Personal Matters, from 1844 to 1885
[Mr. Müller’s earlier personal history has been given in Chapters I, to VII.)
SOON after my return from Germany in 1844, I had it laid on my heart to go there again for a season; but, before doing so, I felt called upon to prepare for the press a new edition of my Narrative. For this, however, a large sum of money was required, as I purposed to print not less than 4,000 copies. As I had no money of my own for this object, I gave myself to prayer, and, after having prayed several months respecting it, I received on December 30th, 1844, unasked for, the sum which would be needed to accomplish this object.
December 31st. The Lord has been pleased to give me during this year £267 6s. 9d. To this is to be added, that, for the first two months and six days of this year, my expenses, and those of my dear wife, during our stay in Germany, and also our travelling expenses back, were met, as already stated, in full. Also during the whole of this year a Christian lady gave to our dear child board and schooling without any remuneration, a present worth to us not less than £50.
After our daughter had been at school for half a year, I asked for the account, when it was stated to me by the Christian lady in whose establishment she was, that she had a pleasure in educating her gratuitously. However, as I pressed the matter, I obtained the account. It was paid, but the exact sum was returned to me anonymously, which, of course, I found out at once to be from the Christian sister at whose school my daughter was. From that time I could never more obtain the account, though my dear child was about six years longer at school. I refer to this point for this special reason: God had laid it on my heart to care about poor destitute Orphans. To this service I had been led to give myself; He, in return, as a recompense even for this life, took care that my own beloved child should have a very good education, free of expense to me. I was able, and well able, to pay for her education, and most willing to do so; but the Lord gave it gratuitously; thus also showing how ready He is, abundantly to help me and to supply my wants.
1845.
Visits Germany.
January 6th. To-day I received the most painful information that a false teacher from Switzerland had found his way among the brethren and sisters at Stuttgart, and that through him several, yea almost all, to a greater or less degree had been drawn aside, and shaken as to the very foundations of their faith.
I cannot describe how bitter the trial was to me to see the Lord thus dishonoured, and my service for seven months during the previous year, to all appearance, entirely frustrated. The Lord, however, laid these brethren and sisters on my heart in prayer, so that I was day by day enabled to bring them before God, and also to resolve, that, as soon as my path was made plain, I would go again to Stuttgart for a season.
May yd. I have seen it more and more clearly of late, that the time is drawing near, when I shall go again to Germany, to labour there for a time; for the brethren who had fallen into grievous errors are now recovering out of them, but need a helping hand to restore them fully, or at least to confirm them in the truth. In addition to this I purpose to publish some Tracts in German. But though it is now four months, since I have been daily praying respecting this object, I never had been led to ask the Lord to give me means for it, because I felt assured that, when His time was come for me to go, He would provide the means; and also because I had never felt myself led to pray about it. To-day, however, I asked the Lord that He would provide the means for all that is necessary in connection with this service; and I had a secret satisfaction in feeling that so much was required, i.e., means for the journey to and fro, means for our stay there, means for the publication of Tracts, and means to be left behind for the work in Bristol, to supply the need at least for a time, for I did not wish to go, unless it were the Lord’s will, and if so, He would give the means. Now see how the Lord dealt with me! About a quarter-of-an-hour after I had been in prayer with my dear wife respecting this object, and I had now, for the first me, asked Him for means to carry it out, though for four months we had daily prayed together respecting spiritual success in this service, I received a letter containing an order for £500. In the letter this was written: “I enclose £500, which will be more useful in your hands than in mine. I mean it in the first place for all that is needed preparatory to and attendant upon your journey to Germany, and, whatever the surplus may be, you will apply as you find there is need in the different parts of service under your care.” Thus the Lord has fully answered our request for means, and that so speedily!
On July 19th my dear wife and I left Bristol for Stuttgart.
I should have liked to preach the Gospel in the streets or in the market places in Germany; but for that there was no liberty.
I did therefore what I could, in spreading about 1,100 copies of my Narrative, and tens of thousands of Tracts. In this I was particularly encouraged by remembering that that great work, at the time of the Reformation, was chiefly accomplished by means of printed publications.
We travelled in a hired carriage for seventeen days, each day about forty or forty-five miles. I had a box, containing about thirty thousand Tracts, made on purpose, behind the carriage, and in the fore-part several portmanteaus filled with Tracts and copies of my Narrative in German. As we went on, my dear wife and I looked out for travellers who were coming, or persons on the road-side, and handed the books or Tracts to them.
Perhaps the reader may ask: What has been the result of this labour in Germany? My reply is: God only knows. The day of Christ will declare it. Judging from the constant labour in prayer during eight months before we went, and day by day while we were on the Continent, and day by day for a long time after our return, T am warranted to expect fruit, and I do expect it. I expect abundant fruit in the day of Christ’s appearing. In the meantime my comfort is, that 220,000 Tracts have been circulated, many of which through the providence of God found their way not only into the darkest places of the Continent of Europe, but went also to America and Australia. Further, the 4,000 copies of my Narrative in German are almost all circulated. And again, the publishing of my Narrative in German led me to do the same in French, which was accomplished about three years later. Further, these Tracts were reprinted at Hamburg and at Cologne, and are circulated by other Christians; in addition to which, my having published them in Germany led me to get them stereotyped in England, and they continue to be circulated in many countries.
December 31st. During this year the Lord has been pleased to give to me, altogether, £433 19s. 12d. Also again during the whole of this year my dear child had her education free at a boarding-school, as stated at the close of the last year, whereby T saved about £50. Also my travelling expenses to and from Germany, and other expenses, connected with my service in Germany, were paid out of the £500 to which reference has been made. Adding these two items to £433, I had at least £500.
Esteemed reader, what do you think of this? Is it not a pleasant thing, in the end, even for this life, really to trust in God 2 Verily, thus I have found it to be, and thus do I find it to be, the longer I live. Only there must be real trust in God, and it must be more than merely using words. If we trust in God, we look to Him alone, we deal with Him alone, and we are satisfied with His knowing about our need. Two things I add, as I write my experience and the Lord’s dealings with me for the profit of the saints.:
During the last year I resolved that, by God’s help, I would seek to be more than ever a channel for the communication of God’s bounties, and to communicate to those in need, or to give to the work of God. I acted according to the light which God gave me, and He condescended to make me His steward in one way or another far more abundantly than ever before. Would we wish to have means entrusted to us by the Lord, or to succeed in our trade, business, profession, etc., we must be truly desirous of being His stewards, and only His stewards.
In looking over my journal, I find that during this year also I was more than once without a shilling, yea, without a penny, though my income was about £500.
1846.
Conversion of Lydia Müller.
April 29th. To-day my beloved wife and myself had the inexpressibly great joy of receiving a letter from our beloved daughter, while we are staying in the Lord’s service at Chippenham, in which she writes that she has now found peace in the Lord Jesus. Thus our prayers are turned into praises.
[The following is a copy of part of the letter referred to : — ]
“My very dear Father and Mother,
“Tam so very glad that you are better. I am much obliged for dear Mother’s kind note. Dearest Father and Mother I wished to tell you that I was now happy, but I have not liked to, and I thought I could better tell you in writing than by speaking. I do not know exactly the time when I first was happy in the prospect of death and eternity, but I know that the work of God in my heart was very gradual. I can now say, “Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift.” Please dear Father and Mother to pray for me, that I may be kept from dishonouring God, and that I may be more and more thankful to Him for the gift of His Son, and for my dear parents, my dear Aunty, my dear teachers, and all kind friends who love me and pray for me. And now dear Father and Mother with much love,
“I remain your affectionate little daughter,
“Lydia Miller.”
After hearing from her in April, she was not received at once to communion, but, being so young, I judged it desirable to watch the work in her soul. Towards the end of the year, however, my fellow-labourers being fully satisfied, she was baptized and received into communion, when she was 14 years and 3 months old. 4 Ee
December 31st. The Lord has been pleased to give me during this year £399 2s.11d. To this is again to be added, that during the whole of this year also my daughter was, free of all expenses, at a boarding-school. This was worth about £50.
Portrait oF Mr, ANrHONY Norris GROVES, FROM AN OLD ENGRAVING.
Pars
1847. December 31st. During this year the Lord has been pleased to give me £412 18s. 84d. To this there is again to be added the free education of my dear daughter, at a boarding-school, worth to us at least £50,
L848.
In April I was enabled, by the help of the Lord, to complete all the arrangements for the publication of the Narrative of the Lord’s Dealings with me in the French language.
December 31st, 1848. During this year the Lord was pleased to give me £474 17s. 7d.; in 1849, £413 2s. 4d.; im 1850, £402 4s. Bd.; and in 1851, £465 13s. 13d.
December 31st. The Lord has been pleased to give me during this year £445 8s. 84d.
My brother-in-law, Mr. A. N. Groves, of whom mention has been made, as having been helpful to me by his example when I began my labours in England in 1829, in that he, without any visible support, and without being connected with any Missionary Society, went with his wife and children to Bagdad, as a Missionary, after having given up a lucrative practice of about £1,500 per year, returned in Autumn, 1852, from the Hast Indies, a third time, being exceedingly ill. He lived, however, till May 20th, 1853, when, after a most blessed testimony for the Lord, he fell asleep in Jesus in my house.
1853.
Illness of Lydia Müller.
In July it pleased the Lord to try my faith in a way in which before it had not been tried. My beloved daughter was taken ill on June 20th. This illness proved to be typhus fever. On July yd there seemed no hope of her recovery. Now was the trial of faith. But faith triumphed. My beloved wife and I were enabled to give her up into the hands of the Lord. He sustained us both. But I will only speak about myself. Though my only and beloved child was brought near the grave, yet was my soul in perfect peace, satisfied with the will of my Heavenly Father, being assured that He would only do that for her and her parents, which in the end would be the best. She continued very ill till about July 20th, when restoration began. On August 18th, though exceedingly weak, she was so far restored, that she could be removed to Clevedon for change of air. It was then fifty-nine days since she was first taken ill.
While I was in this affliction, this great affliction, besides being at peace, so far as the Lord’s dispensation was concerned,
I also felt perfectly at peace with regard to the cause of the affliction. Once, on a former occasion, the hand of the Lord was heavily laid on me in my family. I had not the least hesitation in knowing, that it was the Father’s rod, applied in infinite wisdom and love, for the restoration of my soul from a state of lukewarmness. At this time, however, I had no such feeling. Conscious as I was of manifold weaknesses, failings, and shortcomings, so that I too would be ready to say with the Apostle Paul, “O wretched man that I am;” yet I was assured that this affliction was not upon me in the way of the fatherly rod, but for the trial of my faith. Persons often have, no doubt, the idea respecting me, that all my trials of faith regard matters connected with money, though the reverse has been stated by me very frequently; now, however, the Lord would try my faith concerning one of my dearest earthly treasures, yea, next to my beloved wife, the dearest of all my earthly possessions. Parents know what an only child, a beloved child is, and what to believing parents an only child, a believing child, must be. Well, the Father in heaven said, as it were, by this His dispensation, Art thou willing to give up this child to Me? My heart responded, As it seems good to Thee, my Heavenly Father. Thy will be done. But as our hearts were made willing to give back our beloved child to Him who had given her to us, so He was ready to leave her to us, and she lived. ‘“‘ Delight thyself also in the Lord; and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart” (Ps. xxxvii. 4). The desires of my heart were, to retain the beloved daughter, if it were the will of God; the means to retain her were, to be satisfied with the will of the Lord.
Of all the trials of faith that as yet I have had to pass through, this was the greatest; and by God’s abundant mercy, I own it to His praise, I was enabled to delight myself in the will of God; for I felt perfectly sure, that, if the Lord took this beloved daughter, it would be best for her parents, best for herself, and more for the glory of God than if she lived: this better part I was satisfied with; and thus my heart had peace, perfect peace, and I had not’a moment’s anxiety. Thus would it be under all circumstances, however painful, were the believer exercising faith.
December 31st. During this year the Lord was pleased to give me £638 I1s. 83d.
