Classic Audiobook Collection - George Muller of Bristol by Arthur T. Pierson ~ Full Audiobook [biography]

Episode Date: July 1, 2023

George Muller of Bristol by Arthur T. Pierson audiobook. Genre: biography George Muller was a great hero of faith. His greatest aim was to demonstrate that God answers prayer and can be trusted for every minute detail of life. Spending countless hours asking God to provide his needs, he only relied upon God. God called him to care for orphans and he conducted his orphanage in the same way, on faith alone. When a certain need was apparent, they would immediately go to God in prayer. In this dynamic dependance on God, He always proved faithful. He also established over a hundred schools, educating over a hundred thousand people! His example of absolute dependence on God stands in the gap of history to declare that God is enough, and He is faithful! For ad-free listening try our premium subscription Chapters (Approximate) (00:00:00) Chapter 00 (00:08:53) Chapter 01 (00:35:37) Chapter 02 (01:03:27) Chapter 03 (01:28:31) Chapter 04 (01:52:40) Chapter 05 (02:24:20) Chapter 06 (02:55:07) Chapter 07 (03:24:17) Chapter 08 (03:54:32) Chapter 09 (04:27:56) Chapter 10 (05:01:32) Chapter 11 (05:31:31) Chapter 12 (06:01:30) Chapter 13 (06:31:22) Chapter 14 (07:10:06) Chapter 15 (07:46:55) Chapter 16 (08:08:50) Chapter 17 (08:45:57) Chapter 18 (09:20:48) Chapter 19 (09:42:19) Chapter 20 (10:11:50) Chapter 21 (10:45:42) Chapter 22 (11:21:12) Chapter 23 (11:56:18) Chapter 24 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Section 1 of George Mueller of Bristol and is witness to a prayer hearing God by Arthur T. Pearson. Chapter 1 From His Birth to His New Birth A human life filled with the presence and power of God is one of God's choicest gifts to his church and to the world. Things which are unseen and eternal, seem to the carnal man distant and indistinct, while what is seen and temporal is vivid and real. Practically, any object in nature that can be seen or felt

is thus more real and actual to most men than the living God. Every man who walks with God and finds him a present help in every time of need, who puts his promises to the practical proof and verifies them in actual experience. Every believer who with the key of faith unlocks God's mysteries and with the key of prayer

unlocks God's treasuries thus furnishes to the race a demonstration and an illustration of the fact that he is and is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. George Mueller was such an argument an example incarnated in human flesh. Here was a man of like passions as we are,

and tempted in all points like as we are, but who believed God, and was established by believing, who prayed earnestly that he might live a life and do a work which should be a convincing proof that God hears prayer, and that it is safe to trust him at all times, and who has furnished just such a witness as he desired. Like Enoch, he truly walked with God, and had an abundant testimony born to him that he pleased God.

And when, on the 10th day of March 1898, it was told us of George Mueller that he was not, we knew that God had taken him. It seemed more like a translation than like death. To those who are familiar with his long life story, and most of all to the those who intimately knew him and felt the power of personal contact with him, he was one of God's ripest saints and himself a living proof that a life of faith is possible that God may be known, communed with, found, and may become a conscious companion in the daily life. George Mueller 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 today and forever, that the days of divine intervention and deliverance are passed only to those with whom the days of faith and obedience are passed. 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 said,

studied, perhaps, by dividing it into certain marked periods, into which it naturally falls, when we look at those leading events and experiences which are like punctuation marks or paragraph divisions, as, for example. One, from his birth to his new birth or conversion, 1805 to 1825. 2. From his conversion to full entrance on his life work, 1825 to 1835. 3. From this point to the period of his mission tours, 1835 to 1875. 4. From the beginning to the close of these tours, 1875 to 1892. 5. From the close of his tours to his death, 1892 to 1892 to 18. Thus, the first period would cover 20 years, the second 10, the third 40, the fourth 17, and the last six.

However, thus, unequal in length, each forms a sort of epoch, marked by certain conspicuous and characteristic features which serve to distinguish it and make its lessons peculiarly important and memorable. For example, the first period is that of the lost days of six. in, in which the great lesson taught is the bitterness and worthlessness of a disomediant 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 17 or 18 years, we find him bearing in all parts of the earth, his worldwide

witness to God. And the last six years were used of God in mellowing and maturing his Christian character. During these years he was left in peculiar loneliness, yet this only made him lean more on the divine companionship, and it was noticeable with those who were brought into most intimate contact with him that he was more than ever before heavenly-minded, and the beauty of the Lord his God was upon him. 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 Lytton could account for the conversion of Saul of Tarsus only by supernatural power, what would he have thought of George Mueller's transformation? Saul had in his favor a conscience, however misguided, and a morality, however, Phariseic. George Mueller was a flagrant sinner against common honesty and decency, and his whole earthly 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 Mueller. He was a native of Prussia, born at Kroppenstatt, near Halberstadt, September 27, 1805. Less than five years later, his parents removed to Heimersleben, some four miles off, where his father was made collector of the excise, again removing about 11 years later to Schoenbeck near Magdeburg, where he had obtained another appointment. George Mueller had no proper parental training. His father's favoritism toward him was harmful, both to himself and to his brother, as in the family of Jacob, tending to jealousy and estrangement.

Money was put too freely into the hands of these boys, hoping that they might learn how to use it and save it. But the result was rather careless and vicious waste, for it became the same. source of many childish sins of indulgence. Worse still, when called upon to render any account of their stewardship, sins of lying and deception were used to cloak wasteful spending. Young George systematically deceived his father, either by false entries of what he had received, or by false statements of what he had spent or had on hand. When his tricks were found out, the punishment which followed led to no reformation, the only effect being more ingenious devices of trickery and

fraud. Like the Spartan lad, George Mueller 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 boy, and he attempts no disguise. Before he was ten years old, he was a habitual thief and an expert at cheating. Even government funds entrusted to his father were not safe from his hands. Suspicion led to the laying of a snare into which he fell. A sum of money was carefully counted and put where he would find it and have a chance to steal it. He took it and hid it under his foot in his shoe. But he being searched and the money being found, it became clear to whom the various sums previously missing might be traced. His father wished him educated for a clergyman, and before he was 11, he was sent to the

Cathedral Classical School at Halberstadt to be fitted for the university. That such a lad should be deliberately set apart for such a sacred office and calling by a father who knew his moral obliquities and offenses seems incredible. But where a state church exists, the ministry of the gospel is apt to be treated as a human profession rather than as a divine vocation. And so the standards of fitness often sink to the low secular level, and the main object in view becomes the so-called living, which is, alas, too frequently independent of holy living. From this time, the lad's studies were mixed up with novel reading and various vicious indulgences. card-playing, an 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 of mere form, and met in a careless spirit, another false step was taken. Sacred things were treated as common, and so conscious became the more callous.

On the very eve of confirmation and of his first approach to the Lord's table, he was guilty of gross sins. And on the day previous, when he met the clergyman for the customary confession of sin, sin, he planned and practiced another shameless fraud, withholding from him 11-12ths of the confirmation fee entrusted to him by his father. In such frames of mind and with such habits of life, George Mueller, in the Easter season of 1820, was confirmed and became a communicant. Confirmed indeed, but in sin, not only immoral and unregenerate, but so ignorant of the very rudiments of the gospel of Christ that he could not have stated to an inquiring soul the simple terms of the plan of salvation. There was, it is true, about such serious and sacred

transactions, a vague solemnity which left a transient impression and led to shallow resolves to live a better life. But there was no real sense of sin or of repentance toward God, nor was there any dependence about a higher strength. And without these efforts at self, amendment never prove a value or work-lasting results. The story of this wicked boyhood presents but little variety except that of sin and crime. It is one long tale of evil-doing and of the sorrow which it brings. Once, when his money was all recklessly wasted, hunger drove him to steal a bit of coarse bread from a soldier who was a fellow lodger, and looking back, long afterward, to that hour

of extremity, he exclaimed, What a bitter thing is the service of Satan, even in this world. On his father's removal to Schoenbeck in 1821, he asked to be sent to the cathedral school at Magdeburg, inwardly hoping thus to break away from his sinful snares and vicious companions, and amid new scenes find help in self-reform. He was not, therefore, without at least occasional aspirations after moral of 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 superintend sundry alterations in his house and Heimersleben, arranging for him, meanwhile, to read classics with the resident clergyman Reverend Dr. Nagel. Being thus for a time his own master, temptation opened wide doors before him.

He was allowed to collect dues from his father's debtors, and again he resorted to fraud, spending large sums of this money and concealing the fact that it had been paid. In November 1821, he went to Magdeburg and to Brunswick, to which latter place he was drawn by his passion for a young Roman Catholic girl, whom he had met there soon after,

information. In this absence from home, he took one step after another in the path of wicked indulgence. First of all, by lying to his tutor, he got his consent to his going. Then came a week of sin at Magdeburg, and a wasting of his father's means at a costly hotel in Brunswick. His money, being gone, he went to the house of an uncle until he was sent away. Then, at another expensive hotel, he ran up bills until payment being demanded, he had to leave his best clothes as a security, barely escaping arrest. Then at Wolfram Butel, he tried the same bold scheme again, until having nothing for deposit, he ran off, but this time was caught and sent to jail. This boy of 16 was already a liar and thief, swindler and drunkard, accomplished only in crime,

a companion of convicted felons and himself in a felon's cell. This cell, a few days later, a thief shared. And these two held converse as fellow thieves, relating their adventures to one another, and young Mueller, 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 24 dark days, from December 18, 1821, until the 12th of January ensuing, during all of which George Mueller was shut up in prison and during part of which he sought as a favor, 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 return home. Yet such was his perception. in wickedness, that going from a convict cell to confront his outraged but indulgent parent, he chose as his companion in travel and a validly wicked man. He was severely chastised by his father and felt that he must make some effort to reinstate himself in his favor. 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 a 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 Mueller now began to forge what he afterward called a whole chain of lies. When his father would no longer consent to his staying at home, he left, ostensibly for Halle, the university-telling. to be examined, but really for Nordhausen to seek entrance into the gymnasium. He avoided Halle, because he dreaded its severe discipline, and foresaw that restraint would be doubly irksome when constantly meeting young fellows of his acquaintance, who, as students in the university, would have much more freedom than himself. On returning home,

he tried to conceal this fraud from his father, but just before he was to leave again for Nordhausen, the truth became known, which made needful new links in that chain of lies to account for his systematic disobedience and deception. His father, though angry, permitted him to go to Nordhausen, where he remained from October 1822 till Easter 1825. During these two and a half years, he studied classics, French, history, etc., living with the director of the gymnasium. His conduct so amazing, proved that he rose in favor and was pointed to as an example for other lads, and permitted to accompany the master in his walks to converse with him in Latin.

At this time, he was a hard student, rising at 4 a.m. the year through, and applying himself to his books till 10 at night. Nevertheless, by his own confession, behind all this formal propriety, there lay secret sin, an utter alienation from God. his vices induced an illness which for 13 weeks kept him in his room. He was not without a religious bent, which led to the reading of such books as Klopstock's works, but he neither cared for God's word, nor had he any compunction for trampling upon God's law. In his library, now numbering about 300 books, no Bible was found.

Cicero and Horace, Molyere, and Voltaire, he knew and valued, but of the Holy Scriptures he was grossly ignorant, and as indifferent to them as he was ignorant of them. Twice a year, according to prevailing custom, he went to the Lord's Supper, like others, who had passed the age of confirmation, and he could not, at such seasons, quite avoid religious impressions. When the consecrated bread and wine touched his lips, he would sometimes take an oath to reform, and for a few days, refrain from some open sins. But there was no spiritual life to act as a force within, and his vows were forgotten almost as soon as made. The old Satan was too strong for the young Mueller, and when the mighty passions of his evil nature were roused,

his resolves and endeavors 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, however, awakened that he had been playing a false part, and he never regained the master's confidence. And though he had even then no sense of sin, shame at being detected in such meanness and hypocrisy, made him shrink from ever again facing the director's wife, who in his long sickness had nursed him, like a mother. Such was the man who was not only admitted to honorable standing as a university student, but accepted as a candidate for holy orders, with permission to preach in the Lutheran establishment. This student of divinity knew nothing of God or salvation, and was ignorant even of the gospel plan of saving grace. He felt the need for a better life, but no godly motives swayed him.

Reformation was a matter purely of expediency. To continue in profligacy would bring final exposure, and no parish would have him as a pastor. To get a valuable cure and a good living, he must make attainments in divinity, pass a good examination, and have at least a decent reputation. Worldly policy urged him to apply himself

on the one hand to his studies and on the other to self-reform. Again he met defeat, for he had never yet found the one source and secret of all strength. Scarce had he entered Halle before his resolves proved frail as a spider's web,

unable to restrain him from vicious indulgences. He refrained indeed from street brawls and dueling 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, dishonor and disgrace, such paths led. Policy loudly urged him to abandon his evil-doing, but piety had as yet no voice in his life. He went so far, however, as to choose for a friend

a young man and former schoolmate named Beta, whose quiet seriousness might, as he hoped, steady his own course. But he was leaning on a broken reed, for Beta was himself a backslider. Again he was taken ill. God made him to possess the iniquities of his youth. After some weeks he was better, and once more his conduct took on the semblance of improvement. The true mainspring of all well-regulated lives was still lacking, and sin soon broke out in unholy indulgence. George Mueller 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-day's 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 an invention. swept all such barriers away. Forged letters, purporting to be from their parents, brought passports for the party, and books put in pawns secured money. 43 days were spent in travel, mostly afoot, and during this tour, George Mueller, holding, like Judas, the common purse, proved like him a thief, for he managed to make his companions pay one-third of his own expenses. The party were back in Haleigh before the end of September, and George Mueller went home to spend the rest of his vacation.

To account plausibly to his father for the use of his allowance, a new chain of lies was readily devised. So soon and so sadly were all his good resolves again broken. When once more in Haleigh, 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 to see him. discovery was to turn into a new channel the whole current of his life. The sin and misery of these 20 years would not have been reluctantly chronicled, but to make the more clear that his conversion was a supernatural work, inexplicable without God. There was certainly nothing in himself to evolve such a result,

nor was there anything in his environment. In that university town, there were no natural forces that could bring about a revolution in character and conduct, such as he experienced. 1,260 students were there gathered, and 900 of them were divinity students. Yet even of the latter number, though all were permitted to preach, not one hundredth part, he says,

actually feared the Lord. Formalism displaced pure and undefiled religion, and with many of them immorality and infidelity were cloaked behind a profession of piety. Surely such a man, with such surroundings, could undergo no radical change of character and life without the intervention of some mighty power from without and from above. What this force was, and how it wrought upon him and in him, we are now to see. End of Chapter 1 of George Mueller of Bristol, and his witness to a prayer hearing God

by Arthur T. Pearson. Section 2 of George Mueller of Bristol, and his witness, to a prayer hearing God. This is a Libravox recording. All Libravox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit Libravox.org. Recording by Dave Harrell. George Mueller of Bristol and is witness to a prayer hearing God by Arthur T. Pearson. Chapter 2. The New Birth and The New Life

The lost days of sin, now forever passed, 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 Mueller was converted to God, and the radical nature of the change strikingly proves and displays the sovereignty of almighty grace. He had been kept amid scenes of outrageous and flagrant sin and brought through many perils, as well as two serious illnesses, because divine purposes of mercy were to be fulfilled in him. No other explanation can adequately account for the facts. Let those who would explain such a conversion without taking God into account

remember that it was at a time when this young sinner was as careless as ever, when he had not for years read the Bible or had a copy of it in his possession, when he had seldom gone to a service of worship and had never yet even heard one gospel sermon, when he had never been told by any believer what it is to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and to live by God's help and according to His Word. when, in fact, he had no conception of the first principles of the doctrine of Christ, and knew not the real nature of a holy life, but thought all others to be as himself,

except in the degree of depravity and iniquity. This young man had thus grown to manhood without having learned that rudimental truth that sinners and saints differ not in degree, but in kind, that if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. Yet the hard heart of such a man, at such a time and in such conditions, was so wrought upon by the Holy Spirit that he suddenly found entrance into a new sphere of life, with new adaptations to its new atmosphere.

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 Mueller was a chosen vessel for service, molding and fitting the vessel for his use. Every step is one of preparation, but can be understood only in the light which that future cast 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, Bates said to Mueller, as they were returning from a walk, that he was going that evening to a meeting at a believer's house, where he was wont to go on Saturdays, and where a few friends met to sing, to pray and to read the Word of God and a printed sermon. Such a program held out nothing fitted to draw a man of the world who sought his daily gratifications at the card table and in the wine cup, the dance and the drama, and whose companionships were found in dissipated young fellows. And yet, George Mueller felt at once a wish to go to this meeting, though he could not have told why. there was no doubt a conscious void within him never yet filled, and some instinctive inner voice

whispered that he might there find food for his soul hunger, a satisfying something after which he had all his life been unconsciously and blindly groping. He expressed his desire to go, which his friend hesitated to encourage, lest such a gay and reckless devotee of vicious pleasures might feel ill at ease in such an assembly. However, he called for young Mueller and took him to the meeting. During his wanderings as a backslider, Beda had both joined and aided George Buehler in his evil courses. But on coming back from the Swiss tour, his sense of sin had so revived as to constrain him to make a full confession to his father, and, through a Christian friend,

One Dr. Richter, a former student at Halle, he had been made acquainted with 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 Mueller's history and destiny. he found himself in strange company amid novel surroundings and breathing a new atmosphere. His awkwardness made him feel so uncertain of his welcome that he made some apology for being there. But he never forgot Brother Wagner's gracious answer, Come as often as you please, house and heart are open to you. He little knew that what he afterward learned from blessed experience, what joy fills and thrills the hearts of praying saints

when an evildoer turns his feet, however timidly, toward a place of prayer. All present sat down and sang a hymn. Then a brother, who afterward went to Africa under the London Missionary Society, fell on his knees and prayed for God's blessing on the meeting. That kneeling before God in prayer made upon Mueller an impression never lost. He was in his 21st year, and yet he had never before seen anyone on his knees 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 afterward another hymn, the master of the house prayed, George Mueller was inwardly saying, I am much more learned than this illiterate man, but I could not pray as well as he. Strange to say, a new joy was already springing up in his soul, for which he could have given as little explanation as for his unaccountable desire to go to that meeting. But so it was, and on the way home he could not forbearer

saying to Beda, all we saw on our journey to Switzerland, and all our former pleasures are as nothing compared to this evening. 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 Mueller, 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 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 thought there could be no genuine conversion without a period of deep conviction, ask her, but, my dear, how about the slough of despond? She'd dropped to courtesy and said, Please, sir, I didn't come that way.

George Mueller'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 before 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 conversion and the exact manner of it,

for here is to be found the first great step in God's preparation of the workman for his work. Nothing is more wonderful in history than the unmistakable sign and proofs of pre-adaptation. Our life occurrences are not 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 139.16.

We see stones and timbers brought to a building site, the stones from different quarries and the timbers from various shops, and different workmen have been busy upon them at times and places, which forbade all conscious contact or cooperation. The conditions oppose all preconcerted action, and yet, without shipping or cutting, stone fits stone, and timber fits timber, tenens and mortises, and proportions and dimensions, all corresponding so that when the building is complete,

It is as perfectly proportioned and is 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 laborers. 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 molded into form by many hands. But there was a mutual fitness and a common adaptation to the end in view, which proved that he whose mind and plan span the ages had a supreme purpose, to which all human agents were unconsciously tributary. The awe of this vision of God's workmanship will grow upon us as we look beneath and behind the mere human occurrences, to see the divine hand shaping and building together all these seemingly

disconnected events and experiences into one life work. For example, what have we found to be the initial step and stage in George Mueller'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 hardening God. Let us observe. This man was henceforth to be singularly and peculiarly identified with simple scriptural assemblies of believers after the most primitive and apostolic pattern. Meetings for prayer and praise, reading and expounding of the word, such as doubtless were held at the house of Mary, the mother of John Mark. Assemblies mainly and primarily for believers held wherever a place could be found, with no stress laid on

buildings and with absolutely no secular or aesthetic attractions. Such assemblies were to be so linked with the whole life, work, and witness of George Mueller 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. Not only so, but prayer on the knees, both in secret and in such companionship of believers, was henceforth to be the one great central secret of his holy living and holy serving. Upon this cornerstone of prayer, all his life work was to be built. Of Sir Henry Lawrence, the native soldiers during the Lucknow Mutiny, were wont to say that when he looked twice up to heaven, once down to earth, and then stroked his beard,

he knew what to do. And of George Mueller, it may well be seen. said that he was to be, for more than 70 years, the man who conspicuously looked up to heaven to learn what he was to do. Prayer for direct divine guidance in every crisis, great or small, was to be the secret of his whole career. Is there any accident in the exact way in which he was first led to God? And in the precise character of the scenes which were thus stamped with such lasting interest and importance? 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 course, a man that had been so profligate and prodigal, must at least begin at conversion to live a changed life. Not that all at once the old sins were abandoned, for such total transformation demands deeper knowledge of the word and will of God than George Mueller 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 frequency of taverns entirely ceased, and a lying tongue felt new and strange bands about it.

A watch was said 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 convictions were not clear or his moral courage not sufficient, he went on with the novel. It was finished but never published.

Providential hindrances prevented or delayed the sale and publication of the manuscript until clearer spiritual vision showed him that the whole matter was not of faith and was therefore sin, so that he would neither sell nor print the novel but burned it. another significant step, for it was his 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 became less frequent and secret sins less ensnaring.

He read the Word of God, prayed often, love fellow disciples, sought church assemblies from right motives, and boldly took his stand on the side of his new master at the cost of reproach and ridicule from his fellow students. George Mueller's next mark step in his new path was the discovery of the preciousness of the Word of God. At first he had a mere hint of the deep minds 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 316 is the first, for by it he found a full salvation. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. From these words, he got his first glimpse of the philosophy of the plan of salvation. Why, and how the Lord Jesus Christ bore our sins in his own body on the tree as our vicarious substitute and suffering surety,

and how his sufferings in Gassimony and Galgatha made it forever needless 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 himself 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 Mueller. 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 feeling came naturally without being waited for or sought after. The love of God in Christ constrained him to a love, infinitely unworthy, indeed, of that which it responded, yet supplying a new impulse unknown before. What all his father's injunctions, chastisements, entreaties, with all the urgent dictates of his own conscience, motives of expediency, and repeated resolves of amendment, utterly failed to effect the love of God, both impelled and enabled him to do, renounce a life of sinful self-indulgence. Thus early he learned that double truth, which he afterwards passionately loved to teach others, that in the blood of God's

atoning lamb is the fountain of both forgiveness and cleansing. Whether we seek pardon for sin or power over sin, the sole source and secret are in Christ's work for us. The new year, 1826, was indeed a new year to this newborn soul. He now began to read missionary journals, which kindled a new flame in his heart. He felt a yearning, not very intelligent as yet, to be himself a messenger to the nations, and frequent praying deepened and confirmed the impression. As his knowledge of the world field enlarged, new facts as to the destitution and 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 his yearning for service over against his passion for a fellow creature. Inclination, alas, outweighed duty. Prayer lost its power, and for the time was almost discontinued with corresponding decline in joy. His heart was turn from the foreign field, and in fact from all self-denying service. Six weeks passed in the state of spiritual declension, when God took a strange way to reclaim the backslider. A young brother, Herman Ball, wealthy, cultured with every promising prospect for this world to attract him, made a great self-sacrifice. He chose Poland as a field, and work among the Jews as his mission, refusing to stay

at home to rest in the soft nest of self-indulgent and luxurious ease. This choice made on young Mueller a deep impression. He was compelled to contrast it with his own course. For the sake of a passionate love for a young woman, he had given up the work to which he felt drawn of God, and had become both joyless and prayerless. Another young man with far more to draw him worldward had, for the sake of a self-denying service of among despised Polish Jews, resigned all the pleasures and treasures of the world. Herman Ball was acting and choosing as Moses did in the crisis of his history, while he, George Mueller, was acting and choosing more like that profane person, Esau,

when for one morsel of meat he bartered his birthright. The result was a new renunciation. He gave up the girl he loved and forsook a connection which had been formed without faith and prayer, and had proved the 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 afterlife. For the second time, a decision for God had cost him marked self-denial. Before, he had burned his novel.

Now, on the same altar, he gave up the consuming fire, a human passion which had over him unhallowed influence. According to the measure of his light thus far, George Mueller 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 outflow, and so he felt impelled to bear witness. He wrote to his father, brother of his own happy experience, begging them to seek and find a like rest in God,

thinking that they had but to know the path that leads to such joy to be equally eager to enter it. But an angry response was all the reply that his letter evoked. About the same time, the famous Dr. Tholok 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 so enlarged George Mueller'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 permission to connect himself with some missionary institution in Germany. His father was not only much displeased, but greatly disappointed, and dealt and reproaches very hard to bear.

He reminded George of all the money he had spent on his education, in the expectation that he would repay him, by getting such a living as would ensure 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 steadfastness, he changed tone, and from threats turned to tears of entreaty that were much harder to resist than reproaches. The result of the interview was a third significant step in preparation for his son's life's His resolve was unbroken to follow the Lord's leading at any cost, but he now clearly saw that he could be independent of men only by being more entirely dependent on God, and that henceforth he should take 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 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 Mueller 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 university would require more outlay than during any time previous. But thus early also did he find God a faithful provider and friend in need. Shortly after, certain American gentlemen, three of whom were college professors,

being in Halle and wishing instruction in German, were by Dr. Tholuck recommended to employ George Mueller as tutor, and the pay was so ample for the lessons taught them, and the lectures written out for them, that all once were more than met. Thus also in his early life was written large in the chambers of his memory another golden text from the word of God. Oh, fear the Lord, ye his saints, for there is no want to them that fear him. Psalm 34.9. End of Chapter 2 of George Mueller of Bristol. Recording by Dave Harrell. Section 3 of George Mueller of Bristol.

This is a Libravox recording. All Libravox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visitlibrovox.org. Recording by Dave Harrell. George Mueller of Bristol by Arthur Pearson. Chapter 3 Making Ready 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 Mueller for the time, thus quietly, to wait for divine guidance. And meanwhile, to take no further steps toward the mission field. He felt unable, however, to dismiss the question and was so impatient to settle it that he made the common blunder of attempting to come to a decision in a carnal way. He resorted 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 private, and then bought a ticket in a royal lottery,

expecting his steps to be guided in a matter so solemn as the choice of a field for the service of God, by the turn of the wheel of fortune. Should his ticket draw a prize, he would go? If not, stay at home. Having drawn a small sum, he accordingly accepted this as a sign, and at once applied to the Berlin Missionary Society, but was not accepted, because his application was not accompanied. with his father's consent. Thus a higher hand had disposed while man proposed. God kept out of a

mission field at this juncture one so utterly unfit for his work that he had not even learned that primary lesson that he who would work with God must first wait on him and wait for him, and that all undue haste in such a matter is worse than waste. He who kept Moses waiting 40 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 30 years in obscurity before his manifestation as Messiah. This God is in no hurry to put other servants at work. He says to all impatient souls, my time is not yet full come. but your time is always ready.

Only twice after this did George Mueller ever resort to the lot, once at a literal parting of the ways when he was led by it to take the wrong fork of the road, and afterward in a far more important matter, but with a like result. In both cases he found he had been misled, and henceforth abandoned all such chance methods of determining the mind of God. He learned two lessons, which new dealings of God more and more deeply impressed. 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 immature and premature, and all carnal choices 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 Mueller saw that he ran hastily to the lot as a shorter way of settling a doubtful matter,

and that, especially in the question of God's call to the mission field, this was shockingly improper. He saw also how unfit he had been at that time for the work he sought. He should rather have asked himself how one so ignorant and so needing to be taught could think of teaching others. Though a child of God, he could not as yet have given a clear statement or explanation of the most elementary gospel truths. The one thing needful was therefore to have sought through much prayer and Bible study to get, first of all, a deeper knowledge and a deeper experience of divine

things. Impatience to settle a matter so important was itself seen to be a positive disqualification for true service, revealing unfitness to endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. There is a constant strain and drain on patient waiting, which is a necessary feature of missionary trial, and particularly the trial of deferred harvests. One who, at the outset, could not brook delay in making his first decision, and wait for God to make known his will in his own way in time, would not on the field have had long patience as a husbandman, waiting for the precious fruit of his toil, or have met with quietness of spirit the thousand perplexing problems of work among the heathen. Moreover, the conviction grew that, could he have followed the lot,

his choice would have been a life mistake. His mind, at that time, was bent upon the East Indies as a field. Yet all subsequent events clearly showed that God's choice for him was totally different. His repeated offers met as repeated refusals, and though on subsequent occasions he acted most deliberately and solemnly, no open door was found. But he was in every case kept from following out his honest purpose. Nor could the lot be justified as an indication of his ultimate call to the mission field, for the purpose of it was definite, namely to ascertain 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 whole afterlife of George Mueller proved that God had for him an entirely different plan,

which he was not ready yet to reveal, and which his servant was not yet prepared to see or follow. If any man's life ever was a plan of God, surely this life was. And the Lord's distinct, emphatic leading, when made known, was not in this direction. He had purpose for George Mueller 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 Bethenia, because Macedonia was waiting for his ministry. With increasing frequency, earnestness, and minuteness was George Mueller 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, childlike disposition toward

himself. In many things, he was in knowledge and in strength to outgrow childhood and become a man. for it marks immaturity when we err through ignorance and are overcome through weakness. But in faith and in the filial spirit, he always continued to be a little child. Mr. J. Hudson-Taylor well reminds us that while in nature the normal order of growth is from childhood to manhood and so to maturity, in grace the true development is perpetually backward toward the cradle. We must become and continue as little children, not losing, but rather gaining childlikeness of spirit. The disciple's maturest manhood is only the perfection of his childhood.

George Mueller was never so really, truly, fully a little child in all his relations to his father as when in the 93rd 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 co-work. working with God. He spoke to others of their souls' welfare, and wrote to former companions in sin and circulated tracts and missionary papers. Nor were his labors without encouragement, though sometimes his methods were awkward or even grotesque, as when speaking to a beggar in the fields

about his need of salvation, he tried to overcome apathetic indifference by speaking louder and louder, as though mere bawling in his ears would subdue the hardness of his heart. In 1826, he first attempted to preach. An unconverted schoolmaster some six miles from Haleigh, he was the means of turning to the Lord, and this schoolmaster asked him to come and help an aged, infirm clergyman in the parish. Being a student of divinity, he was at liberty to preach, but conscious ignorance had hitherto restrained him.

He thought, however, that by committing some other man's sermon to memory, he might profit the hearers, and so he undertook it. It was slavish work to prepare, for it took most of a week to memorize the sermon, and it was joyless work to deliver it, for there was none of the living power that attends a man's God-given message and witness. His conscience was not yet enlightened enough to see that he was acting a false part in preaching another sermon as his own. Nor had he the spiritual insight to perceive that it is not God's way to set up a man to preach who knows not enough of either his word or the life of the spirit within him to prepare his own discourse. How few even among preachers feel preaching to be a divine vocation and not a mere

human profession, that a ministry of the truth implies the witness of experience, and that to preach another man's sermon is, at the best, unnatural walking on stilts. George Mueller got through his painful effort of August 27, 1826, reciting this memorized sermon at 8 a.m. in the Chapel of Ease, and three hours later in the parish church. Being asked to preach again in the afternoon, but having no second sermon committed to memory, he had to keep silent or depend on the Lord for help. He thought he could at least read the fifth chapter of Matthew and simply expound it. But he had no sooner begun the first beatitude than he felt himself greatly assisted. Not only were his lips opened, but the scriptures were open to. His own soul expanded,

and a peace and power wholly unknown to his tame mechanical repetitions of the morning, accompanied the simpler expositions of the afternoon with this added advantage, that he talked on level with the people, and not over their heads, his colloquial earnest speech riveting their attention. Going back to Halley, he said to himself, this is the true way to preach, albeit he felt misgivings, less 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 non-effect, and how the very simplicity that makes preaching intelligible to the illiterate make sure that the most cultivated will also understand it, whereas 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 creatures. 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 that 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 and fruit. doubtless the Lord saw that he was not ready for reaping and scarcely for sewing. There was yet too little prayer in preparation and too little unction in delivery, and so his labors were comparatively barren of results. About this same time he took another step, perhaps the most significant thus far in its bearing on the precise form of work so closely linked with his name. For some two months he availed himself of the free lodgings furnished for poor divinity students in the famous orphan houses built by H. Frank. This saintly man, a professor of divinity at Halle, who had died a hundred

years before, had been led to found an orphanage in entire dependence upon God. Half unconsciously, George Mueller's whole life work at Bristol found both his suggestion and pattern in Frank'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 Mueller fell into the apostolic succession of such holy labor.

He often records how much his own faith work, was indebted to that example of simple trust in prayer exhibited by Frank. Seven years later, he read his life and was thereby still more prompted to follow him as he followed Christ. George Mueller's spiritual life in these early days was strangely checkered. For instance, he, who as a Lutheran divinity student, was a saying to preach, hung up in his room a framed crucifix, hoping thereby to keep in mind the sufferings of the sufferings of Christ, and so less frequently fall into sin. Such helps, however, avail 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 14 hours a day, and this induced nervous depression, which

exposed him to various temptations. He ventured into a confectioner's shop where wine and beer were sold, and then suffered reproaches of conscience for conduct so unbecoming a believer. And he found himself indulging ungracious and ungrateful thoughts of God, who, instead of visiting him with deserved chastisement, multiplied his tender mercies. He wrote to a rich liberal and title lady asking a loan, and received the exact sum asked for, with a letter, not from her, but from another into whose hands his letter had fallen by a peculiar providence, and who signed it as an adoring worshipper of the Savior Jesus Christ. While led to send the money asked for, the writer added wise words of caution and counsel.

Words so fitted to George Mueller's exact need that he saw plainly the higher hand that had guided the anonymous writer. In that letter, he was urged to seek by watching and prayer to be delivered from all vanity and self-complacency, to make it his chief aim to be more and more humble, faithful, and quiet, and not to be of those who say, Lord, Lord, but have him not deeply in their hearts. He was also reminded that Christianity consists not in words, but in power, and that there must be life in us. He was deeply moved by this message from God through an unknown party, and the more as it had come with its enclosure, at the time when he was not only guilty of conduct unbecoming a disciple, but indulging hard thoughts of his Heavenly Father. He went out to walk alone, and was so deeply

wrought on by God's goodness and his own ingratitude that he knelt behind a hedge, and though in snow a foot deep, he forgot himself for a half hour in praise, prayer, and self-surrender. Yet so deceitful is the human heart that a few weeks later he was in such a backslidden state that for a time he was again both careless and prayerless and one day sought to drown the voice of conscience in the wine cup. The merciful father gave not up his child to folly and sin. He who once could have gone to great lengths in dissipation now found a few glasses of wine more than enough. His relish for such pleasures was gone and so was the power to silence the still small voice of conscience and of the Spirit of God. Such vacillations in Christian experience were due in part to the lack of holy associations and devout companionships.

Every disciple needs help in holy living, and this young believer yearned for that spiritual uplift afforded by sympathetic fellow believers. In vacation times, he had found at Ghanardu, the Moravian settlement, some three miles from his father's residence, such sole refreshment, but Haleigh 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. Tholok, he would walk 10 or 15 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 want

together. And both these assemblies were means of grace. From Easter 1827, so long as he remained in Haleigh, 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 Wesley's and Whitfield for their great careers. Before George Mueller left Haleigh, the attendance at this weekly meeting in his room had grown to 20. These assemblies were throughout very simple and primitive. In addition to prayer, singing, and reading of God's word, one or more brethren exhorted or read extracts from devout books. Here young Mueller 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 fountain of all wisdom and strength is the Holy Scriptures. Many disciples practically prefer religious books to the book of God. He had indeed found much of the reading with which too many professed believers occupy their minds to be but worthless chaff, such as French and German novels, but as yet he had not formed the habit of reading the Word of God daily and systematically, as in later life. almost to the exclusion of other books. In his 92nd year, he said to the writer that for every page of any other reading, he was sure to read 10 of the Bible. But up to that November day in 1825, when he first met a praying band of disciples,

he had never, to his recollection, read one chapter in the Book of Books, and for the first four years of his new life, he gave to the works of uninspired men practical preference over the living oracles. 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's having condescended to become an author, inspiring holy men to write the scriptures, he would in them impart the most vital truths. His message would cover all matters which concern man's welfare,

and therefore, under the double impulse of duty and delight, we should instinctively and habitually turn to the Bible. Moreover, as he read and studied this book of God, he felt himself admitted to more and more intimate acquaintance with the author. During the last 20 years of his life, he read it carefully through four or five times annually, with a growing sense of his own rapid increase in the knowledge of God thereby.

Such motives for Bible study, it is strange that any true believer should overlook. Ruskin, in writing of the king's treasuries, refers to the universal ambition for advancement at life, which means getting into good society. How many obstacles one finds in securing an introduction to the great and good of this world, and even then in getting access to them, in securing an audience with the kings and queens of human society? Yet there is open to us a society of people of the very first rank, who will meet us and converse with us so long as we like, whatever our ignorance, poverty, or low estate, namely the society of authors, and the key

that unlocks their private audience chamber is their books. So writes Ruskin, and all this is beautifully true, but how few, even among believers, appreciate the privilege of access to the great author of the universe through his word. Poor and rich, high and low, ignorant and learned it, young and old, all alike, are welcome to the audience chamber of the king of kings. The most intimate knowledge of God is possible on one condition that we search his holy scriptures, prayerfully and habitually, and translate what we there find into obedience. Of him who thus meditates on God's law day and night, who looks and continues looking into this perfect law of liberty, the promises unique, and found in both Testaments.

Whatsoever he doeth shall prosper, and that man shall be blessed in his deed. So soon as George Mueller found this wellspring of delight and success, he drank habitually at this fountain of living waters. In later life, he lamented that, owing to his early neglect of this source of divine wisdom and strength, he remained so long in spiritual infancy with his ignorance and impotence. So long and so far as his growth in knowledge of God was thus arrested, his growth in grace was likewise hindered. His close walk with God began at the point

where he learned that such walk is always in the light of that inspired word, which is divinely declared to be to the obedient soul a lamp unto the feet and a light unto the path. He who would keep up intimate converse with the Lord must habitually find in the scriptures the highway of such companionship. God's aristocracy, his nobility, the princes of his realm, are not the wise, mighty, and high-born of earth, but often the poor, weak, despised of men,

who abide in his presence, and devoutly commune with him through his inspired word. Blessed are they who have thus learned to use the key which gives free access, not only to the king's treasuries, but to the king himself. End of Chapter 3 of George Mueller of Bristol. Chapter 4 of George Mueller of Bristol. This is Libravox recording. All Libravox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit Libravox.org.

Recording by Dave Harrell. George Mueller of Bristol by Arthur T. Pearson. Chapter 4 New Steps and Stages of Preparation. Passion for Souls is a divine fire, and in the heart of George Mueller, that fire now began to burn 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 Bucher 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 Mueller's room, told him how failing health forbade his continuing his work among Polish Jews, and at once there sprang up in the Lorde's room, and, at once, there sprang up.

in George Mueller's mind, a strong desire to take his place. Such work doubly attracted him because it would bring him into close contact with God's chosen but erring people, Israel, and because it would afford opportunity to utilize those Hebrew studies which so engrossed him. At this very time, calling upon Dr. Tholuk, he was asked to his surprise, whether he had ever felt a desire to be. labor among the Jews, Dr. Tholak then acting as agent for the London Missionary Society for promoting missions among them. This question naturally fanned the flame of his already kindled desire. But shortly after, Bucharest being the seat of the war, then raging between the Russians

and Turks, the project of sending a minister there was, for the time, abandoned. But a door seemed to open before him just as another shut. behind him. The committee in London, learning that he was available as a missionary to the Jews, proposed his coming to that city for six months as a missionary student to prepare for the work. To enter thus on a sort of probation was trying to the flesh, but as it seemed right that there should be opportunity for mutual acquaintance between committee and candidate to ensure harmonious cooperation, his mind was disposed to exceed to the proposal. There was, however, a formidable obstacle. Prussian male subjects must commonly serve three years in the Army, and classical

students who have passed the university examinations at least one year. George Mueller, who had not served out even this shorter term, could not, without royal exemption, even get a passport out of the country. Application was made for such exemption, but it failed. Meanwhile, he was taken ill, and after ten weeks suffered a relapse. While at Leipzig with an American professor with whom he went to the opera, he unwisely partook of some refreshments between the acts, which again brought on illness. He had broken a blood vessel in the stomach, and he returned to Halle never again to enter a theater. Subsequently, being asked to go to Berlin for a few weeks to teach German, he went,

hoping at the Prussian capital to find access to the court through persons of rank and secure the desired exemption. But here again, he failed. There now seemed no way of escaping a soldier's term, and he submitted himself for examination, but was pronounced physically unfit for military duty. In God's providence, he fell into kind hands, and being a second time examined and found unfit, he was thenceforth completely exempted for life from all service in the army. God's lines of purpose mysteriously converged.

The time had come. The master spake, and it was done. All things moved in one direction, to set his servant free from the service of his country. that under the captain of his salvation, he might endure hardness as a good soldier of Christ, without entanglement in the affairs of this life. Aside from this, his stay at the capital had not been unprofitable, for he had preached five times a week in the poorhouse and conversed on the Lord's days with the convicts in the prison. In February 1829, he left for London, on the way visiting his father at Heimers-Labin, where he had

returned after retirement from office, and he reached the English metropolis March 19th. His liberty was much curtailed as a student in this new seminary, but as no rule conflicted with his conscience, he submitted. He studied about 12 hours daily, giving attention mainly to Hebrew and cognate branches closely connected with his expected field, sensible of the risk of that deadness of soul, which often results from unsubesied. to absorption in metal studies, he committed to memory much of the Hebrew Old Testament and pursued his task in a prayerful spirit, seeking God's help in matters, however minute, connected with daily duty. Tempted to the continual use of his native tongue by living with his

German countrymen, he made little progress in English, which he afterward regretted. And he was wont, therefore, to counsel those who proposed 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 labor. In connection with this removal to Britain, a seemingly trivial occurrence left upon him,

a lasting impress, another proof that there are no little things in life. Upon a very small hinge, a huge door may swing and turn. It is, in fact, often the apparently trifling events that mold 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 1,500 pounds a year, and with wife and children offered himself as a missionary to Persia, simply trusting the Lord for all temporal supplies. This act of self-denying trust had a strange charm for Mr. Mueller, and he could not dismiss it from his mind. Indeed, he distinctly entered it in his journal and wrote about it to friends at home.

It was another lesson in faith. And in the very line of that trust of which for more than 60 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 as he knew more of God

and grew more like him. This common experience of saved souls is susceptible of easy explanation. Our conceptions of things depend mainly upon two conditions. First, the clearness of our vision of truth and duty, and secondly, the standard of measurement and comparison. The more we live in God and unto God, the more do our eyes become enlightened to see the enormity and deformity of sin, so that we recognize the hatefulness of evil more distinctly, and the more clearly do we recognize the perfection of God's holiness and make it the pattern and model of our own holy living. The amateur musician or artist has a false complacency in his own very imperfect work, only so far

as his ear or eye or taste is not yet trained to accurate discrimination. But as he becomes more accomplished in a fine art and more appreciative of it, he recognizes every defect or blemish of his previous work until the musical performance seems a wretched failure and the painting a mere daub. The change, however, is wholly in the workman and not in the work. Both the music and the painting are in themselves just what they were. But the man is capable of something so much better that his standard of comparison is raised to a higher level, and his capacity for true judgment 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 worse in our own eyes, when in His we are best, and conversely. A Mohammedan servant ventured public, to challenge a preacher who in an Indian bazaar was asserting the universal depravity of the race by affirming that he knew at least one woman who was immaculate absolutely without fault, and that woman, his own Christian mistress. The preacher bethought himself to ask and 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. Mueller, not only during this illness, but down to life's sudden close, had a growing sense of sin and guilt, which would at times have been overwhelming, had he not known upon the testimony of the word that whoso covereth his sins shall not prosper, but he that confesseth and forsaketh them shall find mercy. From his own guilt he turned his eyes to the cross, where it was atoned for, and to the mercy seat where forgiveness meets the penitent sinner, and so sorrow for sin was turned into the joy of the justified.

This confidence of acceptance in the beloved so stripped death of its terrors that during this illness he longed rather to depart and to be with Christ. But after a fortnight, he was pronounced better. And though still longing for the heavenly rest, he submitted to the will of God for a longer sojourn in the land of his pilgrimage, little foreseeing what joy he was to find in living for God, or how much he was to know of the days of heaven upon earth. During this illness also, he showed the growing tendency to bring before,

for the Lord in prayer, even the minutest matters, which his later life so signally exhibited. He constantly besought God to guide his physician, and every new dose of medicine was accompanied by a new petition that God would use it for his good and enable him with patience to await his will. As he advanced toward recovery, he sought rest at Tainmouth, where, shortly after his arrival, Ebenezer Chapel was reopened. It was here also that Mr. Mueller became acquainted with Mr. Henry Craig, who was for so many years not only his friend, but fellow laborer. It was also about this time that, as he records,

certain great truths began to be made clear to him and to stand out in much prominence. This period of personal preparation is so important in its bearing on his whole after career that the reader should have access to his own witness. On returning to London, prospered in soul health as also in bodily vigor, he proposed to fellow students a daily morning meeting, from six to eight, 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 prove so helpful and so nourished the appetite

for divine things that, after continuing in prayer late into the evening hours, he sometimes at midnight sought the fellowship of some like-minded brother, and thus prolonged the prayer season until one or two o'clock in the morning. And even then, sleep was often further postponed by his overflowing joy in God. Thus, under his great teacher, did this pupil, early in his spiritual history, learn that supreme lesson that to every child of God, the word of God is the bread of life, and the prayer of faith, the breath of life. Mr. Mueller had been back in London scarcely ten days before health again declined,

and the conviction took stronghold upon him that he should not spend his little strength in confining study, but at once get about his work. and this conviction was confirmed by the remembrance of the added light which God had given him and the deeper passion he now felt to serve him more freely and fully. Under the pressure of this persuasion that both his physical and spiritual welfare would be promoted by actual labors for souls, he sought of the society a prompt appointment to his field of service, and that they might, with the more confidence, commission him,

he asked that some experienced man might be sent out with him as a fellow counselor and laborer. After waiting in vain for six weeks for an answer to his application, he felt another strong conviction, that to wait on his fellow men to be sent out to his field and work was unscriptural and therefore wrong. Barnabas and Saul were called by name and set forth by the Holy Spirit before the church at Antioch had taken any action, and he felt himself so called of the spirit to his work

that he was prompted to begin at once without waiting for human authority. And why not among the Jews in London? Accustomed to act promptly upon conviction, he undertook to distribute among them tracks 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 50 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 laborers among the despised Jews, he found himself exposed to petty trials and persecutions, called to suffer reproach for the name of Christ. Before the autumn of 1829 had passed, a further misgiving laid hold of him as to whether he could in good conscience remain longer connected in the usual way with this London society. And on December 12th, he concluded to dissolve all such ties except upon certain conditions, to do full justice to both Mr. Mueller 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 labor in connection with such a society

only as they would consent to his serving without salary and laboring when and where 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 Mueller 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 wittier than could at the time be seen. One is constantly reminded in reading Mr. Mueller's journal that he was a man of like frailties as others.

