George Muller of Bristol Part 18

1. He had observed year after year that, under the G.o.dly and efficient supervision of Mr. Wright and his large staff of helpers, every branch of the Scriptural Knowledge Inst.i.tution had been found as healthy and fruitful during these absences as when Mr. Muller was in Bristol.

2. The Lord's approval of this work of wider witness had been in manner conclusive and in measure abundant, as in the ample supply of funds for these tours, in the wide doors of access opened, and in the large fruit already evident in blessing to thousands of souls.

3. The strong impression upon his mind that this was the work which was to occupy the 'evening of his life,' grew in depth, and was confirmed by so many signs of G.o.d's leading that he could not doubt that he was led both of G.o.d's providence and Spirit.

4. Even while absent, he was never out of communication with the helpers at home. Generally he heard at least weekly from Mr. Wright, and any matters needing his counsel were thus submitted to him by letter; prayer to G.o.d 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.

5. The supreme consideration, however, was this: To suppose it necessary for Mr. Muller 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 G.o.d is above circ.u.mstances 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 Inst.i.tution was larger than ever during the preceding forty-four years of its existence; and therefore, notwithstanding the loving counsel of a few donors and friends who advised that Mr. Muller should stay at home, he kept to his purpose and his principles, partly to demonstrate that no man's presence is indispensable to the work of the Lord. "Them that honour Me I will honour." (1 Samuel ii. 39.) He regarded it the greatest honour of his life to bear this wide witness to G.o.d, and G.o.d correspondingly honoured His servant in bearing this testimony.

It was during the first and second of these American tours that the writer had the privilege of coming into personal contact with Mr.

Muller. While I was at San Francisco, in 1878, he was to speak on Sabbath afternoon, May 12th, at Oakland, just across the bay, but conscientious objections to needless Sunday travel caused me voluntarily to lose what then seemed the only chance of seeing and hearing a man whose career had been watched by me for over twenty years, as he was to leave for the East a few days earlier than myself and was likely to be always a little in advance. On reaching Ogden, however, where the branch road from Salt Lake City joins the main line, Mr. and Mrs. Muller boarded my train and we travelled to Chicago together. I introduced myself, and held with him daily converse about divine things, and, while tarrying at Chicago, had numerous opportunities for hearing him speak there.

The results of this close and frequent contact were singularly blessed to me, and at my invitation he came to Detroit, Michigan, in his next tour, and spoke in the Fort Street Presbyterian Church, of which I was pastor, on Sundays, January 18 and 25, 1880, and on Monday and Friday evenings, in the interval.

In addition to these numerous and favourable opportunities thus providentially afforded for hearing and conversing with Mr. Muller, he kindly met me for several days in my study, for an hour at a time, for conference upon those deeper truths of the word of G.o.d and deeper experiences of the Christian life, upon which I was then very desirous of more light. For example, I desired to understand more clearly the Bible teaching about the Lord's coming. I had opposed with much persistency what is known as the premillennial view, and brought out my objections, to all of which he made one reply: "My beloved brother, I have heard all your arguments and objections against this view, but they have one fatal defect: _not one of them is based upon the word of G.o.d._ You will never get at the truth upon any matter of divine revelation unless you lay aside your prejudices and like a little child ask simply what is the testimony of Scripture."

With patience and wisdom he unravelled the tangled skein of my perplexity and difficulty, and helped me to settle upon biblical principles all matters of so-called 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 wors.h.i.+p in the churches had lost its primitive simplicity; that the pew-rent system was pernicious; that fixed salaries for ministers of the gospel were unscriptural; that the church of G.o.d should be administered only by men full of the Holy Ghost, and that the duty of Christians to the non-church-going ma.s.ses 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 G.o.d, and to follow the traditions of men rather than the word of G.o.d, those words of that venerated servant of G.o.d have recurred to mind with ever fresh force. We risk the forfeiture of privileges which are not employed for G.o.d, and of obscuring convictions which are not carried into action. G.o.d's word to us is _"use or lose."_ "To him that hath shall be given: from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he seemeth to have." It is the hope and the prayer of him who writes this memoir that the reading of these pages may prove to be an interview with the man whose memorial they are, and that the witness borne by George Muller may be to many readers a source of untold and lifelong blessing.

