George Muller of Bristol Part 5

1. An experience of frequent and at times prolonged _financial straits._

The money in hand for personal needs, and for the needs of hundreds and thousands of orphans, and for the various branches of the work of the Scriptural Knowledge Inst.i.tution, was often reduced to a single _pound,_ or even _penny,_ and sometimes to _nothing._ There was therefore a necessity for constant waiting on G.o.d, looking to Him directly for all supplies. For months, if not years, together, and at several periods in the work, supplies were furnished only from month to month, week to week, day to day, _hour to hour!_ Faith was thus kept in lively exercise and under perpetual training.

2. An experience of the _unchanging faithfulness of the Father-G.o.d._

The straits were long and trying, but never was there one case of failure to receive help; never a meal-time without at least a frugal meal, never a want or a crisis unmet by divine supply and support. Mr.

Muller said to the writer: "Not once, or five times, or five hundred times, but thousands of times in these threescore years, have we had in hand not enough _for one more meal,_ either in food or in funds; but not once has G.o.d failed us; not once have we or the orphans gone hungry or lacked any good thing." From 1838 to 1844 was a period of peculiar and prolonged straits, yet when the time of need actually came the supply was always given, though often at the last moment.

3. An experience of the working of G.o.d 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 G.o.d touching the springs of human action all over the world in ways of His own, and at times of great need, and adjusting the amount and the exact day and hour of the supply, to the existing want. Literally from the earth's ends, men, women, and children who had never seen Mr. Muller and could have known nothing of the pressure at the time, have been led at the exact crisis of affairs to send aid in the very sum or form most needful. In countless cases, while he was on his knees asking, the answer has come in such close correspondence with the request as to shut out chance as an explanation, and compel belief in a prayer-hearing G.o.d.

4. An experience of habitual _hanging upon the unseen G.o.d_ and nothing else.

The reports, issued annually to acquaint the public with the history and progress of the work, and give an account of stewards.h.i.+p 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. Muller 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 G.o.d alone was and is the Patron of these inst.i.tutions; and not even the wisest and wealthiest, the n.o.blest and the most influential of human beings, has ever been looked to as their dependence.

* For example, Vol. II, 102, records that the report given is for 1846-1848, no report having been issued for 1847; and on page 113, under date of May 25th, occur these words: "not being nearly enough to meet the housekeeping expenses," etc.; and, May 28th and 30th, such other words as these: "now our poverty," "in this our great need," "in these days of straitness." Mr. Wright thinks that _on that very account_ Mr.

Muller did not publish the report for 1847.

5. An experience of conscientious _care in accepting and using gifts._

Here is a pattern for all who act as stewards for G.o.d. Whenever there was any ground of misgiving as to the propriety or expediency of receiving what was offered, it was declined, however pressing the need, unless or until all such objectionable features no more existed. If the party contributing was known to dishonour lawful debts, so that the money was righteously due to others; if the gift was enc.u.mbered and embarra.s.sed by restrictions that hindered its free use for G.o.d; if it was designated for endowment purposes or as a provision for Mr. Muller's old age, or for the future of the inst.i.tutions; 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.

6. 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 inst.i.tutions were allowed to come into such close fellows.h.i.+p and to have such knowledge of the exact state of the work as aids not only in common labours, but in common prayers and self-denials.

Without such acquaintance they could not serve, pray, nor sacrifice intelligently. But these a.s.sociates 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 G.o.d who hears the cry of the needy; and the greater the exigency, the greater the caution lest there should even seem to be a looking away from divine to human help.

7. 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 a pound or a penny. After confidence in G.o.d had been strengthened through discipline, and G.o.d had been proven faithful, it required no more venture to cast himself on G.o.d for provision for two thousand children and an annual outlay of at least twenty-five thousand pounds for them than in the earlier periods of the work to look to Him to care for twenty homeless orphans at a cost of two hundred and fifty pounds a year. Only by _using_ faith are we kept from practically _losing_ it, and, on the contrary, to use faith is to lose the unbelief that hinders G.o.d'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. Muller's long experience as a coworker with G.o.d. 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 _G.o.d;_ 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 trustees.h.i.+p. However honest such parties may be, they not only act unwisely, but, by their course, lend sanction to others with whom such irresponsible action is a cloak for systematic fraud. Mr. Muller'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 G.o.d with credulity and superst.i.tion, may well wonder and perhaps stumble at such an array of facts. But, if any reader is still doubtful as to the facts, or thinks they are here arrayed in a deceptive garb or invested with an imaginative halo, he is hereby invited to examine for himself the singularly minute records which George Muller has been led of G.o.d to put before the world in a printed form which thus admits no change, and to accompany with a bold and repeated challenge to any one so inclined, to subject every statement to the severest scrutiny, and prove, if possible, one item to be in any respect false, exaggerated, or misleading. The absence of all enthusiasm in the calm and mathematical precision of the narrative compels the reader to feel that the writer was almost mechanically exact in the record, and inspires confidence that it contains the absolute, naked truth.

