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^U^.^'i^^ 
 
 POBTRAIT AND AUTOGKAPH OF Mk. MiJLLEE. 
 
GEOEGE MUTJ.EB OF BEISTOL 
 
JSb Httbttt Z. iPfetsoti 
 
 THE NEW ACTS OF THE APOSTLES; or, The 
 Marvels of Modern Missions. A series of lectures 
 upon the foundation of the " Duff Missionary 
 Lectureship " delivered in Scotland in 1893. With 
 a map showing comparative area of the prevailing 
 religions of the world. Crown 8vo, cloth . $1.50 
 
 GEORGE MiJLLER OF BRISTOL and His Wit- 
 ness to a Prayer -hearing God. With an Intro- 
 duction by James Wright, son-in-law and succes- 
 sor in the work of George Mliller. Crown 8vo, 
 cloth, illustrated ... .... 1.50 
 
 THE CRISIS OF MISSIONS ; or, The Voice Out 
 
 of the Cloud. i6mo, paper, 35 cents; cloth , . 1.25 
 
 SHALL WE CONTINUE IN SIN? A Vital Ques- 
 tion for Believers Answered in the Word of God. 
 The substance of addresses delivered in Great 
 Britain and Ireland in 1896. lamo, cloth, gilt top 75c. 
 
 THE DIVINE ART OF PREACHING. i6mo, 
 
 cloth ...*... . . 75c. 
 
 THE DIVINE ENTERPRISE OF MISSIONS. 
 
 i6mo, cloth ... . . .1.95 
 
 EVANGELISTIC WORK IN PRINCIPLE AND 
 
 PRACTICE. i6mo, cloth . ... 1.25 
 
 THE HEART OF THE GOSPEL. Twelve Ser- 
 mons. i6mo, cloth 1,25 
 
 THE ONE GOSPEL ; or, The Combination of the 
 Narratives of the Four Evancelists in one Com- 
 plete Record, lamo, flexible cloth, 75 cents; limp 
 morocco, full gilt ....... 2.00 
 
 STUMBLING-STONES REMOVED FROM THE 
 
 WORD OF GOD. i8mo, cloth . 50c. 
 
 LOVE IN WRATH ; or. The Perfection of God's 
 
 Judgments. An address. Leatherette . . 35c. 
 
 THE BAKER AND TAYLOR COMPANY, 
 
 PUBLISHERS, 
 5 AND 7 East Sixteenth Street, New York. 
 
GEOEGE MtiLLEE OE BRISTOL 
 
 AND 
 
 HIS WITNESS TO A PRAYER- 
 HEARING GOD 
 
 ARTHUE T. PIEESON 
 
 Author of " The Crisis of Missions," " The New Acts of the Apostles," 
 
 "Many Infallible Proofs," etc. ; editor of " The Missionary 
 
 Review of the World,''^ etc. 
 
 WITH A?r IJfTBODUGTIOJf 
 
 BY 
 
 JAMES WEIGHT 
 
 Son-in-laifj and successor in the work of Qeorge Milller 
 
 Vllusttated 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 THE BAKER AND TAYLOR COMPANY 
 
 5 AND 7 East Sixteenth Street 
 
Copyright, 1899, 
 
 BY 
 
 Thb Baker amd Tatlor Co. 
 
 pirc ir^ i-l^/^ 
 
 %1 
 
 ROBERT DRUMMOND, PRINTER, NEW TORK. 
 
Introduction 
 
 Veet soon after the decease of my beloved father-in-law 
 I began to receive letters pressing upon me the desirable- 
 ness of issuing as soon as possible a memoir of him and his 
 work. 
 
 The well-known autobiography, entitled " Narrative of 
 the Lord's Dealings with George Miiller," 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 supple- 
 ment it. But as, with prayer, I reflected upon the subject, 
 several considerations impressed me: 
 
 1st. The last volume of the Narrative ends with the year 
 1885, so that there is no record of the last thirteen ^a'rs 
 of Mt. Miiller's life excepting what is contained in- "Ihe 
 yearly reports of " The Scriptural Knowledge Institution." 
 
 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. 
 
 3d. A book of, say, four hundred and fifty pages, con- 
 taining 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. 
 
 4th. Several brief sketches of Mr. Miiller's career had 
 issued from the press within a few days after the funeral; 
 
 5 
 
6 Introduction 
 
 and one (written by Mr. F. Wame and published by W. F. 
 Mack & Co., Bristol), a very accurate and truly apprecia- 
 tive sketch, had had a large circulation; but I was con- 
 vinced by the letters that reached me that a more com- 
 prehensive memoir was called for, and ivould be produced, 
 so I was led especially to pray for guidance that such a 
 book might be entrusted to the author fitted by God to 
 undertake it. 
 
 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. More- 
 over, I was, personally, occupied during May and June in 
 preparing the Annual Eeport of " The Scriptural Knowl- 
 edge Institution," and could not give proper attention to 
 the other matter. 
 
 Just then I learned from Dr. Arthur T. Pierson, of 
 Brooklyn, IST. Y., that he had been led to undertake the 
 production of a memoir of Mr. Miiller for American 
 readers, and requesting my aid by furnishing him with 
 some materials needed for the work. 
 
 Having complied with this request I was favoured by 
 Dr. Pierson with a syllabus of the method and contents of 
 his intended work. 
 
 The more I thought upon the subject the more satisfied 
 I became that no one could be found more fitted to under- 
 take the work which had been called for on this side of 
 the Atlantic also than this my well-known and beloved 
 friend. 
 
 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. Miiller, with the principles on which the Orphanage 
 and other branches of " The Scriptural Knowledge Insti- 
 tution" were carried on, and with many details of their 
 
Introduction 7 
 
 working. I knew that Dr. Pierson most thoroughly sym- 
 pathized 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. Miiller's life and labours, but could 
 and would, by God's help, unfold, with the ardour and 
 force of conviction, the secret springs of that life and of 
 those labours. 
 
 I therefore intimated to my dear friend, that, proTided 
 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 author- 
 ized memoir for British as well as American readers. 
 
 To this Dr. Pierson readily assented; and now, after 
 carefully going through the whole, I confidently recom- 
 mend the book to esteemed readers on both sides of the 
 Atlantic, with the earnest prayer that the result, in rela- 
 tion to the subject of this memoir, may be identical with 
 that produced by the account of the Apostle Paul's " man- 
 ner of life" upon the cinirehes of Judea which were in 
 Christ (Gal. i. 34), viz., 
 
 " They glorified God " in him. 
 
 James Wright. 
 
 13 Chaklotte Street, Pabk Street, 
 Bristol, Ei^a., March, 1899. 
 
A Prefatory Word 
 
 De. Olitee "W. Holmes wittily said that an autobiog- 
 raphy is what every biography ougM to he. The four 
 volumes of " The ISTarrative of the Lord's Dealings with 
 George Miiller," already issued from the press and written 
 by his own hand, with a fifth volume covering his mis- 
 sionary tours, and prepared by his wife, supplemented by 
 the Annual Eeports since published, constitute essentially 
 an autobiography — Mr. Miiller'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. 
 
 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 fumisK, illustrating and enforcing 
 grand spiritual principles and precepts: and secondly, be- 
 cause no man so humble as he would ever write of himself 
 what, after ihis departure, another might properly write of 
 him thaA others might glorify God in him. 
 
 No one could have undertaken this work of writing Mr. 
 Miiller's life-story without being deeply impressed with the 
 opportunity thus afforded for impressing the most vital 
 
 9 
 
lo A Prefatory Word 
 
 truths that concern holy living and holy serving; nor could 
 any one have completed snch a work without feeling over- 
 awed by the argument which this narrative furnishes for a 
 presentj 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. Miiller's associate and knew 
 him so intimately. 
 
 So prominent was the word of God as a power in Mr. 
 Miiller's life that, in an appendix, we have given peculiar 
 emphasis to the great leading texts of Scripture which in- 
 spired and guided his faith and conduct, and, so far as 
 possible, in the order in which such texts became practi- 
 cally influential in his life; and so many wise and invalu- 
 able 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. 
 
 This volume has, like the life it sketches, but one aim. 
 It is simply and solely meant to extend, emphasize, and 
 perpetuate George Miiller's witness to a prayer-hearing 
 God; to present, as plainly, forcibly, and briefly as is prac- 
 ticable, the outlines of a human history, and an experience 
 of the Lord's leadings and dealings, which furnish a suf- 
 ficient answer to the question: 
 
 "Wheee is the Lokd God of Elijah ? 
 
Table of Contents 
 
 PAQB 
 
 Introduction by Mr. James Wright 5 
 
 A Prbfatorj Word 9 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 From His Birth to His New Birth 15 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 The New Birth and the New Life 27 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 Making Ready the Chosen Vessel 40 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 New Steps and Stages of Preparation 53 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 The PoiiPiT AND THE Pastorate 63 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 "The Nabbativb of the Lord's Dealings" 78 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 Led of God into a New Sphere 93 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 A Tree op God's own Planting 107 
 
 II 
 
12 Table of Contents 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 P^QE 
 
 Tee Growth of God's own Plant 121 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 The Word of God and Prater 137 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 Trials of Faith and Helpers to Faith 154 
 
 CHAPTER SII. 
 New Lessons in God's School of Prater 169 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 Following the Pillar of Cloud and Fire 183 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 God's Building : The New Orphan Houses 197 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 The Manifold Grace of God 216 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 The Shadow of a Great Sorrow 234 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 The Period of World-wide Witness 245 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 Faith and Patience in Serving 264 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 At Evening-timb — Light 283 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 The Summart of the Life-work 293 
 
Table of Contents 13 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The Chukch Life and Qbowth 307 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 A Glance at the Gifts and the Giveks 334 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 God's Witness to the Wokk 343 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 Last Looks, Backward and Fohwaed 360 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 A. Scbiptdkb Texts that Mouided George Mdileb . . 377 
 
 B. Apprehension of Truth 386 
 
 C. Separation from the London Society, etc 390 
 
 D. The Scriptural Knowledge Institution for Home and 
 
 Abroad 393 
 
 B. Reasons which led Mr. Muller to Establish an 
 
 Orphan House 395 
 
 P. Arguments in Prater for the Orphan Work . . . 405 
 
 G. The Purchase of a Site, etc 407 
 
 H. God's Faithfulness in Providing 409 
 
 K. Further Recollections of Mr. Mullek 411 
 
 L. Church Fellowship, Baptism, etc 413 
 
 M. Church Conduct 418 
 
 N. The Wise Sayings of George Mulleb 435 
 
List of Illustrations 
 
 1. Portrait of George Muller with Autograph Frontispiece 
 3. House op Johann Veit Wagner, Hailb . . Facing p. 39 
 
 3. Portrait of Mr. Wagner, with Autograph " " 30 
 
 4. Franckb'8 Orphan Houses, Halle " "46 
 
 5. Bethesda Chapel, Bristol " " 99 
 
 6. Bethesda Chapel (Interior) « .< jqo 
 
 7. Memorial Statue of A. H. Pranckb, Halle " " 103 
 
 8. The First Orphan Houses (rented) ... " "136 
 
 9. The New Orphan Houses, No. 3 and No. 5 •< •■ 197 
 
 10. The Five New Orphan Houses «< << g^g 
 
 11. House op Mr. Muller Kingsdown, Bristol. " " 235 
 13. The Prayer Boom, Orphan House No. 3 . » <• 284 
 13. Mr. MiJLLER's Tombstone »< « 390 
 
George Mtiller of Bristol 
 
 CHAPTEE I 
 
 FEOM HIS BIETH TO HIS NEW BIETH 
 
 A HUMAi^" life, filled with the presence and power of 
 God, is one of God's choicest gifts to His church and to 
 the world. 
 
 Things which are unseen and eternal seem, to the carnal 
 man, distant and indistinct, while what is seen and tem- 
 poral 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 Eewarder of them that diligently 
 seek Him." 
 
 George Miiller was such an argument and example in- 
 carnated 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 
 
 15 
 
1 6 George Muller of Bristol 
 
 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 fur- 
 nished 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 Miiller that 
 "he was not," we knew that "God had taken him": it 
 seemed more like a translation thaji like death. 
 
 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 conscio^as companion in the 
 daily life. George Miiller 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 obedi- 
 ence are past — in a word, that believing prayer works still 
 the wonders which our fathers told of in the days of old. 
 
 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 
 esperiences which are like punctuation-marks or para- 
 graph divisions, — as, for example: 
 
 1. From his birth to his new birth or conversion: 
 1805-1825. 
 
 2. From his conversion to full entrance on his life-work: 
 1825-35. 
 
 3. From this point to the period of his mission tours ; 
 1835-75. 
 
From His Birth to His New Birth 17 
 
 4. From the beginning to the close of these tours : 
 1875-92. 
 
 5. Prom the close of his tours to his death : 1892-98. 
 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 charac- 
 teristic features which serve to distinguish it and make its 
 lessons peculiarly important and memorable. For exam- 
 ple, the first period is that of the lost days of sin, in which 
 the great lesson taught is the bitterness and worthless- 
 ness 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 notice- 
 able 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. 
 
 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 revolution, as 
 marked and complete as ever was found, perhaps, in the 
 annals of salvation. If Lord George Lyttelton could account 
 
1 8 George Miiller of Bristol 
 
 for the conversion of Saul of Tarsus only by supernatural 
 power, what would he have thought of George Miiller'a 
 transformation ! Saul had in his favor a conscience, how- 
 ever misguided, and a morality, however pharisaic. George 
 Miiller 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 Miiller ! 
 
 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 ofE, 
 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. 
 
 George Miiller had no proper parental training. His 
 father's favoritism toward him was harmful both to him- 
 self and to his brother, as in the family of Jacob, tending 
 to jealousy and estrangement. Money was put too freely in- 
 to 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 child- 
 ish 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 
 Miiller reckoned it no fault to steal, but only to have his 
 theft found out. 
 
 His own brief account of his boyhood shows a very bad 
 
From His Birth to His New Birth 19 
 
 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 seaxched and the money being found, it 
 became clear to whom the various sums previously miss- 
 ing might be traced. 
 
 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 ob- 
 liquities 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 indepen- 
 dent of lioly living. 
 
 From this time the lad's studies were mixed up witli 
 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. 
 
 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. 
 
20 George Mullcr of Bristol 
 
 another false step was Inkcn : sacred tilings were treaictl 
 as common, ami so t-onsc'u'iicc ln'camo tlir more callous. 
 On the very eve of conJirmation and ol' his first approach 
 to the Lord's 'I'able he was guilty of gross sins; and uii tlu' 
 day previous, when lie iiiel the clergyman I'or the cusLoin- 
 ary " confession of sin," he planiie'il aivd practised anollier 
 shameless fraud, withholding from him eleven-twelfths ol' 
 the confirmation fee entrusted to him by his fatliei- ! 
 
 In such IVames of mind and with such hal)its of life 
 George Miiller, in the l<'as(er season of 18,'3(), was con- 
 firmed and became a communieant. ('(Hilii'nied, indeed ! 
 but in sin, not only immoral and unregeiierate, but so 
 ignorant of the very rudinienls of the (Jospel of (Ihrist 
 that he could not have stated to an impiiring soul ilie 
 simple terms of the plan of salvation. Tliei'e was, it is tru<^ 
 about such serious and suercil (ninsat'tiims, a vague solem- 
 nity which left a transient impression and led to shallow 
 resolves to live a betlcr lil'e ; but there was no real sense 
 of sin or of rei)entanee towai'd God, nor was there any 
 dependence upon a higher strength: aivd, wilhoiiL these, 
 cH'orts at self-aiiiondineiit lU'ver prove of value or work 
 lasting results. 
 
 The story of this wicked boyhood ]ireseiits but little 
 variety, except that of sin and crime. It is i>iu\ long tale 
 of evil-doing and of the sorrow which it brings. ()ne<\ 
 when his money was all recl<lessly wasl-ed, hunger drove 
 him to steal a bit of coaise bread from a, soldier who wi;h 
 a fellow lodger; and looking back, long afterward, to thai 
 hour of extremity, he exclaimed, ''^A'hat a bitter thing is 
 the service of Satan, even in this world !" 
 
 On his father's removal to Sehoenebeck in 18'i1 he asked 
 to be sent to the cathi'dral school at Maj'deburg, inwardly 
 hoping thus to break away from his sinful snares and 
 vicious companions, and, amid new scenes, find help Ju 
 
From His Birth to His New Birth 21 
 
 self-reform. He was not, therefore, without at least occa- 
 sional 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. 
 
 His father, with a strange fatuity, left him to superin- 
 tend sundry alterations in his house at Heimersleben, ar- 
 ranging for him meanwhile to read classics with the 
 resident clergyman, Kev. Dr. Xagel. 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. 
 
 In November, 1821, he went to Magdeburg and to 
 Brunswick, to which latter place he was drawn by his pas- 
 sion for a young Eoman 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 in- 
 dulgence. First of all, by lying to his tutor he got his 
 consent to his going; then came a week of sin at Magde- 
 burg 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 Wolfenbiittel, he tried 
 the same bold scheme again, until, having nothiog for de- 
 posit, 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 con- 
 
22 George Miiller of Bristol 
 
 verse as fellow thieves, relating their adventures to one 
 another, and young Miiller, that he might not be outdone, 
 invented lying tales of villainy to make himself out the 
 more famous fellow of the two ! 
 
 Ten or twelve days passed in this wretched fellowship, 
 until disagreement led to a sullen silence between them. 
 And so passed away Lwenty-four dajk days, from December 
 18, 1821, until the 12th of January ensuing, during all of 
 which George Miiller was shut up in prison and during 
 part of which he sought as a favour the company of a thief. 
 
 His father learned of his disgrace and sent money to 
 meet his hotel dues and other " costs " and pay for his re- 
 turn home. Yet such was his persistent wickedness that, 
 going from a convict's cell lo confront his outraged but in- 
 dulgent parent, he chose as his companion in travel an 
 avowedly wicked man. 
 
 lie 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. 
 
 George Miiller 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, ho 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 con- 
 stantly meeting young fellows of his acquaintance who, 
 as students in the university, would have much more free- 
 
From His Birth to His New Birth 23 
 
 dom than himself. On returning home he tried to conceal 
 this fraud from his father; but just before lie A\'as to leave 
 again for Nordhausen the truth became known, which 
 made needful new links in that chain of lies to account 
 for his sj'stematic disobedience and deception. His father, 
 though angry, permitted him to go to Nordhausen, where 
 he remained from October, 1823, till Easter, 1835. 
 
 During these two and a half years he studied classics, 
 French, history, etc., living with the director of the gym- 
 nasium. 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 con- 
 verse with him in Latin. At this time he was a hard stu- 
 dent, rising at four a.m. the year through, and applying 
 himself to his books till ten at night. 
 
 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 re- 
 ligious 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, jMoliere 
 and Voltaire, he knew and valued, but of the Holy Scrip- 
 tures he was grossly ignorant, and as indifferent to them as 
 he was ignorant of them. Twice a year, according to pre- 
 vailing 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 re- 
 frain from some open sins ; but there was no spiritual 
 life to act as a force within, and liis vows were forgotten 
 
24 George M tiller of Bristol 
 
 almost as soon as made. The old Satan was too strong for 
 the young Miiller, and, when the mighty passions of his 
 evil najture 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. 
 
 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, how- 
 ever, awakened that he had been playing a false part, and 
 he never regained the master's coniidence ; and though he 
 had even then no sense of sin, sham.e 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. 
 
 Such was tbe man who was not only admitted to hon- 
 ourable sftanding 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. Eeforma- 
 tion 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 
 
From His Birth to His New Birth 25 
 
 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. 
 
 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, un- 
 able 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. 
 
 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 back- 
 slider. Again he was taken ill. God made him to " pos- 
 sess the iniquities of his youth." After some weeks he 
 was better, and once more his conduct took on the sem- 
 blance of improvement. 
 
 The true mainspring of all well-regulated lives was still 
 lacking, and sin soon broke out in unholy indulgence. 
 George Miiller 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, 
 
26 George Miiller of Bristol 
 
 secured money. Forty-three days were spent in travel, 
 mostly afoot; and during this tour George Mtiller, holding, 
 like JudaSj the common purse, proved, like him, a thief, 
 for he managed to make his companions pay one third of 
 his own expenses. 
 
 The party were back in Halle before the end of Septem- 
 ber, and George Miiller 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 de- 
 vised. So soon and so sadly were all his good resolves 
 again broken. 
 
 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 with- 
 out 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 char- 
 acter and conduct such as he experienced. Twelve hun- 
 dred 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 be- 
 hind a profession of piety. Surely such a man, with such 
 surroundings, could undergo no radical change of charac- 
 ter 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. 
 
CHAPTEE II 
 
 THE NEW BIETH AND THE NEW LIFE 
 
 The lost days of sin, now forever past, the days of 
 heaven upon earth began to dawn, to grow brighter till 
 the perfect day. 
 
 We enter the second period of this life we are reviewing. 
 After a score of years of evil-doing George Miiller was con- 
 verted to God, and the radical nature of the change strik- 
 ingly 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 seri- 
 ous illnesses, because divine purposes of mercy were to be 
 fulfilled in him. No other explanation can adequately ac- 
 count for the facts. 
 
 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 wor- 
 ship, and had never yet even heard one gospel sermon; 
 when he had never been told by any believer what it is to 
 beKeve 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 de- 
 pravity and iniquity. This young man had thus grown to 
 
 27 
 
28 George Muller of Bristol 
 
 manhood without haying learned that mdimental 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 
 hao'd heart of such a man, at such a time and in such con- 
 ditions, 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. 
 
 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 Muller was a chosen 
 vessel for service, moulding and fitting the vessel for His 
 use. Every step is one of preparation, but can be under- 
 stood 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. 
 
 One Saturday afternoon about the middle of November, 
 1825, Beta said to Miiller, as they were returning from a 
 walk, that he was going that evening to a meeting at a 
 believers 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 pro- 
 gramme 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 fellowa : 
 and yet George Miiller 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 
 
House op J. V. Wagner, in Halle. 
 
The New Birth and the New Life 29 
 
 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 as- 
 sembly. However, he called for young Miiller and took 
 him to the meeting. 
 
 During his wanderings as a backslider. Beta had both 
 joined and aided George Miiller 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. Eich- 
 ter, a former ' student at Halle, he had been made ac- 
 quainted 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." 
 
 That Saturday evening was the turning-point in George 
 Miiller's history and destiny. He found himself in strange 
 company, amid novel surroundings, and breathing a new 
 atmosphere. His awkwardness made him feel so uncer- 
 tain 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 ! 
 
 All present sat down and sang a h3rmn. Then a brother 
 — who afterward went to Africa under the London Mis- 
 sionary Society — fell on his knees and prayed for God's 
 blessing on the meeting. That TcneeUng lefore God in 
 prayer made upon Miiller an impression never lost. He 
 was in his twenty-first year, and yet he had never before 
 
30 George M tiller of Bristol 
 
 seen any one on Ms hnees praying, and of course had never 
 himself knelt before God, — the Prussian habit being to 
 stand in public prayer. 
 
 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 Miiller 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 un- 
 accountable 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 eve- 
 ning." 
 
 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 ? 
 
 How sovereign are God's ways of working ! In such a 
 sinner as Miiller, 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. 
 
 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 
 
<^a^ii^t^r>_ iJtjU^ Le/oY'^ 
 
 PORTBAIT AND AUTOGRAPH OF Mk. WAQNEE. 
 
The New Birth and the New Life 31 
 
 thought there could be no genuine conversion without a 
 period of deep conviction, asked her, " But, my dear, how 1 C 
 about the Slough of Despond ? " she dropped a courtesy \ 
 and said, "Please, sir, I didn't come that way!" 
 
 George MuUer^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 the parting of the ways. 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 be- 
 fore the Saturday following he sought the house of brother 
 Wagner, there, with the help of brethren, to search the 
 Scriptures. 
 
 We should lose one of the main lessons of this life-story 
 by passing too hastily over such an event as this conver- 
 sion 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. 
 
 Nothing is more wonderful in history than the unmis- 
 takable signs and proofs of preadaptation. Our life-oc- 
 currences are not disjecta membra — 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). 
 
32 George Miiller of Bristol 
 
 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 conditionp oppose all precon- 
 certed 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 propor- 
 tioned 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 one presiding mind — one architect and master builder 
 — had planned that structure, however many were the 
 quarries and workshops and labourers. 
 
 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 adap- 
 tation 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 occur- 
 rences to see the divine Hand shaping and building to- 
 gether all these seemingly disconnected events and 
 experiences into one life-work. 
 
 For example, what have we found to be the initial step 
 and stage in George Miiller'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 
 
The New Birth and the New Life 33 
 
 primitiTe and apostolic pattern — meetings for prayer and 
 praise, reading and expounding of the Word, such as 
 doubtless were held at the house of ilnry 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 seculax 
 or sesthetie attractions. Such assemblies were to be so 
 linked with the whole life, work, and witness of George 
 iliiller 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. 
 
 Xot only so, but prayer, on the l-nee/. hotli In secret and 
 in such companionship of believers, was henceforth to be the 
 one great central secret of his holy living and holy serving. 
 "Tpon this corner-stone of prayer all his life-work was to 
 be buUt. Of Sir Henry Lawrence the native soldiers dur- 
 ing 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 
 Miiller it may well be said that he was to be, for more than 
 seventy yeaif. 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 Ms whole e^ireer. 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 ? 
 
 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. 
 
 Of coTirse a man that had been so profligate and prodigal 
 
34 George Miiller of Bristol 
 
 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 Miiller 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. 
 
 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 con- 
 victions 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 signifi- 
 cant step, for it was his first courageous act of self-denial 
 in surrender to the voice of the Spirit — and another stone or 
 timber was thus ready for the coming building. 
 
 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 be- 
 came 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 
 
The New Birth and the New Life 55 
 
 took his stand on the side of his new Master, at the cost 
 of reproach and ridicule from his fellow students. 
 
 George Miiller's next marked step in his new path was 
 the discovery of the preciousness of the nord of God. 
 
 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 salva- 
 tion: 
 
 " God so loved the woeld that He gate His onlt- 
 begotten son, that whosobtee believbth in hlm 
 shohld not peeish, but have eveelasting life." 
 
 Trom these words he got his first glimpse of the philoso- 
 phy 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 suf- 
 ferings in Gethsemane and Golgotha made it forever need- 
 less that the penitent believing sinner should bear his own 
 iniquity and die for it. 
 
 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 him- 
 self loving God in return, and faith works by love to purify 
 the heart, transform the life, and overcome the world. 
 
 It was so with George Miiller. He found in the word 
 of God one great fact: the love of God in Christ. Upon 
 that fact faith, not feeling, laid hold ; and then the feel- 
 ing 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 re- 
 sponded, yet supplying a new impulse unknown before. 
 What all his father's injunctions, chastisements, entreaties, 
 
36 George Miiller of Bristol 
 
 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 doiible truth, which he afterVards 
 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. 
 
 The new year 1826 was indeed a new year to this new- 
 born soul. He now began to read missionary journals, 
 which kindled a new flame in his heart. He felt a yearn- 
 ing — not very intelligent as yet — to be himself a mes- 
 senger 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. 
 
 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 Ms yearning for service over against 
 his passion for a fellow creature. Inclination, alas, out- 
 weighed 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. 
 
 A young brother, Hermann Ball, wealthy, cultured, and 
 
The New Birth and the New Life 37 
 
 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 Miiller 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 : an- 
 other 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 MiUler, 
 was acting and choosing more like that profane person 
 Esau, when for one morsel of meat he bartered his birth- 
 right. 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. 
 
 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 decision for Ood had cost Mm marked self-denial. 
 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 Miiller was fully, 
 unreservedly given up to God, 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. 
 
 Every new spring of inward joy demands a channel for 
 
38 George Miiller of Bristol 
 
 outflow, and so he felt impelled to bear witness. He wrote 
 to his father and brother of his own happy experience, beg- 
 ging 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. 
 
 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 Miiller's 
 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 permis- 
 sion 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 re- 
 pay 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. 
 
 Then, seeing that son unmoved in his quiet steadfast- 
 ness, 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 third significant step in 
 preparation for his son's life's mission. His resolve was un- 
 broken to follow the Lord's leading at any cost, but he now 
 clearly saw that he could be independent of man only by 
 being more entirely dependent on God, and that henceforth he 
 should tal-e no more money from his father. 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 
 
The New Birth and the New Life 39 
 
 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 Miiller learned the valuable 
 lesson that one must preserve his independence if he 
 would not endanger his integrity. 
 
 God was leading His servant in his youth to cast himself 
 upon Him for temporal supplies. This step was not taken 
 without cost, for the two years yet to be spent at the uni- 
 versity 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 Ameri- 
 can gentlemen, three of whom were college professors,* 
 being in Halle and wishing instruction in German, were 
 by Dr. Tholuek recommended to employ George MiiUer 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 writ- 
 ten large in the chambers of his memory another golden 
 text from the word of God : 
 
 " fbae the loed, tb his saints ! 
 Foe theeb is no vtajstt to them that feae Him." 
 
 (Psalm xxxiv. 9.) 
 
 * One of them, the Rev. Charles Hodge, afterward so well known 
 as professor at Princeton Theological Seminary, etc. 
 
CHAPTEE III 
 
 MAKING EEADT THE CHOSEN VESSEL 
 
 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. 
 
 Mature disciples at Halle advised George Miiller for the 
 time thus quietly to wait for divine guidance, and mean- 
 while 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. He re- 
 sorted to the lot, and not only so, but to the lot as cast in the 
 lap of the lottery ! In other words, he first drew a lot in pri- 
 vate, 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 go; if 
 not, stay at home. Having drawn a small sum, he accord- 
 ingly 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 eon- 
 sent. 
 
 Thus a higher Hand had disposed while man proposed. 
 God kept out oi 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 
 
 40 
 
Making Ready the Chosen Vessel 41 
 
 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 vears in ob- 
 scurity 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." 
 
 Only twice after this did George Miiller 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 eases 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 : 
 
 First, that the safe guide in every crisis is believing 
 prayer in connection with the word of God ; 
 
 Secondly, that continued uncertainty as to one's course 
 is a reason for continued waiting. 
 
 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 imma- 
 ture and premature, an'd 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. 
 
 In a calm review of his course many years later George 
 Miiller 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 
 
42 George Miiller of Bristol 
 
 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 G-od, 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 thou- 
 sand perplexing problems of work among the heathen ! 
 
 Moreover the conviction grew that, could he have fol- 
 lowed 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 ease kept from 
 following out his honest purpose. Nor could the lot be 
 justified as an indication of his ultimate call to the mission 
 field, for the purpose of it was definite, namely, to ascer- 
 tain, not whether at some period of his life he was to go 
 forth, but whether at that time he was to go or stay. The 
 
Making Ready the Chosen Vessel 43 
 
 whole after-life of George Miiller proved that God had 
 for him aa entirely difEerent 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 lead- 
 ing, when made known, was not in this direction. He 
 had purposed for George Miiller 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 min- 
 istry. 
 
 With, increasing frequency, earnestness, and minuteness, 
 was George Miiller 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 intercessor; and so 
 God gave him from the outset a very simple, diildlike dis- 
 position toward Himself. In many things he was in 
 knowledge and in strength to outgrow childhood and be- 
 come 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 j 
 to manhood and so to maturity, in grace the true develop-' 
 ment 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 
 niaturest manhood is only the perfection of his childhood. 
 George Miiller 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. 
 
 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 
 
44 George Miiller of Bristol 
 
 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 gro- 
 tesque, as when, speaking to a beggar in the fields about his 
 need of salvation, he tried to overcome apathetic indiffer- 
 ence by speaking louder and louder, as though mere 
 bawling in his ears would subdue the hardness of his 
 heart ! 
 
 In 1826 he first attempted to preach. 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 vntness. His con- 
 science 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 
 j him, to prepare his own discourse. How few even among 
 ) preachers feel preaching to be a divine vocation and not a 
 ; mere human profession; that a ministry of the truth im- 
 plies the witness of experience, and that to preach another 
 man's sermon is, at the best, unnatural walking on stilts ! 
 
 George Miiller ' got through ' his painful effort of Au- 
 gust 27, 1826, reciting this memoriter sermon at eight a.m. 
 in the chapel of ease, and three hours later in the parish 
 
Making Ready the Chosen Vessel 45 
 
 church. Being asked to preach again in the afternoon, 
 but having no second sermon committed to memory, iie 
 had to keep silent, or depend on the Lord for help. He 
 thought he could at least read the fifth chapter of Mat- 
 thew, 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 after- 
 noon, 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. 
 
 Going back to Halle, he said to himself, ' This is the 
 true way to preachy' 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. 
 
 Here was another very important step in his preparation 
 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 
 
46 George MuUer of Bristol 
 
 little prayer in preparation and too little unction in de- 
 livery, and so his labours were comparatively barren of re- 
 sults. 
 
 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 fur- 
 nished for poor divinity students in the famous Orphan 
 Houses built hy A. H. Franche. This saintly man, a pro- 
 fessor of divinity at Halle, who had died a hundred years 
 before (1727), had been led to found an orphanage in en- 
 tire dependence upon God. Half unconsciously George 
 Miiller's whole life-work at Bristol found both its sugges- 
 tion 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 Miiller 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. 
 
 George Miiller'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. 
 
 He was at this time overworking, writing sometimes 
 fourteen hours a day, and this induced nervous depression, 
 
Making Ready the Chosen Vessel 47 
 
 which exposed him to various temptations. He ventured 
 into a confectioner's shop where wine and beer were sold, 
 and then suilered 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. 
 
 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 w ^Tshipper 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 
 Miiller'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 de- 
 livered horn 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 re- 
 minded that " Christianity consists not in words but in 
 power, and that there must be life in us." 
 
 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 con- 
 duct unbecoming a disciple, but indulging hard' thoughts 
 of his heavenly Fathei. 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. 
 
 Yet so deceitful is the human heart that a few weeks 
 later he was in such a backslidden state that, for a time, he 
 
48 George Milller of Bristol 
 
 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. 
 
 Such vacillations in Christian experience were due in 
 part to the lack of holy associations and devout companion- 
 ships. 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 Miiller left Halle the attendance 
 at this weekly meeting in his room had grown to twenty. 
 
 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 
 
Making Ready the Chosen Vessel 49 
 
 from devout books. Here young Miiller freely opened his 
 heart to others, and through their counsels and prayers 
 was delivered from many snares. 
 
 One lesson, yet to be learned, was that the one foun- 
 tain 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 chafE — such as French and Ger- 
 man novels; but as yet he had not formed the habit of read- 
 ing the word of God daily and systematically as in later life, 
 almost to the exclusion of other books. In his ninety-sec- 
 ond 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 ihe works of unin- 
 spired men practical preference over the Living Oracles. 
 
 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 
 God having condescended to lecome an Author, inspiring 
 holy men to write the Scriptures, He would in them im- 
 part the most vital truths; His message would cover all 
 matters which concern man's welfare, and therefore, un- 
 der the double impulse of duty and delight, we should in- 
 stinctively and habitually turn to the Bible. Moreover, 
 as he read and studied this Book of God, he felt himself 
 admitted to more and more intimate acquaintance with the 
 Author. During the last twenty years of his life he read 
 it carefully through, four or five time? annually, vdth a 
 growing sense of his own rapid increase in the knowledge 
 of God thereby. 
 
50 George Muller of Bristol 
 
 Such motives for Bible study it is strange that any true 
 believer should overlook. Euskin, 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, what- 
 ever our ignorance, poverty, or low estate — namely, the 
 society of authors; and the key that unlocks their private 
 audience-chamber is their books. 
 
 So writes Euskin, 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 lo^v, ignorant and learned, 
 young and old, all alike are welcomed to the audience- 
 chamber of the King of kings. The most intimate knowl- 
 edge 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.) 
 
 So soon as George Miiller found this well-spring of de- 
 light 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 
 
Making Ready the Chosen Vessel 51 
 
 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 de- 
 clared to be to the obedient soul " a lamp unto the feet 
 and a light unto the path." He who would keep up in- 
 timate 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. 
 
 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 Bang Himself 1 
 
CHAPTEE IV 
 
 NEW STEPS AND STAGES OP PREPARATION 
 
 Passion for souls is a divine fire, and in the heart of 
 George Miiller that fire now began to bum more brightly, 
 and demanded vent. 
 
 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. 
 
 In October following, Hermann Ball, passing through 
 Halle, and. being at the little weekly meeting in 
 Miiller's room, told him how failing health forbade his 
 continuing his work among Polish Jews ; and at once 
 there sprang up in George Miiller's mind a strong desire 
 to take his place. Such work doubly attracted him, be- 
 cause it would bring him into close contact with God's 
 chosen but erring people, Israel; and because it would 
 
 52 
 
New Steps and Stages of Preparation 53 
 
 afford opportunity to utilize those Hebrew studies which 
 so engrossed him. 
 
 At this very time, calling upon Dr. Tholuck, he was 
 asked, to his surprise, whether he had ever felt a desire 
 to labour among the Jews — 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, Bu- 
 charest being the seat of the war then raging between the 
 Eussians 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. 
 
 The committee in London, learning that he was avail- 
 able 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 try- 
 ing to the flesh, but, as it seemed right that there should 
 be opportunity for mutual acquaintance between commit- 
 tee and candidate, to insure harmonious cooperation, his 
 mind was disposed to accede to the proposal. 
 
 There was, however, a formidable obstacle. Prussiaji 
 male subjects must commonly serve three years in the 
 army, and classical students who have passed the univer- 
 sity examinations, at least one year. George Miiller, who 
 had not served out even this shorter term, could not, with- 
 out royal exemption, even get a passport out of the coun- 
 try. Application was made for such exemption, but it 
 failed. Meanwhile he was taken ill, and after ten weeks 
 suffered a relapse. While at Leipsic with an American 
 professor with whom he went to the opera, he unwisely 
 partook of some refreshments between tihe 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 
 
54 George Miillcr of Hiistol 
 
 few works lo Icacdi (Icnniin, lie wcnl,, liopiiifj; nl. Ilic Pnin- 
 sian capiLiil In liiul access lo llic cdini, (liroiij;!! |H'rs()i\s (if 
 I'aiik and serine IJic desired e\eiii|il.i(iii. lUil here a^aili he 
 Jailed. There now seemed no way of eseapin};; ii. soldier's 
 lerni, and he sniiniilled liiiriself lor c\aniina(ion, liul. was 
 ])i-onoimceil physic^ally unlit for mililary diHy. In (,)od'n 
 pi'O'vidcnee he lell into kind iianids, and, lieiii;;' a second 
 linui examined and I'ounil nnlil,, he was UKMUMd'oi'Lh roiii- 
 jilclcli/ cjr.iihpled far life from (ill sr/rrirc in llir. ivnini. 
 
 (lod's lines of purpose niyslerionsly converged, 'i'lie 
 Www. had come ; Ihe Maslcr spake and il, was done? : all 
 things moved in one dived ion-- lo S(^l. His servant IVec^ 
 fi'om tiui servi(^e cd' his connlry, IJial, lunh^r the ('ap- 
 tain of liis salvation, he iniglit endure hardness as a i^ooj 
 soldit^r ol' Jesus (ihi'ist, wilhont cnlan^lenH'nl in tlic all'airs 
 of this life. Aside from this, his sLay at the capital hnd 
 not been unprolifalile, for he had pi'eachecl live times a 
 week in the p(i(Mhonse and conversed on tlie jjord's days 
 with tli(! convicts in the prison. 
 
 In l<\;hrnary, ls:.'l), he left for London, on the way visit- 
 iiif,' his father at lleimcrslehen, where he had retnrneij 
 after r(Hirement IVoin ollice ; and he reached the t'/ngllHli 
 metropolis March lUth. His lihcrfy was iniicli cni'failod as 
 a sfuden.l, in IJhb new S(anjna,ry, hut, aH no ride conllici.ed 
 with his conscienfte, he snhinitlcd. \\v. studied ahoni, 
 tw(dve hours daily, givinf^^ attenfion niairdy to llchvew 
 and cognato hram^hes (closely connccfcd wiiJi his expc^cteil 
 Held. Scnsihic of the risk of that dea.dness of Houl which 
 ofj,cn results from undue aJisorpl-ion in iricid,a.l studies, 
 he committed to memory much of the llchrew Old Testa 
 nu'jit and pursued his tasks in a prayerful Sfjirit, seeking 
 Cod's help in mailers, however minid,e, conrmctcd with 
 daily duty. 
 
 Teinjifed to liho fMiulinual use of his native tongiu' by 
 
New Steps and Stages of Preparation 55 
 
 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. 
 
 In connection with this removal to Britain a seemingly 
 trivial occurrence left upon him a lasting impress — an- 
 other 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. 
 
 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 misionary to Persia, 
 simply trusting the Lord for all temporal supplies. This 
 act of self-denying trust had a strange charm for Mr. 
 Miiller, and he could not dismiss it from his mind ; in- 
 deed, he distinctly entered it in his journal and wrote 
 about it to friends at home. It was another lesson in faith, 
 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. 
 
 In the middle of May, 1829, he was taken ill and felt 
 himself to be past recovery. Sickness is often attended 
 with strange self-disclosure. 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 
 
56 George Miiller of Bristol 
 
 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 measure- 
 ment 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. 
 
 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 blem- 
 ish 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 workman and not 
 in the work: both the music and the painting are in them- 
 selves just what they were, but the man is capable of some- 
 thing so much better, that his standard of comparison is 
 raised to a higher level, and his capacity for a true judg- 
 ment is correspondingly enlarged. 
 
 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. 
 
 A Mohammedan servant ventured publicly to challenge 
 
New Steps and Stages of Preparation 57 
 
 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 with- 
 out 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. 
 
 To return from this digression, Mr. Miiller, 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 pros- 
 per, 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. 
 
 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 fort- 
 night 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 fore- 
 seeing what joy he was to find in living for God, or how 
 much he was to know of the days of heaven upon earth. 
 
 During this illness, also, he showed the growing tend- 
 ency 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 re- 
 
5B George Miiller of Bristol 
 
 covery he sought rest at Teignmouth, where, shortly after 
 his arrival, " -Ebeiiezer " cliapel was reopened. It was here 
 also that Mr. Miiller became acquainted with Mr. Henry 
 Craik, who was for so many years not only his friend, but 
 fellow labourer. 
 
 It was also about this time that, as he records, cer- 
 tain 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.* 
 
 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 pro- 
 longed 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. 
 
 Mr. Miiller 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 remem- 
 
 * See Appendix B. 
 
New Steps and Stages of Preparation 59 
 
 branee 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 persiasion that 
 both his physical and spiritual welfare would be promoted 
 by actual labours for souls, he sor.ghT fji the Society a 
 prompt appointment to his field of serriee: 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. 
 
 After waiting in vain for six weeks for an answer to 
 this application, he felt -another strong conviction : that 
 io wait on his fellow men io ie sent out to Tiis field and work 
 was unscriptural and therefore urong. 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 under- 
 took 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 exj:>osed to petty trial; 
 and persecutions, called to suffer reproach for the name 
 of Christ. 
 
 Before the autumn of 1829 had passed, a further mis- 
 giving laid hold of bim 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 aU such ties except upon certain conditions. To 
 
6o George Miilier of Bristol 
 
 do full justice both to Mr. Muller and the Society, his own 
 words will again be found in the Appendix.* 
 
 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 serving witliout salary and labouring 
 wlien and ivliere the Lord might seem to direct. 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. 
 
 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 
 Miilier 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. 
 
 One is constantly reminded in reading Mr. Miiller'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 fruit- 
 less as the vain struggles of a man in the mire. At the 
 usual morning meeting he was urged by a brother to con- 
 tinue 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 
 
 * See Appendix C. 
 
New Steps and Stages of Preparation 6i 
 
 by the want of sensible enjoyment ; in fact, it is a safe 
 maxim that the less joy, the more need Cessation of com- 
 munion 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 out- 
 pouring of supplication, together with continued activity 
 in the service of God, soon brings back the lost joy. When- 
 ever, therefore, one yields to spiritual depression so as to 
 abandon, or even to suspend, closet communion or Chris- 
 tian work, the devil triumphs. 
 
 So rapid was Mr. Miiller's recovery out of this Satanic 
 snare, through continuance in prayer, that, on the evening 
 of that sajne Christmas day whose dawn had been so over- 
 cast, 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. 
 
 Here we reach another mile-stone in this life-joumey. 
 George Miiller 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 struc- 
 ture of his after-service. " 
 
 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 for- 
 ward. Think of a young convert, with such an ensnaring 
 
62 George Miiller of Bristol 
 
 past to reproach and retard him, within these few years 
 learning such advanced lessons in renunciation: 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 ex- 
 pository 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 bur- 
 dens, 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 ; teach- 
 ing 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 mysteri- 
 ously 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 ! 
 
 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 
 sinsrular service to wliich it was destined ! 
 
CHAPTEE V 
 
 THE PTJLPIT AND THE PASTOEATB 
 
 Wo work for God surpasses in dignity and responfiibility 
 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 salva- 
 tion. 
 
 Though George Miiller 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. 
 
 While at Teignmouth, early in 1830, preaching by invi- 
 tation, 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. 
 
 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 indica- 
 
 63 
 
64 George Mtiller of Bristol 
 
 tion of his duty. He felt that they doubtless looked lor 
 outward graces of oratory in a preacher, and hence were 
 not attracted to a foreigner whose Hpeceli liad no rhetorical 
 charms and who could not even use I'lngliKli with fluency. 
 But he felt sure of a deeper cause for their dislike, espe- 
 cially as he was compelled to notice that, the summer 
 previous, when he himKc;!!' was less spiritually minded and 
 had less insight into the truth, the same parties who now 
 opposed him were f)]eas(:d with him. Tfis final conclusion 
 was that the Lord m(!ant to work through him at Teign- 
 mouth, 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 w;is (^xy)ress(!rl so of- 
 ten 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 anoih(T field of labour. 
 
 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 Ood, 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 tbings spiritual, 
 and that while he did not desire a gift, he did desire fruit 
 that might abound to their account. 
 
 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 in- 
 difference, 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 
 
The Pulpit and the Pastorate 65 
 
 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 sea- 
 son, 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 some- 
 what increased as the church membership grew ; and so 
 the university student of Halle was settled in his first 
 pulpit and pastorate. 
 
 While at Sidmouth, preaching, in April, 1830, three 
 believing sisters held in his presence a conversation about 
 ' 'believers' 'baptism' which proved the suggestion of an- 
 other important step in his life, which has a wider bearing 
 than at first is apparent. 
 
 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. 
 
 At once, with unmistakable plainness of speech and with 
 rare fidelity, one of these sisters in Christ promptly said : 
 " I entreat you, then, never again to speak any more about 
 it till you have done so." 
 
 Such a reply George Miiller 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 em- 
 phatic in any direction, it was in the boldness with which 
 he insisted that all pulpit teaching and Christian practice 
 must be subjected to one great test, namely, the touch- 
 stone of the word of God. Already an Elijah in spirit, his 
 
66 George MUller of Bristol 
 
 great aim was to repair the broken-down altar oT the Lord, 
 to expose and rebuke all that hindered a thorouf^hly Hi'rip- 
 tural worship and service, and, ii: possible, to rcsLoro apos- 
 tolic simplicity of doctrine and liTc;. 
 
 As he thoiif^'ht and pra.yrd iilioitt thiH niiiU.cr, lui was 
 forced to admit to hiniHi-lf that h(; had never yet ciirni'HlIy 
 exiirrdned the S(n-iptnfcH lor llicir Icucliini^r as l<i tln! posi- 
 tion and relation ol' biipliurn in the helievcr'K life, nor 
 had he even priiyed fur light upon il,. IJc had nevertheless 
 repeatedly Hj)ol<en against holievcrs' baptism, and so be saw 
 it to be j)0K»ible that he might himself have been oppoHing 
 the teaching of the Word. lie tlie,r(d'ore deierminc'd in 
 study llie Kidijeet until h(^ should rciieb a final, KaliHfae- 
 tory, and Kcri[ilairal eonelusion ; a,nd thenceforth, whether 
 led to defend infant baptism or helievf^rs' ba|itiBm, to do 
 it only on scriptural grounds. 
 