It need not be said that to carry out conviction into action is a costly sacrifice. It may make necessary renunciations and separations which leave one to feel a strange sense both of deprivation and loneliness.

But he who will fly as an eagle does into the higher levels where cloudless day abides, and live in the suns.h.i.+ne of G.o.d, 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 G.o.d, however it forfeits human companions.h.i.+p, knows divine fellows.h.i.+p, and the child of G.o.d who like his Master undertakes to "do always the things that please Him," can like his Master say, "The Father hath not left me alone." "I am alone; yet not alone, for the Father is with me." Whosoever will promptly follow whatever light G.o.d 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."

CHAPTER XVIII

FAITH AND PATIENCE IN SERVING

QUANt.i.tY 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 G.o.d. Our Lord bade His disciples tarry until endued with power from on high, because it is such enduement that gives to all witness and work the celestial savour and flavour of the Spirit.

Before we come to the closing scenes, we may well look back over the life-work of George Muller, which happily ill.u.s.trates both quant.i.ty and quality of service. It may be doubted whether any other one man of this century accomplished as much for G.o.d 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 Inst.i.tution--which owed its existence to the fact that its founder devised large and liberal things for the Lord's cause. He sought to establish or at least to aid Christian schools wherever needful, to scatter Bibles and Testaments, Christian books and tracts; to aid missionaries who were witnessing to the truth and working on a scriptural basis in dest.i.tute 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 pa.s.sing through the French capital, and for circulating among them the Holy Scriptures, he gladly availed himself of the services of two brethren whom G.o.d had sent to labour there, one of whom spoke three, and the other, eight, modern languages; and through them were circulated, chiefly at the Exposition, and in thirteen different languages, nearly twelve thousand copies of the word of G.o.d, or portions of the same. It has been estimated that at this International Exhibition there were distributed in all over one and a quarter million Bibles, in sixteen tongues, which were gratefully accepted, even by Romish priests. Within six months those who thus entered G.o.d's open door scattered more copies of the Book of G.o.d than in ordinary circ.u.mstances would have been done by ten thousand colporteurs in twenty times that number of months, and thousands of souls are known to have found salvation by the simple reading of the New Testament. Of this glorious work, George Muller was permitted to be so largely a promoter.

At the Havre Exhibition of the following year, 1868, a similar work was done; and in like manner, when a providential door was unexpectedly opened into the Land of the Inquisition, Mr. Muller promptly took measures to promote the circulation of the Word in Spain. In the streets of Madrid the open Bible was seen for the first time, and copies were sold at the rate of two hundred and fifty in an hour, so that the supply was not equal to the demand. The same facts were substantially repeated when free Italy furnished a field for sowing the seed of the Kingdom. This wide-awake servant of G.o.d watched the signs of the times and, while others slept, followed the Lord's signals of advance.

One of the most fascinating features of the Narrative is found in the letters from his Bible distributors. It is interesting also to trace the story of the growth of the tract enterprise, until, in 1874, the circulation exceeded three and three-quarter millions, G.o.d in His faithfulness supplying abundant means.*

* Narrative, IV. 244.

The good thus effected by the distributors of evangelical literature must not be overlooked in this survey of the many useful agencies employed or a.s.sisted by Mr. Muller. To him the world was a field to be sown with the seed of the Kingdom, and opportunities were eagerly embraced for widely disseminating the truth. Tracts were liberally used, given away in large quant.i.ties at open-air services, fairs, races and steeplechases, and among spectators at public executions, or among pa.s.sengers on board s.h.i.+ps and railway trains, and by the way. Sometimes, at a single gathering of the mult.i.tudes, fifteen thousand were distributed judiciously and prayerfully, and this branch of the work has, during all these years, continued with undiminished fruitfulness to yield its harvest of good.

