Scriptural Knowledge Institution, for Home and Abroad, from May 10,
1842, to July 14, 1844. During this period also six Day-Schools for
poor children were supported by the funds of this Institution.
Besides this, the rent for the school-room of a seventh school, was
paid during a great part of this period, and also occasional other
assistance was given to this and two other schools.--The number of
all the children that had schooling in the Day-Schools, through the
medium of the Institution, from March 5, 1834, to July 14, 1844,
amounts to 3319. The number of those in the six Day-Schools on July
14, 1844, was 338.
During this period likewise, one Sunday-School was supported by the
funds of the Institution.
The number of adults that were instructed from Jan. 1841, to July 14,
1844, in the two adult schools of the Institution, amounts to 734
persons. The average attendance during the winter was from 50 to 70
persons, and in the summer from 20 to 40. The number on the list of
adult scholars was on July 14, 1844, eighty persons. Books, writing
materials, and instruction, are given entirely gratis to the adult
scholars.
The number of Bibles and Testaments which were circulated from May
10, 1842, to July 14, 1844, is as follows:--237 Bibles were sold, and
284 Bibles were given away. 146 New Testaments were sold, and 162 New
Testaments were given away.--From March 5, 1834, to July, 14, 1844,
there were circulated 4,828 Bibles, and 3,357 New Testaments.
From May 10, 1842, to July 14, 1844, was laid out for missionary
objects the sum of 234l. 8s. 6d., whereby assistance was rendered to
the work of God in Jamaica, in Demerara, in Upper Canada, in the East
Indies, in the Mauritius, and in Switzerland.
From May 10, 1842, to July 14, 1844, was laid out for the circulation
of tracts the sum of 43l. 9s. 1 1/4d. During this period were
circulated 39,473 tracts, and altogether were circulated, from Nov.
19, 1840, to July 14, 1844, 59,082 tracts.
From May 10, 1842, to July 14, 1844, there were received into the
four Orphan-Houses, 39 Orphans, who, together with those who were in
the houses on May 10, 1842, made up 125 in all. Of these: 1, One girl
left the Institution against our will. Her aunt repeatedly applied to
me to have her niece, who, having been more than eight years under
our care, was now of use to her. I remonstrated with the aunt, and
sought to show her the importance of leaving her niece with us for
another twelvemonth, when she would be fit to be sent out to service;
but all in vain. At last, knowing how exceedingly injurious her house
would be for her niece, I told the aunt that I could not
conscientiously dismiss the girl to go to her house; but the aunts
influence induced the orphan to leave. May God, in tender mercy,
visit the soul of this poor wanderer! Such cases are trying, very
trying, but even concerning them faith contains a precious antidote.
2, Two of the children were removed by their friends, who by that
time were able to provide for them. 3, One girl, who was received
when grown up, we were obliged, after a long season of trial, to send
back to her relations, in mercy to the other children. 4, Three girls
were sent out to service, all three as believers. 5, Three Orphans
died, one as an infant, and two in the faith. One had been more than
two years in church fellowship, and had walked consistently. 6, Four
boys were apprenticed, two of whom had been several years in church
fellowship, before their apprenticeship.
There were on July 14, 1844, one hundred and twenty-one Orphans in
the four houses. The number of the Orphans who were under our care
from April 1836, to July 14, 1844, amounts to 183.
I notice further the following points in connexion with the
Orphan-Houses.
1. Without any one having been personally applied to for any thing by
me, the sum of 7748l. 16s. 4 3/4d. was given to me as the result of
prayer to God, from Dec. 1835, to July, 14, 1844. 2. Besides this,
also, many articles of clothing, furniture, provisions, etc., were
given. 3. During these two years and two months we had very little
sickness, comparatively in the four houses, though there was so much
fever in Bristol. I mention this to the praise of the Lord, who
mercifully preserved us.
The total of the income for the Orphan-Houses, from May 10, 1842, to
July 14, 1844, was 2489l. 0s. 7 1/4d., leaving a balance of 1l. 11s.
11 3/4d. in hand on July 14, 1844.
--The total of the income for the other objects from May 10, 1842, to
July 14, 1844, was 1164l. 18s. 4 1/4d., leaving a balance of 20l.
12s. 7d. in hand on July 14,1844.
