a +bequest, as a client of his, not named, wished to leave one thousand +pounds to the orphan work." It proved that the man with whom he was then +talking was this nameless client, who, being convinced that his doubts +were wrong, had decided to provide for this legacy.</p> + +<p>In August, 1884, a Christian brother from the United States called to +see Mr. Müller. He informed him how greatly he had been blessed of God +through reading his published testimony to God's faithfulness; and that +having, through his sister's death, come into the possession of some +property, he had <i>come across the sea,</i> that he might see the orphan +houses and know their founder, for himself, and hand over to him for the +Lord's work the entire bequest of about seven hundred pounds.</p> + +<p>Only seventeen days later, a letter accompanying a donation gave further +joy to Mr. Müller's heart. It was from the husband of one of the orphans +who, in her seventeenth year, had left the institution, and to whom Mr. +Müller himself, on her departure, had given the first two volumes of the +Reports. Her husband had read them with more spiritual profit than any +volume except the Book of books, and had found his faith much +strengthened. Being a lay preacher in the Methodist Free Church, the +blessed impulses thus imparted to himself were used of God to inspire a +like self-surrender in the class under his care.</p> + +<p>These are a few examples of the countless encouragements that led Mr. +Müller, as he reviewed them, to praise God unceasingly.</p> + +<p>A Christian physician enclosed ten pounds in a letter, telling how first +he tried a religion of mere duty and failed; then, after a severe +illness, learned a religion of love, apprehending the love of God to +himself in Christ and so learning how to love others. In his days of +darkness he had been a great lover of flowers and had put up several +plant-houses; flower-culture was his hobby, and a fine collection of +rare plants, his pride. He took down and sold one of these +conservatories and sent the proceeds as <i>"the price of an idol,</i> cast +down by God's power." Another giver enclosed a like amount from the sale +of unnecessary books and pictures; and a poor man his half-crown, "the +fruit of a little tree in his garden."</p> + +<p>A poor woman, who had devoted the progeny of a pet rabbit to the orphan +work, when the young became fit for sale changed her mind and "kept back +a part of the price"; <i>that part,</i> however, <i>two rabbits,</i> she found +<i>dead</i> on the day when they were to be sold.</p> + +<p>In July, 1877, ten pounds from an anonymous source were accompanied by a +letter which conveys another instructive lesson. Years before, the +writer had resolved before God to discontinue a doubtful habit, and send +the cost of his indulgence to the Institution. The vow, made in time of +trouble, was unpaid until God brought the sin to remembrance by a new +trouble, and by a special message from the Word: "Grieve not the Spirit +of God." The victory was then given over the habit, and, the practice +having annually cost about twenty-six shillings, the full amount was +sent to cover the period during which the solemn covenant had not been +kept, with the promise of further gifts in redemption of the same +promise to the Lord. This instance conveys more than one lesson. It +reminds us of the costliness of much of our self-indulgence. Sir Michael +Hicks-Beach, in submitting the Budget for 1897, remarked that what is +annually wasted in the unsmoked remnants of cigars and cigarettes in +Britain is estimated at a million and a quarter pounds—the equivalent +of all that is annually spent on foreign missions by British Christians. +And many forms of self-gratification, in no way contributing to either +health or profit, would, if what they cost were dedicated to the Lord, +make His treasuries overflow. Again, this incident reminds us of the +many vows, made in time of trouble, which have no payment in time of +relief. Many sorrows come back, like clouds that return after the rain, +to remind of broken pledges and unfulfilled obligations, whereby we have +grieved the Holy Spirit of God. "Pay that which thou hast vowed; for God +hath no pleasure in fools." And again we are here taught how a sensitive +and enlightened conscience will make restitution to God as well as to +man; and that past unfaithfulness to a solemn covenant cannot be made +good merely by keeping to its terms <i>for the future.</i> No honest man +dishonours a past debt, or compromises with his integrity by simply +beginning anew and paying as he goes. Reformation takes a retrospective +glance and begins in restitution and reparation for all previous wrongs +and unfaithfulness. It is one of the worst evils of our day that even +disciples are so ready to bury the financial and moral debts of their +past life in the grave of a too-easy oblivion.</p> + +<p>One donor, formerly living in Tunbridge Wells, followed a principle of +giving, the reverse of the worldly way. As his own family increased, +instead of decreasing his gifts, he gave, for each child given to him of +God, the average cost of maintaining one orphan, until, having seven +children, he was supporting seven orphans.</p> + +<p>An anonymous giver wrote: "It was my idea that when a man had sufficient +for his own wants, he ought then to supply the wants of others, and +consequently I never had sufficient. I now clearly see that God expects +us to give of what we have and not of what we have not, and to leave the +rest to Him. I therefore give in faith and love, knowing that if I first +seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness, all other things will be +added unto me."</p> + +<p>Another sends five pounds in fulfillment of a secret promise that, if he +succeeded in passing competitive examination for civil service, he would +make a thank-offering. And he adds that Satan had repeatedly tried to +persuade him that he could not afford it yet, and could send it better +in a little while. Many others have heard the same subtle suggestion +from the same master of wiles and father of lies. Postponement in giving +is usually its practical abandonment, for the habit of procrastination +grows with insensibly rapid development.</p> + +<p>Habitual givers generally witnessed to the conscious blessedness of +systematic giving. Many who began by giving a tenth, and perhaps in a +legal spirit, felt constrained, by the growing joy of imparting, to +increase, not the amount only, but the proportion, to a fifth, a fourth, +a third, and even a half of their profits. Some wholly reversed the law +of appropriation with which they began; for at first they gave a tithe +to the Lord's uses, reserving nine tenths, whereas later on they +appropriated nine tenths to the Lord's uses, and reserved for themselves +only a tithe. Those who learn the deep meaning of our Lord's words, "It +is more blessed to give than to receive," find such joy in holding all +things at His disposal that even personal expenditures are subjected to +the scrutiny of conscience and love, lest anything be wasted in +extravagance or careless self-indulgence. Frances Ridley Havergal in her +later years felt herself and all she possessed to be so fully and +joyfully given up to God, that she never went into a shop to spend a +shilling without asking herself whether it would be for God's glory.</p> + +<p>Gifts were valued by Mr. Müller only so far as they were the Lord's +money, procured by lawful means and given in the Lord's own way. To the +last his course was therefore most conscientious in the caution with +which he accepted offerings even in times of sorest extremity.</p> + +<p>In October, 1842, he felt led to offer aid to a sister who seemed in +great distress and destitution, offering to share with her, if need be, +even his house and purse.</p> + +<p>This offer drew out the acknowledgment that she had some five hundred +pounds of her own; and her conversation revealed that this money was +held as a provision against possible future want, and that she was +leaning upon that instead of upon God. Mr. Müller said but little to +her, but after her withdrawal he besought the Lord to make so real to +her the exhaustless riches she possessed in Christ, and her own heavenly +calling, that she might be constrained to lay down at His feet the whole +sum which was thus a snare to her faith and an idol to her love. <i>Not a +word spoken or written passed between him and her on the subject, nor +did he even see her;</i> his express desire being that if any such step +were to be taken by her, it might result from no human influence or +persuasion, lest her subsequent regret might prove both a damage to +herself and a dishonour to her Master.</p> + +<p>For nearly four weeks, however, he poured out his heart to God for her +deliverance from greed. Then she again sought an interview and told him +how she had been day by day seeking to learn the will of God as to this +hoarded sum, and had been led to a clear conviction that it should be +laid entire upon His altar. Thus the goodly sum of five hundred pounds +was within so easy reach, at a time of very great need, that a word from +Mr. Müller would secure it. Instead of saying that word, he exhorted her +to make no such disposition of the money at that time, but to count the +cost; to do nothing rashly lest she should repent it, but wait at least +a fortnight more before reaching a final decision. His correspondence +with this sister may be found fully spread out in his journal,* and is a +model of devout carefulness lest he should snatch at a gift that might +be prompted by wrong motives or given with an unprepared heart. When +finally given, unexpected hindrances arose affecting her actual +possession and transfer, so that more than a third of a year elapsed +before it was received; but meanwhile there was on his part neither +impatience nor distrust, nor did he even communicate further with her. +To the glory of God let it be added that she afterward bore cheerful +witness that never for one moment did she regret giving the whole sum to +His service, and thus transferring her trust from the money to the +Master.</p> + +<p>* Narrative, I. 487 <i>et seq.</i></p> + +<p>In August, 1853, a poor widow of sixty, who had sold the little house +which constituted her whole property, put into an orphan-house box +elsewhere, for Mr. Müller, the entire proceeds, ninety pounds. Those who +conveyed it to Mr. Müller, knowing the circumstances, urged her to +retain at least a part of this sum, and prevailed on her to keep five +pounds and sent on the other eighty-five. Mr. Müller, learning the +facts, and fearing lest the gift might result from a sudden impulse to +be afterward regretted, offered to pay her travelling expenses that he +might have an interview with her. He found her mind had been quite made +up for ten years before the house was sold that such disposition should +be made of the proceeds. But he was the more reluctant to accept the +gift lest, as she had already been prevailed on to take back five pounds +of the original donation, she might wish she had reserved more; and only +after much urgency had failed to persuade her to reconsider the step +would he accept it. Even then, however, lest he should be evil spoken of +in the matter, he declined to receive any part of the gift for personal +uses.</p> + +<p>In October, 1867, a small sum was sent in by one who had years before +taken it from another, and who desired thus to <i>make restitution,</i> +believing that the Christian believer from whom it was taken would +approve of this method of restoring it. Mr. Müller promptly returned it, +irrespective of amount, that restitution might be made directly to the +party who had been robbed or wronged, claiming that such party should +first receive it and then dispose of it as might seem fit. As it did not +belong to him who took it, it was not his to give even in another's +behalf.</p> + +<p>During a season of great straits Mr. Müller received a sealed parcel +containing money. He knew from whom it came, and that the donor was a +woman not only involved in debt, but frequently asked by creditors for +their lawful dues in vain. It was therefore clear that it was not <i>her</i> +money, and therefore not hers to <i>give;</i> and without even opening the +paper wrapper he returned it to the sender—and this at a time when +there was <i>not in hand enough to meet the expenses of that very day.</i> In +June, 1838, a stranger, who confessed to an act of fraud, wished through +Mr. Müller to make restitution, with interest; and, instead of sending +the money by post, Mr. Müller took pains to transmit it by bank orders, +which thus enabled him, in case of need, to prove his fidelity in acting +as a medium of transmission—an instance of the often-quoted maxim that +it is the honest man who is most careful to provide things honest in the +sight of all men.</p> + +<p>Money sent as proceeds of a musical entertainment held for the benefit +of the orphans in the south of Devon was politely returned, Mr. Müller +had no doubt of the kind intention of those who set this scheme on foot, +but he felt that money for the work of God <i>should not be obtained in +this manner,</i> and he desired only money provided in God's way.</p> + +<p>Friends who asked that they might know whether their gifts had come at a +particularly opportune time were referred to the next Report for answer. +To acknowledge that the help came very seasonably would be an indirect +revelation of need, and might be construed into an indirect appeal for +more aid—as help that was peculiarly timely would soon be exhausted. +And so this man of God consistently avoided any such disclosure of an +exigency, lest his chief object should be hindered, namely, "to show how +blessed it is to deal with God alone, and to trust Him in the darkest +moments." And though the need was continual, and one demand was no +sooner met than another arose, he did not find this a trying life nor +did he ever tire of it.</p> + +<p>As early as May, 1846, a letter from a brother contained the following +paragraph:</p> + +<p>"With regard to property, I do not see my way clearly. I trust it is all +indeed at the disposal of the Lord; and, if you would let me know of any +need of it in His service, any sum under two hundred pounds shall be at +your disposal at about a week's notice."</p> + +<p>The need at that time was great. How easy and natural to write back that +the orphan work was then in want of help, and that, as Mr. Müller was +just going away from Bristol for rest, it would be a special comfort if +his correspondent would send on, say a hundred and ninety pounds or so! +But to deal with the Lord alone in the whole matter seemed so +indispensable, both for the strengthening of his own faith and for the +effectiveness of his testimony to the church and the world, that at once +this temptation was seen to be a snare, and he replied that only to the +Lord could the need of any part of the work be confided.</p> + +<p><i>Money to be laid up</i> as a fund for his old age or possible seasons of +illness or family emergencies was always declined. Such a donation of +one hundred pounds was received October 12, 1856, with a note so +considerate and Christian that the subtle temptation to lay up for +himself treasures on earth would have triumphed but for a heart fixed +immovably in the determination that there should be no dependence upon +any such human provision. He had settled the matter beyond raising the +question again, that he would live from day to day upon the Lord's +bounty, and would make but <i>one investment,</i> namely, using whatever +means God gave, to supply the necessities of the poor, depending on God +richly to repay him in the hour of his own need, according to the +promise:</p> + +<p> "He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord; + And that which he hath given will He pay him again." + Proverbs xix. 17.</p> + +<p>God so owned, at once, this disposition on Mr. Müller's part that his +courteous letter, declining the gift for himself, led the donor not only +to ask him to use the hundred pounds for the orphan work, but to add to +this sum a further gift of two hundred pounds more.</p> + +<a name="23"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER XXIII<br> + +GOD'S WITNESS TO THE WORK</h3></center> + +<p>THE eleventh chapter of Hebrews—that "Westminster Abbey" where Old +Testament saints have a memorial before God—gives a hint of a peculiar +reward which faith enjoys, even in this life, as an earnest and +foretaste of its final recompense.</p> + +<p>By faith "the elders obtained a good report," that is, <i>they had witness +borne to them</i> by God in return for witness borne to Him. All the marked +examples of faith here recorded show this twofold testimony. Abel +testified to his faith in God's Atoning Lamb, and God testified to his +gifts. Enoch witnessed to the unseen God by his holy walk with Him, and +He testified to Enoch, by his translation, and even before it, that he +pleased God. Noah's faith bore witness to God's word, by building the +ark and preaching righteousness, and God bore witness to him by bringing +a flood upon a world of the ungodly and saving him and his family in the +ark.</p> + +<p>George Müller's life was one long witness to the prayer-hearing God; +and, throughout, God bore him witness that his prayers were heard and +his work accepted. The pages of his journal are full of striking +examples of this witness—the earnest or foretaste of the fuller +recompense of reward reserved for the Lord's coming.</p> + +<p>Compensations for renunciations, and rewards for service, do not all +wait for the judgment-seat of Christ, but, as some men's sins are open +beforehand, going before to judgment, so the seed sown for God yields a +harvest that is 'open beforehand' to joyful recognition. Divine love +graciously and richly acknowledged these many years of self-forgetful +devotion to Him and His needy ones, by large and unexpected tokens of +blessing. Toils and trials, tears and prayers, were not in vain even +this side of the Hereafter.</p> + +<p>For illustrations of this we naturally turn first of all to the orphan +work. Ten thousand motherless and fatherless children had found a home +and tender parental care in the institution founded by George Müller, +and were there fed, clad, and taught, before he was called up higher. +His efforts to improve their state physically, morally, and spiritually +were so manifestly owned of God that he felt his compensation to be both +constant and abundant, and his journal, from time to time, glows with +his fervent thanksgivings.</p> + +<p>This orphan work would amply repay all its cost during two thirds of a +century, should only its <i>temporal benefits</i> be reckoned. Experience +proved that, with God's blessing, one half of the lives sacrificed among +the children of poverty would be saved by better conditions of +body—such as regularity and cleanliness of habits, good food, pure air, +proper clothing, and wholesome exercise. At least two thirds, if not +three fourths, of the parents whose offspring have found a shelter on +Ashley Down had died of consumption and kindred diseases; and hence the +children had been largely tainted with a like tendency. And yet, all +through the history of this orphan work, there has been such care of +proper sanitary conditions that there has been singular freedom from all +sorts of ailments, and especially epidemic diseases; and when scarlet +fever, measles, and such diseases have found entrance, the cases of +sickness have been comparatively few and mild, and the usual percentage +of deaths exceedingly small.</p> + +<p>This is not the only department of training in which the recompense has +been abundant. Ignorance is everywhere the usual handmaid of poverty, +and there has been very careful effort to secure proper <i>mental</i> +culture. With what success the education of these orphans has been +looked after will sufficiently appear from the reports of the school +inspector. From year to year these pupils have been examined in reading, +writing, arithmetic, Scripture, dictation, geography, history, grammar, +composition, and singing; and Mr. Horne reported in 1885 an average per +cent of all marks as high as 91.1, and even this was surpassed the next +year when it was 94, and, two years later, when it was 96.1.</p> + +<p>But in the moral and spiritual welfare of these orphans, which has been +primarily sought, the richest recompense has been enjoyed. The one main +aim of Mr. Müller and his whole staff of helpers, from first to last, +has been to save these children—to bring them up in the nurture and +admonition of the Lord. The hindrances were many and formidable. If the +hereditary taint of disease is to be dreaded, what of the awful legacy +of sin and crime! Many of these little ones had no proper bringing up +till they entered the orphan houses; and not a few had been trained +indeed, but only in Satan's schools of drink and lust. And yet, +notwithstanding all these drawbacks, Mr. Müller records, with devout +thankfulness, that <i>"the Lord had constrained them,</i> on the whole, to +behave exceedingly well, so much so as to attract the attention of +observers." Better still, large numbers have, throughout the whole +history of this work, given signs of a really regenerate state, and have +afterwards maintained a consistent character and conduct, and in some +cases have borne singular witness to the grace of God, both by their +complete transformation and by their influence for good.</p> + +<p>In August, 1858, an orphan girl, Martha Pinnell, who had been for over +twelve years under Mr. Müller's care, and for more than five years ill +with consumption, fell asleep in Jesus. Before her death, she had, for +two and a half years, known the Lord, and the change in her character +and conduct had been remarkable. From an exceedingly disobedient and +troublesome child with a pernicious influence, she had become both very +docile and humble and most influential for good. In her unregenerate +days she had declared that, if she should ever be converted, she would +be "a thorough Christian," and so it proved. Her happiness in God, her +study of His word, her deep knowledge of the Lord Jesus, her earnest +passion for souls, seemed almost incredible in one so young and so +recently turned to God. And Mr. Müller has preserved in the pages of his +Journal four of the precious letters written by her to other inmates of +the orphan houses.*</p> + +<p>* Narrative, III. 253-257.</p> + +<p>At times, and frequently, extensive revivals have been known among them +when scores and hundreds have found the Lord. The year ending May 26, +1858 was especially notable for the unprecedented greatness and rapidity +of the work which the Spirit of God had wrought, in such conversions. +Within a few days and without any special apparent cause except the very +peaceful death of a Christian orphan, Caroline Bailey, more than fifty +of the one hundred and forty girls in Orphan House No. 1 were under +conviction of sin, and the work spread into the other departments, till +about sixty were shortly exercising faith. In July, 1859, again, in a +school of one hundred and twenty girls more than half were brought under +deep spiritual concern; and, after a year had passed, shewed the grace +of continuance in a new life. In January and February, 1860, another +mighty wave of Holy Spirit power swept over the institution. It began +among little girls, from six to nine years old, then extended to the +older girls, and then to the boys, until, inside of ten days, above two +hundred were inquiring and in many instances found immediate peace. The +young converts at once asked to hold prayer meetings among themselves, +and were permitted; and not only so, but many began to labour and pray +for others, and, out of the seven hundred orphans then in charge, some +two hundred and sixty were shortly regarded as either converted or in a +most hopeful state.</p> + +<p>Again, in 1872, on the first day of the week of prayer, the Holy Spirit +so moved that, without any unusual occasion for deep seriousness, +hundreds were, during that season, hopefully converted. Constant prayer +for their souls made the orphan homes a hallowed place, and by August +1st, it was believed, after careful investigation, that seven hundred +and twenty-nine might be safely counted as being disciples of Christ, +the number of believing orphans being thus far in excess of any previous +period. A series of such blessings have, down to this date, crowned the +sincere endeavours of all who have charge of these children, to lead +them to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.</p> + +<p>By far the majority of orphans sent out for service or apprenticeship, +had for some time before known the Lord; and even of those who left the +Institution unconverted, the after-history of many showed that the +training there received had made impossible continuance in a life of +sin.</p> + +<p>Thus, precious harvests of this seed-sowing, gathered in subsequent +years, have shown that God was not unrighteous to forget this work of +faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope.</p> + +<p>In April, 1874, a letter from a former inmate of the orphanage enclosed +a thank offering for the excellent Bible-teaching there received which +had borne fruit years after. So carefully had she been instructed in the +way of salvation that, while yet herself unrenewed, she had been God's +instrument of leading to Christ a fellow servant who had long been +seeking peace, and so, became, like a sign-board on the road, the means +of directing another to the true path, by simply telling her what she +had been taught, though not then following the path herself.</p> + +<p>Another orphan wrote, in 1876, that often, when tempted to indulge the +sin of unbelief, the thought of that six years' sojourn in Ashley Down +came across the mind like a gleam of sunshine. It was remembered how the +clothes there worn, the food eaten, the bed slept on, and the very walls +around, were the visible answers to believing prayer, and the +recollection of all these things proved a potent prescription and remedy +for the doubts and waverings of the child of God, a shield against the +fiery darts of satanic suggestion.</p> + +<p>During the thirty years between 1865 and 1895, two thousand five hundred +and sixty-six orphans were known to have left the institution as +believers, an average of eighty-five every year; and, at the close of +this thirty years, nearly six hundred were yet in the homes on Ashley +Down who had given credible evidence of a regenerate state.</p> + +<p>Mr. Müller was permitted to know that not only had these orphans been +blessed in health, educated in mind, converted to God, and made useful +Christian citizens, but many of them had become fathers or mothers of +Christian households. One representative instance may be cited. A man +and a woman who had formerly been among these orphans became husband and +wife, and they have had eight children, all earnest disciples, one of +whom went as a foreign missionary to Africa.