 The mode of study which he followed was elifiraeleris- 
 tically simple, thorough, and buHiiHiSS-likc, and was always 
 pursued afterward, lie first nought from (Jod the Sfiirit's 
 teaching that his eyew might be opened to the Word's 
 witness, and his mind illumineij ; then he neL aJjoiit a sys- 
 tematic examination of the New TcKtarnfint frijm hegi fi- 
 ning to end. So far as poKwible he sought abKoliitely to 
 rid himself of all bias of previous ofiinion or prai'l.iei', 
 prepossciKsion or yjrejudiee; he prayed and endeavoured 
 to be free from the influence! of human tradiiion, popular 
 custom, and churchly sanction, or that more siditlc hin- 
 drance, personal pride in his own, consixlmnj. [[(■ was 
 humble enough to he willing to rel.raet any erroni'ous 
 teaching and renounce any false jiosiiion, and to esfjouse 
 that wise maxim: "Don't be ninaifileid, but siTn(dy be 
 Irue." Whatever may have been the ease wjih olhers who 
 claim to have examined the same question for thernselvee, 
 the result in his ease was that he came to the eonelu- 
 
The Pulpit and the Pastorate 67 
 
 sion, and, as he believed, from the word of God and the 
 Spirit of God, that none but believers are the proper sub- 
 jects 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 \i. 3-5. 
 The case of the Ethiopian eunuch strongly c-onvinced 
 him that baptism is proper, only as the act of a believer 
 confessing Christ ; and the passage in the Epistle to the 
 Eomans 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 vie^s, 
 when he thus plainly stated ia his journal the honest an-d 
 unavoidable convictions to which he came ; but he was 
 too loyal both to the word of God and to his own con- 
 science to withhold his views when so carefully and prayer- 
 fully arrived at through the searching of the Scriptures. 
 
 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 sub- 
 ject has only become obscured by men not having been 
 willing to take the Scriptures alone to decide the point." 
 
 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 aU 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 
 
68 George MuUer of Bristol 
 
 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. 
 
 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 com- 
 mandment 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 antiquity is not au- 
 thority, but may be only vetustas en-oris — 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 modem disciples who "reject the commandment of 
 God that they may keep their own tradition " ? 
 
 This step, taken by Mr. Miiller as to baptism, was only 
 
 * Matthew XV. 6. t Mark vii 9-13. 
 
The Pulpit and the Pastorate 69 
 
 a precursor of many others, all of which, as he believed, 
 were according to that Word which, as the lamp to the 
 belicYer's feet, is to throw light upon his path. 
 
 During this same summer of 1830 the further study of 
 the Word satisfied him that, though there is no direct com- 
 mand so to do, the scriptural and apostolic practice was to 
 ireak bread every Lord's day. (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 be- 
 stowed, seemed to him plaimly taught in Komans 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 prosper- 
 ity. 
 
 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 receive any stated salary 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 : 
 
 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 in- 
 vidious distinctions and respect of persons, and so en- 
 couraging the caste spirit. 
 
 3. A fixed pew-rental may at times become, even to the 
 willing disciple, a burden. He who would gladly con- 
 tribute to a pastor's support, if allowed to do so according 
 to his ability and at his own convenience, might be op- 
 pressed by the demand to pay a stated sum at a stated 
 
JO George MuUer of Bristol 
 
 time. Circumsliiiices so cluingo l,luili <'iu' wlio Imn I;1ig 
 same cheerl'ul miiul ns lu'l'di'c may be imalilc lo ^'ivi' iis 
 formerly, niid ilius he siilijcclctl lo pMiiiriil cinliiiri'aHsmiMil 
 and'humiliaiion if coiiHlraiiu'd lo i>'iv(' a (Ixcd Huni. 
 
 3. The whole Byslcin LeiulH lo the bondn,!;-i^ of tlu^ wrvaiit 
 o[ Clirisl. Ono iihimI be iimiHiuilly radlil'id ami inl.i-i^iiid 
 if he feels ]io LeJtipLaLioii, lo keep bnek or in www de^i'ee 
 modify his meHHan'e in ordcrr to jili^aH'^ men, wlieii lu^ re- 
 members that tlu^ viiry parlies, most open lo rehiiko and 
 most liable lo oll'enee, are perhaps the main eonlribnlors 
 toward his salary. 
 
 Whatever others may think of siieli I'easons as these, 
 they were bo satisfaetory lo his mind that he frankly and 
 promptly annoiuieed IhiMn lo his brethren ; and tluis, as 
 early as the autumn of IHliO, wIhmi just completing his 
 twenty-fifth year, he took a position fi'om which lio never 
 retreated, that ho would Iheiiceforth rirnvr, no /iml ml.ari/ 
 for any service rendered lo (JikTs fieupk. While (^dndy as- 
 signing scrjj)luraJ .grounds for siieli a position he, on the 
 same grounds, urg(^d vol/imlary offerim/K, wliethei' of moni^ 
 or other means of Bii|iport, as the proper ackiu)wledgm(Mit 
 of HtTviec rervdered by (lod's minister, and as a sacrilice ac- 
 eeptabh^, well-pl(!asing to (Jod. A little later, seeing thai,, 
 when sueh voluntary gifts came dir(!et from Ihi^ givi'rs 
 personally, there was a danger that some iniglit feel S(!lf- 
 complacent over the largeness of the amount given by 
 them, and others (iqually humbhid hy llie HniaJIness of their 
 offerings, with eonsecjiienl damage to both (dasses, of givers, 
 he took a step furlher : be bad a l>o.i; pul up in IJw, cluipel, 
 ov(!r whi(di. was writlen, tlial whoever had a desire to do 
 something for his support might put such a,n offering 
 therein as ability and disf)Osition iriight direct. His in- 
 tention was, Ihal thus tiie act nnght bo wholly as in (lod's 
 sight, without the I'isk of a sinful pride or false huirdlily. 
 
The Pulpit and the Pastorate 71 
 
 He further felt that, to be entirely consistent, he should 
 ash no help from man, even in bearing necessary costs of 
 travel in the Lord's service, nor even state his needs be- 
 forehand 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: " To 
 come to this conclusion before Ood required more grace than 
 to give up my salary^ 
 
 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 Plim and in Him alone. 
 
 On October 7, 1830, George Miiller, 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 m-ission 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 ap- 
 preciated 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. 
 
 Married life has often its period of estrangement, even 
 
72 George Miiller of Bristol 
 
 when temporary iiliciiiiiioii yiclilK to ii ilcciu'r l()v<', iis llir 
 pai'ties bc'cotiie moi'c ti'iily wcddcil by th<' assiiiiilnl ion of 
 their inmost being to (inc aiiDthcr. Eiilr to Mr. iniil l\lrn. 
 Miiller tliorc never eiinie any sneh experieiiee of even teni- 
 ]ioi'iii'y alieimlion. l''i-oni the lirsl,, lo've ij;i'e\v, iiiiid with il, 
 mutual eonlidenee and triiHl. One of l,be earliesl 
 ties wbi<di l)onnd these two in one was tbe bond of a riiiii- 
 mon self-denial. Yiel<ling literal obedience to Ijuko xii. 
 33, they sold what little they had and f^^•lve aIniH, lienei'- 
 forth layinji; lip no IreasureM on eartb (Malibew vi. Ill 3 1; 
 xix. 21.) Tbe slcp tben taken — aeee|itin};, for (lliriHi'H 
 sake, volnntary povei-ly — was never regretted, but 
 rather increasingly rejoieed in ; how raitlifnlly it wnH fol- 
 lowed in tbe Hanio path of continued H(df-Haerili(u^ will 
 Bulliciently appear when it is reniendiered that, nearly 
 sixty-eight years afterwani, (Jeorgc Mtiller paHS(vd pud'denly 
 into the life beyond, a poor man; his will, when admitied 
 to probate, showing his enLir(^ personal |)i'o|ierly, und(^r 
 oath, to b(^ but one hnndriMl and sixty pounds I And even 
 that would not have been in his possession had there been 
 no daily n(!(!d of recpiisite (unn forts for the body and of 
 tools for his work. I'art of this amonnt was in money, 
 shortly bcvfore received and not yet laid ont for his Mastcvr, 
 but held at 11 is disposal. Nothing, even to tlu! clotlicH lie 
 wore, did he treat as his own. U^' was a consiHlent 
 steward. 
 
 This final farewell to all eartlily posKscssionH, in 1830, 
 left this newly married husband and wife to look only 
 to the Ivoi'd. Tlien(;eff)rth they woK! to |iiit to am [tie daily 
 test both i.heir faith in the f.reat I'rovider and tbe failJi- 
 fulness of tlio (ir(!at i'ronriser. it may not be inipro|)er 
 here to antieipate, what is yet l,o [je mor(^ Cul'.y r(;f:orded, 
 that, from day to day and bonr l,o hour, during more tbnn 
 threescore years, George Miiller was enabled to set to hia 
 
The Pulpit and the Pastorate 73 
 
 seal that God is true. If few men have ever been per- 
 mitted 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 "the odd sparrow." 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, God cares. iSTot 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 " ! 
 
 So George Miiller 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, w'hich 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 prove'd 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. Miiller 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 encom- 
 
74 George M tiller of Bristol 
 
 passing but invisible prosenco or iitniosphoro of life and 
 strength. 
 
 On August 9, 1831, Jlrs. Jliiller gave birth to a still- 
 born babe, and for six weeks remained seriously ill. Ilor 
 husband meanwhile laments that his heart was so cold and 
 carnal, and his prayers often so hesitating and formal ; 
 and ho detects, even behind his zeal for God, most un- 
 spiritual frames. lie especially chides himself for not 
 having more seriously thought of the peril of child-bear- 
 ing, so as to pray more earnestly for his w'ife ; and he saw 
 clearly that the prospect of parenthood had not been re- 
 joiced in as a blessing, but rather as implying a new burden 
 and hindrance in the Lord's work. 
 
 While this man of t!od lays bare his heart in his journal, 
 the reader must feel that *" as in water face answereth to 
 face, so the heart of mail to man." How many a servant 
 of God has no more e.xalted 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 
 arc helps, most useful in fitting a servant of Christ for cer- 
 tain 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 serviceablenoss. And when it is 
 remembered how a godly associalion. in holiness and useful- 
 ness may thus be supplied, and above all a godly succession 
 through many generations, it will be seen how wicked is 
 the spirit that treats holy wedlock and its fruits in -ofE- 
 S])ring, 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 sijmplwnizc, and suggests a 
 
The Pulpit and the Pastorate 75 
 
 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 I 
 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, " that your prayers be not 
 hindered " ? (1 Peter iii. 7.) 
 
 God used this severe lesson for permanent blessing to 
 George Miiller. 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.) 
 
 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. Miiller 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. 
 
 The principle of committing future wants to the Lord's 
 care, thus acted upon at this time, he and his wife con- 
 sistently followed so long as they lived and worked to- 
 gether. Experience confirmed them in the conviction 
 that a life of trust forbids laying up treasures against un- 
 
76 
 
 Oooino Mtlllor ol" Bristol 
 
 forescvn nooils, s^iin'c \\'ill\ Ood iiii I'Dieriiciirt/ I's iiiifoirsoon 
 (iiiil III) wani iniproriili'd for: iiiul llo Miny Ih' mh implioidl)! 
 Ii'U.^I.ihI for ('xlniordiiini'.v iuhhIh iim I'or our coimium iliiily 
 bi'oad. 
 
 Yvi. iiiKilJior law. kiiuli'i'd Id ilvitt iiiid dhoroiighl.v iii- 
 wroufi'hl, itild Mr. Miilli'r'H Imbil. of life, wim iicivr to mih 
 Inirl tli'bl. wlu'Llicr for |KM'S(iiiid piu'iiiiscM or llm Ijord's 
 work. 'Phis uuilioi- wiiH HoMlcul on H('ri|il.unil K'''>i"idH oiu'(> 
 for all (K'oiiuum xiii. 8), and ho and his wil'o dcloriuiiuul 
 if lu'i'tl ho 1.0 sull'or slarvaliioii riiUii'r than lo hii^y anyihiiij;' 
 wilhoidi payiii^' for il, wIumi hoiif^'l\l.. Thus I hoy always 
 kiu>\v how iiiiioh ihcy had l.o hii.y witih, and wlial I. hoy had 
 h'l'l, io ji'ivo l,o oUiors or uso I'oi' others' wanl.s. 
 
 'Phoro was .Y(ii aiiol.lior law of lifo oarly I'raMUMl 
 iiiLo Mr. lliillor's iioi'soiial dooalojiMio. Ilo rojrardod any 
 itioncy \vlii(di wn,s in his liaiids (ilrcntly di'sitjiitili'd far, or 
 apprdjiriiiliul lo, a, sjiiri/ir v/.sr, ns )i>al. his lo ii.w, awn Icm- 
 porarihj, [or iiiiij ollirr itiuls. 'Phus, IJioii^'h lio was ol'l.on 
 rcdii('(Hl to Uio lowcsli poinl of l,(>inporaJ sii()|di(iH, ho l,ook 
 no aoconiil, ol' any siioh I'linds sol, aparl, I'oi' ol.hor outliiyH 
 or diu! for olJior piii'poS(^s. 'Phoiisaiids of Uiiios ho wHB 
 ill slrails whcM'o such divoi'sioii of funds I'uv a Iriinc siM'inod 
 Uio oidy and IJic oasy way oul-, huL whoi'o IJiis woidil only 
 lia,V(^ lod liini inLo now (^iiihari'nssinonLs. 'Phis princdpio, 
 inLollif^'onlly adopl.od, was lirnily adhorod l,o, 1,1ml, wluil, 
 pi'opcrly liuloiif^'S 1.0 a, pa;ii,ii'.iihir hi'anch of w<irk, (ir has 
 hiHiii alroady [Hit nsido for a oc^rl.ain uso, ov(ui l.hoiifj;h yol, 
 in hand, is iiol, l.o ho rockoiiod on as a.vailablo for any oLIior 
 Tuidd, hovvov(H' pr(^ssin(,'. 'Prusl- in Ood iiuplios siudi knowl- 
 odf^'o on llis pa.i'l, of I. ho ('xa(d, ('ir<'.iinisl.a,n('os l.lial, Ilo will 
 not oonsl.rain us l.o any such inisa.ppi'<ipriiil,ion. MinLakoH, 
 iiiosl. serious a.rul fatal, ha.vu (^onui from luck of (Muiscionoo 
 as wi'll as <d' faiUi in suoh o.vifronoios 'di'a,winf,' on ono 
 lund Lo uiool, Llio oviu'dnui/rhL n|)ou aiioUiur, liopiiifj; n,ftoi'- 
 
The Pulpit and the Pastorate "]"] 
 
 ward 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 ex- 
 penses until public confidence had been almost hopelessly 
 impaired. 
 
 Thus a life of faiih must be no less a life of conscience. 
 Faith and trust in God, and truth and faithfulness toward 
 man, walked side by side in this life-journey in unbroken 
 agreement. 
 
CHAPTEB YI 
 
 "the XAERAirTE OF THE L0BD"S DEAT.TXGS" 
 
 Thts^gs -srhich are sacred forttid even a careless touclL 
 The record written by George iliiller of the Lord's deal- 
 ings reads. especiaHv in parts, almost lite an inspired 
 wTiting. because it is sim ply the tracing of divine jnidanee 
 in a human life — ^not this mans own workrng •••r planning, 
 suffering or serving, bnt the Lyrd's deaJings with him and 
 workings throngh him. 
 
 It reminds ns of that c-onspicuons passage in the Acts 
 
 of the Apostles where, within the compass of twenty verses. 
 
 God is fifteen time? pnt boldly forward as the one Actor 
 
 in all events. Panl and Barnabas rehearsed, in the ears of 
 
 the chttrch at Antioch, and afterward at Jerusalem, not 
 
 what thtu had done for the Lord, bnt all that He had done 
 
 icith them, and how He had opened the door of faith unto 
 
 the (rentiles ; what miracles and wonders Gi'd had irrougl: 
 
 among the Gentiles by them. And. in the same spirit. 
 
 Peter before the conned emphasizes how God had made 
 
 choice of his month, as that whereby the GentUes 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 G>:d 
 
 had risifed the Gentiles to fair out of them a people for 
 
 Hi.^ name; and concludes by two quotations or adaptations 
 
"The Narrative of the Lord's Dealings" 79 
 
 from the Old Testament, ^vhicli fitly sum up the whole 
 matter : 
 
 •■ The Lord teho doeth oS these things."' 
 
 " Known unto God are aU His works from the beginning 
 of the world."' (Acts xir. ?? to xt. IS.) 
 
 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. Xo twenty verses in the 
 word of God contain more emphatic and repeated lessons 
 on man's insufficiency and nothingness, and God's all-s\d£- 
 cienoy and almightiness. It was God that wrought upon 
 man throiigh 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 oiit a people for His name, purifying 
 hearts and bearing them witness ; it was He and He alone 
 who did all these wondroiis things, and aoeording to His 
 knowledge and plan of what He would uo, from the be- 
 ginning. 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 : '' The Lo-rd's dealings 
 urith Georije MiUUr " f 
 
 At this narratiTe or journal, as a whole, we can only 
 rapidly glance. In this shorter aeeotint, purposely con- 
 densed 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 wiU read that more minute accoimt it is accessible at a 
 low rate,* and is strongly recommended for careful and 
 
 * Five volumes at 16s, Publisiied by Jas. Xisbet & Co., London. 
 With subsequent Annual Reports at 3d. eacli. 
 
8o George M tiller of Bristol 
 
 leisurely peruwal. But for ilic j)ri'Sf'iit purpose the lifi:- 
 Btory, as found in these iin^cK, takes both a brielVi- juid :i 
 different form. 
 
 The journal is Jiii'f^'cly coinpoi-Kvd of, coiidenscMl from, 
 and then siippleiiiciited hy, imiuial reports of the work, 
 and naturiilly and iirco.ssnrily inelinhfs, nol- only flioiiMiinds 
 -of little d(!tiiils, but imioli iiiovitahio ropctitioii year by 
 year, bceausc each new report was likely to fall into the 
 hands (d' some who had never read r(!f)orts of Llie |ir(;vioiis 
 ytiurs. The doKire and deKiK'n of tills hi-lid'er irieinoir is to 
 present the salient [)olnt8 of the narrative, to review llu! 
 whole life-story as frotn the great Kiiinrnits or outlooks 
 found in this remarkable Journal ; so IJiat, like l.lu^ oh- 
 server who from some hif^di moiinfai/i-fKia.k looks toward 
 the different points of the compass, and thus j^^ets a ra[)iil, 
 impressive, comparative, and comprehensive view of the 
 whole lari'dseape, the reaider may, as at a, f(lanee, iakr! in 
 those marked features of this godly man's character and ca- 
 reer which incite lo new and advane.e ste[)s in faith and 
 holy living. Some few characteristic entries in the journal 
 will find here a place; others, only In sidistance; while; of 
 1,lic bulk of them it will be sufficient to give a, general sur- 
 vey, classifying the leading facts, and under each class giv- 
 ing a few repr(*entative exarnfiles and illiislTations. 
 
 Looking at this narrativr; as a whole, certain prominent 
 peculiarities must be earefnlly not,e(I. We have jiere a 
 record and revelation of seven conspicuous e,vperiene<is: 
 
 ]. An experience; of fi'(;(|uent and at, times prolonged 
 -finaiiclfil slra.ih. 
 
 The money in lianil foi- personal neefls,arid forttie needs 
 of hundreds and thousands of orphans, and for the vaiaoiis 
 branches of the work of the Heriptiiral Kriov/ledge Institu- 
 tion, was often reduee-d to a single po'iinil, or even pimni/. 
 and sometimes to nolluwj. There was therefore a neces- 
 
" The Narrative of the Lord's Dealings" 8i 
 
 sity 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, 
 hour to hour! Faith was thus kept in lively exercise and 
 under perpetual training. 
 
 2. An experience of the unchanging faithfulness of the 
 Father-God. 
 
 The straits were long and trying, but never was there 
 one case of failure to receive help; never a meal-time 
 M'ithout at least a frugal meal, never a want or a crisis 
 unmet by divine supply and support. Mr. Miiller 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 for one more meal, 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. 
 
 3. An experience of the working of God upon the 
 minds, hearts, and consciences of contributors to the worh. 
 
 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 ad- 
 justing 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. 
 Miiller 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 
 
82 George Miiller of Bristol 
 
 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. 
 
 4. An experience of habitual hanging upon the unseen 
 God and nothing else. 
 
 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 no direct appeal for aid. At one time, 
 and that of great need, ilr. Jliiller felt led to withhold the 
 usual annual statement, lest some might construe the ac- 
 count 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. 
 
 5. An experience of conscientious care in accepting and 
 using gifts. 
 
 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 
 
 * For example, Vol. II, 102, records tliat the report given is for 
 1846-184S, 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 neeil," " in these days of straitness." Mr. Wright thinks 
 that on tlutt wry account Mr. Jlilller did not publish the report for 
 1847. 
 
The Narrative of the Lord's Dealinars 
 
 &-^ 
 
 hindered its free use for God ; if it was designated for 
 endowment purposes or as a provision for ilr. Miiller'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 
 decHned 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. 
 
 6. An experience of extreme caution lest there should 
 be even a careless 'betrayal of the fact of pressing need, to 
 the outside pubUe. 
 
 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 
 inteUigentiy. 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. 
 
 1. An experience of growing boldness of faith in nslcing 
 and trusting for great things. 
 
 As faith was exercised it was energized, so that it be- 
 came 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 venture to cast himself on 
 God for provision for two thousand children and an annual 
 outlay of at least twenty-five thousand pounds for them 
 
84 George Miiller of Bristol 
 
 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 pormds a year. Only liy nsiiig faith are v/e kept 
 from practically losinr/ it, and, on the contrary, to use faith 
 is to lose the unbelief that hinders God's mighty acts. 
 
 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 scru- 
 pulous and punctilious exactness the innumerable details 
 of Jlr. Mviller's lon.o- experience as a fn-worker 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 ste^vard toward God; but he would not 
 in such case have been an equally faithful trustee toward 
 man. 
 
 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, thoy not only act unwisoly, 
 but, by their course, lend sanction to others with whom 
 such irresponsible action is a cloak for systematic fraud. 
 Mr. Miiller's whole career is the more without fault be- 
 cause in this respect his administration of his great trust 
 challenges the closest investigation. 
 
 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 con- 
 found 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, 
 
' The Narrative of the Lord's Dealitigfs " 8 
 
 & 
 
 or thinks they are here arrayed in a deceptive garb or 
 invested with an imaginative halo, he is hereby inyited 
 to examine for himself the singularly minute records 
 which George Miiller 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 chal- 
 lenge 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 mathe- 
 matical 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 abso- 
 lute, naked truth. 
 
 One caution should, like Habakkuk's gospel message — 
 "The jn-i shall live by his faith"' — ^be written large an-d 
 plain so that even a cursory glance may take it in. Let 
 no one ascribe to G-eorge Miiller such a miraculous gift of 
 faith 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 a==aults, and we find him making frequent con- 
 fession 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 unworthi- 
 ness 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.* 
 
 * 1 Cflr. xii. 1-10. 
 
86 George Miillcr of Hrislol 
 
 'To tliose wild lliinl\ llinl iin niiin ciin wield such piiwcr 
 in ]irnyci' or live such ii lil'c nl' I'nilh who iw no! nn excep- 
 tion lo ceniiMDii uioriiil rrnillies, il will be helpful to liud 
 in this very jeunml thnl is so iif^iilcd up with the i-ecords 
 of (lod's ,noo(hu'ss, I'lu' diirk shiulows of conscioilH shl niul 
 nuill,. \i]\v\\ in Ihemidsl ol' alKumilin!'; luercies iind ildcr- 
 pnsilions he siill'ered I'roin leiuplid ions lo disli'iist ami dis- 
 (ihediencc, nnd soinclinu's had to nuxil'll Iheir jiowcr over 
 him, as when once ho I'oimd hinisell' inwardly coniplainin;;' 
 id' Ihe eidd ie^' of niullon which foi'med Ihe slaple of his 
 Sunday diunei- ! We discover as we read tluil, we arn 
 coiMinuninj;' with a man who was not only (d' like pas- 
 sions with oui'S("lvcs, hut, who felt hinisell' I'athci' inoi'e 
 than most other's suhjccL lo Ihe sway of e\'il, and necdiuf^ 
 Ihererorc a special kecpiut;' ])0\vcr. Scarce liad lie slai'leil 
 njion his new path of entire dependence on (iod, when 
 ho coiiresseil himself "so sinful" as for some l,iuie lo 
 entertain the t;hou,i,dd. Iliat "it woulil Ih! of no use l<i 
 l,riist in l,li(^ Ijoi'd in this way," and fcarinp; that he had 
 jiorhaps jrone already too far in this direetion in havinf,' 
 committed himself lo such a course.* Ti'iU', this tempta- 
 tion was speedily overcome and Satan confounded ; hut 
 J'roni time to time similar licry darts U'crc hurlcil at him 
 which had to ho (pienchi'd hy th(! same shield of faith. 
 Never, to the last houi' of life, ciurld he ti'usl. hiiuself, or 
 for one moment relax his hold on (lod, and ncf^dcet the 
 word of (Jod anil pi'iiyer, without I'ullinff iid-o siii. 'i'lic 
 'old, man ' of sin always continued too stron;^' for d'corin' 
 Miillcr alone, nnd Ihe lon;.'cr he lived a 'life of trust' 
 the less was his I rust placed npon himself. 
 
 Another fat't that ;^'rowH more cimspiciioiis with I-In^ 
 perusal of every new paf!;e in ids JoiiriiaJ is that in things 
 
 * Vol. 1 . 78. 
 
"The Narrative of the Lord's Dealings" 8y 
 
 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. 
 
 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. 
 
 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 ac- 
 
 « Vol. I. 74. 
 
88 Georare Muller of Bristol 
 
 'fc> 
 
 comi^anying Hia ^70^d with power, in accordance with 
 that positive and unequivocal promise in Isaiah Iv. 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 man's word, however wise, important, 
 or sincere, but of Ood's 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 accom- 
 plish His pleasure and its divine errand, whatever be its 
 apparent failure at the time. Mr. Miiller, 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 ser- 
 vices: 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. Miiller 
 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 conspicu.- 
 ously sealed it with blessing. 
 
 His journal makes very frequent reference to the 
 physical weakness and disability from which he suffered. 
 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. 
 
 For example, early in 18.32 he broke a blood-vessel in 
 
"The Narrative of the Lord's Dealings" 89 
 
 the stomaeli and lost much hlood by the hemorrhage. 
 The very day following was the Lord's day, and four out- 
 side preaching stationi? 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 hi m the faith. He preached both after- 
 noon and evening, growing stronger rather than weaker 
 with each effort, and suffering from no reaction afterward. 
 
 In reading ilr. ]^Iiiller'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 com- 
 mend, while others will, perhaps, condemn. He himself 
 qualifies this entry in his jotirnal with a wholesome caution 
 that no reader should in such a matter follow his example, 
 who lias not faith given him; 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 gift 
 of faith and the grace of faith, which deserves careful con- 
 sideration. 
 
 He observed that repeatedly lie prayed with the sick 
 till they were restored, he asl'ing unconditionally for the 
 ilessing of hodihj health, a thing which, he says, later on, he 
 could not have done. Almost always iu such cases the 
 petition was granted, yet in some instances not. Once, 
 in his own case, as early as 1829, he had been healed 
 
go George Miiller of Bristol 
 
 of a bodily infirmity of long standing, and wliich never 
 returned. Yet this same man of God subsequently suf- 
 fered 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. 
 
 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 gift of faith is exercised, whenever we 
 " do or believe a thing where the not doing or not believ- 
 ing would iiol ))e sin"; but the grace of faith, "where we 
 do or believe what not to do or believe would 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. 
 
 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-examina- 
 tion, will be found most stimulating to faith, though often 
 most humiliating by reason of the conscious contrast sug- 
 gested 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 
 
"The Narrative of the Lord's Dealings" 91 
 
 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, de- 
 struction to service if not to character. And, therefore, 
 so far is the writer of this memoir from desiring to dis- 
 place 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 vigi- 
 lance, conduct and even motive are watched and weighed 
 in God's own balances. 
 
 To sum up very briefly the impression made by the 
 close perusal of this whole narrative with the supple- 
 mentary annual reports, it is simply this : Coxfidexce 
 IN God. 
 
 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 first." * George Miiller 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 per- 
 fectly sure that He could be safely trusted who, "if we 
 believe not, yet abideth faithful : He cannot deny Him- 
 self." t God has not only spoken, but sworn; 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 liar and, worse still, 
 
 * Faitk's Miracles, p. 43. -f 3 Timothy ii. 13. 
 
92 George Milller of Bristol 
 
 a perjurer, for it accounts Him as not only false to His 
 Avord, but to His oath. George Miillcr believeil, and be- 
 cause he believed, prayed ; and prayinj,'. expected; and ex- 
 pecting, received. Blessed is he that believes, for there 
 shall be a performance of those things which are spoken 
 of the Lord. 
 
CHAPTEE Vn 
 
 LED OF GOD IXTO A NEW SPHERE 
 
 If much hangs and turns upon the choice of the work 
 we are to do and the field where we are to do it, it must 
 not be forgotten how much also depends on the time when 
 it is undertaken, the way in which it is performed, and 
 the associates in the labour. In all these matters the true 
 workman will wait for the Mastei-'s beck, glance, or signal, 
 before a step is taken. 
 
 TVe have come now to a new fork in the road where the 
 path ahead begias to be more plain. The future and per- 
 manent centre of his life-work is at this point clearly in- 
 dicated to God's servant by divine leading. 
 
 In March, 1832, his friend Mr. Henry Craik left Shal- 
 don for four weeks of labour in Bristol^ where Mr. Miiller'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 hiTn 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 
 
 93 
 
91 George Muller of Bristol 
 
 go about :igiiii) from jilmic! to plniu', necking (iH]i(!(;iiiJIy to 
 bring believers to a fuller trust in Ond iind a ilrcjKii- sunHG 
 of liis fa i til I'll 1 1 less, and In a, mnrc thornngli Hcarcli inin 
 His word. His inclinalion Id hucIi il,in(!rani work wan 
 strengtlicncd by the I'ai'l. tlia.l- oulKidi: of 'J\jignnioutli 
 his preaching lioth gavi' him much mori! enjoyment and 
 sense of power, and di'ew more hearers. 
 
 On April 13th a Icl.loi- frcnn Mr. (Iraik, inviiing Mr. 
 Muller to join in his wmlc at I'.i'islol, made sncli an itn- 
 pression on his mind thai lie began pi-ayerfully i-o con- 
 sider whether it was not Ood's call, and wliel.her a liehl 
 more suited to his gifts was not opening to him. The 
 following Lord's day, preaching on I, he Jvord's coming, 
 he referred to the elTec!!, of IJiis IiIcsscmI ho|)e in impelling 
 God's nieHsengcr to hear witness more widely aiul from 
 place to p]af:e, ami i'emind<:d the hi'c^thron IJiaJ, he had re- 
 fused to bind himself lo ahide with them Idiat he might 
 al any moinenl, he I'rcf! to follow the divin(! leading else- 
 where. 
 
 On April 20th Mr. MLiller hd't for I'.ristid. On Ihc jour- 
 ney he was dumb, having no liberty in speaking for (iiirist 
 or even in giving a,way fra.i'ls, and. this led hirn lo rellec^f. 
 ]le saw that the so-called ' work of the Lord ' hail templed 
 him to substiiiite adion for ni.cdilalioii, and roinmn.ii.iun. 
 He had ncglcel,ed that ' sfill hour' with (iod which sup 
 plies to s|)iritual life alike its breath and its bread. No 
 lesson is more irnporlant for us to lca,rn, yet how slow arc 
 we to learn it : that for the lack of hahifiud heasons sel, 
 apart for devout medil.alion upon the word of (Jod ami 
 for firayer, nothing else will eompensaJc. 
 
 We are prone to tfiink, for example, thai, convcr/c wit,h 
 ('hristian hrethi-cn, and llic general rtuind of (Jliristian 
 activity, especially when we are much bu:.icd with [ire.aeh- 
 ing the Word and visits to irujuirin;' or needy souls, mal.c 
 
Led of God into a New Sphere 95 
 
 up for the loss of aloneness with G'.d in the secret place. 
 We hurry to a public service with but a few minutes of pri- 
 vate 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 com- 
 munion 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 ! 
 
 Here Mr. Miiller had the grace to detect one of the fore- 
 most 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 be- 
 liever 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 prescrip- 
 tion 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 : for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and 
 then thou shalt have good success." (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 whatsoever he doeth shall pros[ier:' Here 
 
g6 George M tiller of Bristol 
 
 the devout meditative student of tlie 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 whatsoever he doeth prospers ! More than a 
 thousand years pass away, and, before the New Testament 
 is sealed ujj as complete, once more the Spirit bears essen- 
 tially the same blessed witness. " Whoso looketh into the 
 perfect law of liberty and continueth " (i.e. continueth look- 
 ing — meditating on what he there beholds, lest he forget 
 the impression received through the mirror of the Word), 
 " this man shall he Messed in his deed." (James i. 35.) 
 
 Here then we have a threefold witness to the secret of 
 true prosperity and unmingled blessing : devout medita- 
 tion 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 for any cause 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 for God must first be a worker with 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 tal-e time to be alone with His word and His 
 Spirit, that we may truly meet God, and understand His 
 will aTid the revelation of Himself. 
 
 If we seek the secrets of the life George Miiller 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 grov,'th in grace and power in service. 
 
Led of God into a New Sphere 97 
 
 Goers 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 Hira known ; and how is 
 this possible so long as we neglect the very means He has 
 chosen for conveying to ns that knowledge ! Even Cixrist, 
 the Living "Word, is to be found enshrined in the written 
 word. Our knowledge of Chriit is dependent upon our 
 acquaintance with the Holy Scriptures, which are the re- 
 tleetion of His character and glory — ^the firmament across 
 the expanse of which He moves as the Sun of righteous- 
 ness. 
 
 On April 22. 1S32. George MiUler first stood in the pul- 
 pit 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 abnost 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 woidd radiate to the earth's 
 ends, and how. even after his departure, he should con- 
 tinue 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 slirank 
 back in awe and wonder from a responsibility and an op- 
 portunity so vast and overwhelming ! 
 
 In the afternoon of this first Saljbath he preached at 
 Pithay Chapel a sermon conspicuously owned of God. 
 Among others converted by it was a young man, a notori- 
 ous drunkard. And, before the sun had set, Mr. iliiller, 
 who in the evening heard ilr. 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 
 
98 George MilUer of Bristol 
 
 judgment was liable to be unduly biassed when subject to 
 the pressure of personal urgency, and so they determined 
 to return to their respective iields 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. 
 
 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 39th had been so 
 thronged that many went away for lack of room. 
 
 Mr. Miiller found opportunity for the exercise of hu- 
 mility, 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 en- 
 abled 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. Miiller 
 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 Bajotist, 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. Miiller's in- 
 fluence was even deeper and wider. As Henry Craik died 
 in 1866, his own work reached through a much longer 
 
Led of God into a New Sphere 99 
 
 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 howed 
 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. 
 
 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. Miiller 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 ac- 
 ceded 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 ac- 
 cording to the Lord's will ; that they should not be under 
 bondage to any rules among them; that pew-rents should he 
 done away with; and that they should, as in Devonshire, 
 looh to the Lord to supply all temporal wants through the 
 voluntary offerings of those to whom they ministered. 
 
 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. 
 
 August 13, 1832, was a memorable day. On that eve- 
 ning at Bethesda Chapel Mr. Miiller, Mr. Craik, one other 
 brother, and four sisters — only seven in all — sat down to- 
 gether, uniting in church fellowship " without any rules, — 
 desiring to act only as the Lord should be pleased to give light 
 through His word." 
 
lOO George MUllcr of Bristol 
 
 This is a very slmrt and simple cnlry in Mr. i\Iiillci''H 
 journal, but it luis jriost Bolcmn signiliciuicc J I records 
 what was to him sqtariition lo IIk^ halliiwcd work of l)iiild- 
 ing up a simple apostolic clmr-eli, with no imiiiual of guid- 
 ance lait the New 'I'estanient; ami in faet it iiiiriKJ^iK'es us 
 to I'ho THIRD I'niuoD of hjs life, when he enliTed I'ully upon 
 tJio woi-k to which (Jod had set him apart. 'I'he I'lirthei' 
 steps now followed in rajiid sueeosaion. Ood having j)re- 
 pared the workman and gathered the matcirial, the struc- 
 ture went on quietly and rapidily until tiie life'-work was 
 complete. 
 
 Cholera was at this time raging in Bristol. '^Phis tiTri- 
 blc 'scourge of dlod ' first afipearc^d about the middli! of 
 July and continued for three months, prayer-meetings be- 
 ing held often, and for a tim'^ daily, to plead for tlu; re- 
 moval of this visitation. I)e;iih stalked abroad, the knell 
 of funeral-bells almost constantly sounding, and much so- 
 lemnity hanging like a. darl< jiall over (he community. Of 
 course many visits to the sick, dying, and afflicted became 
 necessary, but it is remarkahle that, among all the children 
 of fjod among whom Mr. Midler and Mr. firaik laboured, 
 but one died of this disease. 
 
 In the midst of all this gloom and sorrow of a fatal epi- 
 demic, a little da.ugld.er was born to Mr. and Mrs. Miiller 
 September 17, 1832. About her name, Lydia, sweet fra- 
 grance lingers, for she became one of Ood's fuirest 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 Oofl's deeree be cfltablished to Ijc a 
 prophet of the Lord, or be set apart to some peculiar 
 sphere of service, as in the ease of ani'fher Lydia, whose 
 heart the Lord opened and whom He called to be the 
 nueleus of the first Christian church in Europe. 
 
 Mr. ]\Iiiller s unfeigned humility, and the docility that 
 
Led of God into a New Sphere loi 
 
 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 fre- 
 quent appeals to this class. From this time on, Mr. Miil- 
 ler'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. Miiller 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 blow- 
 eth 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 
 
I02 George Miiller of Bristol 
 
 who seeks to know what particular implement or instru- 
 ment 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.) 
 
 This expression, found in Paul's second letter to Tim- 
 othy, is a very peculiar one {op9oTopiovvra rov Xoyov 
 rrji aX-qdeiai). It seems to be nearly equivalent to the 
 Latin phrase tkU viam secare — to cut a straight road 
 — 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 argu- 
 ment, and seek by God's help to find the shortest, straight- 
 est, 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 surveys his territory 
 and lays out his route, 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. 
 
 Early in the year 1833, letters from missionaries in Bag- 
 dad urged Messrs. Miiller 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 not to go — a choice 
 never regretted, and which is here recorded only as part 
 
MhMOitiAi, STA'ri;K <>^ A. H. I'I!Am:kk, IIai,i,k, 
 
Led of God into a New Sphere 103 
 
 of a complete biography, and as illustrating the manner in 
 which each new call for service was weighed and decided. 
 
 AYe now reach another staj^e of ilr. Miillers 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 instru- 
 ment in a kindred service, and to mould even the methods 
 of his philanthropy, a brief sketcli of Francke's career may 
 be helpful. 
 
 August H. Francke was ^iliiller's fellow countryman. 
 About 1696, at Halle in Prussia, he had commenced the 
 largest enterprise for poor children then existing iq the 
 world. He trusted ia God, and He whom he trusted did 
 not fail him, but helped him throughout abundantly. 
 
 The institutions, which resembled rather a large street 
 than a building, were erected, and ia 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-ia-law became the director. Two hundred 
 years have passed, and these Orphan Houses are still ia 
 existence, serviag their noble purpose. 
 
 It is needful only to look at these facts and compare 
 with Francke's work in Halle George iliiller'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, llr. Miiller 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 ; per- 
 sonally supervised the work for over sixty years — twice 
 as long a period as that of Francke's personal manage- 
 
I04 George MuUer of Bristol 
 
 ment, — 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 enter- 
 prise like Francke in dependence on God alone, the 
 founder of the Bristol Orphan Houses trusted from first to 
 last only in Him. 
 
 It is Tery noticeable how, when God is preparing a work- 
 man 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 Francke's life and work nat- 
 urally led this man who was hungering for a wider useful- 
 ness 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. 
 
 As early as June 13, 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, find tihen, 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. Un- 
 burdening 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. 
 
 Unexpected obstacles, however, prevented the carrying 
 
Led of God into a New Sphere 105 
 
 out of this plan. The work already pressing upon Mr. 
 Miiller 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 central thought and aim were 
 never lost sight of : God had planted a seed in the soil 
 of Mr. Miiller's heart, presently to spring up in the orphan 
 work, and in the Scriptural Knowledge Institution with its 
 many branches and far-reaching fruits. 
 
 From time to time a backward glance over the Lord's 
 dealings encouraged his heart, as he looked forward to un- 
 known 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 re- 
 ceived 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 
 
 * Vol. I. 105. 
 
io6 George Miiller of Bristol 
 
 which he hiul thus round iriic fiT tho oarly years (if his 
 life of trust were marked and magnified in all his after- 
 experience, and the lessons learned in these first I'our years 
 prepared him for others taught in the same school of God 
 and under the same Teaelier. 
 
 Thus Uod 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 iii'e now to se(^ to wlial- purposes 
 of world-wide userulness that earth(;n vessel was to be put, 
 and how conspicuously the excellency of the power was to 
 be of God and not of man. 
 
CHAPTEE VIII 
 
 A TEEE OF god's OWN PLANTING 
 
 The time was now fully come when the divine Hus- 
 bandman was to glorify Himself by a product of His own 
 husbandry in the soil of Bristol. 
 
 On February 30, 1834, George Miiller was led of God 
 to sow the seed of what ultimately developed into a great 
 means of good, known as " The Scriptural Knowledge In- 
 stitution, 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. 
 
 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. Miiller 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 
 csfra-scriptural, if not decidedly anti-scriptural, and these 
 they felt constrained to avoid. 
 
 For example, they felt that the end proposed by such 
 
 I07 
 
io8 George M tiller of Bristol 
 
 organizations, namely, the conversion of the world in this 
 dispensation, was not justified by the Word, which every- 
 where represents this as the age of the outgathering of the 
 church from the world, and not the ingathering of the world 
 into the church. To set such an end before themselves 
 as the world's conversion would therefore not only be un- 
 warranted 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. 
 
 Again, these existing societies semed to Mr. Miiller and 
 Mr. Craik to sustain a u'rong relation to the world — mixed 
 up with it, instead of separate from it. Any one by pay- 
 ing 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 raise money, such as appeal- 
 ing for aid to unconverted persons, asking for donations 
 simply for money's sake and without regard to the charac- 
 ter of the donors or the manner in which the money was 
 obtained. The custom of seehing patronage from men of 
 the world and asking such to preside at public meetings, 
 and the habit of contracting debts, — these and some other 
 methods of management seemed so unscriptural and un- 
 spiritual 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. 
 
 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 v/ould give boldness in 
 l^rayer and confidence in labour. But they also desired the 
 work itself to be a witness to the living God, and a testi- 
 
A Tree of God's Own Planting 109 
 
 mony to belierers, by calling atTeniion to the objectionable 
 methods alreadT in use and encouraging all God^s true ser- 
 vants in adhering to the principles and practices which 
 He has sanctioned. 
 
 On March 5th at a public meeting a fonnal annotmee- 
 ment of the intention to found such an institution was 
 accompanied by a full statement of its ptirposes and prin- 
 ciples,* ia substance as follows : ' 
 
 1. Every believers duty and privilege is to help on the 
 catise and wort of Christ. 
 
 2. The patronage of the worid is not to be sought after, 
 depended upon, or countenanced. 
 
 3. Pecuniary aid, or help in managing or carrying on its 
 affairs, is not to be asked for or sought from tiiose who axe 
 not believers. 
 
 -i. Debts are not to be contracted or allowed for any 
 cause in the work of the Lord. 
 
 5. The standard of success is not to be a ntunerical or 
 financial standard. 
 
 6. All compromise of the truth or any measures that 
 impair testimony to God are to be avoided. 
 
 Thus the word of God was accepted as counsellor, and 
 all dependence was on God's blessing in answer to prayer. 
 
 The objects of the institution were likewise announced 
 as follows : 
 
 1. To establish or aid day-schools, Sunday-schools, and 
 adult-schools, taught and conducted only by believers and 
 on thoroughly scriptural principles. 
 
 2. To circulate the Holy Scriptures, wholly or in por- 
 tions, over the widest possible territory. 
 
 3. To aid missionary efforts and assist labourers, in the 
 Lord's vineyard anywhere, who are working upon a bib- 
 lical basis and looking only to the Lord for support. 
 
 * Appendix D. Jonrnal I. 107-113. 
 
1 lo George MuUer of Bristol 
 
 "^to 
 
 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. Miiller's journal : " IVe have only one shilling left." 
 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 ! 
 
 It was plainly God's purpose that, out of such abundance 
 of poverty, the riches of His liberality should be mani- 
 fested. 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 : 
 
 " 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.) 
 
 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 founda- 
 tion, 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-mde work 
 has been signally owned and blessed. 
 
 On llarch 19th Mrs. Miiller gave birth to a son, to the 
 great joy of his parents; and, after much jn-ayer, they gave 
 him the name Elijah — " My God is Jah " — the name it- 
 
A Tree of God's Own Planting 1 1 1 
 
 self being one of George Miiller's life-mottoes. Up to 
 this time the families of Mr. Miiller and Mr. Craik had 
 dwelt under one roof, but henceforth it was thought wise 
 that they should have separate lodgings. 
 
 When, at the close of 1834, the usual backward glance 
 was cast over the Lord's leadings and dealings, Mr. Miiller 
 gratefully recognized the divine goodness which had thus 
 helped him to start upon its career the work with its sev- 
 eral departments. Looking to the Lord alone for light and 
 help, he had laid the corner-stone of this " little insti- 
 tution '■ ; and in October, after only seven months' exist- 
 ence, it had already begun to be established. In the 
 Sunday-school there were one hundred and twenty chil- 
 dren ; 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-hearuig God, in direct response to the cry of need 
 and the supplication of faith. 
 
 Meanwhile another object was coming into greater prom- 
 inence before the mind and heart of Mr. Miiller: it was the 
 thought of making some permanent provision for fatherless 
 and motherless children. 
 
 An orphan boy who had been in the school had been 
 taken to the poorhouse, no longer able to attend on ac- 
 count of extreme poverty ; and this little incident set Mr. 
 Miiller 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 
 
112 George MiiUer of Bristol 
 
 to himself, God had set a seed in his Biml, nnd wns Avalrli- 
 ing and watering il. Tlu^ iik'ii of ii ilcliniln ov|ili,'in work 
 had taken root within liim, and, like any dihcr living gi'vni, 
 it was springing up and growing, lie know not how. As 
 yet it was only in the blade, hut in lime there would eome 
 the ear and the fidl-grown corn in the ear, the new Hv.n\ of 
 a larger harvest. 
 
 Meanwhile the church wmk growing. In Unwe two and 
 a halt years over two hundred ha,d heen a.ddecl, ina.king 
 the total mem1)erKhi]) two hundred and (illy-neven ; hut tlu^ 
 enlargement of i,lie work generally neither caused the 
 church life to he neglected nor any one dcpa,rtnu'nt of duty 
 to sufEer declension — a very notieeahle I'aet in this 
 history. 
 
 The point to which we ha.v(^ now come is one o[ doul)Ie 
 interest and importance, as at once a point of arrival ami 
 of departure. The work rif (lod's chosen servant may he 
 considered as fairly if not fully inauguiated in. tdl ils main 
 forms iif service. ITe himself is in his thirtieth y(>ar, the 
 age when his divine Master hegan to lie fully manifest to 
 the world and to go ahout doing good. 'Hirough the 
 preparatory steps and stages leading up to his eomph'le 
 mission and ministry to the church and the world, 01irisl,'H 
 humble disciple has likewise liecn brought, and his fuller 
 career of usefulness now begins, with the various agencies 
 in operiation whereby for more than threescore yea,rs ho 
 was to show both proof and cxamyile of what fJod can do 
 through one man who is willing to he simply the instru- 
 ment for Him to work with. Nothing is more marked in 
 George Miillcr, to the very day of his clealh, tluui i.his, I, hat 
 he so looked to Ciod and leaned on fJod that lie felt himself 
 to be nothing, and Ood everything. He sought to he always 
 and in. all things surrendered as a passive tool to the will 
 and hand of the Master Workman, 
 
A Tree of God's Own Planting 113 
 
 Tkis point of arrival and of departure is also a point of 
 prospect. Here, halting and lookiiig 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 spherfe 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 iliiller's 
 life, and to feel an awe of the God who thus chooses and 
 shapes, and then uses, His vessels of sei-vice. 
 
 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 iliilier for His 
 work. 
 