On Christmas morning of this year, after a season of peculiar joy, he awoke to find himself in the slough of despond, without any sense of enjoyment, prayer seeming as fruitless as the vain struggles of a man in the mire. At the usual morning meeting, he was urged by a brother to continue in prayer, notwithstanding until he was again melted before the Lord, a wise counsel for all disciples when the Lord's presence seems strangely withdrawn. Steadfast continuance in prayer must never be hindered by the want of sensible enjoyment. In fact, it is a safe maxim that the less joy, the more need. Cessation of communion with God for whatever cause only makes the more difficult its resumption

and the recovery of the prayer habit and prayer spirit, whereas persistent outpouring of supplication, together with continued activity in the service of God, soon brings back the lost joy. whenever, therefore, one yields to spiritual depression so as to abandon or even to suspend closet communion or Christian work, the devil triumphs. So rapid was Mr. Mueller's recovery out of this satanic snare through continuance and prayer that on the evening of that same Christmas Day whose dawn had been so overcast, he expounded the word at family worship in the house where he dined by invitation, and with such help from God that two servants who were present were deeply convicted of sin and sought

his counsel. Here we reach another milestone in this life journey. George Mueller 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 25th year. Yet already, he had been taught some of the grand secrets of a holy, happy, and useful life, which became the basis of the whole structure of his after-service. Indeed, as we look back over these four years, they seem crowded with significant and eventful experiences, all of which forecast his future work, though he as yet saw not in them the Lord's sign. His conversion in a primitive assembly of believers where worship and the word of God were the only attractions was the starting point

in a career every step of which seems a stride forward. Think of a young convert with such an ensnaring past to reproach and retard him within these few years learning such advanced lessons in 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-rength. denial for God, cutting loose from dependence on his father, and then refusing all stated salary, lest his liberty of witness be curtailed, and choosing a simple expository mode of preaching, instead of catering to popular taste. Then mark how he fed on the word of God, how he cultivated the habits of searching the scriptures and praying in secret, how he threw himself on God,

not only for temporal supplies, but for support in bearing all burdens, however great or small, and how thus early he offered himself for the mission field, and was impatiently eager to enter it. Then look at the sovereign love of God, imparting to him in so eminent a degree the childlike spirit, teaching him to trust, not his own variable moods of feeling, but the changeless word of his promise. teaching him to wait patiently on him for orders, and not to look to human authority or direction, and so singularly releasing him from military service for life, and mysteriously withholding him from the far-off mission field,

that he might train him for his unique mission to the race and 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 molding this chosen vessel on his potter's wheel and shaping it unmistakably for the singular service to which it was destined. End of Chapter 4 of George Mueller of Bristol by Arthur T. Pearson. Section 5 of George Mueller of Bristol. This is a Libravox recording.

All Liberbox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit Libravox.org. Recording by Dave Harrell George Mueller of Bristol by Arthur T. Pearson Chapter 5 The Pulpit and the Pastorate No Work for God Surpasses indignity and Responsibility the Christian Ministry. It is at once the consummate flower of the divine planting, the priceless dower of his church,

and through it works the power of God for salvation. Though George Mueller had begun his candidacy for holy orders as an unconverted man, seeking simply a human calling with the hope of a lucrative living, he had heard God summons to a divine vocation, and he was from time to time preaching the gospel. but not in any settled field. While at Tainmouth, early in 1830, preaching by invitation, he was asked to take the place of the minister who was about to leave.

But he replied that he felt at that time called of God, not to a stationary charge, but rather to a sort of itinerant evangelism. During this time he preached at Sheldon for Henry Crake, thus coming into closer contact with his brother, to whom his heart became knit in bonds of love and sympathy, which grew stronger as the acquaintance became more intimate. Certain heroes at Tainmouth, 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 for any indication of his duty. he felt that they doubtless looked for outward graces of oratory in a preacher,

and hence were not attracted to a foreigner whose speech had no rhetorical charms and who could not even use English with fluency. But he felt sure of a deeper cause for their dislike, especially as he was compelled to notice that, the summer previous, when he himself was less spiritually minded and had less insight into the truth, the same parties who now opposed him were pleased with him. His final conclusion was that the Lord meant to work through him at Tainmouth,

but that Satan was acting, as usual, the part of a hinderer, and stirring up brethren themselves to oppose the truth. And as, notwithstanding the opposers, the wish that he should minister at the chapel was expressed so often and by so many, he determined to remain for a time until he was openly rejected as God's witness or had some clear divine leading to another field of labor. He announced this purpose, at the same time plainly stating

that should they withhold salary, it would not affect his decision. Inasmuch as he did not preach as a hireling of man, but as the servant of God, and would willingly commit to him the provision for his temporal needs. at the same time however he reminded them that it was alike their duty and privilege to minister in carnal things to those who serve them in things spiritual and that while he did not desire a gift he did desire fruit that might abound to their account these experiences at tainmouth were typical some believe the things which were spoken and some believe not some left the chapel while others stayed and some were led and fed, while others maintained a cold indifference if they did not exhibit an open hostility. But the Lord stood by him and strengthened him, setting his seal upon his testimony,

and Jehovah Jira also moved to brethren, unasked, to supply all the daily wants of his servant. After a while, the little church of 18 members unanimously called the young preacher to the pastorate, and he consented to abide with them for a season without abandoning his original intention of going from place to place as the Lord might lead. A stipend of 55 pounds annually was offered him, which somewhat increased as the church membership grew, and so the university student of Halle was settled in his first pulpit and pastor it. While at Sidmouth preaching in April 1830, three believing sisters held in his presence, a conversation about believers' baptism, which proved the suggestion of another important step in his life, which has a wider bearing than at first is apparent.

They naturally ask 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 Mueller was not the man either to resent or to resist. He was too honest and conscientious to dismiss without due reflection any challenge to say.

searched the oracles of God for their witness upon any given question. Moreover, if at that very time his preaching was emphatic in any direction, it was in the boldness with which he insisted that all public teaching and Christian practice must be subjected to one great test, namely, the touchstone of the Word of God. Already an Elijah in spirit, his great aim was to repair the broken-down altar of the Lord, to expose and rebuke all that hindered a thoroughly scriptural worship and service, and, if possible, to restore apostolic simplicity of doctrine and life. As he thought and prayed about this matter, he was forced to admit to himself that he had never yet earnestly examined the scriptures for their teaching as to the position and relation of baptism

in the believer's life, nor had he even prayed for light upon it. He had nevertheless repeatedly spoken against believers' baptism, and so he saw it to be possible that he might himself have been opposing the teaching of the word. He therefore determined to study the subject until he should reach a final satisfactory and scriptural conclusion, and thenceforth, whether led to defend infant baptism or believers' baptism, to do it only on scriptural grounds. The mode of study which he followed was characterized. characteristically simple, thorough, and business-like, and was always pursued afterward. He first sought from God the Spirit's teaching that his eyes might be open to the

word's witness, and his mind illumined. Then he set about a systematic examination of the New Testament from beginning to end. So far as possible, he sought absolutely to rid himself of all bias of previous opinion or practice, prepossession or prejudice. He prayed and endeavored to be free from the influence of human tradition, popular custom, and churchly sanction, or that more subtle hindrance,

personal pride in his own consistency. He was humble enough to be willing to retract any erroneous teaching and renounce any false position and to espouse that wise maxim don't be consistent, but simply be true. Whatever may have been the case with others who claim to have examined the same question for themselves, the result in his case was that he came to the conclusion, and, as he believed, from the Word of God

and the Spirit of God, that none but believers are the proper subjects of baptism, and that only immersion is its proper mode. Two passages of Scripture were very marked in the prominence which they had in compelling him to these conclusions, namely Acts 8 36 to 38 and Romans 6, 3 to 5. The case of the Ethiopian eunuch strongly convinced him that baptism is proper, only as the act of a believer confessing Christ. And the passage in the epistle to the Romans equally satisfied him that only immersion in water, can express the typical burial with Christ and resurrection with him, there and elsewhere made so prominent. He intended no assault upon brethren who hold other views, when he thus plainly stated

in his journal the honest and unavoidable convictions to which he came. But he was too loyal, both to the word of God, and to his own conscience to withhold his views when so carefully and prayerfully arrived at through the searching of the scriptures. Conviction compelled action, for in him there was no spirit of compromise, and he was accordingly promptly baptized. Years after, in reviewing his course, he records the solemn conviction that of all revealed truths, not one is more clearly revealed in the scriptures, not even the doctrine of justification by faith, and that the subject has only become obscured by men, not having been willing to take 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 all such friends had since then been themselves baptized. It is true that in one way he suffered some people, and he suffered some pecuniary loss through this step taken in obedience to conviction. But the Lord did not suffer him to be ultimately the loser, even in this respect. For he bountifully made up to him any such sacrifice, even in things that pertain to this life. He concludes this review of his course by adding that through his example, many others were led both to examine the question of baptism anew and to submit themselves to the ordinance. Such experiences,

as these suggest the honest question whether there is not imperative need of subjecting all current religious customs and practices to the one test of conformity to the scripture pattern. Our Lord sharply rebuked the Pharisees of his day for making the commandment of God of none effect by their tradition, and, after giving one instance he added, and many other such-like things do ye. It is very easy for doctrines and practices to gain acceptance, which are the outgrowth of ecclesiasticism, and neither have sanction in the Word of God nor will bear the searching light of its testimony. Cyprian has forewarned us that even antiquity is not authority, but may be only the old age offerer. What radical reforms would be made in modern worship, teaching and practice,

in the whole conduct of disciples and the administration of the Church of God. If the one final criterion of all judgment were, what do the scriptures teach? And what revolutions in our own lives as believers might take place if we should first put every notion of truth and custom of life to this one test of scripture authority? And then with the courage of conviction, dare to do according to that word.

counting no cost, but studying to show ourselves approved of God. Is it possible that there are any modern disciples who reject the commandment of God that they may keep their own tradition? This step taken by Mr. Mueller as to baptism was only a precursor of many others, all of which, as he believed, were according to that word which, as the lamp to the believer's feet, is to throw light upon his path. During this same summer of 1830, the further study of the word satisfied him that, though there is no direct command so to do, the scriptural and apostolic practice was to break bread every Lord's Day. Also, that the Spirit of God should have unhindered liberty to work through any believer according to the gifts he had bestowed, seemed to him plainly taught in Romans 12, 1st Corinthians 12, Ephesians,

for, etc. These conclusions, likewise, this servant of God sought to translate at once into conduct, and such conformity brought increasing spiritual prosperity. 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, so influenced his life, he assigns the following grounds, which are here stated as showing the basis of his lifelong 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 2, 1 through 6, since the poor brother cannot afford as good sittings as the rich, thus introducing into church assemblies invidious distinctions and respect of persons, and so encouraging the caste spirit. 2. A fixed pew rental may at times become, even to the willing disciple, a burden. He who would gladly contribute to a pastor's support, if allowed to do so, according to his ability, and at his own convenience, might be a,

by the demand to pay a stated sum at a stated time. Circumstances so changed that one who has the same cheerful mind as before may be unable to give as formerly and thus be subjected to painful embarrassment and humiliation, if constrained to give a fixed sum. Three, the whole system tends to the bondage of the servant of Christ. One must be unusually faithful and intrepid if he feels no temptation to keep back or in some degree modify his message in order to please men, when he remembers that the very parties most open to rebuke and most liable to offense are perhaps the main contributors

toward his salary. Whatever others may think of such reasons as these, they were so satisfactory to his mind that he frankly and promptly announced them to his brethren, and thus as early as the autumn of 1830, when just completing his 25th year, he took a position from which he never retreated, that he would thenceforth receive no fixed salary for any service rendered to God's people. While calmly assigning scriptural grounds for such a position, he, on the same grounds, urge voluntary offerings, whether of money or other means of support, as the proper acknowledgement of service rendered by God's minister, and as a sacrifice acceptable, well-pleasing to God. A little later, seeing that when such voluntary gifts came direct from the givers personally,

there was a danger that some might feel self-complacent over the largeness of the amount given by them, and others equally humbled by the smallness of their offerings, with consequent damage to both classes of givers. He took a step further. He had a box put up in the chapel, over which was written that whoever had a desire to do something for his support might put such an offering therein as ability and disposition might direct. His intention was that thus the act might be holy as in God's sight, without the risk of a sinful pride or false humility. He further felt that. To be entirely consistent, he should ask no help from man, even in bearing necessary costs of travel in the Lord's service, nor even state his needs beforehand in such a way

as indirectly to appeal for aid. All of these methods he conceived to be forms of trusting in an arm of flesh, going to man for help, instead of going at once, always and only to the Lord. And he adds, to come to this conclusion before God 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 fullness of the worldwide witness,

which he was to bear to a prayer-hearing God, and the absolute safety of trusting in him and in him alone. On October 7, 1830, George Mueller, in finding a wife, found a good thing, and obtained new favor from the Lord. Miss Mary Groves, sister of the self-denying dentist, whose surrender of all things for the mission field, had so impressed him years before, was married to this man of God, and for 40 blessed years years, proved and helped me, 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 scepter of her influence was far wider in its sway than will ever be appreciated by those who were strangers to her personal

and domestic life. She was a rare woman, and her price was above rubies. The heart of her husband safely trusted in her, and the great family of orphans who were to her as children rise up even to this day to call her a blessed. Married life is often its period of estrangement, even when temporary alienation yields to a deeper love, as the parties become more truly wedded by the assimilation of their inmost being to one another. But to Mr. and Mrs. Mueller, there never came any such experience of even temporary alienation. From the first, love grew, and with it mutual confidence and trust. One of the earliest ties which bound these two and one was the bond of a common self-denial.

Yielding literal obedience to Luke 1233, they sold what little they had and gave alms, henceforth laying up no treasures on earth. The step then taken, accepting, for Christ's sake, voluntary poverty, was never really. regretted, but rather increasingly rejoiced in. How faithfully it was followed in the same path of continued self-sacrifice will sufficiently appear when it is remembered that nearly 68 years afterward, George Mueller passed suddenly into the life beyond, a poor man, his will, when admitted to probate, showing his entire personal property under oath to be but 160 pounds. And even that, would not have been in his possession had there been no daily need of requisite comforts for the body

and of tools for his work. Part of this amount was in money, shortly before received, and not yet laid out for his master, but held at his disposal. Nothing, even to the clothes he wore, did he treat as his own. He was a consistent steward. This final farewell to all earthy possessions in 1830 left this newly married husband and wife to look only to the Lord. Thenceforth they were to put to ample daily test both their faith in the great provider and the faithfulness of the great promisor. It may not be improper here to anticipate

what is yet to be more fully recorded that from day to day and hour to hour during more than three score years, George Mueller was it able to set to his seal that God is true. If few men have ever been permitted so to trace in the smallest matters God's care over his children, it is partly because few have so completely abandoned themselves to that care. He dared to trust him, with whom the hairs of our head are all numbered,

and who touchingly reminds us that he cares for what has been quaintly called the odd sparrow. Matthew records how two sparrows are sold for a farthing, and Luke 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.

Not one of them is forgotten before God, or falls to the ground without him. With what force, then, comes the, assurance, fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows. So George Mueller 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 hears prayer. God can keep his trusting children not only from falling, but from stumbling. For during all those after years that span the lifetime of two generations, there was no drawing back. Those precious promises, which in faith and

hope were laid hold of in 1830, were held fast until the end. And the divine faithfulness proved a safe anchorage ground in the most prolonged and violent tempests. The anchor of hope, sure and steadfast, and entering into that within the veil, was never dragged from its secure hold on God. In 50,000 cases, Mr. Mueller calculated that he could trace distinct answers to definite prayers, and in multitudes of instances in which God's care was not definitely traced, it was day by day like an encompassing passing, but invisible presence or atmosphere of life and strength. On August 9, 1831, Mrs. Mueller gave birth to a stillborn babe, and for six weeks remained seriously ill. Her husband, meanwhile, laments that his heart was so cold and carnal, and his prayers often so

hesitating and formal, and he detects even behind his zeal for God, most unspiritual frames. He especially chides himself for not having more seriously thought of the peril of childbearing, so as to pray more earnestly for his wife. And he saw clearly that the prospect of parenthood had not been rejoiced in as a blessing, but rather as implying a new burden and hindrance in the Lord's work. While this man of God lays bare his heart in his journal, the reader must feel that, as in water, face answereth to face, so the heart of man to man. How many a servant of God has no more exalted idea of the divine privilege of a sanctified parenthood? A wife and a child are most precious gifts of God when received in answer to prayer from his hand.

Not only are they not hindrances, but they are helps, most useful in fitting a servant of Christ for certain parts of his work for which no other preparation is so adequate. They serve to teach him many most valuable lessons, and to round out his character into a far more symmetrical beauty and serviceableness. And when it is remembered how a God Godly association in holiness and usefulness 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 offspring with lightness and contempt. Nor let us forget that promise. If two of you agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for

them of my father which is in heaven. The Greek word for agree is symphonized. and suggests a musical harmony where chords are tuned to the same key and struck by a master hand. Consider what a blessed preparation for such habitual symphony and prayer is to be found in the union of a husband and wife in the Lord. May it not be that to this the Spirit refers when he bids husband and wife dwell in unity as heirs together of the grace of life, and adds that your prayers be not hindered. used this severe lesson for a permanent blessing to George Mueller. 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. 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. Mueller 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 once supplied, but even the delicacies and refreshments needed for the sick and weak, and the two medical attendants graciously declined all remuneration for services,

which extended through six weeks. Thus was their given of the Lord more than could ever 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 consistently followed so long as they lived and worked together. Experience confirmed them in conviction that a life of trust forbids laying up treasures against unforeseen needs, since with God no emergency is unforeseen and no want unprovided for. And he may be as implicitly trusted for extraordinary needs as for our common daily bread.

Yet another law, kindred to this and thoroughly enwrought into Mr. Mueller's habit of life, was never to contract debt, whether for personal purposes or the Lord's work. This matter was settled on scriptural grounds once for all, and he and his wife determined, if need be, to suffer starvation rather than to buy anything without paying for it when bought. Thus they always knew how much they had to buy with, and what they had left to give to others or use for others once. There was yet another law of life early framed into Mr. Mueller's personal decalogue.

He regarded any money which was in his hands already designated for or appropriated to specific use as not his to use, even temporarily for any other needs. Thus, though he was often reduced to the lowest point of temporal supplies, he took no account of any such funds set apart for other outweighs or due for other purposes. Thousands of times he was in straits where such diversion of funds for a time seemed the only and the easy way out, but where this would have only led him into new embarrassments. This principle intelligently adopted was firmly adhered to, that what properly belongs to a particular branch of work or has been already put

aside for a certain use, even though yet in hand, is not to be reckoned on as available for any other need, however pressing. Trust in God implies such knowledge on his part of the exact circumstances that he will not constrain us to any such misappropriation. Mistakes most serious and fatal have come from lack of conscience as well as of faith in such exigencies, drawing on one fund to meet the overdraft upon another, hoping afterward to replace what is thus withdrawn. A well-known college president had nearly involved the institution of which he was the head in bankruptcy, and himself in worse moral ruin, all the result of one error. Money given for endowing certain chairs had been used for current expenses until public confidence had been

almost hopelessly impaired. Thus, a life of faith must be no less a life of conscience. Faith and trust in God and truth and faithfulness toward man walk side by side in this life journey in unbroken agreement. End of Chapter 5 of George Mueller of Bristol by Arthur T. Pearson. Chapter 6 of George Mueller of Bristol. This is a Libravox recording. All Libravox recordings are in the public domain.

For more information or to volunteer, please visit Libravox.org. Recording by Dave Harrell George Mueller of Bristol by Arthur T. Pearson Chapter 6 The narrative of the Lord's dealings. Things which are sacred forbid even a careless touch. The record written by George Mueller of the Lord's dealings reads, especially in parts, almost like an inspired writing,

because it is simply the tracing of divine guidance in a human life. Not this man's own working or planning, suffering or serving, but the Lord's dealings with him and workings through him. It reminds us of that conspicuous passage in the Acts of the Apostles, where within the compass of 20 verses, God is 15 times put boldly forward as the one actor in all events. Paul and Barnabas rehearsed

in the years of the church at Antioch and afterward at Jerusalem, not what they had done for the Lord, but all that he had done with them and how he had opened the door of faith unto the Gentiles. What miracles and wonders God has, had wrought among the Gentiles by them.

And in the same spirit, Pierre before the council emphasizes how God had made choice of his mouth, as that whereby the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe, how he had given them the Holy Ghost and put no difference between Jew and Gentile, purifying their hearts by faith, and how he who knew all hearts had thus borne them witness. Then James, in the same strain, refers to the way in which God has visited the Gentiles

to take out of them a people for his name, and concludes by two quotations or adaptations from the Old Testament, which fitly sum up the whole matter, the Lord who doeth all these things. Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world. Acts 1427 to 1518. The meaning of such repeated phraseology cannot be mistaken. God is here presented as the one agent or actor, and even the most conspicuous apostles, like Paul and Peter, as only his instruments. No 20 verses in the Word of God contain more emphatic and repeated lessons on man's insufficiency and nothingness, and God's all-sufficiency and almightyness. It was God that wrought upon man through man.

It was he who chose Peter to be his mouthpiece. He whose key unlocked shut doors. He who visited the nations, who turned sinners into saints, who was even then taking out a people for his name, purifying hearts and bearing them witness. It was he, and he, alone who did all these wondrous things, and according to his knowledge and plan of what he would do from the beginning. We are not reading so much the acts of the apostles as the acts of God through

the apostles. Was it not this very passage in this inspired book that suggested perhaps the name of this journal? The Lord's dealings with George Mueller? At this narrative or journal, as a whole, we can only rapidly glance. In this shorter account, purposely condensed to secure a wider reading even from busy people, that narrative could not be more fully treated, for in its original form it covers about 3,000 printed pages, and contains close to 1 million words. To such as can and will read that more minute account, it is accessible at a low rate, and is strongly recommended for careful and leisurely perusal. But for the present purpose, the life story, as found in these pages,

takes both a briefer and a different form. The journal is largely composed of, condensed from, and then supplemented by annual reports of the work, and naturally includes not only thousands of little details, but much inevitable repetition year by year, because each new report was likely to fall into the hands of some who had never read reports of the previous years. The desire and design of this briefer memoir

is to present the salient points of the narrative, to review the whole life story as from the great summits or outlooks found in this remarkable journal. So that, like the observer, who from some high mountain people, looks toward the different points of the compass, and thus gets a rapid, impressive, comparative, and comprehensive view of the whole landscape, the reader may, as at a glance, take in those marked features of this godly man's character and career, which incite to new and advanced steps in faith and holy living.

Some few characteristic entries in the journal will find here a place, others only in substance. while of the bulk of them it will be sufficient to give a general survey, classifying the leading facts, and under each class, giving a few representative examples and illustrations. Looking at this narrative as a whole, certain prominent peculiarities must be carefully noted. We have here a record and revelation of seven conspicuous experiences. First, an experience of frequent and at times,

prolonged financial straits. The money in hand for personal needs and for the needs of hundreds of thousands of orphans and for the various branches of the work of the scriptural knowledge institution was often reduced to a single pound or even penny and sometimes to nothing. There was therefore a necessity for constant waiting on God, looking to him directly for all supplies. For months, if not years together, and at several periods in the work, supplies were furnished only from month to month, week to week, day to day, hour to hour. Faith was thus kept in lively exercise and under perpetual training. Second, an experience of the unchanging faithfulness of the Father God.

The straits were long in trying. but never was there one case of failure to receive help. Never a meal time without at least a frugal meal. Never a want or a crisis unmet by divine supply and support. Mr. Mueller said to the writer, not once, or five times, or 500 times, but thousands of times in these three-score 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. Third, an experience of the working of God upon the minds, hearts, and consciences of contributors to the work.

It will amply repay one to plod step by step over these thousands of pages, if only to trace the hand of God touching the springs of human action all over the world in ways of his own, and at times of great need, and adjusting the amount and the exact day and hour of the supply through the existing want. Literally, from the earth's ends, men, women, and children, children who had never seen Mr. Mueller could have known nothing of the pressure at the time, have been led at the exact crisis of affairs to send aid in the very sum or form most needful. In countless cases, while he was on his knees asking,

the answer has come in such close correspondence with the request as to shut out chance as an explanation and compel belief in a prayer hearing God. Fourth, 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, Mr. Mueller felt led to withhold the usual annual statement, lest some might construe the account of work already done as an appeal for aid in work yet to be done,

and thus detract from the glory of the great provider. The living God alone was and is the patron of these institutions, and not even the wisest and wealthiest, the noblest and the most influential of human beings has ever been looked to as their dependence. Fifth, 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 expectancy 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 dishonor lawful debts, so that money was righteously due to others, if the gift was encumbered and embarrassed by restrictions that hindered its free use for God, if it was designated for endowment purposes, or as a provision for Mr. Mueller's old age, or for the future of the institutions, or if there was any evidence or suspicion that the donation was given grudgingly, reluctantly, or for self-glory, it was promptly declined and returned. In some cases, even where large amounts were involved, parties were urged to wait

until more prayer and deliberation made clear that they were acting under divine leading. Sixth, an experience of extreme caution, lest there should be even a careless betrayal of the fact of pressing need to the outside public. 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 aides not only in common labors, but in common prayers and self-denials. Without such acquaintance, they could not serve, pray, nor sacrifice intelligently. But these associates were most solemnly and repeatedly charged never to reveal to those without, not even in the most serious crises, any want whatsoever of the work.

The one and only resort was ever to be the God who hears the cry 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. Seventh, an experience of growing boldness of faith in asking and trusting for great things. As faith was exercised, it was energized, so that it became as easy and natural to ask confidently for a hundred, a thousand, or ten thousand pounds, as once it had been for 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 2,000 children

and an annual outlay of at least 25,000 pounds for them than in the earlier periods of the work to look to him to care for 20 homeless orphans at a cost of 250 pounds a year. Only by using faith are we kept from practically losing 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 scrupulous and punctilious exactness, the innumerable details of Mr. Mueller's long experience as a co-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 steward 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, they not only act unwisely, but by their course, lends sanction to others with whom such

irresponsible action is a cloak for systematic fraud. Mr. Mueller's whole career is the more without fault, because 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 confound faith in God with credulity and superstition, may wall wonder and perhaps stumble at such an array of facts. But if any reader is still doubtful as to the facts, or thinks they are here arrayed in a deceptive garb or invested with an imaginative halo,

he is hereby invited to examine for himself, the singularly minute records which George Mueller has been led of God to put before the world in a printed form, which thus admits no change. And to accompany with a bold and repeated, challenge to anyone so inclined, to subject every statement to the severest scrutiny, and prove, if possible, one item to be in any respect false, exaggerated or misleading. The absence of all enthusiasm in the calm and mathematical precision of the narrative compels the reader to feel that

the writer was almost mechanically exact in the record and inspires confidence that it contains the absolute naked truth. One caution should, like a Bacchek's gospel message, the just shall live by his faith, be written large and plain, so that even a cursory glance may take it in. Let no one ascribe to George Mueller 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 say, attacks, and we find him making frequent confession of the same sins as others, and even of unbelief, and at times overwhelmed with genuine sorrow for his departures from God. In fact, he felt himself rather more than usually wicked by nature, and utterly helpless even as a believer. Was it not this poverty of spirit and mourning over sin, this consciousness of entire unworthiness and dependence that so drove him to the throne of grace and the all-merciful and all-powerful

father. Because he was so weak, he leaned hard on the strong arm of him whose strength is not only manifested, but can only be made perfect in weakness. To those who think that no man can wield such power and prayer, or live such a life of faith, who is not an exception to common mortal frailties, it will be helpful to find in this very journal that is so lighted up with the records of God's goodness the dark shadows of conscious sin and guilt. Even in the midst of abounding mercies and eertipositions, he suffered from temptations to distrust and disobedience, and sometimes had to mourn their power over him. As when once he found himself inwardly complaining of the cold leg of mutton which formed the staple of his Sunday dinner.

We discover, as we read, that we are communion with a man who was not only of like passions with ourselves, but who felt himself rather more than most others, subject to the sway of evil and needing, therefore, a special keeping power. Scarce had he started upon his new path of entire dependence on God when he confessed himself so sinful as for some time to entertain the thought, that it would be of no use to trust in the Lord in this way, and fearing that he had perhaps gone already too far in this direction in having committed himself to such a course. True, this temptation was speedily overcome, and Satan confounded.

But from time to time, similar fiery darts were hurled at him, which had to be quenched by the same shield of faith. Never to the last hour of life could he trust himself, or for one moment relax his hold on God and neglect the word of God and prayer without falling into sin. The old man of sin always continued too strong for George Mueller alone, and the longer he lived a life of trust, the less was his trust placed upon himself.

Another fact that grows more conspicuous with the perusal of every new page in his journal is that in things common and small, as well as uncommon and great. He took no step without first asking counsel of the oracles of God and seeking guidance from him in believing prayer. It was his life model 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 say, 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 heartmaster. So early as July 1831, a false rumor found circulation that he and his wife

were half-starving and that certain body 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 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 three score years and ten. A kindred word of testimony first given at the same time, and in like manner, reiterated from point to point in his pilgrimage,

concerns the Lord's faithfulness in accompanying his word with power in accordance with that positive and unequivocal promise in Isaiah 55-11. My word shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing where to I sent it. It is very noticeable that this is not said of man's word, however wise, important, or sincere, but of God'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 accomplish his pleasure and its divine errand, whatever be its apparent failure at the time. Mr. Mueller, referring to his own preaching, bears witness that it almost, if not quite every place where he spoke God's word, whether in large chapels or smaller rooms, the Lord gave the seal of his own testimony. He observed, however, that blessing did not so obviously or abundantly follow his open-air services. Only in one instance had it come to his knowledge that there were marked results, and that was in the case of an army officer who came to make sport. Mr. Mueller thought that it might please the Lord not to let him see the real fruit of his work

in open-air meetings, or that there had not been concerning them enough believing prayer. But he concluded that such manner of preaching was not his present work, since God had not so conspicuously sealed it with blessing. His journal makes very frequent reference to the physical weakness and disability from which he suffered. The struggle against bodily infirmity was almost lifelong, and adds a new lesson to his life's 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 labor. For example, early in 1832, he broke a blood vessel in the stomach and lost much blood by the hemorrhage. The very day following was the Lord's Day, and four outside preaching stations needed to be provided for, from which his disablement would withdraw one laborer to take his place at home. After an hour of prayer, he felt that faith was given him to rise, dress, and go to the chapel,

and though very weak, so that the short walk wearied him, he was helped to preach as usual. After the service, a medical friend remonstrated against his course as tending to permanent injury, but he replied that he should himself have regarded it presumptuous had not the Lord given him the faith. He preached both afternoon and evening, growing stronger rather than weaker with each effort, and suffering from no reaction afterward. In reading Mr. Mueller's biography and the record of such experiences, it is not probable that all will agree as to the wisdom of his course in every case. Some will commend while others will perhaps condemn.

He himself qualifies this entry in his journal with a wholesome caution that no reader should in such a matter follow his example, who is 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 honored 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 consideration. He observed that repeatedly he prayed with the sick till they were restored, he asking unconditionally for the blessing of bodily health,

a thing which he says later on he could not have done. Almost always, in such cases the petition was granted, yet in some instances not. Once in his own case, as early as 1829, he had been healed of a bodily infirmity of long-standing, and which never returned. Yet this same man of God subsequently suffered from disease which was not in like manner healed,

and in more than one case, submitted to a costly operation at the hands of a skillful 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 believing would not be 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-examination, will be found most stimulating to faith, though often most humiliating by reason of the conscious contrast suggested by the reader's unbelief and unfaithfulness. This man lived peculiarly with God and in God, and his senses were exercised to discern good and evil. His conscience became increasingly sensitive, and his judgment singularly discriminating, so that he detected fallacies where they escape the common eye, and foresaw dangers, which, like hidden rocks ahead, risk damage, and perhaps destruction to service, if not to character. And therefore, so far as the writer of this memoir from desiring to displace that journal,

that he rather seeks to incite many who have not read it to examine it for themselves. It will, too such be found, to mark a path of close daily walking, with God, whereas step by step, with circumspect vigilance, 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 supplementary annual reports, it is simply this. Confidence in God. In a little sketch of Beatty 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 Mueller believed that in all ages,

there had never yet been one true and trusting believer to whom God had proven false or faithless, and he was perfectly sure that he could be safely trusted, who, if we believe not, yet abideth faithful, he cannot deny himself. God has not only spoken but sworn. His word is confirmed by his oath, because he could swear by no greater, he swear 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, a perjurer. for it accounts him as not only false to his word, but to his oath. George Mueller believed, and because he believed, prayed, and praying, expected, and expecting, received.

Blessed is he that believes, for there shall be a performance of those things which are spoken of the Lord. End of Chapter 6 of George Mueller of Bristol by Arthur T. Pearson. Chapter 7 of George Mueller of Bristol. This is a Libravox recording. All Libravox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visitlibrovox.org. Recording by Dave Harrell. George Mueller of Bristol by Arthur T. Pearson.

Chapter 7 Let of God into a new. 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 labor. In all these matters, the true workmen will wait for the master's beck, glance, or signal before a step is taken. We have come now to a new fork in the road, where the path ahead begins to be more plain. The future and permanent center of his life work is at this point clearly indicated to God's servant by divine leading.

In March 1832, his friend Mr. Henry Crake left Sheldon for four weeks of labor in Bristol, where Mr. Mueller's strong impression was that the Lord had for Mr. Craig 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 primitive abode and the center of his life's activities. God again led the blind by a way he knew not. The conviction, however, had grown upon him that the Lord was loosing him from Tainmouth, and without having in view any other definite field, he felt that his ministry there was drawing to a close.

And he inclined to go about again from place to place, seeking especially to bring believers to a fuller trust in God and a deeper sense of his faithfulness and to a more thorough search into his word. His inclination to such itinerate work was strengthened by the fact that outside of Tainmouth, his preaching both gave him much more enjoyment and sense of power, and drew more hearers.

On April 13th, a letter from Mr. Craig, inviting Mr. Mueller to join in his work at Bristol, made such an impression on his mind that he began prayerfully to consider whether it was not God's call, and whether a field more suited to his gifts was not opening to him. The following Lord's Day, preaching on the Lord's coming, he referred to the effect of this blessed hope in impelling God's messenger to bear witness more widely and from place to place,

and reminded the brethren that he had refused to bind himself to abide with them, that he might at any moment be free to follow the divine leading elsewhere. On April 20th, Mr. Mueller left for Bristol. On the journey he was dumb, having no liberty in speaking for Christ, or even in giving away tracks, and this led him to reflect. He saw that the so-called work of the Lord had tempted him to substitute action for meditation and communion. He had neglected that still hour with God, which supplies to spiritual life alike its breath

and its bread. No lesson is more important for us to learn. Yet how slow are we to learn it? That for the lack of habitual seasons set apart for devout meditation upon the word of God and for prayer, nothing else will come. compensate. We are prone to think, for example, that converse with Christian brethren and the general round of Christian activity, especially when we are much busied with preaching the word and visits to inquiring or needy souls, make up for the loss of aloneness with God in the secret place.

We hurry to a public service with but a few minutes of private prayer, allowing precious time to be absorbed in social pleasures, restrained from withdrawing from others by a false delicacy, when to excuse ourselves for needful communion with God and His word would have been perhaps the best witness possible to those whose company was holding us unduly. How often we rush from one public engagement to another without any proper interval for renewing our strength in waiting on the Lord, as though God cared more for the quality than the quality of our service. Here Mr. Mueller had the grace to detect one of the foremost perils of a busy man in this day of insane hurry.

He saw that if we are to feed others, we must be fed, and that even public and united exercises of praise and prayer can never supply that food which is dealt out to the believer only in the closet the shut-in place with its closed door and open window where he meets God alone. In a previous chapter, reference has been made to the fact that three times in the Word of God we find divine prescription for a true prosperity. God says to Joshua, this book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observed due according to all that is written therein.

For then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. Joshua 1.8. 500 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 prosper. Here the devout meditative student of the Blessed Book of God is likened to an evergreen tree, planted beside unfailing supplies of moisture. His fruit is perennial, and so is his verdure, and whatsoever he doeth prospers. more than a thousand years pass away, and before the New Testament is sealed up as complete, once more the Spirit bears essentially the same blessed witness. Whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth, that is, continueth looking, meditating on what he there beholds, lest he forget the impression received through the mirror of the word.

This man shall be blessed in his deed. James 1.25. Here then we have the threefold witness to the secret of true prosperity and unmingled blessing. Devout meditation and reflection upon the scriptures, which are at once a book of law, a river of life, and a mirror of self fitted to convey the will of God, the life of God, and the transforming power of God. That believer makes a fatal mistake who for any cause neglects the prayerful study of the Word of God. To read God's holy book, by it search oneself 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 take time to be alone with His Word and His Spirit, that we may truly meet God and understand His will and the revelation of Himself. If we seek the secrets of the life George Mueller lived and the work he did, this is the very key to the whole mystery. And with that key, any believer can unlock the doors to a prosperous growth and grace and power in service. God's word is His Word, the expression of his thought, the revealing of his mind and heart. The supreme end of life is to know God and make Him known.

And how is this possible, so long as we neglect the very means he has chosen, for conveying us to that knowledge. Even Christ, the living word, is to be found enshrined in the written word. Our knowledge of Christ is dependent upon our acquaintance with the Holy Scriptures, which are the reflection of his character and glory, the firmament across the expanse of which he moves as the Son of righteousness. On April 22, 1832, George Mueller first stood at the pulpit of Gideon Chapel, The fact and the date are to be carefully barked, as the new turning point in a career of great usefulness.

Henceforth, for almost exactly 66 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 century, his influence would radiate to the Earth's ends, and how, even after his departure, he should continue to bear witness by the works which should follow him, how his heart would have swelled and burst with holy gratitude and praise, while in humility he shrank back in awe and wonder from a responsibility and an opportunity so vast and overwhelming. In the afternoon of his first Sabbath, he preached at Pithay Chapel,

a sermon conspicuously owned of God. among others converted by it was a young man, a notorious drunkard. And before the sun had set, Mr. Mueller, who in the evening heard Mr. Craig 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 labor. Both he and his brother Craig felt, however, that Bristol was not the place to reach a clear decision, for the judgment was liable to be unduly biased when subject to the pressure of personal urgency, and so they determined to return to their respective fields of previous labor,

there to wait quietly upon the Lord for the promised wisdom from above. They left for Devonshire on the 1st 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 labors, 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 29th had been so thronged that many went away for lack of room. Mr. Mueller found opportunity for the exercise of humility, for he saw that by many his brother's gifts were much preferred to his own, yet as Mr. Craig would come to Bristol only with him as a yoke fellow, God's grace enabled him to accept the humiliation of being the less popular, and comforted him with a 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 saints, as the result showed.

That same grace of God helped Mr. Mueller to rise higher, nay, let us rather say, to sink lower, and, in honor preferring one another, to rejoice, rather than to be envious. And like John the Baptist, to say within himself, a man can receive nothing except it be given him from above. Such a humble spirit has even in this life oftentimes its recompense of reward. Marked, as was the impress of Mr. Craig upon Bristol, Mr. Mueller's influence was even deeper and wider. As Henry Craig died in 1866, his own work reached through a much longer period, and as he was permitted to make such extensive mission tours throughout the world, his witness was far more outreaching.

The lowly-minded man who bowed down to take the lower place, consenting to be the more obscure, was by God exalted the higher seat and greater throne of influence. Within a few weeks the Lord's will, as to their newsfeer, became so plain to both his brethren that on May 23rd, Mr. Mueller left Tainmouth for Bristol, to be followed next day by Mr. Craig. At the Believers' meeting at Yiddian Chapel, they stated their terms, which were exceeded to,

that they were to be regarded as accepting no fixed relationship to the congregation. Preaching in such manner and for such a season as should seem to them according to the Lord's will, that they should not be under bondage to any rules among them, that Pue-Rance should be done away with, and that they should, as in Defencher, look to the Lord to the Lord, 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 evening at Bethesda Chapel, Mr. Mueller, Mr. Craig, one other brother, and four sisters, only seven in all sat down together, united in church fellow. without any rules, desiring to act only as the Lord should be pleased to give light through his word.

This is a very short and simple entry in Mr. Mueller's journal, but it has most solemn significance. It records what was to him separation to the hallowed work of building up a simple apostolic church with no manual of guidance but the New Testament. And, in fact, it introduces us to the third period of his own. life, when he entered fully upon the work to which God had set him apart. The further steps now followed in rapid succession. God, having prepared the workmen and gathered the material, the structure went on quietly and rapidly until the life work was complete. Cholera was at this time raging in Bristol. This terrible scourge of God first appeared

about the middle of July and continued for three months. Prayer me, being held often and for a time daily to plead for the removal of this visitation. Death stalked abroad, the knell of funeral bells almost constantly sounding, and much solemnity hanging like a dark pall over the community. Of course, many visits to the sick, dying, and afflicted became necessary, but it is remarkable that, among all the children of God, among whom Mr. Mueller and Mr. Craig labored, but one died of this disease. In the midst of all this gloom and sorrow of a fatal epidemic, a little daughter was born to Mr. and Mrs. Mueller, September 17, 1832. About her name, Lydia,

sweet fragrance lingers, for she became one of God's purest saints and the beloved wife of James Wright. How little do we forecast at the time the future of a newborn babe, who, like Samuel, may in God's decree be established to be a prophet of the Lord, or be set apart to some peculiar sphere of service, as in the case of another Lydia whose heart the Lord opened, and whom he called to be the nucleus of the first Christian church in Europe. Mr. Mueller's unfeigned humility and the docility that always accompanies that unconscious grace found new exercise when the meetings with inquiries revealed the fact that his colleagues' 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. Craig 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 administrations. such disclosures of his own comparative lack did not exhaust themselves in vain self-reproaches but led at once to more importunate prayer more diligent preparation for addressing the unconverted and more frequent appeals to this class from this time on mr muller's preaching had the seal of god upon it equally with his brothers 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. Mueller did not satisfy himself with more prayer,

but gave new diligence and study to the preparation of discourses adapted to awaken careless souls. In the supernatural, as well as the natural sphere, there is a law of cause and effect. even the Spirit of God works not without order and method. He has his chosen channels through which he pours blessing. There is no accident in the spiritual world. The Spirit bloweth where he listeth, but even the wind has its circuits. There is a kind of preaching fitted to bring conviction and conversion, and there is another kind which is not so fitted.

Even in the faithful use of truth, there is room for it discrimination and selection. In the armory of the Word of God are many weapons, and all have their various uses and adaptations. Blessed is the workman or warrior who seeks to know what particular implement or instrument God appoints for each particular work or conflict. We are to study to keep in such communion with His Word and Spirit as that we shall be true workmen that need not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of Truth. 2 Timothy 2.15. This expression found in Paul's second letter to Timothy is a very peculiar one. It seems to be nearly equivalent to the Latin phrase, 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 conscious is the objective point, and the aim of the preacher should be, so to use God's true. as to reach most directly and effectively the needs of the hearer. He is to avoid all circuitous routes, all evasions, all deceptive apologies, and by ways of argument, and seek by God's help to find the shortest, straightest, quickest road to the convictions and resolutions of those to whom he speaks. And if the roadbuilder, before he takes

any other step, first carefully surveys his territory and lays out his root, 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 Baghdad urged Messrs. Mueller and Craig to join them in labors in that distant field, accompanying the invitation with drafts for 200 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 of a complete biography, and is illustrating the manner in which each new call for service was weighed and decided. We now reach another stage of Mr. Mueller's entrance upon his complete life work. In February 1832, he had begun to read the biography of A.H. Frank, the founder of the orphan houses of Halle. As that life and work were undoubtedly used of God to make him a like instrument in a kindred service, and to mold even the methods of his philanthropy, a brief sketch of Frank's career may be helpful. August H. Frank was Mueller's fellow countryman.

About 1696 at H. L.A. and Prussia, he had commenced the largest enterprise for poor children then existing in the world. He trusted in God, and he whom he trusted did not fail him, but helped him throughout abundantly. The institutions, which resembled rather a large street than a building, were erected, and in them about two thousand orphan children were housed, fed, clad, and taught. For about thirty years, all went on under Frank's own eyes, until 1727,

when it pleased the master to call the servant up higher, and after his departure, his like-minded son-in-law became the director. 200 years have passed, and these orphan houses are still in existence, serving their noble purpose. It is needful only to look at these facts and compare with Frank's work on Halle, George Mueller'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 few respects, its counterpart. Mr. Mueller began his orphan work a little more than 100 years after Frank's death, ultimately housed, fed, clothed, and taught over 2,000 orphans year by year.