</p> + +<p>From the first, God set His seal upon this religious training in the +orphan houses. The <i>first two children</i> received into No. 1 both became +true believers and zealous workers: one, a Congregational deacon, who, +in a benighted neighbourhood, acted the part of a lay preacher; and the +other, a laborious and successful clergyman in the Church of England, +and both largely used of God in soul-winning. Could the full history be +written of all who have gone forth from these orphan homes, what a +volume of testimony would be furnished, since these are but a few +scattered examples of the conspicuously useful service to which God has +called those whose after-career can be traced!</p> + +<p>In his long and extensive missionary tours, Mr. Müller was permitted to +see, gather, and partake of many widely scattered fruits of his work on +Ashley Down. When preaching in Brooklyn, N. Y., in September, 1877, he +learned that in Philadelphia a legacy of a thousand pounds was waiting +for him, the proceeds of a life-insurance, which the testator had willed +to the work, and in city after city he had the joy of meeting scores of +orphans brought up under his care.</p> + +<p>He minutely records the remarkable usefulness of a Mr. Wilkinson, who, +up to the age of fourteen and a half years, had been taught at the +orphanage. Twenty years had elapsed since Mr. Müller had seen him, when, +in 1878, he met him in Calvary Church, San Francisco, six thousand five +hundred miles from Bristol. He found him holding fast his faith in the +Lord Jesus, a happy and consistent Christian. He further heard most +inspiring accounts of this man's singular service during the Civil War +in America. Being on the gunboat Louisiana, he had there been the +leading spirit and recognized head of a little Bethel church among his +fellow seamen, who were by him led so to engage in the service of Christ +as to exhibit a devotion that, without a trace of fanatical enthusiasm, +was full of holy zeal and joy. Their whole conversation was of God. It +further transpired that, months previous, when the cloud of impending +battle overhung the ship's company, he and one of his comrades had met +for prayer in the 'chain-locker'; and thus began a series of most +remarkable meetings which, without one night's interruption, lasted for +some twenty months. Wilkinson alone among the whole company had any +previous knowledge of the word of God, and he became not only the leader +of the movement, but the chief interpreter of the Scriptures as they met +to read the Book of God and exchange views upon it. Nor was he satisfied +to do thus much with his comrades daily, but at another stated hour he, +with some chosen helpers, gathered the coloured sailors of the ship to +teach them reading, writing, etc.</p> + +<p>A member of the Christian Commission, Mr. J. E. Hammond, who gave these +facts publicity, and who was intimately acquainted with Mr. Wilkinson +and his work on shipboard, said that he seemed to be a direct "product +of Mr. Müller's faith, his calm confidence in God, the method in his +whole manner of life, the persistence of purpose, and the quiet +spiritual power," which so characterized the founder of the Bristol +orphanage, being eminently reproduced in this young man who had been +trained under his influence. When in a sail-loft ashore, he was +compelled for two weeks to listen to the lewd and profane talk of two +associates detailed with him for a certain work. For the most part he +took refuge in silence; but his manner of conduct, and one sentence +which dropped from his lips, brought both those rough and wicked sailors +to the Saviour he loved, one of whom in three months read the word of +God from Genesis to Revelation.</p> + +<p>Mr. Müller went nowhere without meeting converted orphans or hearing of +their work, even in the far-off corners of the earth. Sometimes in great +cities ten or fifteen would be waiting at the close of an address to +shake the hand of their "father," and tell him of their debt of +gratitude and love. He found them in every conceivable sphere of +service, many of them having households in which the principles taught +in the orphan homes were dominant, and engaged in the learned +professions as well as humbler walks of life.</p> + +<p>God gave His servant also the sweet compensation of seeing great +blessing attending the day-schools supported by the Scriptural Knowledge +Institution.</p> + +<p>The master of the school at Clayhidon, for instance, wrote of a poor +lad, a pupil in the day-school, prostrate with rheumatic fever, in a +wretched home and surrounded by bitter opposers of the truth. Wasted to +a skeleton, and in deep anxiety about his own soul, he was pointed to +Him who says, "Come unto Me,... and I will give you rest." While yet +this conversation was going on, as though suddenly he had entered into a +new world, this emaciated boy began to repeat texts such as "Suffer the +little children to come unto me," and burst out singing:</p> + +<p> "Jesus loves me, this I know, + For the Bible tells me so."</p> + +<p>He seemed transported with ecstasy, and recited text after text and hymn +after hymn, learned at that school. No marvel is it if that schoolmaster +felt a joy, akin to the angels, in this one proof that his labour in the +Lord was not in vain. Such examples might be indefinitely multiplied, +but this handful of first-fruits of a harvest may indicate the character +of the whole crop.</p> + +<p>Letters were constantly received from missionary labourers in various +parts of the world who were helped by the gifts of the Scriptural +Knowledge Institution. The testimony from this source alone would fill a +good-sized volume, and therefore its incorporation into this memoir +would be impracticable. Those who would see what grand encouragement +came to Mr. Müller from fields of labour where he was only represented +by others, whom his gift's aided, should read the annual reports. A few +examples may be given of the blessed results of such wide scattering of +the seed of the kingdom, as specimens of thousands.</p> + +<p>Mr. Albert Fenn, who was labouring in Madrid, wrote of a civil guard +who, because of his bold witness for Christ and renunciation of the +Romish confessional, was sent from place to place and most cruelly +treated, and threatened with banishment to a penal settlement. Again he +writes of a convert from Borne who, for trying to establish a small +meeting, was summoned before the governor.</p> + +<p>"Who pays you for this?" "No one." "What do you gain by it?" "Nothing." +"How do you live?" "I work with my hands in a mine." "Why do you hold +meetings?" "Because God has blessed my soul, and I wish others to be +blessed." "You? you were made a miserable day-labourer; I prohibit the +meetings." "I yield to force," was the calm reply, "but as long as I +have a mouth to speak I shall speak for Christ." How like those +primitive disciples who boldly faced the rulers at Jerusalem, and, being +forbidden to speak in Jesus' name, firmly answered: "We ought to obey +God rather than men. Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken +unto you more than unto God judge ye: for we cannot but speak the things +which we have seen and heard."</p> + +<p>A missionary labourer writes from India, of three Brahman priests and +scores of Santhals and Hindus, sitting down with four Europeans to keep +the supper of the Lord—all fruits of his ministry. Within a twelvemonth, +sixty-two men and women, including head men of villages, and four +Brahman women, wives of priests and of head men, were baptized, +representing twenty-three villages in which the gospel had been +preached. At one time more than one hundred persons were awakened in one +mission in Spain; and such harvests as these were not infrequent in +various fields to which the founder of the orphan work had the joy of +sending aid.</p> + +<p>In 1885, a scholar of one of the schools at Carrara, Italy, was +confronted by a priest. "In the Bible," said he, "you do not find the +commandments of the church." "No, sir," said the child, "for it is not +for the church of God to <i>command,</i> but to <i>obey."</i> "Tell me, then," +said the priest, "these commandments of God." "Yes, sir," replied the +child; "I am the Lord thy God. Thou shalt have no other God before me. +Neither shalt thou make any graven image." "Stop! stop!" cried the +priest, "I do not understand it so." "But so," quietly replied the +child, "it is written in God's word." This simple incident may +illustrate both the character of the teaching given in the schools, and +the character often developed in those who were taught.</p> + +<p>Out of the many pages of Mr. Müller's journal, probably about one-fifth +are occupied wholly with extracts from letters like these from +missionaries, teachers, and helpers, which kept him informed of the +progress of the Lord's work at home and in many lands where the +labourers were by him enabled to continue their service. +Bible-carriages, open-air services, Christian schools, tract +distribution, and various other forms of holy labour for the benighted +souls near and far, formed part of the many-branching tree of life that +was planted on Ashley Down.</p> + +<p>Another of the main encouragements and rewards which Mr. Müller enjoyed +in this life was the knowledge that his example had emboldened other +believers to attempt like work for God, on like principles. This he +himself regarded as the greatest blessing resulting from his life-work, +that hundreds of thousands of children of God had been led in various +parts of the world to trust in God in all simplicity; and when such +trust found expression in similar service to orphans, it seemed the +consummation of his hopes, for the work was thus proven to have its seed +in itself after its kind, a self-propagating life, which doubly +demonstrated it to be a tree of the Lord's own planting, that He might +be glorified.</p> + +<p>In December, 1876, Mr. Müller learned, for instance, that a Christian +evangelist, simply through reading about the orphan work in Bristol, had +it laid on his heart to care about orphans, and encouraged by Mr. +Müller's example, solely in dependence on the Lord, had begun in 1863 +with three orphans at Nimwegen in Holland, and had at that date, only +fourteen years after, over four hundred and fifty in the institution. It +pleased the Lord that he and Mrs. Müller should, with their own eyes, +see this institution, and he says that in "almost numberless instances" +the Lord permitted him to know of similar fruits of his work.</p> + +<p>At his first visit to Tokyo, Japan, he gave an account of it, and as the +result, Mr. Ishii, a native Christian Japanese, started an orphanage +upon a similar basis of prayer, faith, and dependence upon the Living +God, and at Mr. Müller's second visit to the Island Empire he found this +orphan work prosperously in progress.</p> + +<p>How generally fruitful the example thus furnished on Ashley Down has +been in good to the church and the world will never be known on earth. A +man living at Horfield, in sight of the orphan buildings, has said that, +whenever he felt doubts of the Living God creeping into his mind, he +used to get up and look through the night at the many windows lit up on +Ashley Down, and they gleamed out through the darkness as stars in the +sky.</p> + +<p>It was the witness of Mr. Müller to a prayer-hearing God which +encouraged Rev. J. Hudson Taylor, in 1863, thirty years after Mr. +Müller's great step was taken, to venture wholly on the Lord, in +founding the China Inland Mission. It has been said that to the example +of A. H. Francke in Halle, or George Müller in Bristol, may be more or +less directly traced every form of 'faith work,' prevalent since.</p> + +<p>The Scriptural Knowledge Institution was made in all its departments a +means of blessing. Already in the year ending May 26, 1860, a hundred +servants of Christ had been more or less aided, and far more souls had +been hopefully brought to God through their labours than during any year +previous. About six hundred letters, received from them, had cheered Mr. +Müller's heart during the twelvemonth, and this source of joy overflowed +during all his life. In countless cases children of God were lifted to a +higher level of faith and life, and unconverted souls were turned to God +through the witness borne to God by the institutions on Ashley Down. Mr. +Müller has summed up this long history of blessing by two statements +which are worth pondering.</p> + +<p>First, that the Lord was pleased to give him far beyond all he at first +expected to accomplish or receive.</p> + +<p>And secondly, that he was fully persuaded that all he had seen and known +would not equal the thousandth part of what he should see and know when +the Lord should come, His reward with Him, to give every man according +as his work shall be.</p> + +<p>The <i>circulation of Mr. Müller's Narrative</i> was a most conspicuous means +of untold good.</p> + +<p>In November, 1856, Mr. James McQuilkin, a young Irishman, was converted, +and early in the next year, read the first two volumes of that Narrative +He said to himself: "Mr. Müller obtains all this simply by prayer; so +may I be blessed by the same means," and he began to pray. First of all +he received from the Lord, in answer, a spiritual companion, and then +two more of like mind; and they four began stated seasons of prayer in a +small schoolhouse near Kells, Antrim, Ireland, every Friday evening. On +the first day of the new year, 1858, a farm-servant was remarkably +brought to the Lord in answer to their prayers, and these <i>five</i> gave +themselves anew to united supplication. Shortly a sixth young man was +added to their number by conversion, and so the little company of +praying souls slowly grew, only believers being admitted to these simple +meetings for fellowship in reading of the Scriptures, prayer, and mutual +exhortation.</p> + +<p>About Christmas, that year, Mr. McQuilkin, with the two brethren who had +first joined him—one of whom was Mr. Jeremiah Meneely, who is still at +work for God—held a meeting by request at Ahoghill. Some believed and +some mocked, while others thought these three converts presumptuous; but +two weeks later another meeting was held, at which God's Spirit began to +work most mightily and conversions now rapidly multiplied. Some converts +bore the sacred coals and kindled the fire elsewhere, and so in many +places revival flames began to burn; and in Ballymena, Belfast, and at +other points the Spirit's gracious work was manifest.</p> + +<p>Such was the starting-point, in fact, of one of the most widespread and +memorable revivals ever known in our century, and which spread the next +year in England, Wales, and Scotland. Thousands found Christ, and walked +in newness of life; and the results are still manifest after more than +forty years.</p> + +<p>As early as 1868 it was found that one who had thankfully read this +Narrative had issued a compendium of it in Swedish. We have seen how +widely useful it has been in Germany; and in many other languages its +substance at least has been made available to native readers.</p> + +<p>Knowledge came to Mr. Müller of a boy of ten years who got hold of one +of these Reports, and, although belonging to a family of unbelievers, +began to pray: "God, teach me to pray like George Müller, and hear me as +Thou dost hear George Müller." He further declared his wish to be a +preacher, which his widowed mother very strongly opposed, objecting that +the boy did not know enough to get into the grammar-school, which is the +first step toward such a high calling. The lad, however, rejoined: "I +will learn and pray, and God will help me through as He has done George +Müller." And soon, to the surprise of everybody, the boy had +successfully passed his examination and was received at the school.</p> + +<p>A donor writes, September 20, 1879, that the reading of the Narrative +totally changed his inner life to one of perfect trust and confidence in +God. It led to the devoting of at least a tenth of his earnings to the +Lord's purposes, and showed him how much more blessed it is to give than +to receive; and it led him also to place a copy of that Narrative on the +shelves of a Town Institute library where three thousand members and +subscribers might have access to it.</p> + +<p>Another donor suggests that it might be well if Prof. Huxley and his +sympathisers, who had been proposing some new arbitrary "prayer-gauge" +would, instead of treating prayer as so much waste of breath, try how +long they could keep five orphan houses running, with over two thousand +orphans, and without asking any one for help,—either "GOD or MAN."</p> + +<p>In September, 1882, another donor describes himself as "simply astounded +at the blessed results of prayer and faith," and many others have found +this brief narrative "the most wonderful and complete refutation of +skepticism it had ever been their lot to meet with"—an array of facts +constituting the most undeniable "evidences of Christianity." There are +abundant instances of the power exerted by Mr. Müller's testimony, as +when a woman who had been an infidel, writes him that he was "the first +person by whose example she learned that there are some men who live by +faith," and that for this reason she had willed to him all that she +possessed.</p> + +<p>Another reader found these Reports "more faith-strengthening and +soul-refreshing than many a sermon," particularly so after just wading +through the mire of a speech of a French infidel who boldly affirmed +that of all of the millions of prayers uttered every day, not one is +answered. We should like to have any candid skeptic confronted with Mr. +Müller's unvarnished story of a life of faith, and see how he would on +any principle of' compound probability' and 'accidental coincidences,' +account for the tens of thousand's of answers to believing prayer! The +fact is that one half of the infidelity in the world is dishonest, and +the other half is ignorant of the daily proofs that God is, and is a +Rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.</p> + +<p>From almost the first publication of his Narrative, Mr. Müller had felt +a conviction that it was thus to be greatly owned of God as a witness to +His faithfulness; and, as early as 1842, it was laid on his heart to +send a copy of his Annual Report gratuitously to every Christian +minister of the land, which the Lord helped him to do, his aim being not +to get money or even awaken interest in the work, but rather to +stimulate faith and quicken prayer.*</p> + +<p>* The author of this memoir purposes to give a copy of it to every +foreign missionary, and to workers in the home fields, so far as means +are supplied in answer to prayer. His hope is that the witness of this +life may thus have still wider influence in stimulating prayer and +faith. The devout reader is asked to unite his supplications with those +of many others who are asking that the Lord may be pleased to furnish +the means whereby this purpose may be carried out. Already about one +hundred pounds sterling have been given for this end, and part of it, +small in amount but rich in self-denial, from the staff of helpers and +the orphans on Ashley Down. A. T. P.</p> + +<p>Twenty-two years later, in 1868, it was already so apparent that the +published accounts of the Lord's dealings was used so largely to +sanctify and edify saints and even to convert sinners and convince +infidels, that he records this as <i>the greatest of all the spiritual +blessings</i> hitherto resulting from his work for God. Since then thirty +years more have fled, and, during this whole period, letters from a +thousand sources have borne increasing witness that the example he set +has led others to fuller faith and firmer confidence in God's word, +power, and love; to a deeper persuasion that, though Elijah has been +taken up, God, the God of Elijah, is still working His wonders.</p> + +<p>And so, in all departments of his work for God, the Lord to whom he +witnessed bore witness to him in return, and anticipated his final +reward in a recompense of present and overflowing joy. This was +especially true in the long tours undertaken, when past threescore and +ten, to sow in lands afar the seeds of the Kingdom! As the sower went +forth to sow he found not fallow fields only, but harvest fields also, +from which his arms were filled with sheaves. Thus, in a new sense the +reaper overtook the ploughman, and the harvester, him that scattered the +seed. In every city of the United Kingdom and in the "sixty-eight +cities" where, up to 1877, he had preached on the continents of Europe +and America, he had found converted orphans, and believers to whom +abundant blessing had come through reading his reports. After this date, +twenty-one years more yet remained crowded with experiences of good. +Thus, before the Lord called George Müller higher, He had given him a +foretaste of his reward, in the physical, intellectual and spiritual +profit of the orphans; in the fruits of his wide seed-sowing in other +lands as well as Britain; in the scattering of God's word and Christian +literature; in the Christian education of thousands of children in the +schools he aided; in the assistance afforded to hundreds of devoted +missionaries; in the large blessing imparted by his published narrative, +and in his personal privilege of bearing witness throughout the world to +the gospel of grace.</p> + +<a name="24"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER XXIV<br> + +LAST LOOKS, BACKWARD AND FORWARD.</h3></center> + +<p>THE mountain-climber, at the sunset hour, naturally takes a last +lingering look backward at the prospect visible from the lofty height, +before he begins his descent to the valley. And, before we close this +volume, we as naturally cast one more glance backward over this +singularly holy and useful life, that we may catch further inspiration +from its beauty and learn some new lessons in holy living and unselfish +serving.</p> + +<p>George Müller was divinely fitted for, fitted into his work, as a +mortise fits the tenon, or a ball of bone its socket in the joint. He +had adaptations, both natural and gracious, to the life of service to +which he was called, and these adaptations made possible a career of +exceptional sanctity and service, because of his complete self-surrender +to the will of God and his childlike faith in His word.</p> + +<p>Three qualities or characteristics stand out very conspicuous in him: +<i>truth, faith,</i> and <i>love.</i> Our Lord frequently taught His disciples +that the childlike spirit is the soul of discipleship, and in the ideal +child these three traits are central. Truth is one centre, about which +revolve childlike frankness and sincerity, genuineness and simplicity. +Faith is another, about which revolve confidence and trust, docility and +humility. Love is another centre, around which gather unselfishness and +generosity, gentleness and restfulness of spirit. In the typical or +perfect child, therefore, all these beautiful qualities would coexist, +and, in proportion as they are found in a disciple, is he worthy to be +called <i>a child of God.</i></p> + +<p>In Mr. Müller these traits were all found and conjoined in a degree very +seldom found in any one man, and this fact sufficiently accounts for his +remarkable likeness to Christ and fruitfulness in serving God and man. +No pen-portrait of him which fails to make these features very prominent +can either be accurate in delineation or warm in colouring. It is +difficult to overestimate their importance in their relation to what +George Müller <i>was</i> and <i>did.</i></p> + +<p>Truth is the corner-stone of all excellence, for without it nothing else +is true, genuine, or real. From the hour of his conversion his +truthfulness was increasingly dominant and apparent. In fact, there was +about him a scrupulous exactness which sometimes seemed unnecessary. One +smiles at the mathematical precision with which he states facts, giving +the years, days, and hours since he was brought to the knowledge of God, +or since he began to pray for some given object; and the pounds, +shillings, pence, halfpence, and even farthings that form the total sum +expended for any given purpose. We see the same conscientious exactness +in the repetitions of statements, whether of principles or of +occurrences, which we meet in his journal, and in which oftentimes there +is not even a change of a word. But all this has a significance. It +<i>inspires absolute confidence</i> in the record of the Lord's dealings.</p> + +<p>First, because it shows that the writer has disciplined himself to +accuracy of statement. Many a falsehood is not an intentional lie, but +an undesigned inaccuracy. Three of our human faculties powerfully affect +our veracity: one is memory, another is imagination, and another is +conscience. Memory takes note of facts, imagination colours facts with +fancies, and conscience brings the moral sense to bear in sifting the +real from the unreal. Where conscience is not sensitive and dominant, +memory and imagination will become so confused that facts and fancies +will fail to be separated. The imagination will be so allowed to invest +events and experiences with either a halo of glory or a cloud of +prejudice that the narrator will constantly tell, not what he clearly +sees written in the book of his remembrance, but what he beholds painted +upon the canvas of his own imagination. Accuracy will be, half +unconsciously perhaps, sacrificed to his own imaginings; he will +exaggerate or depreciate—as his own impulses lead him; and a man who +would not deliberately lie may thus be habitually untrustworthy: you +cannot tell, and often he cannot tell, what the exact truth would be, +when all the unreality with which it has thus been invested is +dissipated like the purple and golden clouds about a mountain, leaving +the bare crag of naked rock to be seen, just as it is in itself.</p> + +<p>George Müller felt the immense importance of exact statement. Hence he +disciplined himself to accuracy. Conscience presided over his narrative, +and demanded that everything else should be scrupulously sacrificed to +veracity. But, more than this, God made him, in a sense, a <i>man without +imagination</i>—comparatively free from the temptations of an enthusiastic +temperament. He was a mathematician rather than a poet, an artisan +rather than an artist, and he did not see things invested with a false +halo. He was deliberate, not impulsive; calm and not excitable. He +naturally weighed every word before he spoke, and scrutinized every +statement before he gave it form with pen or tongue. And therefore the +very qualities that, to some people, may make his narrative bare of +charm, and even repulsively prosaic, add to its value as a plain, +conscientious, unimaginative, unvarnished, and trustworthy statement of +facts. Had any man of a more poetic mind written that journal, the +reader would have found himself constantly and unconsciously making +allowance for the writer's own enthusiasm, discounting the facts, +because of the imaginative colouring. The narrative might have been more +readable, but it would not have been so reliable; and, in this story of +the Lord's dealings, nothing was so indispensable as exact truth. It +would be comparatively worthless, were it not undeniable. The Lord +fitted the man who lived that life of faith and prayer, and wrote that +life-story, to inspire confidence, so that even skeptics and doubters +felt that they were reading, not a novel or a poem, but a history.