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 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 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 tracts; to aid
missionaries who were witnessing to the truth and working on a
scriptural basis in destitute parts; and though each of these objects
might well have engrossed his mind, they were all combined in the
many-sided work which his love for souls suggested.
An aggressive spirit is never content with what has been done, but is
prompt to enter any new door that is providentially opened. When the
Paris Exposition of 1867 offered such rare opportunities, both for
preaching to the crowds passing through the French capital, and for
circulating among them the Holy Scriptures, he gladly availed himself of
the services of two brethren whom God had sent to labour there, one of
whom spoke three, and the other, eight, modern languages; and through
them were circulated, chiefly at the Exposition, and in thirteen
different languages, nearly twelve thousand copies of the word of God,
or portions of the same. It has been estimated that at this
International Exhibition there were distributed in all over one and a
quarter million Bibles, in sixteen tongues, which were gratefully
accepted, even by Romish priests. Within six months those who thus
entered God's open door scattered more copies of the Book of God than in
ordinary circumstances would have been done by ten thousand colporteurs
in twenty times that number of months, and thousands of souls are known
to have found salvation by the simple reading of the New Testament. Of
this glorious work, George 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 God 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, God 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 assisted 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 quantities at open-air services, fairs, races and
steeplechases, and among spectators at public executions, or among
passengers on board ships and railway trains, and by the way. Sometimes,
at a single gathering of the multitudes, fifteen thousand were
distributed judiciously and prayerfully, and this branch of the work
has, during all these years, continued with undiminished fruitfulness to
yield its harvest of good.
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 assistance; one hundred schools, with about
nine thousand pupils, to be supported; four million pages of tracts and
tens of thousands of copies of the Scriptures to be yearly provided for
distribution; and, beside all these ordinary expenses, inevitable crises
or emergencies, always liable to arise in connection with the conduct of
such extensive enterprises, would from time to time call for
extraordinary outlay. The man who was at the head of the Scriptural
Knowledge Institution had to look at this array of unavoidable expenses,
and at the same time face the human possibility and probability of an
empty treasury whence the last shilling had been drawn. Let him tell us
how he met such a prospect: "God, our infinitely rich Treasurer, remains
to us. It is this which gives me peace.... Invariably, with this
probability before me, I have said to myself: 'God who has raised up
this work through me; God who has led me generally year after year to
enlarge it; God, who has supported this work now for more than forty
years, will still help and will not suffer me to be confounded, because
I rely upon Him. I commit the whole work to Him, and He will provide me
with what I need, in future also, though I know not whence the means are
to come.'"*
* Narrative, IV. 386, 387.
Thus he wrote in his journal, on July 28, 1874. Since then twenty-four
years have passed, and to this day the work goes on, though he who then
had the guidance of it sleeps in Jesus. Whoever has had any such
dealings with God, on however small a scale, cannot even _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 God with utter abandonment of all anxiety. This man put God
to proof, and proved to himself and to all who receive his testimony
that it is blessed to wait only upon Him. The particular point which he
had in view, in making these entries in his journal is the object also
of embodying them in these pages, namely, to show that, while the annual
expenses of this Institution were so exceedingly large and the income so
apparently uncertain, the soul of this believer was, to use his own
words, "THROUGHOUT, without the least wavering, stayed upon God,
believing that He who had through him begun the Institution, enlarged it
almost year after year, and upheld it for forty years in answer to
prayer by faith, would do this still and not suffer this servant of His
to be confounded."* Believing that God would still help, and supply the
means, George Muller 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.
* Narrative, IV. 389.
The Living God had kept him calm and restful, amid all the ups and downs
of his long experience as the superintendent and director of this
many-sided work, though the tests of faith had not been light or short
of duration. For more than ten years at a time--as from August, 1838, to
April, 1849, day by day, and for months together from meal to meal--it
was necessary to look to God, almost without cessation, for daily
supplies. When, later on, the Institution was twentyfold larger and the
needs proportionately greater, for months at a time the Lord likewise
constrained His servant to lean from hour to hour, in the same
dependence, upon Him. All along through these periods of unceasing want,
the Eternal God was his refuge and underneath were the Everlasting Arms.