One caution should, like Habakkuk's gospel message--"The just shall live by his faith"--be written large and plain so that even a cursory glance may take it in. Let no one ascribe to George Muller such a _miraculous gift of faith_ as lifted him above common believers and out of the reach of the temptations and infirmities to which all fallible souls are exposed. He was constantly liable to satanic a.s.saults, 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 G.o.d. 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.*

* 1 Cor. xii. 1-10.

To those who think that no man can wield such power in prayer or live such a life of faith who is not an exception to common mortal frailties, it will be helpful to find in this very journal that is so lighted up with the records of G.o.d's goodness, the dark shadows of conscious sin and guilt. Even in the midst of abounding mercies and interpositions he suffered from temptations to distrust and disobedience, and sometimes had to mourn their power over him, as when once he found himself inwardly complaining of the cold leg of mutton which formed the staple of his Sunday dinner! We discover as we read that we are communing with a man who was not only of like pa.s.sions 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 G.o.d, 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 s.h.i.+eld of faith.

Never, to the last hour of life, could he trust himself, or for one moment relax his hold on G.o.d, and neglect the word of G.o.d and prayer, without falling into sin. The 'old man,' of sin always continued too strong for George Muller alone, and the longer he lived a 'life of trust' the less was his trust placed upon himself.

* Vol. I. 73.

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 G.o.d and seeking guidance from Him in believing prayer. It was his life-motto to learn the will of G.o.d before undertaking anything, and to wait till it is clear, because only so can one either be blessed in his own soul or prospered in the work of his hands.* Many disciples who are comparatively bold to seek G.o.d's help in great crises, fail to come to Him with like boldness in matters that seem too trivial to occupy the thought of G.o.d 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.

* Vol. I. 74.

Again, in his journal he constantly seeks to save from reproach the good name of Him whom he serves: he cannot have such a G.o.d accounted a hard Master. So early as July, 1831, a false rumour found circulation that he and his wife were half-starving and that certain bodily ailments were the result of a lack of the necessities of life; and he is constrained to put on record that, though often brought so low as not to have one penny left and to have the last bread on the table, they had never yet sat down to a meal unprovided with some nouris.h.i.+ng food. This witness was repeated from time to time, and until just before his departure for the Father's house on high; and it may therefore be accepted as covering that whole life of faith which reached over nearly threescore years and ten.

A kindred word of testimony, first given at this same time and in like manner reiterated from point to point in his pilgrimage, concerns the Lord's faithfulness in accompanying His word with power, in accordance with that positive and unequivocal promise in Isaiah lv. 11: "My word shall not return unto Me void; but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it." It is very noticeable that this is not said of _man's_ word, however wise, important, or sincere, but of _G.o.d'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 G.o.d'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. Muller, referring to his own preaching, bears witness that in almost if not quite every place where he spoke G.o.d's word, whether in larger chapels or smaller rooms, the Lord gave the seal of His own testimony. He observed, however, that blessing did not so obviously or abundantly follow his open-air services: only in one instance had it come to his knowledge that there were marked results, and that was in the case of an army officer who came to make sport. Mr. Muller 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 G.o.d 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 life-long, and adds a new lesson to his life-story. The strength of faith had to triumph over the weakness of the flesh. We often find him suffering from bodily ills, and sometimes so seriously as to be incapacitated for labour.

For example, early in 1832 he broke a blood-vessel in the stomach and lost much blood by the hemorrhage. The very day following was the Lord's day, and four outside preaching stations needed to be provided for, from which his disablement would withdraw one labourer to take his place at home. After an hour of prayer he felt that faith was given him to rise, dress, and go to the chapel; and, though very weak, so that the short walk wearied him, he was helped to preach as usual. After the service a medical friend remonstrated against his course as tending to permanent injury; but he replied that he should himself have regarded it presumptuous had not the Lord given him the faith. He preached both afternoon and evening, growing stronger rather than weaker with each effort, and suffering from no reaction afterward.