</p> + +<p>Faith was the second of these central traits in George Müller, and it +was purely the product of grace. We are told, in that first great lesson +on faith in the Scripture, that (Genesis xv. 6) Abram believed in +Jehovah—literally, <i>Amened</i> Jehovah. The word "Amen" means not 'Let it +be so,' but rather <i>'it shall be so.'</i> The Lord's word came to Abram, +saying this 'shall not be,' but something else 'shall be'; and Abram +simply said with all his heart, 'Amen'—'it shall be as God hath said.' +And Paul seems to be imitating Abram's faith when, in the shipwreck off +Malta, he said, "I believe God, that <i>it shall be</i> even as it was told +me." That is faith in its simplest exercise and it was George Müller's +faith. He found the word of the Lord in His blessed Book, a new word of +promise for each new crisis of trial or need; he put his finger upon the +very text and then looked up to God and said: "Thou hast spoken. I +believe." Persuaded of God's unfailing truth, he rested on His word with +unwavering faith, and consequently he was at peace.</p> + +<p>Nothing is more noticeable, in the entire career of this man of God, +reaching through sixty-five years, than the steadiness of his faith and +the steadfastness it gave to his whole character. To have a word of God +was enough. He built upon it, and, when floods came and beat against +that house, how could it fall! He was never confounded nor obliged to +flee. Even the earthquake may shake earth and heaven, but it leaves the +true believer the inheritor of a kingdom which cannot be moved; for the +object of all such shaking is to remove what can be shaken, that what +cannot be shaken may remain.</p> + +<p>If Mr. Müller had any great mission, it was not to found a world-wide +institution of any sort, however useful in scattering Bibles and books +and tracts, or housing and feeding thousands of orphans, or setting up +Christian schools and aiding missionary workers. His main mission was to +teach men that it is <i>safe to trust God's word,</i> to rest implicitly upon +whatever He hath said, and obey explicitly whatever He has bidden; that +prayer offered in faith, trusting His promise and the intercession of +His dear Son, is never offered in vain; and that the life lived by faith +is a walk with God, just outside the very gates of heaven.</p> + +<p><i>Love,</i> the third of that trinity of graces, was the other great secret +and lesson of this life. And what is love? <i>Not</i> merely a complacent +affection for what is lovable, which is often only a half-selfish taking +of pleasure in the society and fellowship of those who love us. Love is +the <i>principle of unselfishness:</i> love 'seeketh not her own'; it is the +preference of another's pleasure and profit over our own, and hence is +exercised toward the unthankful and unlovely, that it may lift them to a +higher level. Such love is benevolence rather than complacence, and so +it is "of God," for He loveth the unthankful and the evil: and he that +loveth is born of God and knoweth God. Such love is obedience to a +principle of unselfishness, and makes self-sacrifice habitual and even +natural. While Satan's motto is 'Spare thyself!' Christ's motto is to +Deny thyself!' The sharpest rebuke ever administered by our Lord was +that to Peter when he became a Satan by counselling his Master to adopt +Satan's maxim.* We are bidden by Paul, <i>"Remember Jesus +Christ,"</i>† and +by Peter, <i>"Follow His steps."</i>‡ If we seek the inmost meaning of these +two brief mottoes, we shall find that, about Jesus Christ's character, +nothing was more conspicuous than the obedience of faith and +self-surrender to God: and in His career, which we are bidden to follow, +the renunciation of love, or self-sacrifice for man. The taunt was +sublimely true: "He saved others, Himself He cannot save"; it was +<i>because</i> he saved others that He could not save Himself. The seed must +give up its own life for the sake of the crop; and he who will be life +to others must, like his Lord, consent to die.</p> + +<p>* Matt. xvi.</p> + +<p>† 2 Tim. II. (Greek).</p> + +<p>‡ 1 Pet. II. 21.</p> + +<p>Here is the real meaning of that command, "Let him deny himself and take +up his cross." Self-denial is not cutting off an indulgence here and +there, but laying the axe at the root of the tree of self, of which all +indulgences are only greater or smaller branches. Self-righteousness and +self-trust, self-seeking and self-pleasing, self-will, self-defence, +self-glory—these are a few of the myriad branches of that deeply rooted +tree. And what if one or more of these be cut off, if such lopping off +of some few branches only throws back into others the self-life to +develop more vigorously in them?</p> + +<p>And what is <i>cross</i>-bearing? We speak of our 'crosses'—but the word of +God never uses that word in the plural, for there is but <i>one</i> +cross—the cross on which the self-life is crucified, the cross of +voluntary self-renunciation. How did Christ come to the cross? We read +in Philippians the seven steps of his descent from heaven to Calvary. He +had everything that even the Son of God could hold precious, even to the +actual equal sharing of the glory of God. Yet for man's sake what did he +do? He did not hold fast even His equality with God, He emptied Himself, +took on Him the form of a servant, was made in the likeness of fallen +humanity; even more than this, He humbled Himself even as a man, +identifying Himself with our poverty and misery and sin; He accepted +death for our sakes, and that, the death of shame on the tree of curse. +Every step was downward until He who had been worshipped by angels was +reviled by thieves, and the crown of glory was displaced by the crown of +thorns! That is what the cross meant to <i>Him.</i> And He says: "If any man +will <i>come after Me,</i> let him deny himself, and <i>take up the cross</i> and +follow Me." This cross is not <i>forced upon</i> us as are many of the little +vexations and trials which we call 'our crosses'; it is <i>taken up</i> by +us, in voluntary self-sacrifice for His sake. We choose self-abnegation, +to lose our life in sacrifice that we may find it again in service. That +is the self-oblivion of love. And Mr. Müller illustrated it. From the +hour when he began to serve the Crucified One he entered more and more +fully into the fellowship of His sufferings, seeking to be made +conformable unto His death. He gave up fortune-seeking and fame-seeking; +he cut loose from the world with its snares and joys; he separated +himself from even its doubtful practices, he tested even churchly +traditions and customs by the word of God, and step by step conformed to +the pattern showed in that word. Every such step was a new self-denial, +but it was following <i>Him.</i> He chose voluntary poverty that others might +be rich, and voluntary loss that others might have gain. His life was +one long endeavour to bless others, to be the channel for conveying +God's truth and love and grace to them. Like Paul he rejoiced in such +sufferings for others, because thus he filled up that which is behind of +the afflictions of Christ in his flesh for His body's sake which is the +church.* And unless Love's voluntary sacrifice be taken into account, +George Müller's life will still remain an enigma. Loyalty to truth, the +obedience of faith, the sacrifice of love—these form the threefold key +that unlocks to us all the closed chambers of that life, and these will, +in another sense, unlock any other life to the entrance of God, and +present to Him an open door into all departments of one's being. George +Müller had no monopoly of holy living and holy serving. He followed his +Lord, both in self-surrender to the will of God and in self-sacrifice +for the welfare of man, and herein lay his whole secret.</p> + +<p>* Coloss. 1: 24.</p> + +<p>To one who asked him the secret of his service he said: "There was a day +when I died, <i>utterly died;"</i> and, as he spoke, he bent lower and lower +until he almost touched the floor—"died to George Müller, his opinions, +preferences, tastes and will—died to the world, its approval or +censure—died to the approval or blame even of my brethren and +friends—and since then I have studied only to show myself approved unto +God."</p> + +<p>When George Müller trusted the blood for salvation, he took Abel's +position; when he undertook a consecrated walk he took Enoch's; when he +came into fellowship with God for his life-work he stood beside Noah; +when he rested only on God's word, he was one with Abraham; and when he +died to self and the world, he reached the self-surrender of Moses.</p> + +<p>The godlike qualities of this great and good man made him none the less +a man. His separation unto God implied no unnatural isolation from his +fellow mortals. Like Terence, he could say: "I am a man, and nothing +common to man is foreign to me." To be well known, Mr. Müller needed to +be known in his daily, simple, home life. It was my privilege to meet +him often, and in his own apartment at Orphan House No. 3. His room was +of medium size, neatly but plainly furnished, with table and chairs, +lounge and writing-desk, etc. His Bible almost always lay open, as a +book to which he continually resorted.</p> + +<p>His form was tall and slim, always neatly attired, and very erect, and +his step firm and strong. His countenance, in repose, might have been +thought stern, but for the smile which so habitually lit up his eyes and +played over his features that it left its impress on the lines of his +face. His manner was one of simple courtesy and unstudied dignity: no +one would in his presence, have felt like vain trifling, and there was +about him a certain indescribable air of authority and majesty that +reminded one of a born prince; and yet there was mingled with all this a +simplicity so childlike that even children felt themselves at home with +him. In his speech, he never quite lost that peculiar foreign quality, +known as accent, and he always spoke with slow and measured +articulation, as though a double watch were set at the door of his lips. +With him that unruly member, the tongue, was tamed by the Holy Spirit, +and he had that mark of what James calls a 'perfect man, able also to +bridle the whole body.'</p> + +<p>Those who knew but little of him and saw him only in his serious moods +might have thought him lacking in that peculiarly human quality, +<i>humour.</i> But neither was he an ascetic nor devoid of that element of +innocent appreciation of the ludicrous and that keen enjoyment of a good +story which seem essential to a complete man. His habit was sobriety, +but he relished a joke that was free of all taint of uncleanness and +that had about it no sting for others. To those whom he best knew and +loved he showed his true self, in his playful moods,—as when at +Ilfracombe, climbing with his wife and others the heights that overlook +the sea, he walked on a little in advance, seated himself till the rest +came up with him, and then, when they were barely seated, rose and +quietly said, "Well now, we have had a good rest, let us go on." This +one instance may suffice to show that his sympathy with his divine +Master did not lessen or hinder his complete fellow feeling with man. +That must be a defective piety which puts a barrier between a saintly +soul and whatsoever pertains to humanity. He who chose us out of the +world sent us back into it, there to find our sphere of service; and in +order to such service we must keep in close and vital touch with human +beings as did our divine Lord Himself.</p> + +<p>Service to God was with George Müller a passion. In the month of May, +1897, he was persuaded to take at Huntly a little rest from his constant +daily work at the orphan houses. The evening that he arrived he said, +What opportunity is there here for services for the Lord? When it was +suggested to him that he had just come from continuous work, and that it +was a time for rest, he replied that, being now free from his usual +labours, he felt he must be occupied in some other way in serving the +Lord, to glorify whom was his object in life. Meetings were accordingly +arranged and he preached both at Huntly and at Teignmouth.</p> + +<p>As we cast this last glance backward over this life of peculiar sanctity +and service, one lesson seems written across it in unmistakable letters: +PREVAILING PRAYER. If a consecrated human life is an <i>example</i> used by +God to teach us the <i>philosophy</i> of holy living, then this man was meant +to show us how <i>prayer, offered in simple faith, has power with God.</i></p> + +<p>One paragraph of Scripture conspicuously presents the truth which George +Müller's living epistle enforces and illustrates; it is found in James +v. 16-18:</p> + +<p>"The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much," is the +sentence which opens the paragraph. No translation has ever done it +justice. Rotherham renders it: "Much avails a righteous man's +supplication, working inwardly." The Revised Version translates, "avails +much in its working." The difficulty of translating lies not in the +<i>obscurity</i> but in the <i>fulness</i> of the meaning of the original. There +is a Greek middle participle here +(ενεργουμενη), +which may indicate "either the <i>cause</i> or +the <i>time</i> of the effectiveness of the prayer," and may mean, through +its working, or while it is actively working. The idea is that such +prayer has about it supernatural energy. Perhaps the best key to the +meaning of these ten words is to interpret them in the light of the +whole paragraph:</p> + +<p>"Elijah was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed +earnestly that it might not rain; and it rained not on the earth by the +space of three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven +gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit."</p> + +<p>Two things are here plainly put before us: first, that Elijah was but a +man, of like nature with other men and subject to all human frailties +and infirmities; and, secondly, that this man was such a power because +he was a man of prayer: he prayed earnestly; literally "he prayed with +prayer"; prayed habitually and importunately. No man can read Elijah's +short history as given in the word of God, without seeing that he was a +man like ourselves. Under the juniper-tree of doubt and despondency, he +complained of his state and wished he might die. In the cave of a morbid +despair, he had to be met and subdued by the vision of God and by the +still, small voice. He was just like other men. It was not, therefore, +because he was above human follies and frailties, but because he was +subject to them, that he is held up to us as an encouraging example of +power that prevails in prayer. He laid hold of the Almighty Arm because +he was weak, and he kept hold because to lose hold was to let weakness +prevail. Nevertheless, this man, by prayer alone, shut up heaven's +floodgates for three years and a half, and then by the same key unlocked +them. Yes, this man tested the meaning of those wonderful words: +"concerning the work of My hands command ye Me." (Isaiah xlv. 11.) God +put the forces of nature for the time under the sway of this one man's +prayer—one frail, feeble, foolish mortal locked and unlocked the +springs of waters, because he held God's key.</p> + +<p>George Müller was simply another Elijah. Like him, a man subject to all +human infirmities, he had his fits of despondency and murmuring, of +distrust and waywardness; but he prayed and kept praying. He denied that +he was a miracle-worker, in any sense that implies elevation of +character and endowment above other fellow disciples, as though he were +a specially privileged saint; but in a sense he <i>was</i> a miracle-worker, +if by that is meant that he wrought wonders impossible to the natural +and carnal man. With God all things are possible, and so are they +declared to be to him that believeth. God meant that George Müller, +wherever his work was witnessed or his story is read, should be a +standing rebuke, to the <i>practical impotence of the average disciple.</i> +While men are asking whether prayer can accomplish similar wonders as of +old, here is a man who answers the question by the indisputable logic of +facts. <i>Powerlessness always means prayerlessness.</i> It is not necessary +for us to be sinlessly perfect, or to be raised to a special dignity of +privilege and endowment, in order to wield this wondrous weapon of power +with God; but it <i>is</i> necessary that we be men and women of +prayer—habitual, believing, importunate prayer.</p> + +<p>George Müller considered nothing too small to be a subject of prayer, +because nothing is too small to be the subject of God's care. If He +numbers our hairs, and notes a sparrow's fall, and clothes the grass in +the field, nothing about His children is beneath His tender thought. In +every emergency, his one resort was to carry his want to his Father. +When, in 1858, a legacy of five hundred pounds was, after fourteen +months in chancery, still unpaid, the Lord was besought to cause this +money soon to be placed in his hands; and he prayed that legacy out of +the bonds of chancery as prayer, long before, brought Peter out of +prison. The money was paid contrary to all human likelihood, and with +interest at four per cent. When large gifts were proffered, prayer was +offered for grace to know whether to accept or decline, that no money +might be greedily grasped at for its own sake; and he prayed that, if it +could not be accepted without submitting to conditions which were +dishonouring to God, it might be declined so graciously, lovingly, +humbly, and yet firmly, that the manner of its refusal and return might +show that he was acting, not in his own behalf, but as a servant under +the authority of a higher Master.</p> + +<p>These are graver matters and might well be carried to God for guidance +and help. But George Müller did not stop here. In the lesser affairs, +even down to the least, he sought and received like aid. His oldest +friend, Robert C. Chapman of Barnstaple, gave the writer the following +simple incident:</p> + +<p>In the early days of his love to Christ, visiting a friend, and seeing +him mending a quill pen, he said: "Brother H——, do you pray to God +when you mend your pen?" The answer was: "It would be well to do so, but +I cannot say that I do pray when mending my pen." Brother Müller +replied: "I always do, and so I mend my pen much better."</p> + +<p>As we cast this last backward glance at this man of God, seven +conspicuous qualities stand out in him, the combination of which made +him what he was: Stainless uprightness, child-like simplicity, +business-like precision, tenacity of purpose, boldness of faith, +habitual prayer, and cheerful self-surrender. His <i>holy living</i> was a +necessary condition of his <i>abundant serving,</i> as seems so beautifully +hinted in the seventeenth verse of the ninetieth Psalm:</p> + +<p> "Let the <i>beauty of the Lord our God be upon us,</i> + And <i>establish Thou the work of our hands upon us."</i></p> + +<p>How can the work of our hands be truly established by the blessing of +our Lord, unless His beauty also is upon us—the beauty of His holiness +transforming our lives and witnessing to His work in us?</p> + +<p>So much for the backward look. We must not close without a forward look +also. There are two remarkable sayings of our Lord which are complements +to each other and should be put side by side:</p> + +<table cellSpacing=2 cellPadding=2 border=0> + <tbody align=center> + <tr><td>"If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself and + take up his cross and follow Me."</td> + <td>"If any man serve Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there shall + also my servant be. If any man serve Me, him will My Father honour."</td> + </tr> + </tbody> +</table> + +<p>One of these presents the cross, the other the crown; one the +renunciation, the other the compensation. In both cases it is, "Let him +follow Me"; but in the second of these passages the following of Christ +<i>goes further than the cross of Calvary;</i> it reaches through the +sepulchre to the Resurrection Life, the Forty Days' Holy Walk in the +Spirit, the Ascension to the Heavenlies, the session at the Right Hand +of God, the Reappearing at His Second Coming, and the fellowship of His +final Reign in Glory. And two compensations are especially made +prominent: first, the <i>Eternal Home with Christ;</i> and, second the +<i>Exalted Honour from the Father.</i> We too often look only at the cross +and the crucifixion, and so see our life in Christ only in its oneness +with Him in suffering and serving; we need to look beyond and see our +oneness with Him in recompense and reward, if we are to get a complete +view of His promise and our prospect. Self-denial is not so much an +<i>impoverishment</i> as a <i>postponement:</i> we make a sacrifice of a present +good for the sake of a future and greater good. Even our Lord Himself +was strengthened to endure the cross and despise the shame by the joy +that was set before Him and the glory of His final victory. If there +were seven steps downward in humiliation, there are seven upward in +exaltation, until beneath His feet every knee shall bow in homage, and +every tongue confess His universal Lordship. He that descended is the +same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that He might fill all +things.</p> + +<p>George Müller counted all as loss that men count gain, but it was for +the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus, his Lord. He suffered the loss +of all things and counted them as dung, but it was that he might win +Christ and be found in Him; that he might know Him, and not only the +fellowship of His sufferings and conformity to His death, but the power +of His resurrection, conformity to His life, and fellowship in His +glory. He left all behind that the world values, but he reached forth +and pressed forward toward the goal, for the prize of the high calling +of God in Christ Jesus. "Let us, therefore, as many as be perfect, be +thus minded."</p> + +<p>When the Lord Jesus was upon earth, there was one disciple whom He +loved, who also leaned on His breast, having the favoured place which +only one could occupy. But now that He is in heaven, every disciple may +be the loved one, and fill the favoured place, and lean on His bosom. +There is no exclusive monopoly of privilege and blessing. He that +follows closely and abides in Him knows the peculiar closeness of +contact, the honour of intimacy, that are reserved for such as are +called and chosen and faithful, and follow the Lamb whithersoever He +goeth. God's self-denying servants are on their way to the final +sevenfold perfection, at home with Him, and crowned with honour:<br> + "And there shall be no more +curse;<br> + But the throne of God +and of the Lamb shall be in it;<br> + And His servants shall +serve Him;<br> + And they shall see His +face;<br> + And His name shall be in +their foreheads,<br> + And there shall be no +night there,<br> + And they shall reign for +ever and ever."<br> + Amen!</p> + +<a name="a"></a> +<center><h3>APPENDIX A<br> + +SCRIPTURE TEXTS THAT MOULDED GEORGE MÜLLER</h3></center> + +<p>CERTAIN marked Scripture precepts and promises had such a singular +influence upon this man of God, and so often proved the guides to his +course, that they illustrate Psalm cxix. 105:</p> + +<p>"Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, And a light unto my path."</p> + +<p>Those texts which, at the parting of the way, became to him God's +signboards, showing him the true direction, are here given, as nearly as +may be in the order in which they became so helpful to him. The study of +them will prove a kind of spiritual biography, outlining his career. +Some texts, known to have been very conspicuous in their influence, we +put in capitals. The italics are his own.</p> + +<p>"GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD THAT HE GAVE HIS ONLY-BEGOTTEN SON, THAT +WHOSOEVER BELIEVETH IN HIM SHOULD NOT PERISH, BUT HAVE EVERLASTING +LIFE." (John iii. 16.)</p> + +<p>"Cursed be the man that trusteth in man and maketh flesh his arm." +(Jeremiah xvii. 5.)</p> + +<p>"O, fear the Lord, ye His saints; for there is no want to them that fear +Him." (Psa. xxxiv. 9.)</p> + +<p>"Owe no man anything, but to love one another." (Rom. xiii. 8.)</p> + +<p>"SEEK YE FIRST THE KINGDOM OF GOD AND HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS; AND ALL THESE +THINGS SHALL BE ADDED UNTO YOU." (Matt. vi. 33.)</p> + +<p>"The holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation." +(2 Tim. iii. 15.)</p> + +<p>"Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it +shall be opened unto you: for every one that asketh receiveth; and he +that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened." +(Matt. vii. 7, 8.)</p> + +<p>"WHATSOEVER YE SHALL ASK IN MY NAME, THAT WILL I DO, THAT THE FATHER MAY +BE GLORIFIED IN THE SON: IF YE SHALL ASK ANYTHING IN MY NAME I WILL DO +IT." (John xiv. 13, 14.)</p> + +<p>"Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall +eat, and what ye shall drink, nor yet for your body what ye shall put +on.... Take, therefore, no thought for the morrow." (Matt. vi. 25-34.)</p> + +<p>"If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine." (John vii. +17.)</p> + +<p>"If ye continue in My word, then are ye My disciples indeed; and ye +shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." (John viii. +31, 32.)</p> + +<p>"And the eunuch said, See, here is water: what doth hinder me to be +baptized? And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou +mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son +of Gad. And they went down both into the water, both Philip and the +eunuch, and he baptized him." (Acts viii, 36-38.)</p> + +<p>"Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were +baptized into His death? Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism +into death." (Rom. vi. 3, 4.)</p> + +<p>"Upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to +break bread." (Acts xx. 7.)</p> + +<p>"My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of +glory, with respect of persons. For if there come unto your assembly a +man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a man in +vile raiment; and ye have respect unto him that weareth the gay +clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to +the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool, are ye not +then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts?" +(James ii. 1-6.)</p> + +<p>"Having, then, gifts differing according to the grace that is given us." +(Rom. xii. 6.)