December 31st. The Lord has been pleased to give me during this year £697 Ils. 5d.
Some of my readers may be ready to exclaim, £697 11s. 5d.! What a large sum! Not one out of a hundred ministers has such a large salary, nor one out of twenty clergymen such a good livmg! Should you, esteemed reader, say so, my reply is: Indeed mine is a happy way for the obtaining of my temporal
supplies; but if any one desires to go this way he must not merely say that he trusts in God, but must really do so. Often individuals profess to trust in God, but they embrace every opportunity, directly or indirectly, to expose their need, and thus seek to induce persons to help them. I do not say it is wrong to make known our wants; but I do say it ill agrees with trust in God, to expose our wants for the sake of inducing persons to help us. God will take us at our word. If we say we trust in Him, He will try whether we really do so, or only profess to do so; and if zndeed we trust in Him, we are satisfied to stand with Him alone.
The individual who desires to go this way must be willing to be rich or poor, as the Lord pleases. He must be willing to know what it is to have an abundance or scarcely anything. He must be willing to leave this world without any possessions.
He must be willing to take the money in God’s way, not merely in large sums but in small. Again and again have I had a single shilling given, or sent to me. To have refused such tokens of Christian love, would have been ungracious.
He must be willing to live as the Lord’s steward. If any one were to begin this way of living, and did not communicate out of that which the Lord gives to him, but hoard it up; or, if he would live up to his income, as it is called, then the Lord, who influences the hearts of His children, to help him with means, would soon cause those channels to be dried up.
Various reasons might have kept me from publishing these accounts; but I have for my object in writing, the glory of God, and therefore delight in thus showing what a loving Master I serve, and how bountifully He supplies my necessities; and I write for the comfort and encouragement of my fellow-believers, that they may be led to trust in God more and more, and therefore I feel it due to them to state, how, even with regard to this life, lam amply provided for, though that is not what I seek after.
December 31st. During this year the Lord has been pleased to give me £726 16s. 21d.
This, dear reader, is the writer’s statement after having acted on these principles for more than twenty-five years. You see, not for a week, a month, or even a year, how the writer has been dealt with by the Lord, after he had set out in this way; but in all simplicity he has related to you, how it has been with him year after year.
1856. In 1855 I plainly stated in figures, how abundantly the Lord had been pleased, simply through trusting in Him, to supply all my temporal necessities. I did this to the honour of the Lord, and in entire dependance upon God; for, looking at it naturally, the result would be, that my dear Christian friends, who had, before that time, felt interested in my temporal affairs, would say, that I received such an abundance, that they needed no longer to supply me with means. But, though this would be naturally suggested to me, yet, since I had only the honour of God in view, in writing the Lord’s dealings with me, and not my honour or my temporal advantage, I wrote as I did, whatever the consequences as to my temporal interests might be.
And what has been the result? Some of my Christian friends have indeed said, “Mr. Müller is so well supplied, that he does not need anything from us.” But how has the Lord acted? He knew, that I held His bountiful supplies as His steward only, that I did not wish to lay up money, but counted it an honour to spend it for Him; and therefore, though some on the ground of my abundance have withheld, He Himself has honoured more and more not only my trust in Him, but also the principles on which I acted with reference to stewardship; so that, instead of having far less, God has given me year by year a greater abundance still. During the very first month, after my Narrative had appeared before the eye of the public, I received a greater amount of money than ever I had received during one month in my whole life before; and from that time it has been, I may say, one continual stream of abundance. When on. the 31st of December, 1856, I made up my accounts, I found that I had received in the course of the year £781 Os. 7d.
Thus the poor foreigner, whose whole possession was £5, when he began to labour for the Lord in this country, had now received, during one year, £781 Os. 7d., simply in answer to prayer, without asking any one for anything, and without a shilling of salary, either in connection with the ministry of the Word, or as Director of the Scriptural Knowledge Institution. “O taste and see that the Lord 2s good: blessed is the man that trusteth in Him” (Ps. xxxiv. 8).
January 20th. I had given to me for myself £150. — October 12th. To-day I heard of the conversion of a gentleman for whose conversion I had been daily praying for 12 years and 11 months; viz., since November, 1844. How great my joy was on this account, those can easily understand who, after having long waited upon the Lord, at last have their prayers answered.
December 31st. On this day I found that, during the past year, the Lord had been pleased to give me £836 11s. 24d.
1S58.
On June 19th, a Christian lady in Berkshire, whom I had never seen, sent me £100 for my own personal expenses; and on August 6th, a Christian gentleman, at Birmingham, sent me
£100, with the special wish to use it in taking care of my health. This last donation came to hand almost instantly after I had given to a Christian brother in business, who was in great difficulty, a considerable sum, in order to enable him to continue his business; and thus the Lord again proved, how He had taken notice of this, and how He was willing yet further and further to supply me with means for His work or the necessities of those among whom more especially my lot was cast.
December 31st. During this year the Lord was pleased to give me £1,029 1s. 114d.
Do you see, esteemed reader, how my income increased more and more? And how came this? Because I acted according to the injunctions of the Lord, in regard to the means with which He was pleased to entrust me; at least it was my aim so to do. As He was pleased to give me means, so His own blessed work was remembered, as to Missions, the circulation of the Holy Scriptures and Tracts, etc.; and as He was pleased to entrust me with means, the orphan, the widow, the poor generally, and especially also poor believers, were remembered; and, with all this, relatives also had a share out of that with which I was entrusted, in case they needed it; and so it came, that the Lord was pleased to give me more and more.
February 10th. This day thirty years ago I left my father’s house, to set out for England. How wonderfully has the Lord dealt with me since!
June 18th. Received from a Baroness in Holland, whose name I had not even heard before, £17 2s. 7d., as one of the numberless ways in which God has been pleased to supply me with means for myself.
On October 7th, it was twenty-nine years since I was united in marriage to my beloved, excellent wife, who, with very little interruption, enjoyed very good health up to this time; but at the end of the twenty-ninth year of our conjugal union she was laid aside by rheumatism, became a great sufferer, and continued a sufferer month after month, till about the middle of the year 1860; so that for about nine months this most devoted servant of the Lord Jesus was almost entirely helpless, and unable to work. And yet this great affliction to her and to me was so used by the Lord in the re-establishing of her health and strength, that she was, through this very affliction, which obliged her to rest so much, spared to me and the work of the Lord for ten years longer than otherwise, humanly speaking, she might have been. When my beloved wife was first taken ill, I said to myself, The Lord has graciously continued to me this beloved wife for twenty-nine years in almost uninterrupted good health; it becomes me, therefore, not only to be satisfied with His holy will concerning this affliction, but particularly to seek to look at the Lord’s kindness in her almost uninterrupted good health, instead of dwelling only on the trial of her present illness.
December 31st. During the past year the Lord has been pleased to give me £1,037 12s. 103d.
January 14th. Last evening I sent off £5 10s. for four poor saints, and £2 10s. for the Lord’s work, and to-day I received a present of £150 for myself. I refer to this and other such instances as the best practical illustration of the truth of that word, “There as that scattereth, and yet increaseth”’ (Proverbs xi. 24).
December 31st. During the past year the Lord has been
’ pleased to give me £1,054 9s. Odd.
Observe, esteemed reader, the steady increase of my income. The Lord entrusted me with more and more. Why? Because, by His grace, I sought to act for Him as His steward, and had, therefore, not only for myself and family all the necessaries, yea, all the conveniences of life, but also the joy, the honour, and precious privilege of being allowed to give away year by year a large sum, comparatively.
1861 and 1862.
December 31st, 1861. During this year the Lord has been pleased to give me £1,097 12s. 63d.
December 31st, 1862. During this year the Lord has been pleased to give me £1,067 6s. 114d.
In going over these accounts, in which every shilling received by me was entered, I find how great is the number of kind Christian friends, who helped me with their means, in regard to my private expenses, who have fallen asleep since. But while they have been removed, and therefore their kind help has failed, my never-failing Friend, the Living God, has remained to me, and has continued most abundantly to help me, year after year. Nor do I doubt in the least, that He will continue to help me to the end of my course.
1863 to 1865.
Mr. Müller’s investments.
December 31st, 1863. During this year the Lord has been pleased to give me £1,172 10s. 63d.
December 31st, 1864. During this year the Lord has been pleased to give me £1,230 15s. 74d.
The reader may exclaim, “£1,230! what a large sum!”’ Yes, esteemed reader, it is a large sum. And what did Mr. Müller do with all this money? Did he invest it? Yes I did. I had a beloved wife, a most beloved wife; I had a daughter, a most beloved daughter, and the best provision I could make for them was, to seek week after week, month after month, year after
Porrrair oF Mr. Henry Craik.
year, to lay up treasure in heaven. And this I did. And so it came, that as I had always an abundance of opportunities to spend my means in the Lord’s work, or on poor saints, or on poor unconverted persons, now and then also in connection with relatives who were in need; I was generally at the close of each succeeding year as I had been at the close of the previous year, viz., without property, in so far as regards earthly possessions; but, at the same time, it pleased the Lord yet further to entrust His servant not only with means for himself, but to give to him more than ever, as the reader will see in what follows. The great secret in stewardship, if we desire to be entrusted with more, is, to be faithful in the stewardship, which implies, that we do not consider what we have to belong to ourselves, but to the Lord. This, by God’s grace, I have sought to do, and, at the same time, trusted in God fully; and thus it has come, that I have abounded more and more. All this I write, by God’s grace, not in self-complacency, but with self-abasement; but I write it that my brethren in Christ may be benefited, and that it may be seen that discipleship can be carried out in the nineteenth century as fully as ever, and with regard to not laying up treasure upon earth in particular.
December 31st, 1865. During this year the Lord has been pleased to give me £1,365 4s. 14d.
1866.
Death of Mr. Craik.
January 22nd. This evening, about half-past eleven, my beloved fellow-labourer and intimate friend for thirty-six years, Mr. Henry Craik, fell asleep, after an illness of seven months. Both of us had then known the Lord a little above forty years; and both of us were then a little above sixty years of age. My beloved brother and friend now had finished his course; I was privileged and honoured further to labour for the Lord, and to do this now without him, with whom I had often taken counsel. My heart, however, as in all my former trials and difficulties, looked to the Lord, whom I knew, and on whom I had been in the habit practically of leaning for more than thirty-six years. And now [1874], after the lapse of all these years since that mournful event, I have to state to His praise, that He has helped me, and that in every way His blessing has been continued to me, and even far more abundantly than before.
January 30th. The earthly remains of my beloved friend, Mr. Craik, were committed to the grave this day; but I am ill at home, and became much worse this evening.
Hor about three months afterwards I was more or less in a feeble state of health.
December 31st. During this year the Lord has been pleased to give me £1,602 Is. 64d.
December 31st. During this year the Lord has been pleased to give me £1,847 19s. 43d.
Notice particularly, esteemed reader, that I was not one year or another year, and these far between, bountifully supplied by the Lord; but year after year. Observe, also, in particular, that these donations were received from hundreds of donors, who were residing not only in various parts of England, Scotland, and Ireland, but in France, Switzerland, Italy, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Holland, Belgium, Canada, the United States, India, Australia, New Zealand, China, etc. There is scarcely a country in the world from whence I have not received donations for myself as well as for the Scriptural Knowledge Institution, which furnishes another precious proof that the hearts of all men are in the hands of God, and that, if we have Him on our side, we cannot but be cared for and helped, whatever our position may be, and wherever our lot may be cast. When the Israelites wandered through the wilderness, they had food, water to drink, raiment, and everything they really needed; and had they not rebelled against God, they would have fared still better, humanly speaking, notwithstanding their wilderness position.
1865 to 1870.
December 31st, 1868. During this year the Lord has been pleased to give me £1,838 17s. 44d.
What a goodly sum again! More than six times as much as I need for myself and family, to have not only all the necessaries but all the conveniences of life!
April 28th, 1869. “To-day I drew cheque £10,000. I mention this to the reader, to show the greatness of my business arrangements.