I cannot omit mentioning that between. May 10, 1842, and July 14,
1844, there was admitted to communion one of the Sunday-School
children, and one of the Day-School children. Likewise 6 more of the
Orphans were received into church fellowship, so that up to July 14,
1844, altogether 29 of the Orphans had been admitted. In addition to
this, between May 10, 1842, and July 14, 1844, one Orphan, before
being received, died in the faith, and another, though but nine years
of age, would have been received, had she not been just then removed
by her relatives, who took her with them to America. But whilst we
desire to receive these instances as precious encouragements from the
Lord to continue our service, we cannot but believe, judging from the
many prayers the Lord gives us for the dear children and adults under
our care and instruction, that that which we see is but an earnest of
a far larger harvest in the day of Christs appearing.--The greatest
present visible blessing, which is resting upon the work, consists in
what the Lord is pleased to do through the Narratives which are
written and published respecting it; for a very considerable number,
in various parts of the world, have through them either been
converted, or, as believers, led on in the knowledge of God.
To avoid misunderstanding, it may be well to insert the following
paragraph, which was written by my beloved brother and fellow
labourer Henry Craik, and appended to the last Report.
"Hitherto, my name has been appended to the Report along with that of
my beloved brother and fellow labourer George Müller; but, as the
responsibility and management of the work devolve entirely upon him,
it has seemed well to both of us, that, for the future, his signature
should appear alone.--It is scarcely needful to add, that this
alteration does not arise from any kind of disunion or even
difference of judgment between us. I would especially recommend to
the people of God, into whose hands this brief Narrative may fall, to
read, examine and ponder the instructive facts and principles herein
stated and illustrated; and I desire that the non-insertion of my
name may not be understood as implying anything like a disapproval of
the way in which the Scriptural Knowledge Institution has been
conducted from the beginning. As the honour of being the instrument
in this great and blessed work belongs to him, and, in no degree, to
me, I feel a satisfaction in the omission of my name, lest,
otherwise, I should even appear to glory in another mans labour.
HENRY CRAIK."
Thus far only, for the present at least, do I think it well to
continue the accounts of the Lords dealings with me. But I cannot
conclude this third part, without adding some hints on a few passages
of the word of God, both because I have so very frequently found them
little regarded by Christians, and also because I have proved their
preciousness, in some measure, in my own experience; and therefore
wish that all my fellow saints may share the blessing with me.
1. In Matthew vi 19-21, it is written: "Lay not up for yourselves
treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where
thieves break through and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures
in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where
thieves do not break through nor steal: for where your treasure is,
there will your heart be also."--Observe, dear Reader, the following
points concerning this part of the divine testimony: 1, It is the
Lord Jesus, our Lord and Master, who speaks this as the lawgiver of
His people. He who has infinite wisdom and unfathomable love to us,
who therefore both knows what is for our real welfare and happiness,
and who cannot exact from us any requirement inconsistent with that
love which led Him to lay down His life for us. Remembering, then,
who it is who speaks to us in these verses, let us consider them. 2,
His counsel, His affectionate entreaty, and His commandment to us His
disciples is: "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth." The
meaning obviously is, that the disciples of the Lord Jesus, being
strangers and pilgrims on earth, i.e. neither belonging to the earth
nor expecting to remain in it, should not seek to increase their
earthly possessions, in whatever these possessions may consist. This
is a word for poor believers as well as for rich believers; it has as
much a reference to putting shillings into the savings banks as to
putting thousands of pounds into the funds, or purchasing one house,
or one farm after another.--It may be said, but does not every prudent
and provident person seek to increase his means, that he may have a
goodly portion to leave to his children, or to have something for old
age, or for the time of sickness, etc.? My reply is, it is quite true
that this is the custom of the world. It was thus in the days of our
Lord, and Paul refers to this custom of the world when he says, "The
children ought not to lay up for the parents, but the parents for the
children." 2 Cor. xii. 14. But whilst thus it is in the world, and we
have every reason to believe ever will be so among those that are of
the world, and who therefore have their portion on earth, we
disciples of the Lord Jesus, being born again, being the children of
God not nominally, but really, being truly partakers of the divine
nature, being in fellowship with the Father and the Son, and having
in prospect "an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that
fadeth not away" (1 Peter i. 4.), ought in every respect to act
differently from the world, and so in this particular also. If we
disciples of the Lord Jesus seek, like the people of the world, after
an increase of our possessions, may not those who are of the world
justly question whether we believe what we say, when we speak about
our inheritance, our heavenly calling, our being the children of God,
etc.? Often it must be a sad stumbling block to the unbeliever to see
a professed believer in the Lord Jesus acting in this particular just
like himself. Consider this, dear brethren in the Lord, should this
remark apply to you.--I have more than once had the following passage
quoted to me as a proof that parents ought to lay up money for their
children, or husbands for their wives: "But if any provide not for
his own, and especially for those of his own house (or kindred), he
hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel." 1 Tim. v. 8. It
is, however, concerning this verse, only needful, in childlike
simplicity to read the connexion from verse 3 to 5, and it will be
obvious that the meaning is this, that whilst the poor widows of the
church are to be cared for by the church, yet if any such needy
believing widow had children or grandchildren (not nephews), these
children or grandchildren should provide for the widow, that the
church might not be charged; but that, if a believers child or
grandchild, in such a case did not do so, such a one did not act
according to the obligations laid upon him by his holy faith, and was
worse than an unbeliever. Not a word, then, is there in this passage
to favour the laying up treasures upon earth for our children, or our
wives. 3, Our Lord says concerning the earth, that it is a place
"where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through
and steal." All that is of the earth, and in any way connected with
it, is subject to corruption, to change, to dissolution. There is no
reality, or substance, in any thing else but in heavenly things.
