Missionary Tours
Irst Tour. — March 26, 1875: From Bristol to London, preaching to a great audience in Mr. Spurgeon’s tabernacle; then to Newcastle-on-Tyne, and back to London to the Mildmay Conference.
Second Tour. — August 14, 1875, to 1876: Following up the revival work of Mr. Moody and Mr. Sankey in England, Scotland, and Ireland.
Third Tour. — Most of the year closing May 26, 1877: Concerning this tour Mr. Múllersays: “During the greater part of the past year, 1876-1877, accompanied by my wife, I have been absent from Bristol preaching on the Continent of Europe and in Paris. In Switzerland I preached at Berne, Zurich, St. Gallen, and various places; at Herisau, Glaris, Schaffhausen, Winterthur, Basle, and in the neighborhood. In Alsace I preached at Mühlhausen and Strasburg. In the Kingdom of Wurtemberg I preached at Stuttgart, Kornthal, Ludwigsburg, Reutlingen, Ober-Urbach, and Heilbronn. In the Grand-Duchy of Baden I preached at Carlsruhe, Constance, Gernsbach, Heidelberg, and Mannheim. In the Grand-Duchy of Hesse-Darmstadt I preached in the capital, Darmstadt. In the Kingdom of Prussia I preached at Frankfort on the Main, Bonn, Cologne, Diisseldorf, Diisselthal, Wesel, Mülheim on the Ruhr, Gladbach, Reydt, Viersen, Créfeld, Duisburg, Essen, Elberfeld, Barmen, Cassel, Halle, Berlin, Stettin, Hanover, Bielefeld, Soest, and Ruhrort. I preached also in the free town of Lubeck. In the Kingdom of Holland I preached at Nimwegen, Arnheim, Utrecht, Amsterdam, Zeist, Haarlam, Leyden, The Hague, and Rotterdam. Altogether I preached three. hundred and two times, in sixty-eight places, most of which were large towns. To every place I had been invited by letter. I have referred to this preaching tour that the Christian friends may follow. my past labors on the Continent with their prayers, and because I intend, if the Lord will, to go again to the Continent, as I have sixty-three written invitations to various parts of Germany, Switzerland, Holland, Vienna, and Petersburg, which I have been unable to accept.
“The abundant blessing on these labors everywhere encourages me to go on with this service, and spend the evening of my life going from city to city, and country to country, as long as the Lord gives me health and makes my way plain.”
Fourth Tour. — Mr. Miller and wife arrived at Quebec September 1, 1877. He had an aversion to journeying by:the sea, but, providentially, was spared dis-
- comfort from sea-sickness. September 3d he spoke twice
in Quebec; on Tuesday, left for Niagara Falls by way of Toronto; thence direct to New York. A telegram at Quebec, from Dr. Talmage, offered Brooklyn Tabernacle for September oth. The weather was delightful, and this spacious audience-room was filled with about 4,000 people. For sixteen years Mr. Müller received hundreds of written and personal solicitations to come to America. A letter representing five denominations persuaded him it was God’s will for him to come. During the singing of the following original hymn to the tune “Webb,” Mr. Miller was deeply affected:
Servant of Christ, we greet thee!
Beloved of the Lord!
Within his courts we meet thee
With gratitude and praise. =
For what God’s grace has taught thee
Through all these fruitful years,
And for the marvels wrought thee
In answer to thy prayers.
‘Thro’ future days, still guiding,
Thy Master will provide;
E In restful faith abiding,
Thy wants are all his care. -
And may thy life, O Brother!
Lead us this path to choose,
Turning from one another,
And trusting GOD ALONE.
Smile, Father, on this meeting
Of these thy children here;
O speak thy loving greeting
To every heart to-day!
And when in heaven, all glorious,
Thy gathered saints shall stand,
May each of us, victorious,
Be welcomed there by Thee!
The sermon was on the text, “Ask, and it shall be: given” (Luke xi, 9), and exhibited these salient points: Our petitions should be purely to advance the glory of God; should be offered in the name of Christ; with hearty faith in His power and willingness to grant them; with a willingness to wait, and without “regarding iniquity.” Under the last point he said that purity of motive rather than absolute sinlessness was required.