Personally supervised the work for over 60 years, twice as long a period as that of Frank's personal management. And at his decease, likewise, left his like-minded son-in-law to be his successor as the sole director of the work. It did not be added that, beginning his enterprise like Frank, independence on God alone, the founder of the Bristol orphan houses, trusted from first to last, only in him. It is very noticeable how, when God is preparing a workman for a certain definite service, he often leads him out of the beaten track into a path peculiarly his own

by means of some striking biography or by contact with some other living servant who was doing some such work, and exhibiting the spirit which must guide if there is to be a true success. Meditation on Frank's life and work naturally led this man who was hungering for a wider usefulness to think more of the poor homeless waifs about him and to ask whether he also could not plan under God some way to provide for them. and as he was musing, the fire burned. As early as June 12, 1833, when not yet 28 years old,

the inward flame began to find vent in a scheme which proved the first forward step toward his orphan word. It occurred to him to gather out of the streets, at about eight o'clock each morning, the poor children, give them a bit of bread for breakfast, and then for about an hour and a half,

teach them to read, or read to them, the Holy Scripture, and later on to do a like service to the adult and aged poor. He began at once to feed from 30 to 40 such persons, confident that as the number increased, the Lord's provision would increase also. Unburdening his heart to Mr. Craig, he was guided to a place which could hold 150 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 out of this plan. The work already pressing upon Mr. Mueller and Mr. Craig, the rapid increase of applicants for food, and the anoints neighbors 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 the seed in the soil of Mr. Mueller'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 unknown paths and untried scenes. He records at this time the close of the year 1833 that during the four years, since he first began to trust in the Lord a loan for temporal supplies, he had suffered no want. He had received during the first year 130 pounds, during the second 151, during the third

195, and during the last, 267, all in free will offerings, and without ever asking any human being for a penny. He had looked alone to the Lord, yet he had not only received a supply, but an increasing supply, year by year. Yet he also noticed that at each year's close, he had very little, if anything, left, and that much had come through strange channels from distances very remote, and from parties whom he had never seen. He observed also that in every case, according as the need was greater or less, the supply corresponded. He carefully records for the benefit of others that when the calls for help were many,

the great provider showed himself able and willing to send help accordingly. The ways of divine dealing which he had thus found true of the early years of his life of trust were marked and magnified in all his after experience, and the lessons learned in these first four years prepared him for others, taught in the same school of God and under the same teacher. Thus God had brought his servant by a way which he knew not, to the very place and sphere of his life's widest and most enduring work. He had molded and shaped his chosen vessel,

and we are now to see what purposes of worldwide usefulness that earthen vessel was to be put, and how conspicuously the excellency of the power was to be of God and not of man. End of Chapter 7 of George Mueller of Bristol by Arthur T. Pearson. Chapter 8 of George Mueller of Bristol. This is a Libravox recording. All Libravox recordings are in the public domain. For more

information or to volunteer, please visit Libravox.org. Recording by Dave Harrell. George Mueller of Bristol by Arthur T. Pearson. Chapter 8. A tree of God's own planting. The time was now fully come when the divine husbandman was to glorify himself by a product of his own husbandry in the soil of Bristol. On February 20, 1834, George Mueller was led of God to sow the seed of what ultimately developed into a great means of good, known as the scriptural knowledge institution for home and abroad. As in all other steps of his life, this was the result of much prayer, meditation on the word, searching of his own heart, and patient waiting to know the mind of God. 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. Mueller and Mr. Craig in starting a new work, rather than in uniting with existing societies already established for missionary purposes, Bible and tract distribution, and for the promotion of Christian schools. As they had sought to conform personal life and church conduct wholly to the scriptural pattern, they felt that all work for God should be carefully carried on in exact accordance with his known will, in order to have his fullest blessing. Many features of the existing societies seemed to them extra-scriptural, if not decidedly anti-scriptural,

and these they felt constrained to avoid. For example, they felt that the end proposed by such organizations, namely the conversion of the world in this dispensation, was not justified by the word, which everywhere represents this as the age of the outgathering of the church from the world, and not the in-gathering of the world into the church. To set such an end before themselves as the world's conversion would therefore not only be unwarranted by Scripture, but delusive and disappointing, disheartening God's servants by the failure to realize the result, and dishonoring to God himself by making him to appear unfaithful. Again, these existing societies seem to Mr. Mueller and Mr. Craig to sustain a wrong,

relation to the world, mixed up with it, instead of separate from it. Anyone by paying a certain fixed sum of money might become a member or even a director, having a voice or vote in the conduct of affairs and becoming eligible to office. Unscriptural means were commonly used to raise money, such as appealing for aid to unconverted persons, asking for donations simply for money's sake, and without regard to the character of the donors or the manner in which the money was obtained. The custom of seeking 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 unspiritual that the founders of this new institution could not,

with a good conscience, give them sanction. Hence they hoped that, by basing their work upon thoroughly biblical principles, they might secure many blessed results. First of all, they confidently believed that the work of the Lord could be best and most successfully carried on within the landmarks and limits set up in His Word, that the fact of thus carrying it on would give boldness in prayer and confidence in labor. But they also desired the work itself to be a witness to the living God and a testimony to believers, by calling attention to the objectionable methods already in use, and encouraging all God's true servants in adhering to the principles and practices which he has sanctioned. On March 5th at a public

meeting, a formal announcement of the intention to found such an institution was accomplished by a full statement of its purposes and principles, in substance as follows. First, every believer's duty and privilege is to help on the cause and work of Christ. Second, the patronage of the world is not to be sought after, dependent upon, or countenanced. Third, pecuniary aid, or help in managing or carrying honest affairs, is not to be asked for or sought from those who are not believers. fourth, debts are not to be contracted or allowed for any cause in the work of the Lord. Fifth, the standard of success is not to be a numerical or financial standard.

Sixth, 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 counselor, 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. Two, to circulate the Holy Scriptures, Holy, or in portions over the widest possible territory. Three, to aid missionary efforts and assist. laborers in the Lord's vineyard anywhere who are working upon a biblical basis and looking only to the Lord for support. 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. Mueller's journal. We 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 manifested. It pleased him, from whom and by whom are all things, that the work should be begun when his servants were poorest and weakest. that its growth to such giant proportions might the more prove it to be a plant of his own right-hands 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. Isaiah 27. 3. Whatever may be thought as to the need of such a new organization, or as to such a new organization, or as to such scruples as moved its founders to insist even in minor matters upon the closest adherence to scripture teaching. This, at least, is plain,

that for more than half a century it has stood upon its original foundation and its increase and usefulness have surpassed the most enthusiastic dreams of its founders, nor have the principles first avowed ever been abandoned. With the living God, as its soul, patron and prayer as its only appeal, it has attained vast proportions, and its worldwide work has been signally owned and blessed. On March 19th, Mrs. Mueller gave birth to his son,

to the great joy of his parents. And after much prayer, they gave him the name Elijah. My God is Jha. The name itself being one of George Mueller's life mottoes. Up to this time, the families of Mr. Mueller and Mr. Craig 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. Mueller gratefully recognized the divine goodness which had thus helped him to start upon its career the work with its several departments. Looking to the Lord alone for light and help, he had laid the cornerstone of this little institution, and in October, after only seven months' existence, it had already begun to be

established. In the Sunday school, there were 120 children. In the adult classes, 40. In the four-day schools, 209 boys and girls, 482 Bibles, and 520 Testaments had been put into circulation, and 57 pounds had been spent in aid of missionary operations. During these seven months, the Lord had sent, in answer to prayer, over 167 pounds in money, and much blessing upon the work itself. The brothers and sisters who were in charge had likewise been given by the same prayer-hearing God in direct response to the cry of need and the supplication of faith. Meanwhile, another object was coming into greater prominence before the mind and heart of Mr. Mueller.

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 account of extreme poverty. And this little incident set Mr. Mueller thinking and praying about orphans. Could not something be done to meet the temporal and spiritual wants of this class of very poor children? Unconsciously to himself. God has set a seed in his soul and was watching and watering it. The idea of a definite orphan work had taken root within him, and like any other living germ, it was springing up and growing.

He knew not how. As yet, it was only in the blade, but in time there would come the ear, and the full-grown corn in the ear, the new seed of a larger harvest. Meanwhile, the church was growing. In these two and a half years, over 200 had been added, making the total membership 257. But the enlargement of the work

generally neither caused the church life to be neglected nor any one department of duty to suffer declension, a very noticeable fact in this history. The point to which we have now come is one of double interest and importance, as at once a point of arrival and of departure. The work of God's chosen servant may be considered as fairly, if not fully inaugurated, in all its main forms of service. He himself is in his 30th year, the age when his divine master began to be fully manifest to the world and to go about doing good. Through the preparatory steps and stages leading up to his complete mission and ministry to the church and the world, Christ's humble disciple has likewise been brought, and his fuller career of usefulness now begins.

with the various agencies in operation, whereby for more than three score years, he was to show both proof and example of what God can do through one man, who was willing to be simply the instrument for him to work with. Nothing is more marked in George Mueller, to the very day of his death than this, that he so looked to God and leaned on God that he felt himself to be nothing, and God everything. He sought to be always, and in all things,

surrendered as a passive tool to the will and hand of the master workman. This point of arrival and of departure is also a point of prospect. Here, halting and looking backward, we may take in at a glance the various successive steps and stages of preparation, whereby the Lord had made his servant ready for the sphere of service to which he called, and for which he fitted him. One has only, from this height, to look over the ten years that were passed. to see beyond dispute or doubt the divine design that lay back of George Mueller's life, and to feel an awe of the God who thus chooses in shapes and then uses his vessels of service.

It will be well, even if it involves some repetition, to pass and review the more important steps in the process by which the divine potter had shaped his vessel for his purpose, educating and preparing George Mueller for his work. 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. Next, 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 will. Next, his renunciation of self. In more than one instance, he was unable 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. Then his taking counsel of God. Early in his Christian life, he formed the habit, in things great and small, of ascertaining the will of the Lord before taking action, asking guidance in every

matter through the Word and the Spirit. His humble and childlike temper. The father drew his child to himself, imparting to him the simple mind that asks believingly and trust confidently, and the filial spirit that submits to fatherly counsel and guidance. Then 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. Next, his cutting loose from man, step by step, all dependence on man or appeals to man for pecuniary support were abandoned, together with all borrowing, running into debt, stated salary, etc. His eyes were turned to God alone as the provider.

And then next, 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 textbook, as explained and illumined by the divine interpreter. Then his thorough Bible study. Few young men have ever been led to such a systematic search into the treasures of God's truth. He read the book of God through and through, fixing its teachings on his mind by meditation and translating them into practice. And then 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. And then 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 constantly to lead someone to Christ. And then there was 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. His companions in service. Two most efficient co-workers were divinely provided. First, his brother Craig, 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. Moving on, there was 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 his influence upon his piety and usefulness. And in the light of it, he saw clearly the purpose of this gospel age, to be not to convert the world,

but to call out from it a believing church as Christ's bride. Then there was his waiting on God for a message. For every new occasion he asked of him a word in season. Then a mode of treatment, an unction in delivery, and in godly simplicity and sincerity, with the demonstration of the spirit, he aimed to reach the hearers. Next, 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, submitted all opinions and practices to the test of Scripture, and then, regardless of consequences, walked according to any new light God gave him, continuing. There was 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 New Testament models, so far as they could be clearly found in the word, and thus reform

all existing abuses. Then there was his stress upon voluntary offerings. While he courageously 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 Pyrrins promote invidious distinctions among saints. He also had surrender of all earthly possessions. Both himself and his wife, literally sold all they had and gave alms, henceforth to live by the day, hoarding no money, even against a time of future need, sickness, old age, or any other possible crisis of want. And then there was 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 with God and meditation on his word, which are the support of all spiritual life. Moving on, it was his jealousy of his testimony. In taking oversight of a congregation, he took care to guard himself from all possible interference with fullness and freedom of utterance and of service. He could not brook any restraints upon his speech or action that might compromise his allegiance to the Lord or his fidelity to man. Next, there was his organizing of work. God led him to project the plan embracing several departments of holy activity, such as the spreading of the knowledge of the word of God everywhere,

and the encouraging of worldwide evangelization and the Christian education of the young, and to guard the new institution from all dependence on worldly patronage, methods, or appeals. Then there was 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 Frank's work at Halle suggested similar work at Bristol. Besides all these steps of preparation, he had been guided by the Lord from his birthplace in Prussia to London, Tainmouth, and Bristol in Britain, and thus the chosen vessel, shaped for its great use,

had by the same divine hand been born to the very place where it was to be, be of such single service in testimony to the living God. Surely, no candid observer can survey this course of divine discipline in preparation, and remember how brief was the period of time it covers, being less than ten years, and marked the many distinct steps by which this education for 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 the Servative God, was anticipated in the training whereby he was fitted for his work and introduced to it. We have had a vivid vision of the Divine Potter sitting at his wheel,

taking the clay in his hands, softening its hardness, subduing it to his own will, then gradually and skillfully shaping from it the earthen vessel, then baking it in his oven of discipline till it attained the requisite solidarity and firmness, then filling it with the rich treasures of his word and spirit, and finally setting it down where he would have it serve his special uses in conveying to others the excellency of his power. To lose sight of this sovereign shaping hand is to miss one of the main lessons God means to teach us by George Mueller's whole career.

He himself saw and felt that he was only an earthen vessel, that God had both chosen and filled him for the work he was to do. And while this conviction made him happy in his work, it made him humble, and the older he grew with the humbler he became. He felt more and more his own utter insufficiency. It grieved him that human eyes should ever turn away from the master to the servant, and he perpetually sought to avert their gaze from himself to God alone. For of him and through him and to him are all things, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. There are several important episodes in Mr. Mueller'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 German brethren, and pleading for its unsaved millions. When Mr. Mueller went to the alien office in London to get a passport,

he found that through ignorance he had broken the law, which required every alien semi-annually to renew his certificate of residence under penalty of 50 pounds fine or imprisonment. He confessed to the officer his non-compliance, excusing himself only on the ground of ignorance, and trusted all consequences with God, who graciously inclined the officer to pass over his non-compliance with the law. Another hindrance which still interfered with obtaining his passport was also removed in answer to prayer,

so that at the outset he was much impressed with the Lord's sanction of his undertaking. His sojourn abroad continued for nearly two months, during which he was at Paris, Strasbourg, Basel, Tubigen, Wartembourg, Sefhausen, Stuttgart, Halle, Sandersleben, Ashgerleben, Heimersleben, Haberstad, and Hamburg. At Halle, calling on Dr. Tholuck after seven years of separation, he was warmly welcomed and constrained to lodge at his house. From Dr. Tholok, 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 Frank's orphan houses,

spending an evening in the very room where God's work of grace had begun in his heart, and meeting again several of the same little company of believers that in those days had prayed together. He likewise gave everywhere faithful witness to the Lord. While at his father's house, the way was open for him to bear testimony indirectly to his father and brother.

He had found that a direct approach to his father upon the subject of his soul's salvation only aroused his anger, and he therefore judged that it was wiser to refrain from a course which would only repel one whom he desired to win. An unconverted friend of his father was visiting him at this time, before whom he put the truth very frankly and fully, in the presence of both his father and brother, and thus quite as effectively gave witness to them also. But he was especially moved to pray that he might, by his whole life, bear witness at his home, manifesting his love for his kindred and his own joy in God, his satisfaction in Christ,

and his utter indifference to all former fascinations of a worldly and sinful life. Through the supreme attraction, he found in him. For this, he felt sure, would have far more influence. than any mere words. Our walk counts for more than our talk, always. 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. On June 22, 1835, Mr. Mueller's father-in-law, Mr. Groves, died, and both of his own children, were very ill. And four days later, little Elijah was taken. Both parents had been singularly

prepared for these bereavements and were divinely upheld. They had felt no liberty in prayer for the child's recovery, dear as he was, and grandfather and grandson were laid in one grave. Henceforth, Mr. and Mrs. Mueller were to have no son, and Lydia was to remain their one and only child. About the middle of the following month, Mr. Mueller was quite disabled from work by weakness of the chest, which made necessary rest and change. The Lord tenderly provided for his need through those whose hearts he touched, leading them to offer him and his wife hospitalityes in the Isle of White, while at the same time money was sent him, which was designated for a change of air. On his 30th 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 9th of the same month, that the reading of John Newton's life stirred him up to bear a similar witness to the Lord's dealings with 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 Mueller. Frank's life stirred his heart to begin an orphan work, and Newton's life suggested the narrative of the Lord's dealings. To what is called an accident are owing under God,

those pages of his life journal, which read like new chapters in the acts of the apostles, and will yet be so widely read, and so largely used of God. End of Chapter 8 of George Mueller of Bristol by Arthur T. Pearson. Chapter 9 of George Mueller of Bristol. This is a Libravox recording. This Libravox recording is in the public domain.

Recording by Dave Harrell. George Mueller of Bristol by Arthur T. Pearson. Chapter 9 The Growth of God's Own Plant The last great step of full entrance upon Mr. Mueller'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 20th, in taking tea at the house of a Christian sister, He again saw a copy of Frank's life. For no little time he had thought of like labors, though on no such scale, nor in mere imitation of Frank. But under a sense of similar divine leading,

this impression had grown into a conviction, and the conviction had blossomed into a resolution which now rapidly ripened into corresponding action. He was emboldened to take this forward step in sole reliance on God. By the fact that at that very time, in answer to prayer, 10 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 said about any work which he felt led to undertake. it was pre-imidly so in attempting this new form of service the future growth of which was not then even in his thought in daily prayer he sought as in his master's presence to sift from the pure grain of a godly purpose to glorify him all the chaff of selfish and carnal motives to get rid of every taint of worldly self-seeking or lust of applause and to bring every thought into captivity to the Lord. He constantly probed his own heart to discover the secret and subtle impulses which are unworthy of a true servant of God. And believing that a spiritually minded brother often helps one to an insight into his own heart, he spoke often to his brother Craig about his

plans, praying God to use him as a means of exposing any unworthy motive or of suggesting any scriptural objections to his project. His honest aim being to please God, he yearned to know his own heart, and welcomed any light which revealed his real self and prevented a mistake. Mr. Craig so decidedly encouraged him, and further prayer so confirmed previous impressions of God's guidance, that on December 2, 1835, the first formal step was taken in ordering printed bills announcing a public meeting for the week following when the proposal to open an orphan house was to be laid before brethren and further light to be sought unitedly as to the mind of the Lord.

Three days later, in reading the Psalms, he was struck with these nine words, Open thy mouth wide and I will fill it. Psalm 81.10. From that moment, this text formed one of his great life mottos, and this promise became a power in molding all his work. Hitherto he had not prayed for the supply of money or of helpers, but he was now led to apply this scripture confidently to this new plan, and at once boldly asked for premises, and for 1,000 pounds in money,

and for suitable helpers to take charge of the children. Two days after, he received, in furtherance of his work, the first 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. Mueller his fiery darts, and he was very low in spirit. He was taking a step not to be retraced without both much humiliation to himself and reproach to his master. And what if it were a misstep, and he were moving

without real guidance from above. But as soon as he began to speak, help was given him. He was born up on the everlasting arms and had the assurance that the work was of the Lord. He cautiously avoided all appeals to the transient feelings of his hearers and took no collection, desiring all these first steps to be calmly taken, in 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. Mueller is entitled to explain his own views and actions, and the work he was now undertaking is so vitally linked with his whole afterlife that it should here have full mention. As to his proposed orphan house, he gives three chief reasons for its establishment. First, that God may be glorified in so furnishing the means

as to show that it is not a vain thing to trust in him. Second, that the spiritual welfare of fatherless and motherless children may be promoted. And third, that their temporal good may be secured. He had frequent reminders in his pastoral labors that the faith of God's children greatly needed strengthening, and he longed to have some visible proof to point to that the Heavenly Father is the same faithful promiser and provider as ever, and is willing to prove himself 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 Frank, he judged that he was bound to serve the Church of Christ in being able to take God at His Word and rely upon it. If he, a poor man, without asking anyone but God, could get means to carry on an orphan house, it would seem that God is faithful still, and still hears prayer. While the orphan work was to be a branch of the scriptural knowledge

institution, only those funds were to be applied there to which should be expressly given for that purpose, and it would be carried on only so far and so fast as the Lord should provide both money and helpers. 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 faithfulness and interposition. It only remains to note the new steps in advance which mark the growth of the work and the new straits which arise and how they are met. Together with such questions and perplexing crises, as from time to time demand and receive a new divine solution. A foremost need was that of able and suitable helpers, which only God could supply. In order fully to carry out his plans,

Mr. Mueller 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 Aiken could disturb the whole camp of Israel, and one Ananias or Safira, the whole Church of Christ, one faithless, prayerless, self-seeking assistant would prove not a helper, but a hinderer, both to the work itself and to all fellow workers. No step was therefore hastily taken. He had patiently waited on God hitherto, and he now waited to receive at his hands his own chosen

servants to join in this service, and give to it unity of plan and spirit. 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. Quote, we propose ourselves for the service of the intended orphan house, if you think us qualified for it, also to give up all the furniture, etc., which the Lord has given us for its use, and to do this without receiving any salary whatever, believing that, if it be the will of the Lord to employ us, he will supply all our need.

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 health. although the work so rapidly expanded and extended. The gifts whereby the work was supported need a separate review that many lessons of interest may find a record. But it should be here noted that among the first givers was a poor needlewoman who brought the surprising sum of 100 pounds, the singular self-denial and wholehearted giving exhibited,

making this a peculiarly sacred offering at a token of God's favor. there was a felt significance in his choice of a poor sickly seamstress as his instrument for laying the foundations for this great work. He who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will, passing by the rich, mighty, and noble somethings of this world, chose again the poor, weak, base despised nothings, that no flesh should glory in his presence. For work among orphans a house was needful, and for this definite prayer was offered. In April 1, 1836, was fixed as the date for opening such house for female orphans as the most helplessly destitute. The building, No. 6 Wilson Street, where Mr. Mueller had himself lived up to March 25th, having been rented for one year, was formerly opened April 21st, the day being. set apart for prayer and praise. The public generally were informed that the way was open to receive

needy applicants, and the intimation was further made on May 18th, that it was intended shortly to open a second house for infant children, both boys and girls. We now retrace our steps a little to take special notice of a fact in Mr. Mueller'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 asked the Lord to send the orphans. This seems an unaccountable omission, but the fact is he had assumed that there would be applications in abundance. His surprise and chagrin cannot easily be imagined.

When the appointed time came for receiving applications, February 3rd, and not one application was made. Everything was ready except the orphans. This led to the deepest humiliation before God. All the evening of that day, he literally lay on his face, probing his own heart to read his own motives, and praying God to search him and show him his mind. He was thus brought so low that from his heart he could say

that if God would thereby be more glorified, he would rejoice in the fact that his whole scheme should come to nothing. The very next day, the first application was made for admission. On April 11th, orphans began to be admitted, and by May 18th there were in the house 26, and more daily expected. Several applications being made for children under seven, the conclusion was reached that, while vacancies were left,

the limit of years at first fixed should not be adhered to, but every new step was taken with care and prayer, that it should not be in the energy of the flesh, or in the wisdom of man, but in the power and wisdom of the spirit. How often we forget that solemn warning of the Holy Ghost, that even when our whole work is not imperiled by a false beginning, but is well laid upon a true foundation, we may carelessly build into it wood, hay, and stubble,

which will be burned up in the fiery ordeal that is to try every man's work of what sort it is. The first house had scarcely been open for girls when the way for the second was made plain, suitable premises being obtained at number one in the same street and a well-fitted matron being given in answer to prayer. On November 28th, some seven months after the opening of the first, the second house was opened.

Some of the older and abler girls from the first house were used for the domestic work of the second, partly to save hired help, and partly to accustom them to working for others, and thus give a proper dignity to what is sometimes despised as a degrading and manial form of service. By April 8, 1837, there were in each house 30 orphan children. The founder of this orphan work, who had at the first asked for 1,000 pounds of God,

tells us that, in his own mind, the thing was as good as done, so that he often gave thanks for this large sum as though already in hand. This habit of counting a promise as fulfilled had much to do with the triumphs of his faith and the success of his labor. now that the first part of his narrative of the lord's dealings was about to issue from the press he felt that it would much honor the master whom he served if the entire amount should be actually in hand before the narrative should appear and without anyone having been asked to contribute he therefore gave himself a new to prayer and on june fifteenth 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 18 months and 10 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 40. Difficulty is interposed, but as usual, disappeared before the power of prayer. Meanwhile, the whole work of the scriptural knowledge institution prospered, four-day schools having been established with over 1,000 pupils, and more than 4,000 copies of the Word of God having been distributed. George Mueller was careful always to consult and then to obey conviction. Hence, his moral sense, by healthy exercise, more and more clearly discerned good and evil. This conscientiousness was seen in the issue of the first edition of his narrative.

When the first 500 copies came from the publishers, he was so weighed down by misgivings that he hesitated to distribute them. Notwithstanding, the spirit of prayer with which he had begun continued, and ended the writing of it, and had made every correction in the proof, notwithstanding the motive, consciously cherished throughout, that God's glory might be promoted. in this record of his faithfulness. He reopened with himself the whole question whether this published narrative might not turn the eyes of men

from the great master workman to his human instrument. As he opened the box containing the reports, he felt strongly tempted to withhold from circulation the pamphlets it held. But from the moment when he gave out the first copy and the step could not be retraced, his scruples were silenced. He afterwards saw his doubts and misgivings to have been a temptation of Satan, and never thenceforth questioned that in writing, printing, and distributing this, and the subsequent parts of the narrative, he had done the will of God. So broad and clear was the divine seal set upon

it in the large blessing, it brought to many and widely scattered persons that no room was left for doubt. It may be questioned whether any like journal has been as a widely read and as remarkably used, both in converting sinners and in quickening saints. Proof of this will hereafter abundantly appear. It was in the year 1837 that Mr. Mueller, then in his 32nd 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 apparent expense of his public work.

And second, ample provision for the spiritual oversight of the flock of God, the total number of communicants now being near to 400. The former of these convictions has an emphasis which touches every believer's life at its vital center. George Mueller 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. Mueller afterward used to say to brethren, who had too much to do to spend proper time with God, that four hours of work, for which one hour of prayer prepares, is better than five hours of work with the praying left out, that our service to our master is more acceptable and our mission to man more profitable, when saturated with the moisture of God's blessing, the dew of the spirit. Whatever is gained in quantity is lost in quality, whenever one

engagement follows another without leaving proper intervals for refreshment and renewal of strength by waiting on God. No man, perhaps, since John Wesley, has accomplished so much, even in a long life as George Mueller. 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 inquiries needed pastoral oversight. Neither himself nor his brother Crake had time enough for visiting so large a flock, many of whom were scattered over the city, and about 50 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 interruption of visitors from near and far, the burdens of correspondence and the oversight of the Lord's work generally consumed so much time that even with two pastors, the needs of the church could not be met. At a meeting of both congregations in October, these matters were frankly brought before the believers, and it was made plain that other helpers should be provided, and the two churches so united as to lessen the number of separate meetings. In October 1837, a building was secured for a third orphan house, for boys,

but as the neighbors strongly opposed its use as a charitable institution, Mr. Mueller, with meekness of spirit, at once relinquished all claim upon the premises. Being mindful of the maxim of Scripture, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men. Romans 1318 He felt sure that the first of the first of the first of the first of the first of the first of 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.

Mueller. 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 Supermari, leading 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 born better than anything else. He concluded that whenever undue carefulness is expended on the body, it is very hard to avoid undue carelessness as to the soul, and that it is therefore much safer comparatively to disregard the body, that one may give himself holy to the culture of his spiritual health and the care of the Lord's work.

Though some may think that in this he ran to a fanatical extreme, there is no doubt that such became more and more a law of his life. He sought to dismiss all anxiety as a duty, and among other anxious cares, that most subtle and seductive form of solitude, which watches every change of symptoms, and rushes after some new medical man or medical remedy for all ailments real or fancied. Mr. Mueller 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 engrossed 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. Mueller. The symptoms were as bad as ever, and it particularly tried him that they were

attended by a tendency to irritability of temper, and even by a sort of satanic feeling, wholly foreign to him at other times. He was often reminded that he was by nature a child of wrath, even as others, and that as a child of God, he could stand against the wiles of the devil only by putting on the whole armor of God. The pavilion of God is the saint's place of rest. The panoply of God is his coat of mail. Grace does not at once remove or overcome all tendencies to evil, but if not eradicated, they are counteracted by the Spirit's wondrous working.

Peter found that so long as his eye was on his master, he could walk on the water. There is always a tendency to sink, and a holy walk with God that defies the tendency downward. is a divine art that can neither be learned nor practiced, except so long as we keep looking unto Jesus. That look of faith counteracts the natural tendency to sink, so long as it holds the soul closely to him. This man of God felt his risk, and sore as this trial was to him, he prayed not so much for its removal as that he might be kept from any open dishonor to the name of the Lord, beseeching God that he might rather die than ever bring on him reproach.

Mr. Mueller's journal is not only a record of his outer life of consecrated labor and its expansion, but it is a mirror of his inner life and its growth. It is an encouragement to all of those 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 illustration, and most wholesome instruction on this point. One entry records his deep thankfulness to God for the privilege of being permitted to be his instrument

in providing for homeless orphans as he watches the little girls clad in clean, warm garments, pass his window on their way to the chapel on the Lord's Day morning. A second entry records his determination, with God's help, to send no more letters in parcels because he sees it to be a violation of the postal laws of the land, and because he desires, as a disciple of the Lord Jesus, to submit himself to all human laws, so far as such submission does not conflict with loyalty to God.

A third entry immediately follows, which reveals the same man, struggling against those innate tendencies to evil which compel a continual resort to the Thrones of Grace with its sympathizing high priest. This morning, he writes, I greatly dishonor 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 gratitude for divine mercy, conscientious resolve at once to stop a doubtful practice, and a confession of inconsistency

in his home life. All of these are typical experiences and suggest to us means of gracious growth. He who lets no mercy of God escape thankful recognition, who never hesitates at once to abandon an evil or questionable practice, and who, instead of extenuating a sin because it is comparatively small, promptly confesses and forsakes it. Such a man will surely grow in Christ-likeness. We must exercise our spiritual senses if we are to discern things spiritual. There is a clear vision for God's goodness,

and there is a dull eye that sees little to be thankful for. There is a tender conscience, and there is a more, moral sense that grows less and less sensitive to evil. There is an obedience to the Spirit's rebuke, which leads to immediate confession and increases strength for every new conflict. Mr. Mueller cultivated habits of life, which made his whole nature more and more open to divine impression, and so his sense of God became more and more keen and constant. One great result of the spiritual culture was a growing absorption in God and jealousy for his glory. As he saw divine things more clearly and felt their supreme importance, he became engrossed in the magnifying of them before men,

and this is glorifying God. We cannot make God essentially any more glorious, for he is infinitely perfect, but we can help men to see what a glorious God he is, and thus come into that holy partnership with the Spirit of God, whose office it is to take of the things of Christ, and show them unto men, and so glorify Christ. Such fellowship in glorifying God, Mr. Mueller set before him, and in the light of such sanctified aspiration, we may read that humble entry in which reviewing the year 1837, with all its weight of increasing responsibility, he lifts his heart to his divine Lord and Master in these simple words, 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 has 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 namesake. Do not disgrace the throne of thy glory. Jeremiah 1421. Looking back over the growth of the work at the end of the year 1837, he puts on record the following facts and figures. Three orphan houses were now open with 81 children and nine helpers in charge of them. In the Sunday schools, they were 320, and in the day schools, 350, and the Lord had furnished over 307 pounds for temporal supplies. From this same point of view,

it may be well to glance back over the five years of labor in Bristol, up to July 1837. Between himself and his brother, Crake, uninterrupted harmony had existed from the beginning. They had been perfectly at one in their views of the truth, in their witness to the truth, and in their judgment as to all matters affecting the believers over whom the Holy Ghost had made them overseers. The children of God had been kept from heresy and schism under their joint pastoral care. And all these blessings, Mr. Mueller and his true yoke fellow humbly traced to the mercy and grace of the great shepherd and bishop of souls. Thus far, over 170 had been converted and admitted to fellowship, making the total number

of communicants 370, nearly equally divided between Bethesda and, and, and the same equally divided between Bethesda and Gideon. The whole history of these years is lit up with the sunlight of God's smile and blessing. End of Chapter 9 of George Mueller of Bristol by Arthur T. Pearson. Chapter 10 of George Mueller of Bristol. This is a Libravox recording. This Libravox recording is in the public domain. Recording by Dave Harrell. George Mueller of Bristol by Arthur T. Pearson. Chapter 10 The Word of God and Prayer 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 mold of the man as he is to be. At this point, therefore, special attention may properly be given to the two marked habits which had principally to do with the man we are studying. early in the year 1838, he began reading that third biography, which, with those of Frank and

John Newton, had such a singular influence on his own life, Philip's life of George Whitfield. The life story of the orphan's friend had given a primary impulse to his work. The life story of the converted blasphemer had suggested his narrative of the Lord's dealings. And now the life story of the great evangelist was, blessed of God to shape his general character and give new power to his preaching and his wider ministry to souls. These three biographies together probably affected the whole inward and outward life of George Mueller more than any other volumes but the book of God, and they were wisely fitted of God to co-work towards such a blessed result. The example of Frank incited to faith in prayer

and to a work whose sole dependence was on God. Newton's witness to grace led to a testimony to the same sovereign love and mercy as seen in his own case. Whitfield's experience inspired to greater fidelity and earnestness in preaching the word and to greater confidence in the power of the anointing spirit. Particularly was this impression deeply made

on Mr. Mueller's mind and heart that Whitfield's unparalleled success in evangelistic labors was plainly traceable to two causes and could not be separated from them as direct effects, namely his unusual prayerfulness and his habit of reading the Bible on his knees. The great evangelist of the last century had learned that first lesson in service, his own utter nothingness and helplessness, that he was nothing and could do nothing without God. He could either understand the word for himself, nor translate it into his own life, nor apply it to others with power, unless the Holy Spirit became to him both insight and unction.

Hence his success. He was filled with the Spirit, and this alone accounts for both the quality and the quantity of his labors. He died in 1770, in the 56th year of his age, having preached his first sermon in Gloucester in 1736. During this 34 years, his labors had been both unceasing and untiring. While on his journeyings in America, he preached 175 times in 75 days, besides traveling in the slow vehicles of those days, upwards of 800 miles. When health declined and he was put on short allowance, even that was one sermon each weekday and three on six. Sunday. There was about his preaching, moreover, a nameless charm which held 30,000 hearers half-breathless on Boston Common, and made tears pour down the sooty faces of the colliers at Kingswood.

The passion of George Mueller's soul was to know fully the secrets of prevailing with God and with man. George Whitfield's life drove home the truth that God alone could create in him a holy earnestness to win souls and qualify him for such divine work by imparting a compassion for the lost that should become an absorbing passion for their salvation. And let this be carefully marked as another secret of this life of service, he now began himself to read the word of God upon his knees and often found for ours 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 recognition of the need of spiritual teaching in order to the understanding of the holy oracles. No reader of God's word can thus bow before God and his open book, without a feeling of new reverence for the scriptures, and dependence on their author for insight into their mysteries. The attitude of worship naturally suggests sober-mindedness and deep seriousness, and banishes frivolity. To treat that book with lightness or irreverence would be doubly profane when one is in the posture of prayer. Again, such a habit naturally leads to

self-searching and comparison of the actual life with the example and pattern shown in the word. The precept compels the practice to be seen in the light of its teaching. The command challenges the conduct to appear for examination. The prayer, whether spoken or unspoken, will inevitably be, search me, O God, and know my heart, try me and know my thoughts, and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. Psalm 139, 23, and 24. The words thus reverently read will be translated into the life

and mold the character into the image of God. Beholding as in a glass, the glory of the Lord, we are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Lord, the Spirit. 2 Corinthians 318.

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 molded on the model of his teaching, how can we go astray? Here is our God-given liturgy and litany, a divine prayer book. We have here God's promises precepts, warnings, and counsels, not to speak of all the spirit-inspired literal prayers therein contained. And as we reflect upon these, our prayers take their cast in this matrix. We turn precept and promise, warning and counsel, into supplication, with the assurance that we

cannot be asking anything that is not in accordance to his will, for are we not turning his own word into prayer? So Mr. Mueller found it to be. In meditating over the first of his own word, for Hebrews 13-8, Jesus Christ the same yesterday and today and forever, 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 difficult to put into words. It provides a sacred channel of approach to God. The inspired scriptures form the vehicle of the Spirit in communicating to us the knowledge of the will of God. If we think of God on the one side and man on the other, the word of God is the motive conveyance from God to man, of his own mind and heart. It therefore becomes a channel of God's approach to us, a channel prepared by the spirit for the purpose and unspeakably sacred as such. When therefore the believer uses the word of God as the guide to determine both the spirit and the dialect of his prayer, he is inverting the process of divine revelation and using the channel of God's approach to him as the channel of his approach to God.

How can such use of God's word fail to help and strengthen spiritual life? What medium or channel of approach could so ensure 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 harkening for 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 strengthen him to lift up his hands in God's name, and follow hard after him and in him rejoice. Even his soul, affliction, seen in the light of such prayer, prayer itself illuminated by the word of God

became radiant, and his soul was brought into that state where he so delighted in the will of God as to be able from his heart to say that he would not have his disease removed until through it God had wrought the blessing it was meant to convey. And when his acquiescence in the will of God had become thus complete, he instinctively felt that he would speedily be restored to health. Subsequently, in reading Proverbs 3, 5 through 12, he was struck with the words, Neither be weary of his correction. He felt that, though he had not been permitted to despise the chastening of the Lord, he had at times been somewhat weary of his correction, and he lifted up the prayer that he might so patiently bear it as neither to faint nor be weary under it, till its full

purpose was wrought. Frequent were the instances of the habit of translating promises into prayers, immediately applying the truth thus unveiled to him. For example, after prolonged meditation over the first verse of Psalm 65, O thou that hear his prayer, he at once asked and recorded certain definite petitions. This writing down specific requests for a permanent reference has a blessed influence upon prayer habit. It assures practical and exact form for our supplications, impresses the mind and memory with what is thus asked of God, and leads naturally to the record of the answers when given,

so that we accumulate evidences in our own experience that God is to us personally a prayer-hearing God, whereby unbelief is rebuked and importunity encouraged. On this occasion, eight specific requests are put on record, together with the solemn conviction that, having asked in conformity with the word and will of God, and in the name of Jesus, he has confidence in him that he heareth, and that he has the petitions thus ask 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 14th day of January 1838. that when God has answered them, he may get, through this, glory to his name.

The thoughtful reader must see in all this a man of weak faith, feeding and nourishing his trust in God, that his faith may grow strong. He uses the promise of a prayer-hearing God as a staff to stay his conscious feebleness, that he may lean hard upon the strong word which cannot fail. He records the day when he thus takes this staff in hand, and the very petitions which are the burdens which he seeks to lay on God, so that his act of committal may be the more complete and final. Could God ever dishonor such trust?

It was in this devout reading on his knees that his whole soul was first deeply moved by that phrase, a father of the fatherless. Psalm 68.5. 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 910. They that know thy name will put their trust in thee. These five words from the 68th Psalm became another 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 supplied. This is translating the promises of God's word not only into praying, but into living, doing, serving.

Blessed was the hour when Mr. Mueller learned that one of God's chosen names is the father of the fatherless. To sustain such burdens would have been, quite impossible, but for faith in such a God. In reply to oft-repeated remarks of visitors and observers, who could not understand the secret of its peace, or how any man who had so many children to clothe and feed, could carry such prostrating loads of care, he had one uniform reply,

By the grace of God, this is no cause of anxiety to me. These children I have years ago cast upon the Lord. The whole work is his, and it becomes me to be without carefulness. In whatever points I am lacking, in this point, I am able by the grace of God to roll the burden upon my Heavenly Father. In tens of thousands of cases, this peculiar title of God, chosen by himself and by himself declared, became to Mr. Mueller a peculiar revelation of God, suited to his special need. The natural inferences drawn from such a title became powerful arguments in prayer and rebukes to all unbelief. Thus, at the outset of his work for the orphans,

the word of God put beneath his feet a rock basis of confidence that he could trust the Almighty Father to support the work. And as the solitudes of the work came more and more heavily upon him, he cast the loads he could not carry upon him, who, before George Mueller was born, was the father of the fatherless. About this time we meet other signs of the conflict going on in Mr. Mueller'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 fatalism as so many do. He saw that God must be sovereign in his gifts, and yet man must be free in his reception and rejection of them. He admitted the mystery without attempting to reconcile the apparent contradiction. He confesses also that the same book, Philip's Life of Whitfield, 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 Mueller's life is full of both encouragement and admonition to fellow disciples. While away from Bristol, he wrote in February 1838, a tender letter to the saints there, which is another revelation of the man's heart. He makes grateful mention of the mercies of God to him, particularly his gentleness, long-suffering,

and faithfulness, and the lessons taught him through affliction. The letter makes plain that much sweetness is mixed in the cup of suffering, and that our privileges are not properly prized until for a time we are deprived of them. He particularly mentions how secret prayer, even when reading, conversation, or prayer with others was a burden, always brought relief to his head. Converse with the father was an indispensable source of refreshment and blessing at all times. As Jay Hudson Taylor says, Satan, the hinderer, may build a barrier about us, but he can never roof us in, so that we cannot look up.

Mr. Mueller also gives a valuable hint that has already been of value to many afflicted saints, that he found he could help by prayer to fight the battles of the Lord, even when he could not by preaching. After a short visit to Germany, partly in quest of health and partly for missionary objects, and after more than 22 weeks of retirement from ordinary public duties, his head was much better, but his mental health allowed only about three hours of daily work.

While in Germany, he had again seen his father and elder brother, and spoken with them about their salvation. To his father, his words brought apparent blessing, for he seemed at least to feel his lack of the one thing needful. The separation from him was the more painful as there was so little hope that they should meet again on earth. In May, he once more took part in public service 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. Mueller gave birth to a stillborn babe, another parental disappointment, and for more than a fortnight her life hung in the balance. But once more, prayer prevailed for her and her days were prolonged.

One month later, another trial of faith confronted them in the orphan work. A 12-month previous, there were in hand 780 pounds, now that sum was reduced to 139th of the amount, 20 pounds. Mr. and Mrs. Mueller, with Mr. Craig and one other brother, connected with the boy's 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. Mueller 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 30 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 trial hour had come, but was not passed. less than two months later the money supply ran so low that it was needful that the Lord should give by 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. Mueller, why not lay aside three pounds against the coming need? But immediately he remembered that it is written, sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. He unhesitatingly cast himself upon God, and paid out the whole amount for salaries then due, leaving himself again penniless.

At this time Mr. Craig was led to read a sermon on Abraham from Genesis 12, 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. Mueller heard this sermon and conscientiously applied it to himself. He drew two most practical conclusions, 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 permitted to honor God and bring some glory to his name by trusting him, he was in danger of dishonoring 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 220 pounds, entrusted 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, because he knew the donors and knew them to be liberal supporters of the orphans, and he had only to explain to them the straits he was in, and they would gladly consent to any appropriation of their gift that he might see best. Most men would have cut that Gordian knot of perplexity without hesitation.

Not so, George Mueller. 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 expedience of his own, which in other trials would lead to a son. similar course, and so hinder the growth of faith. Here is revealed one of the tests by which this man of faith was proven, and we see how he kept consistently and persistently to the one great purpose of his life, to demonstrate to all men that to rest solely on the promise of a faithful God is the only

way to know for oneself 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 11 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 purel, and yet it is abundantly taught and exemplified in Scripture. Abraham and his plea for Sodom is the first great example of it. Moses excelled in this art, in many crises interceding in behalf of the people with consummate skill, marshalling arguments as a general-in-chief marshal's battalions. Elijah on Carmel is a striking example of power in this special pleading. What holy zeal and jealousy for God? It is probable that if we had fuller records, we should find that all pleaders with God,

like Noah, Job, Samuel, David, Daniel, Jeremiah, Paul, and James have used the same method. Of course, God does not need to be convinced. No arguments can make any plainer to him the claims of trusting souls to his intervention, claims based upon his own word, confirmed by his oath. And yet he will be inquired of and argued with. That is his way of blessing.

He loves to have us set before him our cause and his own promises. He delights in the well-ordered plea, where argument is piled upon argument. See how the Lord Jesus Christ commended the persistent argument of the woman of Canaan, who with the wit of importunity actually turned his own objection into a reason. He said, it is not meat to take the children's bread and cast it to the little dogs. Truth, Lord, she answered, yet the little dogs under the master's tables eat of the crumbs

which fall from the children's mouths. What a triumph of argument. Catching the master himself, in his words, as he meant she should, and turning his apparent reason for not granting, into a reason for granting her request. O woman, said he, great is thy faith, be it unto thee even as thou wilt. Thus, as Luther said, flinging the reins on her neck. This case stands unique in the word of God, and it is this use of argument and prayer

that makes it thus solitary in grandeur. But one other case is at all parallel, that of the centurion of Comparthium, who when our Lord promised to go and heal his servant argued that such coming was not needful, since he had only to speak the healing word. And notice the basis of his argument. If he, a commander exercising authority and yielding himself to higher authority, both obeyed the word of his superior and exacted obedience of his subordinate,

how much more could the great healer in his absence, by a word of command, wield the heeler, healing power that in his presence was obedient to his will. Of him, likewise, our Lord said, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel. We are to argue our case with God, not indeed, to convince 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 himself. 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 7.20, 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 obligation to extend covenant blessings. Hence, it was to Abraham a simple act of pure mercy. But having so put himself under voluntary bonds, Jacob could claim as truth what to Abraham had been mercy. So, in 1. John 1.9, 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 matters of faithfulness and justice, but of mercy and grace. But after God had pledged himself thus to forgive and cleanse the penitent sinner who confesses and forsakes his sins, what was originally grace and mercy becomes faithfulness and justice. For God owes it to himself and to his creature to stand by his own pledge and fulfill the lawful expectation which his own grace's assurance has created. Thus we have not only examples of argument and prayer, but concessions of the living God himself, that when we have his word to plead, we may claim the fulfillment of his promise.

on the ground not of his mercy only, but of his truth, faithfulness, and justice. Hence, the holy boldness with which we are bidden to present our plea at the throne of grace, God owes to his faithfulness to do what he has promised

and to his justice not to exact from the sinner a penalty already born in his behalf by his own son. No man of his generation, perhaps, has been more wont to please, plead thus with God, after the manner of holy argument, than he whose memoir we are now writing. He was one of the elect few to whom it has been given to revive and restore this lost art

of pleading with God. And if all disciples could learn the blessed lesson, what a period of renaissance of faith would come to the Church of God. George Mueller stored up reasons for God's intervention. As he came upon promises authorized declarations of God concerning himself, names and titles he had chosen to express and reveal his true nature and will, injunctions and invitations which gave to the believer a right to pray and boldness in supplication, as he saw all these fortified and exemplified by the instances of prevailing prayer, he laid these arguments up in memory, and then on occasions of great need brought them out and spread them before a prayer hearing God.