 1. First of all, his conversion. 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. 
 
 3. Xext, his missionary spirit. 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 ■nill. 
 
 3. Next, his renunciation of self. 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. 
 
 4. Then his taJcing' counsel of God. Early in his Chris- 
 tian 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. 
 
114 George Muller of Bristol 
 
 5. His humble and cTiildlike temper. 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. 
 
 6. His method of preaching. 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. 
 
 7. His cutting loose from man. Step by step, all de- 
 pendence 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. 
 
 8. His satisfaction in the Word. 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. 
 
 9. His thorough Biile study. Pew 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. 
 
 10. His freedom from human control. 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. 
 
 11. His use of opportunity. 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 qoustantly 
 to lead some one to Christ, 
 
A Tree of God's Own Planting 115 
 
 13. His release from civil obligations. 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. 
 
 13. His companions in service. Two most efficient co- 
 workers 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. 
 
 14. His view of the Lord's coming. 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 use- 
 fulness ; 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. 
 
 15. His waiting on God for a message. For every new 
 occasion he asked of Him a word in season ; then a mode 
 of treatment, and unction in delivery ; and, in godly sim- 
 plicity and sincerity, with the demonstration of the Spirit, 
 he aimed to reach the hearers. 
 
 16. His submission to the authority of the Word. In the 
 light of the holy oracles he reviewed all customs, however 
 ancient, and all traditions of men, however popular, sub- 
 mitted all opinions and practices to the test of Scripture, 
 and then, regardless of consequences, walked according to 
 any new lig'ht God gave him. 
 
 17. His pattern of church life. 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 Kew Testament models so far as they could be 
 clearly found in the Word, and thus reform all existing 
 abuses. 
 
ii6 George Miiller of Bristol 
 
 18. His stress upon voluntary offerings. While he cour- 
 ageously gave up all fixed salary for himself, he taught 
 that all the work of God should be maintained by the free- 
 will gifts of believers, and that pew-rents promote invid- 
 ious distinctions among saints. 
 
 19. His surrender of all earthly possessions. Both him- 
 self 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. 
 
 20. His habit of secret prayer. 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 vsdth God 
 and meditation on His word which are the support of all 
 spiritual life. 
 
 31. His jealousy of Ms testimony. In taking oversight of 
 a congregation he took care to guard himself from all 
 possible interference with fulness and freedom of utter- 
 ance and of service. He could not brook any restraints 
 upon his speech or action that might compromise his al- 
 legiance to the Lord or his fidelity to man. 
 
 33. His organizing of worh. 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 evangel- 
 ization and the Christian education of the young ; and to 
 guard the new Institution from all dependence on worldly 
 patronage, methods, or appeals. 
 
 33. His sympathy with orphans. 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 Prancke's work at 
 Halle suggested similar work at Bristol. 
 
A Tree of God's Own Planting 1 1 7 
 
 34. Beside all these steps of preparation, he had heen 
 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. 
 
 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 ser- 
 vant 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, tak- 
 ing 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 firm- 
 ness, 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 ! 
 
 To lose sight of this sovereign shaping Hand is to miss 
 one of the main lessons God means to teach us by George 
 Miiller'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, wtile this con- 
 viction 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 
 
ii^ Georg-e Mtiller of Bristol 
 
 '& 
 
 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." 
 
 There are several important episodes in Mr. Miiller'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. 
 
 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 Ger- 
 man brethren, and pleading for its unsaved millions. 
 
 When Mr. Mtiller went to the alien of&ce 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 con- 
 fessed to the officer his non-compliance, excusing himself 
 only on the ground of ignorance, and trusted all conse- 
 quences with God, who graciously inclined the officer to 
 pass over his non-compliance with the law. Another 
 hindrance which still interfered with obtaining his pass- 
 port, was also removed in answer to prayer ; so that at 
 the outset he was mu.ch impressed with the Lord's sanction 
 of his undertaking. 
 
 His sojourn abroad continued for nearly two months, 
 during which time he was at Paris, Strasburg, Basle, 
 Tubingen, Wtirtemberg, SchafEhausen, Stuttgart, Halle, 
 Sandersleben, Aschersleben, Heimersleben, Halberstadt, 
 and Hamburg. At Halle, calling on Dr. Tholuck after 
 
A Tree of God's Own Planting 119 
 
 seven years of separation, he was warmly welcomed and 
 constrained to lodge at his house. From Dr. Tholuek 
 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 ia 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. 
 
 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 wit- 
 ness to them also. But he was especially moved to pray 
 that he might by his wlwle 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 iniiuence than any mere 
 words : our walk counts for more than our talk, always. 
 
 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 ! " 
 
I20 George Miiller of Bristol 
 
 'fc> 
 
 On June 2?, 1S35, Mr. Miiller'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 gi-avo. Henceforth Mr. 
 and Mrs. Miiller were to have no son, and Lydia was to 
 remain their one and only child. 
 
 About the middle of the following month, Mr. iliiller 
 was quite disabled from work by weakness of the chest, 
 which made necessary rest and change. The Lord ten- 
 derly provided for his need throiigh those whose hearts He 
 touched, leading them to offer him and his -nife hospitali- 
 ties in the Isle of Wig-'ht, while at the same time money 
 was sen-t 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. 
 
 It was just before this, on the ninth of the same month, 
 that the reading of John Xeiiioii's Life stirred him vp to 
 hear a similar witness to the Lord's dealings witJi himself. 
 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 Miiller. Franke's life stirred his heart to begin 
 an orphan work, and Newton's life suggested the narra- 
 tive 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. 
 
CHAPTEE IX 
 
 THE GEOWTH OF GOD's OWN PLANT 
 
 The last great step of full entrance upon Mr. Miiller's 
 life-service was the founding of the orphan work, a step so 
 important and so prominent that even the lesser particulars 
 leading to it have a strange significance and fascination. 
 
 In the year 1835, on November 30th, 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 con- 
 viction 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. 
 
 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 under- 
 take. 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 hia 
 
122 George Muller of Bristol 
 
 Master's presence lo kH'L IVom tho pure ;<niin of a godly 
 I)ur])08c Lo K^or'dy IJini, all ilic cIkiJV oI Kellitth iirid ciii-nal 
 motives, to {,n;l, ri<l of every taint of worldly H(!ir-H(^cliiiig (»r 
 iiist of :i,|)|ihuiKc, iind to hrin^' («very tlioiiglit into ciijitivJty 
 to the Lord. !!<; (M)iiHl-;intly prcdied his own heart to dis- 
 cover tlie Huerel and Hid)tl(^ irnjiulwiK wliieli are unworthy 
 of a true servant ol' (jod; and, bolievJiif^' lliat a Kpiritually 
 niinded brother (d'ten helps one to :in insiKht into liis 
 own heait, he spoke often to liis brother Craik about his 
 plans, praying (j|od l,o use him as a nieans of expoHitif^ any 
 unworthy motive, or of KuggoHtinf? any seriptural objec- 
 tions to his proJe(:t. His honest a,im beirifr (,0 please (iod, 
 he yearned to know his own lieart, and welcomed any lif,dit 
 which revealed his real self and prevenl.(d a, mistake. 
 
 Mr. (Iraik so decidedly encouraf^riid him, ami further 
 prayer so confirrned pi'cvious impressions of (Jod's f^Miid- 
 arici:, that on l)cM:embi;r ;i, ISDf), thi; /i.rsl fiirnud xlep was 
 lakc/ii, in ordering printed hills announcing a, public meet- 
 ing for the week following, when the profiosaJ to o[icn 
 an orphan house was to be lai'd before briitlireri, and 
 further light to be sought unitedly as to the mind of the 
 Lord. 
 
 Three days later, m rca;ding the I'salms, In^ was struck 
 with these nine words : 
 
 " Ol'I'lW 'I'llY MOII'I'II WIDI';, 
 
 And I wimj vwa. i'i'." (I'Halm Ixxxi. 10.) 
 From that moment this ti'xt fornuMl one of his gi(;a,t lifc- 
 mottocH, and this promise; bccarm; a power in rr;oulding 
 all his work. Hitherto he had not prayed for the supply 
 of money or of helpers, hut he was now led to apply this 
 scripture confidenlly to this new plan, and at onc(; boldly 
 to ask for j)ri;m.isnn, iihiI, [or ow; IJi.oiiso.nd 'iiimmls in, rnonny, 
 and [or s'ldlal)!,/; Ii.nl.pc.rs lo LoJcc, chari/e of Uu; cliU.dri'/ii,. Two 
 days after, he rcceivi'd, in J'url;heranf;e of liis work, the flrd 
 
The Growth of God's Own Plant 123 
 
 gift of money — one shilling — and within two days more 
 the first donation in furniture — a large wardrobe. 
 
 The day came for the memorable public meeting — 
 December 9th. During the interval Satan had been busy 
 hurling at Mr. Miiller his fiery darts, and he was very low 
 in spirit. He was taking a step not to be retraced with- 
 out both much humiliation to himself and reproach to his 
 Master : and what if it were a misstep 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, an'd 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.* 
 
 At every critical point Mr. Miiller is entitled to ex- 
 plain 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 establisli- 
 ment : 
 
 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 ; 
 
 2. That the spiritual welfare of fatherless and mother- 
 less children may be promoted ; 
 
 # Appendix E. Nwrative 1: 143-146, 148-153, 154, 155. 
 
124 George Muller of Bristol 
 
 3. That their temporal good may be secured. 
 
 He had frequent reminders in his pastoral labours that 
 the faith of God's children greatly needed strengthening ; 
 ajid 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 Him- 
 self the Living God to all who put their trust in Him, 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 
 in ieing able to tale God at His word and rely upon it. 
 
 If he, a poor man, without ashing any one lut God, could 
 get means to carry on an orphan house, it would be seen 
 that God is faithful still and still heahs pbayek. 
 While the orphan work was to be a branch of the Scrip- 
 tural 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 shordd provide both money and helpers. 
 
 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. 
 
 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 faith- 
 fulness 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 
 
The Growth of God's Own Plant 125 
 
 time to time demand and receive a new divine solu- 
 tion. 
 
 A foremost need was that of able and suitable helpers, 
 which only God could supply. In order fully to carry out 
 his plans, Mr. Miiller 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 Sap- 
 phira, the whole church of Christ, one faithless, prayerless, 
 self-seeking assistant would prove not a helper but a hin- 
 derer 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. 
 
 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 : 
 
 " 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 what- 
 ever ; believing that, if it be the will of the Lord to em- 
 ploy us. He will supply all our need." 
 
 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. 
 
 The gifts whereby the work was supported need a 
 geparate review that many lessons of interest may find a 
 
126 George Mtiller of Bristol 
 
 record. But it should here be noted that, among the first 
 givers, was a poor needlewoman who brought the sur- 
 prising sum of one hundred pounds, the singular self-denial 
 and whole liearted giving exhibited making this a peculiar- 
 ly 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 some- 
 Lhings of this world, chose again the poor, weak, base, de- 
 spised nothings, that no flesh should glory in His presence. 
 
 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' or- 
 phans, as the most helplessly destitute. The building. 
 No. 6 Wilson Street, where Mr. Mtiller had himself lived 
 up to March 35th, 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 chil- 
 dren — both boys and girls. 
 
 We now retrace our steps a little to take special notice 
 of a fact in Mr. Miiller's experience which, in point of 
 time, belongs earlier. 
 
 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 ashed 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 au'd chagrin cannot easily be 
 
>~fe^->-»-- ^ 
 
 Thb First Orphan Houses (Rested), Bristol. 
 
The Growth of God's Own Plant 127 
 
 imagined, when the appoint'E-l time came for receiving 
 applications, February 3rd, and n<it one application teas 
 made.' ETervthing vrai ready except the orphans. This 
 led to the deepest hnmiUation before Goi All the 
 OTening of that daj he literally lay on iii; face, probing 
 hi; own heart to read his own moTives. and praying God 
 to search him and show him His mind. He vras thus 
 bronght =0 low that from his heart he conid say that, if 
 God wotdd thereby be more glorified, he wonld rejoice ia 
 the fact that his whole scheme -horJd come to noihing. 
 The very next day the first application was made for ad- 
 mission : on April 11th orphans began to be admitted ; 
 and by lEay ISth there were in the house twenty-six. 
 and more daily expected. Several applications being made 
 for children under seven, the conclusion vras reached that, 
 while vacancies were left, the limit of years at first fixed 
 shonld not be adhered to ; but every new step was talien 
 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 .Sjiirit. How often we forget that solemn 
 warning of the Holy Ghost, that even when our whole 
 work is not imperilled by a false Ijeginning. 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 ever;' man's work of what sort it 
 
 The first house had scarcely been opened for gixls when 
 the way for the second was made plaiu, suitable premises 
 being obtained at Xo. 1 in the same street, and a well-fitted 
 matron being given in answer to prayer. On Xovember 
 28th, some seven months after the ope ni ng 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 
 
128 Georore Muller of Bristol 
 
 ■& 
 
 to aceustom them to working for others and thus give a 
 proper dignity to what is sometimes despised as a degrad- 
 ing and menial form of service. By April 8, 1837, there 
 were in each house thirtj' orphan children. 
 
 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 <;.< good as done, 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 I.ord's Dealings was about 
 to issue from the press, he felt that it would much honour 
 the Master whom he served if the entire amount slioidd he 
 actually in hand hcfoi-e the Xarratirc slwnld appear, and 
 without ani/ one having been ashed to contribute. He there- 
 fore gave himself anew to pra_yer ; 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 eighteen months and fen days. 
 
 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. Diificulties interposed, but as usual dis- 
 appeared before the power of prayer. Meanwhile the 
 whole work of the Scriptural Knowledge Institution pros- 
 pered, 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. 
 
 George Miiller 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 Growth of God's Own Plant 129 
 
 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 dis- 
 tribute 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 ; notwith- 
 standing 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. 
 
 He afterward saw his doubts and misgivings to have 
 been a temptation of Satan, and never thenceforth ques- 
 tioned that in writing, printing, and distributing this and 
 the subsequent parts of the Narrative he had done the will 
 of riod. 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 here- 
 after abundantly appear. 
 
 It was in the year 1837 that Mr. Miiller, then in his 
 thirty-second year, felt with increasingly deep conviction 
 that to his own growth in grace, godliness, and power for 
 service two things were quite indispensable : first, more 
 retirement for secret communion with God, even at the ap- 
 parent expense of his public work ; and second, ampler 
 provision for the spiritual oversigM of the flock of God, the 
 
130 George Miiller of Bristol 
 
 total number of comnmnicants now being near to four 
 hundred. 
 
 The former of these convictions has an emphasis which 
 touches every believer's life at its vital centre. George 
 Miiller 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. Miiller 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 with- 
 out 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 Miiller ; 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. 
 
 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 
 
The Growth of God's Own Plant 131 
 
 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 pro- 
 vided, and the two churches so united as to lessen the 
 number of separate meetings. 
 
 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 .Miiller, 
 with meekness of spirit, at once relinquished all claim upon 
 the premises, being mindful of the masdm of Scripture : 
 " As much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men." 
 (Eom. 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. 
 
 Infirmity of the flesh again tried the faith and patience 
 of Mr. Miiller. 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. 
 
 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 
 
132 George MuUer of Bristol 
 
 undue earefulnesK is expended on the body, it is very hard 
 to avoid undue carelessness as to the soul ; and that it is 
 therefore muc'h 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 se- 
 ductive form of solicitude which watches every change of 
 symptoms and rushes after some new medical man or med- 
 ical remedy for all ailments real or fancied. 
 
 Mr. Miiller 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." 
 
 When the year 1838 opened, the weakness and distress 
 in the head still afflicted Mr. Miiller. 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 na- 
 ture 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 over- 
 come all tendencies to evil, but, if not eradicated, they are 
 
The Growth of God's Own Plant 133 
 
 counteracted by the Spirit's wondrous workiiig. Peter 
 found that so long as has eye was on His Master he could 
 walk on the water. There is always a tendency to sinlc, 
 and a holy walk with God, that defies the tendency down- 
 ward, is a divine art that can neither be learned nor prac- 
 tised except so long as we keep ' looking unto Jesus ' : 
 that look of faith counteracts the natural tendency to sink, 
 60 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. 
 
 Mr. Miiller'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 encour- 
 agement 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 cultivating 
 obedience and gratitude ; 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. 
 
 Three entries, found side by side in his journal, furnish 
 pertinent illu^ration and most wholesome instruction on 
 this point. One entry records his deep thankfulness to 
 God for the privilege of being permitted to be His instru- 
 ment in providing for homeless orphans, as he watches 
 the little girls, clad in clean warm garments, pass his win- 
 
134 George Miiller of Bristol 
 
 dow 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 con- 
 flict with loyalty to God. A third entry immediately fol- 
 lows which reyeals 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." 
 
 These three entries, put together, convey a lesson which 
 is not learned from either of them alone. Here is grati- 
 tude 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 hesi- 
 tates at once to abandon an evil or questionable practice, 
 and who, instead of extenuating a sin because it is com- 
 paratively small, promptly confesses and forsakes it, — such 
 a man will surely grow in Christlikeness. 
 
 We must exercise our spiritual senses if we are to dis- 
 cern 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 im- 
 mediate confession and increases strength for every new 
 conflict. Mr. Miiller cultivated habits of life which made 
 
The Growth of God's Own Plant 135 
 
 his whole nature more and more open to divine impression, 
 and so his sense of God became more and more keen and 
 constant. 
 
 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 im- 
 portance, 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 fellow- 
 ship in glorifying God Mr. Miiller set before him: and in 
 the lig^ht 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: 
 
 " 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.' " 
 
 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: 
 
 " Do not abhor us for Thy name's sake ! 
 Do not disgrace the throne of Thy glory ! " * 
 
 Looking back over the growth of the work at the end 
 * Comp. Numbers xiv. 13-19. 1 Kings lix. 10 ; Jer. xiv. 21. 
 
136 George MuUer of Bristol 
 
 of the year 1837, he puts on record the following facts amJ 
 figures: 
 
 Three orphan houses were now open with eighty-one 
 children, and nine helpers in charge of them. In the Sun- 
 day-schools there were three hundred and twenty, and in 
 the day-schools tlhree hundred and fifty ; and the Lord had 
 furnished over three hundred and seven pounds for tem- 
 poral supplies. 
 
 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 uninter- 
 rupted 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. Miiller 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 fellow- 
 ship, 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. 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 THE WOED OF GOD AND PEATEE 
 
 Habit both shows and makes 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 stndyiag. 
 
 Early in the year 1838, he began reading that third 
 biography which, with those of Erancke 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-Btory 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 to- 
 gether probably afEeeted the w'hole inward and outward 
 life of George Miiller 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 Franeke in- 
 cited to faith in prayer and to a work whose sole depend- 
 ence was on God. N"ewton'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 
 
 137 
 
138 George Miiller of Bristol 
 
 fidelity and eurnestuess iu preaching the Word, and to 
 greater confidence in the power of the anointing Spirit. 
 
 Particularly was this impression deeply made on Mr. 
 Miiller'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 unusual prayer fulness, and his habit of 
 reading the Bible on his hnees. 
 
 The great evangelist of the last century had learned that 
 first lesson in service, his own utter nothingness and help- 
 lessness: tihat he was nothing, and could do nothing, with- 
 out God. He could neither understand the Word for him- 
 self, nor translate it into his own life, nor apply it to others 
 with power, unless the Holy Spirit became to him both 
 insight and unction. Hence his success; he was filled with 
 the Spirit: and this alone accounts both for the quality and 
 the quantity of his labours. Pie 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 joumeyings 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 hun- 
 dred miles. When health declined, and he was put on ' short 
 allowance,' even that was one sermon each week-day and 
 three on Sunday. There was about his preaching, more- 
 over, 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. 
 
 The passion of George Miiller'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 compas- 
 
The Word of God and Prayer 139 
 
 sion 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 — he now hegan himself 
 to read the word of God upon his knees, and often found 
 for hours great blessing in such meditation and prayer 
 over a single psalm or chapter. 
 
 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. 
 
 First of all, this habit is a constant reminder and recog- 
 nition 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, with- 
 out a feeling of new reverence for the Scriptures, and 
 dependence on their Author for insight into their myster- 
 ies. 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. 
 
 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 chal- 
 lenges the conduct to appear for examination. The 
 prayer, whether spoken or unspoken, will inevitably be: 
 
 " Search me, 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, 34.) 
 
 The words thus reverently read will be translated into 
 the life and mould the character into the image of God. 
 
140 George Mtiller of Bristol 
 
 " 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." * 
 
 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 prom- 
 ises, 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 coun- 
 sel into supplication, with the assurance that we cannot he 
 ashing anything that if; not according to His will* for are 
 we not turning His own word into prayer ? 
 
 So Mr. Miiller 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. 
 
 The prayer habit, on the knees, with the Word open 
 before the disciple, has thus an advantage which it is diffi- 
 cult to put into words: It provides a sacred channel of 
 approach to God. The inspired Scriptures form the 
 
 * 3 Cor. iii. 18. f 1 John v. 18. 
 
The Word of God and Prayer 141 
 
 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 un- 
 speakably sacred as sudh. 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 f(Jr God to speak to us that we may know 
 how to speak to Him. 
 
 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 afiiietion, seen in the light of such 
 prayer — sprayer 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. 
 
 Subsequently, in reading Proverbs iii. 5-13, he was 
 
 » Psalm Ixiii. 4, 8, 11. 
 
142 George Miiller of Bristol 
 
 struck with the words, " Neither be weary of His correc- 
 tion." 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. 
 
 Frequent were the instances of the habit of translating 
 promises into prayers, immediately applying the truth 
 thus unveiled to him. For example, after prolonged medi- 
 tation over the iirst verse of Psalm Ixv, " Thou that 
 hearest prayer," 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 t*o 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 im- 
 portunity encouraged. 
 
 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 tihe petitions thus asked of Him.* 
 He writes: 
 
 " I believe He has heard me. I believe He will make 
 it manifest in His own good time that He has heard me; 
 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." 
 
 * 1 John V. 13. 
 
The Word of God and Prayer 1 43 
 
 The thoug'Mfui 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 stafE to stay his conscious feeble- 
 ness, that he may lean hard upon the strong Word which 
 cannot fail. He records the day when he thus takes this 
 stafE 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 dis- 
 honour such trust ? 
 
 It was in this devout reading on his knees that his 
 wihole soul was first deeply moved by that phrase, 
 
 " A EATHEE OB- THE FATHERLESS." (Psalm Ixviii. 5.) 
 
 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: 
 
 " They that know Thy name 
 Will put their trust in Thee." 
 
 These five words from the sixty-eighth psalm became an- 
 other of his life-texts, one of the foundation stones of all 
 his work for the fatherless. These are his own words: 
 
 " 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 sup- 
 plied." 
 
 This is translating the promises of God's word, not only 
 into praying, but into living, doing, serving. Blessed was 
 the hour w'hen Mr. Miiller learned that one of God's 
 chosen names is " the Father of the fatherless " ! 
 
144 George Miiller of Bristol 
 
 To sustain such burdens would have been quite impos- 
 sible but for faith in such a God. In reply to oft-repeated 
 remarks of visitors and observers who could not under- 
 stand the secret of his peace, or how any man who had so 
 many children to clothe and feed could carry such pros- 
 trating 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." * 
 
 In tens of thousands of cases this peculiar title of God, 
 chosen by Himself and by Himself declared, became to 
 Mr. Miiller a peculiar revelation of God, suited to his 
 special need. The natural inferences drawn from such 
 a title became powerful arguments in prayer, and re- 
 bukes 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 almig'hty 
 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 
 Miiller was bom, was the Father of the fatherless. 
 
 About this time we meet other signs of the conflict 
 going on in Mr. Miiller's 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 paradox 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 
 * Journal 1 : 285. 
 
The Word of God and Prayer 145 
 
 fatalism as so many do. He saw that God must be sot- 
 ereign in His gifts, and yet man must be free in his recep- 
 tion and rejection of them. He admitted the mystery 
 without attempting to reconcile the apparent contradic- 
 tion. 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. 
 
 Thus, at every step, George Miiller's life is full of both 
 encouragement and admonition to fellow disciples. While 
 away from Bristol he wrote in February, 1838, a tender let- 
 ter to the saints there, whidh is another revelation of the 
 man's heart. He makes grateful mention of the mercies of 
 God, to him, particularly His gentleness, long-sufEering, 
 and faithfulness and the lessons taught him through aiflie- 
 tion. 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 secret prayer, even when 
 reading, conversation, or prayer with others was a burden, 
 always irought relief to his head. 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 roof us in, 
 so that we cannot looh up." Mr. Miiller also gives a valu- 
 able 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 
 
146 George MilUer of Bristol 
 
 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. 
 
 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. 
 
 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. 
 
 On June 13, 1838, Mrs. Mliller 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 pro- 
 longed. 
 
 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. Miiller, 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. 
 Mliller 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 ! 
 
The Word of God and Prayer 147 
 
 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 ly the day and almost 
 by the hour 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. 
 Miiller, "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 
 THEKEOF." * He unhesitating'ly cast himself upon God, 
 and paid out the whole amount for salaries then due, 
 leaving himself again penniless. 
 
 At this time Mr. Craik was led to pieac'h 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. Miiller heard this sermon and conscientiously 
 applied it to himself. He drew two most practical con- 
 clusions which he had abundant opportunity to put into 
 practice: 
 
 First, that he must go into no byways or paths of his 
 own for deliverance out of a crisis; 
 
 And, secondly, that in proportion as he had been per- 
 mitted to honour God and bring some glory to His name 
 by trusting Him, he was in danger of dishonouring Him. 
 
 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, 
 
 * Matt. vl. 34. 
 
148 George Muller of Bristol 
 
 intrusted to him for other purposes. He might use this 
 money for the time at least, and so relieve the present 
 distress. The temptation was the stronger so to do, be- 
 cause 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. 
 
 Not so George Muller. He saw at once that this would 
 be finding a way of his own out of difficulty, instead of 
 waiting on the Lord for deliverance. Moreover, he also saw 
 that it would be forming a habit of trusting to such ex- 
 pedients of Ms own, which in other trials would lead to a 
 similar course and so hinder the growth of faith. We use 
 italics here because here is revealed one of the tests by 
 which this man of faith Avas 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 rest solely on 
 the promise of a faithful God is the only way to know for 
 one's self and prove to others. His faithfulness. 
 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 pleading with God. And it may be 
 well to mark his manner of pleading. He used argument 
 in prayer, and at this time he piles up eleven reasons why 
 God should and would send help. 
 
 This method of holy argument — 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 
 
The Word of God and Prayer 149 
 
 this art, in many crises interceding in behalf of the people 
 with consnmmate skill, marshalling arguments as a gen- 
 eral-in-chief marshals batallions. 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 ISToah, Job, Samuel, David, Daniel, Jeremiah, 
 Paul, and James, have used the same method. 
 
 Of course God does not need to be convinced: no argu- 
 ments 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 wit of importunity actually turned 
 his own objection into a reason. 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 ! 
 " 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." 
 
 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 
 
 * Cf. Matt. vii. 6, xv. 36, 27. Not Kvvii, but Kvvapioii, the 
 diminutive for little pet dogs. 
 
150 George Miiller of Bristol 
 
 the centurion of Capernaum,* who, when our Lord prom- 
 ised 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 ex- 
 acted 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 jpresence was obedient 
 to His will ! Of him likewise our Lord said: " I have not 
 found so great faith, no, not in Israel ! " 
 
 We are to argue our case with God, not indeed to con- 
 vince Him, but to convince ourselves. In proving to Him 
 that, by His own word and oath and character. He has 
 bound Himself to interpose, we demonstrate to our own 
 faith that He has given us the right to ask and claim, and 
 that He will answer our plea because He cannot deny Him- 
 self. 
 
 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: 
 
 " Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob, 
 The mercy to Abraham, 
 Which thou hast sworn unto our fathers. 
 From the days of old." 
 
 Mark the progress of the thought. What was mercy to 
 Abraham was truth to Jacob. God was under no obliga- 
 tion to extend covenant blessings; hence it was to Abra- 
 ham a simple act of pure mercy; but, having so put Him- 
 
 * Matt. viii. 8, 
 
The Word of God and Prayer 151 
 
 self under voluntary bonds, Jacob could claim as truth 
 w'hat to Abraham had been mercy. So in 1 John i. 9: 
 
 " If we confess our sins 
 He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, 
 And to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 
 
 Plainly, forgiveness and cleansing are not originally mat- 
 ters of faithfulness and justice, but of mercy and grace. 
 But, after God had pledged Himself thus to forgive and 
 cleanse the penitent sinner w'ho confesses and forsakes his 
 sins,* vhat was originally grace and mercy becomes faith- 
 fulness and justice; for God owes it to Himself and to His 
 creature to stan'd by His own pledge, and fulfil the lawful 
 expectation which His own gracious assurance has created. 
 
 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 fulfilment of 
 His promise, on the ground not of His mercy only, but of 
 His truth, faithfulness, and justice. Hence the holy bold- 
 ness 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. 
 
 No man of his generation, peAaps, has been more wont 
 to plead thus with God, after the manner of holy argu- 
 ment, 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 
 renaissance of faith would come to the church of God ! 
 
 George Mtiller stored up reasons for God's intervention. 
 
 * Proverbs xxviii. 13. 
 
152 George Miiller of Bristol 
 
 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, lie 
 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 fol- 
 low this humble man of God into the secret place, and 
 there Jiear him pouring out his soul in these argumenta- 
 tive pleadings, as though he would so order his cause be- 
 fore God as to convince Him that He must interpose to 
 save His own name and word from dishonour ! 
 
 These were His orphans, for had He not declared Him- 
 self the Father of the fatherless ? This was His 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 particu- 
 lar ? "Were not the half-believing church and the unbe- 
 lieving world looking on, to see how the Living God woxdd 
 stand by His own unchanging assurance, and would He 
 supply an argument for the skeptic and the scoffer ? 
 TTould He not, must He not, rather put new proofs of His 
 faithfulness in the mouth of His saints, and furnish in- 
 
The Word of God and Prayer 153 
 
 Creasing arguments where with to silence the cavilling 
 tongue and put to shame the hesitating disciple ?* 
 
 In some such fashion as this did this lowlj'-minded 
 saint in Bristol plead with God for more than threescore 
 years, and prevail — as every true heliever 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: 
 
 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. 
 
 * Mr. Mailer himself tells how he argued his case before the Lord 
 at this time. (Appendix F. Narrative, vol. 1, 343, 244 
 
CHAPTEE XI 
 
 TEIALS OF FAITH, AND HELPEES TO FAITH 
 
 God has His own mathematics : witness that miracle of 
 the loaves and fishes. Our Lord said to His disciples: 
 " G-ive 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. 
 
 We have already seen how the prayer circle had been en- 
 larged. The founder of the orphan work, at the first, haid 
 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 per- 
 mitted 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 tihe 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 
 
 154 
 
Trials of Faith, and Helpers to Faith 155 
 
 answers exhibit ? It seemed plain that, to the highest 
 glory of God, they must kaow the depths of need, the ex- 
 tremities of want out of which God had lifted them, and 
 then ascribe all honour and praise to His name. 
 
 Accordingly Mr. Miiller 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 con- 
 fidence 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. 
 
 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 ilr. Miiller with- 
 held no facts as to the straits to which the work was re- 
 duced, he laid down certain principles which from time to 
 time were reiterated as unchanging laws for the conduct 
 of the Lord's business. Por 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 La a nominal 
 home where they were really left to suffer from hunger or 
 nakedness. 
 
 Again, nothing was ever to be revealed to outsiders of ex- 
 isting 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 
 
156 George MUlU-r of Bristol 
 
 all icndoncy (0 look to iiiiin for licl|i. Morccivcr, tlicy 
 wcix; (.'iiviK'sUy b(!snii<;lit to live in Biicli ilnily timl lioiirly 
 fellovvMlii|) with (Joil :i,h tliiiL tlmir own iinlii'li(H' ;im(1 (IIh- 
 obodiunru niif^tliL nol risk ciUicr tiicir own power in priiycr, 
 or the :i.L!;r('i'ni(!nl,, nccdrui iiiiionf^- IJiorn, in oriliir lo com- 
 mon S"U|i])lication. Oiii^ (lin(M)rihiiil, mo|,o iiiiiy picvrnl, tlio 
 hariiionioiis synipliony of iinilcil iii'iiycr, iiiid so far liimlcr 
 the accciiiaJiloncHS of Miicli iiriiycr with God. 
 
 Tims informed and insl.riicLed, theses d(!Vo(,ed cowork(^rs, 
 with tlie beloved fonnder ol' IJm! orpliiui work, nnd Llie 
 crisis int(!lliK<'ntly. II', when i,liere wiv. -no f-imdn, IJiere 
 must be no ka,idiii/ 'ii^poii, iiitiih, lui ilc.hl inenri'cd, and y(!|, 
 no lack allowed, cleni'ly the oidy resort or resoiiree niiiHl, 
 be waitinfr -upon IJie unseen (Jod ; iind so, in IJiesc! straitH 
 and in every stieeet-ding crisis, thr^y weni, lo llirn aJone. 
 The orphans tluimselves wf^re nev(!r i.old of any (ixislin^^r 
 need; in every case tlieir wants were mel-, thoiigli i.hey 
 knew not how. Tlu' barrc:! of meal rriif^ld, Ih! emply, ycL 
 there was always a, liandl'ijl when needed, and the cruse <i\' 
 oil was never so exliaiisted thai- a, i'ow drops were nol, lel't to 
 moisten the handful of mca,l. f'a.mini' and drouf^dd, never 
 reached the Bristol orpliaruif^^e ; the sufiplies miKht comi^ 
 slowly and only for one day al a timt!, hid, somehow, when 
 the need was urgent and could no longer wail,, l,her(! was 
 enough — though it might be barely enough to m<iel, l.lu! 
 want. 
 
 It should he added hr^re, as completing this |ia,rt of the 
 Narrative, that, in August, IH-IO, this circle of prayiir was 
 still furthc^r enlarged by iidtnitting to its irdinuicics of 
 fellowship and supplication the fjrethren and sisfftrs who 
 laboured in the day-fchools, the same solemn injunctions 
 being repeatf:d in their casr: against any betrayal to oid,- 
 siders of tlie crises that might arisi!. 
 
 To impart the knowledgr; of affairs (o so much larger a 
 
Trials of Faith, and Helpers to Faith 157 
 
 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 con- 
 sequent progress of the work was due to their 
 faith, supplication, and self-denial. The practical 
 knowledge of the exigencies of their common ex- 
 perience 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. Miiller's departure, transpired 
 how large a share of the donations received are to be 
 traced to him ; but there is no mean^ of ascertaining as 
 to the aggregate amount of the secret gifts of his coworkers 
 in this sacred circle of prayer. 
 
 We do know, however, that Mr. Miiller was not the only 
 self-denying giver, though he may lead the host. His 
 true yoke-fellows often iurnejl the crisis by their own offer- 
 ings, wOiich though small were costly ! Instnimentally 
 they were nsed 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 ; an'd 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. Miil- 
 IJer's only, but theirs also, who with him too'k part in prayers 
 
158 George Miiller of Bristol 
 
 and tears, in cares and loils, in SGlf-dciiialH and Boli'-oIIcr- 
 ings, whereby God cliose to carry forward His plij.ri.s For 
 ihusc homciofls w.iU'h I It wus in thus giving tbiil ail tli(;Ki; 
 helpers found alno new power, asKuiancc, and blessing in 
 praying; U>y, as one of tlieni siiid, lie felt that it would 
 scarcely be " upriglU to pray, i'm-cjiI, hi; were lo give whal he 
 had." * 
 
 The heipcPK, thus admitted into Mr. MiiUer's confidence, 
 came into more active syinj)iithy with liiiri and the work, 
 and partook increasingly of the same spirit. 01 tliis some 
 few instances and examples have found their way into his 
 journal. 
 
 A gentleman and some ladies visiting tlie orphan houses 
 saw the large nunihi;i- of little ones to be cared for. One 
 of the ladies said to the matron of the Boys' House : " Of 
 course you cannot cany on these insLitutions without a 
 good stock of funds" ; and the gentleman added, "Have 
 you a good stock ? " Tlie quiet answer was, " Our funds 
 are deposited in a bank whicli cannot hreak." 'I'he reply 
 drew tears from the ey(;s of the lady, and a gift of five 
 pounds fioni the pocket of the gentleman^a donation 
 most opportune, as there was nol one prii.iiy Ihi-n in hand. 
 
 Fellow laljoiirers such as these, who asked nothing for 
 themselves, but cheerfully looked to the Lord for their own 
 sup])lie8, and willingly parted wiUi their own money or 
 goods in the hour of need, filled Mr. Alij I Irak's heart with 
 ]n-)iise to God, and held up his hands^ as Aaron and Uur 
 .sustained those of Moses, till the snn of his life went down. 
 During all the years of his superintendence these were the 
 main iiuman support of his faith and courage. They mot 
 wiUh him in daily fn-ayer, faithfully kept among them- 
 selves the secrets of the Lord's work in the great trials of 
 
 * Narrative, 1 ; 34G, 
 
Trials of Faith, and Helpers to Faith 159 
 
 faith ; and, when the hour of triumph came, they felt it 
 to be both duty and privilege in the annual report to pub- 
 lish their deliverance, to make their boast in God, that 
 all men might know His love and faithfulness and ascribe 
 unto Him glory. 
 
 Prom time to time, in connection with the administra- 
 tion 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. 
 
 As the Lord was dealing with them by the day, it . 
 seemed clear that they were to lit'c by the day. No dues 
 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 determuied that every article bought was to be 
 paid for at the time. 
 
 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 v/eekly, though col- 
 lected 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. 
 
 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 no real need 
 ever failed to be supplied: and so praise was continually 
 
i6o George Miiller of Bristol 
 
 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 where- 
 with to buy, so that these many mouths were always fed 
 and these many bodies always clad. 
 
 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 did trust Him alone. 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, iut even those who inquired, with intent to aid, 
 were not informed. 
 
 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. 
 Miiller's calm but evasive answer was : " It will he as great 
 as the Lord pleases." 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. 
 
 While admitting the severity of the straits to which the 
 whole work of the Scriptural Knowledge Institution was 
 often brought, Mr. Miiller takes pains to assure his readers 
 
Trials of Faith, and Helpers to Faith i6i 
 
 that these straits were never a surprise to him, and that 
 his expectations in the matter of funds were not dis- 
 appointed, 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 inter- 
 position in extremity. 
 
 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 state- 
 ments, made about it by word of mouth, and especially by 
 the pen in the printed annual reporttj, have constituted 
 appeals for aid. Unbelief would interpret all God's worldng 
 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 ex- 
 plaining away all the ' miracles of prayer.' 
 
 Ko 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, an'd 
 have been led to become its helpers. It is a weil-knovm 
 fact that God has ased 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 de- 
 
1 62 George Mtiller of Bristol 
 
 pendenice has been placed upon them for securing timely 
 help. It is also undeniable that, however frequent their 
 issue, wide their oirculation, or great their influence, the 
 regularity and abundance of the supplies of all needs must 
 in some other way be accounted for. 
 
 Only a few days after public meetings were held or 
 printed reports issued, funds often fell to their lowest ebb. 
 Mr. Miiller and his helpers were singularly kept from all 
 undue leaning upon any such indirect appeals, and fre- 
 quently 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 testimony to the faithfulness of Ood. This 
 great object Mr. Miiller 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 bur- 
 den 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. 
 
 Weakness of body again, in the autumn of 1839, com- 
 pelled, for a time, rest from active labour, and Mr. Miiller 
 went to Trowbridge and Exeter, Teignmouth and Ply- 
 mouth. God had precious lessons for him which He could 
 best teach ^'n the school of affiiction. 
 
 While at Plymouth Mr. Miiller felt anew the impulse to 
 
Trials of Faith, and Helpers to Faith 163 
 
 early rising for purposes of deTorional comnniiiioiL At 
 Halle he had heen. an early riser, influenoed hy zeal for 
 excellence in fradT. Afrenrarii. when ins "sreai head 
 and f eehle nerves made more sleez' s^jen;. needziLi. he JQ'iced 
 tiiat. even »r]ieii he rose laie. the day would be .ong enough 
 to exhanst nis liixle fund of streiijili : and ^-o oiien he laj 
 in bed till sis or even seTen o'clock, instead 01 rising at 
 fonr : and after dinner toot a nap for a quarter-hour. It 
 now grew npon him. howcTer. that he iras osing in spirit- 
 nal Tigonr, and that his s-iinl's heajth was decliiuiLg nader 
 liiis new r^imen. The work now s; zressed npon him as 
 to prevent proper reaiing of the Word and rob ""-.Tn of lei- 
 sore for secret prayer. 
 
 A ' chance remark " — there is no ehance in a beHerer's 
 life ! — made by the trcder at whose hoTise he was abiding 
 at Plymouth, much impres^d "'"m Heierriiiz 10 the 
 sacridces in LevitieiLS, he said that, as the refuse of the 
 animals was never offered np on the altar, bnt only the best 
 parts and the fat. s-j tiie ehcicesi of our time and streiigth, 
 the best pans of oixr day, should be es'-eeiallT gireiL to the 
 Lord in worship and c-OEiiniLnion. George Miiher meli- 
 tated much on this ; and deiemiined. even at xhe risk of 
 damage to bodily health, that he would no ioag-er 5T>eiid his 
 best hours in bed. Henceionh he ailowe^i hiciself but 
 Ai-Tcn hours' flup and gave up his after-linner rest. This 
 resumption of early rising secured iong seasons 01 unia- 
 termpted interviews wiii (jod, in prayer and mfrii-aiioii 
 on the SoripTuTes. before breaifasi and the various inevi- 
 table intermptioiis that followed. He found himself not 
 worse but better, physLC-aTy. and became c-onvineed that 
 to have lain longer in bed as t-ef ore would have kepi his 
 nerves weak : and, as 10 spirimal life, such new viiality 
 and vigoTir accrued from thus waiting npon God vhile 
 
164 George Miiller of Bristol 
 
 others slept, that it continued to be the habit of his after- 
 life. 
 
 In Kovember, 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 little in hand, dut at the ful- 
 ness of God." 
 
 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 for- 
 ward 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 sudh 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. 
 
 When the poverty of their resources seemed most pinch- 
 ing, Mr. Miiller 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 ! 
 
 In February, 1840, another attack of ill health combined 
 with a mission to Germany to lead Mr. Miiller for five 
 weeks to the Continent. At Heimersleben, where he 
 found his father weakened by a serious cough, the two 
 
Trials of Faith, and Helpers to Faith 165 
 
 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 anid man. 
 Later on, at Wo'lfenbiittel, he saw the inn whence in 1831 
 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 substitut- 
 ing 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. 
 
 The main purpose of this journey to Germany was to 
 send forth more missionaries to the East. At Sanders- 
 leben Mr. Miiller met his friend, Mr. Stahischmidt, and 
 found a little band of disciples meeting in secret to evade 
 the police. Those who have always breathed the atmos- 
 phere 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. KroU 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 con- 
 tinued to meet, notwithstanding police raids which were 
 so disturbing, and government fines which were so exact- 
 ing. So secret, however, were their assemblies, as to have 
 neither stated place nor regular time. 
 
i66 Georo-e Miillor of Bristol 
 
 t> 
 
 George Jriillov J'ouiul llicso pcrsoculod brliovors, inei'ling 
 in tlio room of a huniblo wciiviT whcrt.' tlu've was but diio 
 chair. The twcniy-iivo or 1-hirly wlio wi'ir prcsciil I'ouiul 
 such pliU'es to sit or siand as lliey ini,i;-ht, in and alioul llu" 
 loom, which itscU' fillcil half Iho s|iaci.'. 
 
 In llalborsiadt Mr. Miillor found scvcmi lai'gi- I'rolcstnnt 
 churt'lies without one rli-i'gyiuan who ^avc ('\'i(hMU'o cd' 
 trno conversiou, and (h(> few genuine diseipU's there woi'o 
 likewise forbidden (o meel logclher. 
 
 A few days al'ler reluniiiig Id lirislol fi'oui liis I'ew 
 weeks in (ieriunny, and al a lime of gi'eal liiuiueial distress 
 in the work, a letter reached him from a, brother who had 
 often before given money, as follows : 
 
 "Have you any prcxcnl lu-ed lor the Institution under 
 your cai'e ? I know you do not ask, except indeed of llim 
 whoso work you are doing ; but, Id (iiisircr irlini iiKlrrd 
 seems anollier thing, and a, right thing. I ha\'o a, reason 
 for desiring to know the ])i'eseid, shil.e of your nuMns tow- 
 ards the objects you arc! labouring to scu'vc : viz., should 
 you not have need, other dcjinrtnu'nts of l,he Tjord's work, 
 or other people of tlu! Lord, iinii/ InirC' ncc^d. Kindly then 
 inform mo, and to what, amouid, i.e. what amount you at 
 this pi'eseiit time need or can profilably lay old." 
 
 To most men, even those who eari'y on a, work ol' lailJi 
 and prayer, such a letlci' would have been at leavst a. lenip- 
 tation. But Mr. Miillor did not waver. To announci! oven 
 to an inijuirer th(! e.xacd, needs o! the work would, in his 
 opinion, involvi' t^o soi'ious risks : 
 
 1. It would turn his own eyes away from (Jod lo man ; 
 
 2. It would turn the minds of saints away rr(uu depend- 
 ence solely upon Tliui. 
 
 '^I'his man of (lod had staked evervlhing upon one gi-oal, 
 experiment — he had set biuisoU' to [>vnvv. tluit the prayer 
 which resorls to Ood oiilij will bring hel[) in every crisis, 
 
Trials of Faith, and Helpers to Faith 167 
 
 even when the crisis is unknown to His people whom He 
 uses as the means of relief and help. 
 
 At this time there remained in hand but twenty-seven 
 pence ha'penny, in all, to meet the needs of hundreds 
 of orphans. Nevertheless tihis was the reply to the 
 letter : 
 
 " Whilst I thank you for your love, and whilst I agree 
 with you that, in general, there is a difference between aslc- 
 ingfor money and answering when as7i;e(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 
 reality in dealing with God alone." 
 
 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 not one penny 
 was in hand. 
 
 The confidence of faith, long tried, had its increasing 
 reward and was strengtbened by experience. In July, 
 184.5, Mr. Miiller gave this testimony reviewing these very 
 years of trial : 
 
 " 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 for three days 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 
 
1 68 Georg-e Mtiller of Bristol 
 
 '& 
 
 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." 
 
CHAPTEE XII 
 
 NEW LESSONS IN GOD's SCHOOL OF PEATEK 
 
 The teacher must also be a learner, and therefore only- 
 he who continues to learn is competent to continue to 
 teach. ISTothing 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. 
 
 George Muller's experiences of prevailing prayer went 
 on constantly accumulating, an'd so qualified him to speak 
 to others, not as on a matter of speculation, theory, or 
 doctrinal belief, but of long, varied, and successful per- 
 sonal experiment. Patiently, carefully and frequently, he 
 seeks to impress on others the cbnditions of effective sup- 
 plication. 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, what he would do if God did not send help ! 
 what, if a meal-tiime actually came with no food, and no 
 money to procure it ; or if clothing were worn out, and 
 nothing to replace it ? 
 
 To all such questions there was always ready this one 
 answer : that such a failure on God's part is inconceivable, 
 and must therefore be put among the impossibilities. 
 There are, however, conditions necessary on man's part : 
 the suppliant soul must come to God in the right spirit and 
 
 169 
 
170 George Miiller of Bristol 
 
 attitude. 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. 
 
 Five grand conditions of prevailing prayer were ever 
 before his mind : 
 
 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.) 
 
 2. Separation from all known sin. If we regard in- 
 iquity in our hearts, the Lord will not hear us, for it would 
 be sanctioning sin. (Psalm Ixvi. 18.) 
 
 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.) 
 
 4. Asking in accordance with His will. Our motivts 
 must be godly : we must not seek any gift of God to con- 
 sume it upon our own lusts. (1 John v. 13 ; James iv. 
 3.) 
 
 5. Importunity in supplication. There must be wait- 
 ing on God and waiting for God, as the husbandman has 
 long patience to wait for the harvest. (James v. 7 ; Luke 
 xviii. 1-10.) 
 
 The importance of firmly fixing in mind principles such 
 as these cannot he 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 abandon- 
 ment of sin. The third reminds us of the need ox 
 honouring God by faith that He is, and is the Eewarder 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 teadhes us that, having laid hold of God 
 in prayer, we are to keep hold until His arm is outstretched 
 in blessing. 
 
New Lessons in God's School of Prayer 171 
 
 Where these conditions do not exists 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 con-, 
 tinuance in sin. To answer the requests of the unbe- 
 lieving 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. 
 
 All the lessons learned in God's school of prayer made 
 Mr. Miiller'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 efEective figure of 
 speech is repetition, he hesitated at no frequency of restate- 
 ment by which such truths might find root in the minds 
 and hearts of others. 
 
