George Muller of Bristol Part 11

As the Lord was dealing with them by the day, it seemed clear that they were to _live by the day._ No dues [Transcriber's note: unpaid debts]

should be allowed to acc.u.mulate, even such as would naturally accrue from ordinary weekly supplies of bread, milk, etc. From the middle of September, 1838, it was therefore determined that every article bought was to be paid for at the time.

Again, rent became due in stated amounts and at stated times. This want was therefore not unforeseen, and, looked at in one aspect, rent was due daily or weekly, though collected at longer intervals. The principle having been laid down that no debt should be incurred, it was considered as implying that the amount due for rent should be put aside daily, or at least weekly, even though not then payable. This rule was henceforth adopted, with this understanding, that money thus laid aside was sacred to that end, and not to be drawn upon, even temporarily, for any other.

Notwithstanding such conscientiousness and consistency the trial of faith and patience continued. Money came in only in small sums, and barely enough with rigid economy to meet each day's wants. The outlook was often most dark and the prospect most threatening; but _no real need ever failed to be supplied:_ and so praise was continually mingled with prayer, the incense of thanksgiving making fragrant the flame of supplication. G.o.d's interposing power and love could not be doubted, and in fact made the more impression as unquestionable facts, because help came so frequently at the hour of extremity, and in the exact form or amount needed. Before the provision was entirely exhausted, there came new supplies or the money wherewith to buy, so that these many mouths were always fed and these many bodies always clad.

To live up to such principles as had been laid down was not possible without faith, kept in constant and lively exercise. For example, in the closing months of 1838 G.o.d seemed purposely putting them to a severe test, whether or not they _did trust Him alone._ The orphan work was in continual straits: at times not one half-penny was in the hands of the matrons in the three houses. But not only was no knowledge of such facts ever allowed to leak out, or any hint of the extreme need ever given to outsiders, _but even those who inquired, with intent to aid, were not informed._

One evening a brother ventured to ask how the balance would stand when the next accounts were made up, and whether it would be as great in favour of the orphans as when the previous balance-sheet had been prepared. Mr. Mutter's calm but evasive answer was: _"It will be as great as the Lord pleases."_ This was no intentional rudeness. To have said more would have been turning from the one Helper to make at least an indirect appeal to man for help; and every such snare was carefully avoided lest the one great aim should be lost sight of: to prove to all men that it is safe to trust only in the Living G.o.d.

While admitting the severity of the straits to which the whole work of the Scriptural Knowledge Inst.i.tution was often brought, Mr. Muller takes pains to a.s.sure his readers that these straits were never a surprise to him, and that his expectations in the matter of funds were not disappointed, but rather the reverse. He had looked for great emergencies as essential to his full witness to a prayer-hearing G.o.d.

The almighty Hand can never be clearly seen while any human help is sought for or is in sight. We must turn absolutely away from all else if we are to turn fully unto the living G.o.d. The deliverance is signal, only in proportion as the danger is serious, and is most significant when, without G.o.d, we face absolute despair. Hence the exact end for which the whole work was mainly begun could be attained only through such conditions of extremity and such experiences of interposition in extremity.

Some who have known but little of the interior history of the orphan work have very naturally accounted for the regularity of supplies by supposing that the public statements, made about it by word of mouth, and especially by the pen in the printed annual reports, have const.i.tuted _appeals for aid._ Unbelief would interpret all G.o.d's working however wonderful, by 'natural laws,' and the carnal mind, refusing to see in any of the manifestations of G.o.d's power any supernatural force at work, persists in thus explaining away all the 'miracles of prayer.'

No doubt humane and sympathetic hearts have been strongly moved by the remarkable ways in which G.o.d has day by day provided for all these orphans, as well as the other branches of work of the Scriptural Knowledge Inst.i.tution; and believing souls have been drawn into loving and hearty sympathy with work so conducted, and have been led to become its helpers. It is a well-known fact that G.o.d has used these annual reports to accomplish just such results. Yet it remains true that these reports were never intended or issued as appeals for aid, and no dependence has been placed upon them for securing timely help. It is also undeniable that, however frequent their issue, wide their circulation, or great their influence, the regularity and abundance of the supplies of all needs must in some other way be accounted for.