Often the careful amassing of earthly possessions ends in losing them
in a moment by fire, by robbery, by a change of mercantile concerns,
by loss of work, etc.; but suppose all this were not the case, still,
yet a little while, and thy soul shall be required of thee; or, yet a
little while, and the Lord Jesus will return; and what profit shalt
thou then have, dear reader, if thou hast carefully sought to
increase thy earthly possessions? My brother, if there were one
particle of real benefit to be derived from it, would not He, whose
love to us has been proved to the uttermost, have wished that you and
I should have it? If, in the least degree, it could tend to the
increase of our peace, or joy in the Holy Ghost, or heavenly-mindedness,
He, who laid down His life for us, would have commanded us,
to "LAY UP treasure upon earth." 4, Our Lord, however, does
not merely bid us, not to lay up treasure upon earth; for if He
had said no more, this His commandment might be abused, and persons
might find in it an encouragement for their extravagant habits, for
their love of pleasure, for their habit of spending every thing they
have, or can obtain, upon themselves. It does not mean, then, as is
the common phrase, that we should "live up to our income;" for, He
adds: "But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven." There is such
a thing as laying up as truly in heaven as there is laying up on
earth; if it were not so, our Lord would not have said so. Just as
persons put one sum after another into the bank, and it is put down
to their credit, and they may use the money afterwards: so truly the
penny, the shilling, the pound, the hundred pounds, the ten thousand
pounds, given for the Lords sake, and constrained by the love of
Jesus, to poor brethren, or in any way spent in the work of God, He
marks down in the book of remembrance, He considers as laid up in
heaven. The money is not lost, it is laid up in the bank of heaven;
yet so, that, whilst an earthly bank may break, or through earthly
circumstances we may lose our earthly possessions, the money, which
is thus secured in heaven, cannot be lost. But this is by no means
the only difference. I notice a few more points. Treasures laid up on
earth bring along with them many cares; treasures laid up in heaven
never give care. Treasures laid up on earth never can afford
spiritual joy; treasures laid up in heaven bring along with them
peace and joy in the Holy Ghost even now. Treasures laid up on earth,
in a dying hour cannot afford peace and comfort, and when life is
over, they are taken from us; treasures laid up in heaven draw forth
thanksgiving, that we were permitted and counted worthy to serve the
Lord with the means with which He was pleased to intrust us as
stewards; and when this life is over we are not deprived of what was
laid up there, but when we go to heaven we go to the place where our
treasures are, and we shall find them there. Often we hear it said
when a person has died: he died worth so much. But whatever be the
phrases common in the world, it is certain that a person may die
worth fifty thousand pounds sterling, as the world reckons, and yet
that individual may not possess, in the sight of God, one thousand
pounds sterling, because he was not rich towards God, he did not lay
up treasure in heaven. And so on the other hand, we can suppose a man
of God falling asleep in Jesus, and his surviving widow finding
scarcely enough left behind him to suffice for the funeral, who was
nevertheless rich towards God; in the sight of God he may possess
five thousand pounds sterling, he may have laid up that sum in
heaven. Dear Reader, does your soul long to be rich towards God, to
lay up treasures in heaven? The world passes away and the lust
thereof! Yet a little while, and our stewardship will be taken from
us. At present we have the opportunity of serving the Lord, with our
time, our talents, our bodily strength, our gifts, and also with our
property; but shortly this opportunity may cease. Oh! how shortly
may it cease. Before ever this is read by any one, I may have fallen
asleep; and the very next day after you have read this, dear Reader,
you may fall asleep, and therefore, whilst we have the opportunity,
let us serve the Lord.--I believe, and therefore I speak. My own soul
is so fully assured of the wisdom and love of the Lord towards us His
disciples as expressed in this word, that by His grace I do most
heartily set my seal to the preciousness of the command, and I do
from my inmost soul not only desire not to lay up treasures upon
earth, but, believing as I do what the Lord says, I do desire to have
grace to lay up treasures in heaven. And then, suppose after a little
while you should fall asleep, some one may say, your wife and, child
will be unprovided for, because you did not make a provision for
them. My reply is, the Lord will take care of them. The Lord will
abundantly provide for them, as He now abundantly provides for us. 5,
The Lord lastly adds: "For where your treasure is, there will your
heart be also." Where should the heart of the disciple of the Lord
Jesus be, but in heaven? Our calling is a heavenly calling, our