He reflected that God was aware of all this enlargement of the work and
its needs; he comforted himself with the consoling thought that he was
seeking his Master's glory; and that if in this way the greater glory
would accrue to Him for the good of His people and of those who were
still unbelievers, it was no concern of the servant; nay, more than
this, it behooved the servant to be willing to go on in this path of
trial, even unto the end of his course, if so it should please his
Master, who guides His affairs with divine discretion.
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 Institution we have
nothing at all in hand. The natural appearance now is that the work
cannot be carried on. But I BELIEVE that the Lord will help, both with
means for the orphans and also for other objects of the Institution, and
that we shall not be confounded; also that the work shall not need to be
given up. I am fully expecting help, and have written this to the glory
of God, that it may be recorded hereafter for the encouragement of His
children. The result will be seen. I expect that we shall not be
confounded, though for some years we have not been so poor."
While faith thus leaned on God, prayer took more vigorous hold. Six,
seven, eight times a day, he and his dear wife were praying for means,
looking for answers, and firmly persuaded that their expectations would
not be disappointed. Since that entry was made, seventeen more years
have borne their witness that this trust was not put to shame. Not a
branch of this tree of holy enterprise has been cut off by the sharp
blade of a stern necessity.
Though faith had thus tenaciously held fast to the promises, the
pressure was not at once relieved. When, a fortnight after these
confident records of trust in God had been spread on the pages of the
journal, the balance for the orphans was less than it had been for
twenty-five years, it would have seemed to human sight as though God had
forgotten to be gracious. But, on August 22nd, over one thousand pounds
came in for the support of the orphans and thus relief was afforded for
a time.
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 imperilled just so far as by any appeal to men
this witness to God was weakened.
In this crisis, and in every other, faith triumphed, and so the
testimony to a prayer-hearing God grew in volume and power as the years
went on. It was while as yet this period of testing was not ended, and
no permanent relief was yet supplied, that Mr. 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
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 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
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. 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 God 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 God to write that the unstable and unbelieving man is like the
"wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed." There are two motions
of the waves--one up and down, which we call undulation, the other to
and fro, which we call fluctuation. How appropriately both are referred
to--"tossed" up and down, "driven" to and fro! The double-minded man
lacks steadiness in both respects: his faith has no uniformity of
experience, for he is now at the crest of the wave and now in the trough
of the sea; it has no uniformity of progress, for whatever he gains
to-day he loses to-morrow.
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 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. 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
fellowship with God, I should yet be tempted to abandon this path of
entire dependence upon Him. To His praise, however, I am able to state
that for more than half a century I have never had the least desire to
do so."
Second. From May, 1880, to May 1881, a gracious work of the Spirit had
visited the orphans on Ashley Down and in many of the schools. During
the three months spent by Mr. 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 God their Father in Christ,
and nearly half as many more were in a hopeful state.
The Lord did not forget His promise, and He did keep the plant He had
permitted His servant to set in His name in the soil on Ashley Down.
Faith that was tried, triumphed. On June 7, 1884, a legacy of over
eleven thousand pounds reached him, the _largest single gift_ ever yet
received, the largest donations which had preceded 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 God had singularly timed
the supply to the need, for there was at that time only forty-one pounds
ten shillings in hand, not one half of the average daily expenses, and
certain sanitary improvements were just about to be carried out which
would require an outlay of over two thousand pounds.
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 God more fully; but during which we had also been helped
and blessed, and greatly helped and blessed. Peacefully, then, we were
able to enter upon the year 1885, fully assured that, as we had God FOR
us and WITH us, ALL, ALL would be well." John Wesley had in the same
spirit said a century before, "Best of all, God is with us."
Of late years the orphanage at Ashley Down has not had as many inmates
as formerly, and some four or five hundred more might now be received.