December 31st, 1869. During this year the Lord has been pleased to give me £1,800 16s. 103d.
Death of Mrs. Müller.
February 6th, 1870. On October 7th, 1830, therefore 39 years and 4 months ago, the Lord gave me my most valuable, lovely, and holy wife. Her value to me, and the blessing God made her to be to me, is beyond description. This blessing was continued to me till this day, when this afternoon, about four o’clock, the Lord took her to Himself.
February 11th. To-day the earthly remains of my precious wife were laid in the grave. Many thousands of persons showed the deepest sympathy. About 1,200 of the Orphans, who were able to walk, followed in the procession; the whole staff of Helpers at the Orphan-Houses who could be spared, and hundreds of believers of the Church with which she had been in communion; I, myself, sustained by the Lord to the utmost, performed the service at the chapel, in the cemetery, etc.
Portrait or Mrs. MurnteEr.
(From an old photograph on glas
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KISSING THE ROD,
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Preaches Mrs. Müller’s funeral sermon.
Shortly after the funeral I was very unwell, but, as soon as I was sufficiently recovered, I preached my late dear wife’s Funeral Sermon.
As all the principal matters connected with her illness, her removal, our happy conjugal life, and her usefulness as a helper to me in the work of the Lord, are contained in the Funeral Sermon, I give it here; and also because the reader will thus be furnished somewhat better with the inner life and the ways of the writer, than otherwise he would. [Some parts are now omitted] : —
“Thou art good, and doest good’”’ — Psatm cxix. 68.
The reason why I purpose to preach this funeral sermon, is not because the late Mrs. Müller was my own beloved wife; nor, that I might have an opportunity of speaking highly of her, most worthy though she was of it; but that I may magnify the Lord in giving her to me, in leaving her to me so long, and in taking her from me to Himself. At the same time it appeared to me well, as she became the first member of the church assembling at Bethesda, when it was formed in August, 1832; and as her whole life ever since then has been of the most blameless character; that at the departure of such a Christian, we should ponder the lessons which her life is calculated to teach.
During the six days that my beloved wife was on her death-bed, my soul was sustained by the truth contained in the words of our text. Whether she was more easy from pain, or in severe pain; whether there was a little prospect that she might yet be given back to me, or whether all hope was gone; my soul was sustained by these words. They were ever present with me, and I rested my soul on them. When it pleased God to take my darling wife to Himself, my soul was so sustained by these words, that if I had gone out that evening to preach, I should have preached on this text. I desire now, as God may help me, for the benefit of my younger fellow-believers in Christ particularly, to dwell on the truth contained in these words, with reference to my beloved departed wife.
I. The Lord was good, and did good, in giving her to me.
II, He was good, and did good in so long leaving her to me.
III. He was good, and did good, im taking her from me.
I. In giving her to me, I own the hand of God; nay, His hand was most marked; and my soul says, “Thou art good, and doest good.”
When, at the end of the year 1829, I left London to labour in Devonshire in the Gospel, a brother in the Lord gave to me a card containing the address of a well-known Christian lady, Miss Paget, who then resided in Exeter, in order that I should call on her. I took this address, but thought little of calling on her. For three weeks I carried this card in my pocket without making an effort to see this lady; but at last I was led to do so. This was God’s way of giving me my excellent wife. Miss Paget asked me to preach the last Tuesday in January, 1830, at the room which she had fitted up at Poltimore, a village near Exeter, and where Mr. A. N. Groves, afterwards my brotherin-law, had preached once a month before he went out as a Missionary to Bagdad. I accepted readily the invitation. On leaving Miss Paget, she gave me the address of a Christian brother, Mr. Hake, who had an Infant Boarding-School at Northernhay House, the former residence of Mr. A. N. Groves, in order that I might stay there on my arrival in Exeter from Teignmouth. To this place I went at the appointed time. Miss Groves, afterwards my beloved wife, was there; for Mrs. Hake had been a great invalid for a long time, and Miss Groves helped Mr. Hake in his great affliction, by superintending his household matters. My first visit led to my going again to preach at Poltimore, after the lapse of a month, and I stayed again at Mr. Hake’s house; and this second visit led to my preaching once a week in a chapel at Exeter; and thus I went, week after week, from Teignmouth to Exeter, each time staying in the house of Mr. Hake.
Engagement.
All this time my purpose had been not to marry at all, but to remain free for travelling about in the service of the Gospel; but after some months I saw, for many reasons, that it was better for me, as a young Pastor, under 25 years of age, to be married. The question now was, to whom shall I be united? Miss Groves was before my mind; but the prayerful conflict was long, before I came to a decision; for I could not bear the thought that I should take away from Mr. Hake this valued helper, as Mrs. Hake continued still unable to take the responsibility of so large a household. But I prayed again and again.
At last this decided me, I had reason to believe that I had begotten an affection in the heart of Miss Groves for me, and that therefore I ought to make a proposal of marriage to her, however unkindly I might appear to act to my dear friend and brother, Mr. Hake, and to ask God to give him a suitable helper to succeed Miss Groves. On August 15th, 1830, I therefore wrote to her, proposing to her to become my wife, and on August 19th, when I went over as usual to Exeter for preaching, she accepted me. The first thing we did, after I was accepted, was, to fall on our knees, and to ask the blessing of the Lord on our intended union.
Marriage.
In about two or three weeks, the Lord, in answer to prayer, found an individual who seemed suitable to act as housekeeper,
whilst Mrs. Hake continued ill; and on October 7th, 1830, we were united in marriage. Our marriage was of the most simple character. We walked to church, had no wedding breakfast, but in the afternoon had a meeting: of Christian friends in Mr. Hake’s house, and commemorated the Lord’s death; and then I drove off in the stage-coach with my beloved bride to Teignmouth, and the next day we went to work for the Lord. Simple as our beginning was, and unlike the habits of the world, for Christ’s sake, so our godly aim has been to continue ever since. Now see the hand of God in giving me my dearest wife : — (1) That address of Miss Paget?s was given to me under the ordering of God. (2) I must at last be made to call on her, though I had long delayed it. (3) She might have provided a resting-place with some other Christian friend, where I should not have seen Miss Groves. (4) My mind might have at last, after all, decided not to make a proposal to her; but God settled the matter thus in speaking to me through my conscience — you know that you have begotten affection in the heart of this Christian sister, by the way you have acted towards her, and therefore, painful though it may be, to appear to act unkindly towards your friend and brother, you ought to make her a proposal. I obeyed. I wrote the letter in which I made the proposal, and nothing but one even stream of blessing has been the result. I think it is plain, that He who ‘is good and doeth good,” had given me Miss Groves for a wife.
Estimate of Mrs. Müller’s Worth.
Let us now see for a few moments what I had received in her as God’s gift. I mention here, as her chief excellence, that she was a truly devoted Christian. She had for her one object of life, to live for God; and during the thirty-nine years and four months that I was united to her, her steady purpose to live for God increased more and more. She was also, as a Christian, of a meek and quiet spirit. I speak to those who knew her, and not a few of whom knew her thirty years and upwards, and who know what a very excellent Christian she was. If all Christians were like her, the joys of heaven would be found on earth far more abundantly than they are now. In her, God had been pleased to give me a Christian wife, who never at any time hindered me in the ways of God, but sought to strengthen my hands in God, and this, too, in the deepest trials, under the greatest difficulties, and when the service in which she helped me brought on her the greatest personal sacrifices. When, during the years from September, 1838, to the end of 1846, we had the greatest trials of faith in the Orphan Work; and when hundreds of times the necessities of the Orphans could only be met by our means, and when often all our own money had to be expended, that precious wife never found fault with me, but heartily joined me in prayer for help from God, and with me looked out for help, and help came; and then we rejoiced together, and often wept for joy together. But the precious wife, who was God’s own gift to me, was exquisitely suited to me, even naturally, by her temperament. Thousands of times I said to her, “My darling, God Himself singled you out for me, as the most suitable wife I could possibly wish to have had.”
Then, as to her education, she was just all I could have wished. She knew, besides, the accomplishments of a lady. She played nicely, and painted beautifully, though not five minutes were spent at the piano or in drawing or painting after our marriage. She possessed superior knowledge of Astronomy, was exceedingly well grounded in English Grammar and Geography, had a fair knowledge of History and French, had also begun Latin and Hebrew, and learned German, when in 1843 and 1845 she accompanied me in my service to Germany.
All this cultivation of mind became not only helpful in the education of our daughter, but was more or less used by the Lord in His service to the praise of His name. She was a very good arithmetician, which for thirty-four years was a great help to me; for she habitually examined month by month all the account books, and the hundreds of bills of the matrons of the various Orphan-Houses; and should any tradesman or matron haye made the least mistake, it would be surely found out by her.
But, in addition to the good education of a lady, she possessed — what in our days is so rare among ladies — a thorough knowledge of useful needlework of every kind, and an excellent knowledge of the quality of material for clothes, linen, etc., and thus became so eminently useful as the wife of the director of the Orphan-Houses, where hundreds of thousands of yards of material of all kinds had to be ordered by her, and to be approved of or to be rejected. My beloved wife could do fancy needlework as other ladies, and had done it when young, but she did not thus occupy her time, except she would with her own dear hands now and then net a purse for her husband while she was in the country for change of air. Her occupation had habitually a useful end. It was to get ready the many hundreds of neat little beds for the dear Orphans, most of whom had never seen such beds, far less slept in them, that she laboured. It was to get good blankets that she was busied, thus to serve the Lord Jesus, in caring for these dear bereaved children, who had not a mother or father to care for them. It was to provide numberless other useful things in the Orphan-Houses, and especially for the sick rooms of the Orphans, that, day by day, except on the Lord’s-days, she was seen in the Orphan-Houses. The knowledge which is useful to help the needy, to alleviate suffering, to make a useful wife, a useful mother, how far above the value of doing fancy work! Mrs. Müller pre-eminently possessed and valued useful knowledge. She and her dear sisters had been brought up by a wise as well as a loving mother, who saw to it that, while there was nothing spared with regard to a good school, and the attendance of good masters, etc., her daughters should, also, be eminent in useful knowledge. May Christian mothers who hear me now, take heed, that their daughters have an education which will make them useful wives and useful mothers.
Happiness of ther Married Life.
We have seen now, that God Himself had given me my beloved wife; we have also seen how suitable she was to me; and in the gift of such a wife, a good foundation for real conjugal happiness was laid. And were we happy? Verily we were. With every year our happiness increased more and more. I never saw my beloved wife at any time, when I met her unexpectedly anywhere in Bristol, without being delighted so to do. I never met her even in the Orphan-Houses, without my heart being delighted so to do. Day by day, as we met in our dressing room at the Orphan-Houses, to wash our hands before dinner and tea, I was delighted to meet her, and she was equally pleased to see me. Thousands of times J told her — ‘“‘ My darling, I never saw you at any time since you became my wife, without my being delighted to see you.” This was not only our way in the first year of our marriage union, nor in the tenth, in the twentieth, and in the thirtieth year, but also in the fortieth year of our conjugal life. Thus I spoke to her many times since the seventh of October, 1869. Further, day after day, if anyhow it could be done, I spent after dinner twenty minutes or half an hour with her in her room at the Orphan-Houses, seated on her couch, which a Christian brother had sent her in the year 1860, when she was, for about nine months, so ill with rheumatism. I knew that it was good for her that her dear active mind and hands should have rest, and I knew well that this would not be, except her husband was by her side; moreover, I also needed a little rest after dinner, on account of my weak digestive powers; and therefore I spent these precious moments with my darling wife. There we sat, side by side, her hand in mine, as an habitual thing, having a few words of loving intercourse, or being silent, but most happy in the Lord, and in each other.
And thus it was many times since October 7th, 1869, viz., in the fortieth year of our conjugal life. Our happiness in God, and in each other, was indescribable. We had not some happy days every year, nor a month of happiness every year; but we had twelve months of happiness in the year, and thus year after year. Often and often did I say to that beloved one, and this again and again even in the fortieth year of our conjugal union — * My darling, do you think there is a couple in Bristol, or in the world, happier than we are?” Why do I refer to all this To show what a remarkably great blessing to a husband is a truly godly wife, who also in other respects is fitted for him.