 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 pre- 
 vailed by the same law of success — the inward impulse of 
 God's Holy Spirit. 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 of- 
 fence to God. 
 
 Again, all prayer prevails only in the measure of our 
 
172 George Mtiller of Bristol 
 
 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. 
 
 Yet again, all prayer prevails only as it is offered in 
 faith ; and the answer to such prayer can be recognized 
 and received only on the plane of faith; 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. 
 
 The faith that thus expects cannot be surprised at 
 answers to prayer. "When, in November, 1840, a sister gave 
 ten pounds for the orphans, and at a time specially oppor- 
 tune, Mr. Miiller records his triumphant joy in God as ex- 
 ceeding and defying all expression. Yet he was free 
 from excitement and not in the least surprised, because by 
 grace he had been trustfully waiting on God for deliver- 
 ance. 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 be- 
 fore the milkman's cart was due, that this money came. 
 
 However faithful and trustful in prayer, it befhooves us 
 to be none the less careful and diligent in the use of all 
 proper means. Here again Mr. Miiller's whole life is a 
 lesson to other believers. For example, when travelling in 
 other lands, or helping other brethren on their way, he be- 
 sought the Lord's constant guardianship over the convey- 
 ances 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; 
 
New Lessons in God's School of Prayer 173 
 
 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 seven- 
 teen in all. On arriving at the w'harf, where there is gen- 
 erally much hurry and flurry, the dishonest cabman would 
 have driven ofE v/ith a large part of the property belong- 
 ing to the party, but for this man of God who not only 
 prayed but watched. 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 por- 
 ters, was compelled to open that hind boot and, greatly 
 to his own confusion, deliver up the five or six bags hidden 
 away there. Mr. Miiller adds in his Narrative that " such 
 a circumstance should teach one to make the very small- 
 est affairs a subject of prayer, as, for instance, that all the 
 luggage migiht 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 ! 
 
 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 tak- 
 ing notice of the divine leadings and dealings; and, after- 
 ward, 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 him- 
 self disobeying the other. This man who prayed so much 
 and so well, offered tihe sacrifice of praise to God contimi- 
 all2. 
 
174 George Mtiller of Bristol 
 
 For example, on September 21, 1840, a specific entry 
 •was made in the NarratiTC, so simple, childlike, and in 
 every way characteristic, that every word of it is precious. 
 
 " 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 
 heing forsaken lecause of death, or wani of means, or want 
 of love, or because of the claims of other ivorh. 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 up- 
 rightly ! " 
 
 Among the gifts received during this long life of stew- 
 ardship for God some deserve individual mention. 
 
 To an offering received in March, 1839, a peculiar his- 
 tory attaches. The circumstances attending its reception 
 made upon him a deep impression. He had given a copy 
 of the Annual Eeport 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. Miiller's heart specially rejoiced in 
 God. By the proceeds of the sale of these ornaments he 
 
New Lessons in God's School of Prayer 1 75 
 
 was helped to meet the ezpenses of a wftoZe w«efc, and besides 
 to pay the salaries due to the helpers. But, before dis- 
 posing 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 hen.ceforth 
 whenever, in deep poyerty, he east his eyes upon those two 
 words, imperishably written with the point of a diamond 
 upon that pane, he thanMully remembered that " the 
 
 LOED WILL PEOVIDE." 
 
 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 per- 
 sonal 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 dwell- 
 ing, found that every ray of sunlight that shone into his 
 room lit up his Lord's promise. 
 
 He thus sums up "Hie experiences of the year 1840 : 
 
 1. Notwithstanding multiplied trials of faith, the or- 
 phans have lacked nothing. 
 
 3. 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. 
 
 3. Such a way of living brings the Lord very near, as 
 one who dajily inspects the need that He may send the 
 more timely aid. 
 
 4. Such constant, instant reliance upon divine help 
 does not so absorb the mind in temporal things as to unfit 
 for spiritiial employments and enjoyments ; but rather 
 
1,76 George Mtiller of Bristol 
 
 prompts to habitual commuiiion with the Lord and His 
 Word. 
 
 5. Other children of God may not be called to a simi- 
 lar work, but are called to a like faith, and may experience 
 similar interposition if they live according to His will and 
 seek His help. 
 
 6. The incurring of debt, being unscriptural, is a sin 
 needing confession and abandonment if we desire un- 
 hindered fellowship with God, and experience of His inter- 
 position. 
 
 It was in this year 1840, also, that a further object was 
 embraced in the work of the Scripture Knowledge Insti- 
 tution, 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. 
 
 Divine interposition will never be- doubted by one who, 
 like George Miiller, gives himself to prayer, for the coin- 
 cidences 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. 
 
 The ' ethics of language ' embody many lessons. For 
 example, the term ' poetic retribution ' describes a visita- 
 tion 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 ofEense and its retribution, as when 
 Adonibezek, wlho ha'd afflicted a like injury upon three- 
 score 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: 
 
New Lessons in God's School of Prayer 177 
 
 ■■ The Lord is known bv the judgment which He exe- 
 cuteth : 
 
 The wicked i; snared in the work of his own hands." 
 The inspired thought is that the fiuniiliment of eyil-doers 
 i; in such exact correip onlenee with the character of their 
 evil doings as to shoTr that it is the Lord executing ven- 
 geance — the penalty shows a designing hand. He who 
 watches the pecnliax retrihntiTe judgments of God. how 
 He causes those who set snares and pitfalls for others to 
 fall into them themselves, will not donbt that hehind snch 
 ' poetic retribution ' there is an intelligent Judge. 
 
 Somevrhat so the poetic harmony between prayer and its 
 answer silences all question as to a discriminating Hearer 
 of the suppliant soal. A single ease 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, striiin^. and marrellous correspond- 
 ences between the request; 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 coinoidenees are both too many and too 
 exact to admit the doctrine of chance. TVe are compelled, 
 not to say justiiel. to conclude that the only suiEcient 
 and reasonable explanation must be found in a God who 
 hears and answers prayer. 
 
 Mr. Miiller 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 donors as 
 well as the receiver were conscious of divine leading. 
 
 Frequent were the instances also when those who gave 
 most timely help conveyed to Mr. Miiller the knowledge of 
 the experiences that accompanied or preceded their of- 
 ferings ; as, for example, when, without any intimation 
 being given them from man that there was special need, 
 
1 78 George Miiller of Bristol 
 
 the heart was impressed in prayer to God that there was an 
 emergency requiring prompt assistance. 
 
 For example, in June, 1841, fifty pounds were received 
 with these words : " / am not concerned at my having been 
 prevented for so many days from sending this money; I am 
 confident it has not been needed." 
 
 " This last sentence is remarkable," says Mr. Miiller. 
 " 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 not needed. From the be- 
 ginning in July, 1838, till now, there never had been a pe- 
 riod 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." 
 
 Prevailing prayer is largely conditioned on constant 
 obedience. " Whatsoever we ask we receive of Him, be- 
 cause 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 
 neiv step is taken in advance whenever new light is given. 
 Here is another of the life-secrets of George Miiller. 
 "Without unduly counting the cost, he followed every lead- 
 ing of God. 
 
 In July, 1841, both Mr. Craik and Mr. Miiller were im- 
 pressed that the existing mode of receiving free-will offer- 
 ings from those among whom they laboured was inex- 
 pedient. 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 
 
New Lessons in God's School of Prayer 1 7^ 
 
 felt that this might have tihe appearance of imdiily ele- 
 vating them above others^ as though they were assuming 
 ofiieial 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. 
 
 Such an act of obedience may seem to some, overscrupu- 
 lous, 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. Miiller had long ago 
 settled the question that to follow a clear sense of duty is 
 always safe. He could say, in every such crisis, "0 God 
 my heart is fixed, my heart is fised, 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 aud trust Him and leave the rest to 
 His Fatherhood. 
 
 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, help seemed at 
 times to fail, so much so that it was a special sign of God's 
 grace that, during this long trial of delay, the confidence 
 of Mr. Miiller 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. 
 
 On one occasion a poor wgman gave two pence, adding, 
 " It is but a trifle, but I must give it to you." Yet so oppor- 
 tune was the gift of these ' two mites ' that one of these 
 two pence was just what was at that time needed to make 
 
l8o George Miiller of Bristol 
 
 up the BTim required to buy bread for immediate use. At 
 another time eight pence more being ncceHKary to provide 
 for the next meal, hut seven pence were in hand ; but on 
 opening one of the boxes, one penny only was found de- 
 posited, and thus a single penny was traced to the Father's 
 care. 
 
 It was in December of this same year, 1841, that, in order 
 to show how solely dependence was placed on a heavenly 
 Provider, it Avas determined to deht.y for a while both the 
 holding of any public meeting and the printing of the 
 Annual Eeport. Mr. Miiller 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 mat- 
 ter of fact the report of 1841-3 was thus postponed for five 
 months; and so, in the midM of deep -poverty aniii partly le- 
 cause of the very pressure of such need, another bold step 
 was taken, which, like the cutting away of the ro])es that 
 held the life-boat, in that Mediterranean shipwreck, threiv 
 Mr. Miiller, and all that were with him in the work, more 
 completely on the promise and the providence of God. 
 
 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. Miiller's faith 
 been tried so sharply as between December 12, 1841, an'cl 
 April 12, 1842. During the=p four months, again, it 
 vi-as 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, ?.Tr. llliiller might have changed his 
 course, holding the public meeting and publishing the 
 report, for, outside the few who were in his councils, 
 no one Tcnew of the determinntion, and in fact many chil- 
 dren of God, looking for the usual year's journal of 'The 
 Lord's Dealings,' were surprised at the delay. But the 
 
New Lessons in God's School of Prayer i8i 
 
 conclusion conscientiously reached was, for the glory of the 
 Lord, as steadfastly pursued, and again Jehovah Jireh 
 revealed His faithfulness. 
 
 During this four months, on March 9, 1843, the need 
 was so extreme that, had no help come, the work could not 
 have gone on. But, on that day, 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. Miiller's mind that deliver- 
 ance 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 delay dinner for about a half -hour, 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. , 
 
 In the spring of 1843, Mr. Miiller felt led to open a 
 fourth orphan house, 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 fhe matter even to his be- 
 loved wife. Day by day he waited on God in prayer, pre- 
 ferring 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. 
 
 Unexpected obstacles interfered with his securing the 
 premises which had already been offered and found suit- 
 able; but he was in no way ' discomforted.' The burden of 
 his prayer was, " Lord, if Thou hast no need of another 
 orphan house, I have none " ; and he rightly judged that 
 the calm deliberation with which he had set about the 
 
1^2 George Miiller of Bristol 
 
 whole matter, and the.imbroken peace with which he met 
 new hindrances, were proofs that he was following the 
 guidance of God and not the motions of self-will. 
 
 As the public meeting and the publication of the An- 
 nual Eeport 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, iefore 
 July 15, 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 inform- 
 ing 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 two years since the previous report 
 had been made to the public. 
 
 George Miiller 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 glorifie'd 
 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 surplus of over twenty pounds 
 for the whole work. 
 
CHAPTEE Xm 
 
 FOLLOWING THE PILLAE Of CLOUD AND FIEE 
 
 "The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord." 
 (Psalia xTT vii 23.) Some one quaintly adds, " Yes, and 
 the stops, too! " The pillar of cloud and fire is a symbol 
 of that dlTine leadership which guides both as to forward 
 steps and intervals of rest. Mr Miiller 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. 
 
 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 TTitti in every- 
 thing and for eTerrtliing, habitually waiting upon Him, 
 and trusting in Him to remove all hindrances in the way 
 of seivice. 
 
 Some eighteen months previously, a German lady from 
 TViirtemberg had called to consult him as to her own plans, 
 and, finding her a comparative stranger to God, he spoke 
 to her about lier spiritual state, and gave her the first two 
 parts of his Xarrative. The perusal of these pages was 
 so blest to her that she was converted to God, and felt 
 moved to translate the Xarrative into her own tongue as 
 a channel of similar blessing to other hearts. 
 
 183 
 
1 84 George MuUer of Bristol 
 
 This work of translation she partially accomplished, 
 though somewhat imperfectly ; and the whole occurrence 
 impressed Mr. Miiller 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 deep- 
 ened 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. 
 
 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 Testa- 
 ment principles, and secure greater edification. 
 
 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. 
 
 3. He was minded to publish his Narrative in his own 
 tongue wherein he was bom, 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. 
 
 4. An effectual door was opened before him, and more 
 widely than ever, especially at Stuttgart; and although 
 there were many adversaries, tJhey only made his help the 
 more needful to those whose spiritual welfare was in peril. 
 
 5. A distinct burden was laid on his heart, as from the 
 Lord, which prayer, instead of relieving, increased — a bur- 
 den which he felt without being able to explain — so that 
 the determination to visit his native land gave him a cer- 
 tain peace which he did not have when he thought of re- 
 maining at home. 
 
 To avoid mistake, Avith equal care he records the counter- 
 arguments. 
 
Following the Pillar of Cloud and Fire 185 
 
 1. The new orphan house, Ko. 4, was about to be opened, 
 and his presence was desirable if not needful. 
 
 2. A few hundred pounds were needed, to be left with 
 his helpers, for current expenses in his absence. 
 
 3. Money was also required for travelling expenses of 
 himself and his wife, whose health called for a change. 
 
 4. Funds would be needful to publish four thousand 
 copies of his Narrative and avoid too high a market-price. 
 
 5. A matron for the new orphan house was not yet 
 found, suitable for the position. 
 
 In this careful weighing of matters many sincere disciples 
 fail, prone to be impatient of delay in making decisions. 
 Impulse too often sways, an'd 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 : 
 
 " The meek will He guide in judgment ; 
 And the meek will He teach His way." 
 
 (Psalm XXV. 9.) 
 
 Here is a double emphasis upon meekness as a condition 
 of such guidance and teaching. Meekness is a real pref- 
 erence for God's will. Wbere this holy habit of mind 
 exists, the whole being becomes so open to impression that, 
 without any outward sign or token, there is an inward 
 recognition and choice of the will of God. God guides, 
 not by a visible sign, but by swaying the judgment. 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 bal- 
 ance to sway as He will. Bvt our hands must le off the 
 scales, otherwise we need expect no interposition of His, 
 
i86 George MuUer of Bristol 
 
 in our favour. To return to the figure with which this 
 chapter starts, the meek soul simply and humbly waits, 
 and watches the moving of the Pillar. 
 
 One sure sign of this spirit of meekness is the entire rest- 
 fulness 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 anx- 
 iety, but a sort of pleasure, as affording a new opportunity 
 for divine interposition. If it is the Pillar of God we are 
 following, the Bed Sea will not dismay us, for it will fur- 
 nish hut 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. 
 
 Mr. Miiller had learned this rare lesson, and in this case 
 he says : " I had a secret satisfaction, in the greatness of 
 the difficulties which were in the way. 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." 
 
 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. 
 
 The ease 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, difliculties need not cast him 
 down ; for the difficulties could not he of God; 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 not God's plan 
 at all, but only the fruit of self-will ; if some secret, self- 
 ish, and perhaps subtle motive were controlling, then in- 
 
Following the Pillar of Cloud and Fire 187 
 
 deed hindrances might Tvell be iaterferenees of God^ de- 
 signed to stay his steps. In the latter ease, Mr. Miiller 
 rightly judged that difficulties ia 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 ia his behalf, they would 
 arouse impatience and vexation, as preventing self-wUl 
 from carrying out its own purposes. 
 
 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. 
 
 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. 
 
 Mr. Miiller felt this, and he waited on God for light and 
 help. But, after forty days' waiting, the hindrances, in- 
 stead of decreasing, seemed rather to increase. Much more 
 money was spent than was sent in ; instead of fLnding 
 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 
 
1 88 George Muller of Bristol 
 
 of mind were unbroken. Being persuadod that he was 
 yielded up to tlie 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 " fol- 
 lowed the Lord fully," even the giant sons of Anak with 
 their walled cities and chariots of iron had for him no ter- 
 rors. 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 strong- 
 hold as his own inheritance. 
 
 During this period of patient waiting, Mr. Miiller 
 remarked to a believing sister : " Well, my soul is 
 at peace. The Lord's lime is not yet come ; but, wlien 
 it is come, He will blow away all these obstacles, 
 as chaff is blown away before the wind." A quar- 
 ter of a 71 Jwur later, a gift of seven hundred pounds 
 became available for the ends in view, so that three of the 
 five himdrances to this Continental tour were at once re- 
 moved. 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 Ger- 
 man, were now provided. This was on July 13th ; and 
 80 soon afterward were the remaining impediments out of 
 the way that, by August 9th, Mr. and Mrs. Miiller were 
 off for Germany. 
 
 The trip covered but seven months ; and on March 6, 
 1844, they were once more in Bristol. During this so- 
 journ abroad no journal was kept, but Mr. Miiller's letters 
 serve the purpose of a record. Rotterdam, Weinhoim, 
 Cologne, Mayence, Stuttgart, Heidelberg, etc., were 
 visited, and Mr. Muller distributed tracts and eon- 
 versed with individuals by the way ; but his main 
 work was to expound the Word in little assem- 
 blies of believers, who had separated themselves from 
 
Following the Pillar of Cloud and Fire 189 
 
 the state church on account of what they deemed errors 
 in teaching, practice, modes of worship, etc. 
 
 The first hour of his stay at Stuttgart brought to him one 
 of the sharpest trials of faith he had ever thus far experi- 
 enced. 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 pro- 
 longed were some of these triais, as to call into full exer- 
 cise 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 Lad nothing different. The greatest trials bore fruit 
 in the fullest blessings and sometimes in clusters of bless- 
 ings. 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 Mm ex- 
 pectant of light, or at least of guidance in the darkness ; 
 and he found that promise to be literally fulfilled : 
 
 " As thou goest, step by step, the way shall open up be- 
 fore thee." (See the Hebrew, of Prov. iv. 13.) 
 
 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 
 
Igo George Milller of Bristol 
 
 laptism, which was made to occupy a prominence and im- 
 portance 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 o\yn 
 baptism, and had thence, for the rest of His mortal life, 
 ceased to be under the law ! Many other fanciful no- 
 tions 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. 
 
 A more serious and dangerous doctrine which it was 
 needful to confront and confute was what Mr. Miiller calls 
 that " awful error,"' spread almost universally among be- 
 lievers in that land, that at last " all will be saved," not 
 sinful men only, but " even the devils themselves." 
 
 Calmly and courteously, but firmly and courageously, 
 these and kindred errors were met with the plain witness 
 of the Word. Eefutation of false teaching aroused a 
 spirit of bitterness in opposers of the truth, and, as is too 
 often the case, faithful testimony was tihe occasion of acri- 
 mony; but the Lord stood by His servant and so strength- 
 ened him that he was kept both faithful and peaceful. 
 
 One grave practical lack which Mr. Miiller 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 
 
Following the Pillar of Cloud and Fire 191 
 
 He wi'll, spiritual gifts for service. As a natural result 
 of being imtaug'ht 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 vi^ord of God might have free course and be glori- 
 fied. Afterward, when there seemed to be among the 
 brethren some proper apprehension of vital spiritual 
 truths, with his usual consistency and humility he re- 
 sumed his place as simply a brother among fellow be- 
 lievers, 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 experi- 
 ence 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 might 
 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. 
 
 These views of the Spirit's administration in the as- 
 semblies of believers, and of His manifestation in all be- 
 lievers for common profit, fully accord with scripture 
 teaching. (1 Cor. xii., Eomans xii., Ephes. iv., etc.) 
 
192 George Miiller of Bristol 
 
 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 in- 
 evitably follow. No one subject is perhaps more mis- 
 understood, or less understood, even among professed be- 
 lievers, than the person, of&ces, 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 ihe attitude of the church toward the 
 Holy Spirit. If so, the great apostasy cannot be far off, 
 if indeed it is not already upon us, for there is a shame- 
 ful ignorance and indifference prevalent, as to the whole 
 matter of His claim to holy reverence and obedience. 
 
 In connection with this visit to Germany, a curious mis- 
 apprehension existed, to which a religious periodical 'had 
 given currency, that Mr. Miiller was deputed by the Eng- 
 lish 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 cor- 
 rect 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. Miiller's mission that he was not molested or inter- 
 fered with by the officers of the government. Though for 
 months openly and undisguisedly teaching vital gospel 
 truths among believers who had separated from the es- 
 tablished church, he had suffered no restraint, for, so long 
 as it was thought that his mission in Germany was to re- 
 claim to the fold of the state churdh those who had wan- 
 dered away, he vi^ould of course be liable to no interference 
 from state officials. 
 
 The Lord went before His servant also in preparing 
 the way for the publishing of Ms Narrative, guiding him 
 
Following the Pillar of Cloud and Fire 193 
 
 to a bookseller who undertook its sale on commission, en- 
 abling the author to retain two thousand copies to give 
 away, while the rest were left to be sold. 
 
 Mr. Miiller, 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 Nar- 
 rative had as yet found its way. 
 
 The name of Henry Craik, hitherto affixed to every 
 report together with George Miiller's, appeal's for the last 
 time in the Eeport 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 KJnowledge 
 Institution belonged solely to George Miiller. 
 
 The trials of faith ceased not although the occasions 
 of praise were so multiplied. On September 4, 1844, at 
 day-dawn, but one farthing was left on hand, and one 
 hundred and forty mouths were to be fed at breakfast ! 
 
 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 onee see who remembers how fhese many orphans were 
 needing, not only daily supplies of food and clothing, but 
 education, in mind and in morals; preparation for, and 
 
194 George Miiller of Bristol 
 
 location in, suitable homes; careful guards about their 
 health and every possible precaution and provision to pre- 
 vent disease; also the character of all helpers must be 
 carefully investigated before they were admitted, and 
 their conduct carefully watched afterward lest any un- 
 worthy OT unqualified party should find a place, or be re- 
 tained, in the conduct of the work. 
 
 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. Miiller 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 it never once came too late. 
 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. 
 
 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. 
 
 During the history of the Institution thus far, enlarge- 
 ment had been its law. Mr. Miiller's heart grew in capacity 
 for larger service, and his faith in capacity for firmer con- 
 fidence, 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.) 
 
Following the Pillar of Cloud and Fire 195 
 
 In the year 1846, the wants of the mission field 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 ia their labours, the 
 chosen servants of the Lord who were working on a scrip- 
 tural 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 deter- 
 mined, 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. 
 
 Whatever enlargement took place in the work, however, 
 it was no sign of surplus funds. 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. 
 
 Some who heard of Mr. Miiller'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. 
 
196 George Miiller of Bristol 
 
 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 be- 
 set with difficulty, there is never any risk, provided we are 
 only led of God. Bach new advance needs separate and 
 special authority from Him, and yesterday's guidance is 
 not sufficient for to-day. 
 
 It is important also to observe that, if one branch of the 
 work is in straits, it is not necessarily a reason for aban- 
 doning another form of service. The work of God de- 
 pends 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 neces- 
 sary 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. ]!Tevertheless let us 
 not forget that the stops, as well as the steps, 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. 
 

 -i 
 
 P^^ ■ i..MgJ4.;||| 
 
 
 New Orphan Houses, No. 3 and No. 5. 
 
CHAPTEE XIV 
 god's btjilding: the new oephan houses 
 
 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 mechan- 
 ism, and constitute epochs of history. Such an epochal 
 event was the building of the first of the Kew Orphan 
 Houses on Ashley Down. 
 
 After October, 1845, it became clear to Mr. Miiller that 
 the Lord was leading in this direction. Eesidents 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. 
 
 There were objections to building which were carefully 
 weighed: money in large sums would be needed; plafining 
 and constructing would severely tax time and strength; 
 
 197 
 
1 98 George Miiller of Bristol 
 
 wisdom and oversight would be in demand at every stage 
 of the work; and the question arose whether such per- 
 manent structures befit God's pilgrim people, who have 
 here no continuing city and believe that the end of all 
 things is at hand. 
 
 Continuance in prayer, however, brought a sense of 
 quiet and restful conviction that all objections were over- 
 balanced by other and favourable considerations. One 
 argument seemed particularly weighty; Should God pro- 
 vide large amounts of money for this purpose, it would still 
 further illustrate the power of prayer, ofEered in faith, 
 to command help from on high. A lot of ground, spa- 
 cious 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. Miiller 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. Miiller 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 "vs^hether 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. 
 
 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 
 
 ■* Robert C. Chapman, of Barnstaple, yet living — and whom Mr. 
 Miiller cherished as his "oldest friend." 
 
God's Building: the New Orphan Houses 199 
 
 of asking for wisdom from above, at every step, seek- 
 ing 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. 
 Miiller received one thousand pounds for this purpose, the 
 largest sum yet received in one donation since the work 
 had begun, March 5, 1834. Yet he was as calm and com- 
 posed as though the gift had been only a shilling; having 
 full faith in G-od, as both guiding and providing, he 
 records that he would not have been surprised had the 
 amount been five or ten times greater. 
 
 Three days later, a Christian architect in London vol- 
 untarily offered not only to draught the plans, but gra- 
 tuitously to superintend the building ! This offer had 
 been brought about in a manner so strange as to be natu- 
 rally regarded as a new sign and proof of God's approval 
 and a fresh pledge of His sure help. Mr. Miiller's sister- 
 in-law, visiting the metropolis, had met this architect; 
 and, finding him much interested to know more of the 
 M'ork 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. Miiller, had been led to offer his services in pro- 
 viding plans for the new building and superintending its 
 erection. Surely God was moving before His servant. 
 
 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. 
 
200 George Miiller of Bristol 
 
 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 circum- 
 stances are duly considered. 
 
 First of all, ground must be bought, and it must com- 
 prise six or seven acres, and the site must be in or near 
 Bristol; for Mr. Midler'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 de- 
 sirable. But such a site would cost from two thousand 
 to three thousand pounds. 
 
 Next the building must be constructed, fitted up, and 
 furnished, with accommodations for three hundred or- 
 phans and their overseers, teachers, and various helpers. 
 However plain the building and its furnis'hings, the total 
 cost would reach from three to four times the price of the 
 site. 
 
 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. 
 
 Here, then, was a prospective outlay of somewhere be- 
 tween 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 Miiller, if at the 
 same time sane, would ever have thought of such a gigantic 
 scheme, much less have undertaken to work it out, if his 
 faith and hope were not fixed on God. Mr. Miiller him- 
 self 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 
 
God's Building: the New Orphan Houses 201 
 
 him who wondered at his audacity, by simply saying, " I 
 am following One who is leading me." George Mliller's 
 scheme was not self-originated. He followed One who was 
 leading him; and, because confident and conscious of sach 
 guidance, he had only to follow, trust, and wait. 
 
 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, announc- 
 ing 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. 
 
 The assurance became doubly sure that God would luild 
 for Himself 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 con- 
 vey 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 
 
202 George Muller of Bristol 
 
 money and all the needed help of man, stirring up the 
 hearts of His own children to aid as He may please. 
 
 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. Miiller than any mere sum of 
 money: 
 
 " Who art thou, great mountain ? 
 Before Zerubbabel, thou shalt become a plain ! " 
 
 (Zech. iv. 7.) 
 
 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 excite- 
 ment of mind than the fourpence given subsequently by 
 a poor orphan. 
 
 Specially asking the Lord to go before him, Mr. Miiller 
 now began to seek a suitable site. 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 Ashley Down, 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 oc- 
 
God's Building : the New Orphan Houses 203 
 
 casions failing to find him, he only left a message. He 
 judged that God's hand was to be seen even in his not 
 finding the man he sought, 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 re- 
 warded. He confessed that he had spent two wakeful 
 hours in bed, thinking about his land, and about what 
 reply he should make to Mr. Miiller'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. 
 
 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. Miiller 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.* 
 
 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. 
 
 Up to June 4, 1846, the total sum in hand for the build- 
 ing was a little more than twenty-seven hundred pounds, 
 a small part only of the sum needful; but Mr. Miiller 
 felt no doubt that in God's own time all that was required 
 would be given. Two hundred and twelve days he had 
 * Appendix Q. 
 
204 George Miiller of Bristol 
 
 been waiting on God for the way to be opened for build- 
 ing, and he resolved to wait still further until the whole 
 sum 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 Chxistian public, who would aid in its erection and 
 support, would be entitled to a representation in its con- 
 duct. 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 institu- 
 tion. 
 
 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 posses- 
 sion; but Mr. Miiller'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 per- 
 fected his patience. 
 
 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. 
 
God's Building : the New Orphan Houses 205 
 
 As the new building approached completion, -rith its 
 three hundred large windows, and requiring full prepara- 
 tion 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. Miiller was not only helped, but far beyond his 
 largest expectations. Up to May 26, 1848, these latter needs 
 existed, and, had but one serious difficulty remained un- 
 removed, 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 be- 
 ginning 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. 
 
 The name — " The New Orphan House," rather than 
 " Asylum " — was chosen to distinguish it from another 
 institution, near by ; and particularly^ was it requested 
 that it might never be known as "Mr. Miiller's Orphan 
 House," lest undue prominence be given to one who had 
 been merely God's instrument in its erection. He es- 
 teemed 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. Miiller, and the deeds were enrolled in 
 chancery. Arrangements were made that the house 
 
2o6 George Miiller of Bristol 
 
 should be open to visitors only on Wednesday afternoons, 
 as about one hour and a half were necessary to see the 
 whole building. 
 
 Scarcely were the orphans thus housed on As'hley 
 Down^ before Mr. Miiller'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 careful- 
 ness 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 ' be- 
 yond 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 an- 
 other seven hundred little ones. To all objections the 
 one all-sufficient answer was the all-sufficient God ; and, 
 because Mr. Miiller'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 aftei- his death f The 
 reply is memorable : " My business is, with all my might, 
 to serve my own generation hy the will of God: in so doing 
 I shall best serve the next generation, should the Lord 
 Jesus tarry." Were such objection valid, it were as valid 
 
God's Building : the New Orphan Houses 207 
 
 against beginning any work likely to outlive the worker. 
 And Mr. Miiller remembered how Francke at Halle had 
 to meet the same objection \\'hen, 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 a\\'ay, his son-in-la\v, as we have seen, became 
 the director. That fellow countryman who had spoken to 
 Mr. Miiller's soul in 1826, thus twenty-five years later en- 
 couraged him to go forward, to do his own duty and leave 
 the future to the Eternal God. 
 
 Several reasons are recorded by Mr. Miiller 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 dis- 
 tressing 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, at- 
 tempted 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. 
 
 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 dis- 
 posal, encouraged him to go forward. 
 
 Again, he kept his own counsel. Up to January 35th, 
 be had not mentioned, even to his own wife, his thought 
 
2o8 George Miiller of Bristol 
 
 of a further forward movement^ feeling that, to avoid all 
 mistakes, he must first of all get clear lig'ht from God, and 
 not darken it by misleading human counsel. Not until 
 the Twelfth Keport of the Scriptural Knowledge Insti- 
 tution was issued, was the public apprised of 'his purpose, 
 with God's help to provide for seven hundred more needy 
 orphans. 
 
 Up to October 2, 1851, only about eleven hundred 
 pounds had been given directly toward the second pro- 
 posed orphan house, and, up to May 26th following, a total 
 of some thirty-five hundred pounds. But George Miiller 
 remembered one who, " after he had patiently endured, 
 obtained the promise." He had waited over two years be- 
 fore 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. 
 
 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 
 the joint donation of several Christians, eighty-one hundred 
 pounds, 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 do- 
 nation 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 ■delig'ht, but the 
 fact that not in vain had he made his boast in God. 
 
 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 
 
God's Building : the New Orplian Houses 209 
 
 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." 
 
 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. 
 
 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 fiind. 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. Miiller 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 be- 
 lieve that the Lord had other purposes, or would give 
 better ground than that on which His servant had set his 
 mind. 
 
 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 
 ovmed. 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, sufBeient to build, fit up, and furnish it. 
 
 On May 26, 1856, nearly thirty thousand pounds were 
 in hand for the new Orphan House No. 2; and on Novem- 
 ber 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 
 
2IO George Miiller of Bristol 
 
 the building furnished the helpers, without either 
 difficulty or advertising. 
 
 With the beginning, of the new year, Mr. Miiller began 
 to lay aside six hundred pounds as the first of the appro- 
 priations for the third orphan house, and the steps which 
 led to the accomplishment of this work, also, were identi- 
 cal 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 deter- 
 mined to build so as to receive four hundred and fifty 
 instead of three hundred, rejoicing that, in every en- 
 largement 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. 
 
 Orphan House No. 3 was opened March 13, 1862, and 
 with over ten thousand pounds in hand for current ex- 
 penses. All the helpers needed had not then been sup- 
 plied, but this delay was only a new incentive to believing 
 prayer : and, instead of once, thrice, a day, God was be- 
 sought to provide suitable persons. One after another 
 was thus added, and in no case too late, so that the recep- 
 tion of children was not hindered nor was the work em- 
 barrassed. 
 
 Still further enlargement seemed needful, for the 
 same reasons as previously. There was an increasing de- 
 mand 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 
 I'Tos. 4 and 5 began to loom up above his horizon of faith. 
 By May 26, 1862, he had over sixty-six hundred pounds to 
 
God's Building: the New Orphan Houses 211 
 
 apply on their erection. In November, 1864, a large dona- 
 tion of five thoTisand 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. Miiller's 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 diffi- 
 culties seemed to increase : the price asked was too high, 
 and the Bristol Water-works Company was negotiating for 
 this same piece of land for reservoir purposes. Neverthe- 
 less God successively removed all hindrances, so that the 
 ground was bought and conveyed to the trustees in March, 
 1866 ; and, after the purchase-money was paid, about 
 twenty-five thousand pounds yet remained for the struc- 
 tures. 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. 
 
 In May, 1866, over thirty-four thousand pounds being 
 at Mr. Miiller'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, leav- 
 ing 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 bal- 
 ance of several thousand pounds remaining for general 
 
212 George Miiller of Bristol 
 
 purposes. Thus, early in 1870, the orphan work had 
 reached its complete outfit, in five large buildings on Ash- 
 ley Down with accommodations for two thousand orphans 
 and for all needed teachers and assistants. 
 
 Thus have been gathered, into one chapter, the lacts 
 about the erection of this great monument to a prayer- 
 hearing God on Ashley Down, though the work of build- 
 ing covered so many years. Between the first decision to 
 build, in 1845, and the opening of the third house, in 18G2, 
 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 Mtiller. 
 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. 
 
 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 sub- 
 stantial, being built of stone and made to last. They are 
 scrupulously plain; utility rather than beauty seems con- 
 spicuously stamped upon them, within and without. 
 Economy has been manifestly a ruling law in their con- 
 

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 Q 
 
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 o 
 W 
 
 w 
 
 Pi 
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 H 
 
God's Building: the New Orphan Houses 213 
 
 stnietion ; the furniture is equally unpretentious and 
 unostentatious ; and, as to garniture, there is absolutely 
 none. To some few, they are almost too destitute of em- 
 bellishment, and Mr. Miiller has been blamed for not ia- 
 troducing some Eesthetie features which might relieve this 
 bald utilitarianism and serve to educate the taste of these 
 orphans. 
 
 To all such criticisms, there are two or three adequate 
 answers. First, Mr. Miiller subordinated everything to his 
 one great purpose, the demonstration of the fact that the 
 Living God is the Hearer of prayer. Second, he felt him- 
 self 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 neces- 
 sities of the poor and destitute elsewhere. And again, 
 he felt that, as these orphans were likely to be put at ser- 
 vice in plain homes, and compelled to live frugally^ any 
 surroundings which would accustom them to indulge re- 
 fined 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. 
 
 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 or- 
 phans, to purchase embellishments or secure decorations 
 which, if they had adorned the humble homes of thou- 
 sands of donors, which have made their gifts impossible. 
 
214 George MuUer of Bristol 
 
 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. 
 
 Cleanness, neatness, method, and order, however, every- 
 where reign, and honest labour has always had, at the 
 orphan houses, a certain dignity. The tracts of land, ad- 
 joining 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. 
 
 Throughout these houses studious care is exhibitedj 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 gar- 
 ments. 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 ad- 
 mitted 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. 
 
 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 break- 
 fast 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 
 
God's Building: the New Orphan Houses 215 
 
 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 
 plv 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 ilr. ^liiller's own words : " We aim at this ; that, 
 if any of them do not turn out weU, temporally or spirit- 
 ually, and do not become useful members of society, it 
 shall not at least be aur fault." The most thorough and 
 careful examination of the whole methods of the insti- 
 tution 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 Hfe, 
 and are not prepared for a blessed immortality. 
 
CHAPTER XV 
 
 THE MANIFOLD GRACE OF GOD 
 
 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 " — 
 " goodness and mercy shall follow me." 
 
 Surely these two footmen of the Lord, in their celestial 
 livery of grace, followed George Miiller 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 iihe first of these houses was planned, and, following 
 another path, look at Mr. Miiller's personal and domestic 
 life. 
 
 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 diiferent de- 
 partments of experience, as representative examples. 
 
 The Lord's tender care was manifest as to his beloved 
 daughter Lydia. It became clear in the year 1843, that, 
 both foT 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 
 
 216 
 
The Manifold Grace of God 217 
 
 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. Jliil- 
 ler 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 sta}', 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 admo- 
 nition 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. 
 
 Many Christian parents have made the fatal mistake 
 of intrasting 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 in- 
 stances, aU 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 de- 
 voutness and consecration which is indispensable to the 
 true training of impressible children during the plastic 
 years when character is forming for eternity ! 
 
 Goodness and mercy followed Mr. and Mrs. Miiller con- 
 spicuously in their sojoum in Germany in 1845, which 
 covered about three months, from July 19th to October 
 11th. 
 
2i8 George iViuiier of Bristol 
 
 'to 
 
 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. Miiller, 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 
 quarter hour after, five hundred pounds were received, the 
 donor specifying that the money was given for all expenses 
 needful, " preparatory to, and attendant upon " this pro- 
 posed 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 ofEer them. All Mr. Miiller'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 ISTarrative, and yet evade 
 interference from the police. 
 
 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. Miiller but little, but 
 knew his positive convictions and uncompromising loyalty 
 
The Manifold Grace of God 219 
 
 to them, might suspect that he would have little for- 
 bearance with even minor errors, and would not bend 
 himself from his stern attitude of inflexibility to accom- 
 modate 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 radi- 
 antly 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 in- 
 sisting upon matters of minor importance as though they 
 were essential and fundamental. Hence his course, in- 
 stead of being needlessly repellant, was tenderly concilia- 
 tory ; 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. 
 
 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 Knowl- 
 edge 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 contrac- 
 tion should succeed expansion, but even here goodness 
 ruled, for it was afterward seen that it was because other 
 
2 20 George MilUer of Bristol 
 
 bretJiren had been led to take up such branches of the 
 Lord's work, in all of which developments Mr. Miiller as 
 truly rejoiced as though it had been his work alone that 
 was honoured of G-od. 
 
 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 seven times 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 one hundred and twenty-two 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 that evening received five pounds, and the next 
 morning a hundred more, and a further "birthday memo- 
 rial " of fifty, so that he had in all thirty-seven more than 
 he had asked. 
 
 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 in- 
 coming orphans; though crises were constantly arising 
 and new needs constantly recurring, grave matters 
 daily demanded prayer and watching, and perpetual dili- 
 
The Manifold Grace of God 221 
 
 genee and vigilance were needful; for the Lord was his 
 Helper, and carried all his loads. 
 
 During the winter of 1846-7 there was a peculiar sea- 
 son of dearth. Would God's goodness and mercy fail ? 
 There were those who looked on, more than half incredu- 
 lous, saying to themselves if not to others, " I wonder 
 how it is now with Mr. Miiller 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. They went through 
 that winter as easily as through any other from the begin- 
 ning of the world 
 
 Was it no sign that God's ''footmen' followed George 
 Miiller that the work never ceased to be both a work of 
 faith and of prayer ? that no difficulties or discourage- 
 ments, 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 ? 
 
 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 
 change of lase, never any looking to man for patronage or 
 support, never any dependence upon a regular income or 
 
222 George Miiller of Bristol 
 
 fixed endowment. God has been, all through these years, 
 as at first, the sole Patron andi 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. 
 
 "Was it not goodness and mercy that kept George Miiller 
 ever grateful as well as faithful ! He did not more con- 
 stantly 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 faith- 
 ful 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. 
 
 And what goodness and mercy was it that never suf- 
 fered 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. Miiller 
 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 Ije 
 expected, for the Lord gives faith for the very purpose 
 
The Manifold Grace of God 223 
 
 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 pt its triumphs. 
 
 Goodness and mercy not only guided but also guarded 
 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 after- 
 ward transpired that he had an impression that Mr. Miil- 
 ler had designs on his life, and had he met Mr. Miiller 
 during this insane attack he would probably have shot him 
 with the loaded pistol he carried about on his person. 
 
 The pathway of this man of God sometimes led through 
 deep waters of affliction, but goodness and mercy still fol- 
 lowed, and held him up. In the autumn of 1852, his be- 
 loved 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. Miiller's 
 house. To him Mr. Miiller owed much through grace at 
 the outset of his labo-urs in 1829. By his example his faith 
 had been stimulated and helped when, with no visible sup- 
 port or connection with any missionary society, Mr. Grtoves 
 had gone to Bagdad 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. 
 
 In July following, Mr. and Mrs. Miiller went through 
 a yet severer trial. Lydia, the beloved daughter and only 
 child, — bom 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 de- 
 
2 24 George Mtiller of Bristol 
 
 veloped 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 be- 
 yond words, not only to them and to her future husband, 
 but to many others in a wider circle of influence. Mr. 
 Miiller found, in this trial, a special proof of God's good- 
 ness 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 com- 
 plaining spirit with which he had met a like trial in 
 August, 1831, twenty-one years before, How, like a mag- 
 net among steel filings, the thankful heart finds the mer- 
 cies and picks them out of the black dust of sorrow and 
 suffering ! 
 
 The second volume of Mr. Miiller's Karrative closes 
 with a paragraph in which he formally disclaims as im- 
 pudent 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 phe- 
 nomenal or fanatical. 
 
 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 faithful- 
 ness, resorted to the most God-dishonouring explanations 
 of the work. Some said: "Mr. Miiller is a foreigner; his 
 methods are so novel as to attract attention." Others 
 thought that the "Annual Eeports brought in the 
 
The Manifold Grace of God 225 
 
 money," or suggested that he had "a secret treasure." 
 His quiet reply was, that his being a foreigner wx)uld 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 more in that sup- 
 position than the objectors were aware of. He had indeed 
 a Treasury, inexhaustible — in the promises of a God un- 
 changeably 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 Eeports, it may be worth while to notice that he never 
 but once in his life advertised the public of any nee'd, 
 and that was the need of more orphans — more to care for 
 in the name of the Lord — a single and singular case of ad- 
 vertising, by which he sought not to increase his income, 
 but his expenditure — not asking the public to aid him in 
 supporting the needy, but to increase the occasion of his 
 outlay ! 
 
 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 Eiches 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.* 
 
 The orphan work had, to Mr. Miiller, 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 
 * Appendix H. 
 
2 26 Georsre Mliller of Bristol 
 
 ■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. 
 
 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 al- 
 most inhuman, certainly inhumane. So, trusting in God, 
 they were taken in and cared for with parental love. A 
 few weeks later these children were physically unrecog- 
 nizable, so rapid had been the improvement in health, 
 and probably there were with God's blessing four graves 
 less to be dug. 
 
 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 cor- 
 rupt others, for the institution was not a reformatory, as it 
 was not a hospital. 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 exer- 
 cised even in his case was marvellously godlike, for, dur- 
 ing over five years, he had been the subject of private ad- 
 
The Manifold Grace of God 227 
 
 monitions and prayers and all other methods of reclama- 
 tion; 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 sin- 
 ner was followed, in his expulsion, by loving supplication. 
 
 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. Miiller 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 ex- 
 posure. The Lord was boldly appealed to. " Lord, these 
 are Thy orphans : be pleased to change this north vnnd 
 into a south wind, and give the workmen a mind to work 
 that the job may be speedily done." 
 
 The evening before the repairs actually began, the cold 
 blast was still blowing ; but on that day a south wind Mew, 
 and ike weather was so mild that no fire was needful!. Not 
 only so, but, as Mr. Miiller 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 
 
228 George Miiller of Bristol 
 
 again to-morrow." " We would rather, sir" was the reply, 
 " worlc all night." 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. 
 
 Every new exigency provoked new prayer and evoked 
 new faith. When, in 18G2, 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 ap- 
 prentices 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. 
 
 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. 
 
 Three instances of marked deliverance, in answer to 
 prayer, are specially recorded for tlie year between May 
 26, 1864, and the same date in 1865, which should not be 
 passed by without at least a mention. 
 
 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 
 
The Manifold Grace of God 229 
 
 from above ! A farmer, near by, supplied, from hia larger 
 wells, about half the water needful, the rest being fur- 
 nished by the half -exhausted wells on Ashley Down; and, 
 when he could no longer spare water, without a day's inter- 
 val, 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.* 
 
 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 
 ease 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 no further. Not another child was 
 taken ; and when, after nine months, the disease alto- 
 gether 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 1873 ! 
 
 Third, tremendous gales visited Bristol and neigh- 
 bourhood 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 
 
 * About twenty years later tlie Bristol Water Works Co. intro- 
 duced pipes and tlius a permanent and unfailing supply. 
 
230 George Mtiller of Bristol 
 
 midday of Wednesday, when the repairs were about fin- 
 ished, but heavy rainfalls drove the slaters from the roof. 
 One exposed opening remained and much damage threat- 
 ened ; 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 build- 
 ing from the south, while the rain came from the north. 
 
 Mr. Miiller 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. 
 
 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 prev- 
 alent 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 constitutionaljy weak lungs. 
 
 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 tribula- 
 tion, consolation abounded in Christ. Mr. Miiller 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. Muller's care, she 
 was, in this dangerous illness, still careless and indif- 
 ferent ; 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 cal- 
 
The Manifold Grace of God 231 
 
 lousness of conscience ; and unspeakable joy in the Lo'id, 
 oi 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 most extensive 
 and God-glorifying work ever wrought up to that time 
 among the orphans. In one house alone three hundred and 
 fifty were led to seek peace in believing. 
 
 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 bib- 
 lical 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 con- 
 verts. Mr. Miiller was more and more impressed by the 
 triumphs of the grace of God as seen in children eon- 
 verted at the tender age of nine or ten and holding the 
 beginning of their confidence steadfast unto the end. 
 
 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. 
 
 Again, when, in 1866, cholera developed in England, in 
 answer to special prayer not one 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 debili- 
 tated 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. 
 
232 George MCiUer of Bristol 
 
 'I'liai seven' iind epidemic disease slioulil find ils way 
 into the orpliaiiafjjes a.l, all may seem slraiif^e lo ilmse wlm 
 judge (lod's raiUifiilness by aiipeai-anees, liuL many were 
 the C(>m])ensat,i()iis for siieli (.rials. ISy lliem iKil only were 
 the hearts of Lh<: childi'eii dl'Len liiriied to (Jod, l)iit tJie 
 liuailts of helpers in tlic iiisl-itul-ioii werc^ ma;de more lyiii- 
 pathetic and tender, and the licarlAS of (lod's peiiple aL 
 large were stirred uj) to praetieal and systeniaJ,i(^ help, (jod 
 uses such seeming ealamities as ' advm'Lisenients ' (if His 
 work; many wlio would not have heard of the InBl-iLul.ion, 
 or on wliom what they did hear wouhl have made liLI le iin- 
 ])ressioi), were led to take a, deep inter<'st in an (n'|iliana;,'i' 
 where tlwnisands of lilLle (ines win'e exposed Lo llie I'avages 
 of some malignant and dangerdus cpidennct. 
 
 Looking back, in lH(i,5, afi.ei' thirty-one years, iipmi tlie 
 work thus far done lor the Ijord, Mr. Midler gi'alefiilly 
 records that, during the entire lime, he had heeri enahled 
 to hold fast the original primapios on whidi tin; work was 
 based on March n, IH'M. lie laid n(!ver oruH; gone inl,o 
 debt ; he had sought for l.lie Institution no padron hnt IJn! 
 Living Clod ; and he had kept to the lino of deinarkalion 
 between believers and unbelievers, in all his seeking for 
 active helpers in the work. 
 
 His grand purpose, in all liis labours, having been, from 
 the beginning, the glory of (Jod, in sbowing what, eonld he 
 done through prayer and faith, wil.houf any leaning ii|io'n 
 man, his unequivoeal testimmiy is: "IJitfierto hath fho 
 Lord helped us." Though for ahont five yc^ars they had, al- 
 most daily, brien in the constant trial of failli, they were as 
 constantly proving His faithfulness. The work ha,d rapidly 
 grown, till it assumed gigantic (iro[joH,ionB, hnt so did the 
 help of God keep i)ace witli all the needs and demands of 
 its growth. 
 