inheritance is a heavenly inheritance, and reserved for us in heaven;
our citizenship is in heaven; but if we believers in the Lord Jesus
lay up treasures on earth, the necessary result of it is, that our
hearts will be upon earth; nay, the very fact of our doing so proves
that they are there! Nor will it be otherwise, till there be a
ceasing to lay up treasures upon earth. The believer who lays up
treasures upon earth may, at first, not live openly in sin; he in a
measure may yet bring some honour to the Lord in certain things; but
the injurious tendencies of this habit will show themselves more and
more, whilst the habit of laying up treasures in heaven would draw
the heart more and more heavenward; would be continually
strengthening his new, his divine nature, his spiritual faculties,
because it would call his spiritual faculties into use, and thus they
would be strengthened; and he would more and more, whilst yet in the
body, have his heart in heaven, and set upon heavenly things; and
thus the laying up treasures in heaven would bring along with it,
even in this life, precious spiritual blessings as a reward of
obedience to the commandment of our Lord.
II. The next passage, on which I desire to make a few remarks, is
Matthew vi. 33. "But seek ye first the kingdom of God and His
righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." After
our Lord, in the previous verses, had been pointing His disciples "to
the fowls of the air," and "the lilies of the field," in order that
they should be without carefulness about the necessaries of life; He
adds: "Therefore take no thought, (literally, be not anxious) saying,
What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we
be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek;) for
your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things."
Observe here particularly that we, the children of God, should be
different from the nations of the earth, from those who have no
Father in heaven, and who therefore make it their great business,
their first anxious concern, what they shall eat, and what they shall
drink, and wherewithal they shall be clothed. We, the children of
God, should, as in every other respect, so in this particular also,
be different from the world, and prove to the world that we believe
that we have a Father in heaven, who knoweth that we have need of all
these things. The fact that our Almighty Father, who is full of
infinite love to us His children, (and who has proved to us His love
in the gift of His only begotten Son, and His almighty power in
raising him from the dead), knows that we have need of these things,
should remove all anxiety from our minds. There is, however, one
thing that we have to attend to, and which we ought to attend to,
with reference to our temporal necessities, it is mentioned in our
verse: "But seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness."
The great business which the disciple of the Lord Jesus has to be
concerned about (for this word was spoken to disciples, to professed
believers) is, to seek the kingdom of God, i.e. to seek, as I view
it, after the external and internal prosperity of the church of
Christ. If, according to our ability, and according to the
opportunity which the Lord gives us, we seek to win souls for the
Lord Jesus, that appears to me to be seeking the eternal prosperity
of the kingdom of God; and if we, as members of the body of Christ,
seek to benefit our fellow members in the body, helping them on in
grace and truth, or caring for them in any way to their edification,
that would be seeking the internal prosperity of the kingdom of God.
But in connexion with this we have also "to seek His righteousness,"
which means, (as it was spoken to disciples, to those who have a
Father in heaven, and not to those who were without), to seek to be
more and more like God, to seek to be inwardly conformed to the mind
of God.--If these two things are attended to, (and they imply also
that we are not slothful in business), then do we come under that
precious promise: "And all these things (that is food, raiment, or
anything else that is needful for this present life), shall be added
unto you." It is not for attending to these two things that we obtain
the blessing, but in attending to them.
I now ask you, my dear Reader, a few questions in all love, because I
do seek your welfare, and I do not wish to put these questions to
you, without putting them first to my own heart. Do you make it your
primary business, your first great concern to seek the kingdom of God
and His righteousness? Are the things of God, the honour of His name,
the welfare of His Church, the conversion of sinners, and the profit
of your own soul, your chief aim? Or does your business, or your
family, or your own temporal concerns, in some shape or other
primarily occupy your attention? If the latter be the case, then,
though you may have all the necessaries of life, yet could you be
surprised if you had them not? Remember that the world passeth away,
but that the things of God endure for ever.
I never knew a child of God who acted according to the above passage,
in whose experience the Lord did not fulfil His word of promise "All
these things shall be added unto you."