It is pathetically beautiful to follow this humble man of God into the secret place, and there hear him pouring out his soul in these argumentative pleadings, as though he would so order his cause before God, as to convince him that he must interposed to save his own name and word from dishonored. These were his orphans, for had he not declared himself 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? It 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 dishonored even in the least particular? Were not the half-believing church and the unbelieving world looking on to see how the living God would stand by his own unchanging assurance, and would he supply an argument for the skeptic and the scoffer? Would he not, must he not, rather put new proofs of his faithfulness in the mouth

of his saints, and furnish increasing arguments wherewith to silence the cavilling tongue and put to shame the hesitating disciple? In some such fashion as this did this lowly-minded saint in Bristol plead with God for more than three score years, and prevail, as every true believer may, who with a like boldness comes to the throne of grace to obtain mercy and find grace to help in 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.

End of chapter 10 of George Mueller of Bristol by Arthur T. Pearson. Chapter 11 of George Mueller of Bristol. This is a Libravox recording. This Libervox recording is in the public domain. Recording by Dave Harrell. George Mueller of Bristol by Arthur T. Pearson. Chapter 11. Trials of faith.

and helpers to faith. God has his own mathematics. Witness that miracle of the loaves and fishes. Our Lord said to his disciples, give ye them to eat. And as they divided, he multiplied the scanty provision. As they subtracted from it, he added to it. As they decreased it by distributing, he increased it for distributing. And it has been beautifully said of all holy partnerships that griefs shared are divided, and joys shared are multiplied. We have already seen how the prayer circle had been enlarged. The founder of the orphan work, at the first, had only God for his partner, telling him alone his own wants or the needs of his work. Later on, a very few, including his own wife, Mr. Craig and one or two helpers were permitted to know the condition of the funds and supplies.

Later still, in the autumn of 1838, he began to feel that he ought more fully to open the doors of his confidence to his associates in the Lord's business. Those who shared in the toils should also share in the prayers, and therefore in the knowledge of the needs which prayer was to supply, else how could they fully be partakers of the faith, the work, and the reward? Or again, how could they feel the full proof of the presence and power of God in the answers to prayer? Know the joy of the Lord which such answers inspire, or praise him for the deliverance which such answers exhibit. It seemed plain that, to the highest glory of God,

they must know the depths of need, the extremities of want out of which God had lifted them, and then ascribe all honor and praise to his name. Accordingly, Mr. Mueller called together all the beloved brothers and sisters linked with him in the conduct of the work, and fully stated the case, keeping nothing back. He showed them the distress they were in,

while he bade them be of good courage, assuring them of his own confidence that help was nigh at hand, and then united them with himself, and the smaller praying circle which had previously existed, in supplication to Jehovah Jira. The step thus taken was of no small importance to all concerned. A considerable number of praying believers were henceforth added to the band of intercessors that gave God no rest day nor night. While Mr. Mueller withheld no facts as to the straits to which the work was reduced,

he laid down certain principles which from time to time were reiterated as unchanging laws for the conduct of the Lord's business. For example, nothing must be bought, whatever the extremity, for which there was not money in hand to pay. And yet it must be equally a settled principle that the children must not be left to lack anything needful, for better that the work cease and the orphans be sent away than that they be kept in a nominal home where they were really left to suffer from hunger or nakedness. Again, nothing was ever to be revealed to outsiders of existing need, lest it should be construed into an appeal for help. But the only resort must be to the living God. The helpers were often reminded that the supreme object of the institutions, founded in Bristol, was to prove God's faithfulness and the perfect

safety of trusting solely to his promises. Jealousy for him must therefore restrain all tendency to look to man for help. Moreover, they were earnestly besought to live in such daily and hourly fellowship with God as that their own unbelief and disobedience might not risk either their own power in prayer or the agreement, needful among them, in order to common supplication. One discordant note may prevent the harmonious symphony of United Prayer, and so far hinder the acceptableness of such prayer with God. Thus informed and instructed, these devoted co-workers, with the beloved founder of the orphan work, met the crisis intelligently. If, when there were no funds, there must be no leaning upon man, no debt incurred, and yet no lack allowed. Clearly, the only resort or resource must be waiting

upon the unseen God. And so in these straits, and in every succeeding crisis, they went to him alone. The orphans themselves were never told of any existing need. In every case, there once were met, though they knew not how. The barrel of meal might be empty, yet there was always a handful when needed, and the crews of oil was never so exhausted that a few drops were not left to moisten the handful of meal. Famine and drought never reached the Bristol Orphanage. The supplies might come slowly, and only for one day at a time, but somehow, when the need was urgent and could no longer wait, there was enough, though it might be barely enough to meet the want. It should be added here, as completing this part of the narrative, that in August 1840, this circle of prayer was still

further enlarged by admitting to its intimacies of fellowship and supplication the brethren and sisters who labored in the day schools, the same solemn injunctions being repeated in their case against any betrayal to outsiders of the crises that might arise. To impart the knowledge of affairs to so much larger a band of helpers brought in every way a greater blessing, and especially so to the helpers themselves. Their earnest, believing, importunate prayers were thus called forth, and God only knows how much the consequent progress of the work was due to their faith, supplication, and self-denial. The practical knowledge of the exigencies of their common experience begat an unselfishness of spirit, which prompted countless acts of heroic sacrifice

that have no human record or written history, and can be known only when the pages of the Lord's own journal are read by an assembled universe in the day when the secret things are brought to light. It has, since Mr. Mueller's departure, transpired how larger share of the donations received are to be traced to him, but there is no means of ascertaining

as to the aggregate amount of the secret gifts of his coworkers in this sacred circle. of prayer. We do know, however, that Mr. Mueller was not the only self-denying giver, though he may lead the host. His true yoke fellows often turned the crisis by their own offerings, which though small were costly. Instrumentally, they were used of God to relieve existing want by their gifts, for out of the abundance of their deep poverty abounded the riches of their liberality. The money they gave was sometimes like the widow's two mites, all their living, and not only the last penny, but ornaments, jewels, heirlooms, long-kept and cherished treasures, like the alabaster flask of ointment

which was broken upon the feet of Jesus, were laid down on God's altar as a willing sacrifice. They gave all they could spare, and often what they could ill-spaer, 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. Mueller's only, but there is also, who with him took part in prayers and tears in cares and toils, in self-denials and self-offerings, whereby God chose to carry forward his plans for these homeless waifs. It was in thus giving that all these helpers found also new power, assurance, and blessing in pray. For, as one of them said, he felt that it would scarcely be upright to pray, except he were to give what he had. The helpers,

thus admitted into Mr. Mueller's confidence, came into more active sympathy with him and the work, and partook increasingly of the same spirit. Of this, some few instances and examples have found their way into his journal. The gentlemen and some ladies visiting the orphan houses saw the large number of little ones to be cared for. One of the ladies said to the matron of the boys' house, Of course, you cannot carry on these institutions without a good stock of funds. And the gentleman added, have you a good stock? The quiet answer was,

Our funds are deposited in a bank which cannot break. The reply drew tears from the eyes of the lady, and a gift of five pounds from the pocket of the gentleman, a donation most opportune, as there was not one penny then in hand. Fellow laborers such as these who asked nothing for themselves, but cheerfully looked to the Lord for their own supplies and willingly parted with their own money or goods in the hour of need,

filled Mr. Mueller's heart with praise to God, and held up his hands, as Aaron and her sustained those of Moses, till the son of his life went down. During all the years of his superintendents, these were the main human support of his faith and courage. They met with him in daily prayer, faithfully kept among themselves the secrets of the Lord's work in the great trials of faith.

And when the hour of triumph came, they felt it to be both duty and privilege in the annual report to publish their deliverance, to make their boast in God, that all men might know his love and faithfulness, and ascribe unto him glory. From time to time, in connection with the administration of the work, various questions arose which have a wider bearing on all departments of Christian service,

for their solution enters into what may be called the ethics and economics of the Lord's work. At a few of these we may glance. As the Lord was dealing with them by the day, it seemed clear that they were to live by the day. No dues should be allowed to accumulate, even such as would naturally accrue from ordinary weekly surprise of bread, milk, etc. From the middle of September 1838,

it was therefore determined that every article bought was to be paid for at the time. Again, rent became due in stated amounts and at stated times. This want was therefore not unforeseen, and looked at in one aspect rent was due daily or weekly, though collected at longer intervals. The principle having been laid down that no debt should be incurred, it was considered as implying that the amount due for rent should be put aside daily,

or at least weekly, even though not then payable. This rule was henceforth adopted, with this understanding, that money thus laid aside was sacred to that end, and not to be drawn upon, even due to be drawn upon, even by. 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 mingled with prayer.

sense of thanksgiving, making fragrant the flame of supplication. God's interposing power and love could not be doubted, and in fact made them more impression as unquestionable facts, because help came so frequently at the hour of extremity, and in the exact form or amount needed. Before the provision was entirely exhausted, there came new supplies or the money wherewith to buy, so that these many mouths were always fed, and these many bodies always clad. 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, but 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 favor of the orphans as when the previous balance sheet had been prepared. Mr. Mueller's calm but evasive answer was, it will be 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. Mueller takes pains to

assure his readers that these straits were never a surprise to him, and that his expectations in the matter of funds were not disappointed, but rather the reverse. He had looked for great emergencies as essential to his full witness to a prayer hearing God. The Almighty Hand can never be clearly seen while any human help is sought for or is in sight. We must turn absolutely away from all else if we are to turn fully unto the living God. The deliverance is signal only in proportion as the danger is serious, and is most significant when, without God, we face absolute despair. Hence, the exact end for which the whole work was mainly begun could be attained only through such

conditions of extremity and such experiences of interposition in extremity. Some who have known but little of the interior history of the orphan work have very naturally accounted for the regularity of supplies by supposing that the public statements made about it by the word of mouth and especially by the pen in the printed annual reports have concentrated instituted appeals for aid. Unbelief would interpret all God's working, however wonderful, by natural laws, and the carnal mind refusing to see in any of the manifestations of God's power, any supernatural force at work, persists in thus explaining away all the miracles of prayer. No doubt, humane and sympathetic hearts have been strongly moved by the remarkable ways in which God

has day by day provided for all these orphans, as well as the other branches of work of the scriptural knowledge institution. And believing souls have been drawn into loving and hearty sympathy with work so conducted and have been led to become its helpers. It is a well-known fact that God has used these annual reports to accomplish just such results. Yet it remains true that these reports were never intended or issued as appeals for aid. and no dependence has been placed upon them for securing timely help. It is also undeniable that, however frequent their issue, widen their circulation, 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. Mueller and his helpers were singularly kept from all undue leaning upon any such indirect appeals, and frequently and definitely ask 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 God.

This great object Mr. Mueller 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, the orphans. The burden of every report is to induce the reader to venture wholly upon God, to taste and see that the Lord is good, and find for himself how blessed are all they that put their trust in him. Only in the light of this supreme purpose can these records of a life of faith be read intelligently and intelligibly. Weakness of body again in the autumn of 1839, compelled for a time, rest from active labor. and Mr. Mueller went to Trowbridge in Exeter, Tainmouth and Plymouth.

God had precious lessons for him, which he could best teach in the School of Affliction. While at Plymouth, Mr. Mueller felt anew the impulse to early rising for purposes of devotional communion. At Halle, he had been an early riser, influenced by zeal for excellence in study. afterwards when his weak head and feeble nerves made more sleep seem needful, he judged that even when he rose late, the day would be long enough to exhaust his little fund of strength. And so often he lay in bed till six or seven o'clock, instead of rising at four, and after dinner took a nap for a quarter hour. It now grew upon him, however, that he was losing in spiritual vigor, and that his soul's health was declining under this new rise.

regimen. The work now so pressed upon him as to prevent proper reading of the word and rob him of leisure for secret prayer. A chance remark, there is no chance in a believer's life, made by the brother at whose house he was abiding at Plymouth, much impressed him. Referring to the sacrifices in Leviticus, he said that, as the refuse of the animals was never offered up on the altar, but only the best parts and the fat, so the choicest of our time and strength, the best parts of our day, should be especially given to the Lord in worship and communion. George Mueller meditated much on this, and determined, even at the risk of damage to bodily health, that he would no longer spend his best hours in bed.

Henceforth, he allowed himself but seven hours sleep and gave up his after-dinner rest. This resumption of early rising secured long seasons of uninterrupted interviews with God in prayer and meditation on the scriptures before breakfast and the various inevitable interruptions that followed. He found himself not worse but better physically and became convinced that to have lain longer in bed as before would have kept his nerves weak. And as to spiritual life, such new vitality and vigor accrued from. thus waiting upon God while others slept, that it continued to be the habit of his afterlife. In November 1839, when the needs were again great and the supplies very small, he was kept in peace. I was not, he says, looking at the little in hand, but at the fullness 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 laborers had put forward his valuable watch as a security for the return of money laid by for rent, but drawn upon for the time. Yet even this plan was not felt to be scriptural, as the watch might be reckoned among articles. needful and useful in the Lord's service. And if such, expedients were quite abandoned, the deliverance would be more manifest as of the Lord. And so one by one, all resorts were laid aside that might imperil full trust and sole dependence upon the one and only helper. When the poverty of their resources seemed most pinching, Mr. Mueller 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 his love, ill health, combined with a mission to Germany, to lead Mr. Mueller for five weeks to the continent.

At Hemerzleben, where he found his father weakened by a serious cough, the two rooms in which he spent most time in prayer and reading of the word and confession to the Lord were the same in which, nearly 20 years before, he had passed most time as an unreconciled sinner against God and man. Later on, at Wolfenbutel, he saw the inn, once in 1821, he ran away, in debt. In taking leave once more of his father, he was pierced by a keen anguish, fearing it was his last farewell, and an unusual tenderness and affection were now exhibited by his father, whom he earned more and more to know as safe in the Lord Jesus, and depending no longer on outward and formal religiousness, or substituting the reading of prayers and of Scripture

for an inward conformity to Christ. This proved, though, 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-Leban, Mr. Mueller met his friend, Mr. Stolschmidt, and found a little band of disciples meeting in secret to evade the police. Those who have always breathed the atmosphere of religious liberty, no little of such intolerance as in that nominally Christian land stifled all freedom of worship. Eleven years before, when Mr. Stalshmidt's servant had come to this place, he had found scarce one true disciple beside his master.

The first meetings had been literally of but two or three, and when they had grown a little larger, Mr. Kroll was summoned before the magistrates, and, like the apostles in the first days of the church, forbidden to speak in his name. But again, like those same, primitive disciples, believing that they were to obey God rather than men, the believing band had continued to meet, notwithstanding police raids which were so disturbing, and government

fines which were so exacting. So secret, however, were their assemblies as to have neither stated place nor regular time. George Mueller found these persecuted believers, meeting in the room of a humble weaver where there was but one chair. The twenty-five or a thousand, 30 who were present, found such places to sit or stand as they might, in and about the loom, which itself filled half the space. In Halberstadt, Mr. Mueller found seven large Protestant churches without one clergyman who gave evidence of true conversion, and the few genuine disciples there were likewise forbidden to meet together.

A few days after returning to Bristol from his few weeks in Germany, and at a time of great financial distress in the work, a letter reached him from a brother who had often before given money as follows. Have you any present need for the institution under your care? I know you do not ask, except indeed of him whose work you are doing. But to answer when asked seems another thing, and a right thing. I have a reason for desiring to know the present state of your means toward the objects you are laboring to serve, that is to say, should you not have need, other departments of the Lord's work, or other people of the Lord may have need. Kindly then inform me, and to what amount?

In other words, what amount you at this present time need or can profitably lay out? To most men, even those who carry on a work of faith and prayer, such a letter would have been at least a temptation, but Mr. Mueller did not waver. To announce even to an inquirer the exact needs of the work would, in his opinion, involved two serious risks. One, it would turn his own eyes away from God to man. Two, it would turn the minds of saints away from dependent solely upon him.

This man of God had staked everything upon one great experiment. He had set himself to prove that the prayer which resorts to God only will bring help in every crisis, even when the crisis is unknown to his people, whom he uses as the means of relief and help. At this time there remained in hand but 27 pence hopiny, in all, to meet the needs of hundreds of orphans. Nevertheless, this 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 asking for money and answering when asked.

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 100 pounds, which came when not one penny was in hand. The confidence of faith, long tried, had its increasing reward and was strengthened

by experience. In July 1845, Mr. Mueller 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 forsaken the work, that we were brought so low, my soul was so strengthened and encouraged. that I have not only been allowed to distrust the Lord since that time,

but I have not even been cast down when in the deepest poverty. End of Chapter 11 of George Mueller of Bristol by Arthur T. Pearson. Chapter 12 of George Mueller of Bristol. This is a Libravox recording. This Libervox recording is in the public domain. George Mueller of Bristol by Arthur T. Pearson. Chapter 12. New lessons in God's School of Prayer. The teacher must also be a learner, and therefore only he who continues to learn is competent to continue to teach. Nothing but new lessons,

daily mastered, can keep our testimony fresh and vitalizing and enable us to give advanced 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 Mueller's experiences of prevailing prayer went on constantly accumulating, and so qualified him to speak to others, not as on a matter of speculation, theory, or doctrinal belief, but of long, varied, and successful personal experiment. Patiently, carefully, and frequently,

he seeks to impress on others the conditions of effective supplication. From time to time, he met those to whom his courageous, childlike trust in God was a mystery. And occasionally unbelief's secret misgivings found a voice in the question, what he would do if God did not send help? What if a meal time actually came with no food and no money to procure it, or if clothing were worn out, and nothing to replace it. 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 attitude. For the sake of such readers as might need further guidance, 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. First, entire dependence upon the merits and mediation of the Lord Jesus Christ as the only

ground of any claim for blessing. See John 1413. Second, separation from all known sin. If we regard iniquity in our hearts, the Lord will not hear us, for it would be sanctioning sin. Psalm 6818. Third, 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 11.6. Fourth, asking in accordance with his will. Our motives must be godly.

We must not seek any gift. of God to consume it upon our own lusts. James 4.3. Fifth, importunity in supplication. There must be waiting on God and waiting for God, as the husbandman has long patience to wait for the harvest. James 5.7. The importance of firmly fixing in mind,

principles such as these, cannot be overstated. The first lays the basis of all prayer in our oneness with the great high priest. The second states a condition of prayer found in abandonment of sin. The third reminds us of the need of honoring God by faith that he is and is the rewarder of the diligent seeker. The fourth reveals the sympathy with God that helps us to ask what is for our good and his glory. The last teaches us that having laid hold of God in prayer, we are to keep hold until till his arm is outstretched in blessing.

Worth these conditions do not exist, for God to answer prayer would be both a dishonor to himself and a damage to the suppliant. To encourage those who come to him in their own name, or in a self-righteous, self-seeking and disobedient spirit, would be to set a premium upon continuance and sin. To answer the requests of the unbelieving would be to disregard the double-eastern, 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 a 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. Mueller's feelings and convictions about this matter more profound and subduing. He saw the vital relation of prayer to holiness and perpetually sought to impress it upon both his hearers and readers. And remembering that for the purpose of persuasion, the most effective figure of speech is repetition. He hesitated at no frequency of restatement 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 prevailed 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, make supplication and offense to God. Again, all prayer prevails only in the measure of our real, even if not conscious unity with the Lord Jesus Christ as the ground of our approach, and in the degree of our dependence on Him as the medium of our access to God. 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 plain of faith. that is, we must maintain the believing frame, expecting the blessing, and being ready to receive it in God's way in 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 10 pounds for the orphans, and at a time specially opportune, Mr. Mueller records his triumphant joy in God as exceeding 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 deliverance. Help had been so long delayed that in one of the houses there was no bread, and in none of them any milk or any money to buy either. It was only a few minutes before the milkman's cart was due, that this money came. However faithful and trustful in prayer, it behooves us to be nonetheless careful and diligent in the use of all proper means. Here again,

Mr. Mueller's whole life is a lesson to other believers. For example, when traveling in other lands or helping other brethren on their way, he besought the Lord's constant guardianship over the conveyances used, and even over the luggage so liable to go astray. But he himself looked carefully to the seaworthiness of the vessel he was to sail in, and to every other condition of safe and speedy transportation for himself and others. In one case where certain German brethren and sisters were departing for foreign shores, he noticed the manner in which the cabman stored away the small luggage in the fly, and observed that several carpet bags were hastily thrust into a hind boot. He also carefully counter the pieces of luggage, and took note of the fact that there were

17 in all. On arriving at the wharf, where there is generally much hurry and flurry, the dishonest cabman would have driven off with a large part of the property belonging to the party. But for this man of God who not only 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 porters, was compelled to open that hind boot, and, greatly to his own confusion, deliver up the five or six bags hidden away there. Mr. Mueller adds in his narrative that such a circumstance should teach one to make the very smallest, affairs a subject of prayer, as, for instance, that all the luggage might be safely taken out of a

fly. May we not add that such a circumstance teaches us that companion lessons quite as important in its way, that we are to be watchful as well as prayerful, and see that a desalus cab driver does not run off with another's goods. This praying saint, who watched man, most of all watchful, watched God. Even in the lesser details of his work, his eye was ever looking for God's unfailing supplies and taking notice of the divine leadings and dealings. And afterward, there always followed the fruit of the lips, giving thanks to his name. Here is another secret revealed. Prayerfulness and thankfulness. Those two handmaids of God always go together, each helping the other. Pray without

ceasing. In everything, give thanks. First Lessonians 5, 17, and 18. These two precepts stand side by side where they belong, and he who neglects one will find himself disobeying the other. This man who prayed so much and so well offered the sacrifice of praise to God continually. For example, on September 21st, 1840, a specific entry was made in the narrative, 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 being forsaken because of death or want of means, or want of love, or because of the claims of other work. How precious to have learned in any measure to be content to stand with God alone in the world, and to know that surely no good thing shall be withheld from us whilst we walk uprightly. Among the gifts received during this long life of stewardship for God, some deserve individual mention. To an offering received in March 1839, a peculiar history attaches. The circumstances attending its reception made upon him a deep impression. He had given a copy of annual report to a believing brother who had been greatly stirred up to prayer by reading it,

and knowing his own sister, who was also a disciple, to possess sundry costly ornaments and jewels, such as a heavy gold chain, a pair of gold bracelets, and a superb ring set with fine brilliance, this brother besought the Lord 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. Mueller's heart specially rejoiced in God. But the proceeds of the sale of these ornaments, he was helped to meet the expenses of a whole week, and besides to pay the salaries due to the helpers. But before disposing of the diamond ring, he wrote with it upon the window pane of his own room that precious name and title of the Lord, Jehovah Jira. And henceforth, whenever in deep poverty, he cast his eyes upon those two words

imperishably written with the point of a diamond upon that pain, he thankfully remembered that the Lord will provide. 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 word, words on the palms of their hands, the doorposts of their houses, and on their gates. So that the employments of their hands, their goings out and comings in, their personal and home life might be constant reminders of Jehovah's everlasting faithfulness. He who inscribed this chosen name of God upon the window pane of his dwelling found that every ray of sunlight that shone into his room lit up his Lord's promise.

thus sums up the experiences of the year 1840. 1. Notwithstanding multiplied trials of faith, the orphans have lacked nothing. 2. Instead of being disappointed in his expectations or work, the reverse had been true. Such trials being seen to be needful to demonstrate that the Lord was their helper in times of need. 3. Such a way of living brings the Lord very near, as one who daily inspects the need that he may send the more timely aid. 4. Such constant, instant reliance upon divine help does not so absorb the mind in temporal things as to unfit for spiritual employments and enjoyments, but rather prompts to habitual

communion with the Lord and His Word. 5. Other children of God may not be called to a similar work, but are called to alike faith, and may experience similar interposition if they live according to his will and seek his help. Sixth, the incurring of debt, being unscriptural, is a sin-needy confession and abandonment if we desire unhindered fellowship with God and experience of his interposition. It was in this year, 1840 also, that a further object was embraced in the work of the Scripture-knowledge institution, namely the circulation of Christian books and tracks. 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 Mueller, gives himself to prayer, for the coincidences will prove too exact and frequent between demand and supply. Time. 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 visitation of judgment, where the penalty peculiarly befits the crime. As poetic lines harmonize, rhyme and rhythm showing the work of a designing hand, so there is often harmony between an offense and its retribution. As when Adonai B.

Zhezek, who had 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 916, The Lord is known by the judgment which he executeth. The wicked is snared in the work of his own hands. The inspired thought is that the punishment of evildoers is in exact correspondence with the character of their evil doings as to show that it is the Lord executing vengeance. The penalties shows a designing hand.

He who watches the peculiar retributive judgments of God, how he causes those who set snares and pitfalls for others to fall into them themselves. Will not doubt that behind such poetic retribution there is an intelligent judge. Somewhat so, the poetic harmony between prayer, and its answer silences all question as to a discriminating hear of the suppliant soul. A single case of such answered prayer might be accounted accidental, but ever since men began to call upon the name of the Lord, there have been such repeated, striking, and marvelous correspondences between the requests of man and the replies of God that the inference is perfectly

safe. The induction has too broad a basis and too large a body of particulars to allow mistake. The coincidences are both too many and too exact to admit the doctrine of chance. We are compelled, not to say justified, to conclude that the only sufficient and reasonable explanation must be found in a God who hears and answers prayer. Mr. Mueller 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. Mueller the knowledge of the experiences that accompanied or preceded their offerings. As for example, when, without any intimation being given them from man that there was special need, the heart was impressed in prayer to God that there was an emergency requiring prompt assistance. For example, in June 1841, 50 pounds were received with these words. I am not concerned at my having been prevented for so many days from sending this money. I am confident it has not been needed. This last sentence is remarkable, says Mr. Mueller.

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 50 pounds was not needed. From the beginning in July 1838, till now, there never had been a period when we so abounded as when this donation came, for there were then, in the Orphan Fund and the other funds, between two and three hundred pounds. The words of our brother are so much the more remarkable as on four former occasions when he likewise gave considerable donations, we were always in need, yea, great need,

which he afterwards knew from the printed accounts. Prevailing prayer is largely conditioned on constant obedience. Whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things which are well-pleasing in his sight. 1. John 3.22. There is no way of keeping. keeping in close touch with God, unless a new step is taken in advance whenever new light is given.

Here is another of the life secrets of George Mueller. Without unduly counting the cost, he followed every leading of God. In July 1841, both Mr. Craig and Mr. Mueller were impressed that the existing mode of receiving free will offerings from those among whom they labored was inexpedient. These contributions were deposited in boxes, over which the their names were placed with an explanation of the purpose to which such offerings were applied. But it was felt that this might have the appearance of unduly elevating them above others, as though they were assuming official importance or excluding others from full and equal

recognition as laborers in word and doctrine. They therefore decided to discontinue this mode of receiving such offerings. Such an act of obedience may seem to some over-scrupulous, but it costs some inward struggles. For it threatened the possible and probable decrease in supplies for their own needs, and the question naturally arose how such lack should be supplied. Happily, Mr. Mueller had long ago settled a question that to follow a clear sense of duty is always safe. He could say, in every such crisis,

O God, my heart is fixed, my heart is fixed, trusting in thee. Psalm 112. Seven. Once for all, having made such a decision, such apparent risks did not for a moment disturb his peace. Somehow or other, the Lord would provide, and all he had to do was to serve and trust him and leave the rest to his fatherhood. 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 muller 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 woman gave two pence, adding, it is but a trifle, but I must give it to you. Yet so opportune was the gift of these two mites that one of these two pence

was just what was at that time needed to make up the sum required to buy bread for immediate use. At another time, eight pence more being necessary to provide for the next meal, but seven pence were in hand. But on opening one of the boxes, one penny only was found deposited, and thus a single penny was traced to the father's care. It was in December of the same year, 1841, that in order to show how solely dependence was placed on the heavenly provider, it was determined to delay for a while,

both the holding of any public meeting and the printing, of the annual report. Mr. Mueller was confident that, though no word should be either spoken or printed about the work and its needs, the means would still be supplied. As a matter of fact, the report of 1841 to 42

was thus postponed for five months. And so, in the midst of deep poverty, and partly because of the very pressure of such need, another bold step was taken, which, like the cutting away of the ropes that held the lifeboat in that Mediterranean shipwreck through Mr. Mueller 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. Mueller's faith been tried so sharply as between December 12, 1841, and April 12, 1842. During these four months, again, it was as though God were saying, I will now see whether indeed you truly lean on me and look to me. At any time during this trial, Mr. Mueller might have changed his course, holding the public meeting and publishing the report, for outside the few who were in his counsels, no one knew of the determination, and in fact, many children of God, looking for the usual years' journal of the Lord's dealings, were surprised at the delay. But the conclusion conscientiously reached was for the glory of the Lord, as steadfastly pursued,

and again Jehovah Jira revealed his faithfulness. During this four months on March 9, 1842, the need was so extreme that had no help come, the work could not have gone on. but 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. Mueller's mind that deliverance was at hand and so it proved

for presently the letter was brought to him having been delivered at one of the other houses During the 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. Mueller felt led to open a fourth orphan house, the third having men opened nearly six years before. this step was taken with his uniform conscientiousness, deliberation, and prayerfulness. He had seen many reasons for such enlargement of the work, but he had said nothing about the matter, even to his beloved wife. Day by day he waited on God in prayer, preferring to take counsel only of

him, lest he might do something in haste, move in advance of clear leading, or be biased unduly by human judgment. Unexpected obstacles interfered with his securing the premises which had already been offered and found suitable, but he was in no way discomforted. The burden of his prayer was, Lord, if 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 whole matter, and the unbroken peace with which he met new hindrances, were proofs that he was following the guidance. of God, and not the motions of self-will. As the public meeting and the publication of the annual report had been purposely postponed

to show that no undue dependence was placed even on indirect appeals to man, much special prayer went up to God, that before July 15, 1844, when the public meeting was to be held, he would so richly supply all need that might clearly appear that, notwithstanding these lawful means of informing his servants concerning the work, had for a time not been used, the prayer of faith had drawn down help from above. As the financial year had closed in May, it would be more than two years since the previous report had been made to the public. George Mueller 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 favorable or unfavorable judgments of men, he felt strongly that God would be much honored and glorified as the prayer-hearing God. If before the public had been at all apprised of the situation, an ample supply might be given. In such case, instead of appearing to ask eight of men, he and his associates would be able to to witness to the church and the world God's faithfulness, and offer him the praise of joyful and thankful hearts. And as he had asked, so it was 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 20 pounds for the whole work. End of Chapter 12 of George Mueller of Bristol by Arthur T. Pearson. Chapter 13 of George Mueller of Bristol. This is a Libravox recording. This Libervox recording is in the public domain. George Mueller of Bristol by Arthur T. Pearson. Chapter 13, following the pillar of cloud and fire. The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord.

Psalm 3723. Someone quaintly adds, yes, and the stops too. The pillar of cloud and fire is a symbol of that divine leadership, which guides both as to forward steps and intervals of rest. Mr. Mueller 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 him in everything and for everything, habitually waiting upon him and trusting in him to remove all hindrances in the way of service. Some 18 months previously, a German lady from Wartonburg had called to consult him as to her own plans, and finding her a comparative stranger to God, he spoke to her about her spiritual state and gave her the first two parts of his narrative. The perusal of these pages was so blessed to her

that she was converted to God and felt moved to translate the narrative into her own tongue as a channel of similar blessing to other hearts. This work of translation she partially accomplished, though somewhat imperfectly. and the whole occurrence impressed Mr. Mueller as an indication that God was once more leading him in the direction of Germany for another season of labor in his native land. Much prayer deepened his persuasion that he had not misread God's signal

and that his time had now fully come. He records some of the motives which led to this conclusion. First he yearned to encourage believing brethren, who for conscience sake had felt constrained to separate themselves from the state churches, and meet for worship in such conditions as would more accord with New Testament principles and secure greater edification. Second, 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. Third, he was minded to publish his

narrative in his own tongue, wherein he was born, not so much in the form of a mere translation as of an independent record of his life's experiences, such as would be specially suited to its new mission. Fourth, an effectual door was opened before him, and more widely than ever, especially at Stuttgart. And although there were many adversaries, they only made his help the more needful to those whose spiritual welfare was in peril. Fifth, a distinct burden was laid on his heart, as from the Lord, which prayer, instead of relieving, increased, a burden which he felt without being able to explain, so that the determination to visit his native land gave him a certain peace which he did not have when he thought of remaining at home. To avoid mistake with equal care, he records the counter-arguments. 1. The new orphan house, number 4, was about to be opened, and his presence was desirable, if not needed.

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 traveling expenses of himself and his wife, whose health called for a change. 4. Funds would be needful to publish 4,000 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 and self-willed plans betray. into false and even disastrous mistakes. Life is too precious to risk one such failure.

There has given us a promise of deep meaning. The meek will he guide in judgment, and the meek will he teach his way. Psalm 25.9. Here is a double emphasis upon meekness as a condition of such guidance and teaching. Meekness is a real preference for God's will. where 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 balance to sway as he will. But our hands must be off the scales. Otherwise, we need to expect no interposition of his in our favor. 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 the spirit of meekness is the entire restfulness with which apparent obstacles to any proposed plan or course are regarded. When waiting and wishing only to know and do God's will, hindrances will give no anxiety, but a sort of pleasure as affording a new opportunity for divine interposition. If it is the pillar of God we are following, The Red Sea will not dismay us, for it will furnish but another scene for the display of the power of him who can make the waters to stand up as an heap, and to become a wall about us as we

go through the sea on dry ground. Mr. Buehler 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. 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 case in hand is an illustration of the blessing found in such meek preference for God's pleasure. If it were the will of the Lord that this continental tour should be undertaken at that time, difficulties need not cast him down, for the difficulties could not be 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, selfish, and perhaps subtle motive were controlling, then indeed hindrances might well be interferences of God, designed to stay

his steps. In the latter case, Mr. Mueller rightly judged that difficulties in the way would naturally vex and annoy him, that he would not like to look at them, and would seek to remove them by his own efforts. Instead of giving him an inward satisfaction as affording God an opportunity to intervene in his behalf, they would arouse impatience and vexation, as preventing self-will from carrying out its own purposes. 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 in time, the willful 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, the obstacles which he puts in our way need not dismay us. God permits them to delay or deter us for the time, only is 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. Mueller felt this, and he waited on God for light and help. But after 40 days waiting,

the hindrances, instead of decreasing, seemed rather to increase. Much more money was spent than was sent in. Instead of finding another suitable matron, a sister already at work, was probably about to withdraw, so that two vacancies would need to be filled instead of one. Yet his rest and peace of mind were unbroken. Being persuaded that he was yielded up to the will of God, faith not only held him to his purpose, but saw the obstacles already surmounted, so that he gave thanks in advance. Because Caleb followed the Lord fully, even the giant sons of Anac with their walled cities and chariots of iron had for him no terrors. Their defense was departed from them, but the Lord was with his believing follower

and made him strong to drive them out and take possession of their very stronghold as his own inheritance. During this period of patient waiting, Mr. Mueller remarked to a believing sister, Well, my soul is at peace. the Lord's time is not yet come. But when it is come, he will blow away all these obstacles as chaff is blown away before the wind. A quarter of an hour later, a gift of 700 pounds became available for the ends in view, so that three of the five hindrances to this continental tour were at once removed. All traveling the expenses for himself and wife, all necessary funds for the homework for two months in advance, and all costs of publishing the narrative in German were now

provided. This was on July 12, and so soon afterward were the remaining impediments out of the way that by August 9th, Mr. and Mrs. Mueller were off for Germany. The trip covered but seven months, and on March 6, 1844, they were once more in Bristol. During this sojourn abroad, No journal is kept, but Mr. Mueller's letters served the purpose of a record. Rotterdam, Vynheim, Cologne, Mayence, Stuttgart, Heidelberg, etc. were visited, and Mr. Mueller distributed tracks and conversed with individuals by the way. But his main work was to expound the word in little assemblies of believers who had separated themselves from the state church on account of what they deemed errors in teaching, practice.

modes of worship, etc. The first hour of his stay at Stuttgart brought to him one of the sharpest trials of faith he had ever thus far experienced. The nature of it he does not reveal in his journal, but it now transpires that it was due to the recalling of the 700 pounds, the gift of which had led to his going to Germany.

This fact could not at the time be recorded because the party would feel it a reproach. nor was this the only test of faith during his sojourn abroad. In fact, so many, so great, so varied, and so prolonged were some of these trials as to call into full exercise all the wisdom and grace which he had received from God, and whatever lessons he had previously learned in the school of experience became now of use. Yet not only was his peace undisturbed, but he bears witness that the Confirm, that the conviction so rooted itself in his inmost being

that in all this God's goodness was being shown, that he would have nothing different. The greatest trials more fruit in the fullest blessings and sometimes in clusters of blessings. It particularly moved him to adoring wonder and praise to see God's wisdom in having delayed his visit until the very time when it occurred. Had he gone any earlier, he would have gone,

long too soon, lacking the full experience necessary to confront the perplexities of his work. When darkness seemed to obscure his way, faith kept him expectant of light, or at least of guidance in the darkness, and he found that promise to be literally fulfilled. As thou goest, step by step, the way shall open up before thee. See the Hebrew of Proverbs 4.12. At Suttgart, he found and felt like Jude that it was needful earnestly to contend for the faith once delivered to the saints. Even among believers, Eres had found far too deep root. Especially was undue stress laid upon baptism, which was made to occupy a prominence and importance out of all due proportion of faith.

One brother had been teaching that without it there is no new birth, and that, consequently, no one could, before baptism, claim the forgiveness of sins, that the apostles were not born from above until the day of Pentecost, and that our Lord himself had not been newborn until his own baptism, and had thence, for the rest of his mortal life, ceased to be under the law. Many other fanciful notions were found to prevail, such as that baptism is the actual death of the old man by drowning, and that it is a covenant with the believer into which God enters, that it is a sin to break bread with unbaptized believers or with members of the state church, and that the bread and the cup used in the Lord's supper not only mean, but are the very body

and blood of the Lord, etc. A more serious and dangerous doctrine which it was needful to confront and confute was what Mr. Mueller calls that awful error spread almost universally among believers in that land. That at last, all will be saved, not sinful men only, but even the devils themselves. Calmly and courteously, but firmly and courageously, these and kindred errors were met with the plain witness of the word. Refutation of false teaching aroused a spirit of bitterness in apposures of the truth. And as is too often the case, faithful testimony was the occasion of acrimony. But the Lord stood by his servant, and so strengthened him that he was kept both faithful and peaceful. One grave practical lack which Mr. Mueller 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 divide severally, as he will, spiritual gifts for service. As a natural result of being untaught in these important practical matters, believers' meetings had proved rather opportunities for unprofitable talk than godly edifying, which is in faith. the only hope of meeting such errors and supplying such lack lay in faithful script for teaching

and he undertook for a time to act as the sole teacher in these gatherings that the word of God might have free course and be glorified. Afterward, when there seemed to be among the brethren some proper apprehension of vital spiritual truths, with his usual consistency and humility, he resumed his place as simply a brother among fellow believers. all of whom had liberty to teach as the spirit might lead and guide. There was, however, no shrinking from any duty or responsibility laid upon him

by larger, clear, acquaintance with truth, or more complete experience of its power. When called by the voice of his brethren to expound the word in public assemblies, he gladly embraced all opportunities for further instruction out of Holy Scripture and a 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 teachings 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 assemblies of believers and of his manifestation in all believers for common prophet, fully accord with Scripture teaching. Were such views practically held in the Church of this day, a radical revolution would be wrought, and a revival of apostolic faith and primitive church life would inevitably follow. No one subject is perhaps more misunderstood or less understood,

even among professed believers than the person, offices, and functions of the Spirit of God. John Owen, long since, suggested that the practical test of soundness in the faith during the present gospel age is the 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 shameful 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 misapprehension existed, to which a religious periodical had given currency, that Mr. Mueller was deputed by the English Baptist to labor among German Baptist to bring them back to the state church. This rumor was, of course, utterly unfounded,

but he had no chance to correct it until just before his return to Britain, as he had not until then heard of it. The Lord had allowed this false report to spread, and had used it to serve his own for it was due in part to this wrong impression of Mr. Mueller's mission that he was not molested or interfered with by the officers of the government. Though for months openly and undisguisedly teaching vital gospel truths among believers who had separated from the established church, he had suffered no restraint. For so long as it was thought that his mission in Germany was to reclaim to the fold of the state church, those who had wandered away, He would, of course, be liable to no interference from state officials.

The Lord went before his servant also in preparing the way for the publishing of his narrative, guiding him to a bookseller who undertook its sale on commission, enabling the author to retain 2,000 copies to give away, while the rest were left to be sold. Mr. Miller about this time makes special mention of his joy and comfort in the spiritual blessing attending his work, and the present and visible good wrought through the publication of his narrative.

Many believers had been led to put more faith in the promises of the great provider, and unbelievers had been converted by their perusal of the simple story of the Lord's dealings. And these tidings came from every quarter where the narrative had as yet found its way. The name of Henry Craig, hitherto affixed to every report, together with George Mueller's, appears for the last,

time in the report of 1844. This withdrawal of his name resulted not from any division of feeling or diminution of sympathy, but solely from Mr. Craig's conviction that the honor of being used of God as his instrument in forwarding the great work of the scriptural knowledge institution belongs solely to George Mueller. The trials of faith ceased, not although the occasions of praise were so multiplied. On September 4, 1844, day dawn, but one farthing was left on hand, and 140 miles 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 lightest of his burdens, for there were other cares and anxieties that called for greater

exercise of faith resolutely to cast them on him, who in exchange for solicitude gives his own perfect peace. What these trials were, any thoughtful mind must at once see, who remembers how these many orphans were needing, not only daily supplies of food and clothing, but education in mind and in morals, preparation for, and location in suitable homes, careful, guards about their health and every possible precaution and provision to prevent disease. Also, the character of all helpers must be carefully investigated before they were admitted, and their conduct carefully watched afterward, lest any unworthy or unqualified party should find a place or be retained in the conduct of the work.

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. Mueller 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 opportunity, 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, enlargement had been its law. Mr. Mueller's heart grew in capacity for larger service,

and his faith in capacity for firmer confidence, so that while he was led to attempt greater things for God, he was led also to expect greater things from God. Those suggestive words of Christ to Nathaniel have often prompted like larger expectations. Believeest thou, thou shalt see greater things than these. John 1, verse 50. 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 home. But he felt a strong yearning to be used of God more largely in sending their fields and supporting in their labors, the chosen servants of the Lord who were working on a scriptural basis and were in need of help.

He had observed that whenever God had put into his heart to devise liberal things, he had put into his hand the means to carry out such liberal purposes. And from this time forth, he determined, as far as God should enable him to aid brethren of good report, laboring 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. Advanced 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. Mueller'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. One great law for all who would be truly led by God's pillar of cloud and fire is to take no step at the bidding of self-will or without the clear moving of the heavenly guide. Though the direction be new and the way seem beset with difficulty, there is never any risk provided we are only led of God. Each new advance needs separate and special authority from him, and yesterday's guidance is not sufficient for today. It is important also to observe that if one branch of the work is in straits,

it is not necessarily a reason for abandoning another form of service. The work of God depends on him alone. If the whole tree is his planting, we need not cut off one limb to save another. The whole body is his, and if one member is weak, it is not necessary to cut off another to make it strong, for the strength of the whole body is the dependence of every part. In our many branching service, each must get vitality and vigor from the same source in God. Nevertheless, 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. End of Chapter 13 of George Mueller of Bristol by Arthur T. Pearson. Chapter 14 of George Mueller of Bristol. This is a Libravox recording. This Libervox recording is in the public domain. George Mueller of Bristol by Arthur T. Pearson.

Chapter 14. God's building, the new orphan 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 mechanism and constitute epochs of history. Such an apical event was the building of the first of the new orphan houses on Ashley Down. After October 1845, it became clear to Mr. Mueller that the Lord was leading in this direction. Residents on Wilson Street had raised objections to the noise made by the children, especially in play hours. The playgrounds were no longer large enough for so many orphans.

The drainage was not adequate, nor was the situation of the rented houses favorable for proper sanitary conditions. It was also desirable to secure ground for cultivation, and thus supply outdoor work for the boys. 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. Planning and construction would severely tax time and strength.

Wisdom and oversight would be in demand at every stage of the work. And the question arose whether such permanent structures befit God's pilgrim people who have here no continuing city and believe that the end of all things is at hand. Continuance in prayer, however, brought a sense of quiet and restful conviction, that all objections were overbalanced by other and favorable considerations. One argument seemed particularly weighty. Should God provide large amounts of money for this purpose, it would still further illustrate the power of prayer, offered in faith, to command help from on high. A lot of ground spacious enough would, at the outset, cost thousands of pounds. But why should this daunt a true child of

God whose father was infinitely rich. Mr. Mueller 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. Mueller was as sure of this as though the building already stood before his eyes, though for five weeks, not one penny had been sent in for this purpose. Meanwhile, there went on that searching scrutiny of his own heart, by which he sought to know whether any hidden motive of a selfish sort was swaying his will. But as strict self-examination brought to light no conscious purpose but to glorify God in promoting the good of the orphans and provoking to larger trust in God all who witnessed the work, it was judged to be God's will that he should go forward.