 In January, 1866, Mr. Henry Craik, who had for thirty- 
 
The Manifold Grace of God 233 
 
 six years been ilr. Miiller'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 bereaveUient, which 
 in one a.spect 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 good- 
 ness 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. 
 
CHAPTER XVI 
 
 THE SHADOW OF A GEEAT SOHEOW 
 
 " With clouds He eoTereth 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. 
 
 The year 1870 was made forever pathetically memorable 
 by the decease of Mrs. Muller, who lived just long enough 
 to see the last of the New Orphan Houses opened. Prom 
 the outset of the work in November, 1835, for more than 
 thirty-four years, this beloved, devoted wife had been also 
 a sympathetic helper. 
 
 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 associa- 
 tion in prayer and service. In their case, the days of 
 courtship were never passed ; indeed the tender and deli- 
 cate 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 
 
 234 
 
House op Mn. Mdller, Kingsdown, Bristol. 
 
The Shadow of a Great Sorrow 235 
 
 precious to her husband as during the very year of her 
 departure. 
 
 This marriage union was so happy that Mr. Miiller 
 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. 
 
 Mr. Miiller'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 unite'd prayer 
 and praise when they brought before the Lord the mat- 
 ters which at the time called for thanksgiving and sup- 
 plication. 
 
 Mrs. Miiller 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 afflic- 
 tion 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. Miiller's judgment a 
 
236 George Mtiller of Bristol 
 
 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. 
 
 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 avoid- 
 ance of needless exposure, and by constant resort to 
 prayer, she was kept alive through much weakness and 
 sometimes much pain. But, on Saturday night, Pebruaiy 
 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. 
 
 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 talcing 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 
 
The Shadow of a Great Sorrow 237 
 
 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 ? 
 
 It is only in those circumstances of extreme trial 
 which prove to ordinary men a crushing weight, that im- 
 plicit faith in the Father's unfailing wisdom and love 
 proves its full power to sustain. Wheie 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. 
 
 The death of this beloved wife afforded an illustration 
 of this. Within a few hours after this withdrawal of her 
 w'ho had shared with him the planning and working of 
 these long yeara of service, Mr. Miiller 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 counte- 
 nance, 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 kind- 
 ness 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. 1 
 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 unspeak- 
 able loss." These remarkable words are supplied by one 
 who was himself present and on whose memory they made 
 an indelible impression. 
 
 This occurrence had a marked effect upon all who were 
 at that meeting. Mrs. Miiller was known by all as a most 
 valuable, lovely, and holy woman and wife. After nearly 
 
238 George Miiller of Bristol 
 
 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 com- 
 panion. 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 irrep- 
 arable loss, and to praise God for the unspeakable gain to 
 the departed wife and mother. 
 
 The body was laid to rest on February 11th, many thou- 
 sands 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 Almiighty Friend in whom he trusted, 
 took upon himself the funeral service both at chapel a,nd 
 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 unhuman a 
 man." Yes, wrahuman indeed, though far from inhuman, 
 lifted above the weakness of mere humanity by a power not 
 of man. 
 
 That funeral sermon was a noble tribute to the goodness 
 of the Lord even in the great affliction of his life. The 
 text was : 
 
 " Thou art good and doest good." (Psalm cxix. 68.) 
 
 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 
 
The Shadow of a Great Sorrow 239 
 
 happily preserved in Mr. Miiller's journal, and must be 
 read to be appreciated.* 
 
 This union, begun in prayer, was in prayer sanctified to 
 the end. Mrs. Miiller'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 sym- 
 pathetically 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. 
 Miiller'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: 
 
 " 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.' " 
 
 As to culture, she had a basis of sensible practical educa- 
 tion, surmounted and adorned by ladylike accomplish- 
 ments which she had neither time nor inclination to in- 
 dulge in her married life. Kot 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. 
 
 All her training and natural fitness indicated a provi- 
 dential 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 
 
 » Narrative, III. 575-594. 
 
240 George Miiller of Bristol 
 
 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. 
 
 Shortly after her death, a letter was received from a be- 
 lieving orphan some seventeen years before sent out to ser- 
 vice, asking, in behalf also of others formerly in the houses, 
 permission to erect a stone over iirs Miiller's grave as 
 an expression of love and grateful remembrance. Con- 
 sent 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. 
 
 The dear daughter Lydia had, two years before Mrs. Miil- 
 ler'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 haid departed. It belongs among the precious relics 
 of her history. It reads as follows: 
 
 " Should it please the Lord to remove M. M. [Mary 
 lliiller] by a sudden dismissal, let none of the beloved sur- 
 vivors consider that it is in the way of judgment, either to 
 her or to them. She has so often, when enjoying con- 
 scions nearness to the Lord, felt ' How sweet it would be 
 now to depart and to be forever 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 
 thus her happy spirit might take its flight. Precious 
 
The Shadow of a Great Sorrow 241 
 
 Jesus ! TliY will in this as in everything else, and not 
 hers, be done ! " 
 
 These flords were to ilr. Miiller her last legacj-; 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. 
 
 Sixteen months passed, when Mr. James Wright, who 
 like ]\Ir. Miiller had been bereft of his companion, asked 
 of him the hand of the beloved Lydia in marriage. The 
 request took Mr. iliiller wholly by surprise, but he felt 
 that, to no man living, could he with more joj'ful con- 
 fidence 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 s3Tnpathy 
 which, like that of her father and mother, proved supreme- 
 ly and almost ideally happj^, helpful, and useful. 
 
 While as yet this event was only in prospect, Mr. Miiller 
 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 deter- 
 mined to ask Miss Susannah Grace Sangar to become his 
 vrife, 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 
 
242 George Miiller of Bristol 
 
 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 sonls. 
 
 The second Mrs. Miiller was of one mind with her hus- 
 band 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. 
 Kiches 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. 
 
 The question had often been asked Mr. Miiller 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 one who worhs, and an 
 instrument is what flie agent works with. Though pro- 
 vision 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. Miiller 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. Miiller's supervision. 
 
 To all such questions he had always one answer ready — 
 his one uniform solution of all cares and perplexities : 
 the Living God. He who had built the orphan houses 
 
The Shadow of a Great Sorrow 243 
 
 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 followed but 
 succeeded Moses. Jehovah of hosts is not limited in re- 
 sources. 
 
 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. 
 Miiller's son-in-law, for the choice was made before his 
 marriage to Lydia Miiller was even thought of by him. 
 For more than thirty years, even from his boyhood, Mr. 
 Wright had been well known to Mr. Miiller, 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 ilr. and Mrs. iliiller, both of whom felt divinely 
 assured that God would fit him more and more to take the 
 entire burden of responsibility. 
 
 When, in 1870, the wife fell asleep in Jesus, and Mr. 
 Miiller 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, ilr.Wright 
 was married to ilr. Miiller'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 be- 
 cause he was Mr. Miiller's son-in-law, for, at that time, 
 his first wife was living and in health. From May, 1872, 
 therefore, Mr. Wright shared with his father-in-law the re- 
 sponsibilities of the Institution, and gave him great joy 
 
244 George Mtiller of Bristol 
 
 as a partner and successor in full s^-mpathy with all the 
 great principles on which his work had been based. 
 
 A little over three years after Mr. Mliller's second mar- 
 riage, in March, IS 74, Mrs. Miiller was taken ill, and be- 
 came, 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. Miiller 
 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 mis- 
 sionary touring which enabled him to bear such world- 
 wide 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." 
 
CHAPTER XVn 
 
 THE PEEIOD OF WORLD-WIDE WITNESS 
 
 God's real answers to prayer are often seeming denials. 
 Beneath the outward request He hears the voice of the in- 
 ward 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. MoreoTer, His 
 infinite wisdom sees that a larger hlessing 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 de- 
 sire, but rather to His own unutterable groaning within us 
 which He can interpret better than we. 
 
 Monica, mother of Augustine, pleaded, with God that 
 her dissolute son mig'ht not go to Eome, that sink of ini- 
 quity; but he was permitted to go, and thus came into eon- 
 tact with Ambrose, bishop of Milan, through whom he was 
 converted. God fulfilled the mother's desire while deny- 
 ing her request. 
 
 When George Miiller, 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 he 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 
 
 245 
 
246 George Miiller of Bristol 
 
 beyond and spend the major part of seventeen years in wit- 
 nessing to the prayer-liearing God. 
 
 These extensive missionary tours occupied the evening 
 of Mr. Miiller'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. 
 
 They had a singular suggestion. While, in 1874, com- 
 pelled by Mrs. Miiller's health to seek a change of air, he 
 was preaching in the Isle of Wight, and a beloved Chris- 
 tian 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 con- 
 fine his labours in the Word and doctrine to any one place, 
 but to go wherever a door might open for his testimony. 
 
 In weighing this question he was impressed with seven 
 reasons or motives, which led to these tours : 
 
 1. To preach the gospel in its simjplicity, 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. 
 
 2. To lead believers to know their saved state, 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. 
 
 3. To hring 'believers bach to the Scriptures, to search the 
 Word and find its hidden treasures ; to test everything by 
 this divine touchstone and hold fast only what will stand 
 
The Period of World-wide Witness 247 
 
 this test; to make it the daily subject of meditative and 
 prayerful examination in order to translate it into daily 
 obedience. 
 
 4. To promote among all true believers, irotherly love; 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. 
 
 5. To strengthen the faith of believers, encouraging a 
 simpler trust, and a more real and unv/avering confidence 
 in God, and particularly in the sure answers to believing 
 prayer, based upon His definite promises. 
 
 6. To promote separation from the world 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. 
 
 7. And finally to fix the hope of disciples on the blessed 
 coming of our Lord Jesus; 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 outgathering of the Bride of 
 Christ. 
 
 These seven objects may be briefly epitomized thus : 
 Mr. Miiller's aim was to lead sinners to believe on the 
 name of the Son of God, and so to have eternal life; to 
 help those who have thus believed, to hnow that they have 
 this life ; to teach them so to build up 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 unity of the Spirit and the charity which is the bond 
 
24^ George Mtiller of Bristol 
 
 of perfectness^ and to help them to exhibit that 
 life before the world ; to incite them to cultivate an 
 unworldly and spiritual lype of character such as conforms 
 to the life of God in them ; to lead them to the prayer of 
 faith which is both the expression and the expansion of the 
 life of faith ; and to direct their hope to the final appear- 
 ing of the Lord, so that they should purify themselves even 
 as He is pure, and occupy till He comes. Mr. Miiller 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. 
 
 Of these long and busy missionary journeys, it is needful 
 to give only the outline, or f^eiieTfil survey. March 2(1, 
 1875, is an important date, for it marks the starting-point. 
 He himself calls this "the beginning of his missionary 
 tours." 
 
 From Bristol he went to Brighton, Lewes, and Sunder- 
 land — on the way to Sunderland preaching to !i great 
 audience in the Metropolitan Tabernacle, at Mr. Spur- 
 geon's request — then to Newcastle-on-Tyne, and back io 
 London, where he spoke at the Mildmay Park Conference, 
 Talbot Koad Tabernacle, and ' Edinburgh Castle.' This 
 tour closofl, June .5th, after seventy addresses in public, 
 during about ten weeks. 
 
 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 plaeo 
 made them unable to lead on new converts to hi^'her sii- 
 tainments in knowledge and grace, and there seemed to 
 be a call for some instruction fitted to confirm these now 
 believers in the life of obedience. Mr. Miiller accordingly 
 
The Period of World-wide Witness ^49 
 
 followed these evangelists in England, Ireland, and Scot- 
 land, staying in each place from one week to six, and seek- 
 ing to educate and edify those who had been led to Christ. 
 Among the places visited on this errand in 1875, were 
 London ; then Ealnmmock, Saltwater, Dnndee, Perth, 
 Glasgow, Kirkentilloch in Scotland, and DnbHn in Ireland: 
 then, returning to England, he went to Leamington, 
 TVarwiek, Kenilworth, Coventry, EugLy, etc. In some cases, 
 notably at ilildmay Park, Dundee and Glasgow, Liverpool 
 and DubHn, 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 iu July, having lasted nearly 
 eleven months, ilr. MiiUer had preached at least three hun- 
 dred and six times, an average of about one ser- 
 mon a day, exclusive of days spent in travel. So accept- 
 able and profitable were these labours that there were over 
 one hundred invitations urged upon him which he was 
 unable to accept. 
 
 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, TVurtemberg, Baden, Hesse Darmstadt, etc. Alto- 
 gether over three hundred addresses were given in about 
 seventy cities and vUlages to all of which he had been in- 
 vited by letter. TVhen this tour closed more than sixty 
 written invitations remained unaccepted, and ilr. iliiller 
 found that, through his work and his writings, he was as 
 well known in the continental countries visited, as in Eng- 
 land. 
 
 Turning now toward America, the fourth tour extended 
 from August, 1877, to June of the next year. For many 
 
250 George Miiller of Bristol 
 
 3'eais invitations had been coming -with growing fre- 
 quency, 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 Ger- 
 mans across the Atlantic, who as they heard him speak in 
 their own native tongue would keep the more silence. 
 (Acts sxii. 2.) 
 
 ]\Ir. and Mrs. Miiller, landing at Quebec, thence went to 
 the United States, where, during ten months, his labours 
 stretched over a vast area, including the States of Xew 
 York, Xew Jersey, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Mary- 
 land, District of Columbia, Yirginia, 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 congre- 
 gations 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 re- 
 peated meetings with and for ministers, evangelists, pas- 
 tors, and Christian workers; and, next to them ia impor- 
 tance, his interviews with large bodies of students and pro- 
 fessors in the universities, colleges, theological seminaries, 
 and other higher schools of education. To cast the salt 
 of the gospel iuto the very springs of fcoeial influence, the 
 sources whence power flows, was to him a most sacred priv- 
 ilege. His singular catholicity, charity, and humility drew 
 to him even those who differed with him, and all denom- 
 inations 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. 
 
The Period of World-wide Witness 251 
 
 After a sray in Bristol of abont two months, on Septem- 
 ber 5. ISTS. he and his wife began the fifth of these mis- 
 sionary tours. In this case, it was on the Contuient. wlieie 
 he ministered in English. German, and French: and in 
 Spain and Italv, when these tongues were not available, 
 his addresses were through an raterpreter. Many open 
 door? the Lord set before him, not only to the poorer and 
 humbler classes, but to those in the middle and higher 
 ranks. In the Eiviera, he had access to many of the no- 
 bility and aristocracy, who from different countries sought 
 health and rest in the equable climate of the Mediterra- 
 nean, and at Mentone he and Mr. Spurgeon held sweet 
 converse. In Spain Mr. Miiller was greatly gladdened by 
 seeing for himself the sch.ools. entirely supported by the 
 fimds of the Scriptural Knowledge Institution, and by 
 nnding that, in hundreds of cases, even popisrt parents so 
 greatly valued these schools that they continued to send 
 their children, despite both the tlireats and persuasions of 
 the Eonrish priests. He found, moreover, that the pupils 
 frequently at their h.omes 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. 
 
 The work had to contend with governmental opposiucn. 
 When a place was £rsr opened at Madrid for gospel ser- 
 vices, a sign was placed outside, annotmciug the fact. 
 OifiCial 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 W washed oif bv the raiois: where- 
 
252 George Miiller of Bristol 
 
 upon the government sent its own workman to daub the 
 sign oyer with thick oil-colour. 
 
 Mr. Miiller, ready to preach the gospel to those at Eome 
 also., felt his spirit saddened and stirred within him, as 
 he saw that city wholly given to idolatry — not pagan but 
 papal idolatry — the Eome not of the Cassars, 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 can- 
 not God do ! " He had before felt somewhat of His Al- 
 mightiness in love and grace, but he now saw its manifes- 
 tation 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. 
 
 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, Wis- 
 consin, 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 re- 
 mained without response, and the number increased the 
 
The Period of World-wide Witness 253 
 
 longer his stay. Mr. Miiller 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. 
 
 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. Miiller had a natural antipathy to the sea, in his 
 earlier crossing to the Continent having sutfered much 
 from sea-sickness; but he had undertaken these long voy- 
 ages, not for his own pleasure or profit, but wholly on G-od'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 in- 
 disposition. 
 
 From Quebec he went to Massachusetts, Connecticut, 
 ISTew York, 'New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. Among other 
 places of special interest were Boston, Plymouth — the 
 landing-place of the Pilgrims, — "Wellesley and South Had- 
 ley colleges — ^the great schools for woman's higher educa- 
 tion, — 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. Mtiller 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, — tM? of itself being no light task, inasmuch as it 
 
2 54 George Miiller of Bristol 
 
 reaches an average of about three a day. On May 30, 1881, 
 they were again on British shores. 
 
 The eighth long preaching tour, from August 33, 1881, 
 to May 30, 1882, was given to the Continent of Europe, 
 where again Mr. Miiller felt led by the low state of relig- 
 ious life in Switzerland and Germany. 
 
 This visit was extended to the Holy Land in a way strik- 
 ingly 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 
 Beyrut, Smyrna, Ephesus, Constantinople, Athens, Brin- 
 disi, Eome, 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 Eng- 
 lish, German, and French, or by translation into Arabic, 
 Armenian, Turkish, and modem Greek. Sightseeing was 
 always but incidental to the higher service of the Master. 
 During this eighth tour, covering some eight months, Mr. 
 Muller spoke hundreds of times, with all the former tokens 
 of God's blessing on Ms seed-sowing. 
 
 The ninth tour, from August 8, 1882, to June 1, 1883, 
 was occupied with labours in Germany, Austria, and Eus- 
 sia, including Bavaria, Hungary, Bohemia, Saxony, and 
 Poland. His special joy it was to bear witness in 
 Kroppemstadt, 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 
 bouse of Colonel Paschkoff, who had suffered not only per- 
 secution but exile for the Lord's sake. While the Scrip- 
 
The Period of World-wide Witness 255 
 
 tixres "were being read one day in Ens?, with seven poor 
 Eussians, a policeman siummarily brolte up the meeting 
 and dispersed the little company. At Lodz in Poland, a 
 letter was received, in behalf of ' almost the whole popula- 
 tion,' 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. 
 
 On September 26, 1883, the tenth tour began, this time 
 his face being tume'd 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 India was 
 the twenty-third country visited in his tours. He trav- 
 elled over 31,000 miles, and spoke over two hundred times, 
 to missionaries and Christian workers, European resi- 
 dents, 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. 
 
 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 
 eleventh longer mission tour. 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. Miiller reached home on June 14, 1887, having 
 been absent more than one year and seven months, during 
 which Mr. Miiller had preached whenever and wherever 
 opportunity was afforded. 
 
256 George Miiller of Bristol 
 
 Less than two months later, on August 13, 1887, he 
 sailed for South Australia, Tasmania, New Zealand, Cey- 
 lon, and India. This twelfth long tour closed in March, 
 1890, having covered thousands of miles. The intense 
 heat at one time compelled ilr. Miiller to leave Calcutta, 
 and on the railway journey to Darjeeling his wife feared 
 he would die. But he was mercifully spared. 
 
 It was on this tour and in the month of January, 1890, 
 while at Juhbulpore, preaching with great help from 
 the Lord, that a letter was put into Mr. Miiller'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 gratui- 
 tously at the orphan houses and it would be 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. 
 Miiller'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. (Eomans viii. 28.) 
 
 This sudden bereavement led Mr. Miiller 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. 
 
 After a lapse of two months, once more Mr. and Mrs. 
 Miiller left home for other extensive missionary journeys. 
 They went to the Continent and were absent from July, 
 1890, to May, 1893. A twelvemonth was spent in Ger- 
 many 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. 
 
The Period of World-wide Witness 257 
 
 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 hun- 
 dred thousand miles, a distance equivalent to nearly eight 
 journeys round the glohe ! He estimated that during 
 these seventeen years he had addressed over three mil- 
 lion people; and from all that can he 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. THiile 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: 
 
 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 cir- 
 cumstances of particular perplexity they might ascertain 
 the will of God. He then urged disciples to seek with in- 
 tense 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 gkrify God in a complete surren- 
 der to His will and service. 
 
 In all these mission tours, again, the faithfulness of God 
 
258 George Muller of Bristol 
 
 was conspicuously seen, in the bounteous supply oi! every 
 need. Steamer fares and long railway journeys; hotel ac- 
 commodations, ordinarily prei'errcil 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. 
 
 Accustomed to look, step by step, for such tokens of 
 divine approval, as emboldened him to go foward, Mr. 
 Miiller records how, when one hundred pounds was sent 
 to him for personal uses, this was iccognized as a foretoken 
 from his great I'rovider, "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.' " 
 
 Two other facts Mr. Miiller specially records in con- 
 nection with these tours: first, Ood'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 gath- 
 ered, but their falsity is sufficiently shown by the fact that 
 in his first tour in America, for example, the sum total of 
 all sueli gifts was less than sixty pounds, not more than 
 two thirds of the outlay of every day at the orphan houses. 
 
 These missionary tours were not always approved even 
 
The Period of World-wide Witness 259 
 
 by the rriencls and adrvisers of Mr. Mullcr. 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 
 o£E 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: 
 
 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 In- 
 stitution had been found as healthy and fruitful during 
 these absences as when Mr. Miiller was in Bristol. 
 
 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. 
 
 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. 
 
 4. Even while absent, he was never out of communica- 
 tion with the heplers 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. 
 
26o Georare MuUer of Bristol 
 
 'fe 
 
 5. The supreme consideration, however, was this: To 
 suppose it necessary for Mr. l\riiller himself to be at home 
 in order that sufficient means slwuld le supplied, was a direct 
 contradiction of the very principles upon which, and to 
 maintain which, the whole work had been begun. Real trust 
 in God is above circumstances and appearances. 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, nothwithstanding the loving counsel of a few 
 donors and friends who advised that Mr. Miiller should 
 stay at home, he kept to his purpose and his principles, 
 partly to demonstrate that no man's presence is indis- 
 pensable 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 vritness to God, 
 and God correspondingly honoured His servant in bearing 
 this testimony. 
 
 It was during the first and second of these American 
 tours that the writer had the privilege of coming into per- 
 sonal contact with Mr. Miiller. While I was at San Fran- 
 cisco, 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 volun- 
 tarily 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. Miiller boarded my train and we travelled 
 to Chicago together. I introduced myself, and held with 
 him daily converse about divine things, and, while tarry- 
 
The Period of World-wide Witness 261 
 
 ing at Chicago, had numerous opportunities for hearing 
 him speak there. 
 
 The results of this close and frequent contact were 
 singularly blessed to me, and at my invitation he came to 
 Detroit, Michigan, on his nest 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. 
 
 In addition to these numerous and favourable op- 
 tunities thus providentially afforded for hearing and 
 conversing with Mr. Miiller, 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 argu- 
 ments and objections against this view, but they have 
 one fatal defect: not one of them is hased upon the word of 
 God. 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." 
 
 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 ex- 
 pediency. 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 
 
262 Geoive Miiller of Bristol 
 
 ■t' 
 
 of the gosjiel wore iinseriptural; thai the church of God 
 should bi' aihuiiiisli'i'od only by mi'u full of the Holy 
 Ghosl, and thai the duly of (^hrislians lo the non-church- 
 going masses was grossly neglected, etc. He scdcninly saiil 
 to nie: " My lieloved brotlier, Uic Lord has given you 
 much light upon these matters, and will hold you cor- 
 respondingly respeiisilile for its use. If you obey Him and 
 walk in the lights, you will have more; if not, the light will 
 be \\'ithdrawn." 
 
 It is a singrrlar lesson on the importance of an anointed 
 tongiie, that forty simple wDrds, spoken ovei' twenty years 
 ago, have had a daily influeiu'c on the life of him to whom 
 they were spoken. Amid subtle temptations to com- 
 promise the claims of duty and hush the voice of con- 
 scieiu-e, or of the Sjiirit of Cod, and to follow the tradi- 
 tions of nu'U i-ather than the word of (!od, those wcn'ds of 
 that venerated servant of (fod harve recurred to mind with 
 cvci' fresh force. A\'e risk the forfeiture of privileges which 
 are not employed for God, and of obscuring convictions 
 which are not carried into action, (lod's word to us is 
 "use or lose.^ "To him that haili shall be given: IVom 
 him that hath not shall be taken away even that which 
 he seemclh to have." It is the hope and the prayer of 
 him who writes this memoir that the reading of these 
 pages may prove to W. an inteiTicw with the man whose 
 memorial they are, an'd that the ■witness boi'iie by George 
 Miiller may be to many readers a source of untold and life- 
 long blessing. 
 
 It need not bo said that to carry out conviction into 
 action is a costly sacrifice. It may make necessary renun- 
 ciations and sejiarations whicli leave one to feel a strange 
 sense both of deprivation and loneliness. But lie who will 
 fiy as an eagle does into the higluu' levels when! cloudless 
 day abides, and live in the sunshine of (lod, must consent 
 
The Period of Worid-vvide Witness 263 
 
 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 prompt- 
 ly 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." 
 
CHAPTEE XVIII 
 
 FAITH AND PATIEKCE IN SBEVINQ 
 
 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. 
 
 Before we come to the closing scenes, we may well look 
 back over the life-work of George Miiller, 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. 
 
 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 estab- 
 lish or at least to aid Christian schools wherever needful, to 
 scatter Bibles and Testaments, Christian boobs 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. 
 
 264 
 
Faith and Patience in Serving 265 
 
 An aggressive spirit is never content with what has been 
 done, but is prompt to enter any new door that is provi- 
 dentially opened. When the Paris Exposition of 1867 
 offered such rare opportunities, both for preaching to the 
 crowds passing through the French capital, and for circu- 
 lating 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 circu- 
 lated, 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 Eomish 
 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 Few Testament. 
 Of this glorious work, George Miiller was permitted to be 
 so largely a promoter. 
 
 At the Havre Exhibition of the following year, 1868, a 
 similar work was done ; and in like manner, when a provi- 
 dential door was unexpectedly opened into the Land of the 
 Inquisition, Mr. Miiller promptly took measures to pro- 
 mote 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 
 
266 George Miiller of Bristol 
 
 times and, while others slept, followed the Lord's signals 
 of advance. 
 
 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.* 
 
 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. Miiller. 
 To him the world was a field to be sown vrith the seed ol 
 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 pub- 
 lic executions, or among passengers on board ships and rail- 
 way trains, and by the way. Sometimes, at a single gath- 
 ering 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. 
 
 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. Miilleris place. In the year 1874, for in- 
 stance, 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 thou- 
 sand pupils, to be supported ; four million pages of 
 * Narrative, IV. 244. 
 
Faith and Patience in Serving 267 
 
 tracts and tens of thousands of copies of the Scrip- 
 tures to he yearly proTlded for distrihutioii ; and, he- 
 side all these ordinary expenses, inevitable crises or 
 emergencies, always liable to arise in connection with the 
 conduct of such extensire enterprises, would from time to 
 time call for extraordinary outlay. The man who was at 
 the head of the Scriptural Elnowledge 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 give; me peace. . . Invariably, with this 
 probability before me, I have said to myseli: "' God who has 
 raised up this work through me : Grod who has led me gen- 
 erally year after year to enlarge it ; God, who has sup- 
 ported this work now for more than forty years, vill still 
 help and will not suffer me to be confounded, because I 
 rely upon Him. I commit the whole wort to Him, and 
 He will provide me with what I need, in future also, 
 though I know not whence the means are to come." '" * 
 
 Thus he wrote in his journal, on July 2S, 1ST4. 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 Jesns. Whoever has had any such dealings with 
 Grod, on however small a scale, cannot even thinJe of the 
 Lord as failing to honour a faith so simple, genuine, and 
 childlike. a faith which leads a helpless believer tlias to east 
 himself and all his cares upon Grodwith utter abandonment 
 of all anxiety. Tliis man put GK)d 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 Joui- 
 * Xanative, IT. 386, 387. 
 
?o8 
 
 Cu-oiiic Mailer oi' Bristol 
 
 iial. is \]\o oLjiHi also of oinlHulvinn- tliom in llii'so paiji's, 
 iiaiiu'lv, lo show tliiil, whilo (ho iinminl oxponsi-s ot ihis ]ii- 
 stiiuiion woro so oxoooiliiiulv hu:;o Miul tho inoomo so i\p- 
 pniviulv iiiioortrtin, the soul of tliis holiovor was, to uso his 
 own woi-ils, •• '1'iiKori.iiun '1', without tho loasl \\a\ oi'ini;-, 
 stayod upon Ooil, liolioving- Hint Ilo w lio had ll>vou!;h liim 
 liogiiu the hisliditiou, eiilar.^'d it almost year after year, 
 auil upheld it for foi'ly years in answer to [irayer hy failii, 
 would do this still and imt sull'er this ser\anl of His io he 
 eoufiumded." * Relie\in_u- Ihal. (iod would still hel]), and 
 supply the nieaus, (!eiu;i;i' Miiller was willing, mul 
 'L'lKilioi i!iii,\ in heart prepared, if ni-eessary, to pass ai;aiu 
 lhro\i!;h siniilnr se\ere aiul pi'oloni;-ed seascuis o[ trial as 
 lie had already endured. 
 
 'The lavint;- tied had kept him ealm and restful, amid 
 all the ups and downs of his long experienee as tlie super- 
 intendent and dii'oelor cd' this many-sided wiu'k, (houj;h 
 I he tests of faith luul not lu"en lii;ht lu' sluu't of duraiion. 
 l'\n- UMW than ten years at a time — as IVoni August, 1S;!S, 
 lo April, ISI!>, day liy day, and fiU' nmnlhs lofvether frmu 
 nu'al (o nu'al — it was lu'eessai'y lo look lo (lo(l,alnuisl willi- 
 out et'ssalion, for tiaily supplies. When, later on, the 
 Inslitntiou was Iwentyfold larger nnd the needs propiu'- 
 tioualely i^'reater, fcu' UKudhs at a lime the Lord likewise 
 I'onstrained His ser\!nd to lean frcuu hour to hour, in llu' 
 sanu> dependence, upon llini. .Ml ahm^' Ihrounh thesi' 
 pei'iods of uneeasini;- want, the I'llei'Uill (!od was his i-efnu'e 
 and underneath wei'i' the Mverlastin;;- .\rms. He relleeled 
 that (Iod \\as aware of all this enlai'u'enu'iit of the wovk 
 and ils needs; he eiunforled himself with the eonsolin;;' 
 tlionbht that lie was sei'kini;- his Master's ,i;lory; and that if 
 in this way the urealer f^loi'y would aeeriu' to llini for the 
 f;dod of His people and of those who wei'e still nnhelievers, 
 « NunalivK, IV. 890. 
 
Faith and Patience in Serving 269 
 
 it was no concern of the servant; nay, more than this, it be- 
 hooved 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. 
 
 The trials of faith did not cease even until the end. 
 July 38, 1881, finds the following entry in Mr. Miiller's 
 journal : 
 
 " 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 con- 
 founded; also that the work shall not need to be given 
 up. I am fully expecting help, and have wiitten 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." 
 
 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. 
 
 Though faith had thus tenaciously held fast to the prom- 
 ises, the pressure was not at once relieved. When, a fort- 
 night after these confident records of trust in G-od had been 
 spread on the pages of the journal, the balance for the 
 orphans was less than it had been for twenty-five years. 
 
270 George Mtiller of Bristol 
 
 it would have seemed to human sight as though God had 
 forgotten to be gracious. But, on August 23d, over one 
 thousand pounds came in for the support of the orphans 
 and thus relief was afforded for a time. 
 
 Again, let us bear in mind how in the most unprece- 
 dented 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 circum- 
 stances, 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 testimony to the Lord was to be Jeal- 
 ously 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. 
 
 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. Miiller, with his wife, left Bris- 
 tol on August 23d, 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 indis- 
 pensable, 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 sup- 
 porting 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. 
 
 In an American city, a half-idiotic boy who was bearing 
 a heavy burden asked a drayman, who was driving an 
 
Faith and Patience in Serving 271 
 
 empty cart, for a ride. Being permitted, lie mounted the 
 cart with his basket, hut thinlving 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 pro- 
 fess to cast ourselves and our cares upon the Lord, and 
 then persist in hearing 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 loam that all true work is primarily the Lord's, 
 and only secondarily ours, and that therefore all " care- 
 fulness ' on our part is distrust of Him, implying a sinful 
 self-conceit whi-ch overlooks the fact that He is the one 
 AYorker and all others are only His instruments. 
 
 As to our trials, difficulties, losses, and disappointments, 
 we are prone to hesitate about committing them to the 
 Lord, trustfully and calmly. AVe thinlv we have done well 
 if wo 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 ^^•here we look for the solution of all prob- 
 lems. In Peters 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. Miillers witness concerning all these trying and dis- 
 appointing exiieriences of his life, that, without one ex- 
 ception, 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 : 
 
 *■ ]\Iake us glad according to the days wherein Thou hast 
 afflicted us 
 And the years wherein we have seen evil.'' 
 
 (Psalm xc. 15.) 
 
272 George Miiller of Bristol 
 
 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 
 afSictions and adversities liave heen patiently home. 
 
 Faith is the secret of hotli 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 wo 
 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. 
 
 Fluctuations in income and apparent prosperity did not 
 take George Miiller 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 Eock of Ages that no 
 earthquake shock can move from its eternal foundations. 
 
 Two facts Mr. Miiller gratefully records at this period of 
 his life: (Narrative, IV. 411, 418.) 
 
 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 ahne T 
 am enabled to continue in this course; for, if left to my- 
 
Faith and Patience in Serving 273 
 
 self, even after the precious enjoyment so long experi- 
 enced 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." 
 
 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. iliiller at home before sailing for America in Sep- 
 tember, 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 abun- 
 dant 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. 
 
 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 largest single gift ever 
 yet received, the largest donations which had preceded be- 
 ing respectively one thousand, two thousand, three thou- 
 sand, five thousand, eight thousand one hundred, and nine 
 thousand and ninety-one pounds. 
 
 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. 
 
274 George Miiller of Bristol 
 
 and now the full answer had come; and God had sin- 
 gularly timed the suj^ply 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 sani- 
 tary improvements were just about to be carried out which 
 would require an outlay of over two thousand pounds. 
 
 As Mr. Miiller closed the solemn and blessed records of 
 1884, he wrote: 
 
 " 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 bles,sed. Peacefully, then, we were 
 able to enter upon the year 1885, fully a.ssured that, as we 
 had God fob us and with us, all, all would be well." 
 John Wesley had in the same spirit said a century be- 
 fore, " Best of all, God is with us." 
 
 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. Miiller 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 Eng- 
 land, reached thirty-six hundred, while the prisons con- 
 tained 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 Ash- 
 ley Down alone; and this colossal enterprise stimulated 
 others to open similar institutions until, fifty years after 
 Mr. ]\Iiiller began his work, at least one hundred thousand 
 orphans were cared for in England alone. Thus God 
 
Faith and Patience in Serving 275 
 
 used Mr. Miiller 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 indi- 
 viduals and of societies, and orphanages now exist for 
 various classes. 
 
 In all this manifold work which Mr. Miillex did he was, 
 to the last, self-oblivious. From the time when, in Octo- 
 ber, 1830, he haid 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 believ- 
 ing children in all parts of the world, not only to send gifts 
 in aid of the various branches of the work which Mr. Miil- 
 ler superintended, but to forward to him money for his 
 own uses, as well as clothes, food, and other temporal sup- 
 plies. He never appropriated one penny which was not in 
 some way indicated or desig-nated 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. Pew 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 lega- 
 cies paid at the end of the year 1873, Mr. Miiller's entire 
 
276 George Miiller of Bristol 
 
 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 conscien- 
 tiousness expended for the glory of God, so that in a true 
 sense we may say he spent nothing on himself. 
 
 In another connection it has already been recorded that, 
 when at Jubbulpore in 1890, Mr. Miiller 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. Miiller, 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 deli- 
 cacy to draw the curtain of silence. But it should be re- 
 corded 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 dis- 
 closed to their vision. Did not that ornament in the Lord's 
 
Faith and Patience in Serving 277 
 
 sight appear as of great price ? Truly " the beauty of the 
 Lord her God was upon her. 
 
 James Wright had lived -n-ith his beloved Lydia for 
 more than eighteen years, in "unmarred and unbroken 
 felieity.'' 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 re- 
 sponsibility. 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: 
 
 " 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." 
 
 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. 
 Miiller, 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. 
 
 In the Fifty-third Eeport, 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 
 
278 Geort^e Miiller of Bristol 
 
 thus fell short of ilie expenses. Ten years previous, the 
 expenses had been in excess of the ineoine by four hun- 
 dred 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. 
 Miiller contract rather than expand the work. 
 
 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 direc- 
 tions as to how and to what extent this should be done; 
 for we have but one single object — the glory of Gr)d. 
 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 that ivhich already exislfi if we have not suffi- 
 cient means coming in to meet the current expenses." 
 Thus the godly man wlio loved to expand his service for 
 God was humble enough to bow to the will of God if its 
 contraction seemed needful. 
 
 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. 
 
 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. Muller is 
 careful to add that though the appearance during those 
 years of trial was many times as if God had forgotten or 
 forsaken them and would never care any more about the 
 
Faith and Patience in Serving 2^9 
 
 Institution, it was only in appearance, for he was as mind- 
 ful of it as ever, and he records how by this discipline faith 
 was still further strengthened, God was glorified in the pa- 
 tience and meekness ^'hereby He enabled them to endure 
 the testing, and tens of thousands of believers were blessed 
 in afterward reading about these experiences of divine 
 faithfulness.* 
 
 Five years after Mrs. Wright's death, Mr. Miiller 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 irife who in all these long jour- 
 neys 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." 
 
 At the funeral of his second wife, as at that of the first, 
 he made the address, and the scene was unique in inter- 
 est. 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 -ndth the unseen God, that the exchange of 
 worlds became too real for him to mourn for those who had 
 made it, or to murmnr 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 ever- 
 lasting Arms. 
 
 I remember Mr. Miiller remarldng that he waited eight 
 years before he understood at all the purpose of God in re- 
 
 * Fifty-fifth Report, p. 82. 
 
28o Georsfe jMiiller of Bristol 
 
 '& 
 
 moving his first wife, who seemed so iudispensable to him 
 and his work. His own journal explains more full}' this 
 remark. TMien it pleased God to take from him his second 
 wife, after over twenty-three rears 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. TThen he lost 
 his first wife after over thirty-nine years of happy 
 wedlock, while he bowed to the Fathers will, how 
 that sorrow and bereavement could work good had 
 been wholly a matter of faith, 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 be- 
 fore, two orphan houses had been opened for nine hun- 
 dred more orphans, so that there were total accommoda- 
 tions for over two thousand; she, who by nature, culture, 
 gifts, and graces, was so wonderfully fitted to be her hus- 
 band's helper, and who had with motherly love cared for 
 these children, was suddenly removed from his side. Four 
 years after Mr. iliiller married his second wife, he saw it 
 plainly to be God"s will that he should spend life's even, 
 ing-time in giving witness to the nations. These mission 
 tours could not be otherwise than very trying to the physi- 
 cal powers of endurance, since they covered over two hun- 
 dred 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. JMiiller, though never taking 
 part in public, was severely taxed by all this travel, and al- 
 ways 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 J\lr. Miiller 
 that his first wife, who had died in her seventy-third year, 
 
Faith and Patience in Serving 281 
 
 could never Time undertaken these tours, and that the Lord 
 had thus, in taking her, left him free to make these exten- 
 sive 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. Miiller, 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. 
 
CHAPTEE XIX 
 
 AT ETES"TS"G-TI1CE LIGHT 
 
 The closmg scene of this beantiful and eTentfnl life- 
 history has an interest not altogether rjathetic. ilr. Miil- 
 ler ieem; like an elevated mountain, on -prhoie summit the 
 evening sun shines ia lingering splendoni. and whose 
 golden peak rises far above the ordinary level and Vieiongs 
 to heaven more than earth, in the clear, cloudless calm of 
 God. 
 
 From ilay, lSf'2, when the last mission tour closed, he 
 devoted himseht mainly to the work oi the Scriprural 
 Knowledge Institution, and to preaching at Bethesda and 
 elsewhere as God seemed to appoiut. His health vras 
 marvellous, especially considering how, when yet a yonng 
 man, frequent and serious illnesses and general debility 
 had apparently disqualified him from all military duty, 
 and to many prophesied early death or hopeless Sucoumb- 
 ing to disease. He had been in tropic heat and arctic cold, 
 in gales and typhoons at sea. and on Journeys by rail, some- 
 times as continuously long as a sea-voyage. He had borne 
 the pest of fleas, mosquitoes, and even rats. He had en- 
 dured changes of climate, diet, habits of life, and the 
 strain of almost daily services, and come out of all un- 
 scathed. This man, whose health ^as never robust, had 
 gone through labours that would try the mettle of an iron 
 
At Evening-time — Light 283 
 
 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 liead 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 
 case, as seventy years since." When the writer was hold- 
 ing meetings in Bristol in 1896, on an anniversary very 
 sacred to himself, he asked his beloved father Mliller 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.* 
 
 The marvellous 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. 
 Miiller 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 con- 
 stant recuperative power they exercised upon his whole 
 being ; and third, to that happiness he felt in God and His 
 work, which relieved liim of all anxiety and needless wear 
 and tear in his labours. 
 
 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 pro- 
 mise add, like Abraham, our ' Amen ' — it shall be self 
 A\'lien, a few days after his death, Mr. E. H. Glenny, who 
 is known to many as the beloved and self-sacrificing friend 
 
 * Appendix K. f Gen. xv, 6. (Hebrew.) 
 
284 George Muller of Bristol 
 
 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 102d Psalm, we may say of Jehovah, while all else 
 changes and perishes : 
 
 " Thou eemainest " ; 
 " Thou aet the same." 
 
 Toward the close of life Mr. Miiller, acting under medi- 
 cal 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 speci- 
 men of his average preaching, he was certainly a remark- 
 able expositor of Scripture even at ninety-one years of 
 age. Later on the outline of this discourse will be found. 
 
 On Sundiay morning, March 6, 1898, he spoke at Alma 
 Eoad 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 : 
 
 " The countless multitude on high." 
 and 
 
 " We'll sing of the Shepherd that died." 
 
 Wlien 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 indica- 
 tions of heart-weakness had been noticed of late, and 
 
At Evening-time — Light 285 
 
 he had yielded to the pressure of love and consented 
 to such an arrangement after that night. But the consent 
 came too late. He was never more to need human attend- 
 ance 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 attendairt 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. 
 
 Such a departure, even at such an age, produced a world- 
 wide sensation. That man's moral and spiritual forces 
 reached and touched the earth's ends. ISTot in Bristol, or in 
 Britain alone, but across the mighty waters toward the sun- 
 rise and sunset was felt the responsive pulse-beat of a deep 
 sjTnpathy. Hearts bled all over the globe when it was 
 announced, by telegraph wire and ocean cable, that George 
 Miiller was dead. It was said of a great Englishman that 
 his influence could be measured only by " parallels of lati- 
 tude " ; of George Miiller we may add, and by meridians 
 of longitude. He belonged to the whole church and the 
 whole world, in a unique sense; and tha whole race of man 
 sustained a loss when he died. 
 
 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 
 
86 Georsre Muller of Bristol 
 
 'fe 
 
 kitchens, all seeking to par a last token of respect. Bris- 
 tol had iievev before -n-itnessed any such scene. 
 
 A brief service was held at Orphan IIoiiso Xo. 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-ioom, a coffin of elm, studiously plain, and by re- 
 quest without floral offerings, contained all that was mortal 
 of George iliiller. and on a brass plate was a simple in- 
 scription, giving the date of his death, and his age. 
 
 llr. 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 waitiag. The 
 tears that ran down those young cheeks were more elo- 
 quent than any words, as a token of affection for the dead. 
 
 The procession silently formed. Among those wlio 
 follov,-ed 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 e_ves unused to 
 weeping were moistened that day. The various carriages 
 bore the medical attendants, the relatives and connections 
 of Mr. Muller, the elders and deacons cf 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 ■ndth deputations from various religious bodies, 
 etc. 
 
 At Bethesda, every foot of space was crowded, and hun- 
 dreds sought in vain for admission. The hymn was sung 
 which Mr. Miiller had given out at that last prayer meet- 
 ing the night before his departure. Dr. Maclean of Bath 
 offered prayer, mingled with praise for such a long life of 
 sen'ice and witness, of prayer and faith, and 3Ir. Wright 
 spoke from Hebrews siii. 7, 8 : 
 
At Evening-time — Light 287 
 
 " Eemember 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 for- 
 ever." 
 
 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 Kock of Ages, God's written word; and 
 secondly, that it translated the precepts and promises of 
 that word into daily life. 
 
 Mr. Wright made very emphatic Mr. Miiller'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 media- 
 tion of His great High Priest. 
 
 George Miiller cultivated 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. 
 
 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 
 
288 George Miiller of Bristol 
 
 others, but their faith. And he took occasion to remind 
 his hearers that phihinthropy was not the foremost aim or 
 leading feature of Mr. Miiller's life, but above all else to 
 magnify and glorify God, as still the tiring God who, now 
 as well as thousands of years ago, hears the prayers of His 
 children and helps tliosc who trust Him.'" He toucliingly 
 referred to the humility that led Mr. Miiller to do the 
 mightiest thing for God without self-consciousness, and 
 showed that God can take up and use those who are will- 
 ing to be only instruments. 
 
 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 ob- 
 jects 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, how- 
 ever, that the God who has so blessed the work for so long 
 will leave our prayers as to the future unanswered." 
 
 Mr. Benjamin Perry then spoke briefly, characterizing 
 Mr. Miiller 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, re- 
 ferring, 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 
 
At Evening-time — Light 289 
 
 loved God above everybody and everything, so that his 
 highest pleasure was to please and serve Him. As an il- 
 lustration of his humility, he gave an incident. When 
 of late a friend had said, " TThen God calls you home, it 
 will be like a ship going into harbour, full sail " — " Oh 
 no ! " said Mr. Miiller, " it is poor George Miiller 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. MiiUer a perpetual warn- 
 ing, leading him to pray that he might never thus depart 
 from the Lord in his old age. 
 
 After prayer by Mr. J. L. Stanley, Col. Molesworth 
 gave out the hymn, 
 
 " "Tis sweet to think of those at rest." 
 
 And after another prayer by Mr. Stanley Arnot, the body 
 was borne to its resting-place in Arno's Yale Cemetery, 
 and buried beside the bodies of Mr. Miiller's first and 
 second wives, some eighty carriages joining ia the proces- 
 sion to the grave. Everything from first to last was as 
 simple and unostentatious as he himself would have wished. 
 At the graveside Col. ilolesworth 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 are and what we do. 
 
 Mr. E. K. Groves, nephew of Mr. Miiller, announced 
 as the closing hymn the second given out by hiTn at that 
 last prayer meeting at the orphanage. 
 
 " Well sing of the Shepherd that died." 
 
 Mr. E. T. Davies then offered prayer, and the body was 
 left to its undisturbed repose, until the Lord ^hall come. 
 
 Other memorial services were held at the Y. M. C. A. 
 HaU, and very naturally at Bethesda Chapel, which 
 brought to a fitting close this series of loving tributes to 
 
290 George Miiller of Bristol 
 
 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 virork. 
 
 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. Miiller's last ser- 
 mon at Bethesda Chapel, after a ministry of sixty-six 
 years, had been from 2 Cor. v. 1 : 
 
 " For we know that, if our earthly house of this taber- 
 nacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, a house 
 not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." 
 
 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 at- 
 tendant, in connection with the irregularity of his pulse: 
 " It means death." 
 
 Many of the dear orphans — as when the first Mrs. 
 Miiller 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 con- 
 formity 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 sufiicient. 
 
 Further urgent appeals were made both from British 
 
Jf^ 
 
 v-^-'^^i^ 
 
 I HOTHINC SHAU BE IMPOSSIBir 
 
 1^0 r. ffiSBao«£oSOM JESUS CHRrsiowlom 
 I WitO S*IB I to UHTb MY fiTHeii 
 
 I AHB If^MMSOEVER YE SH*U*SK IK MY NAME 
 THAT Will I 00 IHAt THE FATHER, 
 i<tY BE CLORIFIED IN THE SOU'.' 
 AMB IM HIS msPIREO WORD WHICH DEClARIStRAI 
 llUTHIHCS ARE POSSIBLE TO HIM THAT BEtlEVETI 
 
 AND COO FULFILIED THESE OECIARATIONS IN 
 
 fHE EXPERIEHCE OF HIS SERVANT BY ENABLIHC 
 
 HIM TO PROVIDE AND CARE FOR ABOUT 
 
 TEM THOUSAND ORPHANS. 
 