Only a few days after public meetings were held or printed reports issued, funds often fell to their lowest ebb. Mr. Muller and his helpers were singularly kept from all undue leaning upon any such indirect appeals, and frequently and definitely asked G.o.d that they might never be left to look for any inflow of means through such channels. For many reasons the Lord's dealings with them were made known, the main object of such publicity always being a _testimony to the faithfulness of G.o.d._ This great object Mr. Muller always kept foremost, hoping and praying that, by such records and revelations of G.o.d's fidelity to His promises, and of the manner in which He met each new need, his servant might awaken, quicken, and stimulate faith in Him as the Living G.o.d. One has only to read these reports to see the conspicuous absence of any appeal for human aid, or of any attempt to excite pity, sympathy and compa.s.sion toward the orphans. The burden of every report is to induce the reader to venture wholly upon G.o.d, to taste and see that the Lord is good, and find for himself how blessed are all they that put their trust in Him.

Only in the light of this supreme purpose can these records of a life of faith be read intelligently and intelligibly.

Weakness of body again, in the autumn of 1839, compelled, for a time, rest from active labour, and Mr. Muller went to Trowbridge and Exeter, Teignmouth and Plymouth. G.o.d had precious lessons for him which He could best teach in the school of affliction.

While at Plymouth Mr. Muller felt anew the impulse to early rising for purposes of devotional communion. At Halle he had been an early riser, influenced by zeal for excellence in study. Afterwards, when his weak head and feeble nerves made more sleep seem needful, he judged that, even when he rose late, the day would be long enough to exhaust his little fund of strength; and so often he lay in bed till six or even seven o'clock, instead of rising at four; and after dinner took a nap for a quarter-hour. It now grew upon him, however, that he was losing in spiritual vigour, and that his soul's health was declining under this new regimen. The work now so pressed upon him as to prevent proper reading of the Word and rob him of leisure for secret prayer.

A 'chance remark'--there is no _chance_ in a believer's life!--made by the brother at whose house he was abiding at Plymouth, much impressed him. Referring to the sacrifices in Leviticus, he said that, as the refuse of the animals was never offered up on the altar, but only the best parts and the fat, so the choicest of our time and strength, the best parts of our day, should be especially given to the Lord in worship and communion. George Muller meditated much on this; and determined, even at the risk of damage to bodily health, that he would no longer spend his best hours in bed. Henceforth he allowed himself but _seven hours' sleep_ and gave up his after-dinner rest. This resumption of early rising secured long seasons of uninterrupted interviews 'with G.o.d, in prayer and meditation on the Scriptures, before breakfast and the various inevitable interruptions that followed. He found himself not worse but better, physically, and became convinced that to have lain longer in bed as before would have kept his nerves weak; and, as to spiritual life, such new vitality and vigour accrued from thus waiting upon G.o.d while others slept, that it continued to be the habit of his after-life.

In November, 1839, when the needs were again great and the supplies very small, he was kept in peace: "I was not," he says, "looking at the _little in hand, 'but at the fulness of G.o.d."_

It was his rule to empty himself of all that he had, in order to greater boldness in appealing for help from above. All needless articles were sold if a market could be found. But what was useful in the Lord's work he did not reckon as needless, nor regard it right to sell, since the Father knew the need. One of his fellow labourers had put forward his valuable watch as a security for the return of money laid by for rent, but drawn upon for the time; yet even this plan was not felt to be scriptural, as the watch might be reckoned among articles needful and useful in the Lord's service, and, if such, expedients were quite abandoned, the deliverance would be more manifest as of the Lord. And so, one by one, all resorts were laid aside that might imperil full trust and sole dependence upon the one and only Helper.

When the poverty of their resources seemed most pinching, Mr. Muller still comforted himself with the daily proof that G.o.d had not forgotten, and would day by day feed them with 'the bread of their convenience.'

Often he said to himself, If it is even a proverb of the world that "Man's necessity is G.o.d's opportunity," how much more may G.o.d's own dear children in their great need look to Him to make their extremity the fit moment to display His love and power!

In February, 1840, another attack of ill health combined with a mission to Germany to lead Mr. Muller for five weeks to the Continent. At Heimersleben, where he found his father weakened by a serious cough, the two rooms in which he spent most time in prayer and reading of the Word, and confession of the Lord, were the same in which, nearly twenty years before, he had pa.s.sed most time as an unreconciled sinner against G.o.d and man. Later on, at Wolfenb.u.t.tel, he saw the inn whence in 1821 he ran away in debt. In taking leave once more of his father he was pierced by a keen anguish, fearing it was his last farewell, and an unusual tenderness and affection were now exhibited by his father, whom he yearned more and more to know as safe in the Lord Jesus, and depending no longer on outward and formal religiousness, or subst.i.tuting the reading of prayers and of Scripture for an inward conformity to Christ.