In reading Mr. Muller'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 _has not faith given him;_ but a.s.suring him that if G.o.d does give faith so to undertake for Him, such trust will prove like good coin and be honoured when presented. He himself did not always pursue a like course, because he had not always a like faith, and this leads him in his journal to draw a valuable distinction between the _gift of faith_ and the _grace of faith,_ which deserves careful 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 pet.i.tion 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 G.o.d subsequently suffered from disease which was not in like manner healed, and in more than one case submitted to a costly operation at the hands of a skilful surgeon.

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 G.o.d to rest on, and the absence or even weakness of faith in such circ.u.mstances 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 G.o.d and in G.o.d, and his senses were exercised to discern good and evil. His conscience became increasingly sensitive and his judgment singularly discriminating, so that he detected fallacies where they escape the common eye, and foresaw dangers which, like hidden rocks ahead, risk damage and, perhaps, destruction to service if not to character. And, therefore, so far is the writer of this memoir from desiring to displace that journal, that he rather seeks to incite many who have not read it to examine it for themselves. It will to such be found to mark a path of close daily walk with G.o.d, where, step by step, with circ.u.mspect vigilance, conduct and even motive are watched and weighed in G.o.d'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 G.o.d.

In a little sketch of Beate Paulus, the Frau Pastorin pleads with G.o.d 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 Muller believed that, in all ages, there had never yet been one true and trusting believer to whom G.o.d 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."** G.o.d has not only _spoken,_ but _sworn;_ His word is confirmed by His oath: because He could swear by no greater He sware by Himself. And all this that we might have a strong consolation; that we might have boldness in venturing upon Him, laying hold and holding fast His promise. Unbelief makes G.o.d a _liar_ and, worse still, a _perjurer,_ for it accounts Him as not only false to His word, but to His oath.

George Muller 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.

* Faith's Miracles, p. 43.

** 2 Timothy ii. 13.

CHAPTER VII

LED OF G.o.d INTO A NEW SPHERE

IF much hangs and turns upon the choice of the _work_ we are to do and the _field_ where we are to do it, it must not be forgotten how much also depends on the _time_ when it is undertaken, the _way_ in which it is performed, and the _a.s.sociates_ in the labour. In all these matters the true workman will wait for the Master's beck, glance, or signal, before a step is taken.

We have come now to a new fork in the road where the path ahead begins to be more plain. The future and permanent centre of his life-work is at this point clearly indicated to G.o.d's servant by divine leading.

In March, 1832, his friend Mr. Henry Craik left Shaldon for four weeks of labour _in Bristol,_ where Mr. Muller's strong impression was that the Lord had for Mr. Craik some more lasting sphere of work, though as yet it had not dawned upon his mind that he himself was to be a co-worker in that sphere, and to find in that very city the place of his permanent abode and the centre of his life's activities. G.o.d again led the blind by a way he knew not. The conviction, however, had grown upon him that the Lord was loosing him from Teignmouth, and, without having in view any other definite field, he felt that his ministry there was drawing to a close; and he inclined to go about again from place to place, seeking especially to bring believers to a fuller trust in G.o.d and a deeper sense of His faithfulness, and to a more thorough search into His word. His inclination to such itinerant work was strengthened by the fact that outside of Teignmouth his preaching both gave him much more enjoyment and sense of power, and drew more hearers.

On April 13th a letter from Mr. Craik, inviting Mr. Muller to join in his work at Bristol, made such an impression on his mind that he began prayerfully to consider whether it was not G.o.d'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 G.o.d'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. Muller left for Bristol. On the journey he was dumb, having no liberty in speaking for Christ or even in giving away tracts, and this led him to reflect. He saw that the so-called 'work of the Lord' had tempted him to subst.i.tute _action for meditation and communion._ He had neglected that still hour' with G.o.d 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 G.o.d and for prayer, nothing else will compensate.

We are p.r.o.ne 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 G.o.d 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 G.o.d 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 G.o.d cared more for the quant.i.ty than the quality of our service!

Here Mr. Muller 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 G.o.d alone. In a previous chapter reference has been made to the fact that three times in the word of G.o.d we find a divine prescription for a true prosperity. G.o.d says to Joshua, "This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: _for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success"_ (Joshua i. 8.) Five hundred years later the inspired author of the first Psalm repeats the promise in unmistakable terms. The Spirit there says of him whose delight is in the law of the Lord and who in His law doth meditate day and night, that "he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and _whatsoever he doeth shall prosper."_ Here the devout meditative student of the blessed book of G.o.d 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 pa.s.s 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"_ (i.e. 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 i. 25.)