In November of this year, he was much encouraged by a visit from a believing brother, who bade him go on in the work, but wisely impressed on him the need of asking for wisdom from above, at every step, seeking God's help in showing him the plan for the building, that all details might accord with the divine mind. On the 36th day after specific prayer had first been offered about this new house, on December 10, 1845, Mr. Mueller received 1,000 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 composed as though the gift had been only a shilling, having full faith in God, as both guiding and providing. He records that he would not have been surprised had

the amount been five or ten times greater. Three days later, a Christian architect in London voluntarily offered not only to draft the plans, but gratuitously to superintend the building. This offer had been brought about in a manner so strange as to be naturally regarded as a new sign and proof of God's approval and a fresh pledge of his sure help. Mr. Mueller's sister-in-law, visiting the metropolis, had met this architect, and finding him much interested to know more of the work of which he had read, in the narrative, she had told him of the purpose to build. Whereupon, without either solicitation or expectation on her part, this cheerful offer was made. Not only was this architect not urged

by her, but he pressed his proposal himself, urged on by his deep interest in the orphan work. Thus, within 40 days, the first thousand pounds had been given in answer to prayer, and a pious man as yet unseen and unknown by Mr. Mueller had been led to offer his services in providing plans for the new building and superintending its erection. Surely God was moving before his servant. 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. The full risk involved in such an undertaking, and the full force of the testimony which it has since afforded to a prayer-hearing God, can be felt only as the full weight of the responsibility is appreciated, and all the

circumstances are duly considered. First of all, ground must be bought, and it must comprise six or seven acres, and the site must be in or near Bristol. For Mr. Mueller's general's fear of work was in the city. The orphans and their helpers should be within reasonable reach of their customer or meeting place. And on many other accounts, such nearness to the city was desirable. But such a site would cost from 2,000 to 3,000 pounds. Next, the building must be constructed, fitted up, and furnished, with accommodations for 300 orphans and their overseers, teachers, and various helpers. However, playing the building and its furnishings, the total cost would reach from three to four times the price of the site. Then the annual cost of key,

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 between 10,000 and 15,000 pounds for site and building, with a further expense of one-third is much more every year. No man so poor as George Mueller, if at the same time sane, would have ever 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. Mueller himself confesses that here lay his whole secret. He was not driven onward by any self-seeking, but drawn onward by a conviction that he was doing the will of God. When Constantine was laying out a vast scale the new capital on the Bosporus, he met the misgivings

of those about him who wondered at his audits. by simply saying, I am following one who is leading me. George Mueller's scheme was not self-originated. He followed one who was leading him, and because confident and conscious of such guidance, he had only to follow, trust, and wait. In proportion as the undertaking was great, he desired God's hand to be very clearly seen.

Hence he forbore even to seem prominent. He issued no circular announcing his purpose, and spoke of it only to the few who were in his counsels, 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. and 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 build 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 instructions so rich and encouragement so timely that the scriptures seem written for his special use, to convey messages to him from above. For example, in the opening of the book of Ezra, he saw how God, when his time had fully come for the return of his exiled people to their own land, and for the rebuilding of his temple, used Cyrus, an idolatrous king, to issue an edict, and to provide means for carrying out his unknown purpose. He saw also how God stirred up the people to help the returning exiles in their work, and he said to himself, this same God can

and will, in his own way, supply the money and all the needed help of man, stirring up the hearts of his own children to aid as he may please. The first donations toward the work themselves embody a suggestive lesson. On December 10th, 1,000 pounds had been given in one sum. Twenty days later, 50 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 the flower-wought 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. Mueller than any mere sum of money. Who art thou, O great mountain,

before Zerubable, thou shalt become a plain. Zachariah four, seven. Gifts, however large, were next, ever estimated by intrinsic worth, but as tokens of God's working in the minds of his people, and of his gracious working with and through his servant. And for this reason, a thousand pounds caused no more sincere praise to God and no more excitement of mind than the fourpence given subsequently by a poor orphan. Especially asking the Lord to go before him,

Mr. Mueller now began to seek a suitable sight. 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 31st, 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 occasions, 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 rewarded. He confessed that he had spent two wakeful hours in bed, thinking about his land and about what reply he should make to Mr. Mueller's inquiry as to its sale for an orphan house, and that he had determined if it were applied for to ask but 120 pounds an acre instead of 200 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. Mueller 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 her came the formal offer from the London architect of his services in surveying, in drafting 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 building was a little more than 2,700 pounds, a small part, only of the sum needful. But Mr. Mueller felt no doubt that in God's own time, all that was required would be given. Two hundred and twelve days he had been waiting on God for the way to be open for building, 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 which to act as trustees to hold and administer this property in God's name. He felt that, as this work was now so enlarging, and the foundations of a permanent institution were to be laid, the Christian public, who would aid in its erection and support, would be entitled to a representation in its conduct. At such a point as this, many others have made a serious mistake, forfeiting confidence by

administering public benefactions in a private manner, and an autocratic spirit, their own head being the office, and their own pocket the treasury of a public and benevolent institution. Satan again acted as a hinderer. After the ground for the new orphan house had been found, bought, and paid for, unforeseen obstacles prevented prompt possession. But Mr. Miller's peace was not disturbed, knowing even hindrances to be under God's control. If the Lord should allow one piece of land to be taken from him, it would only be because he was about to give him one still better. And so the delay only proved his faith and perfected his patience. On July 6th, 2,000 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 the work of the building began. Six months later, after 400 days of waiting upon God for this new orphan house, 9,000 pounds had been given in answer to believing prayer. As the new building approached completion with its 300 large windows and requiring full preparation for the accommodation of about 330 inmates, although above 11,000 pounds had been provided, several thousand more were necessary. But Mr. Mueller 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 unremove, 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 12 years after the beginning of the work, the orphans began to be transferred from the four rented houses on Wilson Street to the new orphan house on Ashley Down. Five weeks passed before fresh applicants were received that everything about the new institution might first be brought into complete order

by some experience in its conduct. By May 26, 1850, however, there were in the house 275, children, and the whole number of inmates was 308. The name the new orphan house, rather than asylum, was chosen to distinguish it from another institution nearby, and articulally was it requested that it might never be known as Mr. Mueller's orphan house, lest undue prominence be given to one who had been merely God's instrument in its erection. He esteemed it a sin to appropriate even indirectly,

or allow others to attribute to him any part of the glory which belonged solely to him who had led in the work, given faith and means for it, and helped in it from first to last. The property was placed in the hands of 11 trustees, chosen by Mr. Mueller, and the deeds were enrolled in chancery. Arrangements were made that the house should be open to visitors only on Wednesday afternoons, as about one hour and a half were necessary to see the whole building. Scarcely were the orphans thus housed on Ashley Down before Mr. Mueller's heart felt in large design that 1,000, instead of 300, 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 uniformed carefulness and prayerfulness, he sought to be assured that he was not following self-will, but the will of God.

And again, in the scales of a pious judgment, the reasons for and against were conscientiously weighed. Would he be going beyond his measure spiritually or naturally? Was not the work with its vast correspondence and responsibility already sufficiently great? Would not a new orphan house for 300 orphans cost another 15,000 pounds, or if built for 700, with the necessary ground, 35,000? 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 8,000 pounds annually outlay to provide for another 700 little ones.

To all objections, the one all-sufficient answer was the all-sufficient God. and because Mr. Mueller'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 after his death? The reply is memorable. My business is, with all my might, to serve my own generation by the will of God, In so doing, I shall best serve the next generation, should the Lord Jesus Terry. Were such objection valid, it were as valid as beginning any work likely to outlive the worker. And Mr. Mueller remembered how Frank at Howe had to meet the same objection

when, now over 200 years ago, he founded the largest charitable establishment, which up to 1851 existed in the world. But when, after about 30 years of personal superintendents, Frank was taken away, his son-in-law, as we have seen, became the director. That fellow countrymen who had spoken to Mr. Mueller's soul in 1826, thus 25 years later encouraged him to go forward to do his own duty and leave the future to the eternal God. Several reasons are recorded by Mr. Mueller, especially influencing still further advance. The many applications that could not, for want of room, be accepted. The low moral

state of the poorhouses to which these children of poverty were liable to be sent. The large number of distressing cases of orphanhood known to be deserving of help. The previous experiences of the Lord's gracious leading and of the work itself, is 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, and at large service to man, attempted and achieved solely independence upon God, would afford a correspondingly weightier witness to the hearer of prayer. These reasons, here recorded, will need no repetition in connection with the 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 3,000 pounds, the largest single donation up to that date, which being left entirely to his own disposal encouraged him to go forward. Again, he kept his own counsel. Up to January 25th, he had not mentioned, even to his own wife, his thought of a further forward movement, feeling that to avoid all mistakes, he must first of all get clear light from God and not darken it by misleading human counsel. Not until the 12th report of the scriptural knowledge institution was issued was the public apprised of his purpose, with God's help to provide for 700 more needy orphans. Up to October 2, 1851, only about 1,100 pounds had been given direct.

toward the second proposed orphan house, and up to May 26th following, a total of some 3,500 pounds. But George Mueller remembered one who, after he had patiently endured, obtained the promise. He had waited over two years before all means needful for the first house had been supplied, and could wait still longer, if so God willed it, for the answers to present prayers for means to build a second. After waiting upwards of nine, 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, 8,100 pounds, of which he appropriated 6,000 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 3,000 pounds, he had recorded also his expectation of still greater things, and now a donation between two and three times as large was about to come into his hands. It was not the amount of money, however, that gave him his overflowing delight, but the fact that not in vain had he made his boast in God. As now some 483 orphans were waiting for admission, he was moved to pray that soon the way might be open for the new building to be begun. James 1.4 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 12,000. 500 pounds, and over 500 orphans had applied. Twice the 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 5,700 pounds should be paid to him for the work of God, and of this, 3,400 was by him set apart for the billing fund. As there were now between 700 and and 800 applicants, it seemed of God that at least a site should be secured for another new orphan house. And a few weeks later, Mr. Mueller applied for the purchase of two fields

adjoining the site of the first house. As they could not, however, be sold at that time, the only resource was to believe that the Lord had other purposes, or would give better ground than that on which his servant had set his mind. Further thought and prayer suggested to him that two houses could be built instead of one, and located on each side of the existing building, upon the ground already owned. Accordingly, it was determined to begin, on the south side, the erection of a house to accommodate 400 orphans,

there being money in the bank, or soon to be available, sufficient to build, fit up, and furnish it. On May 26, 1856, nearly 30,000 pounds were in hand for the new orphan house number two. And on November 12, 1857, this house was open for 400 additional orphans, and there was a balance of nearly 2,300 pounds. The God who provided the building furnished the helpers without either difficulty or advertising. With the beginning of the new year, Mr. Mueller began to lay aside 600 pounds as the first of the appropriations for the third orphan house. and the steps which led to the accomplishment of this work also were identical with those taken hitherto.

A purchase was made of additional ground adjoining the two buildings, and as there were so many applicants and the cost providing for a larger number would be but little more, it was determined to build so as to receive 450 instead of 300, rejoicing that, in every enlargement of the work, it would be more apparent how much one poor man, simply trusting in God, can bring about by prayer, and that thus other children of God might be led to carry on the work of God, independent solely on Him, and generally to trust Him more in all circumstances and positions. Orphan House No. 3 was open March 12, 1862, and with over 10,000 pounds in hand for current expenses.

All the helpers needed had not then been supplied, but this delay was only a new incentive to believing prayer. And instead of once, thrice a day, God was besought to provide suitable persons. One after another was thus added, and in no case too late, so that the reception of children was not hindered, nor was the work embarrassed. Still further enlargement seemed needful, for the same reasons as previously. There was an increasing demand for accommodation of new applicants, and past experience of God's wondrous dealings urged him both to attempt and to expect greater things. Orphan houses, numbers four and five, began to loom up above his horizon of faith. By May 26, 1862, he had over 6,600 pounds to apply on their erection. In November 1864,

A large donation of 5,000 pounds was received from a donor who would let neither his name nor residents be known, and by this time about 27,000 pounds had thus accumulated toward the 50,000 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. Mueller-Eyes had, for years, been upon land adjoining the three houses already. built, separated from them only by the Turnpike Road. He called to see the agent and found that the property was subject to a lease that had yet two years to run. This obstacle only incited to

new prayer, but difficulties seemed to increase. The price asked was too high, and the Bristol Waterworks Company was negotiating for the same piece of land for reservoir purposes. Nevertheless, unless, God successfully removed all hindrances so that the ground was bought and conveyed to the trustees in March 1865, and after the purchase, money was paid, about 25,000 pounds yet remained for the structures. Both the cost and the inconvenience of the 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 34,000 pounds being at Mr. Mueller's disposal, number four was commenced,

and in January following number five also. Up to the end of March 1867, over 50,000 pounds had been supplied, leaving but 6,000 more needful to fit and furnish the two buildings for occupancy. By the opening of February 1868, 58,000 pounds in all had been donated, so that on November 5, 1868, new orphan house number 4, and on January 6, 1870, number 5, were thrown open, a balance of several thousand pounds remaining for general purposes. Thus, early in 1870, the orphan work had reached its complete outfit in five large buildings on Ashley Down, with the combinations for 2,000 orphans and for all needed teachers and assistance.

Thus have been gathered into one chapter the facts about the erection of this great monument to a prayer-hearing God on Ashley Down, though the work of building covered so many years. Between the first decision to build in 1845 and the opening of the third house in 1862, nearly 17 years had elapsed, and before number five was opened in 1870, 70, 25 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 Mueller. His one supreme aim was the glory of God, his one sole resort, believing prayer, his one trusted oracle, the inspired word,

and as 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 1,700 large windows and accommodations for over 2,000 inmates. They are also very substantial, being built of stone and made to last. They are scrupulously plain. Utility, rather than beauty, seems conspicuously stamped upon them, within and without. economy has been manifestly a ruling law in their construction. The furniture is equally unpretentious and unostentatious, and as to garniture, there is absolutely none. To some few, they are almost too destitute of embellishment, and Mr. Mueller has been blamed for not introducing some aesthetic

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. Mueller subordinated everything to his one great purpose, the demonstration of the fact that the living God is the hearer of prayer. Second, he felt himself to be the steward of God's property, and he hesitated to spend one penny on what was not necessary to the frugal carrying on of the work of God. He felt that all 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 necessity of the poor and destitute elsewhere. And again, he felt that, as these orphans were likely to be put at service in plain homes and compelled to live frugally, any surroundings which would accustom them to indulge refined tastes, might by contrast make them discontented with their future lot. and so he studied to promote simply their health and comfort, and to school them to contentment when the necessities of life were supplied. 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 criticized. He would have been spending the gifts of the poor who often solely denied themselves for the sake of these orphans

to purchase embellishments or secure decorations, which, if they had adorned the humble homes of thousands of donors, would have made their gifts impossible. When we remember how many offerings numbering tens of thousands were like the widows mites very small in themselves, yet relatively to ability, very large, it will be seen how in Congress 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, everywhere rain, an honest labor has always had at the orphan houses a certain dignity. The tracks of land, adjoining the buildings, are set apart as vegetable gardens, where wholesome exercise is provided

for the orphan boys, and at the same time work that. that helps to provide daily food and thus train them in part to self-support. Throughout these houses studious care is exhibited as to methodical arrangement. Each child has a square and numbered compartment for clothes, six orphans being told off at a time in each section to take charge. The boys have each three suits and the girls five dresses each, the girls being taught to make and mend their own garments. In the nursery, the infant children have books and play things,

to occupy and amuse them, and are the objects of tender maternal care. Several children are often admitted to the orphanage from one family in order to avoid needless breaking of household ties by separation. The average term of residence is about ten years, though some orphans have been there for seventeen. The daily life is laid out with regularity, and goes on like clockwork in punctuality. The children rise at six and are expected to be ready at seven,

the girls for knitting and the boys for reading until eight o'clock when breakfast is served. Half an hour later, there is a brief morning service, and the school begins at ten. Half an hour of recreation on the playground prepares for the one o'clock dinner, and school is resumed until four. Then comes an hour and a half of play or outdoor exercise, a half-hour service preceding the six o'clock meal. Then the girls ply the needle, and the boys are in school until bedtime, the younger children going to rest at eight, and the older at nine. The food is simple, ample and nutritious, consisting of bread, oatmeal, milk, soups, meat, rice, and vegetables. Everything is adjusted to one ultimate end, to use Mr. Mueller's own words. We aim at this that if any of them do

not turn out well, temporarily or spiritually, and do not become useful members of society, it shall not at least be our fault. The most thorough and careful examination of the whole methods of the institution will only satisfy the visitor that it will not be the fault of those who superintend this work if the orphans are not well-fitted body and soul for the work of life

and are not prepared for a blessed immortality. End of Chapter 14 of George Mueller of Bristol by Arthur T. Pearson. Chapter 15. of George Mueller of Bristol. This is a Libravox recording. This Libervox recording is in the public domain. George Mueller of Bristol by Arthur T. Pearson. Chapter 15. The Manifold Grace of God. Someone has quaintly said, in commenting upon the 23rd Psalm, that the coach in which the Lord 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 Mueller all the days of his life. Wonderful as the story of the building of those five orphan houses on Ashley Down, many other events and experiences no less showed the goodness and mercy of God, and must not be unrecorded in these pages if we are to trace, however imperfectly his gracious dealings. And having, by one comprehensive view,

taken in the story of the orphan homes, we may retrace our steps to the year when the first of these houses was planned, and, following another path, look at Mr. Mueller'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 different departments 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 for the relief of the mother and the prophet of the daughter, it would be better that Lydia should be taught elsewhere than at home. And in answer to prayer, her father was divinely directed to a Christian sister, whose special gifts in the way of instructing and training children were manifestly from the spirit, who divides unto all believers severally as he will. She seemed to be marked of God, as the woman to whom was to be entrusted the responsible task of superintending the education of Lydia. Mr. Mueller both expected and desired to pay for such training, and asked for the account,

which in the first instance he paid, but the exact sum, was returned to him anonymously. And for the six remaining years of his daughter's stay, he could get no further bills for her schooling. Thus, God provided for the board and education of this only child, not only without cost to her parents, but to their intense satisfaction as being under the true nurture and admonition of the Lord. For while at this school, in April 1846, Lydia found peace in believing and began that beautiful life in the Lord Jesus Christ, that for 44 years afterward so singularly exhibited his image. Many Christian parents have made the fatal mistake of entrusting their children's education

to those whose gifts were wholly intellectual and not spiritual, and who have misled the young pupils entrusted to their care into an irreligious or infidel life, or at best, a career of mere intellectualism and worldly ambition. In not a few instances, all the influences of a pious home have been counteracted by the atmosphere of a school, which, if not godless, has been without that fragrance of spiritual devoutness and consecration,

which is indispensable to the true training of impressible children during the plastic years when character is forming for eternity. Goodness and mercy followed Mr. Mrs. Mueller conspicuously in their sojourn in Germany in 1845, which covered about three months, from July 19th to October 11th. God plainly led to Stuttgart, where a brethren had fallen into grievous errors and needed again a helping hand. When the strong impression laid hold of Mr. Mueller, 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, 500 pounds were received, the donor specifying that the money was given for all expenses needful, preparatory to, and attended upon this proposed journey. The same goodness and mercy followed all his steps while abroad. Provision was made in God's own strange way for suitable lodgings in suit-cart, at a time when the city was exceptionally crowded, a wealthy retired surgeon who had never before rented apartments being led to offer them. All Mr. Mueller's labors were attended with blessing. During part of the time, he held as many as eight meetings a week, and he was unable to publish 11 tracks in German, and judiciously to scatter over 220,000 of them, as well as nearly 4,000 of his narrative, 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 150 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. Mueller but little, but knew his positive convictions

and uncompromising loyalty to them, might suspect that he would have little forbearance with even minor errors, and would not bend himself from his. stern attitude of inflexibility to accommodate himself to those who were ensnared by them. But those who knew him better saw that he held fast the form of sound words with faith and love, which are in Christ Jesus. Like Paul, ever ready to be made all things to all men, that by all means he might save some, in his whole character and conduct, nothing shone more radiantly beautiful than love. He felt that he who would lift up others must bow himself to lay hold on them, that to help brethren, we must bear with them,

not insisting upon matters of minor importance as though they were essential and fundamental. Hence his course, instead of being needlessly repellent, was tenderly conciliatory. And it was a 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 knowledge institution, when, for years together, the various branches of this work grew so rapidly until the point of full development was reached. The time indeed came when, in some departments, it pleased God that contraction should succeed expansion, but even here goodness ruled, for it was afterwards seen that it was because other brethren had been led to take up such branches of the Lord's work, in all of which developments Mr. Mueller as truly rejoiced as though it had been his work alone that was honored of God. 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 19 years later, in 1865, he sat down to apportion such laborers 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 122 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 92 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

a memorial of 50, so that he had in all 37 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 incoming orphans. Though crises were constantly arising and new needs constantly recurring, grave matters daily demanded prayer and watching, and perpetual diligence and vigilance were needful, for the Lord was his helper and carried all his loads. During the winter of 1846 to 7, there was a peculiar season of dearth. Would God's

goodness and mercy fail? There were those who looked on, more than half incredulous, saying to themselves, if not to others, I wonder how it is now with Mr. Mueller 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 beginning of the work. Was it no sign that God's footmen followed George Mueller that the work never ceased to be both a work of faith and of prayer? That no difficulties or discouragements, no successes or triumphs, ever caused for an hour a departure from,

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 honored of God, and 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, 70-fold what they were when that first orphan house was opened in Wilson Street, there's been no change of base, never any looking to man for patronage or support, never any dependence about a regular income or fixed endowment. God has been, all through these years, as at first the sole patron and dependence. The scriptural knowledge institution has not been wrecked on the rocks of financial failure, nor has it even drifted away from its original moorings in the safe anchorage ground of the promises of Jehovah.

Was it not goodness and mercy that kept George Mueller ever grateful as well as faithful? He did not more constantly feel his need of faith and prayer than his duty and privilege of abounding joy and praise. Some might think that, after such experiences of answered prayer, one would be less and less moved by them, as the novelty was lost in the uniformity of such interpositions. But no, when in June 1853, at a time of sore need, the Lord sent, in one sum, 300 pounds, he could scarcely contain his triumphant joy in God. He walked up and down his room for a long time, his heart overflowing and his eyes too, his mouth filled with laughter and his voice with song, while he gave himself afresh to the faithful master he served.

God's blessings were to him always new and fresh. Answered prayers never lost the charm of novelty. Like flowers plucked fresh every hour from the gardens of God, they never got stale, losing none of their beauty or celestial fragrance. And what goodness and mercy was it that never suffered prayerfulness and patience to relax their hold, either when answers seemed to come fast and thick like snowflakes, 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. Mueller testifies, the only difference between latter and former days was that the difficulties were greater in proportion as the work was larger. But he adds that this was to be expected, for the Lord gives faith for the very purpose of trying it, for the glory of his own name, and the good of him who has the faith, and it is by these very trials that trust learns the secret of its triumphs. Goodness and mercy not only guided but also guarded this servant of God. God's footman 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 Kessik, laboring in 1847, for example, a man, taken deranged while lodging in the same house, shot himself. It afterward transpired that he had an impression that Mr. Mueller had designs on his life, and had he met Mr. Mueller 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 followed and held him up. In the autumn of 1852, his beloved brother-in-law, Mr. A. N. Groves,

came back from the East Indies, very ill. And in May of the next year, after Blessed Witness for God, he fell asleep at Mr. Mueller's house. To him, Mr. Mueller owed much through grace at the outset of his labors in 1829. By his example, his faith had been stimulated and helped, when with no visible support or connection with any missionary society, Mr. Groves had gone to Baghdad with wife and children, for the sake of mission work in this far-off field,

resigning a lucrative practice of about 1,500 pounds a year. The tie between these men was very close and tender, and the loss of his brother-in-law gave keen sorrow. In July following, Mr. and Mrs. Mueller went through a yet severe trial. Lydia, the beloved daughter and only child, born in 1832 and newborn in 1846, and at this time, 20 years old and a treasure without price, was taken ill in the latter part of June, and the ailment developed into a malignant typhoid, which two weeks later, brought her to the gates of death.

These parents had to face the prospect of being left childless, but faith triumphed and prayer prevailed. Their darling Lydia was spared to be, for many years to come, a blessing beyond words, not only to them and to her future husband, but to many others in a wider circle of influence. Mr. Mueller found, in this trial, a special proof of God's goodness and mercy,

which he gratefully records, in the growth in grace, evidenced in his entire and joyful acquiescence in the Father's will. When, with such a loss apparently before him, his confidence was undisturbed that all things would work together for good. He could not but contrast with this experience of serenity, that broken peace and complaining spirit with which he had met a like trial in August 1831, 21 years before. How like a magnet among steel filings, the thankful heart finds the mercies and picks them out of the black dust of sorrow and suffering. The second volume of Mr. Mueller's narrative closes with the paragraph in which he formally disclaims as impudent presumption

and pretension all high rank as a miracle worker and records his regret that any work based on scriptural promises and built on the simple lines of faith and prayer should be accounted either phenomenal or fanatical. The common ways of accounting for its success would be absurdly ridiculous and amusing, were they not so sadly unbelieving. Those who knew little or nothing, either of the exercise of faith or the experience of God's faithfulness, resorted to the most God-dissonoring explanations of the work.

Some said Mr. Mueller is a foreigner. His methods are so novel as to attract attention. Others thought that the annual reports brought in the money or suggested that he had a secret treasure. His quiet reply was that his being a foreigner would be more likely to repel than to attract confidence, that the novelty would scarcely avail him

after more than a score of years, that other institutions which is, 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 supposition than the objectors were aware of. He had indeed a treasury inexhaustible in the promises of a God unchangeably faithful, from which he admits that he had already, in 1856, drawn for 22 years,

and in all over 113,000 pounds. As to the reports, it may be worthwhile to notice that he never but once in his life advertised the public of any need. And that was the need of more orphans, more to care for in the name of the Lord, a single and singular ease of advertising by which he sought not to increase his 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 such sources of supply as the unbelieving world might think that it was in the drying up of all such channels that he found the opportunity of his faith and of God's power. The visible treasure was often so small

that it was reduced to nothing, but the invisible treasure was God's riches in glory and could be drawn from without limit. This it was to which he looked alone, and in which he felt that he had a river of supply that can never run dry. The orphan work had to Mr. Mueller many charms which grew on him as he entered more fully into it. While his main hope was to be the means of spiritual health to these children, he had the joy of seeing how God used these homes for the promotion of their physical welfare also, and in cases not a few for the entire renovation of their weak and diseased bodies.

It must be remembered that most of them own 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 almost inhuman, certainly inhuman. humane. So trusting in God, they were taken in and cared for with parental love. A few weeks later, these children were physically unrecognizable, so rapid had been the improvement in health, and probably there were, with God's blessing, four graves less to be dug. The trials incident to the moral and spiritual condition of the orphans were even greater, however, than those caused by ill health and weakness. When children proved incorrigibly bad, they were expelled, lest they should corrupt others, for the institution was not a 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 exercised, even in his case, was marvelously godlike. For during over five years, he had been the subject of private admonitions and prayers and all other methods of reclamation. And when expulsion became the last resort, he was solemnly, and with prayer, before all the others, sent away from the orphan house, that if possible, such a course might prove a double blessing, a remedy to him and a warning to others. And even then, this young practice sinner 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 300 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. Mueller turned to the living god, and trusting in him, decided to have the repairs begun. A day or so before the fires had to be put out, a bleak north wind set in. The work could no longer be delayed, yet weather prematurely cold for the season threatened these hundreds of children

with hurtful exposure. The Lord was boldly appealed to. Lord, these are thy orphans. Be pleased to change this north wind into a south wind and give the workman 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 blew. and the weather was so mild that no fire was needful. Not only so, but, as Mr. Mueller went into the cellar with the overseer of the work, to see whether the repairs could in no way be expedited, he heard him say, in the hearing of the men, they will work late this evening and come very early again tomorrow.

We would rather, sir, was the reply, work 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 followed by the Lord's humble servant, made the more conspicuous about the crises of special trial and trouble. Every new exudency provoked new prayer and evoked new faith. When in 1862 several boys were ready to be apprenticed and there were no applications such as were desired,

prayer was the one resort, as advertising would tend to bring applications from masters who sought apprentices for the sake of the premium. But every one of the 18 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 11 feet underground. When three holes had been dug and as many places in the drain tapped in, in vain, prayer was offered that in the fourth case the workman might be guided to the very spot where the stoppage existed, and the request was literally answered. Three instances of Mark's deliverance in answer to prayer are specially recorded for the year between May 26, 1864,

and the same date in 1865, which should not be passed by without at least a mention. first in the great drought of the summer of 1864, when the 15 large cisterns in the three orphan houses were empty, and the nine deep wells, and even the good spring, which had never before failed, were almost all dry. Two or three thousand gallons of water were daily required, and daily prayer was made to the God of the rain.

See how God provided, while pleased to withhold the supply from above. A farmer nearby supplied from his larger wells about half the water needful, the rest being furnished by the half-exhausted wells on Ashley Down. And when he could no longer spare water without a day's interval, another farmer offered a supply from a brook which ran through his fields, and thus there was abundance until the rains replenished cisterns and wells. Second, when for three years Scarlet and Typhus fevers and smallpox,

prevalent in Bristol and the vicinity threatened the orphans. Prayer was again made to him, who is the God of health, as well as of rain. There was no case of scarlet or typhus fever during the whole time, though smallpox was permitted to find an entrance into the smallest of the orphan houses. Prayer was still the one resort. The disease spread to the other houses, until at one time 15 were ill with it. The cases, however, were mercifully light, and the Lord was be sought to allow the epidemic to spread no further. Not another child was taken, and when, after nine months, the disease altogether disappeared, not one child had died of it, and only one teacher or adult had an attack, and that was very mild. What ravages the disease might have had among the 1,200 inmates

of these orphan houses had it then prevailed as later in 1872. Third, tremendous gales visited Bristol and neighborhood in January 1865. The roofs of the orphan houses were so injured as to be laid open in at least 20 places, and large panes of glass were broken. The day was Saturday, and no glazier and slater could be had before Monday. So the Lord of Wind and Weather was besought to protect the exposed property during the interval. The wind calmed down, and the rain was restrained until midday of Wednesday, when the repairs were about finished. But heavy rainfalls drove. the slaters from the roof. One exposed opening remained and much damage threatened, but in answer to prayer the rain was stayed and the work resumed. No damage had been done

while the last opening was unrepaired, for it had exposed the building from the south, while the rain came from the north. Mr. Mueller 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, scarlet fever broke out in the orphanage. In all 39 children were ill, but all recovered. Whipping cough also made its appearance, but though during that season it was not only very prevalent, but very malignant in Bristol, in all the three houses there were but 17 cases, and the only fatal one was that of a little girl with constitutionally weak lungs. During the same year, however, the spirit of God wrought

mightily among the girls, as in the previous year among the boys, so that over 100 became deeply earnest seekers after salvation, and so even in tribulation, consolation abounded in Christ. Mr. Mueller 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 17, was struck with consumption. Though for 14 years she had been under Mr. Mueller's care, she was in this dangerous illness still careless and indifferent, and as she drew near to death, her case continued as hopeless as ever. Prayer was unceasing for her, and it pleased God suddenly to reveal Christ to her as her Savior.

Great self-loathing now at once took place of former indifference, confession of sin of previous callousness of conscience, an unspeakable joy in the Lord of former apathy and coldness. It was a spiritual miracle, this girl's sudden transformation into a witness for God, manifesting deepest conviction for past sins 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, 350 were led to seek peace and 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 biblical truth and pious teaching will prove when once God's grace softens the heart and unlooses the tongue a source of both personal growth in grace and of capacity for wide service to others. We are all practically too careless of the training of children and too distrustful of young converts. Mr. Mueller was more and more impressed by the triumphs

of the grace of God as seen in children converted at the tender age of nine or ten, and holding the beginning of their confidence steadfast unto the end. 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 sewing. Again, when at 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 262 the latter, not one child died or was afterward debilitated by the attack.

From May 1866 to May 1867, out of over 1,300 children under care, only 11 died considerably less than 1%. That's severe, and epidemic disease should find its way into the orphanages at all, may seem strange to those who judge God's faithfulness by appearances, but many were the compensations for such trials. By them not only were the hearts of the children often turned to God, but the hearts of helpers in the institution were made more sympathetic and tender, and the hearts of God's people at large were stirred up to practical and systematic help. God uses such seeming calamities as advertisements of his work,

many who would not have heard of the institution or on whom what they did here would have made little impression were led to take a deep interest in an orphanage where thousands of little ones were exposed to the ravages of some malignant and dangerous epidemic. Looking back in 1865, after 31 years upon the work thus far done for the Lord, Mr. Mueller gratefully records that during the entire time he had been enabled to hold fast the original principles on which the work was based on March 5, 1834. He had never once gone into debt. He had sought for the institution, no patron but the living God,

and he had kept to the line of demarcation between believers and unbelievers in all his seeking for active helpers in the work. His grand purpose in all his labors, having been from the beginning the glory of God, ensuring what could be done through prayer and faith, without any leaning upon man, his unequivocal testimony is, hitherto hath the Lord helped us. Though for about five years, they had almost daily been in the constant trial of faith. They were as constantly proving his faithfulness.

The work had rapidly grown till it assumed gigantic proportions, but so did the help of God keep pace with all the needs and demands of its growth. In January 1866, Mr. Henry Craig, who had for 36 years been Mr. Mueller's valued friend, and since 1832, his co-worker 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 labor and trial into an affection seldom found among men. They were nearly of an age, both being a little past 60 when Mr. Craig died.

The loss was too heavy to have been patiently and serenely born, had not the survivor known, and felt beneath him the everlasting arms. And even this bereavement, which in one aspect was an irreparable loss, was seen to be only another proof of God's love. The look-ahead might be a dark one, the way desolate and even dangerous, but goodness and mercy were still following very close behind, and would in every new place of danger or difficulty, be at hand to help over hard places and give comfort and cheer in the night season.

End of Chapter 15 of George Mueller of Bristol by Arthur T. Pearson. Chapter 16 of George Mueller of Bristol. This is a Libravox recording. This Libravox recording is in the public domain. George Mueller of Bristol by Arthur T. Pearson. Chapter 16 The Shadow of a Great Sorrow With clouds he covereth the light

No human life is without some experience of clouded skies and stormy days And sometimes the clouds return after the rain It is a blessed experience to recognize the silver lining On the darkest storm cloud And better still to be sure of the shining of God's light behind a sky that seems wholly and hopelessly overcast. The year 1870 was made forever pathetically memorable by the decease of Mrs. Mueller,

who lived just long enough to see the last of the new orphan houses opened. From the outset of the work in November 1835, for more than 34 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 association in prayer and service. In their case, the days of courtship were never passed. Indeed, the tender and delicate mutual attention 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 of a fountain of mutual delight. Never had his beloved Mary been so precious to her husband as during the very year of her departure. This marriage union was so happy that Mr. Mueller 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. Mueller'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 hardly 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 want-diggly and often thrice a day

to secure a time of united prayer and praise when they brought before the Lord the matters, which at the time called for thanksgiving and supplication. Mrs. Mueller had never been a very vigorous woman, and more than once had been brought nigh into death. In October 1859, after 29 years of wedded life and love, she had been laid aside by rheumatism and had continued in great suffering for about nine months, quite helpless and unable to work. But it was felt to be a special mark of God's love and faithfulness, that this very affliction was used by him to reestablish her in health and strength.

The compulsory rest made necessary for the greater part of a year, being in Mr. Mueller's judgment, a means of prolonging her life and period of service for the ten years following. Thus, a severe trial met by them both in faith had issued in much blessing, both to soul and body. 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 her. to obey her activity, or even when a distressing cough attacked her, to allow a physician to be called. Her husband carefully guarded and nursed her, and by careful attention to diet

and rest, by avoidance of needless exposure, and by constant resort to prayer, she was kept alive through much weakness and sometimes much pain. But on Saturday night, February 5th, she found that she had not the use of one of her limbs, and it was obvious. that the end was nigh. Her own mind was clear, and her own heart at peace. She herself remarked, He will soon come. And a few minutes after four in the afternoon of the Lord's Day, February 6th, 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 taking such a wife, releasing her saintly spirit from the bondage of weakness, sickness, and pain, rather than leaving her to a protracted suffering and the mute agony of helplessness. And above all, introducing her to her heart's desire, the immediate presence of the Lord Jesus and the higher service of a celestial sphere. Is not that grief akin to selfishness which dwells so much on our own deprivations as to be oblivious of the ecstatic gain of the departed saints,

who, withdrawn from us and absent from the body, are at home with the Lord? It is only in those circumstances of extreme trial which prove to ordinary men a crushing weight, that implicit faith in the father's unfailing wisdom and love proves its full power to sustain. Where self-will is truly lost in the will of God, the life that is hidden in him is most radiantly exhibited in the darkest hour. The death of this beloved wife afforded an illustration of this.

Within a few hours after this withdrawal of her who had shared with him the planning and working of these long years of service, Mr. Mueller went to the Monday evening prayer meeting, then held in Salem Chapel, to mingle his prayers and praises as usual with those of his brethren. With a literally shining countenance, he rose and said, Beloved brethren and sisters in Christ, I ask you to join with me in hearty praise and thanksgiving to my precious Lord for his loving kindness in having taken my darling, beloved wife out of the pain and suffering which she has endured into his own presence.

And as I rejoice in everything that is for her happiness, so I now rejoice, as I realize how far happier she is in beholding her Lord whom she loves so well than in any joy she is known or could know here. I ask you also to pray that the Lord will so enable me to have fellowship in her joy, that my bereaved heart may be occupied with her blessedness instead of my unspeakable loss. These remarkable words are supplied by one who was himself present, and on whose memory they made an indelible impression. This occurrence had a marked effect upon all who were at that meeting. Mrs. Mueller was known by all as a most valuable, lovely, and holy woman and wife. After nearly 40 years of wedded life and love, she had left the earthly home for the heavenly.

To her husband, she had been a blessing beyond description, and to her daughter Lydia, at once a wise and tender mother and a sympathetic companion. The loss to them both could never be made up on earth. Yet in these circumstances, this man of God had grace given to forget his own and his daughter's irreparable loss, and to praise God for the unspeakable gain to the departed wife and mother. The body was laid to rest on February 11th, with many thousands of sorrowing friends evincing the deepest sympathy. Twelve hundred orphans mingled in the funeral procession

and the whole staff of helpers so far as they could be spared from the houses. The bereaved husband strangely upheld by the arm of the almighty friend in whom he trusted took about himself, the funeral service, both at chapel and cemetery. He was taken seriously ill afterward, but as soon as his returning strength allowed, he preached his wife's funeral sermon, another memorable occasion.

It was the supernatural serenity of his peace in the presence of such a bereavement that led his attending position to say to a friend, I have never before seen so unhuman a man. Yes, unhuman indeed, though far from inhuman, human, 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 11968. Its three divisions were, the Lord was good and did good, first in giving her to me, second, in so long leaving her to me, and third, in taking her from me. It is happily preserved in Mr. Mueller's journal and must be read to be appreciated. This union begun in prayer, was in prayer sanctified to the end.

Mrs. Mueller's chief excellence lay in her devoted piety. She wore that one ornament, which is in the sight of God of great price, the meek and quiet spirit, the beauty of the Lord her God was upon her. She had sympathetically shared her husband's prayers and tears during all the long trial time of faith and patience and partaken of all the joys and rewards of the triumph hours.

Mr. Mueller'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, single you out for me, as the most suitable wife I could possibly wish to have.

As to culture, she had a basis of sensible, practical education, surmounted and adorned by ladylike accomplishments, which she had neither time nor inclination to indulge in her married life. not only was she skilled in the languages and in such higher studies as astronomy, but in mathematics also, and this last qualification made her for 34 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 providential adaptation to her work,

like the round peg in the round hole. Her practical education and needlework, and her knowledge of the material most serviceable for various household uses, made her competent to direct both in the purchase and manufacture of claws and other fabrics for garments, bed linen, etc. She moved about those orphan houses like an ancient, 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 believing orphan, some 17 years before sent out to service, asking, in behalf of others formerly in the houses, permission to correct a stone over Mrs. Mueller's grave, an expression of love and grateful remembrance. Consent being given, hundreds of little offerings came in from orphans who during the 25 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 daughter Lydia had, two years before Mrs. Mueller's departure, found in one of her mother's pocketbooks,

a sacred memorandum in her own writing, which she brought to her braved father's notice two days after his wife had departed. It belongs among the precious relics of her history. It reads as follows, should it please the Lord to remove M.M.M. Mary Mueller, by a sudden dismissal, let none of the beloved survivors consider that it is in the way of judgment, either to her or to them. She has so often, when enjoying conscious nearness to the Lord, felt how sweet it would be now to depart and to be forever with Jesus, that nothing but the shock it would be to her beloved husband and child, etc. has checked in her longing desire that thus her happy spirit might take its flight. Precious Jesus, thy will in this as in everything else, and not hers, be done.

These words were to Mr. Mueller her last legacy, and with the comfort they gave him the loving sympathy of his precious Lydia, who did all that a daughter could do to fill a mother's place. And with the remembrance of him who had 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. 16 months passed when Mr. James Wright, who, like Mr. Mueller had been bereft of his companion, ask of him the hand of the beloved Lydia in marriage. The request took Mr. Mueller wholly by surprise, but he felt that, to no man living, could he with more joyful confidence, commit and entrust his choices remaining earthly treasure? And ever solicitous for others' happiness rather than his own, he encouraged his daughter to accept Mr. Wright's proffered love when she naturally hesitated on her father's account.

On November 16, 1871, they were married and began a life of mutual prayer and sympathy, which, like that of her father and mother, proved supremely and almost ideally happy, helpful, and useful. While as yet this event was only in prospect, Mr. Mueller 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 someone to share intimately his toils and prayers, and help him in the Lord's work, and the persuasion grew upon him that it was God's will that he should marry again. After much prayer, he determined to ask Ms. Susanna Grace Sanger to become his wife, having known her for more than 25 years as a consistent disciple, and believing her to be well-fitted to be his helper in the Lord. accordingly, 14 days after his daughter's marriage to Mr. Wright, he entered into similar relations with Miss Sanger, who for years after joined him in prayer, unselfish giving, and labors for souls.

The second Mrs. Mueller was of one mind with her husband, as to the stewardship of the Lord's property. He found her poor for what she had once possessed she had lost, and had she been rich, he would have regarded her wealth as an obstacle to marriage. unfitting her to be his companion in a self-denial based on scriptural principle. Riches or hoarded wealth would have been to both of them a snare. And so she also felt, so that having still before her marriage,

a remnant of two hundred pounds, she had 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. Mueller, 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 works, and an instrument is what an agent works with. Though provision might be made in a board of trustees for carrying on the orphan work, where would be found the man to take the direction of it, such 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. Mueller had done before him.

Such were the inquiries of the somewhat doubtful, fearful observers of the great and many-branched work carrying on under Mr. Mueller'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 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 resources. 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. Muriel son-in-law, for the choice was made before his marriage to Lydia Mueller was even thought of by him.

For more than 30 years, even from his boyhood, Mr. Wright had been well known to Mr. Mueller, and his growth in the things of God had been watched by him. For 13 years, he had already been his right hand in all most important matters, and for nearly all of that time had been held up before God as his successor, in the prayers of Mr. and Mrs. Mueller, 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, Mr. Mueller was himself ill. He opened his heart to Mr. Wright as to the succession. Humility led him to shrink from such a post, and then his 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 21 months, after this, when in November 1871, Mr. Wright was married to Mr. Mueller's only daughter and child, so that it is quite apparent that he had neither sought the position he now occupies, nor was he appointed to it because he was Mr. Mueller'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 responsibilities of the institution, and gave him great joy as a partner and his father-in-law. successor, in full sympathy with all the great principles on which his work had been based.

A little over three years after Mr. Mueller's second marriage in March 1874, Mrs. Mueller was taken ill, and became two days later feverish and restless, and after about two weeks was attacked with hemorrhage, which brought her also very near to the gates of death. She rallied, but fever and delirium followed an obstinate sleeplessness, till first 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. Mueller was raised up, and in the end of May was taken to the seaside for a change of air, and grew rapidly stronger until she was entirely restored. stored. Thus, the Lord spared her to be the companion of her husband in those years of missionary touring, which enabled him to bear such worldwide witness. Out of that 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. And of Chapter 16 of George Mueller of Bristol by Arthur T. Pearson. Chapter 17 of George Mueller of Bristol.

This is a Libravox recording, which is in the public domain. George Mueller of Bristol by Arthur T. Pearson. Chapter 17. The period of worldwide witness. God's real answers to prayer are often seeming denials. Beneath the outward request, he hears the voice of the inward desire, and he responds to the mind of the spirit. rather than to the imperfect and perhaps mistaken words in which the yearning seeks expression.

Moreover, his infinite wisdom sees that a larger blessing may be ours only by the withholding of the lesser good which we seek. And so all true prayer trust him to give his own answer, not in our own way or time, or even to our own express desire, 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 might not go to Rome,

that sink of iniquity. But he was permitted to go, and thus came into contact with Ambrose, bishop of Milan, through whom he was converted. God fulfilled the mother's desire while denying her request. When George Mueller, five times within the first eight years after conversion, had offered himself as a missionary, God had blocked his way.

Now at 65, he was about to permit him, in a sense he had never dreamed of, to be a missionary to the world. From the beginning of his ministry, he had been more or less an itinerate, spending no little time in wanderings about in Britain and on the continent. But now he was to go to the regions beyond and spend the major part of 17 years in witnessing to the prayer-hearing God. These extensive missionary tours occupy the evening of Mr. Mueller'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, compelled by Mrs. Mueller's health to seek a change of air, he was preaching in the Isle of White, and a beloved Christian brother, for whom he had spoken, himself a man of much experience in preaching, told him how that day had been the happiest of his whole life, and this remark, with others like it previously made,

so impressed him that the Lord was about to use him to help on believers outside of Bristol, that he determined no longer to confine his labors 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. One, to preach the gospel in its simplicity, and especially to show how salvation is based, not upon feelings, or even upon faith, but upon the finished work of Christ.

That justification is ours the moment we believe, and we are to accept and claim our place, as accepted in the beloved, without regard to our inward states of feeling or emotion. 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 bring believers back 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 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, brotherly love, to lead them to make less of those nony sense, 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. Five, to strengthen the faith of believers, encouraging a simpler trust, and to more real and unwavering confidence in God, and particularly in the sure answers to believing prayer, based upon his definite promises.