But while I own in the fullest degree, that the foundation of true spiritual happiness in our marriage life was laid, in that my dearest wife was a decided Christian, and fitted for me by God in other respects, and thus given to me by Him; yet, at the same time, I am most fully convinced that this was not enough for the continuation of real conjugal happiness during a course of thirty-nine years and four months, had there not been more. I therefore must add here the following points : —
(1) Both of us, by God’s grace, had one object of life, and only one — to live for Christ. Everything else was of a very inferior character to us. However weak and failing in a variety of ways, there’ was no swerving from this one holy object of life. This godly purpose, and the godly aim, day by day, to carry out this purpose, greatly added — of necessity added — to true happiness, and therefore, to an increase of conjugal happiness also. Should this be wanting in any two Christians who are united by marriage ties, let them not be surprised if conjugal happiness, real conjugal happiness, is also wanting.
(2) We had the blessing of having an abundance of work to do, and we did that work; by God’s grace we gave ourselves to it; and this abundance of work greatly tended, instrumentally, to the increase of our happiness. Our mornings never began with the uncertainty of how to spend the day, and what to do; for as the day began, we had always an abundance of work. I reckon this a special blessing, and it greatly increased our happiness, and sweetened exceedingly the little while we had for rest in each other’s society. Many, even true Christians, make the mistake of aiming after a position in which they may be free from work, and have all their time on hand. They know not that they wish for some very great evil, instead of some very great blessing. They forget that they desire a time, when, for want of regular occupation, they will be particularly exposed to temptation.
(3) But great as habitually our occupation was, we never allowed this to interfere with the care about our own souls. Before we went to work, we had, as an habitual practice, our seasons for prayer and reading the Holy Scriptures. Should the children of God neglect this, and let their work, or service for God, interfere with caring about their own souls, they cannot, for any length of time, be happy in God; and their conjugal happiness must also suffer on account of it.
(4) Lastly and most of all to be noticed is this: we had for many years past, whether twenty or thirty years or more I do not know, besides our seasons for private prayer and family prayer, also habitually our seasons for praying together. For many years my precious wife and I had, immediately after family prayer, in the morning, a short time for prayer together, when the most important points for thanksgiving, or the most important points for prayer, with regard to the day, were brought
before God. “Should very heavy trials press on us, or should our need of any kind be particularly great, we prayed again after dinner, when I visited her in her room, as stated before; and this, at times of extraordinary difficulties or necessities, might be repeated once or twice more in the afternoon; yet very rarely was this the case. Then in the evening, during the last hour of our stay at the Orphan-Houses, though our work was never so much, it was an habitually understood thing, that this hour was for prayer. My beloved wife came then to my room, and now our prayer, and supplication, and intercession, mingled with thanksgiving, lasted generally forty minutes, fifty minutes, and sometimes the whole hour. At these seasons we brought perhaps fifty or more different points, or persons, or circumstances before God. The burden of our prayer was generally of the same character, except when prayers were turned into praises, or when fresh points were added, or when peculiar mercies or blessings, or peculiar difficulties and trials, led, during a part of the time, to a variation. We never thus met for prayer without having, on various accounts, cause for thanksgiving; but, at the same time, our seasons for prayer never arrived without our having abundant cause for casting our burden upon the Lord. These seasons for united prayer, I mean in addition to the family prayer, I particularly commend to all Christian husbands and wives. I judge that it was in our own history the great secret for the continuation not only of conjugal happiness, but of the love to each other, which was even more abundantly fresh and warm than it had been during the first year, though we were then exceedingly fond of each other.
I now pass on to the second part of our precious text : —
II. The Lord was good, and doing good, in so long leaving to me my precious wife.
I will now endeavour to show that God’s hand was most distinctly seen in leaving her to me as a companion in joy, and sorrow, and service, for thirty-nine years and four months. I have stated before that we were married on October 7th, 1830. In August, 1831, my beloved wife was in suffering of the severest kind. Her life had been in the greatest danger, humanly speaking, and remained in the greatest danger for several weeks, so that two medical gentlemen visited her daily, or even two or three times a day. That she did not sink at that time, but was raised up again, and given back to me for thirty-eight years and six months more, was of God, and was, I believe, the result of my most earnestly crying to God for this blessing. But my dearest wife never was fully again in health and strength what she had been before.
The second time when her life was again, humanly speaking, in the greatest danger, was four months after our arrival in Bristol, on September 16th, 1832. She was in the greatest danger. I was the whole night in prayer. But God had mercy on me, and not only spared my precious wife to me, but made her also the living mother of a living child. Our beloved daughter was given to us on September 17th, 1832.
In 1835 she was staying in the house of a Christian friend at Stoke Bishop, and, while out walking, suddenly a carriage drove up and turned speedily round, and my beloved wife was all but killed; but God in a marked way preserved her life, though she was somewhat bruised by falling whilst she sought to save her life.
On June 12th, 1838, my beloved wife was taken ill. She continued in most severe sufferings from a little after nine until midnight. Thus hour after hour passed away, until eleven the next morning. Another medical gentleman was then called in at the desire of the one who attended her. The whole of the night I was in prayer, as far as my strength allowed me. I cried at last for MERCY, and God heard me. For more than a fortnight her two medical attendants came twice or three times daily. Her life was in the greatest danger, humanly speaking. But this time also He who “7s good, and doeth good”’ gave her back to me, to leave her yet thirty-one years and six months longer to me, and to make her more useful to me, and in the Orphan work, than ever.
In 1845 my beloved wife accompanied me the second time to Germany. Soon after our arrival in Stuttgart she was taken very ill; but God restored her then also, and gave her back to me.
In the summer of 1859 she complained about the weakness of her left arm, which increased after a time more and more; and towards the end of October, being exposed to a draught, this weak left arm became exceedingly painful, and, after a day or two, swelled greatly, and especially her hand became greatly enlarged. Now that very ring, which at the wedding on October 7th, 1830, I had put on her finger, needed to be broken off. Her arm and hand became worse, and continued thus week after week. That room, in which I had been in the habit of paying those happy visits to my beloved wife after dinner and at other times, was now, week after week, for a long time without her. But this was the state of my heart at that time. When this most heavy affliction began, I said to myself, Twenty-nine years the Lord has given me this precious wife with comparatively little illness, and shall I now be dissatisfied, because He has been pleased to afflict her thus, in the thirtieth year of our conjugal union? Nay, it becomes me rather to be very grateful for having had her so long in comparatively good health, and fully to submit myself to the will of the Lord. This my soul was enabled to do. Keenly as I felt her absence from the Orphan work for almost nine months, with the exception of a very few times, when she drove up to give various directions, yet, as I saw the hand of God in the whole, and was enabled to take the
whole out of His hand, my soul was kept in peace, whilst day by day we were able still to have our precious seasons for prayer, and whilst day by day also we entreated God, that, if it might be, He would graciously be pleased yet to restore that feeble arm and hand again, and spare her longer to me for service.
At last, in April, 1860, my dearest wife was brought so far, that our kind and most attentive medical attendant could recommend her to go to Clevedon and use the warm sea-baths for the benefit of her arm and hand. I therefore took her to Clevedon, our daughter remaining with her, and I went down as often as I could. The warm sea-baths seemed to agree with her well, and progress appeared to be made, when, one day, returning from the bath, she slipped as she was stepping out of the road on the footpath near her lodgings, fell against the wall with her head, and on her weak arm, which she carried in a sling, and which had made her so helpless in not being able to break the fall. She seemed as dead, and our dear daughter ran to the lodgings to get help. But when she returned, her dear mother, who had been stunned by the fall, had revived, and could be moved to her bed. All now seemed gloomy and dark indeed. The prospect of removal of the rheumatism from the arm and hand appeared entirely gone, and my precious wife was worse than ever. I now went down evening after evening to Clevedon, after the day’s work on Ashley Down, to wait on her by night. Her suffering was very great for some time; but gradually this wore off, and she was brought back to the state in which she had been when she first went to Clevedon, and, after a stay of more than three months at Clevedon, there had been granted considerable improvement.
She now returned to Bristol, spent about six weeks at home, and I then took her and my daughter to Teignmouth for a month, that she might have further change of air, and further, the use of warm sea-baths.
By the time we returned from Teignmouth, my dearest wife was so far restored as to the use of her arm and hand, that she could take her work again at the Orphan-Houses, and her dear hand was so far reduced in size, that her wedding ring, being put together again by a jeweller, could be put on again. How good was the Lord in sparing to me my dearest wife in this illness in 1859! How good to me, in that she was not killed on the spot, when she had that heavy fall at Clevedon! I magnify Him for it! He “zs good, and doeth good.”
But I cannot dismiss this part, without noticing one point in particular. My dearest wife had worked so hard in 1856, 1857, 1858, and 1859, when, through the opening of the New Orphan-House No. 2, and the prospect of the opening of the New Orphan-House No. 3, there was such an abundance of work, that her health had been brought into a very low state, and her strength had been greatly reduced. I begged her not to work so much, but it was in vain; she loved work; she never could bear to be idle. And thus it came, on account of her very low state of health, that the rheumatism had so much effect on her. But now see how the Lord worked. This very illness, most painful though it was to her, and most trying as it was to me, became God’s precious instrument in sparing to the Orphans their true friend, and to her own dear sisters a sister, to her own daughter a mother, and to her poor husband a precious wife for ten years more. This very illness obliged her to rest, beyond what she otherwise would have done. She was also medically ordered to take more nourishment than otherwise she would have taken; and by October, 1860, she was in a far better state of health than she had been for years. How true that word, therefore, in this instance: “‘ We know that all things work together for good to them that love God” (Rom. viii. 28). We have seen now how good the Lord was to me in sparing my dearest wife to me thirty-nine years and four months, as she might have been removed from me far sooner. It now lastly remains to show —
II. That the Lord is good and was doing good in the removal of the desire of my eyes.
Perhaps all Christians who have heard me, will have no difficulty in giving their hearty assent that the Lord was good, and doing good, in giving me such a wife; and they will also, probably, most readily admit that He was good, and doing good, in leaving her to me so long; but I ask these dear Christian friends to go further with me, and to say from their hearts, the Lord was good, and doing good, in the removal of that useful, lovely, excellent wife from her husband, and that at the very time when, humanly speaking, he needed her more than ever. While I am saying this, I feel the void in my heart. That lovely one is no more with me, to share my joys and sorrows. Every day I miss her more and more. Every day I see more and more how great her loss to the Orphans. Yet, without an effort, my inmost soul habitually joys in the joy of that loved departed one. Her happiness gives joy to me. My dear daughter and I would not have her back, were it possible to produce it by the turn of the hand. God Himself has done it; we are satisfied with Him.
During the last two or three years it was most obvious to my loving heart and eye, that my precious companion for so many years was again failing in her health. She did not only considerably lose flesh, but evidently seemed much more worn than she used to be. I begged her to work less, and to take more nourishment; but I could neither prevail as to the one, nor the other. When I expressed my sorrow, that she lay awake at night for two hours or more, she would say, “My dear, I am getting old, and old persons do not need so much sleep.” When I brought before her that I feared that her health would be again reduced, as in 1859, and that I feared the worst, she would say, “My
darling, I think the Lord will allow me to see the New Orphan-Houses, No. 4 and No. 5, furnished and opened, and then I may go home; but most of all I wish that the Lord Jesus would come, and that we might all go together.”
Thus her dear mind and hands would be at work, and as there was such an abundance of work in such a great variety of ways to be done, she was generally all the day at work at the Orphan-Houses. Under these circumstances she caught cold in the early part of January, which brought on a most distressing cough. With difficulty only I could prevail on her to allow me to send for our dear medical friend; for she ever made little of her own illnesses, whilst most solicitous about the health of others, especially myself and daughter and her sisters. I now pressed affectionately upon her to drive to and from the Orphan-Houses, also to lie down a little on her couch after dinner, which had been advised by our kind medical friend. Still my precious wife would not allow that there was much the matter with her. Through the medical means, the entirely avoiding night air, going to and fro in a cab, when she went to the Orphan-Houses, the use of a more generous and somewhat altered diet, and resting a little more than usual, the distressing cough was so entirely removed, that scarcely the least trace of it remained, and my beloved one was again able to go out to public worship in a cab on the mornings of the Lord’s-days, January 23rd and 30th, but stayed at home in the evenings, to avoid a return of the cough.