</p> + +<p>"All these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every +man severally as he will." (1 Cor. xii. 11.)</p> + +<p>"Not because I desire a gift, but I desire fruit that may abound to your +account." (Philip, iv. 17.)</p> + +<p>"Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall +drink; nor yet for your body what ye shall put on.".... "Behold the +fowls of the air.... Consider the lilies of the field.... For your +heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of these things." (Matt. vi. +25-32.)</p> + +<p>"Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth." (Matt. vi. 19.)</p> + +<p>"SELL THAT YE HAVE AND GIVE ALMS." (Luke xii. 33.)</p> + +<p>"A man can receive nothing except it be given him from heaven." (John +iii. 27.)</p> + +<p>"Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to +take out of them a people for His name." (Acts xv. 14. Comp. Matt. xiii. +24-30, 36-43.)</p> + +<p>"This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.... +Evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being +deceived." (2 Tim. iii. 1, 13.)</p> + +<p>"Come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch +not the unclean thing." (2 Cor. vi. 14-18.)</p> + +<p>"Not by might, nor by power, but by My spirit, saith the Lord of hosts." +(Zech. iv. 6.)</p> + +<p>"MY GRACE IS SUFFICIENT FOR THEE." (2 Cor. xii. 9.)</p> + +<p>"Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called. Let +every man, wherein he is called, therein abide with God." (1 Cor. vii. +20, 24.)</p> + +<p>"All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for +doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in +righteousness." (2 Tim. iii. 16.)</p> + +<p>"OPEN THY MOUTH WIDE, AND I WILL FILL IT." (Psa. lxxxi. 10.)</p> + +<p>"Mine hour is not yet come." (John ii. 4.)</p> + +<p>"He took a child, and set him in the midst of them; and when He had +taken him in His arms, He said unto them, Whosoever shall receive one of +such children in My name, receiveth Me; and whosoever shall receive Me, +receiveth not Me, but Him that sent Me." (Mark ix. 36, 37.)</p> + +<p>"If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all +men." (Rom. xii. 18.)</p> + +<p>"For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; +but He for our profit, that we might be partakers of His holiness. Now +no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous; +nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness +unto them which are exercised thereby." (Heb. xii. 10, 11.)</p> + +<p>"WHAT THINGS SOEVER YE DESIRE, WHEN YE PRAY, BELIEVE THAT YE RECEIVE +THEM, AND YE SHALL HAVE THEM." (Mark xi. 24.)</p> + +<p>"He that believeth on Him shall not be confounded." (1 Pet. ii. 6.)</p> + +<p>"O Thou that hearest prayer, unto Thee shall all flesh come." (Psa. lxv. +2.)</p> + +<p>"Come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will declare what He hath +done for my soul." (Psa. lxvi. 16.)</p> + +<p>"A FATHER OF THE FATHERLESS." (Psa. lxviii. 5.)</p> + +<p>"My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord; neither be weary +of His correction." (Prov. iii. 11.)</p> + +<p>"Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that +fear Him." (Psa. ciii. 13.)</p> + +<p>"JESUS CHRIST THE SAME YESTERDAY, AND TO-DAY, AND FOR EVER." (Heb. xiii. +8.)</p> + +<p>"To-morrow shall take thought for the things of itself." "Sufficient +unto the day is the evil thereof." (Matt, vi. 34.)</p> + +<p>"Hitherto hath the Lord helped us." (1 Sam. vii. 12.)</p> + +<p>"Oh taste and see that the Lord is good:"</p> + +<p>"Blessed is the man that trusteth in Him!" (Psalm xxxiv. 8.)</p> + +<p>"All the fat is the Lord's." (Lev. iii. 16.)</p> + +<p>"I am poor and needy; yet the Lord thinketh upon me." (Psa. xl. 17.)</p> + +<p>"Delight thyself also in the Lord, and He shall give thee the desires of +thine heart." (Psa. xxxvii. 4.)</p> + +<p>"If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me." (Psa. +lxvi. 18.)</p> + +<p>"Know that the Lord hath set apart him that is godly for Himself: The +Lord will hear when I call unto Him." (Psa. iv. 3.)</p> + +<p>"JEHOVAH JIREH." (The Lord will provide.) (Gen. xxii. 14.)</p> + +<p>"HE HATH SAID, I WILL NEVER LEAVE THEE, NOR FORSAKE THEE; SO THAT WE MAY +BOLDLY SAY, THE LORD IS MY HELPER." (Heb. xiii. 5, 6.)</p> + +<p>"Be thou not one of them that strike hands, or of them that are sureties +for debts." (Prov. xxii. 26.)</p> + +<p>"He that hateth suretyship is sure." (Prov. xi. 15.)</p> + +<p>"I will very gladly spend and be spent for you; though the more +abundantly I love you, the less I be loved." (2 Cor. xii. 15.)</p> + +<p>"Ye are all children of God by faith in Christ Jesus." (Gal. iii. 26.)</p> + +<p>"CASTING ALL YOUR CARE UPON HIM FOR HE CARETH FOR YOU." (1 Pet. v. 7.)</p> + +<p>"Be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication +with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God." (Phil. iv. +6.)</p> + +<p>"Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest +see the glory of God?" (John xi. 40.)</p> + +<p>"WE KNOW THAT ALL THINGS WORK TOGETHER FOR GOOD TO THEM THAT LOVE GOD." +(Rom. viii. 28.)</p> + +<p>"Shall not the judge of all the earth do right?" (Gen. xviii. 25.)</p> + +<p>"Of such (little children) is the kingdom of heaven." (Matt. xix. 14.)</p> + +<p>"He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how +shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?" (Rom. viii. 32.)</p> + +<p>"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above." (James i. 17.)</p> + +<p>"The young lions do lack and suffer hunger; but they that seek the Lord +shall not want any good thing." (Psa. xxxiv. 10.)</p> + +<p>"There is that scattereth and yet increaseth; and there is that +withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty. The liberal +soul shall be made fat, and he that watereth shall be watered also +himself." (Prov. xi. 24, 25.)</p> + +<p>"Give and it shall be given unto you: good measure, pressed down and +shaken together, and running over, shall men give unto your bosom. For +with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you +again." (Luke vi. 38.)</p> + +<p>"The liberal deviseth liberal things; and by liberal things shall he +stand." (Isa. xxxii. 8.)</p> + +<p>"For ye have the poor with you always, and whensoever ye will ye may do +them good. (Mark xiv. 7.)</p> + +<p>"Let not then your good be evil spoken of." (Rom. xiv. 16.)</p> + +<p>"Let your moderation (yieldingness) be known unto all men." (Phil. iv. +5.)</p> + +<p>"MY BRETHREN, COUNT IT ALL JOY WHEN YE FALL INTO DIVERS TEMPTATIONS +(<i>i.e.</i> TRIALS); KNOWING THIS, THAT THE TRYING OF YOUR FAITH WORKETH +PATIENCE. BUT LET PATIENCE HAVE HER PERFECT WORK, THAT YE MAY BE PERFECT +AND ENTIRE, WANTING NOTHING." (James i. 2-4.)</p> + +<p>"Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own +understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy +paths." (Prov. iii. 5,6.)</p> + +<p>"The integrity of the upright shall guide them; but the perverseness of +transgressors shall destroy them." (Prov. xi. 3.)</p> + +<p>"Commit thy works unto the Lord and thy thoughts shall be established." +(Prov. xvi. 3.)</p> + +<p>"For I say through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among +you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to +think soberly, according as God has dealt to every man the measure of +faith." (Rom. xii. 3.)</p> + +<p>"Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine +heart: Wait, I say, on the Lord." (Psa. xxvii. 14.)</p> + +<p>"After he had patiently endured he obtained the promise." (Heb. vi. 15.)</p> + +<p>"VERILY, VERILY, I SAY UNTO YOU, WHATSOEVER YE SHALL ASK THE FATHER IN +MY NAME, HE WILL GIVE IT YOU." (John xvi. 23.)</p> + +<p>"He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which +soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully." (2 Cor. ix. 6.)</p> + +<p>"Ye are bought with a price: therefore, glorify God in your body, and in +your spirit, which are God's." (1 Cor. vi. 20.)</p> + +<p>"THEY THAT KNOW THY NAME WILL PUT THEIR TRUST IN THEE: FOR THOU, LORD, +HAST NOT FORSAKEN THEM THAT TRUST THEE." (Psa. ix. 10.)</p> + +<p>"Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee, +because he trusteth in Thee. Trust ye in the Lord forever; for in the +Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength." (Isa. xxvi. 3, 4.)</p> + +<p>"If there be first a willing mind it is accepted according to that a man +hath and not according to that he hath not." (2 Cor viii. 12.)</p> + +<p>"BE YE STEADFAST, UNMOVABLE, ALWAYS ABOUNDING IN THE WORK OF THE LORD, +FORASMUCH AS YE KNOW THAT YOUR LABOUR IS NOT IN VAIN IN THE LORD." (1 +Cor. xv. 58.)</p> + +<p>"Let us not be weary in well doing, for <i>in due season</i> we shall reap if +we faint not." (Gal. vi. 9.)</p> + +<p>"Oh how great is Thy goodness, which Thou hast laid up for them that +fear Thee; which Thou 'hast wrought for them that trust in Thee before +the sons of men!" (Psa. xxxi. 19.)</p> + +<p>"THOU ART GOOD AND DOEST GOOD." (Psa. cxix. 68.)</p> + +<p>"I know, O Lord, that Thy judgments are right, and that Thou in +faithfulness hast afflicted me. (Psa. cxix. 75.)</p> + +<p>"My times are in Thy hand." (Psa. xxxi. 15.)</p> + +<p>"The LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: +no good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly." (Psa. +lxxxiv. 11.)</p> + +<p>"Hold Thou me up and I shall be safe." (Psa. cxix. 117.)</p> + +<p>"Behold I come quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give every man +according as his work shall be." (Rev. xxii. 12.)</p> + +<p>"It is more blessed to give than to receive." (Acts xx. 35.)</p> + +<p>"Give us <i>this day</i> our <i>daily</i> bread." (Matt. vi. 11.)</p> + +<p>"Able to do exceeding abundantly above all we ask or think." (Eph. iii. +20.)</p> + +<p>"Them that honour Me I will honour." (1 Sam. ii. 30.)</p> + +<p>"That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold +that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise +and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ." (1 Peter i. 7.)</p> + +<a name="b"></a> +<center><h3>APPENDIX B<br> + +APPREHENSION OF TRUTH</h3></center> + +<p>SOME points which God began to show Mr. Müller while at Teignmouth in +1829:</p> + +<p>1. That the word of God alone is our standard of judgment in spiritual +things; that it can be explained only by the Holy Spirit; and that in +our day, as well as in former times, He is the teacher of His people. +The office of the Holy Spirit I had not experimentally understood before +that time. Indeed, of the office of each of the blessed persons, in what +is commonly called the Trinity, I had no experimental apprehension. I +had not before seen from the Scriptures that the Father chose us before +the foundation of the world; that in Him that wonderful plan of our +redemption originated, and that He also appointed all the means by which +it was to be brought about. Further, that the Son, to save us, had +fulfilled the law, to satisfy its demands, and with it also the holiness +of God; that He had borne the punishment due to our sins, and had thus +satisfied the justice of God. And further, that the Holy Spirit alone +can teach us about our state by nature, show us the need of a Saviour, +enable us to believe in Christ, explain to us the Scriptures, help us in +preaching, etc. It was my beginning to understand this latter point in +particular, which had a great effect on me; for the Lord enabled me to +put it to the test of experience, by laying aside commentaries, and +almost every other book, and simply reading the word of God and studying +it. The result of this was, that the first evening that I shut myself +into my room, to give myself to prayer and meditation over the +Scriptures, I learned more in a few hours than I had done during a +period of several months previously. <i>But the particular difference was +that I received real strength for my soul in doing so.</i> I now began to +try by the test of the Scriptures the things which I had learned and +seen, and found that only those principles which stood the test were +really of value.</p> + +<p>2. Before this period I had been much opposed to the doctrines of +election, particular redemption, and final persevering grace: so much so +that, a few days after my arrival at Teignmouth I called election a +devilish doctrine. I did not believe that I had brought myself to the +Lord, for that was too manifestly false; but yet I held, that I might +have resisted finally. And further, I knew nothing about the choice of +God's people, and did not believe that the child of God, when once made +so; was safe for ever. In my fleshly mind I had repeatedly said, If once +I could prove that I am a child of God for ever, I might go back into +the world for a year or two, and then return to the Lord, and at last be +saved. But now I was brought to examine these precious truths by the +word of God. Being made willing to have no glory of my own in the +conversion of sinners, but to consider myself merely as an instrument; +and being made willing to receive what the Scriptures said; I went to +the Word, reading the New Testament from the beginning, with a +particular reference to these truths. To my great astonishment I found +that the passages which speak decidedly for election and persevering +grace were about four times as many as those which speak apparently +against these truths; and even those few, shortly after, when I had +examined and understood them, served to confirm me in the above +doctrines. As to the effect which my belief in these doctrines had on +me, I am constrained to state, for God's glory, that though I am still +exceedingly weak, and by no means so dead to the lusts of the flesh, and +the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, as I might and as I ought +to be, yet, by the grace of God, I have walked more closely with Him +since that period. My life has not been so variable, and I may say that +I have lived much more for God than before. And for this have I been +strengthened by the Lord, in a great measure, through the +instrumentality of these truths. For in the time of temptation, I have +been repeatedly led to say: Should I thus sin? I should only bring +misery into my soul for a time, and dishonour God; for, being a son of +God for ever, I should have to be brought back again, though it might be +in the way of severe chastisement. Thus, I say, the electing love of God +in Christ (when I have been able to realize it) has often been, the +means of <i>producing holiness, instead of leading me into sin.</i> It is +only the notional apprehension of such truths, the want of having them +in the heart, whilst they are in the head, which is dangerous.</p> + +<p>3. Another truth, into which, in a measure, I was led, respected the +Lord's coming. My views concerning this point, up to that time, had been +completely vague and unscriptural. I had believed what others told me, +without trying it by the Word. I thought that things were getting better +and better, and that soon the whole world would be converted. But now I +found in the Word that we have not the least Scriptural warrant to look +for the conversion of the world before the return of our Lord. I found +in the Scriptures that that which will usher in the glory of the church, +and uninterrupted joy to the saints, is the return of the Lord Jesus, +and that, till then, things will be more or less in confusion. I found +in the Word, that the return of Jesus, and not death, was the hope of +the apostolic Christians; and that it became me, therefore, to look for +His appearing. And this truth entered so into my heart that, though I +went into Devonshire exceedingly weak, scarcely expecting that I should +return again to London, yet I was immediately, on seeing this truth, +brought off from looking for death, and was made to look for the return +of the Lord. Having seen this truth, the Lord also graciously enabled me +to apply it, in some measure at least, to my own heart, and to put the +solemn question to myself—What may I do for the Lord, before He +returns, as He may soon come?</p> + +<p>4. In addition to these truths, it pleased the Lord to lead me to see a +higher standard of devotedness than I had seen before. He led me, in a +measure, to see what is my true glory in this world, even to be +despised, and to be poor and mean with Christ. I saw then, in a measure, +though I have seen it more fully since, that it ill becomes the servant +to seek to be rich, and great, and honoured in that world where his Lord +was poor, and mean, and despised.</p> + +<a name="c"></a> +<center><h3>APPENDIX C<br> + +SEPARATION FROM THE LONDON SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIANITY AMONG THE +JEWS.</h3></center> + +<p>IT became a point of solemn consideration with me, whether I could +remain connected with the Society in the usual way. My chief objections +were these: 1. If I were sent out by the Society, it was more than +probable, yea, almost needful, if I were to leave England, that I should +labour on the Continent, as I was unfit to be sent to eastern countries +on account of my health, which would probably have suffered, both on +account of the climate, and of my having to learn other languages. Now, +if I <i>did</i> go to the Continent, it was evident that without ordination I +could not have any extensive field of usefulness, as unordained +ministers are generally prevented from labouring freely there; but I +could not conscientiously submit to be ordained by unconverted men, +professing to have power to set me apart for the ministry, or to +communicate something to me for this work which they do not possess +themselves. Besides this, I had other objections to being connected with +<i>any</i> state church or national religious establishment, which arose from +the increased light which I had obtained through the reception of this +truth, that <i>the word of God is our only standard, and the Holy Spirit +our only teacher.</i> For as I now began to compare what I knew of the +establishment in England and those on the Continent with this only true +standard, the word of God, I found that all establishments, even because +they are establishments, i.e., the world and the church mixed up +together, not only contain in them the principles which necessarily must +lead to departure from the word of God; but also, as long as they remain +establishments, entirely preclude the acting throughout according to the +Holy Scriptures.—Then again, if I were to stay in England, the Society +would not allow me to preach in any place indiscriminately, where the +Lord might open a door for me; and to the ordination of English bishops +I had still greater objections than to the ordination of a Prussian +Consistory.</p> + +<p>2. I further had a conscientious objection against being led and +directed by <i>men</i> in my missionary labours. As a servant of Christ, it +appeared to me I ought to be guided by the Spirit, and not by men, as to +time and place; and this I would say, with all deference to others, who +may be much more taught and much more spiritually minded than myself. A +servant of Christ has but one Master.</p> + +<p>3. I had love for the Jews, and I had been enabled to give proofs of it; +yet I could not conscientiously say, as the committee would expect from +me, that I would spend the greater part of my time only among them. For +the scriptural plan seemed to me that, in coming to a place, I should +seek out the Jews, and commence my labour particularly among them; but +that, if they rejected the gospel, I should go to the nominal +Christians.—The more I weighed these points, the more it appeared to me +that I should be acting hypocritically, were I to suffer them to remain +in my mind, without making them known to the committee.</p> + +<a name="d"></a> +<center><h3>APPENDIX D<br> + +THE SCRIPTURAL KNOWLEDGE INSTITUTION FOR HOME AND ABROAD</h3></center> + +<p>I. THE PRINCIPLES OF THE INSTITUTION.</p> + +<p>1. WE consider every believer bound, in one way or other, to help the +cause of Christ, and we have scriptural warrant for expecting the Lord's +blessing upon our work of faith and labour of love: and although, +according to Matt. xiii. 24-43, 2 Tim. iii. 1-13, and many other +passages, the world will not be converted before the coming of our Lord +Jesus, still, while He tarries, all scriptural means ought to be +employed for the ingathering of the elect of God.</p> + +<p>2. The Lord helping us, we do not mean to seek the patronage of the +world; i.e., we never intend to ask <i>unconverted</i> persons of rank or +wealth to countenance this Institution, because this, we consider, would +be dishonourable to the Lord. In the name of our God we set up our +banners, Psa. xx. 5; He alone shall be our Patron, and if He helps us we +shall prosper, and if He is not on our side, we shall not succeed.</p> + +<p>3. We do not mean to <i>ask</i> unbelievers for money (2 Cor. vi. 14—18); +though we do not feel ourselves warranted to refuse their contributions, +if they, of their own accord should offer them. (Acts xxviii. 2-10.) 4. +We reject altogether the help of unbelievers in managing or carrying on +the affairs of the Institution. (2 Cor. vi. 14-18.)</p> + +<p>5. We intend never to enlarge the field of labour by contracting debts +(Rom. xiii. 8), and afterwards appealing to the Church of God for help, +because this we consider to be opposed both to the letter and the spirit +of the New Testament; but in secret prayer, God helping us, we shall +carry the wants of the Institution to the Lord, and act according to the +means that God shall give.</p> + +<p>6. We do not mean to reckon the success of the Institution by the amount +of money given, or the number of Bibles distributed, etc., but by the +Lord's blessing upon the work (Zech. iv. 6); and we expect this, in the +proportion in which He shall help us to wait upon Him in prayer.</p> + +<p>7. While we would avoid aiming after needless singularity, we desire to +go on simply according to Scripture, without compromising the truth; at +the same time thankfully receiving any instruction which experienced +believers, after prayer, upon scriptural ground, may have to give us +concerning the Institution.</p> + +<p>II. THE OBJECTS OF THE INSTITUTION ARE:</p> + +<p>1. To <i>assist</i> day-schools, Sunday-schools, and adult-schools, in which +instruction is given upon <i>scriptural principles,</i> and, as far as the +Lord may give the means, and supply us with suitable teachers, and in +other respects make our path plain, to establish schools of this kind.</p> + +<p>a. By day-schools upon scriptural principles, we understand day-schools +in which the teachers are godly persons,—in which the way of salvation +is scripturally pointed out,—and in which no instruction is given +opposed to the principles of the gospel.</p> + +<p>b. Sunday-schools, in which all the teachers are believers, and in which +the Holy Scriptures alone are the foundation of instruction, are such +only as the Institution assists with the supply of Bibles, Testaments, +etc.; for we consider it unscriptural that any persons who do not +profess to know the Lord themselves should be allowed to give religious +instruction.</p> + +<p>c. The Institution does not assist any adult-schools with the supply of +Bibles, Testaments, spelling-books, etc., except the teachers are +believers.</p> + +<p>2. To circulate the Holy Scriptures.</p> + +<p>We sell Bibles and Testaments to poor persons at a reduced price. But +while we, in general, think it better that the Scriptures should be +<i>sold,</i> and not given altogether gratis, still, in cases of extreme +poverty, we think it right to give, without payment, a cheap edition.</p> + +<p>3. The third object of this Institution is to aid missionary efforts.</p> + +<p>We desire to assist those missionaries whose proceedings appear to be +most according to the Scriptures.</p> + +<p>It is proposed to give such a portion of the amount of the donations to +each of the fore-mentioned objects as the Lord may direct; but if none +of the objects should claim a more particular assistance, to lay out an +equal portion upon each; yet so that if any donor desires to give for +one of the objects exclusively the money shall be appropriated +accordingly.</p> + +<a name="e"></a> +<center><h3>APPENDIX E<br> + +REASONS WHICH LED MR. MÜLLER TO ESTABLISH AN ORPHAN HOUSE</h3></center> + +<p>I HAD constantly cases brought before me which proved that one of the +especial things which the children of God needed in our day was <i>to have +their faith strengthened.</i> For instance: I might visit a brother who +worked fourteen or even sixteen hours a day at his trade, the necessary +result of which was that not only his body suffered, but his soul was +lean, and he had no enjoyment in the things of God. Under such +circumstances I might point out to him that he ought to work less, in +order that his bodily health might not suffer, and that he might gather +strength for his inner man by reading the word of God, by meditation +over it, and by prayer. The reply, however, I generally found to be +something like this: "But if I work less, I do not earn enough for the +support of my family. Even now, whilst I work so much, I have scarcely +enough. The wages are so low, that I must work hard in order to obtain +what I need." There was no trust in God. No real belief in the truth of +that word: "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness: and +all these things shall be added unto you." I might reply something like +this: "My dear brother, it is not your work which supports your family, +but the Lord; and He who has fed you and your family when you could not +work at all, on account of illness, would surely provide for you and +yours if, for the sake of obtaining food for your inner man, you were to +work only for so many hours a day as would allow you proper time for +retirement. And is it not the case now, that you begin the work of the +day after having had only a few hurried moments for prayer; and when you +leave off your work in the evening, and mean then to read a little of +the word of God, are you not too much worn out in body and mind to enjoy +it, and do you not often fall asleep whilst reading the Scriptures, or +whilst on your knees in prayer?" The brother would allow it was so; he +would allow that my advice was good; but still I read in his +countenance, even if he should not have actually said so, "How should I +get on if I were to <i>carry out</i> your advice?" I longed, therefore, to +have something to point the brother to, as a visible proof that our God +and Father is the same faithful God as ever He was; as willing as ever +to PROVE Himself to be the LIVING GOD, in our day as formerly, <i>to all +who put their trust in Him.</i>—Again, sometimes I found children of God +tried in mind by the prospect of old age, when they might be unable to +work any longer, and therefore were harassed by the fear of having to go +into the poor-house. If in such a case I pointed out to them how their +Heavenly Father has always helped those who put their trust in Him, they +might not, perhaps, always say that times have changed; but yet it was +evident enough that God was not looked upon by them as the LIVING God. +My spirit was ofttimes bowed down by this, and I longed to set something +before the children of God whereby they might see that He does not +forsake, even in our day, those who rely upon Him.