Mr. MUller felt constrained, for some years previous to his death, to
make these vacancies known to the public, in hopes that some destitute
orphans might find there a home. But it must be remembered that the
provision for such children has been greatly enlarged since this orphan
work was begun. In 1834 the total accommodation for all orphans, in
England, reached thirty-six hundred, while the prisons contained nearly
twice as many children under eight years of age. This state of things
led to the rapid enlargement of the work until over two thousand were
housed on Ashley Down alone; and this colossal enterprise stimulated
others to open similar institutions until, fifty years after Mr. Muller
began his work, at least one hundred thousand orphans were cared for in
England alone. Thus God used Mr. Muller 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. Muller did he was, to the last,
self-oblivious. From the time when, in October, 1830, he had given up
all stated salary, as pastor and minister of the gospel, he had never
received any salary, stipend nor fixed income, of any sort, whether as a
pastor or as a director of the Scriptural Knowledge Institution. Both
principle and preference led him to wait only upon God for all personal
needs, as also for all the wants of his work. Nevertheless God put into
the hearts of His believing children in all parts of the world, not only
to send gifts in aid of the various branches of the work which Mr.
Muller superintended, but to forward to him money for his own uses, as
well as clothes, food, and other temporal supplies. He never
appropriated one penny which was not in some way indicated or designated
as for his own personal needs, and subject to his personal judgment. No
straits of individual or family want ever led him to use, even for a
time, what was sent to him for other ends. Generally gifts intended for
himself were wrapped up in paper with his name written thereon, or in
other equally distinct ways designated as meant for him. Thus as early
as 1874 his year's income reached upwards of twenty-one hundred pounds.
Few nonconformist ministers, and not one in twenty of the clergy of the
establishment, have any such income, which averages about six pounds for
every day in the year--and all this came from the Lord, simply in answer
to prayer, and without appeal of any sort to man or even the revelation
of personal needs. If we add legacies paid at the end of the year 1873,
Mr. Muller's entire income in about thirteen months exceeded thirty-one
hundred pounds. Of this he gave, out and out to the needy, and to the
work of God, the whole amount save about two hundred and fifty, expended
on personal and family wants; and thus started the year 1875 as poor as
he had begun forty-five years before; and if his personal expenses were
scrutinized it would be found that even what he ate and drank and wore
was with equal conscientiousness expended for the glory of God, so that
in a true sense we may say he spent nothing on himself.
In another connection it has already been recorded that, when at
Jubbulpore in 1890, Mr. Muller received tidings of his daughter's death.
To any man of less faith that shock might have proved, at his advanced
age, not only a stunning but a fatal blow. His only daughter and only
child, Lydia, the devoted wife of James Wright, had been called home, in
her fifty-eighth year, and after nearly thirty years of labour at the
orphan houses. What this death meant to Mr. Muller, at the age of
eighty-four, no one can know who has not witnessed the mutual devotion
of that daughter and that father: and what that loss was to Mr. Wright,
the pen alike fails to portray. If the daughter seemed to her father
humanly indispensable, she was to her husband a sort of inseparable part
of his being; and over such experiences as these it is the part of
delicacy to draw the curtain of silence. But it should be recorded that
no trait in Mrs. Wright was more pathetically attractive than her
humility. Few disciples ever felt their own nothingness as she did, and
it was this ornament of a meek and quiet spirit--the only ornament she
wore--that made her seem so beautiful to all who knew her well enough
for this 'hidden man of the heart' to be disclosed to their vision. Did
not that ornament in the Lord's sight appear as of great price? Truly
"the beauty of the Lord her God was upon her."
James Wright had lived with his beloved Lydia for more than eighteen
years, in "unmarred and unbroken felicity." They had together shared in
prayers and tears before God, bearing all life's burdens in common. Weak
as she was physically, he always leaned upon her and found her a tower
of spiritual strength in time of heavy responsibility. While, in her
lowly-mindedness, she thought of herself as a 'little useless thing,' he
found her both a capable and cheerful supervisor of many most important
domestic arrangements where a competent woman's hand was needful: and,
with rare tact and fidelity, she kept watch of the wants of the orphans
as her dear mother had done before her. After her decease, her husband
found among her personal effects a precious treasure--a verse written
with her own hand:
"I have seen the face of Jesus,
Tell me not of aught beside;
I have heard the voice of Jesus,
All my soul is satisfied."
This invaluable little fragment, like that other writing found by this
beloved daughter among her mother's effects, became to Mr. Wright what
that had been to Mr. Muller, a sort of last legacy from his departed and
beloved wife. Her desires were fulfilled; she had seen the face and
heard the voice of Him who alone could satisfy her soul.