On Sunday, January 30th, there was an additional reason for not going out in the evening, because she felt a pain across the lower part of her back, and in her right arm. This pain was rather worse on Monday, January 31st, and we considered it better to send for our dear medical friend, to call and see her, if possible before we started for the Orphan-Houses; but as he was already from home, visiting his patients, my dear wife set off in a cab for the Orphan-Houses, our daughter accompanying her mother, to work for her under her direction, as it was feared her pain would prevent her doing anything actively herself. The day passed tolerably, though the pain increased. At tea-time she drove home with her sister, Miss Groves, who also had been for weeks in a very feeble state of health, and with my daughter; I remained, to go in the evening to our usual public prayer-meeting. When I came home, I found our dear medical friend had been and ordered my dearest wife to bed, and to remain in bed, and to have a fire lighted in her bedroom, stating that it was rheumatic fever. She suffered much pain during the following night, but the next day, and the night from Tuesday to Wednesday especially, the pain was still more severe, and her limbs became one by one so painful, that she could neither move them, nor bear them to be touched, except the arm and hand which had been so weak ten years before.
When I heard what the doctor’s judgment was, viz., that the malady was rheumatic fever, I naturally expected the worst as to the issue; but though my heart was nigh to be broken, on account of the depth of my affection, I said to myself, “The Lord is good, and doeth good,” all will be according to His own blessed character. Nothing but that, which is good, like Himself, can proceed from Him. If He pleases to take my dearest wife, it will be good, like Himself. What I have to do, as His child, is to be satisfied with what my Father ‘does, that I may glorify Him. After this my soul not only aimed at, but this, my soul, by God’s grace, attained to. I was satisfied with God.
On Tuesday, February Ist, I was alone in the room of my precious wife at the Orphan-Houses. She was at home in bed, a thing which had not been the case for more than nine years. There were hanging in her room a number of precious texts from the Holy Scriptures, printed in large type, arranged for each day in the month, called ‘‘ The Silent Comforter.” The sheet then turned up, contained these words, “J know, O Lord, that Thy judgments are right, and that Thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me” (Ps. cxix. 75). I read this again and again, and each time my inmost soul responded, “Yes, Lord, Thy judgments are right, I am satisfied with them. Thou knowest the depth of the affection of Thy poor child for his beloved wife, yet I am satisfied with Thy judgments; and my inmost soul says, that Thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me. All this is according to that love, with which Thou hast loved me in Christ Jesus, and whatever the issue, all will be well.” There was also written on that sheet of “The Silent Comforter,” “My times are in Thy hand” (Ps. xxxi. 15). My heart responded, in reading these words, “‘ Yes, my Father, the times of my darling wife are in Thy hands. Thou wilt do the very best thing for her and for me, whether life or death. If it may be, raise up yet again my precious wife — Thou art able to do it, though she is so ill; but howsoever Thou dealest with me, only help me to continue to be perfectly satisfied with Thy holy will.’ During the whole week, whilst my beloved wife was lying on her death-bed, these lines of the precious hymn — “One there is above all others — O how He loves!” were ever present with me:
“Best of Blessings He’ll provide us,
Nought but good shall e’er betide us,
Safe to glory He will guide us,
Oh how He loves!”
My heart continually responded — Nought but good shall e’er betide us.” My inmost soul was assured, that however my loving Father acted with His poor child, it would be for his good. On Wednesday, February 2nd, my beloved wife being. comparatively free from pain, I read to her, before I went to the Orphan-Houses, this verse out of the eighty-fourth Psalm — “The Lord God is a sun and shield: the Lord will give grace and glory: no good thing will He withhold from them that walk wprighily.” Having read the verse, I said, “My darling, we have both received grace, and we shall therefore receive glory; and as, by God’s grace, we walk uprightly, nothing that is good for us will He withhold from us.” She evidently was blessed through this verse, for she spoke about it to our daughter in the course of the day. To my own heart the verse was a great support, for I said to myself again and again, “I walk uprightly, and therefore my Father will withhold nothing from me, that is good for me; if therefore the restoration of my dearest wife is good for me, it will be surely given; if otherwise, I have to seek to glorify God by most perfect submission to His holy will.”
On Thursday, I saw how grave the doctor considered the case to be. On Friday evening he said, that it would be a comfort to him for another medical man to see Mrs. Müller, as the case was a very grave one. I told him, that I was perfectly satisfied with his treatment, but if it would at all be a comfort to himself, to make an appointment for a consultation. This, however, could not be till Sunday, the 6th of February, as the consultant would be out of town on Saturday. Saturday morning I stayed home till nearly dinner-time, to be with the dear invalid as long as I possibly could; and when at last I left her, I said, “My darling, I am sorry to have to leave you, but I shall return as soon as can.” She sweetly replied, “You leave me with Jesus.” When I came home, she was about the same as when I had left her; but during that night, her pains and sufferings exceeded the pains she had had before. I was almost the whole of the night seeking in one shape or other to alleviate her suffering, and the trial she now had, that she had not the use of one of her limbs. At last, from two to four in the morning, she was easier; but the sufferings of that night brought her soon to the close of her earthly pilgrimage.
About ten in the morning all hope of recovery was gone. I felt it now my duty to tell my precious wife, that the Lord Jesus was coming for her. Her reply was, ‘‘ He will soon come.” By this, I believe, she meant to indicate the Lord will soon return, and we shall be re-united. As there was yet life, I felt it my duty to do, to the last, everything that medical skill could devise, and that love on my part could do. At 1.30 p.m., when I gave her the medicine, and a little later a spoonful of wine in water, she had difficulty in swallowing, and a few minutes later, she could not distinctly articulate. She tried to make me to understand, but I could not. I sat quietly before her, and about a quarter of an hour later I observed that her dear bright eyes were set. I now called my dear daughter and her aunt, Miss Groves, stating that the loved one was dying. They at once came to the bedroom, and we were presently joined by Mrs. Mannering, another sister of my dearest wife. We all four sat quietly for about two hours and a half, watching the last moments of that much loved one, when about twenty minutes after four in the afternoon of Lord’s-day, February 6th, 1870, she fell asleep in Jesus. I then fell on my knees and thanked God for her release, and for having taken her to Himself, and asked the Lord to help and support us.
My soul was so sustained, and so peaceful, that if I had physical strength, and had I not had plain home duties, T could ree preached immediately after; and the portion on which
I should have preached would have been the one which forms the text of this sermon.
Two years ago, my daughter had seen the following, written by her dear mother, in one of her pocket-books, kept at the Orphan-Houses, of which I knew nothing, but which precious jewel my dear ‘daughter pointed out to me two days after the death of her dear mother, and which is now before me. The words written are these — Should it please the Lord, to remove M. M. (Mary Müller) by a sudden dismissal, let none of the beloved survivors consider that it is in the way of judgment, either to her or to them. She has so often, when enjoying conscious nearness to the Lord, felt how sweet it would be, now to depart and to be for ever with Jesus, that nothing but the shock it would be to her beloved husband and child, ete., has checked in her the longing desire, that thus her happy spirit might take its flight. Precious Jesus! Thy will in this as in everything else, and not hers, be done.’ With such words before me, and knowing besides, as I do, the deep personal attachment my dearest wife had to that Blessed One who hung for us on the cross, can it be otherwise than that my inmost soul should rejoice in the j joy which my loved one has now, in being with the Lord Jesus for ever? The depth of my love for her is rejoicing in her joy. Remember that word of our Lord, “Jf ye loved Me, ye would ‘rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father” (John xiv. 28). As a husband, I feel more and more every day, that I am without this pleasant, useful, loving companion, As the Director of the Orphan-Houses, I miss her in numberless ways, and shall miss her yet more and more. But as a child of God, and as a servant of the Lord Jesus, I bow, I am satisfied with the will of my Heavenly Father, I seek by perfect submission to His holy will to glorify Him, I kiss continually the hand that has thus afflicted me; but I also say, I shall meet her again, to spend a happy eternity with her. Will all who hear me now meet my precious wife? Only those will who have passed sentence upon themselves as guilty sinners, and who have put their trust alone in the Lord Jesus for the salvation of their souls. He came into the world to save sinners, and all who believe in Him will be saved; but without faith in the Lord Jesus, we cannot be saved. Let all those, who are as yet not
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reconciled to God, by faith in the Lord Jesus, be in earnestness about their souls, lest suddenly a fever should lay them low and find them unprepared, or lest suddenly the Lord Jesus should return again, before they are prepared to meet Him. May the Lord in mercy grant that this may not be the case. Amen.
The reader has seen, from the Sermon, how much I was sustained, when thus bereaved, and now (1874) I would say, to the praise of God, that without one moment’s exception, I was enabled most fully to bow under the hand of God, and to be to the full satisfied with His holy pleasure. But while thus enabled to glorify God by perfect submission to His will, I, at the same time, felt myself deeply bereaved. In Jesus I found, as in my never failing friend, my repose and solace; my soul was unspeakably blessed through this bereavement; but my earthly joy was all but gone, with the exception that I had left a most beloved, a most affectionate daughter, who for twenty-four years as a believer had been to her parents all they could wish. When now, between eight and nine o’clock in the evenings, I went home from the Orphan-Houses, instead of in company with my beloved wife, as for so many years past (for she was always with me), I said to myself, “I shall not meet my beloved wife at home, but I shall meet the Lord Jesus, my precious Friend; He will comfort me;” and I thanked God, that He had left to me my beloved daughter, who always watched for my arrival, to greet me, and did all she could to soothe my bereaved heart. But the loss was great, the wound was deep, and, as weeks and months passed on, while continuing habitually not only to be satisfied with God, but also to praise Him, for what He had done in thus bereaving me, the wound seemed to deepen instead of being healed, and the bereavement to be felt more and more.
December 31st. During this year the Lord has been pleased to give me £2,067 9s. 9d.
1871.
Miss Müller married to Mr. Wright.
August 4th. To-day Mr. Wright, my principal helper in the work of the Scriptural Knowledge Institution, asked for the hand of my beloved daughter. This request was as unlooked for on my part as anything could have been, while, at the same time I knew no one to whom I could so willingly entrust this, my choicest earthly treasure. My beloved daughter had the greatest conflict in her mind for about two weeks, before she accepted this offer, her only and great difficulty being because of having to leave me. It was only on beseeching her not to let this stand in the way, and pointing out to her how great my comfort and joy would be in seeing her united to such a husband, that she at last decided to accept the offer. They were united in marriage on November 16th.
Mr. Müller Marries again.
The engagement of my beloved daughter, together with a variety of reasons, finally led me to the decision to marry again; as not only from the time of my bereavement I greatly missed my beloved departed wife, in my position, but judged, that now, in the prospect of my beloved daughter’s marriage, it would be the best for me. This decision, as one of the deepest importance, was come to in the fear of God, and in the full assurance that I had the sanction and approval of my Heavenly Father. I married, on November 30th, 1871, Miss Susannah Grace Sangar, whom I had known for more than twenty-five years as a consistent Christian, and regarding whom I had every reason to believe that she would prove a great helper to me in my various services.
December 31st. During this year the Lord has been pleased to give me £2,171 17s. 1d.
1872.
Mr. Wright appointed Co-Director.