—Another class of +persons were brethren in business, who suffered in their souls, and +brought guilt on their consciences, by carrying on their business almost +in the same way as unconverted persons do. The competition in trade, the +bad times, the over-peopled country, were given as reasons why, if the +business were carried on simply according to the word of God it could +not be expected to do well. Such a brother, perhaps, would express the +wish that he might be differently situated; but very rarely did I see +<i>that there was a stand made for God, that there was the holy +determination to trust in the living God, and to depend on Him, in order +that a good conscience might be maintained.</i> To this class likewise I +desired to show, by a visible proof, that God is unchangeably the +same.—Then there was another class of persons, individuals who were in +professions in which they could not continue with a good conscience, or +persons who were in an unscriptural position with reference to spiritual +things; but both classes feared, on account of the consequences, to give +up the profession in which they could not abide with God, or to leave +their position, lest they should be thrown out of employment. My spirit +longed to be instrumental in strengthening their faith by giving them +not only instances from the word of God of His willingness and ability +to help all those who rely upon Him, but <i>to show them by proofs</i> that +He is the same in our day. I well knew <i>that the word of God ought to be +enough,</i> and it was, by grace, enough to me; but still, I considered +that I ought to lend a helping hand to my brethren, if by any means, by +this visible proof to the unchangeable faithfulness of the Lord I might +strengthen their hands in God; for I remembered what a great blessing my +own soul had received through the Lord's dealings with His servant, A. +H. Francke, who, in dependence upon the living God alone, established an +immense orphan house, which I had seen many times with my own eyes. I, +therefore, judged myself bound to be the servant of the Church of God, +in the particular point on which I had obtained mercy: namely, <i>in being +able to take God by His word and to rely upon it.</i> All these exercises +of my soul, which resulted from the fact that so many believers, with +whom I became acquainted, were harassed and distressed in mind, or +brought guilt on their consciences, on account of not trusting in the +Lord, were used by God to awaken in my heart the desire of setting +before the church at large, and before the world, a proof that He has +not in the least changed; and this seemed to me best done by the +establishing of an orphan house. It needed to be something which could +be seen, even by the natural eye. Now if I, a poor man, simply by prayer +and faith, obtained, <i>without asking any individual,</i> the means for +establishing and carrying on an orphan house, there would be something +which, with the Lord's blessing, might be instrumental in strengthening +the faith of the children of God, besides being a testimony to the +consciences of the unconverted of the reality of the things of God. +This, then, was the primary reason for establishing the orphan house. I +certainly did from my heart desire to be used by God to benefit the +bodies of poor children bereaved of both parents, and seek, in other +respects, with the help of God, to do them good for this life;—I also +particularly longed to be used by God in getting the dear orphans +trained up in the fear of God;—but still, the first and primary object +of the work was (and still is) that God might be magnified by the fact +that the orphans under my care are provided with all they need only <i>by +prayer and faith,</i> without any one being asked by me or my fellow +labourers, whereby it may be seen that God is FAITHFUL STILL, and HEARS +PRAYER STILL.</p> + +<p>The three chief reasons for establishing an orphan house are: 1. That +God may be glorified, should He be pleased to furnish me with the means, +in its being seen that it is not a vain thing to trust in Him; and that +thus the faith of His children may be strengthened. 2. The spiritual +welfare of fatherless and motherless children. 3. Their temporal +welfare.</p> + +<p>That to which my mind has been particularly directed is to establish an +orphan house in which destitute fatherless and motherless children may +be provided with food and raiment, and scriptural education. Concerning +this intended orphan house I would say:</p> + +<p>1. It is intended to be in connection with the Scriptural Knowledge +Institution for Home and Abroad, in so far as it respects the reports, +accounts, superintendence, and the principles on which it is conducted, +so that, in one sense, it may be considered as a new object of the +Institution, yet with this difference, <i>that only those funds shall be +applied to the orphan house which are expressly given for it.</i> If, +therefore, any believer should prefer to support either those objects +which have been hitherto assisted by the funds of this Institution, or +the intended orphan house, it need only be mentioned, in order that the +money may be applied accordingly.</p> + +<p>2. It will only be established if the Lord should provide both the means +for it and suitable persons to conduct it.</p> + +<p>As to the means, I would make the following remarks: The reason for +proposing to enlarge the field is not because we have of late +particularly abounded in means; for we have been rather straitened. The +many gracious answers, however, which the Lord had given us concerning +this Institution led brother C——r and me to give ourselves to prayer, +asking Him to supply us with the means to carry on the work, as we +consider it unscriptural to contract debts. During five days, we prayed +several times, both unitedly and separately. After that time, the Lord +began to answer our prayers, so that, within a few days, about 501. was +given to us. I would further say that the very gracious and tender +dealings of God with me, in having supplied, in answer to prayer, for +the last five years, my own temporal wants without any certain income, +so that money, provisions, and clothes have been sent to me at times +when I was greatly straitened, and that not only in small but large +quantities; and not merely from individuals living in the same place +with me, but at a considerable distance; and that not merely from +intimate friends, but from individuals whom I have never seen: all this, +I say, has often led me to think, even as long as four years ago, that +the Lord had not given me this simple reliance on Him merely for myself, +but also for others. Often, when I saw poor neglected children running +about the streets at Teignmouth, I said to myself: "May it not be the +will of God that I should establish schools for these children, asking +Him to give me the means?" However, it remained only a thought in my +mind for two or three years. About two years and six months since I was +particularly stirred up afresh to do something for destitute children, +by seeing so many of them begging in the streets of Bristol, and coming +to our door. It was not, then, left undone on account of want of trust +in the Lord, but through an abundance of other things calling for all +the time and strength of my brother Craik and myself; for the Lord had +both given faith, and had also shown by the following instance, in +addition to very many others, both what He can and what He will do. One +morning, whilst sitting in my room, I thought about the distress of +certain brethren, and said thus to myself: "Oh, that it might please the +Lord to give me the means to help these poor brethren!" About an hour +afterwards I had £60 sent as a present for myself from a brother +whom up to this day I have never seen, and who was then, and is still, +residing several thousand miles from this. Should not such an +experience, together with promises like that one in John xiv. 13, 14, +encourage us to ask with all boldness, for ourselves and others, both +temporal and spiritual blessings? The Lord, for I cannot but think it +was He, again and again brought the thought about these poor children to +my mind, till at last it ended in the establishment of "The Scriptural +Knowledge Institution, for Home and Abroad"; since the establishment of +which, I have had it in a similar way brought to my mind, first about +fourteen months ago, and repeatedly since, but especially during these +last weeks, to establish an orphan house. My frequent prayer of late has +been, that if it be of God, He would let it come to pass; if not, that +He would take from me all thoughts about it. The latter has not been the +case, but I have been led more and more to think that the matter may be +of Him. Now, if so, He can influence His people <i>in any part of the +world</i> (for I do not look to Bristol, nor even to England, but to the +living God, whose is the gold and the silver), to intrust me and brother +C——r, whom the Lord has made willing to help me in this work with the +means. Till we have <i>them,</i> we can do nothing in the way of renting a +house, furnishing it, etc. Yet, when once as much as is needed for this +has been sent us, as also proper persons to engage in the work, we do +not think it needful to wait till we have the orphan house endowed, or a +number of yearly subscribers for it; but we trust to be enabled by the +Lord, who has taught us to ask for our <i>daily</i> bread, to look to Him for +the supply of the <i>daily</i> wants of those children whom He may be pleased +to put under our care. Any donations will be received at my house. +Should any believers have tables, chairs, bedsteads, bedding, +earthenware, or any kind of household furniture to spare, for the +furnishing of the house; or remnants, or pieces of calico, linen, +flannel, cloth, or any materials useful for wearing apparel; or clothes +already worn, they will be thankfully received.</p> + +<p>Respecting the persons who are needed for carrying on the work, a matter +of no less importance than the procuring of funds, I would observe that +we look for them to God Himself, as well as for the funds; and that all +who may be engaged as masters, matrons, and assistants, according to the +smallness or largeness of the Institution, must be known to us as true +believers; and moreover, as far as we may be able to judge, must +likewise be qualified for the work.</p> + +<p>3. At present nothing can be said as to the time when the operations are +likely to commence; nor whether the Institution will embrace children of +both sexes, or be restricted either to boys or girls exclusively; nor of +what age they will be received, and how long they may continue in it; +for though we have thought about these things, yet we would rather be +guided in these particulars by the amount of the means which the Lord +may put into our hands, and by the number of the individuals whom He may +provide for conducting the Institution. Should the Lord condescend to +use us as instruments, a short printed statement will be issued as soon +as something more definite can be said.</p> + +<p>4. It has appeared well to us to receive only such destitute children as +have been bereaved of both parents.</p> + +<p>5. The children are intended, if girls, to be brought up for service; if +boys, for a trade; and therefore they will be employed, according to +their ability and bodily strength, in useful occupations, and thus help +to maintain themselves; besides this, they are intended to receive a +plain education; but the chief and the special end of the Institution +will be to seek, with God's blessing, to bring them to the knowledge of +Jesus Christ by instructing them in the Scriptures.</p> + +<p>FURTHER ACCOUNT RESPECTING THE ORPHAN HOUSE, ETC.</p> + +<p>When, of late, the thoughts of establishing an orphan house, in +dependence upon the Lord, revived in my mind, during the first two weeks +I only prayed that if it were of the Lord He would bring it about; but +if not, that He graciously would be pleased to take all thoughts about +it out of my mind. My uncertainty about knowing the Lord's mind did not +arise from questioning whether it would be pleasing in His sight that +there should be an abode and scriptural education provided for destitute +fatherless and motherless children; but whether it were His will that +<i>I</i> should be the instrument of setting such an object on foot, as my +hands were already more than filled. My comfort, however, was, that, if +it were His will, He would provide not merely the means, but also +suitable individuals to take care of the children, so that my part of +the work would take only such a portion of my time as, considering the +importance of the matter, I might give, notwithstanding my many other +engagements. The whole of those two weeks I never asked the Lord for +money or for persons to engage in the work. On December 5th, however, +the subject of my prayer all at once became different. I was reading +Psalm lxxxi., and was particularly struck, more than at any time before, +with verse 10: <i>"Open thy mouth wide and I will fill it."</i> I thought a +few moments about these words, and then was led to apply them to the +case of the orphan house. It struck me that I had never asked the Lord +for anything concerning it, except to know His will respecting its being +established or not; and I then fell on my knees, and opened my mouth +wide, asking him for much. I asked in submission to His will, and +without fixing a time when He should answer my petition. I prayed that +He would give me a house, i.e., either as a loan, or that some one might +be led to pay the rent for one, or that one might be given permanently +for this object; further, I asked Him for £1000; and likewise for +suitable individuals to take care of the children. Besides this, I have +been since led to ask the Lord to put into the hearts of His people to +send me articles of furniture for the house, and some clothes for the +children. When I was asking the petition I was fully aware what I was +doing, i.e., that I was asking for something which I had no natural +prospect of obtaining from the brethren whom I know, but which was not +too much for the Lord to grant.</p> + +<a name="f"></a> +<center><h3>APPENDIX F<br> + +ARGUMENTS IN PRAYER FOR THE ORPHAN WORK</h3></center> + +<p>THE arguments which I plead with God are:</p> + +<p>1. That I set about the work for the glory of God, i.e., that there +might be a visible proof, by God supplying, <i>in answer to prayer only,</i> +the necessities of the orphans, that He is the <i>living</i> God, and most +willing, even in <i>our</i> day, to answer prayer: and that, therefore, He +would be pleased to send supplies.</p> + +<p>2. That God is the "Father of the fatherless," and that He, therefore, +as their Father, would be pleased to provide. (Psalm lxviii. 5.)</p> + +<p>3. That I have received the children in the name of Jesus, and that, +therefore, He, in these children, has been received, and is fed, and is +clothed; and that, therefore, He would be pleased to consider this. +(Mark ix. 36, 37.)</p> + +<p>4. That the faith of many of the children of God has been strengthened +by this work hitherto, and that, if God were to withhold the means for +the future, those who are weak in faith would be staggered; whilst, by a +continuance of means, their faith might still further be strengthened.</p> + +<p>5. That many enemies would laugh, were the Lord to withhold supplies, +and say, did we not foretell that this enthusiasm would come to nothing?</p> + +<p>6. That many of the children of God, who are uninstructed, or in a +carnal state, would feel themselves justified to continue their alliance +with the world in the work of God, and to go on as heretofore, in their +unscriptural proceedings respecting similar institutions, so far as the +obtaining of means is concerned, if He were not to help me.</p> + +<p>7. That the Lord would remember that I am His child, and that He would +graciously pity me, and remember that <i>I</i> cannot provide for these +children, and that therefore He would not allow this burden to lie upon +me long without sending help.</p> + +<p>8. That He would remember likewise my fellow labourers in the work, who +trust in Him, but who would be tried were He to withhold supplies.</p> + +<p>9. That He would remember that I should have to dismiss the children +from under our scriptural instruction to their former companions.</p> + +<p>10. That He would show that those were mistaken who said that, <i>at the +first,</i> supplies might be expected, while the thing was new, but not +afterwards.</p> + +<p>11. That I should not know were He to withhold means, what construction +I should put upon all the many most remarkable answers to prayer which +He has given me heretofore in connection with this work, and which most +fully have shown to me that it is of God.</p> + +<a name="g"></a> +<center><h3>APPENDIX G<br> + +THE PURCHASE OF A SITE, ETC.</h3></center> + +<p>MR. BENJAMIN PERRY gives an account of the circumstances under which the +land was purchased, prior to the erection of the orphan houses on Ashley +Down, as he heard it from Mr. Müller's own mouth, showing how directly +the Lord worked on the mind of the owner. Mr. Müller had been making +inquiries respecting the purchase of land much nearer Bristol, the +prices asked being not less than £1000 per acre, when he heard +that the land upon which the Orphan Houses Nos. 1 and 2 stand was for +sale, the price being £200 per acre. He therefore called at the +house of the owner, and was informed that he was not at home, but that +he could be seen at his place of business in the city. Mr. Müller went +there, and was informed that he had left a few minutes before, and that +he would find him at home. Most men would have gone off to the owner's +house at once; but Mr. Müller stopped and reflected, "Peradventure the +Lord, having allowed me to miss the owner twice in so short a time, has +a purpose that I should not see him to-day; and lest I should be going +before the Lord in the matter, I will wait till the morning." And +accordingly he waited and went the next morning, when he found the owner +at home; and on being ushered into his sitting-room, he said: "Ah, Mr. +Müller, I know what you have come to see me about. You want to buy my +land on Ashley Down. I had a dream last night, and I saw you come in to +purchase the land, for which I have been asking £200 per acre; but +the Lord told me not to charge you more than £120 per acre, and +therefore if you are willing to buy at that price the matter is +settled." And within ten minutes the contract was signed. "Thus," Mr. +Müller pointed out, "by being careful to <i>follow</i> the Lord, instead of +<i>going before</i> His leading, I was permitted to purchase the land +for £80 per acre less than I should have paid if I had gone to the +owner the evening before."</p> + +<a name="h"></a> +<center><h3>APPENDIX H<br> + +GOD'S FAITHFULNESS IN PROVIDING</h3></center> + +<p>MR. PERRY writes: At one meeting at Huntly, by special request Mr. +Müller gave illustrations of God's faithfulness in answer to prayer, +connected with the orphan work, of which the following are examples:</p> + +<p>a. He stated that at various times, not only at the beginning of the +work, but also in later years, God had seen fit to try his faith to the +utmost, but only to prove to him the more definitely that He would never +be other than his faithful covenant-keeping God. In illustration he +referred to a time when, the children having had their last meal for the +day, there was nothing left in money or kind for their breakfast the +following morning. Mr. Müller went home, but nothing came in, and he +retired for the night, committing the need to God to provide. Early the +next morning he went for a walk, and while praying for the needed help +he took a turn into a road which he was quite unconscious of, and after +walking a short distance a friend met him, and said how glad he was to +meet him, and asked him to accept £5 for the orphans. He thanked +him, and without saying a word to the donor about the time of need, he +went at once to the orphan houses, praising God for this direct answer +to prayer.</p> + +<p>b. On another occasion, when there were no funds in hand to provide +breakfast for the orphans, a gentleman called before the time for +breakfast and left a donation that supplied all their present needs. +When that year's report was issued, this proof of God's faithfulness in +sending help just when needed was recorded, and a short time after the +donor called and made himself known, saying that as his donation had +been given at such a special time of need he felt he must state the +circumstances under which he had given the money, which were as follows: +He had occasion to go to his office in Bristol early that morning before +breakfast, and on the way the thought occurred to him: "I will go to Mr. +Müller's orphan house and give them a donation," and accordingly turned +and walked about a quarter of a mile toward the orphanage, when he +stopped, saying to himself, "How foolish of me to be neglecting the +business I came out to attend to! I can give money to the orphans +another time," and he turned round and walked back towards his office, +but soon felt that he <i>must</i> return. He said to himself: "The orphans +may be needing the money <i>now.</i> I may be leaving them in want when God +had sent me to help them;" and so strong was this impression that he +again turned round and walked back till he reached the orphanages, and +thus handed in the money which provided them with breakfast. Mr. Mullets +comment on this was: "Just like my gracious heavenly Father!" and then +he urged his hearers to trust and prove what a faithful covenant-keeping +God He is to those who put their trust in Him.</p> + +<a name="k"></a> +<center><h3>APPENDIX K<br> + +FURTHER RECOLLECTIONS OF MR. MÜLLER</h3></center> + +<p>MR. PERRY furnishes also the following reminiscences: As George Müller +was engaged in free, homely conversation with his friends on a Sunday +afternoon within about three weeks of his departure to be with the Lord, +he referred to two visits he had made during the previous week to two +old and beloved friends. He had fully appreciated that, though they were +about ten years younger than himself, his power to walk, and specially +his power to continue his service for his Lord, was far greater than +theirs. So that he playfully said, with a bright smile: "I came away +from both these beloved brethren feeling that I was quite young by +comparison as to strength, though so much older," and then at once +followed an ascription of praise to God for His goodness to him: "Oh, +how very kind and good my heavenly Father has been to me! I have no +aches or pains, no rheumatism, and now in my ninety-third year I can do +a day's work at the orphan houses with as much ease and comfort to +myself as ever."</p> + +<p>One sentence aptly sets forth a striking feature in his Christian +character, viz.: George Müller, nothing. In himself worse than nothing.</p> + +<p>The Lord Jesus, everything. By grace, in Christ, the son of the King.</p> + +<p>And as such he lived; for all those who knew and loved this beloved and +honoured servant of Christ best would testify that his habitual attitude +towards the Lord was to treat Him as an ever-present, almighty, loving +Friend, whose love was far greater to him than he could ever return, and +who delighted in having his entire confidence about everything, and was +not only ready at hand to listen to his prayers and praises about great +and important matters, but nothing was too small to speak to Him about. +So real was this that it was almost impossible to be enjoying the +privilege of private, confidential intercourse with him without being +conscious that at least to him the Lord was really present, One to whom +he turned for counsel, in prayer, or in praise, as freely as most men +would speak to a third person present; and again and again most marked +answers to prayer have been received in response to petitions thus +unitedly presented to the Lord altogether apart from his own special +work.</p> + +<a name="l"></a> +<center><h3>APPENDIX L<br> + +CHURCH FELLOWSHIP, BAPTISM, ETC.</h3></center> + +<p>WHEN brother Craik and I began to labour in Bristol, and consequently +some believers united with us in fellowship, assembling together at +Bethesda, we began meeting together on the basis of the written Word +only, without having any church rules whatever. From the commencement it +was understood that, as the Lord should help us, we would try everything +by the word of God, and introduce and hold fast that only which could be +proved by Scripture. When we came to this determination on Aug. 13, +1832, it was indeed in weakness, but it was in uprightness of heart.—On +account of this it was that, as we ourselves were not fully settled as +to whether those only who had been baptized after they had believed, or +whether all who believed in the Lord Jesus, irrespective of baptism, +should be received into fellowship, nothing was determined about this +point. We felt free to break bread and be in communion with those who +were not baptized, and therefore could with a good conscience labour at +Gideon, where the greater part of the saints, at least at first, were +unbaptized; but, at the same time, we had a secret wish that none but +believers who were baptized might be united with us at Bethesda. Our +reason for this was that we had witnessed in Devonshire much painful +disunion, resulting as we thought, from baptized and unbaptized +believers being in fellowship. Without, then, making it a rule, that +Bethesda Church was to be one of close communion, we nevertheless took +care that those who applied for fellowship should be instructed about +baptism. For many months there occurred no difficulty as none applied +for communion but such as had either been already baptized, or wished to +be, or who became convinced of the scriptural character of believers' +baptism, after we had conversed with them; afterwards, however, three +sisters applied for fellowship, none of whom had been baptized; nor were +their views altered after we had conversed with them. As, nevertheless, +brother Craik and I considered them true believers, and we ourselves +were not fully convinced what was the mind of the Lord in such a case, +we thought it right that these sisters should be received; yet so that +it might be unanimously, as all our church acts <i>then</i> were done; but we +knew <i>by that time</i> that there were several in fellowship with us who +could not conscientiously receive unbaptized believers. We mentioned, +therefore, the names of the three sisters to the church, stating that +they did not see believers' baptism to be scriptural, and that, if any +brother saw, on that account, a reason why they should not be received, +he should let us know. The result was that several objected, and two or +three meetings were held, at which we heard the objections of the +brethren, and sought for ourselves to obtain acquaintance with the mind +of God on the point. Whilst several days thus passed away before the +matter was decided, one of those three sisters came and thanked us that +we had not received her, before being baptized, for she now saw that it +was only shame and the fear of man which had kept her back, and that the +Lord had now made her willing to be baptized. By this circumstance those +brethren who considered it scriptural that all ought to be baptized +before being received into fellowship, were confirmed in their views; +and as to brother Craik and me, it made us, at least, still more +question whether those brethren might not be right; and we felt, +therefore, that in such a state of mind we could not oppose them. The +one sister, therefore, who wished to be baptized was received into +fellowship, but the two others not. Our consciences were the less +affected by this because all, though not baptized, might take the Lord's +supper with us at Bethesda, though not be received into full fellowship; +and because at Gideon, where there were baptized and unbaptized +believers, they might even be received into full fellowship; for we had +not then clearly seen that there is <i>no scriptural</i> distinction between +being in fellowship with individuals and breaking bread with them. Thus +matters stood for many months, i.e., believers were received to the +breaking of bread even at Bethesda, though not baptized, but they were +not received to all the privileges of fellowship.