In the Fifty-third Report, which extends to May 26, 1892, it is stated
that the expenses exceeded the income for the orphans by a total of over
thirty-six hundred pounds, so that many dear fellow labourers, without
the least complaint, were in arrears as to salaries. This was the second
time only, in fifty-eight years, that the income thus fell short of the
expenses. Ten years previous, the expenses had been in excess of the
income by four hundred and eighty-eight pounds, but, within one month
after the new financial year had begun, by the payment of legacies three
times as much as the deficiency was paid in; and, adding donations, six
times as much. And now the question arose whether God would not have Mr.
Muller contract rather than expand the work.
He says: "The Lord's dealings with us during the last year indicate that
it is His will we should contract our operations, and we are waiting
upon Him for directions as to how and to what extent this should be
done; for we have but one single object--the glory of God. When I
founded this Institution, one of the principles stated was, 'that there
would be no enlargement of the work by going into debt': and in like
manner we cannot go on with _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 ten acres of land, at one thousand pounds an acre, and at
the close of the year there was in hand a balance of over twenty-three
hundred pounds.
The exigency, however, continued more or less severe until again, in
1893-4, after several years of trial, the Lord once more bountifully
supplied means. And Mr. Muller is careful to add that though the
_appearance_ during those years of trial was many times as if God had
forgotten or forsaken them and would never care any more about the
Institution, it was only in appearance, for he was as mindful of it as
ever, and he records how by this discipline faith was still further
strengthened, God was glorified in the patience and meekness whereby He
enabled them to endure the testing, and tens of thousands of believers
were blessed in afterward reading about these experience's of divine
faithfulness.*
* Fifty-fifth Report, p. 32.
Five years after Mrs. Wright's death, Mr. Muller 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 his second wife, as at that of the first, he made the
address, and the scene was unique in interest. Seldom does a man of
ninety conduct such a service. The faith that sustained him in every
other trial held him up in this. He lived in such habitual communion
with the unseen world, and walked in such uninterrupted fellowship with
the unseen God, that the exchange of worlds became too real for him to
mourn for those who had made it, or to murmur at the infinite Love that
numbers our days. It moved men more deeply than any spoken word of
witness to see him manifestly borne up as on everlasting Arms.
I remember Mr. Muller remarking that he waited eight years before he
understood at all the purpose of God in removing his first wife, who
seemed so indispensable to him and his work. His own journal explains
more fully this remark. When it pleased God to take from him his second
wife, after over twenty-three years of married life, again he rested on
the promise that "All things work together for good to them that love
God" and reflected on his past experiences of its truth. When he lost
his first wife after over thirty-nine years of happy wedlock, while he
bowed to the Father's will, how that sorrow and bereavement could work
good had been wholly a matter of _faith,_ for no compensating good was
apparent to sight; yet he believed God's word and waited to see how it
would be fulfilled. That loss seemed one that could not be made up. Only
a little before, two orphan houses had been opened for nine hundred more
orphans, so that there were total accommodations for over two thousand;
she, who by nature, culture, gifts, and graces, was so wonderfully
fitted to be her husband's helper, and who had with motherly love cared
for these children, was suddenly removed from his side. Four years after
Mr. Muller married his second wife, he saw it plainly to be God's will
that he should spend life's evening-time in giving witness to the
nations. These mission tours could not be otherwise than very trying to
the physical powers of endurance, since they covered over two hundred
thousand miles and obliged the travellers to spend a week at a time in a
train, and sometimes from four to six weeks on board a vessel. Mrs.
Muller, though never taking part in public, was severely taxed by all
this travel, and always busy, writing letters, circulating books and
tracts, and in various ways helping and relieving her husband. All at
once, while in the midst of these fatiguing journeys and exposures to
varying climates, it flashed upon Mr. Muller that his first wife, who
had died in her seventy-third year, _could never have undertaken these
tours,_ and that the Lord had thus, in taking her, left him free to make
these extensive journeys. She would have been over fourscore years old
when these tours began, and, apart from age, could not have borne the
exhaustion, because of her frail health; whereas the second Mrs. Muller,
who, at the time, was not yet fifty-seven, was both by her age and
strength fully equal to the strain thus put upon her.