May 26th. For more than twenty years it had been stated to me again and again, by many different individuals, “‘ What, Mr. Müller, will become of the Orphan-Houses when you are removed?” My reply was, invariably, “The Orphan-Houses and the land belonging to them are vested in the hands of eleven trustees, and therefore the Institution stands on the same footing in this particular, as other charitable institutions.” Then I heard it said, in reply, again and again, “But where will you find the man who will carry on the work in the same spirit in which you do, trusting only in God for everything that in any way is needed in connection with the work?” My answer to this was always something like this: “‘ When the Lord shall have been pleased to remove me from my post, He will prove that He was not dependant on me, and that He could easily raise up another servant of His, to act on the same principles on which I have sought to carry on this work.” It was also stated to me again and again, by Christian friends, that I ought to pray that God would raise up a successor to me in the work. To this I generally replied, that I did so; and I have now the joy of announcing to the reader, that God has been pleased to give me the desire of my heart. In my son-in-law, Mr. James Wright, I have found what I had longed for, and prayed for, even a helper in assisting me in the direction of the Institution, and, in the event of my removal, a successor.
But lest any, who neither know me nor him, should suppose that, because Mr. Wright is my son-in-law, I have chosen him for this post, I state the following particulars. Mr.’ Wright was known to me for thirty-one years as a consistent Christian. From his boyhood, when he was brought to the knowledge of the Lord, I have known him; and for above twenty years I
had especially good opportunity of watching his most consistent, godly deportment. During thirteen -years, previous to May, 1872, he had been one of my most valuable helpers in the work of the Institution, I may say my right hand, in all the most important matters. As long as twelve years before May, 1872, my beloved departed wife and I began to pray regarding him, that God would fit him more and more to become my successor. This prayer was repeated hundreds of times during the lifetime of my late beloved wife, and both of us became more and more assured, that, in Mr. Wright, God had given to us what we desired regarding this point.
In February, 1870, my beloved wife was taken, and about ten days after I became very unwell. During this time it was, when the late Mrs. Wright was in her usual health, and when there was therefore not as much as a shadow of appearance that Mr. Wright would ever become my son-in-law, I sent for him and opened my mind to him, that I considered it to be the will of God that he should become my successor. His great humility, however, found a number of reasons, why he considered himself unfit for it, none of which I could allow to stand in the way as a hindrance, as I knew him so well with regard to his fitness. A second difficulty was this, his excellent Christian wife considered that he would be greatly burdened by accepting my proposal, and therefore sought to induce him not to accept it. After some weeks, however, her mind was altered on the subject, and she yielded her objections, if he saw it to be the will of God. Mr. Wright then, after long hesitation, came to the conclusion that it would not be his duty any longer to refuse.
It was eighteen months after I had spoken to him on the subject, that he asked for the hand of my daughter, a thing of which I had not the faintest thought, though so intimate with him. I have been so minute in all this, that there may not remain in the mind of any of the readers the slightest thought that the relationship in which Mr. Wright now stands to me has had anything to do with my uniting him with me in the direction of the Institution, and appointing him as my successor.
By the Lord’s kindness I am able to work as heretofore, I may say with little hindrance through ilmess; yet I cannot conceal from myself, that it is of great importance for the work that I should obtain a measure of relief. This relief, however, can be really only given to me by one who stands in a similar position to the work, and who, when I am away, or when I may feel it desirable to have real rest, could do all I ordinarily do in directing. On this account, therefore, I not only appointed Mr. Wright as my successor, in the event of my death, but from May 26th, 1872, associated him also with me in the direction of the Institution, which year by year increases in extent; and I cannot describe my joy, in having found im him a successor, in the event of my death.
1872 and 1875. December 31st, 1872. During this year the Lord has been pleased to give me £2,240 17s. 5d. December 31st, 1873. During this year the Lord has been pleased to give me £2,770 8s. 1d.
1874.
Mr. Müller’s influence in the Irish Revival.
In very many instances the reading of the Reports of the Institution, or the “Narrative of the Lord’s Dealings” with me, has been blessed by God to the conversion of those who knew not our Lord Jesus. In many thousands of instances, likewise, believers have been benefited through them, being thereby comforted, encouraged, led more simply to the Holy Scriptures, led more fully to trust in God for everything, in a word, led, in a greater or less degree, to walk in the same path of faith in which the writer, by the help of God, is walking. The many thousands of instances of blessing which have been brought before me during the past thirty-six years (for almost daily I have heard of fresh cases), have only still further led me to earnestness in prayer, that the Lord would condescend to use these publications still more, and make them a blessing to many tens of thousands of His children, and to many tens of thousands of the unconverted. And now the reader will rejoice with me, when he reads what follows. I am led to relate the following, that the godly reader more than ever may be encouraged to prayer, and also, that an accurate statement may be given of this fact, which has been referred to in many public places in connection with Revival meetings, and which, likewise, has been several times ‘stated in print.
In November, 1856, a young Irishman, Mr. James McQuilkin, was brought to the knowledge of the Lord. Soon after his conversion he saw the first two volumes of my Narrative advertised. He had a great desire to read it, and procured it accordingly about January, 1857. God blessed it greatly to his soul, especially in showing to him what could be obtained by prayer. He said to himself something like this: “See what Mr. Müller obtains simply by prayer. Thus I may obtain blessing by prayer.”
He now set himself to pray, that the Lord would give him a spiritual companion, one who knew the Lord. Soon after he became acquainted with a young man who was a believer. These two began a prayer-meeting in one of the Sunday-Schools in the parish of Connor. Having his prayer answered in obtaining a spiritual companion, Mr. James McQuilkin asked the Lord to lead him to become acquainted with some more of His hidden ones. Soon after the Lord gave him two more young men, who were believers previously, as far as he could judge.
In Autumn, 1857, Mr. James McQuilkin stated to these three young men, given him in answer to believing prayer, what blessing he had derived from my Narrative, how it had led him to see the power of believing prayer; and he proposed that they should meet for prayer to seek the Lord’s blessing upon their various labours in the Sunday-Schools, prayer-meetings, and preaching of the Gospel. Accordingly in Autumn, 1857, these four young men met together for prayer in a small schoolhouse near the village of Kells, in the parish of Connor, every Friday evening. By this time the great and mighty working of the Spirit in 1857, in the United States, had become known, and Mr. James McQuilkin said to himself, “Why may we not have such a blessed work here, seeing that God did such great things for Mr. Müller, simply in answer to prayer?”
On January Ist, 1858, the Lord gave them the first remarkable answer to prayer in the conversion of a farm servant. He was taken into the number, and thus there were five who gave themselves to prayer. Shortly after, another young man, about twenty years old, was converted; there were now six. This greatly encouraged the other three who first had met with Mr. James McQuilkin. Others now were converted, who were also taken into the number; but only believers were admitted to these fellowship meetings, in which they read, prayed, and offered to each other a few thoughts from the Scriptures. These meetings and others for the preaching of the Gospel were held in the parish of Connor, Antrim, Ireland. Up to this time all was going on most quietly, though many souls were converted. There were no physical prostrations, as afterwards. About Christmas, 1858, a young man from Ahoghill, who had come to live at Connor, and who had been converted through this little company of believers, went to see his friends at Ahoghill, and spoke to them about their souls, and the work of God at Connor. His friends desired to see some of these converts. Accordingly Mr. James McQuilkin, with two of the first who met for prayer, went on February 2nd, 1859, and held a meeting at Ahoghill in one of the Presbyterian Churches. Some believed, some mocked, and others thought there was a great deal of presumption in these young converts; yet many wished to have another meeting. This was held by the same three young men on February 16th, 1859; and now the Spirit of God began to work, and to work mightily. Souls were converted, and from that time conversions multiplied rapidly. Some of these converts went to other places, and carried the spiritual fire, so to speak, with them. The blessed work of the Spirit of God spread in many places.
On April 5th, 1859, Mr. James McQuilkin went to Ballymena, held a meeting there in one of the Presbyterian Churches; and on April 11th held another meeting in another of the Presbyterian Churches. Several were convinced of sin, and the work of the
Spirit of God went forward in Ballymena. On May 28th, 1859, he went to Belfast. During the first week there were meetings held in five different Presbyterian Churches, and from that time the blessed work commenced at Belfast. In all these visits he was accompanied and helped by Mr. Jeremiah Meneely, one of the three young men who first met with him, after the reading of my Narrative. From this time the work of the Holy Ghost spread further and further; for the young converts were used by the Lord to carry the truth from one place to another.
Such was the beginning of that mighty work of the Holy Spirit, which has led to the conversion of hundreds of thousands; for some of my readers will remember how in 1859 this fire was kindled in England, Wales, and Scotland; how it spread through Ireland, England, Wales, and Scotland; how the Continent of Europe was more or less partaking of this mighty working of the Holy Spirit; how it led thousands to give themselves to the work of Evangelists; and how, up to the year 1874, not only the effects of this work, first begun in Ireland, are felt, but that still more or less this blessed work is going on in Europe generally. It is almost needless to add, that in no degree the honour is due to the instruments, but to the Holy Spirit alone; yet these facts are stated in order that it may be seen, what delight God has in answering abundantly the believing prayer of His children.
Amounts given away each year from 1831 to 1885.
May 29th. While I have often written, within the last thirty years, on “Stewardship,” on “Systematic giving, as the Lord is pleased to prosper us,” on “Not laying up treasure on earth,” and the blessing, both temporal and spiritual, the sure fruit of acting on those principles, I have only alluded to myself with reference to these points, without stating in figures how T had acted. This I purpose now to do, from the time that T began to carry out these principles in my own life. It is not the praise of men that I seek, but the glory of God, and the real good and profit of my beloved fellow-disciples, hoping that they may be led to act on the same principles, if they have not done so already. The last few months of the year 1830 I omit, and begin with the year 1831. During this year it pleased the Lord to give to me, after I had given up my emolument in connection with my pastoral position in the Church at Teignmouth, £151 18s. 8d. Out of this £151 18s. 8d. we gave away during that year £50; T say we, for my beloved wife was altogether of one mind with me in these matters, and as willing to live simply, economically, and savingly for the Lord as I was.
In 1832 my income was £195 3s. You see how the Lord repaid us. The money we had spent for Him, He indeed repaid. He gave not only £50 in return, but nearly four times £50; this is His way. Thus I have found it for 44 years, only with successive years more and more so. During this year we gave away £70. The latter part of this year the Lord gave to us a beloved daughter; but this made no difference in our way of living, or acting. The only difference it did make, if any, was this, to be the more earnestly concerned to lay up treasure in heaven, that she too might partake of the benefit.
In 1833 my income was £267 15s. 81d. You perceive how the Lord had again repaid not only the £70 given to Him during the previous year; but how again nearly four times He was pleased to repay us; for He always sees to it that we shall be His debtors, but that He will not be in debt to us. Of this £267 15s. 84d. we gave away £110; for our lot was now cast in the city of Bristol, among many poor believers, and we counted it an honour and a privilege to give to them according to our ability. This £110 was, of course, not given at once, nor at ten or twenty different times only; but as it pleased the Lord to give to us the means, and as the cases of necessity were brought before us by Him, so we desired grace to give out of that with which He was pleased to entrust us.
In 1834 the Lord was pleased to give to me, altogether, in various forms, £288 Os. 84d., repaying thus again bountifully, and with very large interest, the £110 which had been given away in His work, or among His own poor, or among those who knew Him not, or to one or the other relative who might be in need, Out of this £288 Os. 81d., we gave away £120. We had now two children, the Lord having given to us a little son also, on March 19th, 1834; but this made no difference as to the principles on which we acted.
In 1835 the total of my income was £285 Is. 14d., out of which we gave away £120. You see, esteemed reader, we went on spending our means for the Lord, in the measure in which He was pleased to entrust us with them, and according to the calls which He was pleased in return to make upon us, as His stewards.
In 1836 the Lord was pleased to give to me £232 lls. 9d., out of which we gave away £80. Well, and how did we fare the next year? If we could spare that £80, it may be said, ought we not to have kept it for coming necessities, such as great sickness, falling off of income, loss of friends, etc. We never reckoned thus, but lived by the day, looking to the Lord, remembering the word of our adorable Lord Jesus, “Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof” (Matthew vi. 34). We were not anxiously concerned as to what we should eat, what we should drink, or wherewithal we should be clothed; but we remembered that our Heavenly Father knoweth that we have need of all these things, and that if we sought first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, all these things should be added to us. And just as our adorable Lord said, so have I literally found it to be, for forty-four years.