Six, 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. Seven, 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. Mueller'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 know 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 of

perfectness, and to help them to exhibit that life before the world. To incite them to cultivate an unworldly and spiritual type 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 appearing of the Lord, so that they should purify themselves even as he is pure, and occupy till he comes.

Mr. Mueller 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, busy missionary journeys, it is needful to give only the outline or general survey. March 26, 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, Luz, and Sunderland, on the way to Sunderland, Sunderland preaching to a great audience in the Metropolitan Tabernacle at Mr. Spurgeon's request.

Then to Newcastle on Tyne and back to London, where he spoke at the Millmay Park Conference, Talbot Road Tabernacle, and Edinburgh Castle. This tour closed June 5th, after 70 addresses in public during about 10 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. Sanky. Their short stay in each place made them unable to lead on new converts to higher attainments in knowledge and grace, and there seemed to be a call for some instruction fitted to conform these new believers in the life of obedience. Mr. Mueller accordingly followed these evangelists in England, Ireland, and Scotland, staying in each place from one week to six, and seeking to educate and edify those who had been led to Christ.

Among the places visited on this errand in 1875 were London, then Kilmarnock, Saltwater, Dundee, Perth, Glasgow, Kirkintillock in Scotland, and Dublin in Ireland. Then returning to England, he went to Leamington, Warwick, Kenilworth, Coventry, Rugby, etc. In some cases, notably at Millmay Park, Dundee, and Glasgow, Liverpool, and Dublin, the audiences numbered from 2,000 to 6,000, but everywhere, rich blessings came from above. This second tour extended into the New Year, 1876, and took in Liverpool, York, Kendall, Carlyle, Annan, Edinburgh, Arbouath, Montrose, Aberdeen, and other places. And when it closed in July, having lasted nearly 11 months,

Mr. Mueller had preached at least 306 times, an average of about one sermon a day, exclusive of days spent in travel. So acceptable and profitable were these labors that there were over 100 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, Werdembourg, Baden, Hessey Darmstadt, etc.

Although over 300 addresses were given in about 70 cities and villages to all of which he had been invited by letter. When this tour closed, more than 60 written invitations remain unaccepted, and Mr. Mueller found that, through his work and his writings, he was as well known in the continental countries visited as in England. Turning now toward America, the fourth tour extended from August 8th,000, 1877 to June of the next year. For many years, invitations had been coming with growing frequency from the United States and Canada, and of late their urgency led him to recognize in them the call

of God, especially as he thought of the many thousands of Germans across the Atlantic, who, as they heard him speak in their own native tongue, would keep the more silence. Mr. and Mrs. Mueller landing at Quebec, thence went to the United States, where during 10 months his labor stretched over a vast area, including the states of New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Maryland, District of Columbia, Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, and Missouri. Thus having swept around the Atlantic Sea border, he crossed to the Pacific coast, and returning, visited Salt Lake City in Utah, the very center and stronghold of Mormonism, Illinois, Ohio, etc. He spoke frequently to large congregations of Germans and in the southern states

to the colored population. But he regarded no opportunity for service afforded him on this tour as so inspiring as the repeated meetings with and for ministers, evangelists, pastors, and Christian workers. And next to them in importance, his interviews with large bodies of students and professors in the universities, colleges, theological seminaries, and other higher schools of education. To cast the salt of the gospel into the very springs of social influence, the sources whence power flows was to him a most sacred privilege. His singular Catholicity, charity, and humility drew to him even those who differed with him, and all denominations of Christians united in giving him access to the people.

During this tour he smoked 300 times, and traveled nearly 10,000 miles. Over 100 invitations being declined for simple lack of time and strength. After a stay in Bristol of about two months on September 5, 1878, he and his wife began the fifth of these missionary tours. In this case, it was on the continent where he ministered in English, German, and French. And in Spain and Italy, when these tongues were not available, his addresses were through an interpreter.

many open doors the Lord set before him, not only to the poorer and humbler classes, but to those in the middle and higher ranks. In the Riviera, he had access to many of the nobility and aristocracy, who from different countries sought health and rest in the equitable climate of the Mediterranean, and at Mentone he and Mr. Spurgeon held sweet converse. In Spain, Mr. Mueller was greatly gladdened by seeing for himself the schools entirely supported by the funds of the scriptural knowledge institution, and by finding that in hundreds of cases, even popish parents so greatly value in these schools that they continued to send their children,

despite both the threats and persuasions of the Romish priests. He found, moreover, that the pupils frequently at their home is 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 support. apparent horizon, as diffused or refracted sunlight reaches with its illumining rays far beyond the visible track of the orb of the day. The work had to contend with governmental opposition. When a place was first opened at Madrid for gospel services, a sign was placed outside announcing the fact. Official orders were issued that the sign should be painted over so as to obliterate the inscription. The painter of the sign, unwilling both to undo his own

and to hinder the work of God, painted the sign over with watercolors, which would leave the original announcement half visible, and would soon be washed off by the rains, whereupon the government sent his own workman to daub the sign over with thick oil color. Mr. Mueller, ready to preach the gospel to those at Rome also, felt his spirit saddened and stirred within him, as he saw that city wholly given to idolatry, not pagan but papal idolatry. The Rome not of the Caesars but of the popes. While at Naples he ascended Vesuvius, those masses of lava which seemed greater in bulk than the mountain itself,

more impressed him with the power of God than anything else he had ever seen. As he looked upon that smoking cone and thought of the liquid death it had vomited forth, he said within himself, What cannot God do? He had before felt somewhat of his almightiness in love and grace, but he now saw its manifestation in judgment and wrath. His visit to the Voixda Valley, 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 12 days and preached 286 times in 40, towns and cities. After another 10 weeks in Bristol, he and his wife sailed again for America, the last week of August 1879, landing at New York the first week in September. This visit took

in the states lying between the Atlantic Ocean and the Valley of the Mississippi, New York and New Jersey, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, and Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, and from London to Hamilton to Quebec, Canada, also shared the blessing. This visit covered only 272 days, but he preached 300 times and in over 40 cities. Over 150 written invitations still remained without response, and the number increased the longer his stay. Mr. Mueller therefore assuredly gathered that the Lord called him to return to America, and 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 travelers embarked the next day on their seventh mission tour, landing 10 days later at Quebec. Mr. Mueller had a natural antipathy to the sea, in his earlier crossing to the continent having suffered much from seasickness. But he had undertaken these long voyages, not for his own pleasure of profit, but wholly on God's errand, and he felt it to be a peculiar mark of the loving kindness of the Lord, that while he was ready to endure any discomfort or risk his life for his sake, he had not in his six crossings of the Atlantic suffered in the least, and on this particular voyage was wholly free from any indisposition.

from Quebec he went to Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. Among other places of special interests were Boston, Plymouth, the landing place of the Pilgrims, Wellesley and South Hadley Colleges, the great schools for women's higher education, and the center's farther westward where he had such a 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 250 times in all, and Mrs. Mueller had availed herself of many opportunities

of personal dealing with inquirers, and of distributing books and tracks among both believers and unbelievers. She had also written for her husband more than 700 letters, this of itself being no light task, it is much as it reaches an average of about three a day. On May 30, 1881, they were again on British shores. The eighth long-breaching tour from August 23, 1881 to May 30, 1882, was given to the continent of Europe, where again Mr. Mueller felt led by the low state of religious life in Switzerland and Germany.

This visit was extended to the Holy Land in a way strikingly providential. After speaking at Alexandria, Cairo, and Port Said, he went to Jaffa, and thence to Jerusalem on November 28th. With Reverend Feet, he touched the soil once trottened by the feet of the Son of God, visiting with pathetic interest, Gassimini and Galgotha,

and crossing the Mount of Olives to Bethany, thence to Bethlehem, and back to Jaffa, and so to Haifa, Mount Carmel, and Beirut, Smyrna, Ephesus, Constantinople, Athens, Brindisi, Rome, and Florence. Again, were months crowded with services,

of all sorts, whose fruit will appear only in the day of the Lord Jesus, addresses being made in English, German, and French, or by translation into Arabic, Armenian, Turkish, and modern Greek. Sightseeing was always, but incidental to the higher service of the master. During this eighth tour, covering some eight months, Mr. Mueller spoke hundreds of times with all the former tokens of God's blessing on his seed sewing. The ninth tour from August 8, 1882 to June 1, 1883, was occupied with labors in Germany, Austria and Russia, including Bavaria, Hungary, Bohemia, Saxony, and Poland.

His special joy it was to bear witness in Kroppenstatt, his birthplace, after an absence of about 64 years. At St. Petersburg, while the guest of Princess Levin, at her mansion he met and ministered to many of high rank. He also began to hold meetings in the house of Colonel Pashkov, who had suffered not only persecution, but exile for the Lord's sake. While the scriptures were being read one day in bus with seven poor Russians, a policeman summarily broke up the meeting and dispersed the little company. At loads in Poland, a letter was received in behalf of almost the whole population, making 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 10th tour began, this time his face being turned toward the Orient. Nearly 60 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 23rd country visited in his tours. He traveled over 21,000 miles, spoke over 200 times to missionaries and Christian workers, European residents, Eurasians, Hindus, Muslims, educated natives, native boys and girls in the orphanage at Kohlar, etc. Thus, in his 79th year, this servant of God was still in labors 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 11th 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 went by way of Nice, and after traveling nearly 38,000 miles, in good health, Mr. and Mrs. Mueller reached home on June 14, 1887, having been absent more than one year and seven months, during which Mr. Mueller had preached whenever and wherever opportunity was afforded. Less than two months later, on August 12, 1887, he sailed for South Australia, Tasmania, New Zealand, Ceylon and India. This 12th long tour closed in March 1890, having covered thousands of miles. The intense heat at one time compelled Mr. Mueller 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 in the month of January 1890, while at Jumbalapur, preaching with great help from the Lord, that the letter was put into Mr. Mueller'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 30 years, she had labored gratuitously at the orphan houses, and it would be difficult to fill that vacancy. But for 14 years, she had been her husband's almost ideal companion, and for nearly 58 years her father's unspeakable treasure. And here were two of the voids which could never be filled. But Mr. Mueller's heart, as also Mr. Wright's, was kept at rest

by the strong confidence that, however mysterious God's ways, all his dealings belonged to one harmonious spiritual mechanism in which every part is perfect and all things work together for good. This sudden bereavement led Mr. Mueller to bring his mission tour in the east to a close and depart from 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. Mueller left home for other extensive missionary journeys. They went to the continent and were absent from July 1890 to May 1892. A 12 month was spent in Germany and Holland, Austria, and Italy.

This absence, in fact, included two tours, with no interval between them, and concluded the series of extensive journeys reaching through 17 years. This man from his 70th to his 87th year, when most men are withdrawing from all activities, had traveled in 42 countries and over 200,000 miles, a distance equivalent to nearly eight journeys round the globe. He estimated that during these 17 years he had addressed over 3 million people, and from all that can be gathered from the records of these tours, we estimate that he must have spoken outside of Bristol between 5,000 and 6,000. times. What sort of teaching and testimony occupied these tours? Those who have known the preacher

and teacher need not be told. While at Berlin in 1891, he gave an address that serves as an example of the vital truths which he was wont to press on the attention of fellow disciples. We give a brief outline. He first urged that believers should never, even under the greatest difficulties, be discouraged and gave for his position sound scriptural reasons. Then he pointed out to them that the chief business of every day is, first of all, to seek to be truly at rest and happy in God. Then he showed how, from the Word of God, all saved believers may know their true standing in Christ, and how in circumstances of particular perplexity they might ascertain the will

of God. He then urged disciples to seek with intense earnestness to become acquainted with God himself, as revealed in the Holy Scriptures, and carefully to form and maintain Godly Habbas 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, diggly aim to glorify God in a complete surrender to his will and service. In all these mission tours again, the faithfulness of God conspicuously seen in the body a supply of every need.

Steamer fares and long railway journeys, hotel accommodations, ordinarily preferred to private hospitality, which seriously interfered with private habits of devotion, public work, and proper rest. Such expenses demanded a heavy outlay. The new mode of life now adopted for the Lord's sake was at least three times as costly as the former frugal housekeeping. And yet, in answer to prayer, and without any appeal to human help, the Lord furnished all that was required. Acustomed to look step by step for such tokens of divine approval, as emboldened him to go forward, Mr. Mueller records how when 100 pounds was sent to him for personal uses, this was recognized as a foretoken from his great provider. By which, he writes,

God meant to say to my own heart, I am pleased with thy word. 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. Mueller specially records in connection with these tours. First, God's gracious guiding and guarding of the work at Bristol so that it suffered nothing from his absence. And secondly, the fact that these journeys had no connection with collecting of money for the work, or even informing the public of no reference was made to the institution at Bristol, except when urgently requested, and not always even then, nor were collections ever made for it.

Statements found their way into the press that in America large sums were gathered, but their falsity is sufficiently shown by the fact that in his first tour in America, for example, the sum total of all such gifts was less than 60 pounds, not more than two-thirds of the outlay of every day at the orphan houses. These missionary tours were not always approved even by the friends and advisors of Mr. Mueller. In 1882, while experiencing no little difficulty in trial, especially as to funds, there were not a few who felt a deep interest in the institution on Ashley Down, who would have had God's servant discontinue his long absences.

As to them, it appeared that these were the main reason for the falling off in funds. He was always open to counsel, but he always reserved to himself and 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. First, he had observed year after year that under the godly and efficient supervision of Mr. Wright and his large staff of helpers, every branch of the scriptural knowledge institution had been found as healthy and fruitful during these absences as when Mr. Mueller was in Bristol. Second, 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. Third, 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. fourth even while absent he was never out of communication with the helpers at home generally he heard at least weekly from mr wright and any matters needing his counsel were thus submitted to him by letter prayer to god was as effectual at a distance from bristol as on the spot and his periodical returns to that city for some weeks or months between these tours kept him in close touch with every department of the work fifth the supreme consideration however was this to suppose it necessary for Mr. Mueller himself to be at home in order that sufficient means should be 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 44 years of its existence. And therefore, notwithstanding the loving counsel of a few donors and friends who advised that Mr. Mueller should stay at home, he kept to his purpose and his principles, partly to demonstrate that no man's presence is indispensable to the work of the Lord. Them that honor me, I will honor. First Samuel 239. He regarded it the greatest honor of his life to bear this wide witness to God, and God

correspondingly honored 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 personal contact with Mr. Mueller. While I was at San Francisco in 1878, he was to speak on Sabbath afternoon, May 12th at Oakland, just across the bay. But conscientious objections to needless Sunday travel caused me voluntarily to lose what then seemed the only chance of seeing and hearing a man who's, career had been watched by me for over 20 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. Mueller boarded my train, and we traveled to Chicago together. I introduced myself and held with him daily converse about divine things, and while tearing 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, in his next tour, and spoke in the Fort Street Presbyterian Church, of which I was pastor, on Sundays, January 18th, and 25th, 1880, and on Monday and Friday evenings in the interval. In addition to these numerous and favorable opportunities,

thus providentially afforded, for hearing and conversing with Mr. Mueller, he kindly met me for several days in my study, for an hour at a time, for comforts 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 pre-millennial view, and brought out my objections, to all of which he made one reply. My beloved brother, I have heard all your arguments and objections against this few, but they have one fatal defect. Not one of them is based 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 unraveled the tangled skein of my perplexity and difficulty, and help me to settle upon biblical principles all matters of so-called, expediency. As he left me, about to visit other cities, his words fixed themselves in my memory. I had expressed to him my growing conviction that the worship in the churches had lost his primitive simplicity, that the purest system was pernicious, that fixed salaries for ministers of the gospel were unscriptural, that the Church of God should be administered only by men

full of the Holy Ghost, and that the duty of Christians to non-church-going masses was grossly neglected, etc. He solemnly said to me, My beloved brother, the Lord has given you much light upon these matters, and will hold you correspondingly responsible for its use. If you obey him and walk in the light, you will have more. If not, the light will be withdrawn. It is a singular lesson on the importance of an anointed tongue that forty simple words spoken over twenty years ago

have had a daily influence on the life of him to whom they were spoken. amid subtle temptations to compromise the claims of duty and hush the voice of conscience or of the Spirit of God, and to follow the traditions of men rather than the Word of God, those words of that venerated servant of God have recurred to mind with ever-fresh force. We risk the forfeiture of privileges which are not employed for God, and of obscuring convictions which are not carried into action. God's word to us is use or lose. that hath shall be given, from him that hath not shall be taken away, even that which he seemeth

to have. It is the hope and prayer of him who writes this memoir that the reading of these pages may prove to begin interview with a man whose memorial they are, and that the witness born by George Mueller may be to many readers a source of untold and lifelong blessing. It may not be said that to carry out convictions into action is a costly sacrifice. It may make necessary. It may make necessary, renunciations and separations, which leave one to feel a strange sense of both deprivation and loneliness. But he who will fly as an eagle does in the higher levels where cloudless day abides, and live in a sunshine of God, must consent to live a comparatively lonely life. No bird is so solitary as the eagle. Eagles never fly in flocks, one or at most two, and the two mates,

being ever seen at once. But the life that is lived unto God, however, it forfeits human companionship, knows divine fellowship, and the child of God, who, like his master, undertakes to do always the things that please him, can, like his master, say, the Father hath not left me alone. I am alone, yet not alone, for the Father is with me.

Whosoever will will promptly follow whatever light God gives, without regard to human opinion, custom, tradition, or approbation, will learn the deep meaning of these words. Then shall we know if we follow on to know the Lord. End of Chapter 17 of George Mueller of Bristol by Arthur T. Pearson. Chapter 18 of George Mueller of Bristol. This is a Libravox recording, which is in the public domain. George Mueller of Bristol by Arthur T. Pearson.

Chapter 18 Faith and Patience in Serving 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 Terry until endowed with power from on high because it is such endowment that gives to all witness and work

the celestial savor and flavor of the spirit. Before we come to the closing scenes, we may well look back over-the-life work of George Mueller, 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 establish, or at least to aid Christian schools, wherever needful,

to scatter Bibles and Testaments, Christian books and tracks, to aid missionaries who are 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. An aggressive spirit is never content with what has been done, but is prompt to enter any new door that is providentially opened. When the Paris Exposition of 1867 offered such rare opportunities, both for preaching to the crowds passing through the French capital,

and for circulating among them the Holy Scriptures, he gladly availed himself of the services of two brethren whom God had sent to labor there, one of whom spoke three and the other eight modern languages, and through them were circulated chiefly at the exposition, and in 13 different languages nearly 12,000 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 one quarter million Bivalry, in 16 tongues, which were gratefully accepted, even by Romish priests. Within six months,

those who thus entered God's open door scattered more copies of the Book of God than in ordinary circumstances would have been done by 10,000 coal porters in 20 times that number of months. And thousands of souls are known to have found salvation by the simple reading of the New Testament. of this glorious work, George Mueller was permitted to be so largely a promoter. At the Havre exhibition of the following year, 1868, a similar work was done. And it like matter, when a providential door was unexpectedly open into the land of the Inquisition, Mr. Mueller promptly took measures to promote the circulation of the word in Spanish. In the streets of Madrid, the open Bible was seen for the first time,

and copies were sold at the rate of 250. in an hour, so that the supply was not equal to the demand. The same facts were substantially repeated when free Italy furnished a field for sowing the seed of the kingdom. This wide-awake servant of God watched the signs of the times, and while others slipped, 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 tracked enterprise, until in 1874 the circulation exceeded three and three-quarter millions, God and 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. Mueller. To him the world was a field to be sown with the seed of the kingdom, and opportunities were eagerly embraced for widely disseminating. the truth. Tracks were liberally used, given away in large qualities at open-air services, fairs, races, and steeple chases, and among spectators at public executions, or among passengers on board ships and railway trains. And by the way, sometimes at a single gathering of the multitudes, 15,000 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 oneself in Mr. Mueller's place. In the year 1874, for instance, about 44,000 pounds were needed, and he was compelled to count the cost and face the situation. 2,100 hungry mouths were daily to be fed, and as many bodies to be clad and cared for. 189 missionaries were needing assistance, 100 schools with about 9,000 pupils to be supported, 4 million pages of tracks, and tens of thousands of copies of the scriptures to be yearly provided for distribution.

And beside all these ordinary expenses, inevitable crises or emergencies, always liable to a arise in connection with the conduct of such extensive enterprises, would from time to time call for extraordinary outlay. The man who was at the head of the scriptural knowledge institution had to look at this array of unavoidable expenses, and at the same time face the human possibility and probability of an empty treasury whence the last shilling had been drawn. Let him tell us how he met such prospect. God, our infinitely rich treasurer, remains to us. us. It is this which gives me peace. Invariably, with this probability before me, I have said to myself, God who has raised up this work through me, God who has led me generally year after year to enlarge it.

God, who has supported this work now for more than 40 years, will still help and will not suffer me to be confounded, because I rely upon him. I commit the whole work to him, and he will provide me with what I need. In future also, though I know not whence, the means are to come. Thus he wrote in his journal on July 28, 1874. Since then, 24 years have passed, and to this day the work goes on, though he who then had the guidance of it sleeps in Jesus. Whoever has had any such dealings with God, on however smallest scale, cannot even think of the Lord as failing to honor a faith so simple, genuine and childlike, a faith which leads a helpless believer, thus to cast himself and all his cares upon God with utter abandonment of all anxiety. This man put God to proof and proved himself

and to all who receive his testimony that it is blessed to wait only upon him. The particular point which he had in view in making these entries in his journal is the object also of embodying them in these pages, namely to show that, while the annual expenses of this institution were so exceedingly large, and the income so apparently uncertain, the soul of this believer was, to use his own words, throughout, without the least wavering, state upon God, believing that he who had through him begun the institution, enlarged it almost year after year, and upheld it for 40 years in answer to prayer by faith, would do this still and not suffer the servant of his to be confounded. Believing that God would still help and supply the means,

George Mueller was willing and thoroughly in heart prepared, if necessary, to pass again through similar, severe, and prolonged seasons of trial as he had already endured. The living God had kept him calm and restful, amid all the ups and downs of his long experience as the superintendent and director of this many-sides-executive. work, though the tests of faith had not been light or short of duration. For more than 10 years at a time, as from August 1838 to April 1849, day by day, and for months together from meal to meal, it was necessary to look to God, almost without cessation, for daily supplies. When later on,

the institution was 20-fold larger and the needs proportionally greater, for months at a time, the Lord likewise constrained his servant to lean from hour to hour in the same dependence upon him. All along through these periods of unceasing want, the eternal God was his refuge, and underneath were the everlasting arms. He reflected that God was aware of all this enlargement of the work and its needs. He comforted himself with the consoling thought that he was seeking his master's glory, and that if in this way the greater glory would accrue to him for the good of his people, and of those who were still unbelievers, it was no concern of the servant. Nay, more than this, it behooved the servant to be willing to go on in this path of trial,

even unto the end of his course. If so, it should please his master, who guides his affairs with divine discretion. The trials of faith did not cease even until the end. 28, 1881, finds the following entry in Mr. Mueller's journal. The income has been for some time passed only about a third part of the expenses. Consequently, all we have for the support of the orphans is nearly gone, and for the first four objects of the institution, we have nothing at all in hand. The natural appearance now is that the work cannot be carried on, but I believe that the Lord will help, both with means for the orphans and also for other objects of the institution, and that we shall not be confounded. Also that the work shall not need to be given up. I am fully expecting

help, and have written this to the glory of God, 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 a means, looking for answers, and firmly persuaded that their expectations would not be disappointed. Since that entry was made, 17 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 the sharp blade of a stern necessity. Though faith has thus tenaciously held fast to the promises, the pressure was not at once relieved. When a fortnight after these confident records of trust in God had been spread on the pages of the journal, the balance for the orphans was less than it had been for 25 years. It would have seemed to human sight as though God had forgotten to be gracious. But on August 22nd, over 1,000 pounds came in for the support of his. orphans, and thus relief was afforded for a time. Again, let us bear in mind how in the most unprecedented straits God alone was made the confidant, even the best friends of the institution,

alike the poor and the rich, being left in ignorance of the pressure of want. It would have been no sin to have made known the circumstances, or even to have made an appeal for aid to the many believers who would gladly have come to the relief of the work. But the testimony to the Lord was to be jealously guarded, and the main object of this work of faith would have been imperiled, just so far as by any appeal to men, this witness to God was weakened. In this crisis and at 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. Mueller, with his wife, left Bristol on August 23rd for the continent on his eighth long preaching tour.

Thus, at a time when to the natural eye, his own presence would have seemed well-nigh indispensable, he calmly departed for other's fears of duty, leaving the work at home in the hands of Mr. Wright and his helpers. The tour had been already arranged for, underdard. God's leading, and it was undertaken with the supporting power of a deep conviction that God is as near to those who in prayer wait on him in distant lands as on Ashley Down, and needs not the personal presence of any man in any one place or at any time in order to carry on his work. In an American city, a half-idiotic boy who was bearing a heavy burden, asked Drayman, who was driving an empty cart for a ride.

Being permitted, he mounted the cart with his basket, but thinking he might so relieve the horse a little, while still himself riding, lifted his load and carried it. We laugh at the simplicity of the idiotic lad, and yet how often we are guilty of similar folly. We profess to cast ourselves and our cares upon the Lord, and then persist in bearing our own burdens, as if we felt that he would be unequal to the task of sustaining us and our loads. It is a most wholesome lesson for Christian workers to learn that all true work is primarily the Lord's and only secondarily ours, and that therefore all carefulness on our part is distrust of him, implying a sinful self-conceit which overlooks the fact that he is the one worker and all others are only his instruments. As to our trials, difficulties, losses, and disappointments, we are prone to hesitate about

committing them to the Lord. trustfully and calmly. We think we have done well if we take refuge in the Lord's promise to his reluctant disciple Peter. What I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter. Referring this hereafter to the future state where we look for the solution of all problems. In Peter's case, the hereafter appears to have come when the feet washing was done and Christ explained its meaning. And it is very helpful to our faith to observe Mr. Mueller's witness concerning all these trying and disappointing experiences of his life, that without one exception he had found already in this life that they worked together for his good, so that he had reason to

praise God for them all. In the 90th Psalm, we read, make us glad according to the days wherein thou has afflicted us, and the years wherein we have seen evil. This is an inspired prayer, and such prayer is a prophecy. Not a few saints have found this side of heaven a divine gladness for every year and day of sadness when their afflictions and adversities have been patiently born. Faith is the secret of both peace and steadfastness, amid all tendencies to discouragement and discontinuance in well-doing. James was led by the Spirit of God to write that the unstable and unbelieving man is like the wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. There are two motions of the waves, one up and down, which we call undulation, the other to and fro, which we call fluctuation. How appropriately both are referred to

tossed up and down, driven, to, and fro. The double-minded man lacks steadiness in both respects. His faith has no uniformity of experience, for he is now at the crest of the wave, and now in the trough of the sea, it has no uniformity of progress, for whatever he gains today, he loses tomorrow. Fluctuations in income and apparent prosperity did not take George Mueller by surprise. He expected them, for if there were no crises and critical emergencies, how could there be critical deliverances? His trust was in God, not in donors or human friends or worldly circumstances. and because he trusted in the living God who says of himself,

I am the Lord, I change not. Amid all other changes, his feet were upon the one rock of ages, that no earthquake shock can move from its eternal foundations. Two facts, Mr. Mueller gratefully records at this period of his life. First, for above 50 years I have now walked by his grace in the path of complete reliance upon him, who is the faithful one. For everything I have needed, and yet I am increasingly convinced that it is by his help alone I am unable to continue in this course. For if left to myself, even after the precious

enjoyment so long experience 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 desired 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. Mueller at home before sailing for America in September 1880, he had been singularly drawn out in prayer for such a visitation of grace, and had often urged it on the prayers of his helpers. The Lord is faithful, and he cheered the heart of his servant in his absence by abundant answers

to his intercessions. Before he had fairly entered on his work in America, news came from home of a blessed work of conversion already in progress, and which went on for nearly a year, until there was good ground for believing that in the five houses, five hundred and twelve orphans had found God their Father in Christ, and nearly half as many more were in a hope for. state. The Lord did not forget his promise, and he did keep the plant. He had permitted to 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 11,000 pounds reached him, the largest single gift ever yet received, the largest

donations, which had preceded being respectively 1,000, 2,000, 3, 5,000, 8,100, and 9,000, and 9,000, thousand and ninety-one pounds. This last amount, 11,000 had been due for over six years from an estate, but had been kept back by the delays of the Chancery Court. Prayer had been made day by day that the bequest might be set free for its uses, and now the full answer had come. And God had singularly timed the supply to the need, for there was at that time only 41 pounds, ten shillings in hand, not one-half of the average daily expenses. and certain sanitary improvements were just about to be carried out, which would require an outlay of over 2,000 pounds.

As Mr. Mueller closed the Solomon 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 blessed. Peacefully, then, we were able to enter upon the year 1885,

fully assured that, as we had God for us and with us, all, all would be well. John Wesley had in the same spirit set a century before. 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. Mueller felt constrained for some years previous to his death to make these vacancies known to the public,

in hopes that some destitute orphans might find there a home. But it must be remembered that the provision for such children has been greatly enlarged since this orphan work was begun. In 1834, the total accommodation for all orphans in England reached 3,600, while the prisons contained nearly twice as many children under eight years of age. This state of things led to the rapid enlargement of the work until over 2,000 were housed on Ashley Down alone, and this colossal enterprise stimulated others to open similar institutions. Until 50 years after Mr. Mueller began his work, at least 100,000 orphans were cared for in England alone. Thus, God used Mr. Mueller to give such an impetus to this form of philanthropy

that destitute children became the object of a widely organized charity, both on the part of individuals and of societies. And orphanages now exist for various classes. In all this manifold work, which Mr. Mueller did, he was, to the last, self-oblivious. From the time when, in October 1830, he had given up all stated salary as pastor and minister of the gospel, he had never received any salary, stipend, nor fixed,

income of any sort, whether as a pastor or as a director of the scriptural knowledge institution. Both principle and preference led him to wait only upon God for all personal needs, as also for all the wants of his work. Nevertheless, God put into the hearts of his believing children in all parts of the world, not only to send gifts and aid of the various branches of the work which Mr. Mueller superintended, but to forward to him money for his own uses, as well as clothes, food and other temporal supplies. He never appropriated one penny, which was not in some way indicated or designated as for his own personal needs and subject to his personal judgment. No straits of individual or family want ever led him to use, even for a time, what was

sent to him for other ends. Generally, gifts intended for himself were wrapped up in paper with his name written thereon, or in other equally distinct ways, designated as meant for him. Thus as early as 1874, his year's income reached upwards of 2,100 pounds. Few non-conformist ministers, and not one in 20 of the clergy of the establishment, have any such income, which averages about six pounds for every day in the year, and all this came from the Lord, simply in answer to prayer, and without appeal of any sort to man or even the revelation of personal needs. If we add legacies paid at the end of the year 1873, Mr. Mueller's entire income in about 13 months exceeded 3,100 pounds. Of this he gave out and out to the needy and to the work

of God, the whole amount save about 250, expended on personal and family wants, and thus started the year 1874, as poor as he had begun 45 years before. And if his personal expenses were scrutinized, it would be found that even what he ate and drank and war was with equal conscientiousness expended for the glory of God, so that in a true sense, we may say he spent nothing on himself. In another connection, it had already been recorded that, when at Jubilipur in 1890, Mr. Mueller 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 58th year,

and after nearly 30 years of labor at the orphan houses. What this death meant to Mr. Mueller, at the age of 84, 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-like fails to portray. If the daughter seemed to her father humanly indispensable, she was to her husband a sort of inseparable part of his being. And over such experiences as these, it is the part of delicacy to draw the curtain of silence. But it should be recorded that no trait in Mrs. Wright

was more pathetically attractive than her humility. Few disciples ever felt their own nothingness as she did, and it was this ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, the only ornament she wore, that made her seem so beautiful to all who knew her well enough for this hidden man of the heart to be disclosed to their vision. Did not that ornament in the Lord's sight appear as of great price? Truly, the beauty of the Lord her God was upon her.

James Wright had lived with his beloved Lydia for more than 18 years, in unmarred and unbroken felicity. They had together shared in prayer, and tears before God, bearing all life's burdens in common. Weak as she was physically, he always leaned upon her and found her a tower of spiritual strength in time of heavy responsibility. While in her lowly-mindedness, she thought of herself as a little useless thing, he found her both a capable and cheerful supervisor of many most important domestic arrangements where a competent woman's hand was needful. And with rare tact and fidelity,

she kept watch of the wants of the orphans as her dear mother had done before her. After her decease, her husband found among her personal effects a precious treasure, a verse written with her own hand. I have seen the face of Jesus. Tell me not of Ought beside. I have heard the voice of Jesus. All my soul is satisfied. This invaluable little fragment, like that of other writing found by this beloved daughter, among her mother's effects, became to Mr. Wright what that had been to Mr. Mueller, 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 53rd report, which extends to May 26, 1892, it is stated that the expenses exceeded the income for the orphans by a total of over 3,600 pounds, that many dear fellow laborers, without the least complaint, were in arrears as to salaries. This was the second time only in 58 years, that the income thus fell short of the expenses. Ten years previous, the expenses had been in excess of income by 488 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,

times as much. And now the question arose whether God would not have Mr. Mueller contract rather than expand the work. He says, the Lord's dealing with us during the last year indicate that it is his will we should contract our operations, and we are waiting upon him for directions as to how and to what extent this should be done, for we have but one single object, the glory of God. When I founded this institution, one of the principles stated was, that there would be no enlargement of the work by going into debt. And in like matter, we cannot go on with that which already exists if we have not sufficient means coming in to meet the current expenses.

Thus, the godly man who loved to expand his service for God was humble enough to bow to the will of God if its contraction seemed needful. 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 10 acres of land, at 1,000 pounds an acre, and at the close of the year there was in hand a balance of over 2,300 pounds. The exigency, however, continued more or less severe, until again in 1893-94,

after several years of trial, the Lord once more bodily supplied means. And Mr. Mueller 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 institution, it was only an appearance, for he was as mindful of it as ever. And he records how by this discipline faith was still further strengthened. God was glorified in the patience and meekness, whereby he enabled them to endure the testing, and tens of thousands of believers were blessed in afterward reading about, these experiences of divine faithfulness.

Five years after Mrs. Wright's death, Mr. Mueller was left again a widower. His last great mission tour had come to an end in 1892, and in 1895, on the 13th of January, the beloved wife, who in all these long journeys had been his constant companion and helper, passed to her rest, and once more left him peculiarly alone, since his devoted Lydia had been called up higher. Yet by the same grace of God which had always before sustained him, he was now upheld, and not only kept in unbroken peace, but enabled to kiss the hand which administered the stroke. At the funeral of a second wife, as at that of the first, he made the address, and the scene was unique in interest. Seldom as 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 commutes. He lived in such habitual communion with the unseen world and walked in such uninterrupted fellowship with the unseen God that the exchange of worlds became too real for him to mourn for those who had made it, or to murmur at the infinite love that numbers our days. It moved men more deeply than any spoken word of witness to see him manifestly borne up as on everlasting arms. I remember Mr. Mueller remarking that he waited eight years before he understood at all the purpose of God, in removing his first wife, who seemed so indispensable to him and his work. His own journal explains more fully this remark. When it pleased God to take from him his second wife, after over 23 years

of married life, again he rested on the promise that all things work together for good to them that love God, and reflected on his past experiences of its truth. When he lost his first wife, after over 39 years of happy wedlock, while he bowed to the father, How that sorrow and bereavement could work good had been wholly a matter of faith, for no compensating good was apparent to cite. Yet he believed God's word and waited to see how it would be fulfilled. That loss seemed one that could not be made up. Only a little before, two orphan houses had been opened for 900 more orphans, so that there were total accommodations for over 2,000. She who by nature, culture, gifts, and graces, was so wonderfully,

fitted to be her husband's helper, and who had with motherly love cared for these children, was suddenly removed from his side. Four years after Mr. Mueller married his second wife, he saw it plainly to be God's will that he should spend life's evening time in giving witness to the nations. These mission tours could not be otherwise than very trying to the physical powers of endurance, since they covered over 200,000 miles and obliged the travelers to spend a week at a time in a train, and sometimes from four to six weeks on board a vessel. Mrs. Mueller, though never taking part in public, was severely taxed by all this travel, and always busy, writing letters, circulating books and tracks, and in various ways,

helping and relieving her husband. All at once, while in the midst of these fatiguing journeys and exposures to varying climates, it flashed upon Mr. Mueller that his first wife, who had died in her 73rd year, could never have undertaken these tours that the Lord had thus, in taking her, left him free to make these extensive journeys. She would have been over four-score 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. Mueller, who at the time was not yet 57, was both by her age and strength fully equal to the strain thus put upon her. End of Chapter 18 of George Mueller of Bristol by Arthur T. Pearson.

Chapter 19 of George Mueller of Bristol. This is a Libravox recording, which is in the public domain. George Mueller of Bristol by Arthur T. Pearson. Chapter 19. At evening time, light. The closing scene of this beautiful and eventful life history has an interest not altogether pathetic. Mr. Mueller seems like an elevated mountain on whose summit the evening sun shines in lingering splendor, and whose golden peak rises far above the ordinary level and belongs to heaven more than earth,

in the clear, cloudless calm of God. For May 1892, when the last mission tour closed, he devoted himself mainly to the work of the scriptural knowledge institution and to preaching at Bethesda and elsewhere, as God seemed to appoint. His health was marvelous, especially considering how when yet a young man, frequent and serious illnesses and general debility, had apparently disqualified him from all military duty, and to many prophesied early death or hopeless succumbing to disease. He had been in tropic heat and arctic cold, in gales and typhoons at sea, and on journeys by rail, sometimes as continuously long as a sea voyage. He had borne the pest of fleas, mosquitoes, and even rats.

He had endured changes of climate, diet, habits of life, and the strain of almost daily services, and come out of all unscathed. This man, whose health was never robust, had gone through labors that would try the metal of an iron constitution. This man, who had many times been laid aside by illness, and sometimes for months, and who in 1837 had feared that a persistent head trouble might unhinge his mind, could say, in his 92nd year,

I have been able every day and all the day to work, and that with ease, as 70 years since. When the writer was holding meetings in Bristol in 1896, on an anniversary very sacred to himself, he asked his beloved father Mueller to speak at the closing meeting of the series, in the YMCA Hall. And he did so, delivering a powerful address of 45 minutes on prayer in connection with missions and giving his own life story in part with a vigor of voice and manner that seemed a denial of his advanced age. The marvelous preservation of such a man at such an age reminds one of

Caleb, who at 85 could boast in God that he was as strong even for war as in the day that he he was sent into the land as one of the spies. And Mr. Mueller himself attributed this preservation to three causes. First, the exercising of himself to have always a conscience void of offense, both toward God and toward men. Secondly, to the love he felt for the scriptures, and the constant recuperative power they exercised upon his whole being. And third, to that happiness he felt in God and his work, which relieved him of all anxiety and needless wear and tear in his labors. The great fundamental truth that this heroic man stamped on his generation was that the living God is the same today and forever as yesterday and in all ages past, and that with equal

confidence with the most trustful souls of any age, we may believe his word, and to every promise and like Abraham are Amen, it shall be so. When a few days after his death, Mr. E. H. Glennie, who is known to many as the beloved and self-sacrificing friend of North Africa Mission, passed through Barcelona, he found written in an album over his signature the words, Jesus Christ, the same yesterday and today and forever. And like the writer of the epistle to the Hebrews, quoting from the 100 Second Psalm, we may say of Jehovah, while all else changes and perishes, thou remainest, thou art the same. Toward the close of life, Mr. Mueller, acting under medical advice, abated somewhat of his active

labors, 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 favorite theme, prayer. And taking that as a fair specimen of his average preaching, he was certainly a remarkable expositor of scripture even at 91 years of age. Later on, the outline of this discourse will be found. On Sunday morning, March 6, 1898, he spoke at Alma Road Chapel, and on the Monday evening following was at the prayer service at Bethesda, on both occasions in his usual health. On Wednesday evening following, he took his wanted place at the orphan house prayer meeting and gave out the hymns the countless multitude on high, and will sing of the shepherd that died.

When he made 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 attended, especially as indications of heart weakness had been noticed of late, and he had yielded to that 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 attendance or attention. On Thursday morning, March 10th, at about seven o'clock, the usual cup of tea was taken to his room. To the knock at the door, there was no response, save an ominous silence. The intended

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 the biscuit being always put within reach. And while eating the biscuit, he had felt faint

and fallen, clutching at the tablecloth as he felt, for it was dragged off with certain things that had lain on the table. His medical advisor, who was promptly summoned, gave as his opinion, 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 worldwide sensation. That man's moral and spiritual forces reached and touched the earth's ends. Not in Bristol or in Britain alone,

but across the mighty waters toward the sunrise and sunset was felt the responsive pulse beat of a deep sympathy. Hearts bled all over the globe when it was announced by telegraph wire and ocean cable that George Mueller was dead. It was said of a great Englishman that his influence could be measured only by parallels of latitude, of George Mueller, we may add, and by meridians of longitude. He belonged to the whole church and the whole world in an unique sense, and the 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 it seldom seen. Tens of thousands of people reverently stood along the route of the simple procession. Men left their workshops and offices. Women left their elegant homes or humble kitchens, all seeking to pay a last token of respect. Bristol had never before witnessed any such scene. A brief service was held.

held in orphan house number three, where over a thousand children met, who had for a second time lost a father, in front of the reading desk in the great dining room, a coffin of elm, studiously plain, and by request without floral offerings, contained all that was mortal of George Mueller, and on a brass plate was a simple inscription, giving the date of his death and his age. Mr. James Wright gave the address, reminding those who were gathered, that, to all of us, even those who have lived nearest God, death comes while the Lord tarries, that it is blessed to die in the Lord, and that for believers in Christ there is a glorious resurrection waiting. The tears that ran down those young cheeks were more eloquent than any words as a token

of affection for the dead. The procession silently formed. Among those who followed the beer were four who had been occupants of that first orphan home in Wilson Street. The church, Children's grief melted the hearts of spectators and eyes unused to weeping were moistened that day. The various carriages bore the medical attendance, the relatives and connections of Mr. Mueller, the elders and deacons of the churches with which he was associated, and his staff of helpers in the work on Ashley Down. Then followed 40 or 50 other vehicles with deputations from various religious bodies.

At Bethesda, every foot of space was crowded, and hundreds sought in vain. for admission. The hymn was sung which Mr. Mueller had given out at that last prayer meeting the night before his departure. Dr. McLean of Bath offered prayer, mingled with praise for such a long life of service and witness, of prayer and faith, and Mr. Wright's book from Hebrews 13, 7 and 8. Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God, whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation, Jesus Christ, the same yesterday and today and forever. He spoke of those spiritual rulers and guides

whom God sets over his people and of the privilege of imitating their faith, calling attention to the two characteristics of his beloved father-in-law's faith. First, that it was based on that immovable rock of ages, God's written word, and secondly, that it translated the precepts and promises of that word into daily life.

Mr. Wright made very emphatic Mr. Mueller'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 200 times. He fed on the word and therefore was strong. He found the center of that word in the living person it enshrines, and his one ground of confidence was his atone work. Always, in his own eyes weak, wretched and vile, unworthy of the smallest blessings, he rested solely on the merit and mediation of his great high priest.

George Mueller 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 builds us imitate, not the idiosyncrasies or philanthropy of others, but their faith. And he took occasion to remind his hearers that philanthropy was not the foremost aim

or leading feature of Mr. Mueller's life, but above all else to magnify and glorify God, as still the living God, who, now as well as thousands of years ago, hears the prayers of his children and helps those who trust him. He touchingly referred to the humility that led to Mr. Mueller to do the mightiest thing for God without self-consciousness, and showed that God can take up and use those who are willing to be only instruments. 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. Mueller's last sermon at Bethesda Chapel, after a ministry of 66 years, had been from 2 Corinthians 5.1. For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. It was as though he had some four tokens of his being about shortly to put off this his tabernacle. Evidently, he was not taken by surprise. He had foreseen that his days were fast completing their number. Seven months before his departure, he had remarked to his medical attendant, in connection with the irregularity of his pulse, it means death. Many of the dear orphans, as when the first Mrs. Mueller 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 20 pounds. In conformity with the known wishes of his father-in-law that only the simplest headstone be placed over his remains, Mr. Wright thought necessary to check the inflow of such gifts, the sum in hand being quite sufficient. Further urgent appeals were made both from British and American friends for the erection of some statue or other large visible monument or memorial. and in these appeals the local newspapers united. At length, private letters led Mr. Wright to communicate with the public press as the best way at once to silence these appeals

and express the ground of rejecting such proposals. He wrote as follows, You ask me, as one long and closely associated with the late Mr. George Mueller, to say what I think 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? First, when he erected orphan house number one, and the question came, what is the building to be called, he deliberately avoided associating his own name with it, and named it the new orphan house

Ashley Down. To the end of his life, he disliked hearing or reading the words Mueller's orphanage. In keeping with this for years, in every annual report, one referred to a lot of 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. Second, for years, in fact, until he was nearly 80 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? Third, in the last published report at page 66, he states, the primary object I had in view in carrying on this work, that is to say, that it might be seen that now, in the 19th century,

God is still the living God, and that now, as well as thousands of years ago, he listens to the prayers of his children and helps those who trust in him. 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 40 and 50 fresh orphans, and this week expect to receive more. The other four objects of the institution, according to the ability God gives us, are still being carried on. We believe that whatever God would do with regard to the future will be worthy of him.

We do not know much more, and do not want to. He knows what he will do. I cannot think, however, that the God who has so blessed the work for so long will leave our prayers as to the future unanswered. Mr. Benjamin Perry then spoke briefly, characterizing Mr. Mueller as the greatest personality Bristol had known as a citizen. He referred to his power as an expounder of Scripture and to the fact that he brought to others for their comfort and support what had first been food to his own soul. He gave some personal reminiscences, referring, for instance, to his ability at an extreme old age, still to work without hindrance, either mental or physical, free from rheumatism, ache, or pain, and seldom suffering from exhaustion. He briefly described him as one who, in response to the infinite love of God,

which called him from a life of sin to a life of salvation and service, holy loved God above everybody and everything, so that his highest pleasure was to please and serve him. As an illustration of his humility, he gave an incident. When of late a friend had said, When God calls you home, it will be like a ship going into harbor, full sail. Oh no, said Mr. Mueller, it is poor George Mueller, 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. Mueller, a perpetual warning, leading him to pray that he might never thus depart from the Lord in his old age. After prayer by Mr. J. L. Stanley, Colonel Molesworth gave out the hymn, Tis sweet to think of those at rest. And after another prayer by Mr. Stanley Arnaut, the body was born to its resting place in Arnaud's Vail Cemetery, and buried beside the bodies of Mr. Mueller's first and second wives, some 80 carriages joining in the procession to the grave. Everything from first to last was as simple and unostentatious as he himself would have wished.