All this was, from first to last, and of necessity, a work of faith. How far faith must have been kept in constant and vigorous exercise can be appreciated only by putting one's self in Mr. Muller's place. In the year 1874, for instance, about forty-four thousand pounds were needed, and he was compelled to count the cost and face the situation. Two thousand and one hundred hungry mouths were daily to be fed, and as many bodies to be clad and cared for. One hundred and eighty-nine missionaries were needing a.s.sistance; one hundred schools, with about nine thousand pupils, to be supported; four million pages of tracts and tens of thousands of copies of the Scriptures to be yearly provided for distribution; and, beside all these ordinary expenses, inevitable crises or emergencies, always liable to arise in connection with the conduct of such extensive enterprises, would from time to time call for extraordinary outlay. The man who was at the head of the Scriptural Knowledge Inst.i.tution 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 s.h.i.+lling had been drawn. Let him tell us how he met such a prospect: "G.o.d, our infinitely rich Treasurer, remains to us. It is this which gives me peace.... Invariably, with this probability before me, I have said to myself: 'G.o.d who has raised up this work through me; G.o.d who has led me generally year after year to enlarge it; G.o.d, who has supported this work now for more than forty years, will still help and will not suffer me to be confounded, because I rely upon Him. I commit the whole work to Him, and He will provide me with what I need, in future also, though I know not whence the means are to come.'"*

* Narrative, IV. 386, 387.

Thus he wrote in his journal, on July 28, 1874. Since then twenty-four years have pa.s.sed, 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 G.o.d, on however small a scale, cannot even _think_ of the Lord as failing to honour a faith so simple, genuine, and childlike a faith which leads a helpless believer thus to cast himself and all his cares upon G.o.d with utter abandonment of all anxiety. This man put G.o.d to proof, and proved to himself and to all who receive his testimony that it is blessed to wait only upon Him. The particular point which he had in view, in making these entries in his journal is the object also of embodying them in these pages, namely, to show that, while the annual expenses of this Inst.i.tution were so exceedingly large and the income so apparently uncertain, the soul of this believer was, to use his own words, "THROUGHOUT, without the least wavering, stayed upon G.o.d, believing that He who had through him begun the Inst.i.tution, enlarged it almost year after year, and upheld it for forty years in answer to prayer by faith, would do this still and not suffer this servant of His to be confounded."* Believing that G.o.d would still help, and supply the means, George Muller was willing, and THOROUGHLY in heart prepared, if necessary, to pa.s.s again through similar severe and prolonged seasons of trial as he had already endured.

* Narrative, IV. 389.

The Living G.o.d had kept him calm and restful, amid all the ups and downs of his long experience as the superintendent and director of this many-sided work, though the tests of faith had not been light or short of duration. For more than ten years at a time--as from August, 1838, to April, 1849, day by day, and for months together from meal to meal--it was necessary to look to G.o.d, almost without cessation, for daily supplies. When, later on, the Inst.i.tution was twentyfold larger and the needs proportionately greater, for months at a time the Lord likewise constrained His servant to lean from hour to hour, in the same dependence, upon Him. All along through these periods of unceasing want, the Eternal G.o.d was his refuge and underneath were the Everlasting Arms.

He reflected that G.o.d 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. July 28, 1881, finds the following entry in Mr. Muller's journal:

"The income has been for some time past only about a third part of the expenses. Consequently all we have for the support of the orphans is nearly gone; and for the first four objects of the Inst.i.tution 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 Inst.i.tution, 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 G.o.d, that it may be recorded hereafter for the encouragement of His children. The result will be seen. I expect that we shall not be confounded, though for some years we have not been so poor."

While faith thus leaned on G.o.d, prayer took more vigorous hold. Six, seven, eight times a day, he and his dear wife were praying for means, looking for answers, and firmly persuaded that their expectations would not be disappointed. Since that entry was made, seventeen more years have borne their witness that this trust was not put to shame. Not a branch of this tree of holy enterprise has been cut off by the sharp blade of a stern necessity.

Though faith had thus tenaciously held fast to the promises, the pressure was not at once relieved. When, a fortnight after these confident records of trust in G.o.d had been spread on the pages of the journal, the balance for the orphans was less than it had been for twenty-five years, it would have seemed to human sight as though G.o.d had forgotten to be gracious. But, on August 22nd, over one thousand pounds came in for the support of the orphans and thus relief was afforded for a time.