This proved the last interview, for the father died on March 30th of the same year.

The main purpose of this journey to Germany was to send forth more missionaries to the East. At Sandersleben Mr. Muller met his friend, Mr.

Stahlschmidt, and found a little band of disciples meeting in secret to evade the police. Those who have always breathed the atmosphere of religious liberty know little of such intolerance as, in that nominally Christian land, stifled all freedom of Worship. Eleven years before, when Mr. Stahlschmidt's servant had come to this place, he had found scarce one true disciple beside his master. The first meetings had been literally of but two or three, and, when they had grown a little larger, Mr. Kroll was summoned before the magistrates and, like the apostles in the first days of the church, forbidden to speak in His name. But again, like those same primitive disciples, believing that they were to obey G.o.d rather than men, the believing band had continued to meet, notwithstanding police raids which were so disturbing, and government fines which were so exacting. So secret, however, were their a.s.semblies, as to have neither stated place nor regular time.

George Muller found these persecuted believers, meeting in the room of a humble weaver where there was but one chair. The twenty-five or thirty who were present found such places to sit or stand as they might, in and about the loom, which itself filled half the s.p.a.ce.

In Halberstadt Mr. Muller found seven large Protestant churches without one clergyman who gave evidence of true conversion, and the few genuine disciples there were likewise forbidden to meet together.

A few days after returning to Bristol from his few weeks in Germany, and at a time of great financial distress in the work, a letter reached him from a brother who had often before given money, as follows:

"Have you any _present_ need for the Inst.i.tution under your care? I know you do not _ask,_ except indeed of Him whose work you are doing; but to _answer when asked_ seems another thing, and a right thing. I have a reason for desiring to know the present state of your means towards the objects you are labouring to serve: viz., should you _not have_ need, other departments of the Lord's work, or other people of the Lord, _may have_ need. Kindly then inform me, and to what amount, i.e. what amount you at this present time need or can profitably lay out."

To most men, even those who carry on a work of faith and prayer, such a letter would have been at least a temptation. But Mr. Muller did not waver. To announce even to an inquirer the exact needs of the work would, in his opinion, involve two serious risks:

1. It would turn his own eyes away from G.o.d to man;

2. It would turn the minds of saints away from dependence solely upon Him.

This man of G.o.d had staked everything upon one great experiment--he had set himself to prove that the prayer which _resorts to G.o.d only_ will bring help in every crisis, even when the crisis is unknown to His people whom He uses as the means of relief and help.

At this time there remained in hand but twenty-seven pence ha'penny, in all, to meet the needs of hundreds of orphans. Nevertheless this was the reply to the letter:

"Whilst I thank you for your love, and whilst I agree with you that, in general, there is a difference between _asking for money_ and _answering when asked,_ nevertheless, in our case, I feel not at liberty to speak about the state of our funds, as the primary object of the work in my hands is to lead those who are weak in faith to see that there is _reality_ in dealing with G.o.d _alone."_

Consistently with his position, however, no sooner was the answer posted than the appeal went up to the Living G.o.d: "Lord, thou knowest that, for Thy sake, I did not tell this brother about our need. Now, Lord, show afresh that there is reality in speaking to Thee only, about our need, and speak therefore to this brother so that he may help us." In answer, G.o.d moved this inquiring brother to send one hundred pounds, which came when _not one penny was in hand._

The confidence of faith, long tried, had its increasing reward and was strengthened by experience. In July, 1845, Mr. Muller gave this testimony reviewing these very years of trial:

"Though for about seven years, our funds have been so exhausted that it has been comparatively a rare case that there have been means in hand to meet the necessities of the orphans _for three days_ together, yet I have been only once tried in spirit, and that was on September 18, 1838, when for the first time the Lord seemed not to regard our prayer. But when He did send help at that time, and I saw that it was only for the trial of our faith, and not because He had forsaken the work, that we were brought so low, my soul was so strengthened and encouraged that I have not only not been allowed to distrust the Lord since that time, but I have not even been cast down when in the deepest poverty."