How then, still the reader may ask, was it in the next year, 1837? The answer is, my income was considerably more than during the previous year; it amounted now to £307 2s. 63d.; thus the £80 given away during the previous year was again nearly four times repaid; and during this year now we gave away £140. You see, dear reader, not the twentieth part of what the Lord gave us, nor the tenth of what He was pleased to entrust us with, though if this were carried out, much more would be given, than now generally is given, by believers; but all we had was the Lord’s, and again and again we stood with our all before the Lord.
Well, you may say, this was a goodly sum, which you gave away in the year 1837, and how did you fare in 1838? Our Heavenly Father repaid us most bountifully. The Lord was pleased, during 1838, to give to me altogether £350 4s. 8d., out of which we gave away £166. By this time the necessities of the Orphan work began to call for our means, and very, very often, the necessities of the hour or the day had to be met out of that which the Lord was pleased to give me for myself; and in this state we continued for about five years, up to 1843, yea, more or less to the year 1848.
This £166 was again bountifully repaid by our Heavenly Father; for in 1839 my income was £313 2s. 5d., out of which we gave away £140.
Now observe the income of 1840. It was altogether £242 8s. 114d. The Lord varied His mode of dealing. There was not more than in the years 1837, 1838, and 1839, but considerably less. Thus often the Lord deals with His children, for the trial of their faith, to benefit them by His dealings, to teach them precious lessons, and to see how they will act under such circumstances. Well, and how did the writer and His beloved wife act? We did not say, the Lord has forsaken us, nor did we say, we must now save up the money, which we do not need. We gave still, as before, according to our ability, though it could not be as much as in the years 1837, 1838, and 1839. We did not say, that it was better to discontinue to act on these principles; but we held it fast, that our way of obedience to God is, to give as He is pleased to prosper us. In the year 1840 we gave away £80 out of our income of £242 8s. 113d.
In 1841 the trial of faith still continued. The whole of my income being only £238 11s. 13d.; but we acted as before, and gave away again that year £80.
In 1842 the total of my income was £329 16s. Od. We had continued to act according to God’s principles in our stewardship, and He was pleased to entrust us now again with more. Out of this amount we gave away £130. We did not say, then, the rented house, in which we live, suited us well, and, on that count, we had better save our money, and buy it; but we remembered, that we were strangers and pilgrims on earth, that as yet we had not entered upon our possessions, which are of a heavenly character, but that we are only God’s stewards of that with which He entrusts us; and therefore we spent our means for Him. I have no hesitation in placing myself side by side with the Christian who in the year 1842 sought to amass wealth, and who has continued to do so, and to ask him, whether he is happier than I am, and whether he has brighter prospects concerning eternity than I have. Oh, that Christian men would seek to cling to the Word of God, and to practise the blessed statements contained therein!
In 1843 the Lord again bountifully repaid what had been spent for Him during the previous year; for my income amounted to £326 1s. L0%d., out of which we gave away £140.
In 1844 my income was £267 6s. 9d., of which we gave away £100.
In 1845 my income was £433 19s, 1?d. Do you see, dear reader, how the Lord was pleased to repay the £100, given away in the year 1844? Wesawit. We knew that word, and believed it, ““There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth; and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, bul ut tendeth to poverty” (Prov. xi. 24). And, therefore, it was our joy and delight yet further to act according to this word, and we gave away, during that year, £220; not indeed for the purpose of obtaining more for it, but to glorify God with the means with which He had been pleased to entrust us, whilst, however, we knew at the same time that He would abundantly repay.
And this He did; for in 1846 my income was £399 2s, 11d., out of which we gave away £180. ‘The reader will perceive that we went on in a steady even course. It is just this which brings in the end such abundant blessing, and which leads to an acquaintance with God which can be only obtained in that way.
In 1847 my income was £412 18s. 8$d., out of which we had the honour of being permitted to give away £180.
In 1848 my income was £474 17s. 7d. You see how bountifully God repaid the £180. Even if my income had been only £180 altogether, yet I ought to have been exceedingly grateful; for every shilling of that amount would have come to me as the result of prayer only from the bountiful hands of my Heavenly Father; but He did not give only what we had given, but He gave nearly three times as much again as we had given. Out of this £474 17s. 7d. we gave away £240.
In 1849 my income was £415 2s. 4d., whereby the £240 was amply repaid, and we had the joy and privilege of giving away £190 of the amount.
In 1850 my income was £402 4s. 5d., out of which we gave away £180.
In 1851 my income was £465 13s. 1d., of which we gave away £220.
In 1852 my income was £445 8s. 84d. I beg the reader to remember, that I had not a single fee, nor any emolument whatever in connection with my pastoral position. I had no fees for burials, baptisms, marriages, or anything else. My aim never was, how much I could obtain, but rather, how much could I give. Moreover, as Director of the Orphan-Houses, labouring as I and my beloved wife did, day after day, and year after year, I might, with all fairness, have taken a handsome remuneration; for, speaking after the manner of men, we earned it; but for many reasons we preferred not to do this, but to leave the supply of our temporal necessities directly to our kind, loving, Heavenly Father; and He provided bountifully for us, and much more than we needed; and He did so, by inclining the hearts of His stewards to remember our need. Since October, 1830, I never asked any one of my fellow-men, either directly or indirectly, to give me anything, when I was in need; nor did I give even the least hint of my necessitous circumstances, whilst in them, but only spoke to my Heavenly Father about them; and He listened to my supplications. Out of the £445 8s. 84d., my income for 1852, we gave away £190. £190, you say; and why did not you save that £190 to put it into the bank? Because we knew a better way, a happier way, a safer way. We did, indeed, lay up treasure; not on earth, but in heaven. We put it into heaven’s Bank, that our benefit derived from it might not be only for time, but for eternity. Moreover, if we had attempted to save money for an investment in houses, or lands, or otherwise, our Heavenly Father would have shut up His hands and no longer supplied us so bountifully as He had been pleased to do; whilst, on the other hand, as we continued to act as stewards and not as owners, with reference to the amount with which it pleased Him to entrust us, He condescended to honour us more and more as stewards; and from this time in particular.
Now see what He gave me in the year 1853. The £190, which we had given during the previous year, God repaid bountifully, in giving me £638 Ils. 8$d.; and being thus made stewards over more, we sought to be jaithful stewards, and only stewards, and not owners, and therefore gave away £368 during this year.
From the end of 1852, as the reader will see, my income now became larger and larger. In 1854 it was £697 11s. 5d., of which we gave away £440.
This again was abundantly repaid; for in 1855 my income was £726 16s. 24d., of which we gave away £466. Some Christians may say, I act as you do; I do not lay up money, I consider that foolish; but I seek to enjoy life, and what I earn by my labour, I spend on my family and on the enjoyments of life; I live, as it is called, up to my income. Do you? is my reply. I have not so learned of my adorable Lord and Master, the Lord Jesus, whose example, and that of the Apostles, I would seek for grace to imitate, howsoever much, as yet, I fall short of the blessed, holy patterns. True enjoyment of life does not consist in seeking how much we can spend on ourselves, to please ourselves, to gratify ourselves; but how much we can minister to the comfort and happiness of others, both temporally and spiritually. Thus the end, for which we are left in the world, after our conversion, is at least in some degree answered. I am far from wishing to bring the children of God into bondage, and to make their consciences to be morbid, in which state there is a constant scruple, as to whether we may spend this sovereign or this shilling or not, on ourselves; and yet, there is verily, on the other hand, a propriety and impropriety as to dress, furniture, house, style of living generally, etc.
In 1856 my income was £781 Os. 7d., and we had now the joy and privilege of being able to give away £500 during that year.
In 1857 my income was £836 11s. 2¢d., and we gave away that year £566.
In 1858 my income was £1,029 Is. 11jd. Yes, dear reader, £1,029 1s. 114d. Exactly thus. It is correct to the farthing. For if anonymous donations came in, they might even contain farthings. You are surprised at the greatness of the amount! Well, it is a large sum; but you see now, from what I have stated in the previous pages, if you had not seen it before, what was the secret of my having so much. It was not because I deserved it. Far less because I begged it of my fellow-men, for I not only never asked any one for anything, nor even gave hints to them directly or indirectly to give to me; but I spoke to God, and to Him only, about my temporal necessities. And then, when it pleased Him to send me more than I required for my family and self, I gladly gave to the Lord’s work, or to the poor, or, should relatives happen to need anything, gave to them also; and so it came, that, acting for God as His steward, at least aiming after doing so, He condescended to entrust me yet more and more with means; made me a steward over more; and gave to me thus yet further and further the joy and honour of communicating to the necessities of others or His own blessed work. Out of the £1,029 1s. 114d. we gave away £768.:
In the year 1859 the total of my income was £1,037 12s. L0yd. You see again by this, how bountifully the Lord was pleased to repay me anything that was given back to Him, out of that which He had been pleased first to give tome. Out of this goodly sum, £1,037 12s. 103d., we gave away £776. Iso well remember, when I used to tell my beloved departed wife, that I had put £100 or £200, or more or less, as the case might be, to the Building Fund of the Orphan-Houses, or to Missions, how she would, with an affectionate smile, say, “Thank you, my dear;” or, if I proposed to her to do so, how I had at once not only her most hearty approval, but she would rejoice at our being able so to do. E also well remember, how many times I said to her and our beloved daughter, ‘‘ My dears, if the Lord should take me away before you, and you should ever be in need of anything,
ask the Lord, in childlike simplicity, that He would graciously be pleased to,repay you a little of that which I gave to the poor, or to His work, and you will find how, without fail, He will do so.”
In 1860 my income was £1,054 9s. O4d., out of which we gave away £800.
In the year 1861 my income was £1,097 12s. 63d. Thisyyear we gave away £847. I had it continually before me, I have but one brief life on earth, that I must make the best of that, and that, therefore, with regard to money, I must lay up treasure in heaven. To me the things of God have been, whatever my weakness and infirmity may be, deep realities for more than forty-four years; and I have been always certain, that when I shall in heaven meet my rich brethren in Christ, who have not acted on earth as stewards, but as owners; or my brethren and sisters in Christ, who as persons in business have sought with all their might to become rich; they will, with deep sorrow, look back upon their want of true wisdom in these things, and lament their way of having acted as they have.
In 1862 it pleased the Lord to give to me altogether £1,067 6s. 114d., of which He was pleased to give to us grace to give away £876 17s. I say He gave to us grace to do so. Let none of my dear readers suppose, that I do not naturally care about money, and that on this account I have given away so much. This would be a great mistake. As in every other respect I have to pray, “Hold Thou me up, and I shall be safe,” so in this particular also. If I were left to myself, I should even now, after all the experience I have had, become a lover of money, and hold it fast, and seek to increase my possessions more and more; for I am naturally a calculating business man. But as long as grace is in exercise, I calculate with regard to the eternity before me, in comparison with the little span of time here on earth; and I also calculate, that since the Lord Jesus became poor, that I through His poverty might be made rich; and that since He shed His blood to save me; it well becomes me to give back to Him in return, of that with which He has been pleased to entrust me, as His steward.
In the year 1863 it pleased the Lord to give to me altogether £1,172 10s. 64d. Do you perceive, in this instance, the truth of the statement of our Lord, to which I have repeatedly referred in the previous part of this volume? “Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal, it shall be measured to you again” (Luke vi. 38). One of the special reasons which leads me to make these statements is, to give a practical illustration of what I have so often stated on this subject; and what could bé more manifest, than that the Lord acted according to His Word, in dealing with me, year after year, with reference to my income, as He did. You see, then, how bountifully the Lord gave back to me the £876 17s., which we had given away during the year 1862, not by sending directly, from Himself, in a miraculous way, but by inclining the hearts of His stewards to send to me. Of this £1,172 10s. 64d. we gave away £961 3s. 8d. during the year 1863.