At the grave-side, Colonel Molesworth prayed, and Mr. George F. Bergen read from 1st Corinthians 15, 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. Groh's nephew of Mr. Mueller announced as the closing hymn, the second given out by him at that last prayer meeting at the Orrower, orphanage, will 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 shall come. Other memorial services were held at the YMCA Hall, and very naturally at Bethesda Chapel, which brought to a fitting close this series

of loving tributes to the departed. On the Lord's Day preceded 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 this beloved saint, who had for so many years lived his irreproachable life in Bristol. Also, the daily and weekly press teamed with obituary notices and tributes to his piety, worth and work. From these words and ways of acting, is it not evident that the only memorial that George Mueller cared about was that which consists in the effect of his example, Godward, upon a fellow men. Every soul converted to God, instrumentally, through his words or example, constitutes a

permanent memorial to him as the Father in Christ of such and one. Every believer strengthened in faith, instrumentally, through his words or example, constitutes 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 blessing. He used often to say to me, when he opened the 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. Mueller's, earthly possessions at the moment,

ah these dear people entirely miss the lesson i am trying to teach them for they come to me instead of going to god 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 these dear friends are entirely missing the lesson that i tried for seventy years to teach them that a man can receive nothing except it be given him from above, and that, therefore, it is the blessed giver and not the poor receiver that is to be glorified. Yours faithfully, James Wright. End of Chapter 19 of George Mueller of Bristol by Arthur T. Pearson. Chapter 20 of George Mueller of Bristol. This is a Libravox recording which is in the public domain. George Mueller of Bristol by Arthur T. Pearson. Chapter 20 The Summary of the Life Work Death shuts the door upon earthly service

Whatever door it may open to other forms and spheres of activity There are many intimations that service beyond the grave is both unceasing and untiring The blessed dead rest indeed from their labors, toilsome and painful tasks But their works, activities for God, do follow them, where exertion is without exhaustion. This is therefore a fit point for summing up the results of the work over which, from its beginning, one man had specially had charge. One sentence for Mr. Mueller's pen marks the purpose which was the very pivot of his whole being. I have joyfully dedicated by whole life to the object of exemplifying how much may be accomplished by prayer and faith. This prepared both for the development of the

character of him who had such singleness of aim, and for the development of the work in which that aim found action. Mr. Mueller's oldest friend, Robert C. Chapman of Barnstaple, beautifully says that when a man's chief business is to serve and please the Lord, all his circumstances become his servants, and we shall find this maxim true in Mr. Mueller's life work. The 59th report, issued May 26, 1898, was the last up to the date of the publication of this volume, and the first after Mr. Mueller's death. In this, Mr. Wright gives the brief but valuable summary not only of the whole work of the year preceding, but of the whole work from its beginning, and thus helps us to a comprehensive survey.

This report is doubly precious, as it contained also the last contribution of Mr. Mueller'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 Solem Journal. In the evening of that day, he took his customary part in the prayer service in the orphan house, then went to sleep for the last time on earth. There came a waking hour when he was alone with God and suddenly departed, leaving his body to its long sleep that knows no waking until the day of the Lord's coming, while his spirit returned unto God who gave it.

The afternoon of that day of death and of birth into the heavenly life, as the catacomb saints called it, found the helpers again assembled in the same prayer room to commit the work to him who only hath immortality, and who, amid all changes of human administration, ever remains, the divine master workman never at a loss for his own chosen instruments. Mr. Wright in this report shows himself God's chosen successor in the work, evidently like minded with the departed director. The first paragraph, after the brief and touching reference to his father-in-law, serves to convey to all friends of this work the assurance that he to whom Mr. Mueller left its conduct has also learned the one secret of all success in co-working with God.

It sounds as the significant keynote for the future, the same old keynote of the past, carrying on the melody and harmony without change into the new measures. It is the same oratorio without alteration of theme, time, or even key. The leading performer is indeed no more, but another hand takes up his instrument, and, trembling with emotion, continues the unfinished strain so that there is no interruption. Mr. Wright says, it is written, Job 26-7, He hangeth the earth upon nothing. That is, no visible support. and so we exult in the fact that the scriptural knowledge institution for home and abroad

hangs as it is ever hung since its commencement, now more than 64 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 invisible 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 60 centuries of human history are sufficiently shown by the fact that this great globe still swings securely in space, and is whirled through its vast orbit,

and that, without variation of a second, it still moves with divine exactness in its appointed path. We can therefore trust the same invisible God to sustain with his unseen power all the work which faith suspends upon his truth and love and unfailing word of promise, though to the natural eye all these may seem as nothing. Mr. Wright records also a very striking answer to long-continued prayer, and a most impressive instance of the tender care of the Lord in the providing of an associate, every way like-minded, and well-fitted to share the responsibility falling upon his shoulders at the decease of his father-in-law. Feeling the burden too great for him, his one resource was to cast his burden on the Lord.

He and Mr. Mueller had asked of God such a companion in labor for three years before his departure, and Mr. Wright and his dear wife had, for 25 years before that, from the time when Mr. Mueller, Mueller's long missionary journeys began to withdraw him from Bristol, besought of the Lord the same favor. But to none of them had 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 burden alone,

and about a fortnight later he felt assured that it was the will of God that he should ask Mr. George Frederick Bergen to join him in the work. who seemed to him a true yoke fellow. He had known him well for a quarter century. He had worked by his side in the church, and though they were diverse in temperament, there had never been a break in unity or sympathy. Mr. Bergen was 17 years his junior, and so likely to survive and succeed him. He was very fond of children, and had been blessed in training his own in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, and hence was fitted to take charge of this larger family of orphans. Confident being led of the Lord, he put the matter before Mr. Bergen,

delighted but not surprised to find that the same God had moved on his mind also, and in the same direction. For not only was he ready to respond to Mr. Wright's appeal, but he had been led of God to feel that he should, after a certain time, go to Mr. Wright and offer himself. The Spirit who guided Philip to the, the eunuch, and at the same time had made the eunuch to inquire after guidance, who sent men from Cornelius, and while they were knocking at Simon's house, was bidding Peter go with them,

still moves in a mysterious way, and simultaneously, on those whom he would bring together for cooperation in loving service. And thus Mr. Wright found the living God the same helper and supplier of every need, after his beloved father-in-law had gone up higher. and felt constrained to feel that the God of Elijah was still at the crossing of the Jordan and could work the same wonders as before, supplying the need of the hour when the need came. Mr. Mueller's own gifts to the service of the Lord find in this posthumous report their first full record and recognition. Readers of the annual reports must have noticed an entry, recurring with strange frequency during all these 30 or 40 years, and therefore suggesting a giver that must have reached

a very ripe age, from a servant of the Lord Jesus, who, constrained by the love of Christ, seeks to lay up treasure in heaven. If that entry be carefully followed throughout, and there be added the personal gifts made by Mr. Mueller to various benevolent objects, it will be found that the aggregate its sum from this servant reaches up to March 1, 1898, a total of 81,490 pounds, 18 shillings, and eight pence. Mr. Wright, now that this servant of the Lord Jesus is with his master, who promised, where I am, there shall also my servant be, feels free to make known that this donor was no other than George Mueller himself, who thus gave out of his own money, money given to him for his own use, or left him by legacies, the total sum of about 64,500 pounds to the

scriptural knowledge institution, and in other directions, 17,000 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 unsolvishness prompted him to give all that he could thus save to purely benevolent objects. While he had but 30 pounds a year, he lived on 28 and gave away 40 shillings. Receiving twice as much the next year, he still kept his living expenses down to the 28 pounds and had 32 to bestow on the needy.

And when the third year his income rose to 90 pounds, he spent no more than before and gave away 62. The fourth year brought 120, and he dispersed still but the same sum for his own needs, having 92 to spare. It is calculated that in the course of his life, he thus gave away at least 30,000 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 Mueller's record will compare favorably with this, or any other of modern days. His frugality, simplicity, and economy were equal to Wesley's, and his gifts aggregated 81,000 pounds. Mr. Mueller had received

increasingly large sums from the Lord, which he invested well, and most profitably, so that for over 60 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 when he failed, received him into everlasting habitations. He continued year after year to make provision for himself, his beloved wife and daughter, by laying up treasure in heaven. Such a man had certainly a right to exhort others to systematic beneficence. He gave, as not one in a million gives,

not a tithe, nor any fixed proportion of annual income, 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 Lord, they spent all the rest on themselves. God led George Mueller to reverse this rule and reserve only the most frugal sum for personal needs, that the entire remainder might be given to him that needeth.

The utter revolution implied in our habits of giving, which would be necessary, or such a rule adopted, is but too obvious. Mr. Mueller's own words are, My aim never was, how much I could obtain, but rather how much I could give. He kept continually before him his stewardship of God's property, and sought to make the most of the one brief life on earth, and to use for the best and largest good, the property held by him in trust.

The things of God were deep realities, and projecting every action and decision and motive into the light of the judgment seat of Christ, he asked himself how it would appear to him in the light of that tribunal. Thus he sought prayerfully and conscientiously, so to live and labor, 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 the spirit of fear was this done, for if any man of his generation knew the perfect love that casts out fear, it was George Mueller. He felt that God is love, and love is of God. He saw that love manifested in the greatest of gifts, his only begotten son at Calvary. He knew and believed the love that God hath to us. He received it into his own heart. It became an abiding presence, manifested in obedience and benevolence, and subduing him more and more, it became perfected so as to expel tormenting fear and impart a holy confidence and delight in God. Among the texts which strongly impressed and molded Mr. Mueller's habits of giving was Luke 638.

Give and it shall be given unto you. Good measure, press down, shaken together, and running over shall men give into your bosom. He believed this promise, and he verified it. His testimony is, I had given, and God had caused to be given to me again, and bountifully. Again he read, it is more blessed to give than to receive. He says that he believed what he had found in the Word of God, and by his grace sought to act accordingly, and thus again records that he was blessed abundantly, and his peace and joy in the Holy Ghost increased,

more and more. It will not be a surprise, therefore, that, as has been already noted, Mr. Mueller's entire personal estate at his death, as sworn to, when the will was admitted to probate, was only 169-0-chillings, four-pence, of which books, household furniture, etc., were reckoned at over 100 pounds, the only money in his possession being a trifle over 60 pounds, and even this only awaiting disbursement as God's steward. The will of Mr. Mueller 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 bringing me to the knowledge of the Lord Jesus when I was an entirely careless and thoughtless young man. and that he has kept me in his fear and truth, allowing me the great honor for so long a time of serving him. In the comprehensive summary contained in his 59th report,

remarkable growth is apparent during the 64 years since the outset of the work in 1834. During the year ended May 26, 1898, the number of day schools was seven and of pupils 354. The number of children in attendance from the beginning, 81,501. The number of home Sunday schools, 12, and of children in them, 1,341. But from the beginning, 32,944. The number of Sunday schools aided in England and Wales, 25. The amount expended in connection with home schools, 736 pounds, 13 shillings, 10 pence.

from the outset, 109,992 pounds, 19 shillings, 10 pence. The Bibles and parts thereof circulated 15,411. From the beginning, 1,989,266. Money expended for this purpose the past year, 439 pounds. From the first, 41,090 pounds, 13 shillings, three pence. Missionary laborers aided, 115. Money expended, 2,082 pounds, 9 shillings, 6 pence. From the outset, 261,859 pounds, 7 shillings, 4 pence.

Circulation of books and tracks, 3,101,338. Money spent, 1,001, 3 shillings. and from the first, 47,188 pounds, 11 shillings, 10 pence. The number of orphans on Ashley Down, 1,620, and from the first, 10,024. Money spent in orphan houses last year, 22,523 pounds, 13 shillings, 1 pence. And from the beginning, 988,829 pounds. To carry out conviction into action is sometimes a costly sacrifice, but whatever Mr. Mueller's fidelity to conviction cost in one way,

he had stupendous results of his life work to contemplate, even while he lived. Let anyone look at the above figures and facts, and remember that here was one poor man, who depended on the help of God only in answer to prayer, could look back over three score years and see how he had built five large orphan houses and taken into his family over 10,000 orphans, expending for their good within 12,000 pounds of around million.

He had given aid to day schools and Sunday schools, in this and other lands, and where nearly 150,000 children have been taught, at a cost of over 110,000 pounds more. He had circulated nearly two million Bibles, and parts thereof at the cost of over 40,000 pounds, and over 3 million books and tracks at a cost of nearly 50,000 pounds more. And besides all this, he had spent over 260,000 pounds to aid missionary laborers in various lands.

The sum total of the money thus spent during 60 years has thus reached very nearly, the astonishing aggregate of one and a half million of pounds sterling. To summarize Mr. Mueller's service, we must understand his great secret. such a life and such a work are the result of one habit more than all else, daily and frequent communion with God. Unwared in supplications and intercessions, we have seen how, in every new need in 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 supplingant who comes to a throne of grace in the name of Jesus Christ,

Christ, and pleads the assurance of the immutable promisor, he presented every petition. He was an unwearied intercessor. No delay discouraged him. This is seen particularly in the case of individuals for whose conversion or special guidance into paths of full obedience, he prayed. On his prayer list were the names of some for whom he had besought God daily by name for one, two, three, four, six, ten years before the answer was given. The year just before his death, he told the writer of two parties for whose reconciliation to God he had prayed day by day for over 60 years, and who had not as yet, to his knowledge, turned to 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 three score years. if he had not concerning 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 very horns of the altar, and his childlike spirit reasoned simply but confidently that the very fact of his own spirit being so long drawn out in prayer for one object, and of the Lord's enabling, him so to continue patiently and believingly to wait on him for the blessing, was a promise and a prophecy of the answer, and so he waited on, so assured of the ultimate result that he

praised God in advance, believing that he had practically received that for which he asked. It is most helpful here to add that one of the parties for whom so many years he unceasingly prayed, has recently died in faith, having received the promises, and embraced them, and confessed Jesus as his Lord. Just before leaving Bristol, with this completed manuscript of Mr. Mueller's life, I met a lady, a niece of the man referred to, through whom I received the knowledge of these facts. He had, before his departure, given most unequivocal testimony to his faith and hope in the Savior of sinners. If George Mueller could still speak to us, he would again repeat the warning so frequently found in his journal and reports,

that his fellow disciples must not regard him as a miracle worker, as though his experience were to be accounted so exceptional as to have little application in our ordinary spheres of life and service. With patient repetition, he affirms that in all essentials, such an experience is the privilege of all believers. God calls disciples to various forms of work, but all alike to the same faith. To say, therefore, I am not called to build orphan houses,

and have no right to expect answers to my prayers as Mr. Mueller did, is wrong and unbelieving. Every child of God, he maintained, is first to get into the sphere appointed of God, and therein to exercise full trust, and live by faith upon God's sure word of promise. Throughout all these thousands of pages written by his pen, he teaches that every experience of God's faithfulness is both the reward of past faith and prayer,

and the preparation of the servant of God for larger work and more efficient service, and more convincing witness to His Lord. No man can understand such a work who does not see in it the supernatural power of God. Without that enigma defies solution. With that, all the mystery is at least an open mystery. He himself felt from first to last, that this supernatural factor was the key to the whole work, and without that it would have been even to himself a problem inexplicable. How pathetically we find him often comparing himself

and his work for God to the burning bush in the wilderness, which always a flame and always threatened with apparent destruction, was not consumed, so that not a few turned aside wondering to see this great sight. And why was it not burnt? Because Jehovah hove 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 so more apt when we consider the rapid growth of the work, at first so very small as to seem almost insignificant, and conducted in one small rented house, accommodating 30 orphans, and then enlarged, until other rented premises became necessary.

Then one, two, three, four, and even five immense structures being built, until 300, 700, 1,150, and finally, 2,050 inmates could find shelter within them. How seldom has the world seen such fast, and at the same time rapid enlargement? Then look at the outlay, at first to trifling the expenditure of perhaps 500 pounds for the first year of the scriptural knowledge institution. and of 500 pounds for the first 12 month of the orphan work,

and in the last year, Mr. Mueller's life, a grand total of over 27,500 for all the purposes of the institution. The cost of the houses built on Ashley Downe might have staggered a man of large capital, but this poor man only cried, and the Lord helped him. The first house cost 15,000 pounds. The second over 21,000. The third, over 23,000. and the fourth and fifth, from 50,000 to 60,000 more,

so that the total cost reached about 115,000. Besides all this, there was a yearly expenditure which rose as high as 25,000 for the orphans alone, irrespective of those occasional outlays made needful for emergencies, such as improved sanitary precautions, which in one case costs over 2,000 pounds. Here is a burning bush, indeed, always in seeming danger of being consumed, yet still standing on Ashley Down, and still preserved, because the same presence of Jehovah burns in it.

Not a branch of this many-sided work has utterly perished, while the whole bush still challenges unbelievers to turn aside and see the great sight, and take off the shoes from their feet, as on holy ground where God manifests himself. Any complete survey of this great life work must include much that was wholly outside of the scriptural knowledge institution, such as that service which Mr. Mueller 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 tracks. His preaching period covered the whole time from 1826 to 1898, the year of his departure, over 70 years, and from 1830 when he went to Tainmouth, his preaching continued without interruption,

except from ill health, until his life closed, with an average through the whole period of probably three sermons a week, or over 10,000 for his lifetime. This is probably a low estimate, for during his missionary tours, which covered over 200,000 miles and were spread through 17 years, he spoke on an average about once a day, notwithstanding already advanced age. His church life was much blessed, even invisible and tangible results. During the first two and a half years of work in Bristol, 227 members were added, about half of whom were new converts. And it is probable that if the whole number brought to the knowledge of Christ by his preaching

could now be ascertained, it would be found to act. aggregate full as many as the average of those years, and would thus reach into the thousands, exclusive of orphans converted on Ashley Down. Then when we take into account the vast numbers addressed and impressed by his addresses, given in all parts of the United Kingdom on the continent of Europe and in America, Asia, and Australia, and the still vaster numbers who have read his narrative, his books and tracks, or who have in various other ways felt the quickening power of his example in life, we shall get some conception, still at best, inadequate, of the range and scope of the influence he wielded by his tongue and pen, his labors, and his life. Much of the best influence

defies all tabulated statistics, and evades all mathematical estimates. It is like the fragrance of the alabaster flask, which fills all the house, but escapes our grosser senses of sight, hearing and touch. This part of George Mueller's work, we cannot summarize. It belongs to a realm where we cannot penetrate. But God sees, knows, and rewards it. End of chapter 20 of George Mueller of Bristol by Arthur T. Pearson. Chapter 21 of George Mueller of Bristol. This is a Libravox recording, which is in the public domain. George Mueller of Bristol by Arthur T. Pearson. Chapter 21, the church life and growth. Throughout Mr. Mueller's journal, we meet scattered and fragmentary suggestions as to the true conception of Christian teaching and practice, the nature and

office of the Christian ministry, the principles which should prevail in church conduct, the mutual relations of believers, and the spirit's relation to the body of Christ, to pure worship, service, and testimony. These hints will be of more value. if they are crystallized into unity so as to be seen in their connection with each other. The founder of the orphan houses began and ended his public career as a preacher, and for over 60 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 ministry of himself and Mr. Henry Craig has been traced already in the due order of events, but the development of church life under this apostolic ministry furnishes instructive lessons which yield their full teaching only when gathered up and grouped together so as to secure unity, continuity. and the completeness of impression. When Mr. Mueller and Mr. Craig began joint work in Bristol, foundations needed to be relayed. The church life, as they found it, was not on a sufficiently scriptural basis, and they waited on God for wisdom to adjust it more completely to his word and will. This was the work of time, for it required the instruction of fellow believers so that they might be

prepared to cooperate by recognizing scriptural and spiritual teaching. It required also the creation of that bond of sympathy, which inclines the flock to hear and heed the shepherd's voice and follow a true pastoral leadership. At the outset of their ministry, these brethren carefully laid down some principles on which their ministry was to be based. On May 23, 1832, they frankly stated, at Gideon Chapel, certain terms on which alone they could take charge of the church. They must be regarded as simply God's servants to labor among them so long as, and in such way as might be his will, and under no bondage of fixed rules. They desired pure rents to be done away with, and voluntary offerings substituted, etc. There was already, however, a strong conviction that a new start was in some

respects indispensable if the existing church life was to be thoroughly modeled on a scriptural pattern. These brethren determined to stamp upon the church certain important features, such as these. Apostolic simplicity of worship, evangelical teaching, evangelistic work, separation from the world, systematic giving, and dependence on prayer. They desired to give great prominence to the simple testimony of the Word, to support every department of the work by free will offerings, to recognize the Holy Spirit as the one presiding and governing power in all church assemblies, and to secure liberty for all believers in the exercise of spiritual gifts as distributed by that spirit to all members of the body of Christ for service. They believed it's scriptural to break bread every Lord's Day,

and to baptize by immersion. And although this latter has not for many years been a term of communion or of fellowship, believers have always been carefully taught that this is the duty of all disciples. It has been already seen that in August 1832, seven persons in all, including these two pastors,

met at Bethesda Chapel, to unite in fellowship without any formal basis or bond except that of loyalty to the Word and the 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 labor, who never withheld their testimony, but were intrepidly courageous and conscientiously faithful in witnessing against whatever they deemed opposed to the word. Love ruled, but was not confounded with laxity in matters of right and wrong, and as they saw more clearly what was taught in the word, they sought to be wholly obedient to the Lord's teaching and leading, and to mold and model every matter, however minute,

in every department of duty, private or public, to the express will of God. In January 1834, all teachers who were not believers were dismissed from the Sunday school, and in the Dorcas Society only believing sisters were accepted to make clothes for the destitute. The reason was that it had been found unwise and unwholesome to mix up or yoke together believers and unbelievers. Such association proved a barrier to spiritual converse and injurious to both classes, fostering in the unbelievers a false security, ensnaring them and a delusive hope that to help in

Christian work might somehow atone for rejection of Jesus Christ as a Savior, or secure favor from God and an open door into heaven. No doubt all this indiscriminate association of children of God with children of the world in a mixed multitude is unscriptural. Unregenerate persons are tempted to think there is some merit at least in mingling with worshippers and workers, and especially in giving to the support of the gospel and its institutions. The devil seeks to persuade such that it is acceptable to God to conform externally to religious rights and forms, and take part in outward acts of service and sacrifice, and that he will deal leniently with them, despite their unbelief and disobedience. Mr. Mueller and Mr. Craig felt keenly that this day

existed, and that even in minor matters, there must be a line of separation for the sake of all involved. When in 1837, in connection with the congregation at Bethesda, the question was raised, commonly known as that of close communion, whether believers who had not been baptized as such should be received into fellowship. It was submitted likewise to the one test of clear scriptural teaching. Some believers were conscientiously opposed to such reception. but the matter was finally and harmoniously settled by receiving all who love our Lord Jesus into full communion, irrespective of baptism. And Mr. Mueller, looking back 44 years later upon this action, bears witness that the decision

never became a source of dissension. In all other church matters, prayer and searching the word asking counsel of the holy oracles and wisdom from above, were the one resort and the resolution of all difficulties. When in the spring of 1838, sundry questions arose somewhat delicate and difficult to adjust, Mr. Mueller and Mr. Quake quietly withdrew from Bristol for two weeks to give themselves to prayer and meditation, seeking of God definite direction. The matters then at issue concerned the scriptural conception, 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 circumstances, mere discussion often only fans the embers of strife and ends in hopeless alienation. These spiritually-minded pastors followed the apostolic method, referring all matters to the scriptures as the one rule of faith and practice, and to the Holy Spirit as the presiding presence in the Church of God, and they purposely retired into seclusion from the strife of tongues

and of conflicting human opinion that they might know the mind of the Lord and act accordingly. The results, as might be foreseen, were clear light from above for themselves, and a united judgment among the brethren. But more than this, God gave them wisdom so to act, combining the courage of conviction

with the meekness and gentleness of Christ, as that all clouds were dispelled and peace restored. 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. Mueller and Mr. Craig was held at Gideon. Bethesda from this time on becoming the central place of assembly. The reasons for this step were somewhat as follows. These joint pastors strongly felt with some others that not a few of the believers who assembled at Gideon Chapel

were a hindrance to the clear, positive, and united testimony which should be given both to the church and world. And it was on this account that, after many meetings for prayer and conference, seeking to know God's mind, it was determined to relinquish Gideon as a place of worship. The questions involved affected the preservation of the purity and simplicity of apostolic worship, and so the conformity of church life to the New Testament pattern. These well-yoked pastors were very jealous for the Lord God of hosts, that among the saints to whom they ministered, nothing should find the lodgment which was not in entire accord with scriptural principles, precepts, and practices. Perhaps it is well here to put on record,

even at risk of repetition, the principles which Mr. Mueller and his colleague were wont to enforce as guards or landmarks, which should be set up and kept up, in order to exclude those innovations which always bring spiritual declension. First, believers should meet, simply as such, without reference to denominational lines, names, or distinctions, as a corrective and preventive of sectarianism. Second, they should steadfastly maintain the Holy Scriptures as the divine rule and standard of doctrine, deportment, and discipline. Third, they should encourage freedom for the exercise of whatever spiritual gifts the Lord

might be pleased by His Spirit to bestow for general edification. Fourth, assemblies on the Lord's Day should be primarily for believers, for the breaking of bread, and for worship. Unbelievers sitting promiscuously among saints would either hinder the appearance of meeting for such purposes or compel a pause between other parts of the service and the Lord's Supper. Fifth, the Pew Rent system should be abolished as promoting the caste spirit, or at least the outward appearance of a false distinction between the poorer and richer classes, especially as pew-holders commonly look on their sittings as private property. Sixth, 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. Mueller and Mr. Craig 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 needle's offense

and become a root of bitterness, should they require what they deemed unscriptural to be renounced. And it seemed the way of love to give up Gideon Chapel after these eight years of labor there, and to invite such as felt called on to separate from every sectarian system and meet for worship where free exercise would be afforded for every spiritual gift, and where New Testament methods might be more fully followed, to assemble with other believers at Bethesda, where previous hindering conditions had not existed. Mr. Mueller remained very intimately connected with Bethesda and its various outgrows for many years, as the senior pastor or elder, though only leader among equals. His opinions about the work of the ministry and the conduct of church

life, which did so much to shape the history of these churches, therefore form a necessary part of this sketch of the development of church life. It was laid upon his heart frequently to address his brethren in the ministry of the Word and the curacy of souls. Everywhere throughout the world, he welcomed opportunities for interviews, whether with many or few, upon whom he could impress his own deep convictions as to the vital secrets of effective service in the the pulpit and pastorate. Such meetings with brethren in the ministry numbered hundreds and perhaps thousands in the course of his long life. And as his testimony was essentially the same on all occasions, a single utterance may be taken as the type of all. During his American tours, he gave an

hour's address, which was reported and published, and the substance of which may therefore be given. first of all he laid great stress upon the need of conversion until a man is both truly turned unto god and sure of this change in himself he is not fitted to convert others the ministry is not a human profession but a divine vocation the true preacher is both a herald and a witness and hence must back up his message by his personal testimony from experience but even conversion is not enough there must be an intimate knowledge of the Lord Jesus. One must know the Lord is coming near to himself, and know the joy and strength found in hourly access. However it be done, and at any cost, the Minister of Christ must reach this close relationship. It is an absolute necessity to peace and power.

Growth in happiness and love was next made very prominent. It is impossible to set limits to the experience of any believer who casts himself holy on God, surrenders himself holy to God, and cherishes deep love for his word and holy intimacy with himself. The first business of every morning should be to secure happiness in God. He who is to nourish others must carefully feed his 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. habitually cultivated, calming the mind, and freeing it from preoccupation. Continuous reading of the word, in course, will throw light upon the general teaching of the word and reveal God's

thoughts in their variety and connection, and go far to correct erroneous views. 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 honor. 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. Mueller, and be not satisfied until the heart is at rest. When the text is obtained, ask for. guidance in meditating upon it and keep in constant communion so as to get God's mind in the matter and his help in delivery then after the work is done pray much for blessing as well as in advance he then told some startling facts as to seed sown many years before but even now yielding fruit in answer to prayer he laid also special emphasis upon expounding the scripture the word of God is the staple of all preaching, Christ and nothing else, the center of all true ministry of the word.

Whoever faithfully and constantly preaches Christ will find God's word not returning to avoid. Preach simply. Luther's rule was to speak so that an ignorant maid servant could understand. If she does, the learned professor certainly will. But it does not hold true that the simple understand all that the wise do. Mr. Mueller seldom addressed his brethren in the ministry without giving more or less counsel as to the conduct of church life, giving plain witness against such hindrances as unconverted singers and choirs, secular methods of raising money, pure rants, and cast 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 prayer

and importunate praying, and remarked that Satan will not mind how we labor 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 the past seed-sewing, he told the writer of this memoir how in all supplication to God he looked not only forward but backward. He was wont to ask that the Lord would be pleased to bless seed long since sown, and yet apparently unfruitful. and he said that, in answer to these prayers, he had up to that day, evidence of God's loving remembrance of his work of faith and labor of love in years long gone by. He was permitted to know that messages delivered for God, tracks scattered, and other means of service had

after five, ten, twenty, and even sixty years at last brought forth the harvest. Hence his urgency in advising fellow laborers to pray unceasingly that God, would work mightily in the hearts of those who had once been under their care, bringing to their remembrance the truth which had been set before them. The humility Mr. Mueller enjoined, he practiced. 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 flame, though in the darkness he could not see the lamplighter. And George Mueller set many a light burning when he was himself content to be unseen, unnoticed, and unknown. He honestly sought

not his own glory, but the meek and quiet spirit, so becoming a minister of Jesus Christ. Mr. Henry Craig's death in 1866, after 34 years of co-labour in the Lord, left Mr. Mueller comparatively alone with a double burden of responsibility. But his faith was equal to the crisis, and his peace remained unbroken. A beloved brother, then visiting Bristol, after crowded services conducted by him at Bethesda, was about leaving the city. And he asked Mr. Mueller, what are you going to do now that Mr. Craig 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. Look only to the Lord. This God has been the perpetual helper. Mr. Mueller almost totally withdrew from the work, during the 17 years of his missionary tours, between 1875 and 1892, when he was in Bristol but a few weeks or months at a time, in the intervals between his long journeys and voyages.

This left the Assembly of Believers still more dependent upon the Great Shepherd and Bishop of Souls, but Bethesda has never, in a sense, been limited to any one or two men as the only acknowledged leaders, from the time when those seven believers gathered about the Lord's table in 1832, the New Testament conception of the equality of believers in privilege and duty has been maintained. The one supreme leader is the Holy Ghost, and under him those whom he calls and qualifies. One of the fundamental principles espoused by these brethren is that the Spirit of God controls in the assemblies of the saints, and that he sets the members, every one of them,

in the body as it pleases him, and divides unto them, severally as he will, gifts for service in the body, that the only true ordination is his ordination, and that the manifestation of his gifts is the sufficient basis for the recognition of brethren as qualified for the exercise of an office or function, the possession of spiritual gifts being sufficient authority for their exercise. It is with the body of Christ as with the human body. The eye is manifestly made for seeing and the ear for hearing, the hand in the foot for handling and water. and this adaptation both shows the design of God and their place in the organism. And so for more than three score years, the Holy Spirit has been safely trusted to supply and

qualify all needed teachers, helpers, and leaders in the assembly. There has always been a considerable number of brethren and sisters fitted and disposed to take up the various departments of service to which they were obviously called of the spirit, so that no one person has been indispensable. various brethren have been able to give more or less time and strength to preaching, visiting, and ruling in the church. While scores of others, who, like Paul, Priscilla and Aquila, the tentmakers, have their various business callings, and seek their end to abide with God, are ready to aid as the Lord

may guide in such other forms of service, as may consist with their ordinary vocations, the prosperity of the congregation, its growth, conduct, and edification, have there been therefore been dependent only on God, who, as he has withdrawn one worker after another, has supplied others in their stead, and so continues to do so. To have any adequate conception of the fruits of such teaching and such living in church life, it is needful to go at least into one of the Monday night prayer meetings at Bethesda. It is primitive and apostolic in simplicity. No one presides but the unseen spirit of God.

A hymn is suggested by some brother, and then, requests for prayer are read, usually with definite mention of the names of those by and for whom the supplication is asked. Then prayer, scripture reading, singing, and exhortation follow, without any prearrangement as to subject, order in which the persons by whom the exercises are participated in. The fullest liberty is encouraged to act under the Spirit's guidance, and the fact of such guidance is often striking apparent in the singular unity of prayer and soul. And so, and the fact of song, scripture reading, and remarks, as well as in the harmonious fellowship apparent. After more than half a century, these Monday night prayer services are still a hallowed center

of attraction, a rallying point for supplication, and a radiating point for service, and remain unchanged in the method of their conduct. The original congregation has proved a tree whose seed is in itself after its kind. At the time of Mr. Mueller's decease, it was nearly 66 years since that memorable evening in 1832, when those seven believers met the former church. In the original body of disciples, meeting in Bethesda had increased to ten, six of which are now independent of the Mother Church, and four of which still remain in close affiliation, and really constitute one church, though meeting in Bethesda, Alma Road, Stokescroft, and Tatteredown chapels. The names of the other churches, which have been in a sense offshoots from

Bethesda are as follows, Unity, Bishopston, Cumberland Hall, Charlton Hall, Nicholas Road, and Bedminster. At the date of Mr. Mueller's decease, the total membership of the four affiliated congregations was upwards of 1,200. In this brief compass, no complete outline could be given of the church life and work so dear to him, and over which he so long watched and prayed. This church has been and is a missionary church. When on March 1, 1836, Mr. and Mrs. Groves, with ten helpers, left Bristol to carry on mission work in the East Indies,

Mr. Mueller felt deeply moved to pray that the body of disciples to whom he ministered might send out from their own members, laborers for the wide world field. That prayer was not forgotten before God, and has already been answered exceedingly abundantly, above all he then asked or thought. since that time some 60 have gone forth to lands afar to labor in the gospel,

and at the period of Mr. Mueller's death, there were at work, in various parts of the world, at least 20, who were aided by the free will offerings of their Bristol brethren. When in 1874 Mr. Mueller closed the third volume of his narrative, he recorded the interesting fact that, of the many non-conformist ministers of the gospel resident in Bristol when he took up work, there more than 42 years before, not one remained, all having been removed elsewhere or having died. And that of all the evangelical clergy of the establishment, only one survived. Yet he himself, with very rare hindrance through illness, was permitted to preach and labor with health and vigor,

both of mind and body. Over a thousand believers were already under his pastoral oversight, meeting in three different chapels, and over 3,000 had been admitted into fellowship. It was the writer's privilege to hear Mr. Mueller preach on the morning of March 22, 1896 in Bethesda Chapel. He was in his 91st year, but there was a freshness, vigor, and terseness in his preaching that gave no indication of failing powers. In fact, he had never seemed more fitted to express and impress the thoughts of God. His theme was the 77th Psalm, and it afforded him abundant scope for his favorite subject, prayer.

He expounded the Psalm verse by verse, clearly, sympathetically, effectively, and the outline of his treatment strongly engraved itself on my memory and is here reproduced. I cried unto God with my voice. Prayer seeks a voice to utter itself in words. The effort to clothe our desires in languages 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 disson. stress 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 holdest mine eyes waking. There was no sleep, because the thought of God, there was no rest or peace. Care makes wakeful. Anxiety is the full 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 made diligent search among the records of his experience, and recollected all God's manifest and manifold interpositions,

he began to ask whether God could be fickle and capricious, whether his mercy was exhausted and his promise withdrawn, whether he had forgotten his covenant of grace and shut up his fountains of love. Thus we follow the psalmist through six stages of unbelief. One, the thought of God is a burden instead of a blessing. Two, the complaining spirit increases toward God. Three, his spirit is agitated instead of soothed and calmed. Four, sleep departs, and anxiety forbids repose of heart.

Five, trouble only deepens, and God seems far off. Six, memory recalls God's mercies, but only to awaken distrust. At last we reached the turning point in the Psalm. He asks, as he reviews former experiences, where is the difference? Is the change in God or in me? Celah, 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 whole, mind on God. He remembers his work and meditates upon it. Instead of rehearsing his own trials, he talks of his doings. He gets overwhelmed now, not with the greatness of his troubles, but the greatness of his helper. He recalls his miracles of power and love, and remembers the mystery of his mighty deeds, his way in the sea, his strange dealings and leadings, and their gracious results, and so faith wants more triumphs. What is the conclusion, the practical lesson?

Unbelief is folly. It charges God foolishly. Mans are the weakness and failure, but never gods. 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 in unbelieving and murmuring people out of Egypt, and for 40 years through the wilderness, and his miracles of power and love were marvelous.

The psalm contains a great lesson. Affliction is inevitable, but our business is never to lose sight of the father who will not leave his children. We are to roll all burdens on him and wait patiently, and deliverance is sure. Behind the curtain he carries on his plan of love, never forgetting us, always caring for his own.

His ways of dealing we cannot trace, for his footsteps are in the trackless sea and unknown to us, but he is surely leading and constantly loving. Let us not be fools, but pray in faith to a faithful God. 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. Mueller's mode of expounding and applying the word, but the exposition of this psalm is a sort of exponent also of his life. It reveals his habits of prayer, the conflicts with unbelief, and how out of temptations to distrust God he found deliverance,

and thus is doubly valuable to us as an experimental commentary upon the life history we are studying. End of Chapter 21 of George Mueller of Bristol by Arthur T. Pearson. Chapter 22 of George Mueller of Bruehler of Bristol. Bristol. This is a Libervox recording, which is in the public domain. George Mueller of Bristol by Arthur T. Pearson. Chapter 22. A glance at the gifts and the givers. There is one who still sits over against the treasury, watching the gifts cast into it, and impartially weighing their worth, estimating the rich man's millions and the widow's mites, not by the amount given, but by the the motives which impel, and the measure of self-sacrifice accepted for the Lord's sake.

The ample supplies poured into Mr. Mueller's hands came alike from those who had abundance of wealth and from those whose only abundance was that of deep poverty, but the rills as well as the rivers were from God. It is one of the charms of this life story to observe the variety of persons and places, sums of money and forms of help connected with the donations made to the Lord's work, and the exact adaptation between the need and the supply, both as to time and amount. Some instances of this have been given in the historic order, but to get a more complete view of the lessons which they suggest, it is helpful to classify some of the striking and impressive examples which are so abundant and which afford such value.

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. In some cases, the facts were not known till long after, even by Mr. Mueller himself, and when known, could not be disclosed to the public while the parties were yet alive. But when it became possible and proper to unveil these hidden things, they were revealed for the glory of God and the good of others, and shine on the pages of this record like stars in the sky. Paul rejoiced in the free will offerings of Philippian disciples,

not because he desired a gift, but fruit that might abound to their account, not because their offerings ministered to his necessity, but because they became a sacrifice of a sweet smell, acceptable, well-pleasing to God. Such joy constantly filled Mr. Mueller'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-saver offerings,

permitted for 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 dispersing these gifts. And he says,

The Lord thus impressed on me from the beginning that the orphan houses and work were his, not mine. Many a flask of spikinard, very precious, broken upon the feet of the Savior, for the sake of the orphans or the feeding of starving souls with the bread of life filled the house with the odor of the ointment so that to dwell there was to breathe a hallowed atmosphere of devotion among the first givers to the work was a poor needlewoman who to mr muller's surprise brought one hundred pounds she earned by her work only an average per week of three shillings and sixpence and was moreover weak in body A Saul legacy of less than 500 pounds from her grandmother's estate had come to her at her father's death by the conditions of her grandmother's will. But that father had died a drunkard and a bankrupt, and her brothers and sisters had settled with his creditors by paying them five shillings to the pound.

To her conscience, this seemed robbing the creditors of three-fourths of their claim. and though they had no legal hold upon her, she privately paid them the other 15 shillings to the pound of the unpaid debts of her father. Moreover, when her unconverted brother and two sisters gave each 50 pounds to the widowed mother, she, as a child of God, felt that she should give double that amount. By this time, her own share of the legacy was reduced to a small remainder, and it was out of this that she gave the 100 pounds for the orphan work. As Mr. Mueller'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 conversation with this woman, seeking to prevent her from giving either from an unsanctified motive or in unhallowed haste without counting the cost. He would in such a case dishonor his master by accepting the gift, as though God were in need of our offerings. Careful scrutiny, however, revealed no motives not pure and Christ-like. 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 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. Mueller was naturally very reluctant to accept what she brought until he saw that the love of Christ constrained her. He could do no less than to receive her offering in his master's name, while like the master he exclaimed,

O woman, great is thy faith. 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 pumped up with pride through human applause. Her personal habits of dress and diet remained as simple after her legacy as before, and to the last she worked with her needle for her own support, and finally, while her earnings were counted in shillings and pay. Hence, her givings were counted in sovereigns or five-pound notes, and in one case, by the hundred pounds.

Her money was entirely gone, years before she was called higher, but the faithful God never forgot his promise. I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. Never left to want, even after bodily weakness forbade her longer to ply her needle, she asked no human being for help. but in whatever straits made her appeal to God, and was not only left to suffer no lack, but, in the midst of much bodily suffering, her mouth was filled with holy song. Mr. Mueller records the first bequest as from a dear lad who died in the faith. During his last illness he had received a gift of some new silver coins, and he asked that this, his only treasure in money, might be sent for the orphans.

With pathetic tenderness, Mr. Mueller adds that this, precious little legacy of six shilling sixpence halfpenny received September 15th 1837 was the first they ever had. Those who estimate all donations by money worth can little understand how welcome such a request 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 possibilities of service open to us through the voluntary limitation of artificial or imaginary wants. The note reads thus, A pilgrim does not want such a watch as this to make him happy.

One of an inferior kind will do to show him how swiftly time flies, and how fast he is hastening on to that Canaan where time will be no more. So that it is for you to do with this. this, what 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. Mueller 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 3.3. 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 grandchildren. They were thus at last put out to usury, after many years of gathering rust in hoarded idleness and uselessness. Little did Gride-Broom or bride,

forsee how these coins, after more than a hundred years, would come forth from their hiding place to be put to the Lord's uses. Few people have ever calculated how much is lost, to every good cause by the simple withdrawal of money from circulation. Those four crown pieces had they been carefully invested, so as to double in value by compound interest every ten years, would have increased to one thousand pounds during the year 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 epic, for henceforth the owner determined to spend in dress only what is needful and not waste the Lord's money on costly apparel.

Enlightened believers look on all things as inalienably gods, 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 29th, 1872 was accompanied by a letter confessing that the possession of property had given the writer much trouble of mind, and it had been disposed of from a conviction that the Lord saw it not good for him to 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 drops 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 banknotes, amounting to 110 pounds, and put it into Mr. Mueller's hand, it being more than one half of his entire world's estate. Such giving is an illustration of self-sacrifice on a large scale and brings corresponding blessing. The motives prompting gifts were often unusually suggestive. In October 1857, a donation came from a Christian merchant, who, having sustained a heavy pecuniary loss, wished to sanctify his loss

by a gift to the Lord's work. Shortly after, another offering was handed in by a young man in thankful remembrance that 25 years before Mr. Mueller had prayed over him as a child, that God would convert him. Yet another gift of 3,500 pounds came to him in 1858, with a letter stating that the giver had further purpose 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 amount while he lived. Immense advantage would accrue both to givers and to the causes they point. purpose to promote, were this principle generally adopted. There is many a slip betwixt the cup of the legator and the lip of the legatee. Even a wrong wording of a will has often forfeited

or defeated the intent of a legacy. Mr. Mueller had to warn intending donors that nothing that was reckoned as real estate was available for legacies for charitable institutions, nor even money lent on real estate or in any other way derived therefrom. These conditions, no longer exist, but they illustrate the ease with which a will may often be made void, and the design of a bequest be defeated. 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 is lost, but which recovered in answer to prayer. Another donor who broke his left arm sends grateful acknowledgement to God that it was not his right arm, or some more vital part

like the head or neck. The offerings were doubly precious because of the unwaryed 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 365, 50 pounds had been received, the income would not have been more than enough. Yet, in a surprising variety in number of ways, and from persons and places no less numerous and various, donations came in. Not one of 20 givers was personally known to Mr. Mueller, and no one of all contributors had ever been asked for a gift, and yet up to November 1858, over 600,000 pounds had already been received, and in amounts varying from 8,100 pounds,

down to a single farthing. Unique circumstances. circumstances, connected with some donations, made them remarkable. While resting at Ilfracombe, in September 1865, a gentleman gave to Mr. Mueller a sum of money, at the same time narrating the facts which led to the gift. He was a hardworking businessman, want to doubt the reality of spiritual things, and strongly questioned the truth of the narrative of answered prayers, which he had read from Mr. Mueller's pen. But in view of the simple straightforward story, He could not rest in his doubts, and at last proposed to himself a test as to whether or not God was indeed with Mr. Mueller, as he declared. He wished to buy a certain property, if rated

at a reasonable evaluation, and he determined if he should secure it at the low price which he set for himself, he would give to him 100 pounds. He authorized the bid to be put in, in his behalf, but curious to get the earliest information as to the success of his venture, he went himself, to the place of sale and was surprised to find the property actually knocked off to him was at his own price. Astonished at what he regarded as a proof that God was really working with Mr. Mueller and for him, he made up his mind to go in person and pay over the sum of money to him, and so make his acquaintance and see the man whose prayers God answered. Not finding him at Bristol, he had followed him to Ilfercombe. Having heard his story, and having learned that he was from a certain locality,

Mr. Mueller remarked upon the frequent proofs of God's strange way of working on the minds of parties wholly unknown to him, and leading them to send in gifts. And he added, I had a letter from a lawyer in your very neighborhood shortly since, asking for the proper form for a bequest, as a client of his, not named, wished to leave one thousand pounds to the orphan work. It proved that the man with whom he was left, 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. Mueller. He informed him how greatly he had been blessed of God through reading his published

testimony to God's faithfulness, and that having, through his sister's death, come into the possession of some property, he had come across the 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 request of about 700 pounds. Only 17 days later, a letter accompanying a donation gave further joy to Mr. Mueller's heart. It was from the husband of one of the orphans who in her 17th year had left the institution and to whom Mr. Mueller himself on her departure had given the first two volumes of the reports. Her husband had read them with more spiritual profit than any volume except the book of books. and had found his faith much strengthened.