 { THIS HEMORIAl WAS IRICTID »V THt 
 
 \ SPOMTAMEOUS AMD lOVIMC CIfI» 
 
 I OF MAHY OF THESE ORPHiMS. 
 
 Mk. Muller's Tombstone in Arno's Vale Cemetery. 
 
At Evening-time — Light 291 
 
 and American friends^ for the erection of some statue or 
 oth.er 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: 
 
 " You ask me, as one long and closely associated with 
 the late Mr. George Miiller, to say what I thinJc would 
 be most in accordance with his own wishes as a fitting 
 memorial of himself. 
 
 " Will not the best way of replying to this question be 
 to let him speak for himself ? 
 
 " 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 Kew Orphan House, Ashley Down.' 
 N.B. — To the end of his life he disliked hearing or 
 reading the words 'Miiller's Orphanage.' In keeping 
 with this, for years, in every Annual Report, when re- 
 ferring to the Orphanage he reiterated the statement, 
 ' The New Orphan Houses on Ashley Down, Bristol, are 
 not my Orphan Houses, . . . they are God's Orphan 
 Houses.' (See, for example, the Keport for 1897, p. 69.) 
 
 " 2d. For years, in fact until he was nearly eighty years 
 old, he steadily refused to allow any portrait 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. 
 
 " 3d. 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 nine- 
 teenth century, God is still the Living God, and that now, 
 as well as thousands of years ago, He listens to the prayers 
 
292 George Muller of Bristol 
 
 of His children and helps those who trust in Him.' From 
 these words and ways of acting, is it not evident, 
 that the only ' mciiioriiil ' that George Miiller eared 
 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 con- 
 stitutes 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 con- 
 stitutes a similar memorial to his spiritual teacher. 
 
 " 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 above thousands more to whom it had 
 pleased God to make him a channel of rich spiritual bless- 
 ing. 
 
 " 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. Miiller's) 
 earthly possessions at the moment, ' Ah ! these dear peo- 
 ple entirely miss the lesson I am trying to teach them, 
 for they come to me, instead of going to Ood.' 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 perpetuate his memory, I 
 can hear him, with a sigh, exclaiming, ' Ah I these dear 
 friends are entirely missing the lesson that I tried for 
 seventy years to teach them,' viz., ' That a man can re- 
 ceive nothing except it be given him from above,' and that, 
 therefore, it is the Blessed Giver, and not the poor re- 
 ceiver, that is to be glorified. 
 
 " Yours faithfully, 
 
 "James Weight." 
 
CHAPTER XX 
 
 THE STJMMABT OF THE LITE-WOEK 
 
 Death shuts the door upon earthly service, whatever 
 door it may open to other forms and spheres of activ- 
 ity. There are many intimations that service beyond the 
 grave is both unceasing and untiriag : the blessed dead 
 " rest indeed from their labours " — ^toilsome and painful 
 tasks — " but their worhs " — activities for God — " do f oUo-w 
 them," where exertion is without exhaustion. 
 
 This is therefore a fit point for summiag up the results 
 of the work over which, from its beginning, one man had 
 specially had charge. One sentence from Mr. Miiller'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 develop- 
 ment of the character of him who had such singleness of 
 aim, and for the development of the work in which that 
 aim found action, ilr. Miiller'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 m Mr. Miiller's life-work. 
 
 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. Miiller's death. In this, Mr. Wright 
 
 293 
 
294 George Miiller of Bristol 
 
 giTes the brief but valuable siuumary not only of the 
 ■whole work of the year preceding, but of the ^rhole work 
 from its beginning, and thus helps us to a comprehensivo 
 survey. 
 
 This report is doubly precious as it contains also the 
 last contribution of Mr. iliiller'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 ^vith 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. 
 
 The afternoon of that day of death, and of ' birth ' into 
 the heavenly life — as the catacomb saints called it — ^foimd 
 the helpers again assembled in the s;ime 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. 
 
 Mr. Wright, in this report, shows himself God's chosen 
 successor in the work, evidently like-minded with the 
 departed dii-ector. The iirst paragraph, after the brief 
 and touching reference to his father-in-law, serves to con- 
 vey to all friends of this work the assurance that he to 
 whom Mr. Miiller left its conduct has also learned the one 
 secret of all success in coworking with God. It sounds, 
 as the significant kciinotc for the future, the same old key- 
 note of the past, carrying on the melody and harmony, 
 without cli:ui!;e, into the new measures. It is the same 
 
The Summary of the Life-work 295 
 
 oratorio, without alteration of theme, time, or even key : 
 the leading performer is indeed no more, but another hand 
 takes up Ms instrument and, trembling with emotion, con- 
 tinues the unfinished strain so that there is no inter- 
 ruption. Mr. Wright says : 
 
 " It is written (Job xxvi. 7) : ' He hangeth the earth 
 upon nothing ' — that is, no visible support. And so we 
 exult in the fact that ' the Scriptural Knowledge Institu- 
 tion 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." 
 
 Blessed lesson to learn ! that to hang upon the invisi- 
 ble God is not to hang " upon nothing," though it be upon 
 nothing visible. 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. "\Ye 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. 
 
 Mr. Wright record's also a very striking answer to long- 
 continued prayer, and a most impressive instance of the 
 tender care of the Lord, in the providing of an associate, 
 every way like-minded, and well fitted to share the respon- 
 sibility falling upon his shoulders at the decease of his 
 father-in-law. 
 
 Feeling the burden too great for him, his one resource 
 
296 George Milller of Bristol 
 
 was to cast his burden on the Lord. He nml Mr. Miiller 
 had asked of God such a companion in labour lor three 
 years before his departure, and Mr. Wright and his dear 
 wife had, for twenty-five years before that — from the time 
 when Mr. Miiller's long missionary tours began to withdraw 
 him from Bristol — besought of the Lord the same lavour. 
 But to none of them ha'd any name been suggested, or, if so, 
 it had never been mentioned. 
 
 After that day of death, Mr. Wright felt that a gracious 
 Father would not long leave him to sustain this great bur- 
 den 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 " irue yolce-fellow." He had known him well for a 
 quarter-century ; he had worked by his side in the churcli; 
 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 suc- 
 ceed him ; he was very fond of children, and had been 
 much blessed in training his own in the nurture and ad- 
 monition 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 l^d of God to feel that he should, after a certain time, 
 go to Mr. Wright and offer himself. 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 mys- 
 terious way, and simultaneously, on those whom He would 
 bring together for cooperation in loving service. And 
 
The Summary of the Life-work 297 
 
 thus Mr. Wriglit 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. 
 
 Mr. Miiller's own gifts to the service of the Ijord find 
 in this posthumous report their first full record and recog- 
 nition. Headers of the Annual Eeports must have noticed 
 an entry, recurring with strange frequency during all these 
 more than sixty years, and therefore suggesting a giver 
 that must have reacted 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 care- 
 fully followed throughout and there be added the per- 
 sonal gifts made by Mr. Miiller to various benevolent 
 objects, it will be found that the aggregate sum from this 
 " servant " reaches, up to March 1, 1898, a total of eighty- 
 one thousand four hundred and ninety pounds eighteen 
 shillings and eightpence. Mr. Wright, now that this " ser- 
 vant 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 
 George Miiller himself 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. 
 
 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 
 
298 George Miiller of Bristol 
 
 objects. While he had but thirty pounds a year, he lived 
 on twenty-eight and gave away forty shillings. Eeceiving 
 twice as much the next year, he still kept his living ex- 
 penses 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 be- 
 fore 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 Miiller'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. Miiller had received increasingly 
 large sums from the Lord which he invested 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 work of God. He 
 made friends out of the mammon of unrighteousness that 
 whenhefailedreceived 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 in- 
 come, but all that was left 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 Loi*d, they' spend all the rest on 
 
The Summary of the Life-work 299 
 
 themselves. God led George MiOler to reverse this mie 
 and reserve only the most frngal sum for personal neeis^ 
 that the entire remainder might be given to him that 
 needeth. The ntter revolution implied in onr habits of 
 giving which wonld be necessary were STich a mle adopiei 
 is bnt too obvions. Mr. Miiller's own words are : 
 
 " !Mt aim never was, how mnch I cotild obtain, but rather 
 ho-R" much I eoTild give." 
 
 He kept contianally before him Tils siewardship 01 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 Mght of the judgment-seat of Christ, 
 he asked himself how it wonld appear to him in the light 
 of that tiibunaL Thus he sought prayerfully and con- 
 scientiously 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 
 fear was this done ; for if any man of his generation knew 
 the perfect love that easts out fear, it was George Miiller. 
 He felt that God is love, and love is of God. He saw that 
 love manifested ia the greatest of gifts — His oiily-DegotTen 
 •Son : at Calvary he knew and believed the Love thit God 
 hath to us ; he received it into his own heart ; it became 
 an abiding presence, manifested iu obedience and henevo- 
 lenee, and, subduing him more and more, it became per- 
 fected so as to expel tormenting fear and impart a holy 
 confidence and delight in God. 
 
 Among the texts which strongly impressed and moulded 
 Mr. Miiller's habits of giving was Luke vi. 3S : 
 
 " Give and it shall be given unto you. Good measure, 
 pressed down, shaken together and running over shaU men 
 give into your bosom." 
 
300 George MilUer of Bristol 
 
 He believed this promise and he verified it. His testi- 
 mony is : "I had givex, and God had caused to be givex 
 TO ME AGAix, and bountifully."" 
 
 Again he read : " It is more blessed to give than to re- 
 ceive."" 
 
 He says that he belieted what he found in the word of 
 God, and by His grace sought to act accordixglt, and 
 thus again records that he was blessed abundantly and 
 his peace and Joy iu the Holy Ghost iacreased more and 
 more. 
 
 It will not be a surprise, therefore, that, as has been al- 
 ready noted, Mr. Miillers entire personal estate at his death, 
 as sworn to, when the will was admitted to probate, was 
 only £169 9s. id., of which books, household furniture, etc., 
 were reckoned at over one hundred pounds, the only money 
 in his possession being a trifle over sixty pounds, and even 
 this only awaiting disbursement as God's steward. 
 
 The will of Mr. Miiller 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 "' : 
 
 '■ I cannot help admiring God's wondrous grace in bring- 
 ing 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." 
 
 In the comprehensive summary contained in this Fifty- 
 ninth Eeport, remarkable growth is apparent during the 
 sixty-four years since the outset of the work in 1834. Dur- 
 ing"the year ending May 26. 1898. the number of day- 
 schools was 7, and of pupils. 351; the number of children 
 in attendance from the beginning. 81,501. The number 
 of home Sunday-schools. 1?, and of children in them, 1311; 
 but from the beginning, 32.944. The number of Sunday- 
 
The Summary of the Life-work 301 
 
 schools aided in England and Wales, 35. The amount 
 expended in connection with home schools, i736 13s. lOd.; 
 from the outset, £109,992 19s. lOd. The Bibles and parts 
 thereof circulated, 15,411; from the beginning, 1,989,266. 
 Money expended for this purpose the past year, £439; from 
 the first, £41,090 13s. 3d. Missionary labourers aided, 115. 
 Money expended, £2082 9s. 6d.; from the outset, £261,859 
 7s. id. Circulation of books and tracts, 3,101,338. 
 Money spent, £1001 3s.; and from the first, £47,188 
 lis. 10^. The number of orphans on Ashley Down, 1620; 
 and from the first, 10,024. Money spent in orphan houses, 
 last year, £22,523 13's. Id.; and from the beginning, 
 £988,829. 
 
 To carry out conviction into action is sometimes a costly 
 sacrifice; but whatever Mr. Miiller'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. x\nd besides all this he had spent over two 
 hundred and sixty thousand pounds to aid missionary la- 
 bourers in various lands. The sum total of the money thus 
 spent during sixty years has thus reached very nearly the 
 
302 George Miiller of Bristol 
 
 astomsMng aggregate of one and a half million of pounds 
 sterling (^'TjSOO.OOO). 
 
 To sum TTi arize !Mr. iliillei's service ve must understand 
 his great secret. Such a life and such a work are the 
 result of one hahit more than all else, — daily and frequent 
 communion with God. Unwearied in supplications and in- 
 tercessions, 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 as- 
 surance of the immutable Promiser, he presented every 
 petition. He was an unwearied intercessor. Xo delay 
 discouraged him. This is seen particularly ia the case of 
 individuals for whose conversion or special guidance iato 
 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 recon- 
 ciliation to God he had prayed, day by day, for over sixty 
 years, ani 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 con- 
 cerning them purposes of mercy."" 
 
 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 verv 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 oh- 
 
The Summary of the Life-work 303 
 
 ject, and of the Lord's enabling him so to continue pa- 
 tiently and believinglj to wait on Him for the blessing, 
 was a promise and prophecy of the answer: and so he 
 \raited on, so assnred of the ultimate residt that he praised 
 Grod in advance, believing that he had praetieallv received 
 that for which he asked. 
 
 It is most helpful here to add that one of the parties 
 for whom for so many years he nncessingly 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 manviscript of 
 Mr. Miiller'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 testi- 
 mony to his faith and hope ia the Saviour of sinners. 
 
 If George iliiller could stiU speak to us, he would again 
 repeat the warning so frequently found in his jotirnal 
 and reports, that his feUow disciples must not regard him 
 as a miracJe-icorlrer. as though his experience were to be 
 accounted so exceptional as to have little appUcation ia 
 our ordinary spheres of life and service. With patient 
 repetition he aflirms that in all essenrials such an experi- 
 ence is the privilege of jill believers. God calls disciples 
 to various forms of irorJ-, but all alike to the same faith. 
 To say, therefore, "I am not called to build orphan 
 houses, etc., and have no right to expect answers to my 
 prayers as Mr. Miiller did," is wrong and unbelieving. 
 Every child of God, he maintained, is tirsr 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. 
 
 Throughout all these thousands of pages written by his 
 pen, he teaches that every experience oi God's faithfulness 
 is both the reward of past faith and prayer, and the prepa- 
 ration of the serrant of God for larsrer work and more 
 
304 George Miiller of Bristol 
 
 efficient service and more convincing witness to his Lord. 
 
 No man can understand such a work who does not see in 
 it the supernatural 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 supematuTal 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 ? Be- 
 cause 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." 
 
 This simile of the Burning Bush is the more apt when 
 we consider the rapid growth of the ivorh. 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 neces- 
 sary; 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 Jlr. Miiller's life a grand total 
 of over twenty-seven thousand five hundred, for all the 
 purposes of the Institution. 
 
 The cost of the houses built on Ashley Down might 
 
The Summary of the Life-work 305 
 
 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 out- 
 lays made needful for emergencies, such as improved sani- 
 tary precautions, which in one case cost over two thou- 
 sand pounds. 
 
 Here is a burning bush indeed, always in seeming dan- 
 ger 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 un- 
 believers to turn aside and see the great sight, and take 
 off the shoes from their feet as on holy ground where God 
 manifests Himself. 
 
 Any complete survey of this great life-work must in- 
 clude much that was wholly outside of the Scriptural 
 Knowledge Institution; such as that service which Mr. 
 Miiller 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. 
 
 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 preach- 
 ing 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 esti- 
 mate, for diiring his missionary tours, which covered over 
 
3o6 George Miiller of Bristol 
 
 two hundred thousand miles and were spread through 
 seventeen years, he spoke on an average about once a day 
 notwithstanding already advanced age. 
 
 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 mem- 
 bers 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 num- 
 bers 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 concep- 
 tion — 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 tabu- 
 lated 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 Miiller's work we can- 
 not summarize: it belongs to a realm where we cannot 
 })enetrate. But God sees, knows, and rewards it. 
 
CHAPTEE XXI 
 
 THE CHTJECH LIFE AND GEOWTH 
 
 Thhoughout Mr. Miiller'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 pre- 
 vail 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. 
 
 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. 
 
 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 min- 
 istry 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 in- 
 structive lessons which yield their full teaching only when 
 gathered up and grouped together so as to secure unity, 
 continuity, and completeness of impression. 
 
 307 
 
3o8 George Mailer o( Bristol 
 
 AVhon l\rr, ■MiilUn- iind Wr, Cniik bognn joint work in 
 Bristol, l\)uiuliilioiis iu'ihKhI Io lie rolnid. 'I'lio rhui'i'li-lil'i'. 
 ns ilu'Y round it, was no! on n suHu'ii'nll^v sci'iplund Imsis, 
 iii-ul tiii'v wiiitod on Hod I'or wisiUnu to ndjiusl it n\iu'o fom- 
 liU'tidy to His word luid will, 'Tins wiis tlu< work of lime, 
 I'or it. riHiuii'i'd I ho iiislnu'tioii of IVIlow boliovors so ilml, 
 tlioy iiugUt bo iiropnvoil to oooiuTido, by rocoj^'ni/.iiif;' scrip- 
 luvnl and spiritmd Icncliing; it roqiiii'od idso tlio oroidion 
 of tliitl. bond id' syinpidli.Y wldcli iiicliiu's tlio Hock to hour 
 tind liood tho slK'iiluM'd's voice, iind follow ii lr\io piistni'id 
 loiulorship. At. tho (HiIsoI. (d' tJioir nnnistry, llu'S(< brolhroii 
 rnrorully liiid down somo pi'ini'iplos on whii^h tJioir minis- 
 try WHS 1,0 111' bnsod. On Miiy X'll, IKJi'v. Ihoy I'nuddy 
 stilted, id. (lidoon (lluvpcl.i'iMinin Lornis on which idono thoy 
 could lidio cbiu'i^c ol' the church: Ihoy must, bo rc^iu'd<'d 
 as simply Clod's scrvaids to labour amonji- tluun so Kuiff 
 as, and in sncb way as uds'ld ho ilia will, and undor no 
 bondafi;i^ ol' IIxchI rul(>s; Ibcy desired pew-renis to he dono 
 away wil.li, and \'olunt.iu'y oll'ei'ings Bubsl.iLuleil, vtv.. 
 
 There was already, luiwcver, a slronj^ conviction that a 
 ii('w slivrl was in sonu^ respects indispensahlo iC tho exist- 
 ing; oburclidil't' was to bo Iborouj^'bly modi^lled on a scrip- 
 tural pattern. These brcthriui dctcrudnod to stamp upon 
 tbecluirch iH'rIa.iu important I'eid.ures such as those: Apos- 
 tolic simplicity of worshi]), cvanpfelii^al teacbing, ovangolia- 
 tic work, separation from llu^ world, systenui.tic givinn', 
 n.m1 (lopciulence on ])raycr. Thoy desired to give groat 
 pronunonco to tbc siiniilc testimony of the Wore!, to sup- 
 port every departnuuit of tbe work by free-will olTcringS, 
 to recognize tlio Holy Spirit as tbe one pr<'siding and 
 f^'ovorning Power in all churob assemblies, and to siMuire 
 liberty foi' all boli(»v(U's in tbe exercise of spiritual gifts 
 as distribnt.i'd by tbnl Spirit io all metnhers of tbe Rody of 
 Christ for servic<!. They beliovod it scriptural to break 
 
The Church Life and Growth 309 
 
 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. 
 
 It has been already seen that iu 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. 
 
 Such blessed results are largely due to these beloved 
 colleagues in labour who never withheld their testimony, 
 but were intrepidly courageous and conscientiously faith- 
 ful 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. 
 
 In January, 1834, all teachers who were not believers 
 were dismissed from the Sunday-school; and, in the Dor- 
 cas 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 
 * 3 Cor. vi. 14-18. 
 
^lo George Mullcr of Bristol 
 
 c'liissisi'S, I'otiloriny- in llio unboliovora ii, fiilso tiocuiril.y.onsiimi'- 
 ing llioiu ii\ n delusivo liopo that lo ln'lp hi (■liri^liim work 
 niij;ht KDiui'lunv iiloiu' I'or rcjcclion of ,)osii8 iMirisl. na ii 
 Saviour, or wnniro I'livoiir rroiu Hod ami iiii opoii iloor 
 into hoavi'ii. No iloiibi, aJI this iinliscriiniimli* nssocialioii 
 oi' children of Hoil, with tdiihlreii ol' I ho world in a " ndxod 
 imiltituilo " is uiiscripturnl. Uiir('^oni'raii> porHons aro 
 tc'Mn>ti'd to tiunk tiu'ro is sonic niorii at least in niinj;iing 
 with worshipjicM's and wcH'kcrs, and os(i(>ciiill_v in g'iving 
 to the support of Ihc jfospol and its ijislitul.ions. Tho 
 devil seeks to |)ersuaide sueh that il w ainniptablo to 
 tiod lo eonrorni exIeriuUly to reli^'ious riles aU'd Au'uiH, 
 and take piii'l, in outward, a,(^ls id' serviee ajvd SJieri- 
 iii'e, aiul thai, lie will deal liMneidJ.y with them, despite 
 their iinbelief and disohedionee. Mi'. Miiller and Mr. 
 Criiik t'elt keenly that this danger e.xisliul and that even 
 in minor niattt^'s tlierc^ iiiiist la^ a line of separiiiion, .roi" 
 the sake (d' all involved. 
 
 When, in IH.'i';', in eiiiiiieelion with I he eoiiHTe;j;atimi at 
 Jicthesdii, the (|iiestion was niised— eoinin(inl_y known iiH 
 that of elose eomiiiiinioii — whether lidlievers who had not 
 lieeii baptized as siieb sliould be received into rellowsliip, 
 il, was siibniitted likewisi^ to tlii^ one test of clear Hcripturd 
 t(Mudiinj(. Some belic\'ers wt^rc conseientiouHly opposed 
 Lo such reception, but the niatt(U' was llniilly and liar- 
 nioniously settled by " rcceiviiiff all who lovi^ our Lord 
 .hisiis into J'lill ciuniiiiinioit, iirespiudivc ol' baptism," a,nil 
 Mr. Mliller, lookiitj^- \mv.k I'lH-lj-l'oiir years later upon this 
 action, bears witness that tli(> deciHion iicyur beciimo a 
 source ol' disscniiion.''' 
 
 In all (itluu- church mailers, prayer iiiid ri<^archiii^!; l,lio 
 Word, asking cnunsel of tlu^ Holy Oraches and wisdom from 
 above, W(!rc Lho oiii^ resort, and the nwoliition of all dilli- 
 * Appondlx lj, 
 
The Church Life and Growth 311 
 
 culties. When, in the spring of 1838, sundry questions 
 arose somewhat delicate and difficult to adjust, Mr. Miiller 
 and Mr. Craik quietly withdrew from Bristol 'for two 
 weeks, to give themselves to prayer and meditation, seek- 
 ing of God definite direction. 
 
 The matters then at issue concerned the scriptural con- 
 ception, mode of selection and appointment, scope of 
 authority and responsibility, of the Eldership; the proper 
 mode of observance of the Lord's Supper, 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 circum- 
 stances mere discussion often only fans the embers of strife 
 and ends in hopeless alienation. These spiritually minded 
 pastors followed the apostolic method, referring all mat- 
 ters 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 judg- 
 ment among the brethren; but more than this, God gave 
 them wisdom so to act, combining the courage of convic- 
 tion with the meekness and gentleness of Christ, as that 
 all clouds were dispelled and peace restored.* 
 
 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. Miiller 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: 
 * Appendix M. 
 
3 1 2 George Miiller of Bristol 
 
 These joint pastors strongly felt, vdth some others, that 
 not a few of the believers who assembled at Gideon Chapel 
 were a hindrance to the clear, positive, and united testi- 
 mony 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 wor- 
 ship. The questions involved affected the preservation 
 of the purity and simplicity of apostolic worship, and 
 so the conformity of church-life to the Xew 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, pre- 
 cepts, and practices. 
 
 Perhaps it is well here to put on record, even at risk 
 of repetition, the principles which ilr. Miiller and his 
 colleague were wont to enforce as guards or landmarks 
 which should be set up and kept up, m order to exclude 
 those innovations which always bring spiritual declension. 
 
 -1. Believers should meet, simply as such, without refer- 
 ence to denominational lines, names, or distinctions, as a 
 corrective and preventive of sectarianism. 
 
 2. They should steadfastly maintain the Holy Scrip- 
 tures as the divine rule and standard of doctrine, de- 
 portment, and discipline. 
 
 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. 
 
 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. 
 
The Church Life and Growth 313 
 
 or compel a pause between other parts of the service and 
 the Lord's Supper. 
 
 5. The pew-rent system should be abolished, as promot- 
 ing 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. 
 
 6. All money contributed for pastoral support, church 
 work, and missionary enterprises at home and abroad 
 should be by free-will offerings. 
 
 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. Miiller 
 and ilr. 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 unscrip- 
 tural 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 fol- 
 lowed, to assemble with other believers at Bethesda, where 
 previous hindering conditions had not existed. 
 
 Mr. Miiller remained very intimately connected with 
 Bethesda and its various outgrowths, for many years, as the 
 senior pastor, or elder, — though only primns inter pares, 
 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 
 
P4- George Miiller of Bristol 
 
 i'orm a. nccossary part of this sla-lcli (if llic dovclopnu'iil. 
 ol (.^liunili-lirc. 
 
 It WHS liiid upon his hciiii frrcpiiMilly Id nddrcMH Ills 
 bivlhi'cii in Iho ininislry of ihv Word mid Ihc cui-ncv 'd' 
 soids. l<]v('r_y\vlici-o, througlioiiL Ihc worhl, lie wc^lconu'd 
 opportunilk'H for iiil.crvicwH, wlicllici' with iiiiiny or I'cw, 
 upon whom he t:oiihl iniprcSH liin own di^'p convict ioiim nn 
 to the vital scoi'cts of cllVclivc sci-vici' in the j)ul])i( mid 
 jiastoriito. Siudi mi'cl iiij^s wilJi IindJircn in tlu! niininii\y 
 numhcrcd himdivils mid pci'liiips tlioiisiinds in the conrKc 
 of his loiif^' life, and as liis tcKliinc.ny was csHciil iiilly tlic 
 KiuiKi on all ocoasiiins, a sinfflo iittcnuici' may Ik: taken as 
 the type of all. I)urin;j; his Aincrirmi lours, he j,'av'(' an 
 hour's addrc^ss which was ri^poi'lcd and piihliHlicd, and thii 
 substance of wliiidi may thcrcd'orc lie jfivcn. 
 
 First of all ho laid ^rcal, stress upon tln^ iii'i'il' of rnii.ri'r- 
 sion. Until a man is IxdJi truly turned unto (Joil mid 
 .sure of this ehaiif^'e in himself lu^ is not lilted to eoincrl. 
 others. The ministry is not a liiiman professicm, hut a 
 divine vocation. The Irin^ preacher is hoth a lirnild mid 
 a wibuws, anil hencc' must hack up his messaf^n: hy his per- 
 gonal testimcmy frojn experience. 
 
 But cu'cii conversion 'is not enoilf^h: there niiist he mi 
 inlimak kiunvk/lj/c of Hit', honl Jesus. One niUHt know 
 the Lord as coming' ni^ar to himself, and know tiu! joy 
 and stnuif^dJi round in hourly accMisH. Ilowiiver it he done, 
 and at any c:ost, tin! minister id' (Jhrist must reach this 
 close relationship. Jtisan a,hsoliil,i! necessity to peace and 
 power. 
 
 Orowlh in luippiruxs and love was ne.xt made very prom- 
 inent. It is impossihic to set limits to the experience of 
 any hclicviu- who casts liiniS(^lf wholly on (J(rtl, surrenders 
 himsiiif wholly to (Jod, and cherishes deep love for liis 
 word and holy intimacy with IlimHclf. 'I'lic first husine:s 
 
The Church Life and Growth 315 
 
 of every morning should be to secure happiness in God. 
 
 He who is to nourish others must carefully feed Ms 
 own soul. Daily reading and study of the Scriptures, with 
 much prayer, especially in the early morning hours, was 
 strenuously urged. Quietness before God should be habit- 
 ually cultivated, calming the mind and freeing it from pre- 
 occupation. 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. 
 
 Holiness 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 humility. All praise of man robs 
 God of His own honour. Let us therefore be humble and 
 turn all eyes unto God. 
 
 The message must be gotten from God, if it is to be 
 with power. "Ask God for it," said Mr. Miiller, "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 ad- 
 vance." He then told some startling facts as to seed sown 
 many years before, but even now yielding fruit in answer 
 to prayer. 
 
 He laid also special emphasis upon expounding the Scrip- 
 ture. 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 
 
3i6 George Miiller of Bristol 
 
 ignorant raaid-servant could understand; if she docs, the 
 learned professor eeilainly will; but it does not hold true 
 that the simple understand all that the wise do. 
 
 Mr. Miiller seldom addressed his brethren in the min- 
 istry without giving more or less counsel as to the conduct 
 of church-life, giving plain witness against such hin- 
 drances 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 pray- 
 ing, and remarked that Satan will not mind Iiow 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. 
 
 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 hacl-ward. He was wont to ask that 
 the Lord would be pleased to bless seed long since sown 
 and yet ajiparently 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 scaticred, and other 
 means of service had, alter 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 remem- 
 brance the truth which had been set before them. 
 
 The humility Mr. Miiller enjoined ho practised. He was 
 ever only the servant 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 
 
The Church Life and Growth 317 
 
 flame, though in the darkness he could not see the lamp- 
 lighter; and George Miiller set many a light burning when 
 he was himself content to be unseen, unnoticed, and un- 
 known. He honestly sought not his own glory, but had 
 the meek and quiet spirit so becoming a minister of Jesus 
 Christ. 
 
 Mr. Henry Craik's death in 1866, after thirty-four years 
 of co-labour in the Lord, left Mr. Miiller 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 ser- 
 vices conducted by him at Bethesda, was about leaving 
 the city; and he asked Mr. Miiller, " "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, hole only to the Lord." 
 
 This God has been the perpetual helper. Mr. Miiller 
 almost totally withdrew from the work, during the seven- 
 teen years of his missionary tours, between 1875 and 1893, 
 when he was in Bristol but a few weeks or months at a 
 time, in the intervals between his long Journeys and voy- 
 ages. This left the assembly of believers still more de- 
 pendent 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 1833, the New Testament conception of the equal- 
 ity 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 fun- 
 damental principles espoused by these brethren is that the 
 Spirit of God controls in the assemblies of the saints; that 
 He sets the mejnbers-, every one of them, in the Body as 
 
31 8 George M tiller of Bristol 
 
 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 pos- 
 session 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 dis- 
 posed 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 congre- 
 gation, its growth, conduct, and edification, have there- 
 fore been dependent only on God, who, as He has with- 
 drawn one worker after another, has supplied others in 
 their stead, and so continues to do. 
 
 To have any adequate conception O'f 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 
 
The Church Life and Growth 319 
 
 tuggested by iome brother^ and ihen requests lor prayer 
 are read, usually wiih detinite mention of the names of 
 those by and for whom supplication is asked. The:i prayer, 
 scriptuie reading, singing, and exhonarion follow, without 
 any preanangement as to Subject, order in whioii or per- 
 S0I15 by whom, the exercises axe participated ia. Tiie full- 
 est liberty is encouraged to act under the Spirii's giudanee; 
 and the fact of such g-uidance is often siriiiirgly apparent 
 in the singular unity 01 prayer and song, scripraie reading 
 and remarks, as weU. as in the harmoniov.s ieilo"^sliip ap- 
 parent. After more than half a centary these ilonday- 
 night prayer services are still a haHoived centre of attrac- 
 tion, a rallyiag-point for supplication, and a radiating- 
 poiat for service, and remain unchanged in the method 01 
 their conduct. 
 
 The original congregation has proved a tree whose seed 
 is in itieli after its kind. At the time of iMr. Miiller's 
 decease it was nearly sixty-six years since that memorable 
 evening in 1S32 when those seven believers met to form 
 a church; and the origiaal body of disciples meeting in 
 Bethesda had increased to ten. six of which are now inde- 
 pendent of the mother church, and four of which still 
 remain in close affiliation and really constitute one church, 
 though meeting in Bethesda. Alma Boad, Stokes Croft, 
 and Totterdown chapels. The names of the other ciitirches 
 which have been in a sense offshoots from Bethesda are 
 as follows: Unity. Bishopston. Cumberland Hall, Cliarle- 
 ton Hall, Xicholas Eoad, and Belminster. 
 
 At the date of Mr. ilullers decease the total member- 
 ship of the four affiliated congregations was upwards 
 of twelve hundred. 
 
 In this brief compass no complete outline eould be 
 given of the church life and work so dear to him, and 
 over which he so long watched and prayed. This church 
 
320 George MilUer of Bristol 
 
 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. Miiller 
 felt deeply moved to pray that the body of disciples to 
 whom he ministered might send out from their own mem- 
 bers 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, a.nd at the period of Mr. Miiller'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. 
 
 When, in 1871, Mr. Miiller 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, not one remained, all having been re- 
 moved elsewhere or having died; and that, of all the Evan- 
 gelical clergy of the establishment, onlj one 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 dif- 
 ferent chapels, and over three thousand had been admitted 
 into fellowship. 
 
 It was the writer's privilege to hear Mr. Miiller 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 indica- 
 tion of failing powers; in fact, he had never seemed more 
 fitted to express and impress the thoughts of God. 
 
 His theme was the seventy-seventh psalm, and it af- 
 forded him abundant scope for his favourite subject — 
 
The Church Life and Growth 321 
 
 prayer. He expounded the psalm verse by verse, clearly, 
 sympathetically, effectively, and the outline of his treat- 
 ment strongly engraved itself on my memory and is here 
 reproduced. 
 
 " 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. 
 
 " 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. 
 
 " 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. 
 
 " 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. 
 
 " Thou boldest 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. 
 
 "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 
 
322 George Miiller of Bristol 
 
 made diligent search among the records of his experience 
 and recollected all God's manifest and manifold inter- 
 positions, 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 cove- 
 nant of grace, and shut up His fountains of love. 
 
 Thus we follow the Psalmist through six stages of un- 
 belief: 
 
 1. The thought of God is a burden instead of a blessing. 
 
 2. The complaining spirit increases toward God. 
 
 3. His spirit is agitated instead of soothed and calmed. 
 
 4. Sleep departs, and anxiety forbids repose of heart. 
 
 5. Trouble only deepens and God seems far off. 
 
 6. Memory recalls God's mercies, but only to awaken dis- 
 trust. 
 
 At last we reach the turning-'pomt in the psalm: he asks 
 as he reviews former experiences. Where is the differ- 
 ence ? Is THE CHANGE IN GOD OK IN ME ? " Sclah " — 
 
 the pause marks this turning-point in the argument or 
 experience. 
 
 "And I said. This is my infirmity." 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 w'hole 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. 
 
 What is the conclusion, the practical lesson? 
 
The Church Life and Growth 323 
 
 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 marvellous. 
 
 The psalm contains a great lesson. Affliction is inevita- 
 ble. But our business is never to lose sight of the Father 
 who will not leave His children. "We are to roll all bur- 
 dens 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 track- 
 less sea, and unknown to us. But He is stteelt lead- 
 ing, and CONSTANTLY LOVING. Let us not be fools, but 
 pray in faith to a faithful God. 
 
 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. Miiller'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 tempta- 
 tions to distrust God he found deliverance; and thus is 
 doubly valuable to us as an experimental commentary upon 
 the life-history we are studying. 
 
CHAPTEE XXII 
 
 A GLANCE AT THE GIFTS AND THE GIVERS 
 
 There is One who still sits over against the Treasury, 
 watching the- gifts east 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. 
 
 The ample supplies poured into Mr. Miiller's hands 
 came alike from those who had abundance of wealth and 
 from those whose only abundance was that of deep pov- 
 erty, 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 impres- 
 sive examples, which are so abundant, and which afford 
 such valuable hints as to the science and the art of 
 giving. 
 
 Valuable lessons may be drawn from the beautiful 
 spirit shown by givers and from the secret history of their 
 gifts. 
 
 324 
 
A Glance at the Gifts and the Givers 325 
 
 In some cases the facts were not known till long after, 
 even by Mr. Miiller 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 ofEer- 
 ings 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 pleas- 
 ing to God. Such joy constantly filled Mr. Miiller'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 dis- 
 bursing these gifts; and, he says, " the Lord thus im- 
 pressed on me from the beginning that the orphan houses 
 and work were His, not mine." 
 
 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 de- 
 votion. 
 
 Among the first givers to the work was a poor needle- 
 woman, who, to Mr. Miiller's surprise, brought one hundred 
 
326 George Miiller of Bristol 
 
 pounds. She earned by her work only an average, per week, 
 of three sliUUngs and sixpence, and was moreoveT weak in 
 body. A small legacy of less than five hundred pounds 
 from her grandmothei-'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 con- 
 science, 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 othe]' 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 
 fell that she should give double that amoTint. By this time 
 her own share of the legacy was reduced to a small remain- 
 der, and it was out of this that she gave the one hundred 
 pounds for the orphan work ! 
 
 As Mr. Miiller's settled principle was never to grasp 
 eagerly at any gift whatever the need or the amount of the 
 gift, before accepting this money he had a long conversa- 
 tion 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 dis- 
 honour his Master by accepting the gift, as though God 
 were in need of our oiierings. 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. 
 
 This striking incident lends a pathetic interest to the 
 beginnings of the orphan work, and still more as we 
 
A Glance at the Gifts and the Givers 327 
 
 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. Miiller was naturally very reluctant to accept what 
 she brought, until he saw that the love of Christ con- 
 strained her. He could then do no less than to receive 
 her offering, in his Master's name, while like the Master 
 he exclaimed, " woman, great is thy faith ! " 
 
 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 o's\ti support ; and, finally, while her 
 earnings were counted in shillings and pence, her givings 
 were counted in sovereigns ot 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." N"ever 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. 
 
 Mr. Miiller records the first lequest as from a dear lad 
 ■who died in the faith. During his last illness, he had re- 
 ceived a gift of some ne^v silver coins; and he asked that this, 
 
328 George Miiller of Bristol 
 
 his only treasure in money, might be sent for the orphans. 
 With pathetic tenderness Mr. Miiller adds that this pre- 
 cious little legacy of six shillitigs sixpence halfpenny, re- 
 ceived September 15, 1837, was the first they ever had. 
 Those who estimate all donations by money-vi^orth 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. 
 
 In May, 1842, a gold watch and chain were accompanied 
 by a brief note, the contents of which suggest the possi- 
 bilities of service, open to us through the voluntary lim- 
 itation 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 fl.ies, 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 ! " 
 
 In March, 1884, a contribution reached Mr. Miiller 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. 
 
 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- 
 
A Glance at the Gifts and the Givers 329 
 
 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 circu- 
 lation. 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! 
 
 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. 
 
 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. En- 
 lightened 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." 
 
 A gift of two thousand pounds on January 39, 1873, was 
 accompanied by a letter confessing that the possession of 
 property haid given the writer much trouble of mind, and 
 
330 George Miiller of Bristol 
 
 it had been disposed of from a conTietion that the Lord 
 " saw it not good " for him to hold so much 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 diops into his coffin 
 "with a chink." 
 
 God estimates what we give by what we keep, 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 costs us nothing. 
 
 In 1853, a brother in the Lord took out of his pocket a 
 roll of bank-notes, amounting to one hundted and ten 
 pounds, and put it into Mr. Miiller^s hand, it being more 
 than one half of his entire worldly estate. Such giving is an 
 illustration of self-sacrifice on a large scale, and brings 
 corresponding blessing. 
 
 The motives prompting gifts were often unusually sug- 
 gestive. In October, 1857, a donation came from a Chris- 
 tian merchant who, having sustained a heavy pecuniary 
 loss, wished to sanctify his loss by a gift to the Lord's worTc. 
 Shortly after, another offering was handed in by a young 
 man in thankful remembrance that twenty-five years beiore 
 Mr. Miiller 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 act as his own executor and give the whole 
 
A Glance at the Gifts and the Givers 331 
 
 amount while he lived. Immense adyantage would aoerue, 
 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 for- 
 feited or defeated the intent of a legacy. Mr. Miiller had 
 to warn intending donors that nothing that was reckoned 
 as real estate was available for legacies for charitable in- 
 stitutions, 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 de- 
 feated. 
 
 Many donors were led to send thank-offerings for avoided 
 or averted calamities: as, for example, for a sick horse, 
 given up by the veterinary surgeon as lost, but which re- 
 covered in answer to prayer. Another donor, who broke 
 his left arm, sends grateful acknowledgment to God that 
 it was not the right arm, or some more vital part like the 
 head or neck. 
 
 The offerings were doubly precious because of the un- 
 wearied 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 per- 
 sons and places no less numerous and various, donations 
 came in. Not one of twenty givers was personally known 
 to Mr. Miiller, and no one of all contributors had ever 
 been asked for a gift, and yet, up to November, 1858, over 
 six hundred thousand pounds had already been received, 
 
332 George Miiller of Bristol 
 
 and in amounts varying from eighty-one hundred pounds 
 down to a single farthing. 
 
 Unique circumstances connected with some donations 
 made them remarkable. While resting at Ufracombe, in 
 September^, 1865, a gentleman gave to Mr. Miiller 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 ques- 
 tioned the truth of the narrative of answered prayers which 
 he had read from Mr. Miiller'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 w'hether 
 or not God was indeed with Mr. Miiller, as he declared. 
 He wished to buy a certain property if rated at a reason- 
 able 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 him- 
 self 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. Miiller and for him, he made up 
 his mind to go in person and pay over the sum of money 
 to him, ajid so make his acquaintance and see the man 
 whose prayers God answered. ITot finding him at Bristol, 
 he had followed him to Ufracombe. 
 
 Having heard his story, and having learned that he 
 was from a certain locality, Mr. Miiller 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 sen'd 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 
 
A Glance at the Gifts and the Givers 333 
 
 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. 
 
 In August, 1884, a Christian brother from the United 
 States called to see Mr. Jliiller. He informed him how 
 greatly he had been blessed of God through reading his 
 published testimony to God's faithfulness; and that hav- 
 ing, through his sister's death, come into the possession of 
 some propeiiy, he had come across tlie sea, 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. 
 
 Only seventeen days later, a letter accompanying a dona- 
 tion gave further joy to Mr. Miiller'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. Miiller 
 himself, on her departure, had given the first two volumes 
 of the Eeports. 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 im- 
 pulses thus imparted to himself were used of God to 
 inspire a like self-surrender in the class under his care. 
 
 These are a few examples of the countless encourage- 
 ments that led IMr. Miiller, as he reviewed them, to praise 
 God unceasingly. 
 
 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 dark- 
 ness he had been a great lover of flowers and had put up 
 
334 George Miiller of Bristol 
 
 several plant-houses; flower-cultiire was his hohby, and a 
 fine collection of rare plants, his pride. He took down 
 and sold one of these conservatories and sent the proceeds 
 as " the price of an idol, cast down by God's power." 
 Another giver enclosed a like amonnt from the sale of 
 unnecessary books and pictures; and a poor man his half- 
 crown, " the fruit of a little tree in his garden." 
 
 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 " ; that fart, however, two rabbits, she found dead 
 on the day when they were to be sold. 
 
 In July, 1877, ten pounds from an anonymous source 
 were accompanied by a letter which conveys another in- 
 structive 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 mes- 
 sage from the Word : " Grieve not the Spirit of God." 
 The victory was then given over the habit, and, the prac- 
 tice 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 re- 
 minds 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 un- 
 smoked remnants of cigars and cigarettes in Britain is esti- 
 mated 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 
 
A Glance at the Gifts and the Givers 335 
 
 ■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 pay- 
 ment 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 for 
 the future. 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. 
 
 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. 
 
 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." 
 
336 George Miiller of Bristol 
 
 Another sends five pounds in fulfilment of a secret 
 promise that, if he succeeded in passing competitive exam- 
 ination for civil service, he would make a than'k-ofiering. 
 And he adds that Satan had repeatedly tried to persuade 
 him that he could not afliord 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 ilis prac- 
 tical abandonment, for the habit of procrastination grows 
 with insensibly rapid development. 
 
 Habitual givers generally witnessed to the conscious 
 blessedness of systematic giving. Many who began by giv- 
 ing a tenth, and perhaps in a legal spirit, felt constraiined, 
 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 re- 
 versed the law of appropriation mth which they began; 
 for at first they gave a tithe to the Lord's uses, reserving 
 nine tenths, whereas later on they appropriated nine tenthfe 
 to the Lord's uses, and reserved for themselves only a 
 tithe. Those who leam 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 con- 
 science and love, lest anything be wasted in extravagance 
 or careless self-indulgence. Francis 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 herseli 
 whether it would be for God's glory. 
 
 Gifts were valued by Mr. Miiller 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 waa 
 
A Glance at the Gifts and the Givers 337 
 
 therefore most conscientious in the caution with which he 
 accepted offerings even in times of sorest extremity. 
 
 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. 
 
 This offer drew out the acknowledgment that she had 
 some five hundred pounds of her own; and her conversa- 
 tion 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. Miiller 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 eon- 
 strained to lay down at His feet the whole sum which was 
 thus a snare to her faith and an idol to her love. Not a word 
 spolcen or written passed between him and her on the sub- 
 ject, nor did he even see her; 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 subse- 
 quent regret might prove both a damage to herseM and a 
 dishonour to her Master. 
 
 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. Miiller 
 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 
 
338 George Miiller of Bristol 
 
 sister may be found fully spread out in his journal,* and 
 is a model of devout carefulness lest lie should snatch at 
 a gift that might be prompted by wrong motives or given 
 with an unprepared heart. When finally given, unex- 
 pected hindrances arose affecting her actual possession 
 and transfer, so that more than a third of a year elapsed be- 
 fore it was received; but meanwhile there was on his part 
 neither impatience nor distrust, nor did he even communi- 
 cate 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. 
 
 In August, 1853, a poor widow of sixty, who had sold 
 the little house which constituted her vrhole property, put 
 into an orphan-house box elsewhere, for Mr. Miiller, the 
 entire proceeds, ninety pounds. Those who conveyed it to 
 Mr. Miiller, 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. Miiller, 
 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 
 
 * Narrative, I. 487 et seq. 
 
A Glance at the Gifts and the Givers 339 
 
 spoken of in the matter, he declined to receive any part of 
 the gift for personal uses. 
 
 In October, 1867, a small sum was sent in by one who 
 had years before taken it from another, and who desired 
 thus to make restitution, believing that the Christian be- 
 liever from whom it was taken would approve of this 
 method of restoring it. Mr. Miiller 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. 
 
 During a season of great straits Mr. Miiller 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 
 her money, and therefore not hers to give; and without even 
 opening the paper wrapper he returned it to the sender — 
 and this at a time when there was not in hand enough to 
 meet the expenses of that very day. In June, 1838, a 
 stranger. Who confessed to an act of fraud, wished 
 through Mr. Miiller to make restitution, with interest; 
 and, instead of sending the money by post, Mr. 
 Miiller 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. 
 
 Money sent as proceeds of a musical entertainment held 
 for the benefit of the orphans in the south of Devon 
 was politely returned. Mr. Miiller had no doubt of the 
 
340 George Miiller of Bristol 
 
 kind intention of those who set this sclifme on foot, but he 
 felt that money for the work of Ood slwuld iwl he uhlained 
 in Ihis manner, and he desired only money provided in 
 God's way. 
 
 Friends who asked that they might know whether tlieir 
 gifts liad come at a particularly of)])<)rtune time were re- 
 ferred 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 wan peculiarly timely 
 would soon be exhausted. And so this man of God con- 
 sistently avoided any such disclosure of an exji^^cncy, lest 
 his chiel' object should l)e hindered, namely, "to show 
 how blessed it is to deal witih God alone, and to trust Ilim 
 in the darkest moments." And though the need was con- 
 tinual, 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. 
 
 As early as May, 1840, a letter from a. brother contained 
 the following paragraph: 
 
 " With regard to ] )roperty, 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 dis- 
 posal at about a week's notice." 
 
 The need at that time was great. TTow easy and natural 
 to write back that the orphan work was then in want of 
 help, an'd t^at, as Mr. Miiller was just going away from 
 Bristol for rest, it would be a special comfort if his cor- 
 respondent 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 ovm faith and for the efPectivencss of 
 his testimony to the church and the world, that at once 
 
A Glance at the Gifts and the Givers 341 
 
 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. 
 
 Money to he laid up as a fund for his old age or possible 
 seasons of illness or family emergencies was always de- 
 clined. Such a donation of one hundred pounds was re- 
 ceiyed 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 one investment, namely, using what- 
 ever 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: 
 
 " He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lordi; 
 And that which he hath given will He pay him again." 
 
 Proverbs xix. 17. 
 
 God so owned, at once, this disposition on Mr. Miiller's 
 part that his courteous letter, declining the gift for him- 
 self, 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. 
 
CHAPTEE XXIII 
 
 god's witness to the work 
 
 The eleventh chapter of Hebrews — that " "Westminstel 
 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. 
 