Again, let us bear in mind how in the most unprecedented straits G.o.d alone was made the confidant, even the best friends of the Inst.i.tution, 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 circ.u.mstances, 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 imperilled just so far as by any appeal to men this witness to G.o.d was weakened.

In this crisis, and in every other, faith triumphed, and so the testimony to a prayer-hearing G.o.d 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. Muller, with his wife, left Bristol on August 23rd, for the Continent, on his eighth long preaching tour. Thus, at a time when, to the natural eye, his own presence would have seemed well-nigh indispensable, he calmly departed for other spheres of duty, leaving the work at home in the hands of Mr.

Wright and his helpers. The tour had been already arranged for, under G.o.d's leading, and it was undertaken, with the supporting power of a deep conviction that G.o.d is as near to those who in prayer wait on Him in distant lands, as on Ashley Down, and needs not the personal presence of any man in any one place, or at any time, in order to carry on His work.

In an American city, a half-idiotic boy who was bearing a heavy burden asked a drayman, who was driving an 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 p.r.o.ne 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-was.h.i.+ng was done and Christ explained its meaning; and it is very helpful to our faith to observe Mr. Muller'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 G.o.d for them all. In the ninetieth psalm we read:

"Make us glad according to the days wherein Thou hast afflicted us And the years wherein we have seen evil."

(Psalm xc. 15.)

This is an inspired prayer, and such prayer is a prophecy. Not a few saints have found, this side of heaven, a divine gladness for every year and day of sadness, when their afflictions and adversities have been patiently borne.

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 G.o.d to write that the unstable and unbelieving man is like the "wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed." There are two motions of the waves--one up and down, which we call undulation, the other to and fro, which we call fluctuation. How appropriately both are referred to--"tossed" up and down, "driven" to and fro! The double-minded man lacks steadiness in both respects: his faith has no uniformity of experience, for he is now at the crest of the wave and now in the trough of the sea; it has no uniformity of progress, for whatever he gains to-day he loses to-morrow.

Fluctuations in income and apparent prosperity did not take George Muller by surprise. He expected them, for if there were no crises and critical emergencies how could there be critical deliverances? His trust was in G.o.d, not in donors or human friends or worldly circ.u.mstances: and because he trusted in the Living G.o.d 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. Muller gratefully records at this period of his life: (Narrative, IV. 411, 418.)

First. "For above fifty years I have now walked, by His grace, in a path of complete reliance upon Him who is the faithful one, for everything I have needed; and yet I am increasingly convinced that it is by His help alone I am enabled to continue in this course; for, if left to myself, even after the precious enjoyment so long experienced of walking thus in fellows.h.i.+p with G.o.d, I should yet be tempted to abandon this path of entire dependence upon Him. To His praise, however, I am able to state that for more than half a century I have never had the least desire to do so."

Second. From May, 1880, to May 1881, a gracious work of the Spirit had visited the orphans on Ashley Down and in many of the schools. During the three months spent by Mr. Muller 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 G.o.d their Father in Christ, and nearly half as many more were in a hopeful state.

The Lord did not forget His promise, and He did keep the plant He had permitted His servant to set in His name in the soil on Ashley Down.

Faith that was tried, triumphed. On June 7, 1884, a legacy of over eleven thousand pounds reached him, the _largest single gift_ ever yet received, the largest donations which had preceded being respectively one thousand, two thousand, three thousand, five thousand, eight thousand one hundred, and nine thousand and ninety-one pounds.

This last amount, eleven thousand, had been due for over six years from an estate, but had been kept back by the delays of the Chancery Court.

Prayer had been made day by day that the bequest might be set free for its uses, and now the full answer had come; and G.o.d had singularly timed the supply to the need, for there was at that time only forty-one pounds ten s.h.i.+llings in hand, not one half of the average daily expenses, and certain sanitary improvements were just about to be carried out which would require an outlay of over two thousand pounds.

As Mr. Muller closed the solemn and blessed records of 1884, he wrote:

"Thus ended the year 1884, during which we had been tried, greatly tried, in various ways, no doubt for the exercise of our faith, and to make us know G.o.d 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 a.s.sured that, as we had G.o.d FOR us and WITH us, ALL, ALL would be well." John Wesley had in the same spirit said a century before, "Best of all, G.o.d 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.