—In August of 1836 I +had a conversation with brother K. C. on, the subject of receiving the +unbaptized into communion, a subject about which, for years, my mind had +been more or less exercised. This brother put the matter thus before me: +either unbaptized believers come under the class of persons who walk +disorderly, and, in that case, we ought to withdraw from them (2 Thess. +iii. 6); or they do not walk disorderly. If a believer be walking +disorderly, we are not merely to withdraw from him at the Lord's table, +but our behaviour towards him ought to be decidedly different from what +it would be were he not walking disorderly, <i>on all occasions</i> when we +may have intercourse with him, or come in any way into contact with him. +Now this is evidently not the case in the conduct of baptized believers +towards their unbaptized fellow believers. The Spirit does not suffer it +to be so, but He witnesses that their not having been baptized does not +necessarily imply that they are walking disorderly; and hence there may +be the most precious communion between baptized and unbaptized +believers. The Spirit does not suffer us to refuse fellowship with them +in prayer, in reading or searching the Scriptures, in social and +intimate intercourse, and in the Lord's work; and yet this ought to be +the case, were they walking disorderly.—This passage, 2 Thess. iii. 6, +to which brother E. C. referred, was the means of showing me the mind of +the Lord on the subject, which is, <i>that we ought to receive all whom +Christ has received</i> (Rom. xv. 7), <i>irrespective of the measure of grace +or knowledge which they have attained unto.</i>—Some time after this +conversation, in May, 1837, an opportunity occurred, when we (for +brother Craik had seen the same truth) were called upon to put into +practice the light which the Lord had been pleased to give us. A sister, +who neither <i>had been baptized,</i> nor considered herself under any +obligation to be baptized, applied for fellowship. We conversed with her +on this as on other subjects and proposed her for fellowship, though our +conversation had not convinced her that she ought to be baptized. This +led the church again to the consideration of the point. We gave our +reasons, from Scripture, for considering it right to receive this +unbaptized sister to all the privileges of the children of God; but a +considerable number, one-third perhaps, expressed conscientious +difficulty in receiving her. The example of the Apostles, in baptizing +the first believers upon a profession of faith, was especially urged, +which indeed would be an unsurmountable difficulty had not the truth +been mingled with error for so long a time, so that it does not prove +wilful disobedience if any one in our day should refuse to be baptized +after believing. The Lord, however, gave us much help in pointing out +the truth to the brethren, so that the number of those who considered +that only baptized believers should be in communion decreased almost +daily. At last, only fourteen brethren and sisters out of above 180 +thought it right, this August 28, 1837, to separate from us, after we +had had much intercourse with them. [I am glad to be able to add that, +even of these fourteen, the greater part afterwards saw their error, and +came back again to us, and that the receiving of all who love our Lord +Jesus into full communion, irrespective of baptism, has never been the +source of disunion among us, though more than fifty-seven years have +passed away since.]</p> + +<a name="m"></a> +<center><h3>APPENDIX M<br> + +CHURCH CONDUCT</h3></center> + +<p>I.—QUESTIONS RESPECTING THE ELDERSHIP.</p> + +<p>(1) <i>How does it appear to be the mind of God that, in every church, +there should be recognized Elders?</i></p> + +<p><i>Ans.</i> From the following passages compared together: Matt. xxiv. 45; +Luke xii. 42.</p> + +<p>From these passages we learn that some are set by the Lord Himself in +the office of rulers and teachers, and that this office (in spite of the +fallen state of the church) should be in being, even down to the close +of the present dispensation. Accordingly, we find from Acts xiv. 23, xx. +17; Tit. i. 5; and 1 Pet. v. 1, that soon after the saints had been +converted, and had associated together in a church character, Elders +were appointed to take the rule over them and to fulfil the office of +under-shepherds.</p> + +<p>This must not be understood as implying that, when believers are +associated in church fellowship, they ought to elect Elders according to +their own will, whether the Lord may have qualified persons or not; but +rather that such should wait upon God, that He Himself would be pleased +to raise up such as may be qualified for teaching and ruling in His +church.</p> + +<p>(2) <i>How do such come into office?</i></p> + +<p><i>Ans.</i> By the appointment of the Holy Ghost, Acts xx. 28.</p> + +<p>(3) <i>How may this appointment be made known to the individuals called to +the office, and to those amongst whom they may be called to labour?</i></p> + +<p><i>Ans.</i> By the secret call of the Spirit, 1 Tim. iii. 1, confirmed by the +possession of the requisite qualifications, 1 Tim. iii. 2-7; Tit. i. +6-9, and by the Lord's blessing resting upon their labours, 1 Cor. ix. +2.</p> + +<p>In 1 Cor. ix. 2, Paul condescends to the weakness of some, who were in +danger of being led away by those factious persons who questioned his +authority. As an Apostle—appointed by the express word of the Lord—he +needed not such outward confirmation. But if he used his success as an +argument in confirmation of his call, how much more may ordinary +servants of the Lord Jesus employ such an argument, seeing that the way +in which they are called for the work is such as to require some outward +confirmation!</p> + +<p>(4) <i>Is it incumbent upon the saints to acknowledge such and to submit +to them in the Lord?</i></p> + +<p><i>Ans.</i> Yes. See 1 Cor. xvi. 15, 16; 1 Thess. v. 12, 13; Heb. xiii. 7, +17; and 1 Tim. v. 17.</p> + +<p>In these passages obedience to pastoral authority is clearly enjoined.</p> + +<p>II.—<i>Ought matters of discipline to be finally settled by the Elders</i> +in private, <i>or</i> in the presence of the church, and as the act of the +whole body?</p> + +<p><i>Ans.</i> (1) Such matters are to be finally settled in the presence of the +church. This appears from Matt. xviii. 17; 1 Cor. v. 4, 5; 2 Cor. ii. +6-8; 1 Tim. v. 20.</p> + +<p>(2) Such matters are to be finally settled <i>as the act of the whole +body,</i> Matt. xviii. 17, 18. In this passage the act of exclusion is +spoken of as the act of the whole body. 1 Cor. v. 4, 5, v. 12, 13. In +this passage Paul gives the direction, respecting the exercise of +discipline, in such a way to render the whole body responsible: verse 7, +"Purge out the old leaven that ye may be a new lump"; and verse 13, +"Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person." From 2 +Cor. ii. 6-8 we learn that the act of exclusion was not the act of the +Elders only, but of the church: "Sufficient to such a man is this +punishment [rather, public censure] <i>which was inflicted of many."</i> From +verse 8 we learn that the act of restoration was to be a public act of +the brethren: "Wherefore I beseech you that ye would confirm [rather, +ratify by a public act] your love towards him."</p> + +<p>As to the reception of brethren into fellowship, this is an act of +simple obedience to the Lord, both on the part of the elders and the +whole church. We are bound and privileged to receive all those who make +a credible profession of faith in Christ, according to that Scripture, +"Receive ye one another, as Christ also received us, to the glory of +God." (Rom. xv. 7.)</p> + +<p>III.—<i>When should church acts (such as acts of reception, restoration, +exclusion, etc.) be attended to?</i></p> + +<p><i>Ans.</i> It cannot be expressly proved from Scripture whether such acts +were attended to at the meeting for the breaking of bread, or at any +other meeting; therefore this is a point on which, if different churches +differ, mutual forbearance ought to be exercised. The way in which such +matters have hitherto been managed amongst us has been by the church +coming together on a week-evening. Before we came to Bristol we had been +accustomed to this mode, and, finding nothing in Scripture against it, +we continued the practice. But, after prayer and more careful +consideration of this point, it has appeared well to us that such acts +should be attended to on the Lord's days, when the saints meet together +for the breaking of bread. We have been induced to make this alteration +by the following reasons:</p> + +<p>(1) <i>This latter mode prevents matters from being delayed.</i> There not +being a sufficiency of matter for a meeting on purpose every week, it +has sometimes happened that what would better have been stated to the +church at once has been kept back from the body for some weeks. Now, it +is important that what concerns the whole church should be made known as +soon as possible to those who are in fellowship, that they may act +accordingly. Delay, moreover, seems inconsistent with the +pilgrim-character of the people of God.</p> + +<p>(2) <i>More believers can be present on the Lord's days than can attend on +week-evenings.</i> The importance of this reason will appear from +considering how everything which concerns the church should be known to +<i>as many as possible.</i> For how can the saints pray for those who may +have to be excluded,—how can they sympathize in cases of peculiar +trial,—and how can they rejoice and give thanks on account of those who +may be received or restored, unless they are made acquainted with the +facts connected with such cases?</p> + +<p>(3) <i>A testimony is thus given that all who break bread are church +members.</i> By attending to church acts in the meeting for breaking of +bread, we show that we <i>make no difference</i> between receiving into +fellowship at the Lord's Supper, and into church membership, but that +the individual who is admitted to the Lord's table is therewith also +received to all the privileges, trials, and responsibilities of church +membership.</p> + +<p>(4) There is a peculiar propriety in acts of reception, restoration, and +exclusion being attended to when the saints meet together for the +breaking of bread, as, in that ordinance especially, we show forth our +fellowship with each other.</p> + +<p>Objections answered.</p> + +<p>(1) This alteration has the appearance of changeableness.</p> + +<p><i>Reply.</i> Such an objection would apply to any case in which increased +light led to any improvement, and is, therefore, not to be regarded. It +would be an evil thing if there were any change respecting the +foundation truths of the Gospel; but the point in question is only a +matter of church order.</p> + +<p>(2) More time may thus be required than it would be well to give to such +a purpose on the Lord's day.</p> + +<p><i>Reply.</i> As, according to this plan, church business will be attended to +<i>every Lord's day,</i> it is more than probable that the meetings will be +thereby prolonged for a few minutes only; but, should circumstance +require it, a special meeting may still be appointed during the week, +for all who break bread with us. This, however, would only be needful, +provided the matters to be brought before the brethren were to require +more time than could be given to them at the breaking of bread.*</p> + +<p>* The practice, later on, gave place to a week-night meeting, on +Tuesday, for transaction of such "church acts."—A. T. P.</p> + +<p>N.B. (1) Should any persons be present who do not break bread with us, +they may be requested to withdraw whenever such points require to be +stated as it would not be well to speak of in the presence of +unbelievers.</p> + +<p>(2) As there are two places in which the saints meet for the breaking of +bread, the matters connected with church acts must be brought out at +each place.</p> + +<p>IV.—QUESTIONS RELATIVE TO THE LORD'S SUPPER.</p> + +<p>(1) <i>How frequently ought the breaking of bread to be attended to?</i></p> + +<p><i>Ans.</i> Although we have no express command respecting the frequency of +its observance, yet the example of the apostles and of the first +disciples would lead us to observe this ordinance every Lord's day. +(Acts xx. 7.)</p> + +<p>(2) <i>What ought to be the character of the meeting at which the saints +are assembled for the breaking of bread?</i></p> + +<p><i>Ans.</i> As in this ordinance we show forth our common participation in +all the benefits of our Lord's death, and our union to Him and to each +other (1 Cor. x. 16, 17), opportunity ought to be given for the exercise +of the gifts of teaching or exhortation, and communion in prayer and +praise. (Rom. xii. 4-8; Eph. iv. 11-16.) The manifestation of our common +participation in each other's gifts cannot be fully given at such +meetings, if the whole meeting is, necessarily, conducted by one +individual. This mode of meeting does not, however, take off from those +who have the gifts of teaching or exhortation the responsibility of +edifying the church as opportunity may be offered.</p> + +<p>(3) <i>Is it desirable that the bread should be broken at the Lord's +Supper by one of the elders, or should each individual of the body break +it for himself?</i></p> + +<p><i>Ans.</i> Neither way can be so decidedly proved from Scripture that we are +warranted in objecting to the other as positively unscriptural, yet—</p> + +<p>(1) The letter of Scripture seems rather in favour of its being done by +each brother and sister (1 Cor. x. 16, 17): "The bread which <i>we +break."</i></p> + +<p>(2) Its being done by each of the disciples is more fitted to express +that we all, by our sins, have broken the body of our Lord.</p> + +<p>(3) By attending to the ordinance in this way, we manifest our freedom +from the common error that the Lord's Supper must be administered by +some particular individual, possessed of what is called a ministerial +character, instead of being an act of social worship and obedience.</p> + +<center><h3>APPENDIX N</h3></center> +<a name="n"></a> +<center><h3>THE WISE SAYINGS OF GEORGE MÜLLER</h3></center> + +<p>FEW who have not carefully read the Narrative of Mr. Müller and the +subsequent Reports issued year by year, have any idea of the large +amount of wisdom which there finds expression. We give here a few +examples of the sagacious and spiritual counsels and utterances with +which these pages abound.</p> + +<center>THE BODY.</center> + +<center>CARE OF THE BODY.</center> + +<p>I find it a difficult thing, whilst caring for the body, not to neglect +the soul. It seems to me much easier to go on altogether regardless of +the body, in the service of the Lord, than to take care of the body, in +the time of sickness, and not to neglect the soul, especially in an +affliction like my present one, when the head allows but little reading +or thinking.—What a blessed prospect to be delivered from this wretched +evil nature!</p> + +<center>HABITS OF SLEEP.</center> + +<p>My own experience has been, almost invariably, that if I have not the +<i>needful</i> sleep, my spiritual enjoyment and strength is greatly affected +by it. I judge it of great moment that the believer, in travelling, +should seek as much as possible to refrain from travelling by night, or +from travelling in such a way as that he is deprived of the needful +night's rest; for if he does not, he will be unable with renewed bodily +and mental strength to give himself to prayer and meditation, and the +reading of the Holy Scriptures, and he will surely feel the pernicious +effects of this all the day long. There may occur cases when travelling +by night cannot be avoided; but, if it can, <i>though we should seem to +lose time by it, and though it should cost more money,</i> I would most +affectionately and solemnly recommend the refraining from +night-travelling; for, in addition to our drawing beyond measure upon +our bodily strength, we must be losers spiritually. The next thing I +would advise with reference to travelling is, with all one's might to +seek morning by morning, before setting out, to take time for meditation +and prayer, and reading the word of God; for although we are always +exposed to temptation, yet we are so especially in travelling. +Travelling is one of the devil's especial opportunities for tempting us. +Think of that, dear fellow believers. Seek always to ascertain carefully +the mind of God, before you begin anything; but do so in particular +before you go on a journey, so that you may be quite sure that it is the +will of God that you should undertake that journey, lest you should +needlessly expose yourself to one of the special opportunities of the +devil to ensnare you. So far from envying those who have a carriage and +horses at their command, or an abundance of means, so that they are not +hindered from travelling for want of means, let us who are not thus +situated rather thank God that <i>in this particular</i> we are not exposed +to the temptation of needing to be less careful in ascertaining the will +of God before we set out on a journey.</p> + +<center>CHILDREN.</center> + +<center>CONVERSION OF CHILDREN.</center> + +<p>As far as my experience goes, it appears to me that believers generally +have expected far too little of present fruit upon their labours among +children. There has been a hoping that the Lord some day or other would +own the instruction which they give to children, and would answer at +some time or other, though after many years only, the prayers which they +offer up on their behalf. Now, while such passages as Proverbs xxii. 6, +Ecclesiastes xi. 1, Galatians vi. 9, 1 Cor. xv. 58, give unto us +assurance not merely respecting everything which we do for the Lord, in +general, but also respecting bringing up children in the fear of the +Lord, in particular, that our labour is not in vain in the Lord; yet we +have to guard against abusing such passages, by thinking it a matter of +little moment whether we see <i>present</i> fruit or not; but, on the +contrary, we should give the Lord no rest till we see present fruit, and +therefore, in persevering, yet submissive, prayer, we should make known +our requests unto God. I add, as an encouragement to believers who +labour among children, that during the last two years seventeen other +young persons or children, from the age of eleven and a half to +seventeen, have been received into fellowship among us, and that I am +looking out now for many more to be converted, and that not merely of +the orphans, but of the Sunday-school and day-school children.</p> + +<center>NEGLECT OF CHILDREN.</center> + +<p>The power for good or evil that resides in a little child is great +beyond all human calculation. A child rightly trained may be a +world-wide blessing, with an influence reaching onward to eternal years. +But a neglected or misdirected directed child may live to blight and +blast mankind, and leave influences of evil which shall roll on in +increasing volume till they plunge into the gulf of eternal perdition.</p> + +<p>"A remarkable instance was related by Dr. Harris, of New York, at a +recent meeting of the State Charities Aid Association. In a small +village in a county on the upper Hudson, some seventy years ago, a young +girl named 'Margaret' was sent adrift on the casual charity of the +inhabitants. She became the mother of a long race of criminals and +paupers, and her progeny has cursed the county ever since. The county +records show <i>two hundred</i> of her descendants who have been criminals. +In one single generation of her unhappy line there were twenty children; +of these, three died in infancy, and seventeen survived to maturity. Of +the seventeen, nine served in the State prison for high crimes an +aggregate term of fifty years, while the others were frequent inmates of +jails and penitentiaries and almshouses. Of the nine hundred +descendants, through six generations, from this unhappy girl who was +left on the village streets and abandoned in her childhood, a great +number have been idiots, imbeciles, drunkards, lunatics, paupers, and +prostitutes: but two hundred of the more vigorous are on record as +criminals. This neglected little child has thus cost the county +authorities, in the effects she has transmitted, <i>hundreds of thousands +of dollars,</i> in the expense and care of criminals and paupers, besides +the untold damage she has inflicted on property and public morals."</p> + +<center>TRAINING OF CHILDREN.</center> + +<p>Seek to cherish in your children early the habit of being interested +about the work of God, and about cases of need and distress, and use +them too at <i>suitable times,</i> and under <i>suitable circumstances,</i> as +your almoners, and you will reap fruit from doing so.</p> + +<center>CHRISTIAN LIFE.</center> + +<center>BEGINNING OF LIFE, ETC.</center> + +<p>God alone can give spiritual life at the first, and keep it up in the +soul afterwards.</p> + +<center>CROSS-BEARING.</center> + +<p>The Christian, like the bee, might suck honey out of every flower. I saw +upon a snuffer-stand in bas-relief, "A heart, a cross under it, and +roses under both." The meaning was obviously this, that the heart which +bears the cross for a time meets with roses afterwards.</p> + +<center>KEEPING PROMISES.</center> + +<p>It has been often mentioned to me, in various places, that brethren in +business do not sufficiently attend to the keeping of promises, and I +cannot therefore but entreat all who love our Lord Jesus, and who are +engaged in a trade or business, to seek for His sake not to make any +promises, except they have every reason to believe they shall be able to +fulfil them, and therefore carefully to weigh all the circumstances, +before making any engagement, lest they should fail in its +accomplishment. It is even in these little ordinary affairs of life that +we may either bring much honour or dishonour to the Lord; and these are +the things which every unbeliever can take notice of. Why should it be +so often said, and sometimes with a measure of ground, or even much +ground: "Believers are bad servants, bad tradesmen, bad masters"? Surely +it ought not to be true that <i>we, who have power with God to obtain by +prayer and faith all needful grace, wisdom, and skill,</i> should be bad +servants, bad tradesmen, bad masters.</p> + +<center>THE LOT AND THE LOTTERY.</center> + +<p>It is altogether wrong that I, a child of God, should have anything to +do with so worldly a system as that of the lottery. But it was also +unscriptural to go to the lot at all for the sake of ascertaining the +Lord's mind, and this I ground on the following reasons. We have neither +a commandment of God for it, nor the example of our Lord, nor that of +the apostles, <i>after the Holy Spirit had been given on the day of +Pentecost.</i> 1. We have many exhortations in the word of God to seek to +know His mind by prayer and searching the Holy Scriptures, but no +passage which exhorts us to use the lot. 2. The example of the apostles +(Acts i.) in using the lot, in the choice of an apostle in the room of +Judas Iscariot, is the only passage which can be brought in favour of +the lot from the New Testament (and to the Old we have not to go, under +this dispensation, for the sake of ascertaining how we ought to live as +disciples of Christ). Now concerning this circumstance we have to +remember that the Spirit was not yet given (John vii. 39; xiv. 16, 17; +xvi. 7, 13), by whose teaching especially it is that we may know the +mind of the Lord; and hence we find that, after the day of Pentecost, +the lot was no more used, but the apostles gave themselves to prayer and +fasting to ascertain how they ought to act.</p> + +<center>NEW TASTES.</center> + +<p>What a difference grace makes! There were few people, perhaps, more +passionately fond of travelling, and seeing fresh places, and new +scenes, than myself; but now, since, by the grace of God, I have seen +beauty in the Lord Jesus, I have lost my taste for these things.... What +a different thing, also, to travel in the service of the Lord Jesus, +from what it is to travel in the service of the flesh!</p> + +<center>OBEDIENCE.</center> + +<p><i>Every instance of obedience, from right motives, strengthens us +spiritually, whilst every act of disobedience weakens us spiritually.</i></p> + +<center>SEPARATION UNTO GOD.</center> + +<p>May the Lord grant that the eyes of many of His children may be opened, +so that they may seek, in all spiritual things, to be separated from +unbelievers (2 Cor. vi. 14-18), and to do <i>God's work</i> according to +<i>God's mind!</i></p> + +<center>SERVICE TO ONE'S GENERATION.</center> + +<p>My business is, with all my might to serve my own generation; in doing +so I shall best serve the next generation, should the Lord Jesus +tarry.... The longer I live, the more I am enabled to realize that I +have but one life to live on earth, and that this one life is but a +<i>brief</i> life, for sowing, in comparison with <i>eternity,</i> for reaping.</p> + +<center>SURETY FOR DEBT.