Being a lay preacher in the Methodist Free Church, the blessed impulses thus imparted to himself were used of God to inspire a like self-surrender in the class under his care. These are a few examples of the countless encouragements that led Mr. Mueller, as he reviewed them, to praise God unceasingly. A Christian physician enclosed 10 pounds in a letter,

telling how first he tried a read religion of mere duty and failed. Then after a severe illness, learned a religion of love, apprehending the love of God to himself and Christ, and so learning how to love others. In his days of darkness, he had been a great lover of flowers, and had put up several planthouses. Flower culture was his hobby, and a fine collection of rare plants, his pride. He took down and sold one of these conservatories and sent the proceeds as the price of an idol, cast down by God's power. Another giver enclosed a like amount from the sale of unnecessary books and pictures, and a poor man, his half-crown, the fruit of a little tree in his garden.

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. It kept back a part of the price. That part, however, two rabbits, she found dead. on the day when they were to be sold. In July 1877, 10 pounds from an anonymous source were accompanied by a letter which conveys another instructive lesson. Years before, the writer had resolved before God to discontinue a doubtful habit and send the cost of his indulgence to the institution.

The vow made in time of trouble was unpaid until God brought the sin to remembrance by a new trouble, and by a special message from the word. Grieve not the Spirit of God. The victory was then given over the habit, and the practice, having annually cost about 26 shillings, the full amount was sent to cover the period during which the solemn covenant had not been kept, with the promise of further gifts in redemption of the same promise to the Lord. This instance conveys more than one lesson. It reminds us of the costliness of much of our self-indulgence. Sir Michael Hicks Beach, in submitting the budget for 1897, remarked that what is annually wasted in the unsmoked remnants of cigars and cigarettes in Britain is estimated

at a million and a quarter pounds, the equivalent of all that is annually spent on foreign missions by British Christians. And many forms of self-gratification, in no way contributing to either health or profit, would if what they cost were dedicated to the Lord, make his treasuries overflowed. Again, this incident reminds us of the many vows, made in time of trouble, which have no payment in time of relief. Many sorrows come back, like clouds that return after the rain, to remind of broken pledges and unfulfilled obligations, whereby we have grieved the Holy Spirit of God. Pay that which thou is vowed, for God hath no pleasure and fool. And again, we are here taught how a sensitive and enlightened conscious 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 dishonors 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

I'll give 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 to then 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 given faith and love, knowing that if I first seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness, all other things will be added unto me. Another sends five pounds in fulfillment of a secret promise, that if he succeeded in passing competitive examination for civil service, he would make a thank offering. And he adds that Satan had repeatedly tried to persuade him

that he could not afford it yet and could send it better in a little while. Many others have heard the same subtle suggestion from the same Master of Wiles and Father of Lies. Postponent in giving is usually its practical abandonment, for the habit of procrastination grows with insensibly rapid development. Habitual givers generally witness to the conscious blessedness of systematic giving. Many who began by giving a tenth, and perhaps in a legal spirit felt constrained by the growing joy of imparting to increase,

not the amount only, but the proportion to a fifth, a fourth, a third, and even a half of their profits. Some wholly reversed the law of appropriation with which they began, for at first they gave a tithe to the Lord's uses, reserving nine-tenths, whereas later on they appropriated nine-tenths to the Lord's uses and reserved for themselves only a tithe. Those who learn the deep meaning of our Lord's words, it is more blessed to give than to receive, find such joy in holding all things at his disposal, that even personal expenditures are subjected to the scrutiny of conscience and love, lest anything be wasted in extravagance or careless self-indulgence. Francis Ridley Havergall, in her later years, felt herself and all she possessed to be

so fully and joyfully given up to God that she never went into a shop to spend a shilling without asking herself whether it would be for God's glory. Gifts were valued by Mr. Mueller only so far as they were the Lord's money, procured by lawful means and given in the Lord's own way. To the last, his course was therefore most conscientious in the caution with which he accepted offerings even in times of sorest extremity. 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 acknowledgement that she had some 500 pounds of her own, and her conversation revealed that this money was held as a provision

against possible future want, and that she was leaning upon that, instead of upon God. Mr. Mueller said, but little to her, but after her withdrawal, he besought the Lord to make so real to her the exhaustless riches she possessed in Christ and her own heavenly calling that she might be constrained to lay down at his feet the whole sum, which was thus a snare to her faith and an idol to her love. Not a word spoken or written passed between him and her on the subject, nor did he even see her. His expressed desire being that if any such step were to be taken by her, it might result from no human influence or persuasion, lest her subsequent regret, might prove both a damage to herself and a dishonor 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 500 pounds was within so easy reach at a time of, very great need, that a word from Mr. Mueller 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 his sister may be found fully spread out in his

journal, and is a model of devout carefulness, lest he should snatch at a gift that might be prompted by wrong motives, or given with an unprepared heart. When finally given, unexpected hindrances arose affecting her actual possessions and transfer, so that more than a third of a year elapsed before it was received. But meanwhile, there was on his part neither impatience nor distrust, nor did he even communicate further with her. To the glory of God let it be added that she afterward more 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 mastery. In August 1853, a poor widow of 60, who had sold the little house

which constituted her whole property, put into an orphan house box elsewhere for Mr. Mueller the entire proceeds, 90 pounds. Those who conveyed it to Mr. Mueller, knowing the circumstance urged her to retain at least a part of this sum, and prevailed on her to keep five pounds and send on the other 85. Mr. Mueller, learning the facts and fearing less the gift might result from a sudden impulse to be afterward regretted, offered to pay her traveling 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 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 accepted. Even then, however, lest he should be evil-spoken of in the matter. He declined to receive any part of a gift for personal uses. In October 1867, a small sum was sent in by one who had years before taken it from enough, and who desired thus to make restitution, believing that the Christian believer from whom it was taken would approve of this method of restoring it.

Mr. Mueller promptly returned it, irrespective of amount, that restitution might be made directly to the party who had been robbed or wronged, claiming that such parties 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. Mueller 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 the 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 whist through Mr. Mueller to make restitution with interest,

and instead of sending the money by post, Mr. Mueller 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 his proceeds of a musical entertainment held for the benefit of the orphans in the south of devon was politely returned mr muller had no doubt of the kind intention of those who set the scheme on foot but he felt that money for the work of god should not be obtained in this manner and he desired only money provided in god's way

Friends who asked that they might know whether their gifts had come at a particularly opportune time were referred to the next report for answer. To acknowledge that the help came very seasonably would be an indirect revelation of need and might be construed into an indirect appeal for more aid, as help that was peculiarly timed would so be exhausted. And so this man of God consistently avoided any such disclosure of an exigency, lest his chief object should be hindered. namely to show how blessed it is to deal with God alone and to trust him in the darkest moments. And though the need was continual, and one demand was no sooner met than another arose, he did not find this a trying life, nor did he ever tire of it.

As early as May 1846, a letter from a brother contained the following paragraph. With regard to property, I do not see my way clearly. I trust it is all indeed at the disposal of the Lord. and if you would let me know of any need of it in his service, any sum under 200 pounds shall be at your disposal at about a week's notice. The need at that time was great. How easy and natural to write back that the orphan work was then in want of help, and that, as Mr. Mueller was just going away from Bristol for rest, it would be a special comfort if his correspondent would send on, say, 190 pounds or so. But to deal with the Lord alone in the whole matter

seemed indispensable, both for the strengthening of his own faith and for the effectiveness of his testimony to the church and the world, that at once this temptation was seen to be a snare, and he replied that only to the Lord could the need of any part of the work be confided. Money to be laid up as a fund for his old age or possible seasons of illness or family emergencies was always declined. Such a donation of 100 pounds was received October 12, 1856, with a note so considerate and Christian that the subtle temptation to lay up for himself treasures on earth would have triumphed but for a heart fixed immovably in the determination that there should be no dependence upon any such human provision he had settled the matter beyond raising the question again that he would live from day to day upon the lord's bounty and would make but one investment namely using whatever means god gave to supply the necessities of the poor depending on god richly to repay him in the hour of his own need. According to the promise, he that hath pity upon the poor

lendeth unto the Lord. And that which he hath given will he pay him again? Proverbs 1917. God so owned at once, this disposition on Mr. Mueller's part that his courteous letter, declining the gift for himself, led the donor not only to ask him to use the hundred pounds for the orphan work, but to add to this sum a further gift of two hundred. pounds more. End of Chapter 22 of George Mueller of Bristol by Arthur T. Pearson. Chapter 23 of George Mueller of Bristol. This is a Libravox recording which is in the public domain.

George Mueller of Bristol by Arthur T. Pearson. Chapter 23. God's Witness to the Work. The 11th chapter of Hebrews that Westminster Abbey where Old Testament saints have a memorial before God, gives a hint of a peculiar reward, which faith enjoys, even in this life, as an earnest and foretaste of its final recompense.

By faith, the elders obtained a good report. That is, they had witness mourned to them by God, in return for witness mourned to him. All the marked examples of faith here recorded show this two-fold testimony. Abel testified to his faith in God's atoning lamb, and God testified to his gifts. Enok witnessed to the unseen God by his holy walk with him, and he testified to Enoch by his translation, and even before it, that he pleased God.

Noah's faith bore witness to God's word by building the ark and preaching righteousness, and God bore witness to him by bringing a flood upon a world of the ungodly, and saving him and his family in the ark. George Mueller's life was one long witness to the prayer-hearing God, and throughout God bore him witness that his prayers were heard and his work accepted. The pages of his journal are full of striking examples of this witness, the earnest or foretaste of the fuller recompense of reward reserved for the Lord's coming. Compensations for renunciations and rewards for service do not all wait for the judgment

seed of Christ. But as some men's sins are open beforehand, going before to judgment, so the seed stone for God yields a harvest that is open beforehand to joyful recognition. Divine love graciously and richly acknowledge 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 hearing. after. 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 Mueller 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 manifest the owned of God that he felt his compensation to be both constant and abundant, and his journal from time to time glows with his fervent thanksgivings. This orphan work would amply repay all its costs during two-thirds of a century, should only its temporal blessings be reckoned. Experience proved that, with God's blessing, one half of the life's sacrificed among the children of poverty would be saved by better conditions of body,

such as regularity and cleanliness of habits, good food, pure air, proper clothing, and wholesome exercise. At least two-thirds, if not three-fourths of the parents whose offspring have found a shelter on Ashley Down had died of consumption and kindred diseases. And hence, the children had been largely tainted with the like tendency. And yet all through the history of this orphan work, there has been such care of proper sanitary conditions that there has been singular freedom from all sorts of ailments, and especially epidemic diseases. And when scarlet fever, measles, and such diseases have found entrance,

the cases of sickness have been comparatively few and mild, and the usual percentage of deaths exceedingly small. This is not the only department of training in which the recompense has been abundant. Ignorance is everywhere the usual handmaid of poverty, and there has been very careful effort to secure proper mental culture. With what success the education of these are, orphans has been looked after will sufficiently appear from the reports of the school inspector. From year to year, these pupils have been examined in reading, writing, arithmetic, scripture, dictation, geography, history, grammar, composition, and singing. And Mr. Horn reported in 1885 an average percent of all marks as high as 91.1. And even this was surpassed the next year

when it was 94. And two years later, when it was. 96.1. 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. Mueller 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? in crime. Many of these little ones had no proper bringing up till they entered the orphan houses, and not a few had been trained indeed, but only in Satan's schools of drink and lust.

And yet notwithstanding all these drawbacks, Mr. Mueller records, with devout thankfulness, that the 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 character and conduct, and in some cases have borne singular witness to the grace of God, both by their complete transformation and by their influence for good. In August 1858, an orphan girl Martha Pennell, who had been for over 12 years under Mr. Mueller's care, and for more than five years ill with consumption,

fell asleep in Jesus. Before her death, she had for two and a half years known the Lord, and the change in her character and conduct had been remarkable. From an exceedingly disobedient and troublesome child with a pernicious influence, she had become both very docile and humble, and most influential for good. In her unregenerate day, she had declared that, if she should ever be converted, she would be a thorough Christian, and so it proved. Her happiness in God, her study of His Word, her deep knowledge of the Lord Jesus,

her earnest passion for souls, seemed almost incredible in one so young and so recently turned to God. And Mr. Mueller 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 26, 1858, was especially notable for the unprecedented greatness and rapidity of the work with which the spirit of God had wrought in such conversions.

Within a few days, and without any special apparent cause, except the very peaceful death of a Christian orphan, Caroline Bailey, more than 50 of the 140 girls in orphan house number one were under conviction of sin, and the work spread into the other departments, till about 60 were shortly exercising faith. In July 1859, again, in a school of 120 girls, more than half were brought under deep spiritual concern, and after a year had passed, showed the grace of continuance in a new life. In January and February 1860, another mighty wave of the Holy Spirit power swept over the institution. It began among little girls from six to nine years old, then extended to the older girls, and then to the boys, until, inside of ten days, above two hundred were inquiring and in many instances

found immediate peace. The young converts at once asked to hold prayer meetings among themselves and were permitted. and not only so, but many began to labor and pray for others, and out of the 700 orphans then in charge, some 260 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 seriousness, hundreds were during that season hopefully converted.

Constant prayer for their souls made the orphan homes a hallowed place, and by August 1st, it was believed, after a careful investigation, that 729 might be safely counted as being disciples of Christ, the number of believing orphans being thus far in excess of any previous period. A series of such blessings have, down to this date, crowned the sincere endeavors of all who have charge of these children, to lead them to seek first. the kingdom of God and his righteousness. By far, the majority of orphans sent out for service or apprenticeship had for some time before known the Lord,

and even of those who left the institution unconverted, the after-history of many showed that the training there received had made impossible continuance in life of sin. Thus, precious hargess of this seed-sewing gathered in subsequent years have shown that God was not unrighteous to forget this work of faith, and labor of love, and patience of hope. In April 1874, a letter from a former inmate of the orphanage enclosed a thank offering for the excellent Bible teaching there received, which had worn fruit years after.

So carefully had she been instructed in the way of salvation that, while yet herself unrenewed, she had been God's instrument of leading to Christ, a fellow servant, who had long been seeking peace. And so became, like a signboard on the road, the means of directing another to the true path by simply telling her what she had been taught, though not then following the path herself. Another orphan wrote in 1876 that often, when tempted to indulge the sin of unbelief, the thought of that six years' sojourn in Ashley Down came across the mind like a gleam of sunshine. It was remembered how the clothes there worn, the food eaten, the food eaten, the bed slept on and the very walls around were the visible answers to believing prayer,

and the recollection of all these things proved a potent prescription and remedy for the doubts and waverings of the child of God, a shield against the fiery darts of satanic suggestion. During the 36 years between 1865 and 1895, 2,56 orphans were known to have left the institution as believers, an average of 85 every year, and at the close of this 30 years, nearly 600 were yet in the homes on Ashley Down, who had given credible evidence of a regenerate state. Mr. Mueller was permitted to know that not only had these orphans been blessed in health, educated in mind, converted to God, and made useful Christian citizens, but many of them had become fathers or mothers of Christian households. One representative instance may be cited.

A man and a woman who had formerly been among these orphans became husband and wife, and they have eight children, all earnest disciples, one of whom went as a foreign missionary to Africa. From the first, God set his seal upon this religious training in the orphan houses. The first two children received into number one, both became true believers and zealous workers. One, a congregational deacon, who in a benighted neighborhood, act a part of a lay preacher. and the other, a laborious and successful clergyman in the Church of England, and both largely used of God in soul-winning. Could the full history be written of all who have gone forth from these orphan homes,

what a volume of testimony would be furnished, since these are but a few scattered examples of the conspicuously useful service to which God has called those whose after career can be traced? In his long and extensive missionary tours, Mr. Mueller was permitted to see, gather, and partake of many widely scattered fruits of his work on Ashley Down. When preaching in Brooklyn, New York, in September 1877, he learned that in Philadelphia, a legacy of a thousand pounds was waiting for him, proceeds of a life insurance, which the testator had willed to the work, and in city after city, he had the joy of meeting scores of orphans

brought up under his care. He minutely records their remarkable, usefulness of a Mr. Wilkinson, who up to the age of 14 and a half years, had been taught at the orphanage. Twenty years had elapsed since Mr. Mueller had seen him, when in 1878 he met him in Calvary Church, San Francisco, 6,500 miles from Bristol. He found him holding fast his faith in the Lord Jesus, a happy and consistent Christian. He further heard most inspiring accounts of this man's singular service during the Civil War in America. Being on the gunboat, Louisiana, he had there been the leading spirit and recognized head of a little Bethel Church among his fellow seamen, who were by him, led so to engage in the service of Christ as to exhibit a devotion that,

without a trace of fanatical enthusiasm, was full of holy zeal and joy. Their whole conversation was of God. It further transpired that months previous, when the cloud of impending battle overhung the ship's company, he and one of his comrades had met for prayer in the chain locker, and thus began a series of most remarkable meetings, which, without one night's interruption, lasted for some twenty months. Wilkinson alone among the whole company had any previous knowledge of the word of God, and he became not only the leader of the movement, but the chief interpreter of the scriptures as they met to read the book of God and exchange views upon it. Nor was he satisfied to do thus much with his comrades daily. But at another stated hour, he, with some

chosen helpers, gather the colored sailors of the ship to teach them reading, writing, etc. A member of the Christian Commission, Mr. J. E. Hammond, who gave these facts publicity, and who was intimately acquainted with Mr. Wilkinson and his work on shipboard, said that he seemed to be a direct product of Mr. Mueller's faith, his calm confidence in God, the method in his whole manner of life. persistence of purpose, and the quiet spiritual power, which so characterized the founder of the Bristol orphanage, being eminently reproduced in this young man who had been trained under his influence. When in his sail-off to shore, he was compelled for two weeks to the lewd and profane talk of two associates

detailed with him for a certain work. For the most part, he took refuge in silence. But his manner of conduct, and one sentence which dropped from his lips, brought both those rough and wicked sailors to the Savior he loved, one of whom in three months read the Word of God from Genesis to Revelation. Mr. Mueller went nowhere without meeting converted orphans or hearing of their work, even in the far-off corners of the earth. Sometimes in great cities, 10 or 15 would be waiting at the close of an address to shake the hand of their father and tell him of their debt of gratitude and love. He found them in every conceivable sphere of service, many of them having households in which the principals taught in the orphan homes were dominant and engaged in the learned professions

as well as humble walks of life. God gave his servant also the sweet compensation of seeing great blessing attending the day schools supported by the scriptural knowledge institution. The master of the school at Clayhidden, for instance, wrote of a poor land, a pupil in the day school, prostrate with rheumatic fever, in a wretched home and surrounded by bitter opposers, of the truth. Wasted to a skeleton, and in deep anxiety about his own soul, he was pointed to him who says, Come unto me, and I will give you rest. While yet this conversation was going on, as though suddenly he had entered into a new world, this emaciated boy began to repeat texts, such as, suffer the little children to come unto me, and burst out singing,

Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. He seemed transported with ecstasy, and recited text after text, and hymn after him, learned at that school. No marvel is it if that schoolmaster felt a joy akin to the angels, in this one proof that his labor in the Lord was not in vain. Such examples might be indefinitely multiplied, but this handful of first-fruits of a harvest may indicate the character of the whole crop. Letters were constantly received from missionary laborers

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. Mueller from fields of labor 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 Finn, who was laboring in Madrid, wrote of a civil guard who, because of his bold witness for Christ and renunciation of the Romish confessional, was sent from place to place and most cruelly treated and threatened with banishment to a penal settlement. again he writes of a convert from born who for trying to establish a small meeting was summoned before the governor who pays you for this no one what do you gain by it nothing how do you live i work with my hands in a mine why do you hold meetings because god has blessed my soul and i wish others to be blessed you you were a man

made a miserable they laborer, I prohibit the meetings. A yield to force, was the calm reply, but as long as I have a mouth to speak, I shall speak for Christ. I like those primitive disciples who boldly faced the rulers at Jerusalem, and being forbidden to speak in Jesus' name, firmly answered, we ought to obey God rather than men. Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you, more than unto God, judge ye, for we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard. A missionary laborer writes from India of three Brahman priests and scores of Santals and Hindus

sitting down with four Europeans to keep the supper of the Lord, all fruits of his ministry. Within a 12-month, 62 men and women, including headmen of villages, and four Brahmin women, wives of priests and of head men, were baptized, representing 23 villages in the people, which the gospel had been preached. At one time more than one hundred persons were awakened in one mission in Spain, and such harvests as these were not infrequent in various fields to which the founder of the orphan work had the joy of sending aid. In 1885, a scholar of one of the schools at Kara, Italy, was confronted by a priest. In the Bible, said he, you do not find the commandments of the church. No, sir, said the child, for it is a

not for the church of God to command, but to obey. Tell me, then, said the priest, these commandments of God. Yes, sir, replied the child. I am the Lord thy God. Thou shall have no other God before me. Neither shall thou make any graven image. Stop, stop, cried the priest. I do not understand it so. But so, quietly replied the child, it is written in God's word. This simple incident may illustrate both the character of the teaching given in the schools and the character often developed in those who were taught. Out of the many pages of Mr. Mueller's journal, probably about one-fifth are occupied wholly

with extracts from letters like these from missionaries, teachers, and helpers, which kept him informed of the progress of the Lord's work at home and in many lands where the laborers were by him enabled to continue their service. Bible carriages, open-air services, Christian schools, tracked distribution, and various other forms of holy labor for the benighted souls 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. Mueller 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 serviced orphans, it seemed the consummation of his hopes, for the work was thus proven to have its seed in itself after its kind, a self-propagating life, which doubly demonstrated it to be a true. of the Lord's own planting that he might be glorified. In December 1876, Mr. Mueller 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. Mueller's example, solely in dependence on the Lord,

had begun in 1863 with three orphans at Nimwijan in Holland, and had at that date only 14 years after, over 450 in the institution. It pleased the Lord that he and Mrs. Mueller should, with their own eyes, see this institution, and he says that in almost numberless instances, the Lord permitted him to know of similar fruits of his work. At his first visit to Tokyo, Japan, he gave an account of it, and as the result, Mr. Ishi, a native Christian Japanese, started an orphanage upon a similar basis of prayer, faith, and dependence upon the living God. And at Mr. Mueller's second visit to the island empire, he found this orphan work prosperously in progress.

How generally fruitful the example thus furnished on Ashley Down has been in good to the church, and the world will never be known on earth. A man living at Horfield inside of the orphan buildings has said that whenever he felt doubts of the living God creeping into his mind, he used to get up and look through the night at the many windows lit up on Ashley Down, and they gleamed out through the darkness as stars in the sky. It was a witness of Mr. Mueller to a prayer-hearing God which encouraged Reverend J. Hudson-Taylor in 1863, 30 years after Mr. Mueller's great step was taken, to venture wholly on the Lord in founding the Charlie and the Mission. It has been said that, to the example of age, Frank and

Halle or George Mueller in Bristol may be more or less directly traced every form of faith work prevalent since. The scriptural knowledge institution was made in all its departments a means of blessing. Already in the year ending May 26, 1860, 100 servants of Christ had been more or less aided and far more souls had been hopefully brought to God through their labors than during any year previous. About 600 letters received from them had cheered Mr. Mueller's heart during the 12-month, and this source of joy overflowed during all his life. In countless cases, children of God were lifted to a higher level of faith in life, and unconverted souls were turned to God through the witness born to God by the institutions on Ashley Down. Mr. Mueller has summed up

this long history of blessing by two statements which are worth pondering. First, that the Lord was pleased to give him far beyond all he at first expected to accomplish or receive. And secondly, that he was fully persuaded that all he had seen and known would not equal the thousandth part of what he should see and know when the Lord should come, his reward with him to give every man according as his work shall be. The circulation of Mr. Mueller's narrative was a most conspicuous means of untold good. In November 1856, Mr. James McQuilkin, a young Irishman, was converted, and early in the next year, read the first two volumes of that narrative. He said to himself, Mr. Mueller obtains all this simply by prayer, so may I be blessed by the same means, and he began to pray. First of all, he received from the Lord, in answer, a spiritual companion, and then two more of like mind.

and they four began stated seasons of prayer in a small schoolhouse near Kells, Antrim, Ireland, every Friday evening. On the first day of the new year, 1858, a farm servant was remarkably brought to the Lord in answer to their prayers, and these five gave themselves anew to United Supplication. Shortly, a six young man was added to their number by conversion, and so the little company of praying souls slowly grew, only believers being admitted. to these simple meetings for fellowship and reading of the scriptures, prayer, and mutual exhortation. About Christmas that year, Mr. McQuilkin, with the two brethren who had first joined him,

one of whom was Mr. Jeremiah Manili, who was still at work for God, held a meeting by request at Agahill. Some believed and some mocked, while others thought these three converts presumptuous. But two weeks later another meeting was held, at which God's speech, began to work most mightily, and conversions now rapidly multiplied. Some converts bore the sacred coals and kindled the fire elsewhere, and so in many places revival flames began to burn. And in Ballymenina, Belfast, and at other points the Spirit's gracious work was manifest. Such was the starting point, in fact, of one of the most widespread and memorable revivals

ever known in our century, and which spread the next year in England, Wales and Scotland. Scotland. Thousands found Christ and walked in newness of life, and the results are still manifest after more than 40 years. As early as 1868, it was found that one who had thankfully read this narrative had issued a compendium of it in Swedish. We have seen how widely useful it has been in Germany, and in many other languages its substance at least has been made available to native readers. Knowledge came to Mr. Mueller of a boy of ten years who got hold of one of these reports, and although belonging to a family of unbelievers, began to pray, God, teach me to pray like George Mueller, and hear me as thou dost hear George Mueller. 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 towards such a high calling. The lad, however, rejoined, I will learn and pray, and God will help me through as he has done George Mueller. And soon, to the surprise of everybody, the boy had successfully passed his examination and was received at the school. A donor writes, September 20, 1879, that the reading of the narrative totally changed his inner life to one of perfect trust and confidence in God. It led to the devoting of at least a tenth of his earnings to the Lord's purposes, and showed him how much more blessed it is to give than to receive. And it led him also to place

a copy of that narrative on the shelves of a town institute library where 3,000 members and subscribers might have access to it. Another donor suggests that it might well be if Professor Huxley and his sympathizers, who had been proposing some new arbitrary prayer gauge, would, instead of treating prayer as so much waste of breath, try how long they could keep five orphan houses running, with over 2,000 orphans, and without asking anyone 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 skepticism. It had ever been their lot to meet with.

an array of facts constituting the most undeniable evidences of Christianity. There are abundant instances of the power exerted by Mr. Mueller's testimony, as when a woman who had been an infidel writes him that he was the first person by whose example she learned that there are some men who live by faith, and that for this reason she had willed to him all that she possessed. Another reader found these reports more faith-strengthening and soul-refreshing than many a sermon, particularly so after just waiting through the mire of a speech of a French infidel who boldly affirmed that if all the millions of prayers uttered every day, not one is answered.

We should like to have any candid skeptic confronted with Mr. Mueller'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 thousands of answers to believing prayer. The fact is that one half of the infidelity in the world is dishonest. The other half is ignorant of the daily proofs that God is, and is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. From almost the first publication of his narrative, Mr. Mueller had felt a conviction that it was thus to be greatly owned of God

as a witness to his faithfulness, and as early as 1842 it was laid on his heart to send a copy of his annual report gratuitously to every Christian minister of the land, which the Lord helped him to do, his aim being not to get money or even to wake an interest in the work, but rather to stimulate faith and quicken prayer. The author of this memoir purposes to give a copy of it to every foreign missionary

and to workers in the home fields, so far as means are supplied in answer to prayer. His hope is that the witness of this life may thus have still wider influence in stimulating prayer and faith. The devout reader is asked to unite his supplications with those of many others who are asking that the Lord may be pleased to furnish the means whereby this purpose may be carried out. Already about 100 pounds sterling have been given for this end, and part of it small in amount but rich in self-denial from the staff and helpers

and the orphans on Ashley Down. 22 years later in 1868, it was already so apparent that the published accounts of the Lord's dealings was used so largely to sanctify and edify saints, and even to convert sinners and convince infidels, that he records this as the greatest of all spiritual blessings hitherto resulting from his work for God. Since then, 30 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 more witness to him in return, and anticipated his final reward in a recompense of present and overflowing joy. This was especially true in the long tours undertaken, when past three score and ten to sow in lands afar the seeds of the kingdom. As the soar went forth to sow, he found not fallow fields only, but harvest fields also, from which his arms were filled with sheaves. Thus, in a new sense, the reaper overtook the ploughman, and the harvester, him that scattered the seed. In every city of the United Kingdom, and in the 68 cities, where up to 1877 he had preached on the continents of Europe and America,

he had found converted orphans and believers to whom abundant blessing had come through reading his reports. after this day, twenty-one years more yet remained crowded with experiences of good. Thus, before the Lord called George Mueller higher, he had given him a foretaste of his reward in the physical, intellectual, and spiritual profit

of the orphans, in the fruits of his wide seed-sewing in other lands as well as Britain, in the scattering of God's word and Christian literature, in the Christian education of thousands of children in the schools he aided, and the assistance afforded to hundreds of devoted

missionaries, in the large blessing imparted by his published narrative, and in his personal privilege of bearing witness throughout the world to the Gospel of Grace. End of Chapter 23 of George Mueller of Bristol by Arthur T. Pearson. Chapter 24 of George Mueller of Bristol. This is a Libravox recording which is in the public domain. George Mueller of Bristol by Arthur T. Pearson. Chapter 24 Last Looks Backward and Forward

The mountain climber at the sunset hour naturally takes the 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 the 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 Mueller was divinely fitted for, fitted into his work, as a mortis 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 conspicuous in him,

truth, faith, and love. Our Lord frequently taught his disciples that the childlike spirit is the soul of discipleship, and in the ideal child, these three traits are central. Truth is one center, about which revolved child. childlike frankness and sincerity, genuineness and simplicity. Faith is another, about which revolve confidence and trust, docility, and humility. Love is another center, around which gather unselfishness and generosity, gentleness and restfulness of spirit.

In the typical or perfect child, therefore, all these beautiful qualities would coexist, and in proportion as they are found in a disciple, is he worthy to be called a child of God? In Mr. Mueller, 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 coloring. It is difficult to overestimate their importance in their relation to what George Mueller was and did.

Truth is the cornerstone of all excellence, for without it nothing else is true, genuine, or real. From the hour of his conversion, his truthfulness was increasingly dominant and apparent. In fact, there was about him a scrupulous exactness, which sometimes seemed unnecessary. one smiles at the mathematical precision with which he states facts, giving the years, days, and hours since he was brought to the knowledge of God,

or since he began to pray for some given object, and the pounds, shilling, pence, half-pence, and even farthings, that form the total sum expended for any given purpose. We seem the same conscientious exactness in the repetition 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 dealings.

First, because it shows that the writer has disciplined himself to accuracy of statement. Many a falsehood is not an intentional lie, but an undesigned inaccuracy. Three of our human faculties powerfully affect our veracity. One is memory. Another is imagination, and another is conscience. Memory takes note of facts. Imagination colors facts with fancies, and conscience brings the moral sense to bear in sifting the real from the unreal.

Where conscience is not sensitive and dominant, memory and imagination will become so confused that the facts and fancies will fail to be separated. The imagination will be so allowed to invest events, and experiences with either a halo of glory or a cloud of prejudice that the narrator will constantly tell not when he clearly sees written in the book of his remembrance, but what he beholds painted upon the canvas of his own imagination. Accuracy will be, half unconsciously perhaps, sacrificed to his own imaginings. He will exaggerate or depreciate as his own impulses lead

him. And a man who would not deliberately lie may thus be habitually untrustworthy. You cannot tell, and often he cannot tell, what the exact truth would be, when all the unreality with which it has thus been invested is dissipated, like the purple and golden clouds above a mountain, leaving the bare crag of naked rock to be seen, just as it is in itself. George Mueller felt the immense importance of exact statement. Hence, he was a very important of the exact statement. hence he disciplined himself to accuracy. Conscience presided over his narrative, and demanded that everything else should be scrupulously sacrificed to veracity. But more than this, God made him, in a sense, a man without imagination, comparatively free from the temptations of an enthusiastic temperament.

He was a mathematician rather than a poet, an artisan rather than an artist, and he did not see things invested with a false halo. He was deliberate, not impulsive, calm and not excitable. He naturally weighed every word before he spoke, and scrutinized every statement before he gave it form with pan or tongue. And therefore the very qualities that, to some people, may make his narrative bear of charm, and even repulsively prosaic, add to its value as a plain, conscientious, unimaginative, unvarnished, and trustworthy statement of. And, even repulsively, 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 coloring. 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 would live 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 the central traits in George Mueller, and it was purely the product of grace. We are told in that first great lesson on faith in the scripture that Abram believed in Jehovah. Literally,

Amen, Jehovah. The word amen means not let it be so, but rather it shall be so. The Lord's word came to Abram saying this shall not be, but something else shall be. And Abram simply said with all his heart, Amen, and it shall be as God hath said. And Paul seems to be imitating Abrams' faith, when in the shipwreck off to Malta, he said, I believe God that it shall be even as it was told me, that is faith in its simplest exercise, and it was George Mueller'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. Nothing is more noticeable in the entire career of this man of God, reaching through 65 years than the steadiness of his faith and the steadfastness it gave to his whole character. To have a word of God was enough. He built upon it, and when floods came and beat against that house, how could it fall? He was never confounded nor obliged to flee.

Even the earthquake may shake earth and heaven, but it leaves the true believer, the inheritor of a kingdom which cannot be moved. for the object of all such shaking is to remove what can be shaken that what cannot be shaken may remain. If Mr. Mueller had any great mission, it was not to found a worldwide institution of any sort, however useful in scattering Bibles and books and tracks, or housing and feeding thousands of orphans, or setting up Christian schools and aiding missionary workers. His main mission was to teach men that it is safe to trust God's word, to rest implicitly upon whatever he hath said, and obey explicitly whatever he has bidden.

That prayer offered in faith, trusting his promise and the intercession of his dear son, is never offered in vain, and that the life lived by faith is a walk with God, just outside the very gates of heaven. Love, the third of that Trinity of Graces, was the other great secret and lesson of this life. And what is love? 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 unselfishness. Love seeketh not our own. It is a preference

of another's pleasure and profit over our own, and hence is exercised toward the unthankful and unlovely that it may lift them to a higher level. Such love is benevolence rather than complacence, and so it is of God, for he loveth the unthankful and the evil, and he that loveth is born of God and knoweth God. Such love is obedience to a principle of unselfishness, and makes self-sacrifice habitual and even natural. While Satan's motto is, spare thyself, Christ's motto is to deny thyself. The sharpest rebuke ever administered by our Lord was that to Peter, when he became a Satan by counseling his master to adopt Satan's maxim. We are bidden by Paul, remember Jesus Christ, and by Peter, follow his steps. If we seek the inmost meaning of these two brief

mottoes, we shall find that about Jesus Christ's character, nothing was more conspicuous than the obedience of faith and self-surrender to God, and in his career, which we are bidden to follow the renunciation of love or self-sacrifice for man. The taunt was sublimely true. He saved others, himself he cannot save. It was because he saved others that he could not save himself. The seed must give up its own life for the sake of the crop. And he who will be life to others must like his lord consent to die. 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-defense, 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, for there is but one cross, the cross on which the self-life is crucified, the cross of voluntary self-renunciation. How did Christ come to the cross? We read in Philippians that seven steps of his descent from heaven to Calvary. He had everything that even the Son of God could hold precious, even to the actual equal sharing of the glory of God. Yet for man's sake, what did he do? He did not hold fast even his equality with God.

He emptied himself, took on him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of fallen humanity. Even more than this, he humbled himself even as a man, identifying himself with our poverty and misery and sin. He accepted death for our sakes, and that the death of shame on the tree of curse. Every step was downward, until he who had been worshipped by angels

was reviled by thieves, and the crown of glory was displaced by the crown of thorns. That is what the cross meant to him, and he says, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up the cross, and follow him. 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, involuntary 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. Mueller illustrated it. From the hour when he began to serve the crucified one, he entered more and more fully into the fellowship of his sufferings, seeking to be made conformable unto his death. He gave up fortune-seeking and fame-seeking. He cut loose from the world with its snares and joys. He separated himself from even its doubtful practices. He tested even churchly traditions and customs by the Word of God, and step by step conform to the pattern shown in that word. Every such step was a

a new self-denial, but it was following him. He chose voluntary poverty that others might be rich, and voluntary loss that others might have gained. His life was one long endeavor to bless others, to be the channel for conveying God's truth and love and grace to them. Like Paul, he rejoiced in such sufferings for others, because thus he filled up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in his flesh for his body's sake, which is the church. and unless love's voluntary sacrifice be taken into account, George Mueller'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 muller 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 muller his opinions preferences tastes and will, died to the world, its approval or censure, died to the approval or blame even of my brethren and friends, and since then I have studied only to show myself approved unto God. When George Mueller trusted the blood for salvation, he took Abel's position. When he undertook

a consecrated walk, he took Enoch's. When he came into fellowship with God for his life work, he stood beside Noah. When he rested only on God's word, he was one with Abraham, and when he died to self and the world, he reached the self-surrender of Moses. The godlike qualities of this great and good man made him nonetheless a man.

His separation unto God implied no unnatural isolation from his fellow mortals. Like Terence, he could say, I am a man, and nothing common to man is foreign to me. to be well known, Mr. Mueller needed to be known in his daily, simple, home life. It was my privilege to meet him often, and in his own apartment at Orphan House No. 3. His room was of medium-sized, neatly but plainly furnished, with table and chairs, lounge, and writing desk, etc.

His Bible almost always lay open, as a book to which he continually resorted. His form was tall and slim, always neatly attired, and very erect. as his step firm and strong. His countenance, in repose, might have been thought stern, but for the smile was so habitually lit up his eyes and played over his features that it left its impress on the lines of his face. His manner was one of simple courtesy and unstudied dignity. No one would in his presence have felt like vain trifling, and there was about him a certain indescribable air of authority and majesty that reminded one of a born prince. And yet there was mingled with all this, a simplicity so childlike that even children felt

themselves at home with him. In his speech, he never quite lost that peculiar foreign quality, known as accent, and he always spoke with slow and measured articulation, as though a double watch were set at the door of his lips. With him, that unruly member, the tongue, was tamed by the Holy spirit, and he had that mark of what James calls a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body. Those who knew but little of him and saw him only in his serious moods might have thought him lacking in that peculiar human quality, humor. But neither was he an ascetic nor devoid of that element of innocent appreciation of the ludicrous, and that keen enjoyment of a good story, which seemed 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 knew best and loved, he showed his true self, in his playful moods, as when at Ilfercombe, climbing with his wife and others, the heights that overlooked the sea, he walked on a little in advance,

seated himself till the rest came up with him, and then, when they were barely seated, rose and quietly said, Well, now, we have had a good rest, let us go on. This one instance may suffice to show that his sympathy with his divine master did not lessen or hinder his complete fellow feeling with man. That must be a defective piety, which puts a barrier between a saintly soul

and whatsoever pertains to humanity. He who chose us out of the world sent us back into it, there to find our sphere of service, and in order to such service we must keep in close and vital touch with human beings as did our divine lord himself. Service to God was with George Mueller a passion. In the month of May 1897, he was persuaded to take at Huntley 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 labors, 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 Huntley and at Tainmouth. As we cast this last glance backward over this life of peculiar sanctity and service, one lesson seems written across it in unmistakable letters. Prevailing prayer. If a consecrated human life is an 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 Mueller's living epistle enforces and illustrates. It is found in James 5, 6. 16 through 18. The effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much is the sentence which opens the paragraph. No translation has ever done it justice. Rotherham renders it, much avails a righteous man's supplication, working inwardly. The revised version translates, avails much in its working. The difficulty of translating lies not in the obscurity, but in the fullness of the meaning of the original. There is a Greek middle partisan,

here, which may indicate either the cause or the time of the effectiveness of the prayer, and may mean, through its working, or while it is actively working. The idea is that such prayer has about it supernatural energy. Perhaps the best key to the meaning of these ten words is to interpret them in the light of the whole paragraph. 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, Elijah was but a man of like nature with other men, and subject to all human frailties and infirmities, and secondly, that this man was such a power because he was a man of prayer. He prayed earnestly. Literally, he prayed with prayer. prayed habitually and importunately. No man can read Elijah's short history as given in the Word of God without seeing that he was a man like ourselves. Under the juniper tree of doubt and despondency, he complained of his state and wished he might die. In the cave of a morbid despair, he had to be met and subdued by the vision of God and by the still small voice. He was just like other men. It was not, therefore, because he was above human follies and frailties,

but because he was subject to them, that he is held up to us as an encouraging example of power that prevails in prayer. He laid hold of the almighty arm because he was weak, and he kept hold because to lose hold was to let weakness prevail. Nevertheless, this man, by prayer alone, shut up heaven's floodgates for three years and a half, and then by the same key unlocked them. Yes, this man tested the meaning of those wonderful words concerning the, the work of my hands, command ye me. Isaiah 44.11. God put the forces of nature for the time

under the sway of this one man's prayer. One frail, feeble, foolish, mortal, locked and unlocked the springs of waters, because he held God's key. George Mueller was simply another Elijah, like him, a man subject to all human infirmities. He had his fits of despondency and murmuring, of distrust and waywardness. but he prayed and kept praying. He denied that he was a miracle worker, in any sense that implies elevation of character and endowment above other fellow disciples, as though he were a specially privileged saint. But in a sense, he 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 they are declared to be to him that believeth. God meant that George Mueller, 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 whether prayer can accomplish similar wonders as of old, here is a man who answers the question by the indisputable logic of facts. Powerlessness always means prayerlessness. It is not necessary for us to be sinlessly perfect, or to be raised to a special dignity of privilege and indebted.

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 Mueller considered nothing too small to be a subject of prayer, because nothing is too small to be the subject of God's care. If he numbers our hairs and notes of sparrows fall and close 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 500 pounds was, after 14 months in chancery, still unpaid, the Lord was besought to cause this money soon to be placed in his hands. And he prayed that legacy out of the bonds of chancery as prayer, long before brought Peter out of prison. The money was paid contrary to all human likelihood, and with interest at 4%. When large gifts were proffered, prayer was offered for grace to know whether to accept or decline, that no money might be greedily grasp at for its own sake, and he prayed that, if it could not be accepted without submitting to conditions which were dishonoring to God, it might be declined so graciously, lovingly, humbly, and yet firmly,

that the manner of its refusal and return might show that he was acting, not in his own behalf, but as a servant under the authority of a higher master. These are graver matters and might well be carried to God for guidance and help. But George Mueller did not stop here. In the lesser affairs, even down to the least, he sought and received like aid. His oldest friend, Robert C. Chapman of Barnstaple, gave the writer the following simple incident. In the early years of his love to Christ, visiting a friend and seeing him mending a quill pen, he said, Brother H, do you pray to God when you mend your pen?

the answer was it would be well to do so but I cannot say that I do pray when mending my pen. Brother Mueller replied, I always do, and so I mend my pen much better. As we cast this last backward glance at this man of God, seven conspicuous qualities stand out in him, the combination of which made him what he was. Stainless uprightness, childlike simplicity, business-like precision, tenacity of purpose, wholeness of faith, habitual prayer, and cheerful self-surrender. His holy living was a necessary condition of his abundant serving, as seemed so beautifully hinted in the 17th verse of the 90th Psalm. Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish thou the work of our hands upon us.

How can the work of our hands be so truly established by the blessing of our Lord, unless his beauty also is upon us? The beauty of His holiness, transform. 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 compliments to each other and should be put side by side.

If any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. If any man serve me, let him follow me. And where I am, there shall also my servant be. If any man serve me, him will my father honor. One of these presents the cross, the other the crown. One is the renunciation, the other the compensation. In both cases it is, let him follow me. But in the second of these passages, the following of Christ goes further than the cross of Calvary. It reaches through the sepulchre to the resurrection life, the 40 days holy walk in the

spirit, the ascension to the heavenlies, the session at the right hand of God, the reappearing at his second coming, and the fellowship of his final reign in glory. And two compensations are especially made prominent. First, the eternal home with Christ, and second, the exalted honor 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 and recompense 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 present good for the sake of a future and greater good. Even our Lord himself was strengthened to endure the

cross and despised the shame by the joy that was set before him and the glory of his final victory. If there were seven steps downward in humiliation, there are seven upward in exile. until beneath his feet every knee shall bow in homage and every tongue confess his universal lordship. He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens that he might fill all things. George Mueller counted all as loss that men count gain, but it was for the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus his lord. He suffered the loss of all things and counted them as dung, but it was that he might win Christ and be found in him, that he might know him, and not only the fellowship of his sufferings and conformity to his death, but the power of his resurrection, conformity to his life, and fellowship in his glory.

He left all behind that the world values, but he reached forth and pressed forward toward the goal for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Let us, therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded. When the Lord Jesus was upon earth, there was one disciple whom he loved, who also leaned on his breast, having the favored place which only one could occupy. But now that he is in heaven, every disciple may be the loved one, and fill the favored place, and lean on his bosom. There is no exclusive monopoly of privilege and blessing. He that follows closely and abides in him, knows the peculiar closeness of contact, the honor of intimacy that are reserved for such as are

called and chosen and faithful, and follow the Lamb with us whoever he go with. God's self-denying servants are on their way to the final sevenfold perfection, at home with him, and crowned with honor. 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 forever and ever. Amen. End of Chapter 24 of George Mueller of Bristol.

End of the book, George Mueller of Bristol, and is witness to a prayer-hearing God by Arthur T. Pearson.