CHAPTER XII

NEW LESSONS IN G.o.d'S SCHOOL OF PRAYER

THE teacher must also be a learner, and therefore only he who continues to learn is competent to continue to teach. Nothing but new lessons, daily mastered, can keep our testimony fresh and vitalizing and enable us to give advance lessons. Instead of being always engaged in a sort of review, our teaching and testimony will thus be drawn each day from a new and higher level.

George Muller's experiences of prevailing prayer went on constantly acc.u.mulating, and so qualified him to speak to others, not as on a matter of speculation, theory, or doctrinal belief, but of long, varied, and successful personal experiment. Patiently, carefully and frequently, he seeks to impress on others the conditions of effective supplication.

From time to time he met those to whom his courageous, childlike trust in G.o.d was a mystery; and occasionally unbelief's secret misgivings found a voice in the question, _what he would do if G.o.d did not send help!_ what, if a meal-time actually came with no food, and no money to procure it; or if clothing were worn out, and nothing to replace it?

To all such questions there was always ready this one answer: that _such a failure on G.o.d's part is inconceivable,_ and must therefore be put among the impossibilities. There are, however, conditions necessary on man's part: _the suppliant soul must come to G.o.d in the right spirit and att.i.tude._ For the sake of such readers as might need further guidance as to the proper and acceptable manner of approach to G.o.d, he was wont to make very plain the scripture teaching upon this point.

Five grand conditions of prevailing prayer were ever before his mind:

1. Entire dependence upon the merits and mediation of the Lord Jesus Christ, as the only ground of any claim for blessing. (See John xiv. 13, 14; xv. 16, etc.)

2. Separation from all known sin. If we regard iniquity in our hearts, the Lord will not hear us, for it would be sanctioning sin. (Psalm lxvi.

18.)

3. Faith in G.o.d's word of promise as confirmed by His oath. Not to believe Him is to make Him both a liar and a perjurer. (Hebrews xi. 6; vi. 13-20.)

4. Asking in accordance with His will. Our motives must be G.o.dly: we must not seek any gift of G.o.d to consume it upon our own l.u.s.ts. (1 John v. 14; James iv. 3.)

5. Importunity in supplication. There must be waiting on G.o.d and waiting for G.o.d, as the husbandman has long patience to wait for the harvest.

(James v. 7; Luke xviii. 1-10.)

The importance of firmly fixing in mind principles such as these cannot be overstated. The first lays the basis of all prayer, in our oneness with the great High Priest. The second states a condition of prayer, found in abandonment of sin. The third reminds us of the need of honouring G.o.d by faith that He is, and is the Rewarder of the diligent seeker. The fourth reveals the sympathy with G.o.d that helps us to ask what is for our good and His glory. The last teaches us that, having laid hold of G.o.d in prayer, we are to keep hold until His arm is outstretched in blessing.

Where these conditions do not exist, for G.o.d to answer prayer would be both a dishonour to Himself and a damage to the suppliant. To encourage those who come to Him in their own name, or in a self-righteous, self-seeking, and disobedient spirit, would be to set a premium upon continuance in sin. To answer the requests of the unbelieving would be to disregard the double insult put upon His word of promise and His oath of confirmation, by persistent doubt of His truthfulness and distrust of His faithfulness. Indeed not one condition of prevailing prayer exists which is not such in the very nature of things. These are not arbitrary limitations affixed to prayer by a despotic will; they are necessary alike to G.o.d's character and man's good.

All the lessons learned in G.o.d's school of prayer made Mr. Muller's feelings and convictions about this matter more profound and subduing.

He saw the vital relation of prayer to holiness, and perpetually sought to impress it upon both his hearers and readers; and, remembering that for the purpose of persuasion the most effective figure of speech is _repet.i.tion,_ he hesitated at no frequency of restatement by which such truths might find root in the minds and hearts of others.

There has never been a saint, from Abel's day to our own, who has not been taught the same essential lessons. All prayer which has ever brought down blessing has prevailed by the same law of success--_the inward impulse of G.o.d's Holy Spirit._ If, therefore, that Spirit's teachings be disregarded or disobeyed, or His inward movings be hindered, in just such measure will prayer become formal or be altogether abandoned. Sin, consciously indulged, or duty, knowingly neglected, makes supplication an offence to G.o.d.