He gave a few incidents, reserving to Monday and Tuesday evenings following, a recital of his work in England. He spoke to large audiences at Clinton Avenue Church, and the following Tuesday preached in German at the Church of the Covenant.
September 8th, Mr. and Mrs. Miller visited the Brooklyn Asylum, and were greeted by over three hundred boys and girls, and a large number of managers and friends. The pulpits of Brooklyn were offered to Mr. Müller most heartily, and he spoke-in Plymouth Church, Dr. Wild’s Central Church, Tompkins Avenue, Lafayette Avenue, Methodist, Baptist, and Lutheran Churches, and other places.
October 19th he went to Boston, and began work in the tabernacle erected for Mr. Moody. Invitations from Providence, Worcester, and Newburyport, Amherst and
Wellesley Colleges, and many other places in New England, left little time for the continuous preaching in Boston which Brooklyn and New York had enjoyed.
Fifth Tour. — September 5, 1878: On the Continent, in Spain and Italy, visiting some of the schools supported by the Scriptural Knowledge Institution. In Rome and Naples.
Sixth Tour — Landed in New York September, 1879. Visited the States between the Atlantic and the Mississippi, and Quebec, Canada.
Seventh Tour. — September, 1880: Landed at Quebec, and again visited the United States, especially the Eastern States.
Eighth Tour — August, 1881, to May, 1882: The Continent of Europe, Switzerland, and Germany; thence to the Holy Land, Jerusalem, Bethany, Bethlehem, Carmel, Beyrut, Smyrna, Ephesus, Brindisi, Rome, Florence. Sight-seeing was altogether secondary to the service of the Master.
Ninth Tour. — August, 1882, to June, 1883: To Ger —
many, Austria, Russia. At St. Petersburg he was the guest of Princess Sieven, and ministered to many of rank.
Tenth Tour. — 1883: In the Orient. Sixty years before he desired to go to the East Indies as a missionary. Now the Lord answered the desire in a new, strange way, and India was the twenty-third country visited in.
his tours. In his seventy-ninth year this man of God was:
still imlabors abundant and blessed. =-
Eleventh Tour. — England, Scotland, Wales. Then, November, 1885, to the United States; across the country to the Pacific; then to Amsterdam, Java, China, Japan, Staits of Malacca, Nice, and England. Reaching home June 14, 1887.
Twelfth Tour — August, 1887, to March, 1890: Benth Australia, Tasmania, New Zealand, Ceylon, and India. In the latter country, in January, 1890, came a letter
from Mr. Wright, telling Mr. Müller of his: daughter Lydia’s death. For thirty years she had labored gratui —
tously in the Orphan Houses, and for fourteen-years been
her husband’s ideal companion; and for nearly fifty-eight
years her father’s unspeakable treasure. Mr. Müller was
at rest; but soon returned to comfort Mr. Wright, and
relieve him of undue pressure.
Thirteenth Tour. — July, 1890, to May, 1892: In Ger-.
many, Holland, Austria, Italy... This man, from -his
eighty-seventh year, when most men withdraw from activities, had traveled in forty countries, and over two hun-.
si ll eal le decai dred thousand miles, equivalent to nearly eight journeys around the globe.
Some of the reasons that led this man of God to believe that the work of God at home did not demand his ee presence, were:
. Under Mr. Wright, and his large staff of helpers, every branch of the Institution was found to be ee and fruitful during his absence.
2. The Lord’s approval of the work of wider witness, and the ample supply of funds for the tours, and the fruit in the blessing to thousands of souls..;
3. The strong belief that this was to be the work of the evening of his life, grew in depth:
4. He was never out of communication by letter with the Home. His periodical returns kept him in close * touch with every department of the work.:
5. To suppose it necessary that he should remain at home that means should be supplied was a direct contradiction of the principle to maintain which the work was begun. Real trust is above circumstances and appearances. This was proven. For the third year of these tours the income of the Institution was larger than during any of the forty years of its existence.
Therefore, notwithstanding the loving counsel of a few friends, he continued his tours, to demonstrate that no presence is indispensable to the work of the Lord, and to witness to the truth-of the promise, “Them that honor Me, I will honor.” (1 Sam, ii, 30.)