</center> + +<p>How precious it is, even for this life, to act according to the word of +God! This perfect revelation of His mind gives us directions for +everything, even the most minute affairs of this life. It commands us, +"Be thou not one of them that strike hands, or of them that are sureties +for debts." (Prov. xxii. 26.) The way in which Satan ensnares persons, +to bring them into the net, and to bring trouble upon them by becoming +sureties, is, that he seeks to represent the matter as if there were no +danger connected with that particular case, and that one might be sure +one should never be called upon to pay the money; but the Lord, the +faithful Friend, tells us in His own word that the only way in such a +matter "to be sure" is "to hate suretyship." (Prov. xi. 15.) The +following points seem to me of solemn moment for consideration, if I +were called upon to become surety for another: 1. What obliges the +person, who wishes me to become surety for him, to need a surety? Is it +really a good cause in which I am called upon to become surety? I do not +remember ever to have met with a case in which in a plain, and godly, +and in all respects scriptural matter such a thing occurred. There was +generally some sin or other connected with it. 2. If I become surety, +notwithstanding what the Lord has said to me in His word, am I in such a +position that no one will be injured by my being called upon to fulfil +the engagements of the person for whom I am going to be surety? In most +instances this alone ought to keep one from it.</p> + +<p>3. If still I become surety, the amount of money for which I become +responsible must be so in my power that I am able to produce it whenever +it is called for, in order that the name of the Lord may not be +dishonoured.</p> + +<p>4. But if there be the possibility of having to fulfil the engagements +of the person in whose stead I have to stand, is it the will of the Lord +that I should spend my means in that way? Is it not rather His will that +my means should be spent in another way? 5. How can I get over the plain +word of the Lord, which is to the contrary, even if the first four +points could be satisfactorily settled?</p> + +<center>CHURCH LIFE.</center> + +<center>ASSEMBLY OF BELIEVERS.</center> + +<p>It has been my own happy lot, during the last thirty-seven years, to +become acquainted with hundreds of individuals, who were not inferior to +apostolic Christians.</p> + +<p>That the disciples of Jesus should meet together on the first day of the +week for the breaking of bread, and that that should be their principal +meeting, and that those, whether one or several, who are truly gifted by +the Holy Spirit for service, be it for exhortation, or teaching, or +rule, etc., are responsible to the Lord for the exercise of their +gifts—these are to me no matters of uncertainty, but points on which my +soul, by grace, is established, through the revealed will of God.</p> + +<center>FORMALISM.</center> + +<p>I have often remarked the injurious effects of doing things because +others did them, or because it was the custom, or because they were +persuaded into acts of <i>outward</i> self-denial, or giving up things whilst +the heart did not go along with it, and whilst the <i>outward act</i> WAS NOT +<i>the result of the inward powerful working of the Holy Ghost, and the +happy entering into our fellowship with the Father and with the Son.</i></p> + +<p>Everything that is a mere form, a mere habit and custom in divine +things, is to be dreaded exceedingly: <i>life, power, reality,</i> this is +what we have to aim after. Things should not result from without, but +from within. The sort of clothes I wear, the kind of house I live in, +the quality of the furniture I use, all such like things should not +result from other persons' doing so and so, or because it is customary +among those brethren with whom I associate to live in such and such a +simple, inexpensive self-denying way; but whatever be done in these +things, in the way of giving up, or self-denial, or deadness to the +world, should result from the joy we have in God, from the knowledge of +our being the children of God, from the entering into the preciousness +of our future inheritance, etc. Far better that for the time being we +stand still, and do not take the steps which we see others take, than +that it is merely the force of example that leads us to do a thing, and +afterwards it be regretted. Not that I mean in the least by this to +imply we should continue to live in luxury, self-indulgence, and the +like, whilst others are in great need; but we should begin the thing in +a right way, i.e., aim after the right state of heart; begin <i>inwardly</i> +instead of <i>outwardly.</i> If otherwise, it will not last. We shall look +back, or even get into a worse state than we were before. But oh, how +different if joy in God leads us to any little act of self-denial! How +gladly do we do it then! How great an honour then do we esteem it to be! +How much does the heart then long to be able to do more for Him who has +done so much for us! We are far then from looking down in proud +self-complacency upon those who do not go as far as we do, but rather +pray to the Lord that He would be pleased to help our dear brethren and +sisters forward who may seem to us weak in any particular point; and we +also are conscious to ourselves that if we have a little more light or +strength with reference to one point, other brethren may have more light +or grace in other respects.</p> + +<center>HELPING ONE ANOTHER.</center> + +<p>As to the importance of the children of God's opening their hearts to +each other, especially when they are getting into a cold state, or are +under the power of a certain sin, or are in especial difficulty; I know +from my own experience how often the snare of the devil has been broken +when under the power of sin; how often the heart has been comforted when +nigh to be overwhelmed; how often advice, under great perplexity, has +been obtained,—by opening my heart to a brother in whom I had +confidence. We are children of the same family, and ought therefore to +be helpers one of another.</p> + +<center>INQUIRY MEETINGS.</center> + +<p>1. Many persons, on account of timidity, would prefer coming at an +appointed time to the vestry to converse with us, to calling on us in +our own house. 2. The very fact of appointing a time for seeing people, +to converse with them in private concerning the things of eternity, has +brought some who, humanly speaking, never would have called on us under +other circumstances; yea, it has brought even those who, though they +thought they were concerned about the things of God, yet were completely +ignorant; and thus we have had an opportunity of speaking to them. 3. +These meetings have also been a great encouragement to ourselves in the +work; for often, when we thought that such and such expositions of the +Word had done no good at all, it was, through these meetings, found to +be the reverse; and likewise, when our hands were hanging down, we have +been afresh encouraged to go forward in the work of the Lord, and to +continue sowing the seed in hope, by seeing at these meetings fresh +cases, in which the Lord had condescended to use us as instruments, +particularly as in this way instances have sometimes occurred in which +individuals have spoken to us about the benefit which they derived from +our ministry, not only a few months before, but even as long as two, +three, and four years before.</p> + +<p>For the above reasons I would particularly recommend to other servants +of Christ, especially to those who live in large towns, if they have not +already introduced a similar plan, to consider whether it may not be +well for them also to set apart such times for seeing inquirers. Those +meetings, however, require much prayer, to be enabled to speak aright, +to all those who come, according to their different need; and one is led +continually to feel that one is not sufficient of one's self for these +things, but that our sufficiency can be alone of God. These meetings +also have been by far the most wearing-out part of all our work, though +at the same time the most refreshing.</p> + +<center>PASTORAL VISITATION.</center> + +<p>An <i>unvisited</i> church will sooner or later become an <i>unhealthy church.</i></p> + +<center>PEW-RENTS.</center> + +<p>1. Pew-rents are, according to James ii. 1-6, against the mind of the +Lord, as, in general, the poor brother cannot have so good a seat as the +rich. 2. A brother may gladly do something towards my support if left to +his own time; but when the quarter is up, he has perhaps other expenses, +and I do not know whether he pays his money grudgingly, and of +necessity, or cheerfully; but God loveth a cheerful giver. <i>I knew it to +be a fact</i> that sometimes it had not been convenient to individuals to +pay the money, when it had been asked for by the brethren who collected +it. 3. Though the Lord had been pleased to give me grace to be faithful, +so that I had been enabled not to keep back the truth, when He had shown +it to me; still I felt that the pew-rents were a snare to the servant of +Christ. It was a temptation to me, at least for a few minutes, at the +time when the Lord had stirred me up to pray and search the Word +respecting the ordinance of baptism, because £30 of my salary was +at stake if I should be baptized.</p> + +<center>STATE CHURCHES.</center> + +<p>All establishments, even because they are establishment, i.e., the world +and the church mixed up together, not only contain in them the +principles which necessarily must lead to departure from the word of +God; but also, as long as they remain establishments, entirely preclude +the acting throughout according to the Holy Scriptures.</p> + +<center>FAITH.</center> + +<center>ANXIETY.</center> + +<p> Where Faith begins, anxiety ends;<br> + Where anxiety begins, Faith ends.</p> + +<p>Ponder these words of the Lord Jesus, "Only believe." As long as we are +able to trust in God, holding fast in heart, that he is able and willing +to help those who rest on the Lord Jesus for salvation, in all matters +which are for His glory and their good, the heart remains calm and +peaceful. It is only when we <i>practically</i> let go faith in His power or +His love, that we lose our peace and become troubled. This very day I am +in great trial in connection with the work in which I am engaged; yet my +soul was calmed and quieted by the remembrance of God's power and love; +and I said to myself this morning: "As David encouraged himself in +Jehovah his God, when he returned to Ziklag, so will I encourage myself +in God;" and the result was peace of soul.... It is the very time for +<i>faith</i> to work, when <i>sight</i> ceases. The greater the difficulties, the +easier for <i>faith.</i> As long as there remain certain natural prospects, +faith does not get on even as easily (if I may say so), as when all +natural prospects fail.</p> + +<center>DEPENDENCE ON GOD.</center> + +<p>Observe two things! We acted <i>for God</i> in delaying the public meetings +and the publishing of the Report; but <i>God's way leads always into +trial, so far as sight and sense are concerned. Nature</i> always will be +tried <i>in God's ways.</i> The Lord was saying by this poverty, "I will now +see whether you truly lean upon me, and whether you truly look to me." +Of all the seasons that I had ever passed through since I had been +living in this way, <i>up to that time,</i> I never knew any period in which +my faith was tried so sharply, as during the four months from Dec. 12, +1841, to April 12, 1842. But observe further: We might even now have +altered our minds with respect to the public meetings and publishing the +Report; for <i>no one knew our determination, at this time,</i> concerning +the point. Nay, on the contrary, we knew with what delight very many +children of God were looking forward to receive further accounts. But +the Lord kept us steadfast to the conclusion, at which we had arrived +under His guidance.</p> + +<center>GIFT AND GRACE OF FAITH.</center> + +<p>It pleased the Lord, I think, to give me in some cases something like +the gift (not grace) of faith, so that unconditionally I could ask and +look for an answer. The difference between the <i>gift</i> and the <i>grace</i> of +faith seems to me this. According to the <i>gift of faith</i> I am able to do +a thing, or believe that a thing will come to pass, the not doing of +which, or the not believing of which would not be sin; according to the +<i>grace of faith</i> I am able to do a thing, or believe that a thing will +come to pass, respecting which I have the word of God as the ground to +rest upon, and, therefore, the not doing it, or the not believing it +<i>would be sin.</i> For instance, <i>the gift of faith</i> would be needed, to +believe that a sick person should be restored again, though <i>there is no +human probability: for there is no promise to that effect; the grace of +faith</i> is needed to believe that the Lord will give me the necessaries +of life, if I first seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness: for +<i>there is a promise to that effect.</i> (Matt. vi. 33.)</p> + +<center>SELF-WILL.</center> + +<p>The natural mind is ever prone <i>to reason, </i>when we ought <i>to believe;</i> +to be <i>at work,</i> when we ought to be <i>quiet;</i> to go our own way, when we +ought steadily to walk on in God's ways, however trying to nature.</p> + +<center>TRIALS OF FAITH.</center> + +<p>The Lord gives faith, for the very purpose of trying it for the glory of +His own name, and for the good of him who has it; and, by the very trial +of our faith, we not only obtain blessing to our own souls, by becoming +the better acquainted with God, if we hold fast our confidence in Him, +but our faith is also, by the exercise, strengthened: and so it comes, +that, if we walk with God in any measure of uprightness of heart, the +trials of faith will be greater and greater.</p> + +<p>It is for the church's benefit that we are put in these straits; and if, +therefore, in the hour of need, we were to take goods on credit, the +first and primary object of the work would be completely frustrated, and +no heart would be further strengthened to trust in God, nor would there +be any longer that manifestation of the special and particular +providence of God, which has hitherto been so abundantly shown through +this work, even in the eyes of unbelievers, whereby they have been led +to see <i>that there is, after all, reality in the things of God,</i> and +many, through these printed accounts, have been truly converted. For +these reasons, then, we consider it our precious privilege, as +heretofore, to continue to wait upon the Lord only, instead of taking +goods on credit, or borrowing money from some kind friends, when we are +in need. Nay, we purpose, as God shall give us grace, to look to Him +only, though morning after morning we should have nothing in hand for +the work—yea, though from meal to meal we should have to look to Him; +being fully assured that He who is now (1845) in the tenth year feeding +these many orphans, and who has never suffered them to want, and that He +who is now (1845) in the twelfth year carrying on the other parts of the +work, without any branch of it having had to be stopped for want of +means, will do so for the future also. And here I do desire in the deep +consciousness of my natural helplessness and dependence upon the Lord to +confess that through the grace of God my soul has been in peace, though +day after day we have had to wait for our daily provisions upon the +Lord; yea, though even from meal to meal we have been required to do +this.</p> + +<center>GIVING.</center> + +<center>ASKING GIFTS, ETC.</center> + +<p>It is not enough to obtain means for the work of God, but that these +means should be obtained in God's way. To ask unbelievers for means is +<i>not</i> God's way; to <i>press</i> even believers to give, is <i>not</i> God's way; +but the <i>duty</i> and the <i>privilege</i> of being allowed to contribute to the +work of God should be pointed out, and this should be followed up with +earnest prayer, believing prayer, and will result in the desired end.</p> + +<center>CLAIMS OF GOD.</center> + +<p>It is true, the Gospel demands our <i>All;</i> but I fear that, in the +general claim on <i>All,</i> we have shortened the claim on <i>everything.</i> We +are not under law. True; but that is not to make our obedience less +complete, or our giving less bountiful: rather, is it not, that after +all claims of law are settled, the new nature finds its joy in doing +more than the law requires? Let us abound in the work of the Lord more +and more.</p> + +<center>GIVING IN ADVERSITY.</center> + +<p>At the end of the last century a very godly and liberal merchant in +London was one day called on by a gentleman, to ask him for some money +for a charitable object. The gentleman expected very little, having just +heard that the merchant had sustained heavy loss from the wreck of some +of his ships. Contrary, however, to expectation, he received about ten +times as much as he had expected for his object. He was unable to +refrain from expressing his surprise to the merchant, told him what he +had heard, how he feared he should scarcely have received anything, and +asked whether after all there was not a mistake about the shipwreck of +the vessels. The merchant replied, It is quite true, I have sustained +heavy loss, by these vessels being wrecked, but that is the very reason, +why I give you so much; for I must make better use than ever of my +stewardship, lest it should be entirely taken from me.</p> + +<p>How have we to act if prosperity in our business, our trade, our +profession, etc., should suddenly cease, notwithstanding our having +given a considerable proportion of our means for the Lord's work? My +reply is this: "In the day of adversity <i>consider."</i> It is the will of +God that we should ponder our ways; that we should see whether there is +any particular reason, why God has allowed this to befall us. In doing +so, we may find, that we have too much looked on our prosperity as a +matter of course, and have not sufficiently owned and recognized +<i>practically</i> the hand of God in our success. Or it may be, while the +Lord has been pleased to prosper us, we have spent too much on +ourselves, and may have thus, though unintentionally, <i>abused</i> the +blessing of God. I do not mean by this remark to bring any children of +God into bondage, so that, with a scrupulous conscience, they should +look at every penny, which they spend on themselves; this is not the +will of God concerning us; and yet, on the other hand, there is verily +such a thing as propriety or impropriety in our dress, our furniture, +our table, our house, our establishment, and in the yearly amount we +spend on ourselves and family.</p> + +<center>GIVING AND HOARDING.</center> + +<p>I have every reason to believe, that, had I begun to lay up, the Lord +would have stopped the supplies, and thus, the ability of doing so was +only <i>apparent.</i> Let no one profess to trust in God, and yet lay up for +future wants, otherwise the Lord will first send him to the hoard he has +amassed, before He can answer the prayer for more.</p> + +<p>"There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth; and there is that +withholdeth <i>more than is meet,</i> but it tendeth to poverty." (Prov. xi. +24.) Notice here the word <i>"more than is meet;"</i> it is not said, +withholdeth all; but "more than is meet" viz., while he gives, it is so +little, in comparison with what it might be, and ought to be, that it +tendeth to poverty.</p> + +<center>MOTIVES TO GIVING.</center> + +<p>Believers should seek more and more to enter into the grace and love of +God, in giving His only-begotten Son, and into the grace and love of the +Lord Jesus, in giving Himself in our room, in order that, constrained by +love and gratitude, they may be increasingly led to surrender their +bodily and mental strength, their time, gifts, talents, property, +position in life, rank, and all they have and are to the Lord. By this I +do not mean that they should give up their business, trade, or +profession, and become preachers; nor do I mean that they should take +all their money and give it to the first beggar who asks for it; but +that they should hold all they have and are, for the Lord, not as +owners, but as stewards, and be willing, <i>at His bidding,</i> to use for +Him part or all they have. However short the believer may fall, nothing +less than this should be his aim.</p> + +<center>STEWARDSHIP.</center> + +<p>It is the Lord's order, that in whatever way He is pleased to make us +His stewards, whether as to temporal or spiritual things, if we are +indeed acting as <i>stewards</i> and not as <i>owners,</i> He will make us +stewards over <i>more.</i></p> + +<p>Even in this life, and as to temporal things, the Lord is pleased to +repay those who act for Him as stewards, and who contribute to His work +or to the poor, as He may be pleased to prosper them? But how much +greater is the <i>spiritual</i> blessing we receive, both in this life and in +the world to come, if constrained by the love of Christ, we act as God's +stewards, respecting that with which He is pleased to intrust us!</p> + +<center>SYSTEMATIC GIVING.</center> + +<p>Only <i>fix even the smallest amount</i> you purpose to give of your income, +and give this regularly; and as God is pleased to increase your light +and grace, and is pleased to prosper you more, so give more. If you +neglect an <i>habitual giving, a regular giving, a giving from principle +and upon scriptural ground,</i> and leave it only to feeling and impulse, +or particular arousing circumstances, you will certainly be a loser.</p> + +<p>A merchant in the United States said in answer to inquiries relative to +his mode of giving, "In consecrating my life anew to God, aware of the +ensnaring influence of riches and the necessity of deciding on a plan of +charity, before wealth should bias my judgment, I adopted the following +system:</p> + +<p>"I decided to balance my accounts as nearly as I could every month, +reserving such portion of profits as might appear adequate to cover +probable losses, and to lay aside, by entry on a benevolent account, one +tenth of the remaining profits, great or small, as a fund for benevolent +expenditure, supporting myself and family on the remaining nine tenths. +I further determined that if at any time my net profits, that is profits +from which clerk-hire and store expenses had been deducted, should +exceed five hundred dollars in a month, I would give 12 per cent.; if +over seven hundred dollars, 15 per cent.; if over nine hundred dollars, +17 per cent.; if over thirteen hundred dollars, 22 per cent.—thus +increasing the proportion of the whole as God should prosper me, until +at fifteen hundred dollars I should give 25 per cent, or 375 dollars a +month. As capital was of the utmost importance to my success in +business, I decided not to increase the foregoing scale until I had +acquired a certain capital, after which I would give one quarter of all +net profits, great or small, and, on the acquisition of another certain +amount of capital, I decided to give half, and, on acquiring what I +determined would be a full sufficiency of capital, then to give the +whole of my net profits.</p> + +<p>"It is now several years since I adopted this plan, and under it I have +acquired a handsome capital, and have been prospered beyond my most +sanguine expectations. Although constantly giving, I have never yet +touched the bottom of my fund, and have repeatedly been surprised to +find what large drafts it would bear. True, during some months, I have +encountered a salutary trial of faith, when this rule has led me to lay +by the tenth while the remainder proved inadequate to my support; but +the tide has soon turned, and with gratitude I have recognized a +heavenly hand more than making good all past deficiencies."</p> + +<p>The following deeply interesting particulars are recorded in the memoir +of Mr. Cobb, a Boston merchant. At the age of twenty-three, Mr. Cobb +drew up and subscribed the following remarkable document:</p> + +<p>"By the grace of God I will never be worth more than 50,000 dollars,</p> + +<p>"By the grace of God I will give one fourth of the net profits of my +business to charitable and religious uses.</p> + +<p>"If I am ever worth 20,000 dollars I will give one half of my net +profits; and if ever I am worth 30,000 dollars, I will give three +fourths; and the whole after 50,000 dollars. So help me God, or give to +a more faithful steward, and set me aside."</p> + +<p>"To this covenant," says his memoir "he adhered with conscientious +fidelity. He distributed the profits of his business with an increasing +ratio, from year to year, till he reached the point which he had fixed +as a limit to his property, and then gave to the cause of God all the +money which he earned. At one time, finding that his property had +increased beyond 50,000 dollars, he at once devoted the surplus 7,500 +dollars.</p> + +<p>"On his death-bed he said, 'by the grace of God—<i>nothing else</i>—by the +grace of God I have been enabled, under the influence of these +resolutions to give away more than 40,000 dollars.' How good the Lord +has been to me!"</p> + +<p>Mr. Cobb was also an active, humble, and devoted Christian, seeking the +prosperity of feeble churches; labouring to promote the benevolent +institutions of the day; punctual in his attendance at prayer meetings, +and anxious to aid the inquiring sinner; watchful for the eternal +interests of those under his charge; mild and amiable in his deportment; +and, in the general tenor of his life and character, an example of +consistent piety.</p> + +<p>His last sickness and death were peaceful, yea triumphant. "It is a +glorious thing," said he, "to die. I have been active and busy in the +world—I have enjoyed as much as any one—God has prospered me—I have +everything to bind me here—I am happy in my family—I have property +enough—but how small and mean does this world appear on a sick-bed! +Nothing can equal my enjoyment in the near view of heaven. <i>My hope in +Christ</i> is worth infinitely more than all other things. The blood of +Christ—the blood of Christ—none but Christ! Oh! how thankful I feel +that God has provided a way that I, sinful as I am, may look forward +with joy to another world, through His dear Son."</p> + +<center>GOD.</center> + +<center>APPROVAL OF GOD.</center> + +<p><i>In the whole work we desire to stand with God, and not to depend upon +the favourable or unfavourable judgment of the multitude.</i></p> + +<center>CHASTISEMENTS OF GOD.</center> + +<p><i>Our Heavenly Father never takes any earthly thing from His children +except He means to give them something better instead.</i></p> + +<p>The Lord, in His very love and faithfulness, will not, and cannot, let +us go on in backsliding, but He will visit us with stripes, to bring us +back to Himself!</p> + +<p>The Lord never lays more on us, in the way of chastisement, than our +state of heart makes needful; so that whilst He smites with the one +hand, He supports with the other.