In the year 1864 my income was still more. It amounted altogether to £1,230 15s. 74d. Notice especially, dear reader, how the Lord dealt with me habitually as I dealt with Him. I depended on Him, I trusted in Him; and I was not confounded in doing so. Moreover, I acted as His steward, I sought also to be a faithful steward; and He was thus pleased to make me, year after year, to be a steward over more. Of this £1,230 15s. 74d. we gave away, in 1864, £1,024 4s. 5d.
In 1865 my income was £1,365 4s. 14d., and of this amount we gave away £1,131 10s. 8d. Do you see how God repaid us? Do you also see the blessedness of such a life? Well, why should not all Christians, in principle, go on in this way? I know of none. All, whom ever I have known, who carried out, in reality, these principles, were happy in doing so, were prospered by God, were owned by God; but there must be persevering reality.
In 1866 my income was still larger. It amounted to £1,602 1s. 64d. Will not my dear fellow-servants in the Gospel, of whatever name, consider before God the Lord’s gracious and faithful dealings with me? Of the £1,602 Is. 63d. we gave away £1,362 13s. 2d. during that year. I remember meeting that year a beloved Christian brother, who in course of conversation said, “Do you not think it right to make provision for one’s wife and children, that they be not a burden to others, after we are gone?” My reply was, ‘“‘ Yes, I seek to do so, by laying up treasure in heaven.” How have matters turned out since 1866% In the year 1870 the Lord took my beloved wife to Himself, and she is thus well provided for; and in 1871 my beloved daughter was married to dear Mr. Wright, and the Lord has thus well provided for her.
In 1867 my income was altogether £1,847 19s. 4$d., of which we gave away £1,579 2s. 2d. See, dear reader, how great the joy, the honour, the privilege, to be allowed to spend £1,579 2s. 2d. in one year for the Lord’s work, or the poor! If all my fellow-believers only knew the blessedness of living the life of trust in God as I do, and of acting on the principles on which I act, they would verily walk in the same road. But, because they know not this blessedness, I write thus, and bring thus minutely in figures these matters before them, if by any means they may be ed to seek to know for themselves the blessedness of this path.
In 1868 my income was £1,838 17s. 43d., of which, by the grace of God, we were enabled to give away £1,557 3s. 6d.
In 1869 my income was £1,800 16s. 103d., of which we were enabled to give away £1,559 10s. 8d.
In 1870 my income amounted altogether to £2,067 9s. 9d. He who had gladly laboured now in the word and doctrine for forty years, without being chargeable to any one, and who during those forty years never had received for any one thing he did in connection with his pastoral position or as preacher of the Gospel, a single fee; and he who had never saved up money for investment or interest, was so well cared for by his Heavenly Father, that his income now amounted to more than £2,000. Now, however, I was bereaved of my beloved wife. The sharer of my joys in these matters was removed, yet my beloved daughter remained to me. She, even as her beloved mother had done before, always showed great delight, when I told her that I had invested for her £100 or £200, or less or more, by giving it to Missions, etc.; and this she did not merely in the year 1870 or in 1871, but had done it many years before, when I had told her of it; for she knew my ways in these things to the full.
Of the £2,067 9s. 9d., the Lord’s kind gift to me for 1870, I was enabled, by the grace of God, to give away £1,713 Is. 7d.
In 1871 my income altogether was £2,171 17s. 1d., of which I gave away £1,570 9s. 11d.
My income in the year 1872 was £2,240 17s. 5d. I had now again a companion in my beloved second wife, who shared my joy when I sent anything to the poor, or gave away otherwise. She had lost the property she once possessed, which, among. other reasons, fitted her the better to be my wife; for if she had been rich, she would not have suited me. I own it freely, that T had joy in the thought that she possessed no property, and that I could make her to share with me the abundance with which it. pleased the Lord to bless me year after year. But after I had made her an offer, I found that she had £200 left, which she gave to me, before our marriage, for the Lord’s work; thus it was seen that in this respect she was of one mind with me. Of the £2,240 17s. 5d., my income in the year 1872, we gave away £1,637 3s. 2d.
In the year 1873 my income was altogether £2,770 8s. 14d., made up to this larger amount than ever, as stated before, by six legacies, which I received during this year, amounting to £1,035 Os. 10d. Out of this £2,770 8s. 1yd., we had grace given to us to give away £1,819 10s. The reader may have observed that the amount left in my hands for family expenses in the years 1871, 1872, and 1873, is greater than in the previous years. This arose not from the fact that I lived now very expensively, much less that I now, after all, invested money; but simply, because I saw not clearly as yet how to spend all which was left over. The year 1874 furnished me, however, with the opportunity of giving away more largely.
The Lord was pleased to give me from January lst, 1874, to May 26th, 1874, £1,204 19s. 25d., within these nearly five months; and from January Ist, 1874, to May 26th, 1874, I gave away £1,739 Os. 7d. The sum given away being above £500 more than my income, leads me to make the following remarks. The reader of the previous pages would be mistaken, if he supposed that, as soon as the Lord has sent me means, my aim is, to seek to get rid of them as fast as possible, as if it were a crime to possess a ten-pound note. This is not at all my way of acting. All] seek after is, to have grace, not to hold anything as my own, but as belonging to the Lord; so that, whether I have much or little, I desire to look on the much or the little as a steward would, and not as an owner. I seek, therefore, for grace, to be willing, to give of that which the Lord has given to me, a part, or, if He would bid me, all. Often the Lord brings before me needy saints; or some needy unbelievers; or special claims in His work; and then I seek to be ready to give as His steward, out of that with which He has entrusted me. This is the explanation, how £1,739 Os. 7d. could be given away by me between January Ist, 1874, and May 26th, 1874, when my income during that time had been only £1,204 19s. 24d., and yet my expenses had been far greater than ever, on account of the illness of my beloved wife.
From what has been stated before, it will be seen that during the forty-three years and five months from January Ist, 1831, to May 26th, 1874, the total of my income was £37,523 3s. 63d., of which, however, more than £26,000 came in during the last sixteen years only. The total amount which, by God’s grace, I was enabled to give away, during these forty-three years and five months, is £27,179 Os. 8d. Of this amount, however, more than £21,700 was given away within the last sixteen years only.
Of the £27,179 Os. 8d., which we gave away from January Ist, 1831, to May 26th, 1874, £22,000 were given to the Lord’s work. The remaining £5,179 Os. 8d. was given to poor believers, or to poor unbelievers, or to relatives who might be in need.
I have no doubt that most of the Christian readers will say, This is a blessed way! It is delightful to be allowed to give away so much! How I should like to be able to do the same, My reply is, Yes, it is a blessed way! It is delightful to be allowed to give away so much. Will you not then try this way for yourself? Give, as God prospers you. Begin with little, if you have not faith enough to begin with much; only give that little, constrained by the love of Christ, heartily, faithfully, steadily. Do not begin, and after a few weeks leave off; but go on steadily, under all circumstances; and you will find that you will be so blessed in your own soul, besides so prospered in your circumstances, as that you will more and more take delight in giving, and have also the ability for so doing. There is one thing additionally to be observed. Do not, as stewards, waste your Lord’s means. Though you were to give much, if you lived in an unbecoming way, spending too much on yourself, in the way of luxury or otherwise, you would not be entrusted with much. I have not only allowed to myself and family all the necessaries, but even the conveniences of life; I do this still, if not even more, as I am increasing in years; but I have ever guarded against extravagance in any way; lest my stewardship should be taken from me.
Now, at the evening of life, looking back upon the first of January, 1831, do you suppose I regret to have given away more than £27,000? Verily not. I thank God for the honour bestowed upon me, in allowing me so to do, and I am not in the least tired of this way; while, at the same time, I need to pray still, ‘ [old Thou me up, and I shall be safe.”
December 31st, 1874. During the past year I received in all £2,139 15s. 43d.
Now, what did I do with this £2,139 15s. 4$d., my income for the year 1874? During the year we gave away £2,922 16s. 11d.
The reader will say, your whole income for the year was only £2,139 15s. 42d., and you gave away £2,922 16s. lld. within the year? Yes. The explanation is this. During the year 1873 I had received the payment of six legacies, making in all £1,035 Os. 10d., the greater part of which money had been received only at the end of the year.
During 1875 we had sent to us £2,022 17s. 8d. During the year my dear wife and I gave away £1,866 19s. 9d.
During 1876 our income amounted to £2,641 10s. 5d. Is it not again a large sum, dear reader? Now what did we do with it? We continued to lay up treasure in heaven; for we believe in the value and blessedness of prayer for our temporal supplies. Of this £2,641 10s. 5d., we gave to relatives £158, to poor believers £102 11s., and to the Lord’s work £2,018 7s. 6d. This last sum went to the Mission Fund, ete., of the Scriptural Knowledge Institution, and thus we made room for other donations, that we might be used still further in our stewardship.
The total of our income for 1877 was past £4,260 Os. 5d. More even than we had ever received during one year. Of this we gave to relatives £349 3s. 6d.; to the poor saints under my pastoral care £290 1s. 6d.; and to Missions, School, Bible, and Tract Fund, etc., of the Scriptural Knowledge Institution, £3,465 4s. 11d.
During 1878 it pleased the Lord to give to us £2,724 11s. 34d. Out of this we were enabled, by the grace of God, to give to relatives £175 15s. We also gave £87 8s. to poor believers; and £2,407 12s. 2d. to the Scriptural Knowledge Institution for Missions, etc.
During 1879 it pleased the Lord to give to us £1,506 6s. 94d. Of this amount we gave to relatives £217; to poor believers £86 16s. 2d.; and to the funds of the Institution £1,156 6s. 9d.
We received in all during 1880 £1,644 15s. 74d. Of this amount we gave to relatives £236 15s.; to poor believers £113 10s.; and to the Scriptural Knowledge Institution £1,158 8s. 10d.; in all, £1,508 13s. 10d.
During 1881 we have received £2,026 6s. 74d. in all. Of this amount we gave to relatives, £203 6s. 10d.; to poor believers, £74 12s, 2d.; to the Scriptural Knowledge Institution for Home and Abroad, £1,530 12s. 10d.
During 1882 it pleased the Lord to give to us in all £1,417 10s. 8d. Of this amount we gave to relatives £150; to the poor £80 6s. 6d.; to the Scriptural Knowledge Institution £599.
It pleased the Lord, during 1883, to give to us in all £4,004 4s. 1d., including £2,476 10s. 7d., which my dear wife and I received, through three legacies from her relatives. Of this amount we were enabled, by the grace of God, to give to relatives £92 1s.; to poor believers £65 17s. 6d.; to the Scriptural Knowledge Institution, for Missions, the Orphans, etc., £2,411 11s. 5d.
During 1884 the Lord was pleased to give to us in all £3,850 14s. 74d., including a legacy of £2,619 19s., which came to my dear wife. During the year we gave to relatives £105 6s. 6d.; to the poor believers £108 8s. 4d.; to the Orphans and the other Objects of the Institution £3,646 3s.
It will be obvious that we gave away more during the year than we had received. The explanation is that a part of Mrs. Müller’s legacy, received during the past year, had come in at the end thereof, and the money was not yet expended when the year closed.
During 1885 it pleased God to give to me £1,906 9s. 5d., including a special donation from the Bethesda Church, in commemoration of my 80th birthday, and as a mark of love and gratitude for having laboured fifty-three years among them, £400 16s., with a writing table and chair for myself, and a table and chair for my dear wife. Of this amount we gave to relatives £135 17s.; to poor believers £177 2s. 4d.; and to the Institution £932” 11s. 9d.
In summing up the whole, from the year 1831 to the year 1885, the Lord has honoured me with the great privilege of giving away, since January Ist, 1831, about £57,000. Of this sum £45,000 was given to the Orphans, Missions, and other Objects of the Scriptural Knowledge Institution for Home and Abroad.
[During the remaining days of Mr. Müller’s life there is no record of his income, but he gave away in the twelve and a quarter years, £24,490 18s. 8d.; so that in all during his life he gave away £81,490 18s. 8d.]