 By faith " the elders obtained a good report," that is, 
 they had witness home to them by G-od in retnm for witness 
 borne to Him. All the marked examples of faith here 
 recorded show this twofold testimony. Abel teetified 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 trans- 
 lation, and even before it, that he pleased God. Noah's 
 faith bore witness to God's word, by building the axk 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. 
 
 George Miiller'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 wit- 
 ness — the earnest or foretaste of the fuller recompense of 
 reward reserved for the Lord's coming. 
 
 Compensations for renunciations, and rewards for ser- 
 342 
 
God's Witness to the Work 343 
 
 vice, do not all wait for the Judgment-seat of Christy 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. 
 
 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 Mliller, 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 Jonmal, from time to time, glows with his fervent 
 thaaiksgivings. 
 
 This orphan work would amply repay all its cost during 
 two thirds of a century, should only its temporal denefits 
 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 consump- 
 tion 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 
 
344 George Miiller of Bristol 
 
 have found entrance, the eases of siekness have been com- 
 paratively few and mild, and the usual percentage of 
 deaths exceedingly small. 
 
 This is not the only department of training in which the 
 recompense has been abundant. Ignorance is evenT\-here 
 the usual handmaid of poverty, and there has been very 
 careful effort to secure proper mental 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 ex- 
 amined in reading, writing, arithmetic. Scripture, dicta- 
 tion, geography, history. gTammar, composition, and sing- 
 ing; and ilr. Home reported in 1SS5 an average per cent 
 of all marks as laigh as 91.1, and even this was surpassed 
 the next year when it was 94, and, two years larer, when it 
 was 96. 1. 
 
 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. 3Iiiller 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 tliey 
 entered the orphan houses; and not a few had been 
 trained indeed, but only in Satan's schools of drink and 
 hist. And yet. notwithstanding all these drawbacks. Mr. 
 ^[iiller records, with devout thankfrdness, that " fhe Lord 
 had constrained them, 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 charac- 
 
God's Witness to the Work 345 
 
 ter and conduct, and in some cases have borne singular 
 witness to the grace of God, both by their complete trans- 
 formation and by their influence for good. 
 
 In August, 1858, an orphan girl, Martha Pinnell, who 
 had been for over twelve years under Mr. Miiller'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, laiown the Lord, and the change in her charac- 
 ter and conduct had been remarkable. Prom an exceed- 
 ingly 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 knowl- 
 edge of the Lord Jesus, her earnest passion for souls, 
 seemed ailmost incredible in one so young and so recently 
 turned to God. And Mr. Miiller has preserved in the pages 
 of his Journal four of the precious letters written by her 
 to other inmates of the orphan houses.* 
 
 At times, and frequently, extensive revivals have been 
 known among them when scores and hundreds have found 
 the Lord. The year ending May 36, 1858 was especially 
 notable for the unprecedented greatness and rapidity of the 
 work w'hich the Spirit of God had wrought, in such con- 
 versions. Within a few days and without any special ap- 
 parent cause except the very peaceful death of a Chris- 
 tian orphan, Caroline Bailey, more than fifty of the one 
 hundre!d and forty girls in Orphan House Fo. 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 
 * Narrative, III. 253-257. 
 
346 George Miiller of Bristol 
 
 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 per- 
 mitted; 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. 
 
 Again, in 1872, on the first day of the week of prayer, the 
 Holy Spirit so moved that, without any unusual occasion 
 for deep seriousne,:?, 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 hun- 
 dred 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, do^vn 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 righteous- 
 ness. 
 
 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 re- 
 ceived had made impossible continuance ia a life of sin. 
 
 Thus, precious harvests of this seed-sowing, gathered in 
 subsequent years, have shown that God was not unright- 
 eous to forget this work of faith, and labour of love, and 
 patience of hope. 
 
God's Witness to the Work 347 
 
 In April, 1S74:, 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 heen iastructed in the way of salva- 
 tion 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, hy simply telling her what she had heen taught, 
 though not then foUowiag the path herself. 
 
 Another orphan wrote, in 1ST6, 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 rememhered how the 
 clothes there worn, the food eaten, the bed slept on, and 
 the very walls aroimd, were the visible answers to believing 
 prayer, and the recollection of all these things proved a 
 potent prescription and remedy for the doubts and waver- 
 ings of the chUd of God, a shield agaiust the fiery darts of 
 satanie suggestion. 
 
 During the thirty years between 1S65 and 1S95. 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 c]ose of this thirtv 
 years, nearly six hundred were yet in the homes on Ashley 
 Down who had given credible evidence of a regenerate 
 state. 
 
 Mr. Miiller 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 or- 
 phans became husband and wife, and they have had eight 
 
348 George Miiller of Bristol 
 
 children, all earnest disciples, one of whom went as a for- 
 eign missionary to Africa. 
 
 From the first, God se-t His seal upon this religious 
 training in the orphan houses. The first two children re- 
 ceived into No. 1 both became true believers and zealous 
 workers: one, a Congregational deacon, who, in a be- 
 nighted neighbourhood, acted the part of a lay preacher; 
 and the other, a laljorious and successful clergyman in 
 the Church of England, and both largely used of God in 
 soul- winning. Could the full history lie written of all 
 wiho 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 aftex-caxeer 
 can be traced! 
 
 In his long and extensive missionary tours, Mr. Miiller 
 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 fox 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 broug'it 
 up under his care. 
 
 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. Miiller 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 mo>t inspiring accounts of 
 this man's singular service during the Civil War in Amer- 
 ica. Being on the gunboat Louisiana, he had there been 
 
God's Witness to the Work 349 
 
 the leading spirit and recognized head of a little Bethel 
 church among his feUow seamen, who were by him led 
 so to engage in the service of Christ as to exhibit a deyo- 
 tion that, without a trace of fanatical enthusiasm, was fnU 
 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 ' chaia-locker '; and thus began a series of most 
 remarkable meetings which, without one night's in- 
 terruption, lasted for some twenty months. Wil- 
 kinson alone among the whole company had any 
 previous knowledge of the word of God, and he be- 
 came 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. Xor 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. 
 
 A member of the Christian Commission, Mr. J. E. Hajn- 
 mond, who gave these facts publicity, and who was in- 
 timately acquaiated with 3Ir. "Wilkinson and his work on 
 shipboard, said that he seemed to be a direct "product 
 of ilr. Miiller's faith, his calm confidence in God, the 
 method in his whole manner of Ufe, the persistence of 
 purpose, and the quiet spiritual power," which so char- 
 acterized the founder of the Bristol orphanage, being emi- 
 nently 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 man- 
 ner of conduct, and one sentence which dropped from his 
 
350 George Muller of Bristol 
 
 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 Eevelation. 
 
 ill. Muller -went nowhere without meeting converted 
 orphans or hearing of their work, even in the far-o£E 
 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 con- 
 ceivable sphere of service, many of them having house- 
 holds in which the principles taught m the orphan homes 
 were dominant, and engaged in the learned professions 
 as well as humbler walks of life. 
 
 God gave His servant also the sweet compensation of 
 seeing great blessing attending the day-schools supported 
 by the Scriptural EJnowledge Institution. 
 
 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. TTasted to a skeleton, and 
 in deep anxiety about his own soul, he was pointed to Him 
 who says, " Come unto ile, . . . and I will give you rest." 
 While yet this conversation was going on, as though sud- 
 denly 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: 
 
 " Jesus loves me, tliis I know, 
 For the Bible teUs me so." 
 
 He seemed transported with ecstasy, and recited text after 
 text and hymn after hymn, learned at that school. Xo 
 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 mui- 
 
God's Witness to the Work 35 i 
 
 tiplied, but this handful of first-fruits of a harvest may 
 indicate the character of the whole crop. 
 
 Letters were constantly received from missionary la- 
 bourers 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. Miiller from fields of labour 
 where he was only represented by others^ whom his gifts 
 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. 
 
 Mr. Albert Fenn, who was labouring in Madrid, wrote 
 of a civil guard who, because of his bol'd witness for 
 Christ and renunciation of the Eomish 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 Eome who, for trying to estab- 
 lish a small meeting, was summoned before the governor. 
 
 " Who pays you for this? " " No one." " What do you 
 gain by it?" "JSTothing." "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 Jerusa- 
 lem, 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." 
 
352 Georffc M Ciller of Brislf)l 
 
 A missioiiiiry lahoiirci' wrJI.cH frnrn India, of l,lir(i(! Iii-nh- 
 iiKiii prii'sts iiiid ncoidB cil' Siinihalfl iinil IlimluH, Hi LI i riff 
 down wiUi fiiiir I'liiioiKtiiiiH l,o keep LIki Hiipjicr of Llic Ijord 
 — all fniilH of liiH rriiniHliy. Wil.liin a iwolviiinonlJi, wixiy- 
 two men iiii'il vvoiiKin, incliuliiif; lic-.iil incii of villii.^(!H, iiiid 
 four I'.i'iilnniiii women, wivi^4 of |iri(:Hl,s :i,rid of lioiid men, 
 W('i-<! I)ii,|il,izi;d, I'cpnwiird.in;,'' fwiiiiLy-Uirnc villiif^cK in which 
 llio f^oKpcl }i:i,(l hi:(iii prcsiclicd. At oiii: liriic inorc ihnti 
 oru! hiirr(lr(!(l pci'HonH wan; iiwiikcnod in one irdSHiori in 
 Spiiin; iind su(;li liiirvcsl.K as flicKc wen: fiol, infrcfpicril, in 
 v:irioii8 fields fo which Lhf; foiin(h;r of iho orphan work 
 hud the Joy of Kcndin;^' :i,id. 
 
 In 188;"), a Kclioliir of one of tho KefioolH id, f/jirnirii, ll.idy, 
 was eonft'onted by a prieKJ,. "In the liible," naid lie, "you 
 do nol, find I lie eorrpniiimlfnentH of l.lie ehiireh." "No, 
 Kir," KJiid file eli'ild, "for il, in nof for the elmreh id' d'nl 
 to command, hiii l.o ohey." " 'rell me, tlien," Hiiid thfi prie.Kt, 
 " l.lieHe eorMtrian'diiienl.K id' CJoil," " Yi'H, sir," rejilied Lhe 
 child; '\ ;uri the Jjord l.liy (iod. 'I'lioij ghalt have no 
 other (jioil hcfore me. Neither kIiiiII fhou miikc imy griiviri 
 imii^^e." "Sfopt stop!" cried iJie pried,, " I do nol, iinder- 
 Hiand it Ko." " r.iit HO," quietly refilled lhe clii'ld, "it 18 
 written in 'iod'K word." TIiIk Kirrifde Ineiditnt may illuB- 
 Initc hoLli l,lic eh;ir;i,cf,er of the teiiehirifr i.dvi;n in the 
 BchoolH, and the ehiinicicT often developed in thoHe who 
 were taught. 
 
 Out of the many piif-^e:-: of Mr. Miiller'n journal, firotinbly 
 ahoiil, one-fifth iire occiifiied wholly witli c.vf r:if:l,K, from 
 li'llerH like thcHe from minHiori;irieH, I.eaeherK, a,rii| hdperB, 
 which kcfd, him informed of the f)ro,LrrcFR of Itie Ijord's 
 work at home and jn many landH where the liihuiirerK were 
 by him enafjled to continue their servi'-e. f'ihie carriaifiw, 
 open-air .-ervifiep,, C'hriF.fian Fchools, Iraef diBtribuUon, and 
 various other forms of holy labour for the benighted eoul'-' 
 
God's Witness to the Work 353 
 
 near and far, formed part of the many-branching tree of 
 life that was planted on Ashley Down. 
 
 Another of the main encouragements and rewards which 
 Mr. Miiller 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 doub- 
 ly demonstrated it to be a tree of the Lord's own planting, 
 that He might be glorified. 
 
 In December, 1876, Mr. Miiller 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. Miiller's ex- 
 ample, 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. Miiller should, with their own eyes, see this in- 
 stitution, and ho says that in " almost numberless in- 
 stances " the Lord permitted him to know of similar fruits 
 of his work. 
 
 At his first visit to Tokyo, Japan, he gave an account 
 of it, and as the result, Mr. Ishii, a native Christian Japan- 
 ese, started an orphanage upon a similar basis of prayer, 
 faith, and dependence upon the Ijiving God, and at Mr. 
 Miiller's second visit to the Island Empire he found this 
 orphan work prosperously in progress. 
 
 How generally fruitful the example thus furnished on 
 
354 Geoige Muller of Bristol 
 
 Ashley Down has been in good to the church and the woild 
 will never be known on earth. A man li-ring ai H<H£eld, 
 in sight of the orphan buildings, ba.-^ said that. wiieneTer 
 he fell donbte oi the liying God creeping into his mind, 
 he used to gei np and look thxongh the night at the many 
 window; lii np on Adilev Down, and thej gleamed out 
 throngh the darknes; as stars in the skr. 
 
 It was the witness of ilr. Muller to a psayer-hearing CSod 
 which encotiraged EeT. J. Hudson Taylor, in 1863, thirty 
 years af:er Mr. Miilleri great step was taken, to Tenmie 
 wholly on the Lord, in fotmding the Citina Inland "Vfigrim i 
 It has been said that to lie example of A. H. Fiance 
 in Halle, or George MuUer in Bristol, may be more or less 
 directly traced ereiy form of "faith work,' prevalent 
 since. 
 
 The Scriptttral Knowle-ige Institution was made in all 
 its departments a means of blesiing. Already in the year 
 ei-ding May 26, 1S60. a hsutireii servants of Chnst had 
 been more or less aided, and fax more souls had been hope- 
 fully broughr to God through tlieix labours tJian durii^ 
 any year T>reTioiis. About sis: hundred letters, receiTed 
 from them, tad cheered Mr. Muller s heart during the 
 twelyemonth, and ibis soTirce of Joy OTerflowed duriag 
 all Ms life. In coiiii:less cases ehiliiren of God were lifted 
 to a higher level of islzh and life, and tmeonverted sools 
 were turned to God through, the witness borne to God by 
 tiie insrl: .irioiLs mi Ashley Down. Mr. MiOler has stmimed 
 np this long history of blessing by two statements which 
 are werrh rondering. 
 
 Firsr. ths: the Lord was pleased to give bim lai beyond 
 all he at zrsi exr-eoted to aeecmpEsh or receive; 
 
 Ani seoonily, rhat he was fully persuaded that all he 
 had seen ani kziown wo:il<i not e^^ual the thousandth part 
 of wna;; he should see and know when the Lord should 
 
God's Witness to the Work 355 
 
 come, His reward with II im, to give every man according 
 as liis work shall be. 
 
 The circulation of Mr. Jifilller's Narrative was a most 
 conspicuous means of untold good. 
 
 In November, 1856, Mr. James McQuillan, a young 
 Trisliman, was converted, and early in the next year, read 
 the first two volumes of that Narrative He said to him- 
 si'U' : "Mr. M tiller obtains all this simply by prayer; so 
 may I be blessed by the same means," and he began to pray. 
 Plrst of all he received from the Lord, in answer, a spirit- 
 ual companion, and then two more of like mind; and they 
 four began stated seasons of ])rayer in a small schoolhouse 
 near Kells, Antrim, Ireland, every Friday evening. On the 
 first day of tlic new year, 1858, a farm-servani was remark- 
 ably brought to the Lord in answer to their prayers, and 
 these five 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 slow- 
 ly grew, only believers being admitted to these simple 
 meetings for fellowship in reading of the Scriptures, 
 prayoi', and mutual exhortation. 
 
 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 mocl^od, wliile others thought these three converts 
 presnmptuous; but two weeks later another meeting was 
 lield, at which Uod's Spirit began to work most mightily 
 and conversions now rapidly nmltiplied. 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 gra- 
 cious work was manifest. 
 
 Such was the starting-point, in fact, of one of the most 
 
356 George Miiller of Bristol 
 
 widespread and memorable revivals ever known in owe 
 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. 
 
 As early as 1868 it was found that one w'ho had thank- 
 fully 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. 
 
 Knowledge came to Mr. Miiller of a boy of ten years 
 who got hold of one of these Eeports, and, although be- 
 longing to a family of unbelievers, began to pray: " God, 
 teach me to pray like George Miiller, and hear me as Thou 
 dost hear George Miiller." 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 Miiller." And soon, to the surprise of every- 
 body, the boy had successfully passed his examination and 
 was received at the school. 
 
 A donor writes, September 20, 1879, that the reading 
 of the Nan-ative totally changed his inner life to one of 
 perfect trust and confidence in God. It led to the devot- 
 ing 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 leli 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. 
 
 Another donor suggests that it might be well if Prof. 
 Huxley and Ms sympathisers, v.-ho had been proposing some 
 
God's Witness to the Work 357 
 
 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." 
 
 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 skepti- 
 cism it ha)d 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. Miiller's testimony, as when a woman who 
 had been an infidel, writes him that he was " the first per- 
 son 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. 
 
 Another reader found these Eeports "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 an- 
 swered. We should like to have any candid skeptic con- 
 fronted with Mr. Miiller'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 thoTisands 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 Eewarder of them that diligently seek Him. 
 
 From almost the first publication of his Narrative, Mr. 
 Mfiller had felt a conviction that it was thus to be greatly 
 owned of God as a witness to His faithfulness; and, as early 
 as 1843, it was laid on his heart to send a copy of his 
 
358 George Miiller of Bristol 
 
 Annual Eeport 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.* 
 
 Twenty-two years later, in 1868, it was already so ap- 
 parent 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 the greatest of all the spiritual blessings 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. 
 
 And so, in all departments of his work for God, the 
 Lord to whom he witnessed bore vntness 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, 
 
 * The autlior of ttis 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 wit- 
 ness of this life may thus have still wider influence in stimulating 
 prayer and faith. The devout reader is asked to unite his supplica- 
 tions 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. 
 
God's Witness to the Work 359 
 
 and the harvesTer. him that scattered the seed. In evcrv 
 city of the Units^d Kingdom and in the '■ ;ixry-eig:it cities'' 
 ■where, up tc l^T". he had preached on the continents of 
 EtiTope and Aicerioa, he had found conTened orphans, 
 and helievers to whom abundant blessing had come 
 throttgh reading his reports. After this date, twenty-one 
 years more yet remained crowded with experiences of good. 
 Thus, before the Lord called George iliiller higher. He 
 had given him a foretaste of Ms reward, in the physical, in- 
 telleeraal and spiritual profit of the orphans; in the fruits 
 of his wide seed-sowing in other lands as well as Britain; 
 in the soattering 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: ia the large tlessing imparted by his 
 published narrative, and in his personal privilege of bear- 
 ing witness throughout the world to the gospel of grace. 
 
CHAPTEE XXIV 
 
 LAST LOOKS, BACEWAED AND FOEWABD. 
 
 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. 
 
 George iliiller 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. 
 
 Three qualities or characteristics stand out very con- 
 spicuous in him: trufli, faith, and love. Our Lord fre- 
 quently 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 re- 
 volve childlike frankness and sincerity, genuineness and 
 simplicity. Faith is another, about which revolve con- 
 fidence and trust, docility and humility. Love is another 
 centre, around which gather unselfishness and generosity, 
 
 360 
 
Last Looks, Backward and Forward 361 
 
 gentleness and restfulness of spirit. In the typical or per- 
 fect child, therefore, all these beautiful qualities would 
 coexist, and, in proportion as they are found in a disciple, 
 is he worthy to be called a child of God. 
 
 In Mr. iliiller 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 difEicult to overestimate their importance in their 
 relation to what George iliiller was and did. 
 
 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 domi- 
 nant and apparent. In fact, there was about him a scrupu- 
 lous 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. TVe 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 
 inspires absolute confidence in the record of the Lord^'s deal- 
 ings. 
 
 First, because it shows that the writer has disciplined 
 himself to accuracy of statement. JIany a falsehood is 
 not an intentional lie, but an undesigned inaccuracy. 
 Three of our human faculties powerfully affect our verac- 
 ity: one is memory, another is imagination, and another 
 
362 Geoiiic Miiller oi" Bristol 
 
 is conscience. Slcinory tnkcs nolo ol' fuels, inuii;-inalion 
 colours facts witli fancies, and conscience brings Uie nioriil 
 sense lo bear in sii'linL,'- Ibe veal iVcnn Ibe unical. Wliero 
 conscience is not scnsilivc and dominant, memory and 
 imagination will become so confused (bal facl.s ami fan- 
 cies will Ml to be separaied. Tbe iiMn!;i nation will be 
 so allowed to invest evenis and exin'rienccs willi cidic'i- 
 a balo of glory or a cUnid of pi't'judii'c lliai Ibe narrator 
 will conslanlly tell, not wdial be clearly sees written in liio 
 book of his rouu'nd>ranee, but what he beholds [laijUcd 
 njion llic canvas of his own imaginal ion. Accuracy will 
 be, half nnccniscioiisly |ierba|)s, saci'iliced to his own 
 i magi ni nigs; he «'ill exaggei'alc or di'prei'iafe — as bis own 
 imjudses lead him; and a man wdio would not deliberalely 
 lie may thus be babilually unlruslw(n-Lby: yon I'nnnol, tell, 
 and ofU-n he cannol, fell, what tbe exacL irulh would be, 
 wdien all the unrealily with which if baa thus been in- 
 vested is dissipated like the purple and golden clouds 
 about a mountain, leaving the bare crag of naJ<cHl rock 
 to be seen, just as il; i« in itself. 
 
 George Midler felt Ibe immense iin|)ortance of exact 
 statement. Hence he d'isciplincvd himself lo accuracy. 
 Conscience presided over bis narrative, and dcuiauch^d that 
 everything else should be scrupulously sacrillced to verac- 
 ity. But, mort' than this, Cod made him, in a sense, a 
 man ivUluiul iiiKKjindiwn — eomjHirativi^ly free from the 
 temptations of an enthusiastic teinperauient. He was a 
 mathematician rather than a poet, an artisan rather than 
 an artist, and ho did not see things inv(!Mted with a false 
 halo, tie was deliberate, not impulsive; calm and not ex- 
 citable. ]l(! naturally weighed every word liefore he spoke, 
 and scrutinized ^\vv^•y statemeid, litd'ore he gave it form 
 with |ien or tongu(\ Aud tberid'ore i\w. vei'y qualities 
 thatj to some pe(jple, may make his narrative bare of 
 
Last Looks, Backward and Forward 363 
 
 charm, and even repulsively prosaic, add to its value as a 
 plain, conscientious, unimaginative, unvarnished, and trust- 
 worthy 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. 
 
 Faith was the second of these central traits in George 
 Miiller, 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, 
 Amened Jehovah. The word " Amen " means not ' Let it be 
 so,' but rather ' it shall le so.' The Lord's v/ord 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 imi- 
 tating Abram's faith when, in the shipwreck off Malta, he 
 said, "I believe God, that it shall he even as it was told 
 me." That is faith in its simplest exercise and it was George 
 Miiller'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. 
 
364 George Mtiller of Bristol 
 
 Nothing is more noticeable, in the entire career of this 
 man of God, reaching through sixty-five years, than the 
 steaidiness of his faith and the steadfastness it gave to his 
 whole character. To have a woid 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 in- 
 heritor 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. 
 
 If Mr. Mtiller 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 feed- 
 ing thousands of orphans, or setting up Christian schools 
 and aiding missionary workers. His main mission was 
 to teach men that it is safe to trust God's ivord, to rest im- 
 plicitly 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. 
 
 Love, the third of that trinity of graces, was the other 
 great secret and lesson of this life. And what is love? 
 Not 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 
 principle of unselfisliness : 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: 
 
Last Looks, Backward and Forward 365 
 
 and he that loveth is bom 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 ' Deny 
 thyself ! ' The sharpest rebuke ever administered by our 
 Lord was that to Peter when he became a Satan by coun- 
 selling his Master to adopt Satan's maxim.* We are bid- 
 den by Paul, Remember Jesus Christ,j and by Peter, ''Fol- 
 low His steps." t 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 obedi- 
 ence 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 
 iecause 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, con- 
 sent to die. 
 
 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? 
 
 And what is cross-bearing? "We speak of our ' crosses ' — 
 but the word of God never uses that word in the plural, 
 
 * Matt. xvi. f 2 Tim. U. (Greek). % 1 Pet. H. 21. 
 
366 George Muller of Bristol 
 
 for there is but one cross — the cross on which the self- 
 life is crucified, the cross of voluntary sdf-renunciation. 
 How did Christ come to the cross? We read in Philippians 
 the seven steps of his descent from heaven to Calvary. 
 He hajd 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 like- 
 ness 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 wor- 
 shipped 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 Him. And He says: "If any 
 man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and iake 
 up the cross and follow Me." This cross is not forced upon 
 us as are many of the little vexations and trials which we 
 call ' our crosses '; it is taken up 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. Muller illus- 
 trated it. , From the hour when he began to serve the 
 Crucified One he entered more and more fully into the fel- 
 lowship 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 Him. He chose voluntary poverty that 
 
Last Looks, Backward and Forward 367 
 
 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 aflictions of Christ in his flesh for His body's sake 
 which is the church.* And unless Love's voluntary sac- 
 rifice be taken into account, George Miiller'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 Miiller 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. 
 
 To one who asked him the secret of his service he said: 
 " There was a day when I died, utterly died; " and, as he 
 spoke, he bent lower and lower until he almost touched 
 the floor — " died to George Miiller, his opinions, prefer- 
 ences, tastes and will — died to the world, its approval or 
 censure — died to the approval or blame even of my breth- 
 ren and friends — and since then I have studied only to 
 show myself approved unto God." 
 
 When George Miiller 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 ISToah; 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 
 Belf-surrender of Moses. 
 
 * Coloss. 1 : 24. 
 
368 George Miiller of Bristol 
 
 The godlike qualities of this great and good man made 
 htm none the less a man. His separation uuto God im- 
 plied 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. Miiller 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 Ko. 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 re- 
 sorted. 
 
 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 stem, 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 dig- 
 nity: no one would in his presence, have felt like vain tri- 
 fling, 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 for- 
 eign 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.' 
 
 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, humour. But neither was he an 
 ascetic nor devoid of that element of innocent appreciation 
 
Last Looks, Backward and Forward 369 
 
 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, climb- 
 ing with his wife and others the heights that oTerlook 
 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 human- 
 ity. 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. 
 
 Service to God was with G-eorge Miiller 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. 
 
 As we cast this last glance backward over this life of 
 peculiar sanctity and service, one lesson seems written 
 across it in unmistakable letters: pee vailing peatee. If 
 
3/0 George Mliller of Bristol 
 
 a consecrated hum'an life is an example used by God to 
 teach us the philosophy of holy living, then this man was 
 meant to show us how prayer, offered in simple faith, has 
 power with God. 
 
 One paragraph of Scripture conspicuously presents the 
 truth which George ]\l idler's living epistle enforces and il- 
 lustrates; it is found in James v. l(i-18: 
 
 " The effectual fervent i)rayer of a righteous man avail- 
 eth much," is the sentence which opens the pai'agraph. No 
 translation has ever done it justice. Kotherham ren- 
 ders it : " Much avails a righteous man's supplication, 
 working inwardly." The Eeviscd Version translates, 
 . " avails much in its working." Tlie difficulty of translat- 
 ing lies not in the ohscurily but in the fuliieufi of the mean- 
 ing of the original. There is a (freek middle participle 
 here {evepyovixevij), which may indicate " either the 
 cause or the lime of the effectiveness of the jirayer," and 
 may mean, through its working, or while it is actively 
 working. The idea is that sueh prayer has about it super- 
 natural energy. Perhaps the best key to the meaning of 
 these ten words is to interpret them in the light of the 
 whole paragraph : 
 
 " 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." 
 
 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 importunate- 
 ly. No man can read Elijah's short history as given in the 
 
Last Looks, Backward and Forward 371 
 
 word of God, without seeing that he was a man like our- 
 selves. 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 sub- 
 ject to them, that he is held up to us as an encouragiag ex- 
 ample 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. Never- 
 theless, this man, by prayer alone, shut up heaven's flood- 
 gates 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 fraU, feeble, foolish mortal locked and 
 unlocked the springs of waters, because he held God's 
 key. 
 
 George Miiller was simply another Elijah. Like him, a 
 man subject to all human infirmities, he had his fits of de- 
 spondency 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 fdlow disciples, as 
 though he were a specially privileged saint; but in a 
 sense he was 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 Miiller, wherever his work was witnessed or his 
 story is read, should be a standing rebuke, to the practical 
 impotence of the average disciple. While men are asking 
 
372 George Miiller of Bristol 
 
 whether prayer can accomplish similar wonders as of old, 
 here is a man who answers the question by the indisputa- 
 ble logic of facts. Powerlessness always means prayer- 
 lessness. It is not necessary for us to be sinlessly perfect, 
 or to be raised to a special dignity of privilege and endow- 
 ment, in order to wield this wondrous weapon of power 
 with God; but it is necessary that we be men and women 
 of prayer — habitual, believing, importunate prayer. 
 
 George Miiller considered nothing too small to be a sub- 
 ject of prayer, because nothing is too small to be the sub- 
 ject 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 un- 
 paid, 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 
 lie was acting, not in his own behalf, but as a servant 
 under the authority of a higher Master. 
 
 These are graver matters and might well be carried to 
 God for guidance and help. But George Miiller did not 
 stop here. In the lesser affairs, even down to the least, he 
 sought and received like aid. His oldest friend, Eobert C. 
 
Last Looks, Backward and Forward 373 
 
 Chapman of Barnstaple^ gave tihe writer the following 
 simple incident: 
 
 In the early days of his love to Christ, visiting a friend, 
 and seeing him mending a quill pen, he said: "Brother 
 
 H , do yoTi pray to God when you metid your pen?" 
 
 The answer was: " It would he well to do so, but I cannot 
 say that I do pray when mending my pen." Brother 
 Miiller replied: "I always do, and so I mend my pen 
 miich better." 
 
 As we cast this last backward glance at this man of God, 
 seven conspicuous qualities stand out in him, the combina- 
 tion of which made him what he was: Stainless upright- 
 ness, child-like simplicity, business-like precision, tenacity 
 of purpose, boldness of faith, habitual prayer, and cheerful 
 self-surrender. His holy living was a necessary condition 
 of his abundant serving, as seems so beautifully hinted in 
 the seventeenth verse of the ninetieth Psalm: 
 
 " Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us, 
 And establish Thou the worTc of our hands upon us." 
 
 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 ? 
 
 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: 
 
 "If any man will come "If any man serve Me, 
 after Me, let him deny him- let him follow Me; and 
 self and take up his cross where I am, there shall also 
 and follow Me." my servant be. If any man 
 
 serve Me, him will My 
 Father honour." 
 
374 George Miiller of Bristol 
 
 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 follomng of Christ goes further 
 than the cross of Calvary; it reaches through the sepulchre 
 to the Kesurrection Life, the Forty Days' Holy Walk in the 
 Spirit, the Ascension to the Heavenlies, the session at the 
 Eight Hand of God, the Reappearing at His Second Com- 
 ing, and the fellowship of His final Eeign in Glory. And 
 two compensations are especially made prominent: first, 
 the Eternal Home with Christ; and, second the Exalted 
 Honour from the Father. 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 rec- 
 ompense and reward, if we are to get a complete view of 
 His promise and our prospect. Self-denial is not so much 
 an impoverishment as a postponement : we make a sacrifice 
 of a present good for the sake of a future and greater good. 
 Even our Lord Himself was strengthened to endnre the 
 cross and despise the s'hame 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 up- 
 ward in exaltation, until beneath His feet every knee 
 shall bow in homage, and every tongue confess His uni- 
 versal Lordship. He that descended is the same also that 
 ascended up far above all heavens, that He might fidl all 
 things. 
 
 George Miiller 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 wia Christ and be found 
 in Him; that he might know Him, and not only the fellow- 
 ship of His sufferings and conformity to His death, but the 
 
Last Looks, Backward and Forward 375 
 
 power of His resurrectioiij conformity to His life, and fel- 
 lowship 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." 
 
 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. Thre 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-denjring servants are on their way to the final 
 sevenfold perfection, at home with Him, and crowned with 
 honour: 
 
 " And there shall be no more curse; 
 
 But the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; 
 
 And His servants shall serve Him; 
 
 And they shall see His face; 
 
 And His name shall be in their foreheads. 
 
 And there shall be no night there. 
 
 And they shall reign for ever and ever." 
 Amen! 
 
APPENDIX A 
 
 SCRIPTUEB TEXTS THAT MOULDED 
 &EOEGE MiJLLER 
 
 Obhtain 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: 
 
 " Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, 
 And a light unto my path." 
 
 Those texts which, at the parting of the way, became 
 to him God's sign^boards, showing him the true direction, 
 axe 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. 
 
 " God so loved the wokld that He gave His onlt- 
 
 BEGtOTTElir Soif, THAT WHOSOEVER BELIEVETH IlfT HlM 
 SHOULD NOT PEEISH, BUT HAVE EVEELASTING LIFE." 
 
 (John iii. 16.) 
 
 " Cursed be the man that trusteth in man and maketh 
 flesh his arm." (Jeremiah xvii. 5.) 
 
 377 
 
378 George Miiller of Bristol 
 
 " (), foai- the Tjonl, ye His saiiil,s; for there is no want to 
 them that fear Ilim." (Psa. xxxiv. 9.) 
 
 " Owe no man anythiiii,', but to love another." 
 
 (Itoiii. xiii. 8.) 
 'Seek yk first the Kingdom of (ioi) and His 
 
 HIQHTBOUSNUSS ; AND ALL TIIKSIO THINGS SHALL HE 
 ADDED UNTO YOU." (Matt. vi. Xl) 
 
 "The holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise, 
 unto salvation." (3 Tim. iii. 15.) 
 
 "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall fiml; 
 knock, and it shall be opened unto yoii: I'oi- every one Lliat 
 askcth receiveth; and b(^ tliat seelceili fmdeth; and to him 
 that knocketh it shall bo 0])cned." (Mail. vii. 7, 8.) 
 
 "Whatsoever ye kiiai-l ask in My namk, that 
 
 WILL I DO, that tub FATIIER MAY RE GIjORIFIED IN 'i'llH 
 
 Son: If ye shall akk anything in My name I will 
 DO it." (John xiv. 13, 14.) 
 
 "Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your 
 life, what ye shall eat, and what yc shall drirdc, nor yet 
 for your body what ye shall put on. . . . Tala\ there- 
 fore, no thought for the morrow." (Matt. vi. 35-31.) 
 
 " If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doc- 
 trine." (John vii. 17.) 
 
 " 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, 33.) 
 
 "And the eunuch said. See, here is water: what doth 
 hinder me to be baptized? And Philip said. If thou be^ 
 lievest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he an- 
 swered and said, I be1iev(! that Jesus Christ is the Son of 
 God. And they went dovm both into the water, botli 
 Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him." (Acts viii. 
 36-38.) 
 
Appendix 379 
 
 " Knew 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." (Kom. 
 Yi. 3, 4.) 
 
 " Upon the first day of the weelc, when the disciples 
 came together to break bread." (Acts xx. 7.) 
 
 "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 rai- 
 ment; 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.) 
 
 " Having, then, gifts differing according to the grace 
 that is given us." (Eom. xii. 6.) 
 
 "All these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, 
 dividing to every man severally as he will." (1 Cor. xii. 
 
 n.) 
 
 "Not because I desire a gift, but I desire fruit that 
 may abound to your account." (Philip, iv. 17.) 
 
 " 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. . . . Con- 
 sider the lilies of the field. . . . For your heavenly Father 
 knoweth that ye have need of these things." (Matt. vi. 
 25-32.) 
 
 "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth." 
 (Matt. vi. 19.) 
 
 " Sell that te have a^td give alms." (Luke xii. 33.) 
 
 " A man can receive nothing except it be given him 
 from heaven." (John iii. 27.) 
 
380 George Muller of Bristol 
 
 " Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit 
 the Gentiles, to take out of thorn a people for His nauiu." 
 (Acts XT. 14. Comp. Matt. xiii. 24-30, ;!G-43.) 
 
 " This know also, that in the last diiys perilous times 
 shall coiue. . . . Evil men imd seducers shall wiix worse uik! 
 worse, deceiving and being deceived." (a Tim. iii. 1, 13.) 
 
 " Come out from iunong them, and he ye separate, 
 snith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing." (3 (Jor. 
 vi. 14-18.) 
 
 " Not by might, nor by power, but by My spirit, saith 
 the Lord of hosts." (Zech. iv. G.) 
 
 "My OEAOE IS SUFFICIENT FOR THEE." (2 Cor. XU. 9.) 
 
 " 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.) 
 
 " All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is pro- 
 fitable for doctrine, for reprooF, for correction, for instruc- 
 tion in righteousness." (2 Tim. iii. Ki.) 
 
 " Open tht mouth vs^ide, and I will fill it." 
 
 (Psa. Ixxxi. 10.) 
 
 " Mine hour is not yet come." (.John ii. 4.) 
 
 " He took a child, and set him in the midst of them; 
 and when He had taken him in His arms, lie said unto 
 them. Whosoever shall receive one of such children in My 
 name, receiveth Me; and whosoever shall receive Me, re- 
 ceiveth not Me, but Him that sent Me." (Mark ix. 
 36, 37.) 
 
 " If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peace- 
 ably vrith all men." (Rom. xii. 18.) 
 
 " For they verily for a few days chastened us after their 
 own pleasure; Ijut lie for our profit, thai we might be par- 
 takers of His holiness. Now no chastening for the pros- 
 
Appendix 381 
 
 ent seemeth to be joyous, but grievous; nevertheless, after- 
 ward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto 
 them which are exercised thereby." (Heb. xii. 10, 11.) 
 
 " What things soevbe tb dbsike, whek tb pkat, 
 believe that tb recbivb them, and te shall have 
 THEM." (Mark xi. 24.) 
 
 " He that believeth on Him shall not be confounded." 
 (1 Pet. ii. 6.) 
 
 " Thou that hearest prayer, unto Thee Shall all flesh 
 come." (Psa. Ixv. 2.) 
 
 " Come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will declare 
 what He hath done for my soul." (Psa. Ixvi. 16.) 
 
 "A Father oe the fatherless." (Psa. Ixviii. 5.) 
 
 " My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord; 
 neither be weary of His correction." (Prov iii. 11.) 
 
 " Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord piti- 
 eth them that fear Him." (Psa. ciii. 13.) 
 
 "Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to-dat, 
 AND FOE EVER." (Heb. xiii. 8.) 
 
 " To-morrow shall take thought for the things of itself." 
 " Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof." (Matt. 
 
 vi. 34.) 
 
 " Hitherto hath the Lord helped us." (1 Sam. vii. 12.) 
 
 " Oh taste and see that the Lord is good:" 
 
 " Blessed is the man that trusteth in Him ! " (Psalm 
 
 xxxiv. 8.) 
 " All the fat is the Lord's." (Lev. iii. 16.) 
 " I am poor and needy; yet the Lord ihinketh upon me." 
 
 (Psa. xl. 17.) 
 
 " Delight thyself also in the Lord, and He shall give 
 
 thee the desires of thine heart." (Psa. xxxvii. 4.) 
 
382 George Miiller of Bristol 
 
 "ir I regard iniquity in iriy JKiari, l.lic Lord will not 
 hear mo." (I'sa. I.wi. IH.) 
 
 "Know tliiil, the Lord hath stit npart liim that is K"''^ly 
 ■for lliinself: The Lord will h('a.r wlic^n I call unto lUni." 
 (Psa. iv. 3.) 
 
 " Jbiiovaie .tiuKii." (Tho Lord will provido.) 
 
 ((i(!n. xxii. 14.) 
 
 "JTk nATH SAID, I WlIJi NEVER LICAVIO THEE, NOR 
 BOllSAKE 'IIIBE; HO THAT WB MAY noi.IJLY SAY, 'I'lIJ! 
 LOKD IS MY HELPER." (Ilob. xiii. 5, (i.) 
 
 " lit! thou not one of tiuuii that strike; hand'H, or of tlicni 
 tliai ai'o HUrctii'M For d(!l)I.H." (I'rov. ,x,\ii. 20.) 
 
 " lie tliat lia,t(H,h suretyship Ik Kure." (i'rov. .\i. !!>.) 
 
 "I will very ffladly spend and lie sjicnt for you; tliough 
 tho inoro abundantly I iovo you, tin; loss I jji; loved." (8 
 (lor. xii. in.) 
 
 "Ye ai'i! all children of (Jod by faith in Christ .Iostis." 
 (Oal. iii.Sfi.) 
 
 "GASTINfd ALL YOUR CARE (JI'ON IIlM FOR IIb OARETII 
 FOR YOU." (1 I'(!t. V. 7.) 
 
 "Be careful lor nol,hing, but in ovcrytliing iiy |irayor 
 and supplication with tinird<s^dvinf,f let your recjiicsts be 
 made known ntd.o tiod." (Tbil. iv. 'i.) 
 
 "Said I not unto tliee, tbal,, if lliou wouldcst believe, 
 thou shouldesl, set; the f^lory of (lod ?" (.John xi. 40.) 
 
 ""We know titat all ttiinos vi^ork to'iktiikr for 
 
 nOOI) TO TKHM THAT l,0VB d'OD." (llom. viii. 28.) 
 
 " Sball not the jud^o of all the earth do rif^dit? " (flen. 
 xviii. 2.0.) 
 
 "Of sneb (little ebildren) is the kin|,'doin of heaven." 
 (Matt. xix. Id.) 
 
Appendix 383 
 
 " 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 ? " (Eom. viii. 33.) 
 
 " Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above." 
 (James i. 17.) 
 
 " The young lions do lack and suffer hunger; but they 
 that seek the Lord shall not want any ^ood thing." (Psa. 
 xxxiv. 10.) 
 
 " 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, 35.) 
 
 " 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 meas- 
 ure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again." 
 (Luke vi. 38.) 
 
 "The liberal deviseth liberal things; and by liberal 
 things shall he stand." (Isa. xxxii. 8.) 
 
 " For ye have the poor with you always, and whenso- 
 ever ye will ye may do them good. (Mark xiv. 7.) 
 
 " Let not then your good be evil spoken of." (Eom. xiv. 
 16.) 
 
 " Let your moderation (yieldingness) be known unto all 
 men." (Phil. iv. 5.) 
 
 " My bebtheek, count it all jot vthbn te pall 
 into divees temptations {i.e. teials) ; knowing this, 
 that the teying of youe faith worketh patience. 
 But let patience have hee peefect woek, that ye 
 
 MA.Y be PEEEECT AND ENTIEE, WANTING NOTHING." 
 
 (James i. 2-4.) 
 
 "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not 
 unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowl- 
 
384 George Miiller of Bristol 
 
 edge Him, and He shall direct thy paths." (Prov. iii. 
 5,6.) 
 
 " The integrity of the upright shall guide them; but 
 the perverseness of transgressors shall destroy them." 
 (Prov. xi. 3.) 
 
 " Commit thy works unto the Lord and thy thoughts 
 shall be established." (Prov. xvi. 3.) 
 
 " 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, ac- 
 cording as God has dealt to every man the measure of 
 faith." (Eom. xii. 3.) 
 
 "Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and he shall 
 strengthen thine heart: Wait, I say, on the Lord." (Psa. 
 xxvii. 14.) 
 
 " After he had patiently endured he obtained the prom- 
 ise." (Heb. vi. 15.) 
 
 " VeEILT, VBKILT, I SAT ITNTO TOtT, WHATSOEVEE TE 
 SHALL ASK THE PATHEE IN MY NAME, He WILL GIVE 
 
 IT TOU." (John xvi. 23.) 
 
 " He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; 
 and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bounti- 
 fully." (2 Cor. ix. 6.) 
 
 "Ye are bought with a price: therefore, glorify God in 
 your body, and in your spirit, which are God''s." (1 Cor. 
 vi. 20.) 
 
 " Thet that know Thy name will put thbie teust 
 IN Thee : foe Thoit, Loed, hast not foesaken them 
 
 THAT TEUST ThBE." (Psa. ix. 10.) 
 
 " 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.) 
 
Appendix 385 
 
 " If there be first a willing mind it is accepted accord- 
 ing to that a man hath and not according to that he hath 
 not." (2 Cor viii. 12.) 
 
 " Be TE STEADFAST, UNMOVABLE, ALWAYS ABOUNDIJTG 
 IN THE WORK OF THE LOED, FOEASMUCH AS TB KNOW 
 THAT XOUE LABOUE IS NOT IN VAIN IN THE LOED." 
 
 (1 Cor. ST. 58.) 
 
 " Let lis not be weary in well doing, for in due season we 
 shall reap if we faint not." (Gal. Ti. 9.) 
 
 " 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.) 
 
 "ThOU AET GOOD AND DOEST GOOD." (Psa. Cxix. 68.) 
 
 "I know, Lord, that Thy judgments are right, and 
 
 that Thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me. (Psa. cxix. 75.) 
 
 " My times are in Thy hand." (Psa. xxxi. 15.) 
 
 " The LoED God is a sun and shield: the Lobd will give 
 
 grace and glory: no good thing will He withhold from 
 
 them that walk uprightly." (Psa. Ixxxiv. 11.) 
 
 " Hold Thou me up and I shall be safe." (Psa. cxix. 117.) 
 " Behold I come quickly, and My reward is with Me, to 
 give every man according as his work shall be." (Eev. xxii. 
 12.) 
 
 " It is more blessed to give than to receive." (Acts xx. 
 35.) 
 " Give us this day our daily bread." (Matt. vi. 11.) 
 " Able to do exceeding abundantly above all we ask or 
 think." (Eph. iii. 20.) 
 
 " Them that honour Me I will honour." (1 Sam. ii. 30.) 
 
 " 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.) 
 
APPENDIX B 
 
 APPEEEENSION OF TEUTH 
 
 Some points which God began to show Mr. Miiller while 
 at Teignmouth in 1829: 
 
 1. That the word of God alone is our standard of judg- 
 ment 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 of&oe 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 foun- 
 dation 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 par- 
 ticular, 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 boob, and 
 simply reading the word of God and studying it. The 
 result of this was, that the first evening that I shut myself 
 
 386 
 
Appendix 387 
 
 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. 
 But the particular difference was, that I received real 
 strength for my soul in doing so. I now began to try by the 
 test of the Scriptures the things which 1 had learned and 
 seen, and found that only those priaciples which stood 
 the test were really of value. 
 
 2. Before this period I had been much opposed to the 
 doctrines of election, particular redemption, and final per- 
 severing grace; so much so that, a few days after my 
 arrival at Teignmouth I called election a devilish doc- 
 trine. 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 nothiag 
 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 pas- 
 sages 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 
 efEect which my belief in these doctrines had on me, I am 
 
388 George MuUer of Bristol 
 
 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 chastise- 
 ment. Thus, I say, the electing love of God in Christ 
 (when I have been able to realize it) has often been the 
 means of producing holiness, instead of leading me into sin. 
 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. 
 
 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 re- 
 turn of Jesus, and not death, was the hope of the apostolic 
 
Appendix 389 
 
 Christianr; 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 o£E 
 from looking for death, and was made to look for the re- 
 turn 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 ? 
 
 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. 
 
APPENDIX C 
 
 SEPAEATIOF FEOM THE LONDON SOCIETY FOE 
 
 PEOMOTING CHEISTIANITY AMONG 
 
 THE JEWS. 
 
 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 did 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 or- 
 dained by unconverted men, professing to have power to 
 set me apart for the ministry, or to communicate some- 
 thing to me for this work which they do not possess them- 
 selves. Besides this, I had other objections to being con- 
 nected with any state church or national religious estab- 
 lishment, which arose from the increased light which I 
 had obtained through the reception of this truth, that 
 tJie word of God is our only standard, and the Holy Spirit 
 our only teacher. Eor 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, 
 
 39° 
 
Appendix 391 
 
 I foimd that all establishments, even because they are 
 establishments, i.e., the world and the church mixed up 
 together, not only eontaia iu 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 in- 
 discriminately, 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. 
 
 2. I further had a conscientious objection against being led 
 and directed by men in my missionary labours. As a ser- 
 vant 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. 
 
 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 shotdd 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. 
 
APPENDIX D 
 
 THE SCEIPTUEAL KNOWLEDGE INSTITUTION 
 FOR HOME AND ABEOAD 
 
 I. The Peinciples of the Institution. 
 
 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. 24^3, 2 Tim. iii. 1-13, and many other pas- 
 sages, 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. 
 
 2. The Lord helping us, we do not mean to seek the 
 patronage of the world; i.e., we never intend to ask un- 
 converted persons of rank or wealth to countenance this 
 Institution, because this, we consider, would be dishoijour- 
 able to the Lord. In the name of our God we set up our 
 banners, Ps. 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. 
 
