Boyhood and Youth

IS Martin Luther was the apostle of justification, and John Wesley the apostle of holiness, so George Müller was the apostle of prayer.

There is not, perhaps, outside of the Word of God, a more inspiring record than that of this man, who, for more than sixty years, in persistent prayer and faith, called the things that be not as though they were (Rom. iv, 17), and when he fell asleep, left as a monument five large orphan-houses on Ashley Down, Bristol, England.

George Müller was born at Kroppenstedt, Prussia, September 27, 1805. When he was five years old his parents moved to Heimersleben, four miles away, where his father had been appointed collector. of excise.

In his “Life of Trust,” he says:

My father educated his children on worldly principles, and gave them much money, which led me and my brother into many sins. Before I was ten I frequently took of the Government money intrusted to my father.

One day he detected my theft, by depositing a sum of counted money where I was, and leaving me. I hid some of the money in my shoe. When my father counted the money I was searched and detected. At the age of ten I was sent to Halberstadt to prepare for the university. My father desired me to become a clergyman; not that I might serve God, but that I might make a comfortable living

My time was spent in studying, reading novels, and indulging in sinful practices till I was fourteen, when mother suddenly died. That night, not knowing of her illness, I was playing cards till two, and the next day. the Lord’s day, I went, with my companions in sin, to a tavern, and then about the streets half intoxicated.

This bereavement made no lasting impression. I grew worse and worse. Three days before I was confirmed, and admitted to partake of the Lord’s Supper, I was guilty of gross immorality; and the day before my confirmation, in the vestry with the clergyman to confess my sins, I defrauded him by handing him only a twelfth of the fee father had given me for him. In this state of heart, without prayer, repentance, faith, or knowledge of salvation, I was confirmed, and partook of the Lord’s Supper the Sunday after Easter, 1820. I was not without some solemnity, and stayed at home in the afternoon and evening, whilst the other boys and girls who had been confirmed walked in the fields.

At midsummer, 1821, my father obtained an appointment at Schoenebeck, near Magdeburg, and I entreated him to remove me to the cathedral classical school in-Madgeburg, for I thought if I could leave my sinful companions, I should live a different life. My father consented;

but, being my own master, 1 grew more idle, and lived in all sorts of sin. In November I took all the money I could obtain, and went to Brunswick, to an expensive hotel, after I had, through a number of lies, obtained permission of my tutor. At the end of the week my money was spent. I went to another hotel. The owner, suspecting I had no money, asked for payment, and I gave ‘my best clothes as security. I walked six miles, to Wolfenbuttel, went to an inn, and began again to live as if I had plenty of money. One morning I went quietly out of the yard, and ran away; but being suspected and observed, I was called after, arrested, examined, and sent to jail. I found myself, at sixteen, an inmate of the same dwelling with thieves and murderers, locked up, day and night, from December 18, 1821, to January 12, 1822.

I was kept in prison till my father sent the money for my traveling expenses, to pay my debt in the inn, and for my maintenance in the prison. My father, after having severely beaten me, took me to Schoenebeck, intending to send me to school at Halle, under strict discipline. - I left home, pretending to go to Halle to be examined; but, disliking discipline, I went to Nordhausen, and had myself examined in that school. I never told my father of this deception till the day before my departure, which obliged me to invent a chain of lies. He was angry, but, through my entreaties, allowed me to go. I continued at Nordhausen two years and six months. I studied Latin classics, French, history, etc. I lived with the director, got highly in his favor, and was held up as an example. I used to rise at four, and study till ten at night. Though outwardly gaining the esteem of men, I did not care for God, and lived in much secret sin, in consequence of which I was ill thirteen weeks. 1 had no real sorrow of heart, yet, being impressed religiously, I read Klopstock’s works without weariness. 1 had three hundred books, but no Bible. Now and then I felt I ought to be different, and tried to amend, when I went to the Lord’s Supper twice a year with the other young men. I swore once or twice, with the emblem of the broken body in my mouth, to become better; but after one or two days I was as bad as before.

At Easter, 1825, I became a member of the University of Halle, with honorable testimonials, and obtained permission to preach in the Lutheran Establishment; but was unhappy, and far from God as ever. I made strong resolutions to change my course of life; for without it, no parish would choose me as their pastor; and without a knowledge of Divinity I should never get a good living. But the moment I entered Halle all my resolutions came to nothing. I renewed my profligate life afresh, though now a student of Divinity. Yet I had a desire to renounce this wretched life; but no sorrow on account of offending God.

One day, in a tavern, I saw one of my former schoolfellows, named Beta, whom 1 had known four years before at Halberstadt. I had despised him because he was quiet and serious. I now sought his friendship, because I thought it would lead me to a steady life; and he sought mine because he thought it would bring him into gay society. l

In August, Beta and I, with two other students, drove about the country for four days. When we returned, instead of being truly sorry for this sin, we thought of fresh pleasures, and, as my love for traveling was stronger BOYHOOD AND YOUTH. 13 than ever, through what I had seen, I proposed to my friends to set off for Switzerland. The obstacles, want of money and passports, were removed by me; for through forged letters from our parents, we procured passports, and, through pledging our books, obtained money. For three days we traveled, almost always on foot. I obtained the desire of my heart; I saw Switzerland. -But I was far from happy. Like Judas, having the common purse, I was a thief. The journey cost me but two-thirds of what it cost my friends. By many lies, i satisfied my father concerning the traveling expenses. During the three weeks at home, I determined to live differently; but when the vacation was over, and fresh students and fresh money came, all was forgotten.