</p> + +<p>If, as believers in the Lord Jesus, we see that our Heavenly Father, on +account of wrong steps, or a wrong state of heart, is dealing with us in +the way of discipline or correction, we have to be grateful for it; for +He is acting thus towards us according to that selfsame love, which led +Him not to spare His only begotten Son, but to deliver Him up for us; +and our gratitude to Him is to be expressed in words, and even by deeds. +We have to guard against <i>practically</i> despising the chastening of the +Lord, though we may not do so in word, and against <i>fainting</i> under +chastisement: since all is intended for blessing to us.</p> + +<center>FAITHFULNESS OF GOD.</center> + +<p>Perhaps you have said in your heart: "How would it be, suppose the funds +of the orphans were reduced to nothing, and those who are engaged in the +work had nothing of their own to give, and a meal-time were to come, and +you had no food for the children." Thus indeed it may be, for our hearts +are desperately wicked. If ever we should be so left to ourselves, as +that either we depend no more upon the living God, or that "we regard +iniquity in our hearts," then such a state of things, we have reason to +believe, would occur. But so long as we shall be enabled to trust in the +living God, and so long as, though falling short in every way of what we +might be, and ought to be, we are at least kept from living in sin, such +a state of things cannot occur.</p> + +<p>The Lord, to show His continued care over us, raises up new helpers. +They that trust in the Lord shall never be confounded! Some who helped +for a while may fall asleep in Jesus; others may grow cold in the +service of the Lord; others may be as desirous as ever to help, but have +no longer the means; others may have both a willing heart to help, and +have also the means, but may see it the Lord's will to lay them out in +another way;—and thus, from one cause or another, were we to lean upon +man, we should surely be confounded; but, in leaning upon the living God +alone, we are BEYOND <i>disappointment, and</i> BEYOND <i>being forsaken +because of death,</i> or <i>want of means,</i> or <i>want of +love,</i> or <i>because of the claims of other work.</i> How precious +to have learned in any measure to stand with God alone in the world, and +yet to be happy, and to know that surely no good thing shall be withheld +from us whilst we walk uprightly!</p> + +<center>PARTNERSHIP WITH GOD.</center> + +<p>A brother, who is in about the same state in which he was eight years +ago, has very little enjoyment, and makes no progress in the things of +God. The reason is that, against his conscience, he remains in a +calling, which is opposed to the profession of a believer. We are +exhorted in Scripture to abide in our calling; but only if we can abide +in it <i>"with God."</i> (1 Cor. vii. 24.)</p> + +<center>POWER OF GOD.</center> + +<p>There is a worldly proverb, dear Christian reader, with which we are all +familiar, it is this, "Where there is a will there is a way." If this is +the proverb of those who know not God, how much more should believers in +the Lord Jesus, who have power with God, say: "Where there is a will +there is a way."</p> + +<center>TRUST IN GOD.</center> + +<p>Only let it be trust <i>in God,</i> not in <i>man,</i> not in +<i>circumstances,</i> not <i>in any of your own exertions,</i> but +real trust in God, and you will be helped in your various +necessities.... Not in circumstances, not in natural prospects, not in +former donors, <i>but solely in God.</i> This is just that which +brings the blessing. If we <i>say</i> we trust in Him, but in reality +do not, then God, taking us at our word, lets us see that we do not +really confide in Him; and hence failure arises. On the other hand, if +our trust in the Lord is real, help will surely come, "According +unto thy faith be it unto thee."</p> + +<p>It is a source of deep sorrow to me, that, notwithstanding my having so +many times before referred to this point, thereby to encourage believers +in the Lord Jesus, to roll all their cares upon God, and to trust in Him +at all times, it is yet, by so many, put down to mere natural causes, +that I am helped; as if the Living God were no more the Living God, and +as if in former ages answers to prayers might have been expected, but +that in the nineteenth century they must not be looked for.</p> + +<center>WILL OF GOD.</center> + +<p>How important it is to ascertain the will of God, before we undertake +anything, because we are then not only blessed in our own souls, but +also the work of our hands will prosper.</p> + +<p>Just in as many points as we are acting according to the mind of God, in +so many are we blessed and made a blessing. Our manner of living is +according to the mind of the Lord, for He delights in seeing His +children thus come to Him (Matt. vi); and therefore, though I am weak +and erring in many points, yet He blesses me in this particular.</p> + +<p>First of all, to see well to it, that the work in which he desires to be +engaged is <i>God's work;</i> secondly, that <i>he</i> is the person to be engaged +in this work; thirdly, that <i>God's time</i> is come, when he should do this +work; and then to be assured, that, if he seeks God's help in His own +appointed way, He will not fail him. We have ever found it thus, and +expect to find it thus, on the ground of the promises of God, to the end +of our course.</p> + +<p>1. Be slow to take new steps in the Lord's service, or in your business, +or in your families. Weigh everything well; weigh all in the light of +the Holy Scriptures, and in the fear of God. 2. Seek to have no will of +your own, in order to ascertain the mind of God, regarding any steps you +propose to take, so that you can honestly say, you are willing to do the +will of God, if He will only please to instruct you. 3. But when you +have found out what the will of God is, seek for His help, and seek it +earnestly, perseveringly, patiently, believingly, and expectingly: and +you will surely, in His own time and way, obtain it.</p> + +<p>We have not to rush forward in self-will and say, I will do the work, +and I will trust the Lord for means, this cannot be real trust, it is +the counterfeit of faith, it is presumption; and though God, in great +pity and mercy, may even help us finally out of debt; yet does this, on +no account, prove that we were right in going forward before His time +was come. We ought, rather, under such circumstances to say to +ourselves: Am I indeed doing the <i>work of God?</i> And if so, <i>I</i> may not +be the person to do it; or if I am the person, <i>His time</i> may not yet be +come for me to go forward; it may be His good pleasure to exercise my +faith and patience. I ought, therefore, quietly to wait His time; for +when it is come, God will help. Acting on this principle brings +blessing.</p> + +<p>To ascertain the Lord's will we ought to use scriptural means. Prayer, +the word of God, and His Spirit should be united together. We should go +to the Lord repeatedly in prayer, and ask Him to teach us by His Spirit +through His word. I say by His Spirit through His word. For if we should +think that His Spirit led us to do so and so, because certain facts are +so and so, and yet His word is opposed to the step which we are going to +take, we should be deceiving ourselves.... No situation, no business +will be given to me <i>by God,</i> in which I have not time enough to care +about my soul. Therefore, however outward circumstances may appear, it +can only be considered as permitted of God, to prove the genuineness of +my love, faith, and obedience, but by no means as the leading of His +providence to induce me to act contrary to His revealed will.</p> + +<center>MARRIAGE.</center> + +<p>To enter upon the marriage union is one of the most deeply important +events of life. It cannot be too prayerfully treated. Our happiness, our +usefulness, our living for God or for ourselves after wards, are often +most intimately connected with our choice. Therefore, in the most +prayerful manner, this choice should be made. Neither beauty, nor age, +nor money, nor mental powers, should be that which prompts the decision; +but 1st, Much waiting upon God for guidance should be used; 2nd, A +hearty purpose to be willing to be guided by Him should be aimed after; +3rd, True godliness without a shadow of doubt, should be the first and +absolutely needful qualification, to a Christian, with regard to a +companion for life. In addition to this, however, it ought to be, at the +same time, calmly and patiently weighed, whether, in other respects, +there is a suitableness. For instance, for an educated man to choose an +entirely uneducated woman, is unwise; for however much on his part love +might be willing to cover the defect, it will work very unhappily with +regard to the children.</p> + +<center>PRAYER.</center> + +<center>ANSWERS TO PRAYER.</center> + +<p>I myself have for twenty-nine years been waiting for an answer to prayer +concerning a certain spiritual blessing. Day by day have I been enabled +to continue in prayer for this blessing. At home and abroad, in this +country and in foreign lands, in health and in sickness, however much +occupied, I have been enabled, day by day, by God's help, to bring this +matter before Him; and still I have not the full answer yet. +Nevertheless, I look for it. I expect it confidently. The very fact that +day after day, and year after year, for twenty-nine years, the Lord has +enabled me to continue, patiently, believingly, to wait on Him for the +blessing, still further encourages me to wait on; and so fully am I +assured that God hears me about this matter, that I have often been +enabled to praise Him beforehand for the full answer, which I shall +ultimately receive to my prayers on this subject. Thus, you see, dear +reader, that while I have hundreds, yea, thousands of answers, year by +year, I have also, like yourself and other believers, the trial of faith +concerning certain matters.</p> + +<center>ANXIETY AVOIDED BY PRAYER.</center> + +<p>Though all believers in the Lord Jesus are not called upon to establish +orphan houses, schools for poor children, etc., and trust in God for +means; yet all believers, according to the will of God concerning them +in Christ Jesus, may cast, and ought to cast, all their care upon Him +who careth for them, and need not be anxiously concerned about anything, +as is plainly to be seen from 1 Peter v. 7; Philippians iv. 6; Matthew +vi. 25-34.</p> + +<p>My Lord is not limited; He can again supply; He knows that this present +case has been sent to me; and thus, this way of living, so far from +<i>leading to anxiety,</i> as it regards possible future want, is rather the +means of <i>keeping from it</i>.... This way of living has often been the +means of reviving the work of grace in my heart, when I have been +getting cold; and it also has been the means of bringing me back again +to the Lord, after I have been backsliding. For it will not do,—it is +not possible, to live in sin, and at the same time, by communion with +God, to draw down from heaven everything one needs for the life that now +is.... Answer to prayer, obtained in this way, has been the means of +quickening my soul, and filling me with much joy.</p> + +<p>I met at a brother's house with several believers, when a sister said +that she had often thought about the care and burden I must have on my +mind, as it regards obtaining the necessary supplies for so many +persons. As this may not be a solitary instance, I would state that, by +the grace of God, this is no cause of anxiety to me. The children I have +years ago cast upon the Lord. The whole work is His, and it becomes me +to be <i>without carefulness.</i> In whatever points I am lacking, in this +point I am able, by the grace of God, to roll the burden upon my +heavenly Father. Though now (July 1845) for about seven years our funds +have been so exhausted, that it has been comparatively a <i>rare</i> case +that there have been means in hand to meet the necessities of the +orphans for <i>three days</i> together; yet have I been only once tried in +spirit, and that was on Sept. 18, 1838, when for the first time the Lord +seemed not to regard our prayer. But when He did send help at that time, +and I saw that it was only for the trial of our faith, and not because +He had forsaken the work that we were brought so low, my soul was so +strengthened and encouraged, that I have not only not been allowed to +distrust the Lord since that time, but I have not even been cast down +when in the deepest poverty. Nevertheless, in this respect also am I +now, as much as ever, dependent on the Lord; and I earnestly beseech for +myself and my fellow-labourers the prayers of all those, to whom the +glory of God is dear. How great would be the dishonour to the name of +God, if we, who have so publicly made our boast in Him, should so fall +as to act in these very points as the world does! Help us, then, +brethren, with your prayers, that we may trust in God to the end. We can +expect nothing but that our faith will yet be tried, and it may be more +than ever; and we shall fall, if the Lord does not uphold us.</p> + +<center>BORROWING AND PRAYING.</center> + +<p>As regards borrowing money, I have considered that there is no ground to +go away from the door of the Lord to that of a believer, so long as He +is willing to supply our need.</p> + +<center>COMMUNION WITH GOD IN PRAYER.</center> + +<p>How truly precious it is that every one who rests alone upon the Lord +Jesus for salvation, has in the living God a father, to whom he may +fully unbosom himself concerning the most minute affairs of his life, +and concerning everything that lies upon his heart! Dear reader, do you +know the living God? Is He, in Jesus, your Father? Be assured that +Christianity is something more than forms and creeds and ceremonies: +there is life, and power, and reality, in our holy faith. If you never +yet have known this, then come and taste for yourself. I beseech you +affectionately to meditate and pray over the following verses: John iii. +16; Rom. x. 9, 10; Acts x. 43; 1 John v. 1.</p> + +<center>CONDITIONS OF PRAYER.</center> + +<p>Go for yourself, with all your temporal and spiritual wants, to the +Lord. Bring also the necessities of your friends and relatives to the +Lord. Only make the trial, and you will perceive how able and willing He +is to help you. Should you, however, not at once obtain answers to your +prayers, be not discouraged; but continue patiently, believingly, +perseveringly to wait upon God: and as assuredly as that which you ask +would be for your real good, and therefore for the honour of the Lord; +and as assuredly as you ask it solely on the ground of the worthiness of +our Lord Jesus, so assuredly you will at last obtain the blessing. I +myself have had to wait upon God concerning certain matters for years, +before I obtained answers to my prayers; but at last they came. At this +very time, I have still to renew my requests daily before God, +respecting a certain blessing for which I have besought Him for eleven +years and a half, and which I have as yet obtained only in part, but +concerning which I have no doubt that the full blessing will be granted +in the end.... The great point is that we ask only for that which it +would be for the glory of God to give to us; for that, and that alone, +can be for our real good. But it is not enough that the thing for which +we ask God be for His honour and glory, but we must secondly ask it in +the name of the Lord Jesus, viz., expect it only on the ground of His +merits and worthiness. Thirdly, we should believe that God is able and +willing to give us what we ask Him for. Fourthly, we should continue in +prayer till the blessing is granted; without fixing to God a time when, +or the circumstances under which, He should give the answer. Patience +should be in exercise, in connection with our prayer. Fifthly, we +should, at the same time, look out for and expect an answer till it +comes. If we pray in this way, we shall not only have answers, thousands +of answers to our prayers; but our own souls will be greatly refreshed +and invigorated in connection with these answers.</p> + +<p>If the obtaining of your requests were not for your real good, or were +not tending to the honour of God, you might pray for a long time, +without obtaining what you desire. The glory of God should be always +before the children of God, in what they desire at His hands; and their +own spiritual profit, being so intimately connected with the honour of +God, should never be lost sight of, in their petitions. But now, suppose +we are believers in the Lord Jesus, and make our requests unto God, +depending alone on the Lord Jesus as the ground of having them granted; +suppose, also, that, so far as we are able honestly and uprightly to +judge, the obtaining of our requests would be for our real spiritual +good and for the honour of God; we yet need, lastly, to <i>continue</i> in +prayer, until the blessing is granted unto us. It is not enough to begin +to pray, nor to pray aright; nor is it enough to continue <i>for a time</i> +to pray; but we must patiently, believingly continue in prayer, until we +obtain an answer; and further, we have not only to <i>continue</i> in prayer +unto the end, but we have also <i>to believe</i> that God does hear us, and +will answer our prayers. Most frequently we fail in not continuing in +prayer until the blessing is obtained and <i>in not expecting</i> the +blessing.</p> + +<center>FAITH, PRAYER, AND THE WORD OF GOD.</center> + +<p><i>Prayer and faith, the universal remedies against every want and every +difficulty;</i> and the nourishment of prayer and faith, God's holy word, +helped me over all the difficulties.—I never remember, in all my +Christian course, a period now (in March 1895) of sixty-nine years and +four months, that I ever SINCERELY and PATIENTLY sought to know the will +of God by <i>the teaching of the Holy Ghost,</i> through the instrumentality +of the <i>word of God,</i> but I have been ALWAYS directed rightly. But if +<i>honesty of heart</i> and <i>uprightness before God</i> were lacking, or if I +did not <i>patiently</i> wait upon God for instruction, or if I preferred +<i>the counsel of my fellow men</i> to the declarations of <i>the word of the +living God,</i> I made great mistakes.</p> + +<center>SECRET PRAYER.</center> + +<p>Let none expect to have the mastery over his inward corruption in any +degree, without going in his weakness again and again to the Lord for +strength. Nor will prayer with others, or conversing with the brethren, +make up for secret prayer.</p> + +<center>SNARES OF SATAN AS TO PRAYER.</center> + +<p>It is a common temptation of Satan to make us give up the reading of the +Word and prayer when our enjoyment is gone; as if it were of no use to +read the Scriptures when we do not enjoy them, and as if it were of no +use to pray when we have no spirit of prayer; whilst the truth is, in +order to enjoy the Word, we ought to continue to read it, and the way to +obtain a spirit of prayer is to continue praying; for the less we read +the word of God, the less we desire to read it, and the less we pray, +the less we desire to pray.</p> + +<center>WORK AND PRAYER.</center> + +<p>Often the work of the Lord itself may be a temptation to keep us from +that communion with Him which is so essential to the benefit of our own +souls.... Let none think that public prayer will make up for closet +communion.</p> + +<p>Here is the great secret of success. Work with all your might; but trust +not in the least in your work. Pray with all your might for the blessing +of God; but work, at the same time, with all diligence, with all +patience, with all perseverance. Pray then, and work. Work and pray. And +still again pray, and then work. And so on all the days of your life. +The result will surely be, abundant blessing. Whether you <i>see</i> much +fruit or little fruit, such kind of service will be blessed.... Speak +also for the Lord, as if everything depended on your exertions; yet +trust not the least in your exertions, but in the Lord, who alone can +cause your efforts to be made effectual, to the benefit of your fellow +men or fellow believers. Remember, also, that God delights to bestow +blessing, but, generally, as the result of earnest, believing prayer.</p> + +<center>PREACHING.</center> + +<p>It came immediately to my mind that such sort of preaching might do for +illiterate country people, but that it would never do before a +well-educated assembly in town. I thought, the truth ought to be +preached at all hazards, but it ought to be given in a different form, +suited to the hearers. Thus I remained unsettled in my mind as it +regards the mode of preaching; and it is not surprising that I did not +then see the truth concerning this matter, for I did not understand the +work of the Spirit, and therefore saw not the powerlessness of human +eloquence. Further, I did not keep in mind that if the most illiterate +persons in the congregation can comprehend the discourse, the most +educated will understand it too; but that the reverse does not hold +true.</p> + +<center>RESTITUTION.</center> + +<p>Restitution is the revealed will of God. If it is omitted, while we have +it in our power to make it, guilt remains on the conscience, and +spiritual progress is hindered. Even though it should be connected with +difficulty, self-denial, and great loss, it is to be attended to. Should +the persons who have been defrauded be dead, their heirs are to be found +out, if this can be done, and restitution is to be made to them. But +there may be cases when this cannot be done, and then <i>only</i> the money +should be given to the Lord for His work or His poor. One word more. +Sometimes the guilty person may not have grace enough, if the rightful +owners are living, to make known to them the sin; under such +circumstances, though not the best and most scriptural way, rather than +have guilt remaining on the conscience, it is better to make restitution +anonymously than not at all. About fifty years ago, I knew a man under +concern about his soul, who had defrauded his master of two sacks of +flour, and who was urged by me to confess this sin to his late employer, +and to make restitution. He would not do it, however, and the result was +that for twenty years he never obtained real peace of soul till the +thing was done.</p> + +<center>REWARDS.</center> + +<p>Christians do not practically remember that while we are saved by grace, +altogether by grace, so that in the matter of salvation works are +altogether excluded; yet that so far as the rewards of grace are +concerned, in the world to come, there is an intimate connection between +the life of the Christian here and the enjoyment and the glory in the +day of Christ's appearing.</p> + +<center>SIN AND SALVATION.</center> + +<p>Rumblings last our whole life. Jesus came not to save <i>painted</i> but +<i>real</i> sinners; but He <i>has</i> saved us, and will surely make it manifest.</p> + +<center>SPIRIT OF GOD.</center> + +<p>At Stuttgart, the dear brethren had been entirely uninstructed about the +truths relating to the power and presence of the Holy Ghost in the +church of God, and to our ministering one to another as fellow members +in the body of Christ; and I had known enough of painful consequences +when brethren began to meet professedly in dependence upon the Holy +Spirit without knowing what was meant by it, and thus meetings had +become opportunities <i>for unprofitable talking rather than for godly +edifying....</i> All these matters ought to be left to the ordering of the +Holy Ghost, and that if it had been truly good for them, the Lord would +have not only led me to speak <i>at that time,</i> but also on <i>the very +subject</i> on which they desired that I should speak to them.</p> + +<center>TRUTH—PROPORTION OF FAITH.</center> + +<p>Whatever parts of truth are made too much of, though they were even the +most precious truths connected with our being risen in Christ, or our +heavenly calling, or prophecy, sooner or later those who lay an <i>undue</i> +stress upon <i>these parts</i> of truth, and thus make them too prominent, +will be losers in their own souls, and, if they be teachers, they will +injure those whom they teach.</p> + +<center>UNIVERSALISM.</center> + +<p>In reference to universal salvation, I found that they had been led into +this error because (1) They did not see the difference between the +earthly calling of the Jews, and the heavenly calling of the believers +in the Lord Jesus in the present dispensation, and therefore they said +that, because the words "everlasting," etc., are applied to "the +possession of the land of Canaan" and the "priesthood of Aaron," +therefore, the punishment of the wicked cannot be without end, seeing +that the possession of Canaan and the priesthood of Aaron are not +without end. My endeavour, therefore, was to show the brethren the +difference between the <i>earthly</i> calling of Israel and our <i>heavenly</i> +one, and to prove from Scripture that, whenever the word "everlasting" +is used with reference to things purely not of the earth, but beyond +time, it denotes a period without end. (2) They had laid exceeding great +stress upon a few passages where, in Luther's translation of the German +Bible, the word hell occurs, and where it ought to have been translated +either "hades" in some passages, or "grave" in others, and where they +saw a <i>deliverance out of hell,</i> and a <i>being brought up out of hell,</i> +instead of <i>"out of the grave."</i></p> + +<center>WORD OF GOD.</center> + +<p><i>The word of God is our only standard, and the Holy Spirit our only +teacher.</i></p> + +<p>Besides the Holy Scriptures, which should be always THE book, THE CHIEF +book to us, not merely in theory, but also in practice, such like books +seem to me the most useful for the growth of the inner man. Yet one has +to be cautious in the choice, and to guard against reading too much.</p> + +<center>WORK FOR GOD.</center> + +<p>When He orders something to be done for the glory of His name, He is +both able and willing to find the needed individuals for the work and +the means required. Thus, when the Tabernacle in the Wilderness was to +be erected, He not only fitted men for the work, but He also touched the +hearts of the Israelites to bring the necessary materials and gold, +silver, and precious stones; and all these things were not only brought, +but in such abundance that a proclamation had to be made in the camp, +that no more articles should be brought, because there were more than +enough. And again, when God for the praise of His name would have the +Temple to be built by Solomon, He provided such an amount of gold, +silver, precious stones, brass, iron, etc., for it, that all the palaces +or temples which have been built since have been most insignificant in +comparison.</p> + +<br><br><br> +<center>PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA</center> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's George Muller of Bristol, by Arthur T. Pierson + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GEORGE MULLER OF BRISTOL *** + +***** This file should be named 26522-h.htm or 26522-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/6/5/2/26522/ + +Produced by Carl D. 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