 3. We do not mean, to ash unbelievers for money 
 (3 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 ssviii. 3-10.) 
 
 392 
 
Appendix 393 
 
 4. We reject altogether the help of unhelievers in 
 managing or carrying on the affairs of the Institution. 
 {2 Cor. vi. 14r-18.) 
 
 5. We intend never to enlarge the field of labour by 
 contracting debts (Eom. 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. 
 
 6. We do not mean to reckon the success of the In- 
 stitution 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. 
 
 7. While we would avoid aiming after needless singu- 
 larity, we desire to go on simply according to Scripture, 
 without compromising the truth; at the same time thank- 
 fully receiving any instruction which experienced be- 
 lievers, after prayer, upon scriptural ground, may have 
 to give us concerning the Institution. 
 
 II. The Objects of the Institution aee : 
 
 1. To assist day-schools, Sunday-schools, and adult- 
 schools, in which instruction is given upon scriptural 
 principles, and, as far as the Lord may give the means, 
 and supply us with suitable teachers, and in other re- 
 spects make our path plain, to establish schools of this 
 kind. 
 
 a. By day-schools upon scriptural principles, we under- 
 stand day-schools in which the teachers are godly persons, 
 — ^in which the way of salvation is scripturally pointed out, 
 
394 George M tiller of Bristol 
 
 — and in which no instruction is given opposed to the 
 principles of the gospel. 
 
 h. Sunday-schools, in which all the teachers are be- 
 lievers, 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 pro- 
 fess to know the Lord themselves should be allowed to 
 give religious instruction. 
 
 c. The Institution does not assist any adult-schools with 
 the supply of Bibles, Testaments, spelling-books, etc., ex- 
 cept the teachers are believers. 
 
 2. To circulate the Holy Scriptures. 
 
 "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 sold, and not given alto- 
 gether gratis, still, in cases of extreme poverty, we think it 
 right to give, without payment, a cheap edition. 
 
 3. The third object of this Institution is to aid mis- 
 sionary efforts. 
 
 We desire to assist those missionaries whose proceed- 
 ings appear to be most according to the Scriptures. 
 
 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. 
 
APPENDIX E 
 
 EEASONS WHICH LED ME. MULLEE TO 
 ESTABLISH AN OEPHAF HOUSE 
 
 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 to have their faith strengthened. 
 For instance: I might visit a brother who worked four- 
 teen or even sixteen hours a day at his trade, the neces- 
 sary 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. 
 ISTo 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 some- 
 thing 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 
 
 395 
 
396 George Miiller of Bristol 
 
 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 
 carry out 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 peove Himself to be the living 
 God, in our day as formerly, to all wlio put their trust in 
 Him. — 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 
 
Appendix 397 
 
 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 differ- 
 ently situated; but very rarely did I see that there was a 
 stand made for God, that there was the holy determination 
 to trust ill the living God, and to depend on Him, in order 
 that a good conscience might he maintained. 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 unseriptural 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. Islj 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 to show them hy proofs that He is the same in 
 our day. I well knew that the word of God ought to le 
 enough, 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 de- 
 pendence upon the living God alone, established an 
 imm ense orphan house, which I had seen many times 
 with my own eyes. I, therefore, judged myself bound to 
 
398 George MilUer of Bristol 
 
 be the servant of the Church of God, in the particular 
 point on which I had obtained mercy: namely, in being 
 able to take God by His word and to rely upon it. All 
 these esercises 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. Kow if I, a poor man, 
 simply by prayer and faith, obtained, without ashing any 
 individual, 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 oi 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 re- 
 spects, 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 by prayer and faith, without any one being 
 asked by me or my fellow labourers, whereby it may be 
 seen that God is faithful still, and heaes pratee 
 
 STILL. 
 
 The three chief reasons for establishing an orphan 
 
Appendix 399 
 
 house axe: 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. 
 
 That to which my mind has been particularly directed 
 is to establish an orphan house in which destitute father- 
 less and motherless children may be provided with food 
 and raiment, and scriptural education. Concerning this 
 intended orphan house I would say: 
 
 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 Insti- 
 tution, yet with this difference, that only those funds shall 
 be applied to the orphan house which are expressly given for 
 it. 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. 
 
 2. It will only be established if the Lord should provide 
 both the means for it and suitable persons to conduct it. 
 
 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 con- 
 
 eonceming 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 un- 
 scriptural to contract debts. During five days, we prayed 
 
400 George Miiller of Bristol 
 
 several times, both unitedly and separately. After that 
 time, the Lord began to answer our prayers, so that, 
 within a few days, about 50Z. was given to us. I would 
 farther 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 Teign- 
 mouth, 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 follow- 
 ing 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 
 
Appendix 401 
 
 brethren ! " About an hour afterwards I had 60Z. 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 ia John 
 siv. 13, 14, encourage us to ask with all boldness, for our- 
 selves 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 four- 
 teen 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. Isow, if so. He can influence 
 His people in any part of the world (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 tJiem, 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 daily bread, to look to Him for the supply 
 of the daily wants of those children whom He may be 
 pleased to put under our care. Any donations will be 
 
402 George MuUer of Bristol 
 
 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. 
 
 Eespecting the persons who are needed for carrying on 
 the work, a matter of no less importance than the pro- 
 curing 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, ac- 
 cording 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. 
 
 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. 
 
 4. It has appeared well to us to receive only such desti- 
 tute children as have been bereaved of both parents. 
 
 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 them- 
 
Appendix 403 
 
 selves; besides this, they are intended to receive a plain 
 education; but the chief and the special end of the Insti- 
 tution will be to seek, with God's blessing, to bring them 
 to the knowledge of Jesus Christ by instructing them in 
 the Scriptures. 
 
 FuKTHEB Account eespecting the Orphan House, 
 
 Etc. 
 
 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 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 engage- 
 ments. 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 Ixxxi., and 
 was particularly struck, more than at any time before, 
 with verse 10: " Open ihy mouth wide and I will fill it" I 
 thought a few moments about these words, and then was 
 
404 George Miiller of Bristol 
 
 led to apply them to the ease 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 obtain- 
 ing from the brethren whom I know, but which was not 
 too much for the Lord to grant. 
 
APPENDIX F 
 
 AKGUMENTS EST PEAYEE FOE THE OEPHAN 
 WOEK 
 
 The aTguments which I plead with God are: 
 1. That I set about the work for the glory of God, 
 i.e., that there might be a visible proof, by God supplying, 
 in answer to prayer only, the necessities of the orphans, 
 that He is the living God, and most willing, even in our 
 day, to answer prayer: and that, therefore. He would 
 be pleased to send supplies. 
 
 3. That God is the " Father of the fatherless," and that 
 He, therefore, as their Father, would be pleased to provide. 
 (Psalm Ixviii. 5.) 
 
 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.) 
 
 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. 
 
 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 ? 
 
 405 
 
4q6 George Miiller of Bristol 
 
 6. That many of the children of God, who are unin- 
 strncted, 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 unscrip- 
 tural proceedings respecting similar institutions, so far 
 as the obtaining of means is concerned, if He were not 
 to help me. 
 
 7. That the Lord would remember that I am His child, 
 and that He would graciously pity me, and remember that 
 I cannot provide for these children, and that therefore He 
 would not allow this burden to lie upon me long without 
 sending help. 
 
 8. That He would remember likewise my fellow labour- 
 ers in the work, who trust in Him, but who would be 
 tried were He to withhold supplies. 
 
 9. That He would remember that I should have to 
 dismiss the children from under our scriptural instruc- 
 tion to their former companions. 
 
 10. That He would show that those were mistaken 
 who said that, at the fi,rst, supplies might be expected, 
 while the thing was new, but not afterwards. 
 
 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. 
 
APPENDIX G 
 
 THE PUECHASB OF A SITE, ETC. 
 
 Me. Benjamin Pbeey gives an account of the circum- 
 stances under which the land was purchased, prior to the 
 erection of the orphan liouses on Ashley Down, as he heard 
 it from Mr. Miiller's own mouth, showing how directly the 
 Lord worked on the mind of the owner. Mr. Jliiller had 
 been making inquiries respecting the purchase of land 
 much nearer Bristol, the prices asked being not less than 
 ilOOO per acre, when he heard that the land upon which 
 the Orphan Houses Nos. 1 and 2 stand was for sale, the 
 price being iSOO 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. Miiller 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. Miiller stopped and reflected, " Per- 
 adventure 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 ac- 
 cordingly 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. Miiller, 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 ask- 
 
 407 
 
4o8 George Milller of Bristol 
 
 ing i200 per acre; but the Lord toH me not to charge you 
 more than £130 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. Mliller 
 pointed out, " by being careful to follow the Lord, instead 
 of going before 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 own'er the evening before." 
 
APPEKDIX H 
 
 GOD'S FAITHFFLXESS IX PEOVIDING 
 
 !Me. Peeet writes : At one meeting at Huntly, by special 
 request ilr. Miiller gave illustrations of Code's faithfulness 
 in answer to prayer, connected with the orphan work, of 
 which the following are examples: 
 
 a. He stated that at various times, not only at the begin- 
 ning 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 re- 
 ferred 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, ilr. Miiller 
 went home, but nothing came in, and he retired for the 
 night, committing the need to God to provide. Early the 
 nest 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 hiTn to accept £o 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, prais- 
 ing God for this direct answer to prayer. 
 
 i. 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 
 
 409 
 
410 George Mailer of Bristol 
 
 ivpoiii. WMH iHK'iu'il, lliirt jiroof of ()o(I'h I'll i ill rulncBH in hciviI- 
 iiig- liclp JiihI, vvlinii iu.m'(I(mI wiiH ri'ciii'dcil, mill ii, hIioi'I; Unui 
 nUi'.r l-lio iloiKir (wiDih'I iiikI *iiiii(I(i liiiimuH' kimwii, HiiyiiiK 
 iliiil. iiM liiH (loiiaiidii Imd ln'cii givini ill. hui^Ii ii Hpccinl iiiiii) 
 of iu'(mI lio \'v\l Ikv iiiiihL ntiiU^ Uic (liiX'iiiiiHl.iiiKM'H imdoi' 
 wliicli liii liiid f^ivciii Uio iiioiK^y, wliiidi wi^ni iirM I'iiIIiiwh: 
 III* Imd (Kuiimiiiii 1,(1 /^n 1,11 IiIh oll'iuo in Hi'IhIoI cnily Unit 
 iiioniiiij;- IhiI'oi'o brcii.M'iiHl., iiiul mi Um wny Mm IhoiiKlrl; 
 occiirriul, lo him: " I will go U> Mr. Miillcr'H iii'|)liiui lioiiHd 
 iukI i^mvi! Uidiii II iloimiinii," luiil iiitciirdiiigly Uii'iii'il iiiiil 
 wiiikiidi iilKiut II (|iiiu'|ji'r of II, mill) LowiU'd Lliii nrpliiuingo, 
 wlieii lui Hioppcd, Hii.yiiig Lo liiiiiHcH', " How I'ooliHli ol' iiid 
 !,(> l)(i mifrldcling till' IiiihIiiohh I ciuim mit lo iiLlcml l,o 1 I 
 ciiii givii mmu\y l,o Llio orphiMiH luiolliui' limn," mid liu 
 LiiriKid rmiiid miil wiilkud bncik Lowm'dH liiH iillldii, biiL Homi 
 IVlt lliaL III* ■m/ii.sl, ri"l,iii'M. Ilii Hii,id to liiiiiHiiH': " Tlio oi'- 
 plianH iriiiy lii; iicriliiig l,lio immny nuin. I iiiiiy liii 
 IcnviiiK Llimii in wiuil, wlicn, (lod Imd hhiiI, iiii! Lo liiilp 
 them;" iind ho Htroiif^' wiw tliiH impriiHHimi tliafc liu 
 again turned round and walkrd hack till lio niarhiHj thn 
 orfiliaTiagos, am! ttiim handd'd in tliii rnoiKiy wliiith providrd 
 ihom with LrfiiikfaHt, Mr. Miillcr'H com men I, on thiH wiih: 
 "Jimt like my gracioiiH heavenly i<'ii,tlicr I " and ilien he 
 urged liiH IiearerH to truHt and prove what a I'liitlil'iil oovo- 
 nant-kco'ping God llo IB to thoso who put their trimt in 
 Him. 
 
APPENDIX K 
 
 FURTHER RECOLLECTIOXS OF ME. MULLER 
 
 Me. Peeet furnishes also the following reniini.?cences: 
 As George Miiller \\a,s engaged in free, homely conversa- 
 tion with his friends on a Sunday afternoon within about 
 three weeks of his departure to be with the Lord, he re- 
 ferred 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 him- 
 self, his power to walk, and specially his power to contiaue 
 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." 
 
 One sentence aptly sets forth a striking feature in his 
 Christian character, viz.: 
 
 George Miiller, nothing. The Lord Jesus, everything. 
 
 In himself worse than By grace, in Christ, the son 
 nothing. of the King. 
 
 And as such he lived; for all those who knew and loved 
 this beloved and honoured servant of Christ best would 
 
 411 
 
412 George Miiller of Bristol 
 
 testify that his hahitual attitude towards the Lord was 
 to treat Him as an eyer-present, almighty, loving Friend, 
 whose love was far greater to him than he could ever re- 
 turn, and who delighted in haying his entire confidence 
 about everything, and was not only ready at hand to listen 
 to his prayers and praises about g'reat and important mat- 
 ters, but nothing was too small to speak to Him about. 
 So real was this that it was almost impossible to be en- 
 joying 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. 
 
APPENDIX L 
 
 CHUECH FELLOWSHIP, BAPTISM, ETC. 
 
 "When brother Craik and I began to labour in Bristol, 
 and consequently some believers united witb us in fellow- 
 ship, assembling together at Bethesda, we began meeting 
 together on the basis of the written Word only, without 
 having any church rules whatever. From the commence- 
 ment 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 Scrip- 
 ture. 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 commu- 
 nion 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 believ- 
 ers who were baptized might be united with us at Bethes- 
 da. Our reason for this was that we had witnessed in Dev- 
 onshire much painful disunion, resulting as we thought, 
 from baptized and unbaptized believers being in fellowship. 
 
 413 
 
414 George Miiller of Bristol 
 
 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 in- 
 structed about baptism. For many months there occurred 
 no diffi-culty 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 ihen were done; but we knew hy that time that 
 there were several in fellowship with us who could not 
 conscientiously receive unbaptized believers. We men- 
 tioned, 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 ac- 
 quaintance with the mind of God on the point. Whilst 
 several days thus passed away before the matter was decid- 
 ed, 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 will- 
 ing 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 
 
Appendix 415 
 
 their views; and as to brother Craik and me, it made ns, 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, there- 
 fore, who wished to be baptized was received into fellow- 
 ship, but the two others not. Our consciences were 
 the less afEected by this because all, though not bap- 
 tized, 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 i« no scriptural distinction between being 
 in fellowship with individuals and breaking bread with 
 them. Thus matters stood for many months, i.e., be- 
 lievers were received to the breaking of bread even 
 at Bethesda, though not baptized, but they were not re- 
 ceived to all the privileges of fellowship. — In August of 
 1836 I had a conversation with brother- E. C. on the sub- 
 ject of receiving the unbaptized into communion, a subject 
 about which, for years, my mind had been more or less ex- 
 ercised. 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 (3 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, on all occasions 
 w'hen 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 
 
4i6 George Miiller of Bristol 
 
 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 dis- 
 orderly. — 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, that we ought to receive all 
 whom Christ has received (Kom. xv. 7), irrespective of the 
 measure of grace or linowledge which they have attained unto. 
 —Some time after this conversation, in May, 1837, an op- 
 portunity 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 sis- 
 ter, who neither had teen baptized, nor considered herself 
 under any obligation to be baptized, applied for fellow- 
 ship. 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 believ- 
 ers 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 
 
Appendix 417 
 
 tliat anly baptized believers should be in eonimimion de- 
 creased 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 inter- 
 course 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, irrespec- 
 tive of baptism, has never been the source of disunion 
 among us, though more than fifty-seven years have passed 
 away since.] 
 
APPENDIX M 
 
 CHUECH CONDUCT 
 
 I. — Questions kespecting the Eldership. 
 
 (1) How does it appear to he the mind of God that, in 
 every church, there should he recognized Elders? 
 
 Ana. Prom the following passages compared together: 
 Matt. xxiv. 45; Luke xii. 43. 
 
 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 he 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. y. 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. 
 
 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. 
 
 418 
 
Appendix 419 
 
 (2) Mow do such come into office? 
 
 Ans. By the appointment of the Holy Ghost, Acts xx. 
 28. 
 
 (3) How may this appointment te made hnown to the 
 individuals called to the office, and to those amongst whom 
 iliey may he called to labour? 
 
 Ans. By the secret call of the Spirit, 1 Tim. iii. 1, con- 
 firmed by the possession of the requisite qualifications, 1 
 Tim. iii. 2-7; Tit. i. 6-9, and by the Lord's blessing rest- 
 ing upon their labours, 1 Cor. ix. 2. 
 
 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 em- 
 ploy such an argument, seeing that the way in which they 
 are called for the work is such as to require some out- 
 ward confirmation! 
 
 (4) 7s it incumbent upon the saints to acknowledge such 
 and to submit to them in the Lord? 
 
 Ans. Yes. See 1 Cor. xvi. IS, 16; 1 Thess. v. 13, 13; 
 Heb. xiii. 7, 17; and 1 Tim. v. 17. 
 
 In these passages obedience to pastoral authority is 
 clearly enjoined. 
 
 II. — Ought matters of discipline to be finally settled by 
 the Elders ui private, or in the presence of the church, and 
 as the act of tfre whole body? 
 
 Ans. (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. 
 
 (2) Such matters are to be finally settled as the act of 
 the whole body, Matt, xviii. 17, 18. In this passage the 
 
420 George Miiller of Bristol 
 
 act of exclusion is spoken of as the act of the whole body. 
 1 Cor. V. 4, 5, 7, 12, 13. In this passage Paul gives the 
 direction, resj)ecting 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] which was inflicted of many." 
 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 coniirm [rather, ratify by a public act] your 
 love towards him." 
 
 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 pro- 
 fession of faith in Christ, according to that Scripture, 
 "Eeceive ye one another, as Christ also received us, to 
 the glory of God." (Eom. xv. 7.) 
 
 III. — When should church acts fsuch as acts of reception, 
 restoration, exclusion, etc.) he attended to ? 
 
 Ans. 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 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 care- 
 ful consideration of this point, it has appeared well to us 
 
Appendix 421 
 
 that such acts should be attended to on the Lord's days, 
 when the saints meet together for the hreaking of bread. 
 We have been induced to make this alteration by the fol- 
 lowing reasons: 
 
 (1) This latter mode prevents matters from being delayed. 
 There not being a suificieney of matter for a meeting on 
 pui'i^ose 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, more- 
 over, seems inconsistent with the pilgrim-character of the 
 people of God. 
 
 (2) More believers can he present on the Lord's days than 
 can attend on week-evenings. The importance of this rea- 
 son will appear from considering how everything which 
 concerns the church should be known to 0^ many as 
 possible. 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 re- 
 stored, unless they are made acquainted with the facts con- 
 nected with such cases ? 
 
 (3) A testimony is thus given that all who break bread 
 are church members. By attending to church acts in the 
 meeting for breaking of bread, we show that we make no 
 difference between receiving into fellowship at the Lord's 
 Supper, and into church memlbership, but that the indi- 
 vidual who is admitted to the Lord's table is therewith 
 also received to all the privileges, trials, and responsibili- 
 ties of church membership. 
 
 (4) There is a peculiar propriety in acts of reception, 
 restoration, and exclusion being attended to when the 
 
42 2 George Mtiller of Bristol 
 
 saints meet together for the breaking of bread, as, in that 
 ordinance especially, we show forth our fellowship with 
 each other. 
 
 Objections answered. 
 
 (1) This alteration has the appearance of ehangeable- 
 ness. 
 
 Reply. 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. 
 
 (2) More time may thus be required than it would be 
 well to give to such a purpose on the Lord's day. 
 
 Reply. As, according to this plan, church business will 
 be attended to every Lord's day, it is more than proba- 
 ble 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.* 
 
 N.B. (1) Should any persons be present who do not 
 break bread with us, they may be requested to with- 
 draw whenever such points require to be stated as it 
 would not be well to speak of in the presence of un- 
 believers. 
 
 (3) 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. 
 
 * The practice, later on, gave place to a week-niglit meeting, on 
 Tuesday, for transaction of such " church acts." — A. T. P. 
 
Appendix 423 
 
 IV. — Questions eelative to the Loed's Suppeb. 
 
 (1) How frequently ought the hreaJcing of Iread to he 
 attended to ? 
 
 Ans. Although we have no express cominaiid respect- 
 ing the frequency of its ohservance, 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.) 
 
 (2) What ought to be the character of the meeting at which 
 the saints are assembled for the breaking of bread ? 
 
 Ans. 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. (Eom. xii. 4^8; Bph. iv. 11-16.) The manifes- 
 tation of our common participation in each other's gifts 
 cannot be fully given at such meetings, if the whole 
 meeting is, necesssarily, conducted by one individual. This 
 mode of meeting does not, however, take off from those 
 who have the gifts of teaching or exhortation the respon- 
 sibility of edifying the church as opportunity may be 
 offered. 
 
 (3) Is it desirable that the bread should he Irohen at the 
 Lord's Supper by one of the elders, or should each individual 
 of the body break it for himself ? 
 
 Ans. Neither way can be so decidedly proved from 
 Scripture that we are warranted in objecting to the other 
 as positively unscriptural, yet — 
 
 (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 we break." 
 
 (3) Its being done by each of the disciples is more fitted 
 
424 George MuUer of Bristol 
 
 to express that we all, by our sins, have broken the body 
 of our Lord. 
 
 (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. 
 
APPENDIX N 
 
 THE WISE SAYINGS OF GEOEGE MtJLLEE 
 
 Few who have not carefully read the Narrative of Mr. 
 Miiller and the subsequent Eeports 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 sa- 
 gacious and spiritual counsels and utterances with which 
 these pages abound. 
 
 THE BODY. 
 
 CAKE OF THE BODY. 
 
 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 sick- 
 ness, and not to neglect the soul, especially in an afflic- 
 tion Like my present one, when the head allows but little 
 reading or thinking. — What a blessed prospect to be de- 
 livered from this wretched evil nature I 
 
 HABITS OF SLEEP. 
 
 My own experience has been, almost invariably, that if 
 I have not the needful sleep, my spiritual enjoyment and 
 strength is greatly affected by it. I judge it of great mo- 
 ment that the believer, in travelling, should seek as much 
 
 425 
 
426 George Mtiller of Bristol 
 
 as possible to refrain from travelling by night, or from 
 travelling in such a way as that he is deprived of the need- 
 ful 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 Scrip- 
 tures, and he vnll surely feel the pernicious efEects of this 
 all the day long. There may occur cases when travelling by 
 night cannot be avoided; but, if it can, though we should 
 seem to lose time iy it, and though it should cost more money, 
 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 ad- 
 vise 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 care- 
 fully 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 car- 
 riage 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 in this particular we are not exposed to 
 the temptation of needing to be less careful in ascertain- 
 ing the will of God before we set out on a journey. 
 
Appendix 427 
 
 CHILDEEN. 
 
 CONVEESION OF CHILDEBN. 
 
 As far as my experience goes, it appears to me that be- 
 lievers 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 ofEer up on their behalf. Now, while 
 such passages as Proverbs xxii. 6, Ecclesiastes xi. 1, Gala- 
 tians vi. 9, 1 Cor. xv. 58, give unto us assurance not 
 merely respecting everything which we do for the Lord, 
 in gieneral, 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 present 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 per- 
 sons or children, from the age of eleven and a half to sev- 
 enteen, 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- 
 and day-school children. 
 
 NEGLECT OF CHILDEEN. 
 
 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 mis^ 
 
428 George Miiller of Bristol 
 
 directed child may live to blight and blast mankind, and 
 leave influences of evil which shall roll on in iacreasing 
 volume till they plunge into the gulf of eternal perdition. 
 
 " 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 ' Mar- 
 garet ' was sent adrift on the casual charity of the inhabi- 
 tants. 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 two hundred of her de- 
 scendants who have been criminals. In one single gener- 
 ation 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, hundreds of thousands of dol- 
 lars, in the expense and care of criminals and paupers, be- 
 sides the untold damage she has inflicted on property and 
 public morals." 
 
 TRAINING OF CHILDBEN. 
 
 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 suitable times, and 
 
Appendix 429 
 
 under suitable circumstances, as your almoners^ and you 
 will reap fruit from doing so. 
 
 CHRISTIAN LIFE. 
 
 BEGINNING OF LIFE, ETC. 
 
 God alone can give spiritual life at the first, and keep 
 it up in the soul afterwards. 
 
 CROSS-BEARING. 
 
 The Christian, like the bee, might suck honey out of 
 every flower. I saw upon a snuffer-stand in bas-relief, " A 
 heaxt, a cross under it, and roses under both." The mean- 
 ing was obviously this, that the heart which bears the 
 cross for a time meets with roses afterwards. 
 
 KEEPING PEOMISES. 
 
 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 therioro 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 ser- 
 vants, bad tradesmen, bad masters " ? Surely it ought not 
 to be true that we, who have power with Ood to obtain hy 
 prayer and faith all needful gracej wisdom, and skill, should 
 be bad servants, bad tradesmen, bad masters. 
 
430 George MilUer of Bristol 
 
 THE LOT AND THE LOTTEET. 
 
 It is altogether wrong that I, a child of God, should 
 haye 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, after the Holy Spirit had 
 teen given on the day of Pentecost. 1. We have many ex- 
 hortations in the word of God to seek to know His mind hy 
 prayer and searching the Holy Scriptures, but no pas- 
 sage 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). Fow concerning this cir- 
 cumstance we have to remember that the Spirit was not 
 yet given (John vii. 39; ch. xiv. 16, 17; ch. 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. 
 
 NEW TASTES. 
 
 What a difference grace makes ! There were few peo- 
 ple, perhaps, more passionately fond of travelling, and see- 
 ing 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 ! 
 
Appendix 431 
 
 OBEDIENCE. 
 
 Every instance of obedience, from right motives, strength- 
 ens us spiritually, whilst every act of disobedience weakens 
 us spiritually. 
 
 SEPAKATION TJNTO GOD. 
 
 May the Lord graiit that the eyes of many of His chil- 
 dren may be opened, so that they may seek, in all spiritual 
 things, to be separate'd from unbelievsTS (2 Cor. vi. 14- 
 18), and to do God's work according to God's mind ! 
 
 SERVICE TO OlSrE^'S GENERATION. 
 
 My business is, with all my might to serve my own gen- 
 eration; 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 brief life, for 
 sowing, in comparison with eternity, for reaping. 
 
 SURETY FOR DEBT. 
 
 How precious it is, even for this life, to act according 
 to the word of God ! This perfect revelation of His mind, 
 gives us direction's 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 
 
432 George Muller of Bristol 
 
 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 be come 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. 3. 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 engage- 
 ments of the person for whom I am going to be surety ? 
 In most instances this alone ought to keep one from it. 
 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. 
 •1. 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 mil 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? 
 
 CHTJROH LIFE. 
 
 ASSEMBLY OF BELIETEES. 
 
 It has been my own happy lot, during the last thirty- 
 seven years, to become acquainted with hundreds of indi- 
 viduals, who were not inferior to apostolic Christians. 
 
 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, 
 
Appendix 433 
 
 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. 
 
 FOEMALISM. 
 
 I have often remarked the injurious efEects of doing 
 things because others did them, or because it was the cus- 
 tom, or because they were persuaded into acts of outward 
 self-denial, or giving up things whilst the heart did not go 
 along with it, and whilst the outward act was not the re- 
 sult of the inivard powerful worMng of the Holy Ghost, and 
 the happy entering into our fellowship ivith the Father and 
 with the Son. 
 
 Everything that is a mere form, a mere habit and cus- 
 tom in divine things, is to be dreaded exceedingly: life, 
 power, reality, 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 qual- 
 ity 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 G-od, 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 after- 
 
434 George Milller of Bristol 
 
 wards it be regretted. Not that I mean in the least by 
 this to imply we should continue to live in luxury, self-in- 
 dulgence, 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 inwardly instead of 
 outwardly. If othei-wise, 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. 
 
 HELPING ONE ANOTHEE. 
 
 As to the importance of the children of God 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 axe 
 children of the same family, and ought therefore to be 
 helpers one of another. 
 
Appendix 435 
 
 INQUIET MEETINGS. 
 
 1. Many persons, on account of timidity, would prefer 
 coming at an appointed time to tlie 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 speak- 
 ing to them. 3. These meetings have also been a great en- 
 couragement 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 for- 
 ward 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 instru- 
 ments, particularly as in this way instances have some- 
 times 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. 
 
 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 alreaJdy introduced a sim- 
 ilar 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, acco'i*ding to their 
 different need; and one is led continually to feel that one 
 
436 George Muller of Bristol 
 
 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. 
 
 PASTOEAL VISITATION". 
 
 An unvisited church will sooner or later become an un- 
 healthy cliurch. 
 
 PEW-EENTS. 
 
 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. Kay, I kneiv it to he a fact that some- 
 times 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 teen 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, be- 
 cause i30 of my salary was at stake if I should be bap- 
 tized. 
 
 STATE CHUECHES. 
 
 All establishmenls, 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 
 
Appendix 437 
 
 lead to departure from the word of God; but also, as long 
 as they remain establishments, entirely preclude the act- 
 ing throughout according to the Holy Scriptures. 
 
 FAITH. 
 
 ANXIETY. 
 
 Where Faith begins, anxiety ends; 
 Where anxiety begins, Faith ends. 
 
 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 practically 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 calme'd 
 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 faith to work, 
 when sight ceases. The greater the difficulties, the easier 
 for faith. As long as there remain certain natural pros- 
 pects, faith does not get on even as easily (if I may say so), 
 as when all natural prospects fail. 
 
 DEPENDENCE ON GOD. 
 
 Observe two things ! We acted for God in delaying the 
 public meetings and the publishing of the Report; but 
 Ood's way leads always into trial, so far as sight 
 and sense are concerned. Nature always will be tried in 
 
438 George Miiller of Bristol 
 
 God's ways. 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, up to 
 that time, I never knew any period in which my faith was 
 tried so sharply, as during the four months from Dec. 13, 
 1841, to April 13, 1842. But observe further: We might 
 even now have altered our minds with respect to the pub- 
 lic meetings and publishing the Report; for no one lenew 
 our determination, at this time, 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 conclu- 
 sion, at which we had arrived under His guidance. 
 
 GIFT AND GEACE OF FAITH. 
 
 It pleased the Lord, I think, to give me in some cases 
 something like the gift (not grace) of faith, so that uncon- 
 ditionally I could ask and look for an answer. The differ- 
 ence between the gift and the grace of faith seems to me 
 this. According to the gift of faith I am able to do a 
 thing, OT believe that a thing will come to pass, the not 
 doing of which, or the not believing of which would not 
 he sin; according to the grace of faith 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 
 would he sin. For instance, the gift of faith would be 
 needed, to believe that a sick person should be restored 
 again, though there is no human probability: for there is 
 no promise to that effect; the grace of faith is needed to be- 
 lieve that the Lorid will give me the necessaries of life, if I 
 first seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness: for 
 there is a promise to that effect. (Matt. vi. 33.) 
 
Appendix 439 
 
 SELF-WILL. 
 
 The natural mind is ever prone to reason, when we ought 
 to helievej to be at worlc, when we ought to be quiet; to go 
 our own way, when we ought steadily to walk on in God's 
 ways, however trying to nature. 
 
 TKIALS OF FAITH. 
 
 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 esercise, 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. 
 
 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 par- 
 ticular 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 that there 
 is, after all, reality in the things of God. 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, in- 
 stead of taking goods on credit, or borrowing money irom 
 some kind friends, when we are in need. Nay, we pur- 
 pose, 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 
 
440 George Miiller of Bristol 
 
 should have to look to Him; being fully assured that He 
 who is now (1845) in the tenth year feeding these many 
 orphans, and Vlio 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 hav- 
 ing had to be stopped for want of means, will do so for the 
 future also. And here I do desire in the deep conscious- 
 ness 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. 
 
 GIVING. 
 
 ASKING GIFTS, ETC. 
 
 It is not enough to obtain means for the work of G-od, 
 but that these means should be obtained in God's way. To 
 ask unbelievers for means is not God's way; to press even 
 believers to give, is not God's way; but the duty and the 
 privilege 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. 
 
 CLAIMS OF GOD. 
 
 It is true, the Gospel demands our All; but I fear that, 
 in the general claim on All, we have shortened the claim on 
 everything. 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. 
 
Appendix 441 
 
 GIVING IN ADTEESITY. 
 
 At the end of the last century a very godly and liberal 
 merchant in London was one day called on by a gentle- 
 man, 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. 
 
 How have we to act if prosperity in our business, our 
 trade, our profession, etc., should suddenly cease, notwith- 
 standing our having given a considerable proportion of our 
 means for the Lord-'s work ? My reply is this : In 
 the day of adversity consider." 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 al- 
 lowed 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 
 practically 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, abused the blessing of God. I do not 
 mean by this remark to bring any children of God into 
 
442 George Mtiller of Bristol 
 
 bondage^ so that, with a scrupulous conscience, they 
 should look at every penny, which they spend on them- 
 selves; 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. 
 
 GIVING AND HOARDING. 
 
 I have every reason to believe, that, had I begun to lay 
 up, the Loi^d would have stopped the supplies, and thus, 
 the ability of doing so was only apparent. Let no one pro- 
 fess to trust in God, and yet lay up for future wants, other- 
 wise the Lord will first send him to the hoard he has 
 amassed, before He can answer the prayer for more. 
 
 " There is that seattereth, and yet increaseth; and there 
 is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to 
 poverty." (Prov. xi. 34.) ISTotice here the word " more than 
 is meet;" 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. 
 
 MOTIVES TO GIVING. 
 
 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 preach- 
 
Appendix 443 
 
 ers; 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, at His lidding, 
 to use for Him, part or all, they have. However short the 
 believer may fall, nothing less than this should be his aim. 
 
 STEVTABDSHIP. 
 
 It is the Lord's order, that, in whatever way He is 
 pleased to make us His stewards, whether as to tem- 
 poral or spiritual things, if we are indeed acting as 
 stewards and not as owners, He will make us stewards over 
 more. 
 
 Even in this life, and as to temporal things, the Lord 
 is pleaseid 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 
 spiritual 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 ! 
 
 SYSTEMATIC GIVING. 
 
 Only fix even the smallest amount 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 
 habitual giving, a regular giving, a giving from •principle 
 and upon scriptural ground, and leave it only to feeling 
 and impulse, or particular arousing circumstances, you 
 will certainly be a loser. 
 
444 George Miiller of Bristol 
 
 " A merchant in the United States said in answer to in- 
 quiries 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 fol- 
 lowing system: 
 
 " ' I decided to balance my accounts as nearly as I could 
 every month, reserving such portion of profits as might ap- 
 pear adequate to cover probable losses, and to lay aside, by 
 entry on a benevolent account, one tenth of the remaining 
 j)rofits, great or small, as a fund for benevolent expendi- 
 ture, 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 ex- 
 penses had been deducted, should exceed five hundred dol- 
 lars in a month, I would give 1^-1- 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 cap- 
 ital was of the utmost importance to my success in busi- 
 ness, I decided not to increase the foregoing scale until I 
 had acquired a certain capital, after v\'hich I would give 
 one quarter of all net profits, gTeat 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. 
 
 " ' 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 sanpjuine exijeetations. 
 Although constantly giving, I have never yet touched 
 the bottom of my fund, and have repeatedly been sur- 
 
Appendix 445 
 
 prised 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 recog- 
 nized a heavenly hand more than making good all past 
 deficiencies.' " 
 
 The following deeply interesting particulars are re- 
 corded in the memoir of Mr. Cobb, a Boston merchant. 
 At the age of twenty-three, Mr. Cobb drew up and sub- 
 scribed the following remarkable document : 
 
 " By the grace of God I will never be worth more than 
 50,000 dollars. 
 
 " By the grace of God I will give one fourth of the 
 net profits of my business to charitable and religious uses. 
 
 " 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 dol- 
 lars. So help me God, or give to a more faithful steward, 
 and set me aside." 
 
 " 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. 
 
 " On his death-bed he said, ' by the grace of God' — 
 nothing else — 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 
 
 i» 
 
446 George Muller of Bristol 
 
 Mr. Cobb was also an active, humble, and devoted Chris- 
 tian, seelnng the prosperity of feeble churches; labouring 
 to promote the benevolent instiutions 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 deport- 
 ment; and, in the general tenox of his life and character 
 an example of consistent piety. 
 
 His last sickness and death were peaceful, yea trium- 
 phant. " 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 every- 
 thing 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. My liope in Christ is worth 
 infinitely more than all other things. The blood of Christ 
 — the blood of Christ — none but Christ ! Oh ! how thank- 
 ful 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." 
 
 GOD. 
 
 APPROVAL OF GOD. 
 
 In the whole worh we desire to stand with God, and not to 
 depend upon the favourable or unfavourable judgment of 
 the multitude. 
 
 CHASTISEMENTS OF GOD. 
 
 Our Heavenly Father never takes any earthly thing from 
 His children except He means to give them something letter 
 instead. 
 
Appendix 447 
 
 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 ! 
 
 The Lord never lays more on us, in the way of chastise- 
 ment, than our state of heart makes needful; so that whilst 
 He smites with the one hand. He supports with the other. 
 
 If, as believers in the Lord Jesus, we see that our Heav- 
 enly Father, on account of wrong steps, or a wrong state 
 of heart, is dealing with us in the way of discipline or cor- 
 rection, 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 ex- 
 pressed in words, and even by deeds. We have to guard 
 against practically despising the chastening of the Lord, 
 though we may not do so in word, and against fainting 
 under chastisement: since all is intended for blessing to us. 
 
 FAITHFULNESS OF GOD. 
 
 Perhaps you have said ia your heart : " How would it be, 
 suppose the funds of the orphans were redxiced to noth- 
 ing, 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 O'Ur hearts," then such a state of things, we have rea- 
 son to believe, would occur. But so long as we shall be en- 
 abled to trust in the living God, and so long as, though 
 falling short in every way of what we might be, and ought 
 
448 George Muller of Bristol 
 
 to be, we are at least kept from living in sin, such a state 
 O'f things cannot occur. 
 
 The Lord, to show His continued care over us, raises 
 up new helpers. They that trust in the Lord shall 
 never be confoun'ded ! 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 cauise or another, were we to lean upon man, we 
 should surely be confounded; but, in leaning upon the liv- 
 ing God alone, we are beyond disappointment, and be- 
 yond heing forsaken iecause of death, or want of means, or 
 ivant of love, or because of the claims of other loorh. 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 ! 
 
 PAETNEESHIP WITH GOD. 
 
 A brother, who is in about the same state in which he 
 was eight years ago, has very little enjoyment, and makes 
 no jDrogress in the things of Go'd. 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 " with God." (1 Cor. vii. 24.) 
 
 POWEE OF GOD. 
 
 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 
 
Appendix 449 
 
 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." 
 
 TRUST IN GOD. 
 
 Only let it be trust in God, not in man, not in circum- 
 stances, not in any of your own exertions, 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, but solely in God. This is just that 
 which brings the blessing. If we say wc 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." 
 
 It is a source of deep sorrow to me, that, notwithstand- 
 ing 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 mu^t not be looked for. 
 
 WILL OF GOD. 
 
 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. 
 
 Just in as many points as we are acting according to the 
 rninid of God, in so many axe we blessed and made a bless- 
 
450 George Miiller of Bristol 
 
 ing. Our manner of living is according to the miad 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; poiats, yet He blesses me in this par- 
 ticular. 
 
 First of all, to see well to it, that the work in which he 
 desires to be engaged in God's luorhj secondly, that he is 
 the person to be engaged in this work; thirdly, that God's 
 time 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. 
 
 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 aaiy steps you pro- 
 pose 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, persever- 
 ingly, patiently, believingly, and expectingly: and you 
 mil surely, in His own time and way, obtain it. 
 
 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 can- 
 not be real trust, it is the counterfeit of faith, it is pre- 
 sumption; and though God, in great pity and mercy, may 
 even help us finally out of debt; yet does this, on no ac- 
 count, prove that we were right in going forward before 
 His time was come. We ought, rather, under such cir- 
 
Appendix 451 
 
 ctunstances to say to ourselves: Am I indeed doing tlie 
 work of God ? And if so, I may not be the person to do it; 
 or if I am the person, Ris time 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. 
 
 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, be- 
 cause certain facts are so and so, and yet His word is op- 
 posed to the step which we are going to take, we should be 
 deceiving ourselves. . . . No situation, no business will 
 be given to me ly God, in which I have not time enough to 
 care about my soul. Therefore, however outward circum- 
 stances 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 provi- 
 dence to induce me to act contrary to His revealed will. 
 
 MAERIAGE. 
 
 To enter upon the marriage union is one of the most 
 deeply important events of life. It cannot be too prayer- 
 fully treated. Our happiness, our usefulness, our living for 
 God or for ourselves aifterwards, are often most intimately 
 connected with our choice. Therefore, in the most praj er- 
 ful 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 
 
452 George Milller of Bristol 
 
 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 pa- 
 tiently weighed, whether, in other respects, there is a suit- 
 ableness. For instance, for an educated man to choose 
 an entirely uneducated woman, is unwise; for however 
 much on his part love'-Mght be willing to cover the defect, 
 it will work very unhappily with regard to the children. 
 
 PEAYER. 
 
 ANSWEES TO PBAYEB. 
 
 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 oc- 
 cupied, 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. 
 
Appendix 453 
 
 ANXIETY AVOIDED BY PEAYEE. 
 
 Thaugh all believers in the Lord Jesus are not called 
 upon to establish orphan houses, schools for poor chil- 
 dren, 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 east, all their care upon 
 Him who careth for them, and need not be anxiously con- 
 cerned about anything, as is plainly to be seen from 1 
 Pert;er v. 7; Philippians iv. 6; Matthew vi. 35-34. 
 
 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 leading to anxiety, 
 as it regards possible future want, is rather the means of 
 keeping from it. . . This way of living has often been 
 the means of reviving the work of grace in my heart, 
 w'hen 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. 
 
 I met at a brother's house with several beilievers, when 
 a sister said that she had often thought about the care 
 and burden I must have on my mind, as it regards obtain- 
 ing 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 chil- 
 dren I have years ago cast upon the Lord. The whole 
 work is His, and it becomes me to be without carefulness. 
 
454 George MuUer of Bristol 
 
 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 com- 
 paratively a rare case that there have been means in hand 
 to meet the necessities of the orphans for three days to- 
 gether; 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 fel- 
 low-labourers the prayers of all those, to whom the glory 
 of God is dear. How great woul'd 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 noth- 
 ing 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. 
 
 BOEHOWriNG AND PRATING. 
 
 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. 
 
 COMMTJNION" WITH GOD IN PRATER. 
 
 How truly precious it is that every one who rests alone 
 upon the Lord Jesus for salvation, has in the living God 
 
Appendix 455 
 
 a father, to whom he may fully unbosom himself concern- 
 ing the most minute affairs of his life, and concerning 
 everything that lies upon his heart ! Dear reader, do you 
 kaow 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, anid 
 reality, in our holy faith. If you never yet have known 
 this, then come and taste for yourself. I beseech you af- 
 fectionately to meditate and pray over the following 
 verses: John iii. 16; Eom. x. 9, 10; Acts x. 43; 1 John v. 1. 
 
 CONDITIONS 01" PBATEE. 
 
 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 as- 
 suredly as that which you ask would be for your real good, 
 and therefore for the honour of the Lord; and as assuredly 
 as you asik it solely on the ground of the worthiness of our 
 Lord Jesus, so assuredly you will at last obtain the bless- 
 ing. I myself have had to wait upon God concerning cer- 
 tain 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 
 
456 George Miiller of Bristol 
 
 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 wor- 
 thiness. 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; with- 
 out fixing to God a time when, or the circumstances un- 
 dw 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 invigor- 
 ated in connection with these answers. 
 
 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 O'wn spiritual profit, being so intimately connected 
 with the honour of God, should never he 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 continue in prayer, until the blessing is 
 granted unto its. It is not enough to begin to pray, nor to 
 pray aright; nor is it enough to continue for a time to 
 pray; but we must patiently, belie vingly continue in 
 prayer, uatil we obtain an answer; and further, we have 
 not only to continue in prayer unto the end, but we have 
 
Appendix 457 
 
 also to believe that God does hear us, and will answer our 
 prayers. Most frequently we fail in not continuing in 
 prayer untH the blessing is obtained and in not expecting 
 the blessing. 
 
 FAITH, PEATEK, AND THE WOED OF GOD. 
 
 Prayer and faith, the universal remedies against every 
 want and every difficulty; and the nourishment of prayer 
 and faith, God's holy word, helped me over all the diffi- 
 culties. — I never remember, in all my Christian course, a 
 period now (in March 1895) of sixty-nine years and four 
 months, that I ever sincekely and patiently sought to 
 know the will of God by the teaching of the Holy Ghost, 
 through the instrumentality of the ivord of God, but I 
 have been always directed rightly. But if honesty of 
 heart and uprightness before God were lacking, or if I did 
 not patiently wait upon God for instruction, or if I pre- 
 ferred the counsel of my fellow men to the declarations of 
 the word of the living God, I made great mistakes. 
 
 seceet peatee. 
 
 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. 
 
 SNAEES OF SATAl^ AS TO PEAYEH. 
 
 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 
 
458 George Miiller of Bristol 
 
 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. 
 
 WOEK AND PEAYEB. 
 
 Often the work of the Lord itself may be a temptation 
 to keep us from that communion with Him which is so es- 
 sential to the benefit of our own souls. . . . Let none 
 think that public prayer will make up for closet com- 
 munion. 
 
 Here is the great secret of success. Work with all yo'ur 
 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 j;)e, abundant 
 blessing. Whether you see 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 ot earnest, believing prayer. 
 
 PREACHING. 
 
 It came immediately to my min'd that sucK 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. 
 
Appendix 459 
 
 but it ought to be given in a different form, suited to the 
 hearers. Thus I remained unsettled in my mind as it re- 
 gards 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 powerlessuess of liuman 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. 
 
 EESTITUTION. 
 
 Eestitution is the revealed will of God. If it is omitted, 
 ivlhile 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 can- 
 not be done, and then only 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 rig'htful 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 anony- 
 mously 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 restitu- 
 tion. 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. 
 
460 George Miiller of Bristol 
 
 REWABDS. 
 Christians do not jDractically 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. 
 
 SIN AND SALVATION. 
 
 Hnmblings last our whole life. Jesus came not to save 
 painted but 7'eal sinners; but He Jias saved us, and will 
 surely make it manifest. 
 
 SPIRIT OF GOD. 
 
 At Stuttgart, the dear brethren had been entirely un- 
 instructe'd about the truths relating to the power and 
 presence of the Holy Ghost in the church of God, and to 
 OUT ministering one to another as fellow members in the 
 body of Christ; and I had known enough of painful con- 
 sequences when brethren began to meet professedly in 
 dependence upon the Holy Spirit without knowing what 
 was meant by it, and thus meetings had become oppor- 
 tunities for unprofitable talking rather than for godly edify- 
 ing. . . All these matters ought to be left to the order- 
 ing of the Holy Ghost, and that if it had been truly good 
 for them, the Lord would have not only led me to speak 
 at that time, but also on the very subject on which they de- 
 sired that I should speak to them. 
 
 TRUTH— PROPORTION OF FAITH. 
 
 Whatever parts of truth are made too much of, though 
 they were even the most precious truths connected 
 
Appendix 461 
 
 with our being risen in Christ, or our heavenly calling, or 
 prophecy, sooner or later those who lay an undue stress 
 upon these parts of truth, and thus make them too prom- 
 inent, will be losers in their own souls, and, if they be 
 teachers, they will injure those whom they teach. 
 
 UNIVERSALISM. 
 
 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 " priest- 
 hood 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 earthly calling of Israel and our 
 heavenly 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 
 deliverance out of hell, and a heing drought up out of hell, 
 instead of " out of the grave." 
 
^62 George Miiller of Bristol 
 
 WORD OF GOD. 
 
 The word of God is our only standard, and the Holy 
 Spirit our only teacher. 
 
 Besides the Holy SeriptTires, which shoTil'd be always 
 THE book, THE CHiEB" 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 re^addng too 
 much. 
 
 WORK FOR GOD. 
 
 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 proc- 
 lamation 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 pro- 
 vided 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.