1846-1848 (4)

Dec. 9. It is now four hundred days since day after day I have been waiting upon God for help with regard to the building of the Orphan House; but as yet he keeps me still in the trial of faith and patience. He is still saying, as it were, “Mine hour is not yet come.” Yet he does sustain me in continuing to wait upon him. By his grace my faith is not in the least shaken; but I am quite sure that he, in his own time, will give me everything which I need concerning this work. How I shall be supplied with the means which are yet requisite, and when, I know not; but I am sure that God will help me in his own time and way. In the mean time I have abundant reason to praise God that I am not waiting on him in vain; for since this day twelvemonth he has given me, in answer to prayer, a most suitable piece of ground, and six thousand three hundred and four pounds for the building fund, and about two thousand seven hundred pounds for present use for the work, so that altogether I have received, since this day twelvemonth, solely in answer to prayer, the sum of nine thousand pounds. Surely, I am not waiting upon the Lord in vain! By his help, then, I am resolved to continue this course unto the end.

Dec. 22. To-day I have again a precious proof that continuing to wait upon the Lord is not in vain. During this month comparatively little had come in for the building fund; yet, by God’s grace, I had been enabled, as before, yea, even with more earnestness perhaps than before, to make known my requests unto God, being more and more convinced that I ought to seek by earnest prayer soon to be able to begin the building. In addition to this I had also especially besought the Lord to give me means for missionary brethren, and also for brethren who labor in the word in various parts of England and Ireland, as all my means for them were now gone. I had also been waiting upon God for means to order a fresh stock of tracts. I had lastly again and again besought the Lord to give me means for the poor saints in Bristol, of whom there are many, and whose need is now particularly great. Now to-day the Lord has granted me precious answers to my requests concerning these various objects, for I received this morning one thousand pounds, with these words: “I send you some money, part of which you can apply to the orphans and the other objects of your Institution, according to their need, and the rest you can put to the building fund. At the present price of provisions your expenses must be large for the orphans. Please also take twenty-five pounds for your own need.”

January 25, 1847. The season is now approaching when building may be begun. Therefore with increased earnestness I have given myself unto prayer, importuning the Lord that he would be pleased to appear on our behalf, and speedily send the remainder of the amount which is required, and I have increasingly, of late, felt that the time is drawing near when the Lord will give me all that which is requisite for commencing the building. All the various arguments which I have often brought before God I brought also again this morning before him. It is now fourteen months and three weeks since day by day I have uttered my petitions to God on behalf of this work. I rose from my knees this morning in full confidence not only that God could, but also would, send the means, and that soon. Never, during all these fourteen months and three weeks, have I had the least doubt that I should have all that which is requisite. And now, dear believing reader, rejoice and praise with me. About an hour after I had prayed thus, there was given to me the sum of two thousand pounds for the building fund. Thus I have received altogether £9,285, 3s. 9½d. towards this work. I cannot describe the joy I had in God when I received this donation. It must be known from experience in order to be felt. Four hundred and forty-seven days I have had to wait upon God before the sum reached the above amount. How great is the blessing which the soul obtains by trusting in God and by waiting patiently. Is it not manifest how precious it is to carry on God’s work in this way, even with regard to the obtaining of means? From Dec. 10, 1845, to Jan. 25, 1847, being thirteen months and a half, I have received, solely in answer to prayer, nine thousand two hundred and eighty-five pounds. Add to this what came in during that time for present use for the various objects of the Institution, and the total is about twelve thousand and five hundred pounds, entirely the fruit of prayer to God. Can it be said, therefore, with good ground, that this way of carrying on the work of God may do very well in a limited and small way, but it would not do on a large scale? The fact brought out here contradicts such statements.

June 23. This day the Lord in his great goodness, by a donation of one thousand pounds for the building fund, has again encouraged my heart abundantly to trust in him for all that which I shall yet need to meet the remainder of the expenses connected with the fitting up and furnishing the new Orphan House, etc.

April 29, 1848. The total amount which I have received for the building fund is £11,062, 4s. 11½d. This sum enables me to meet all the expenses connected with the purchase of the piece of land and with the erection of the house. I stated before that I did not mean to commence the building until I had all the means requisite for it, and this intention was carried out. It was not until I had a sufficient amount of means to meet all the sums required for the various contractors that a single thing was done; but when I once had as much as was required for them, I did not consider it right to delay any longer, though I saw then clearly, and have since seen still more clearly, that I should need yet a considerable sum to complete the work. For whilst in every respect the building will be most plain and inexpensive, yet, it being intended to be the abode of three hundred orphans, with all their teachers and overseers, it necessarily must be a very large building, and was therefore found to be even somewhat more expensive than I had thought, as the whole (including fittings and furniture) cannot be accomplished for less than fourteen thousand five hundred pounds, towards which the Lord has already given me, as stated, eleven thousand and sixty-two pounds four shillings elevenpence halfpenny. The sum still needed is required for all the ordinary fittings, the heating apparatus, the gas fittings, the furnishing the whole house, making three large play-grounds and a small road, and for some additional work which could not be brought into the contracts. I did not think it needful to delay commencing the building, though several thousand pounds more would be required, as all these expenses needed not to be met till many months after the beginning of the building.

The work of the building commenced on July 5, 1847. Six hundred and seven days I sought the help of God day by day, before we came so far as to be able to commence the building; yet at last he gave me the desire of my heart.

IV. MISCELLANEOUS POINTS RESPECTING THE SCRIPTURAL KNOWLEDGE INSTITUTION FOR HOME AND ABROAD.

1. During the whole of this period six day schools, with 330 children, were supported by the funds of the Institution; two Sunday schools were entirely supported by it, and a third one was occasionally assisted. Again, four from among the Sunday-school children were, during these two years, received into church fellowship. The total number of the children who received instruction in the day schools of the Institution, from its commencement up to May 26, 1848, amounted to 4,519. The number of the adult scholars who were instructed during this period in the adult school, which was supported by the funds of the Institution, amounted to 292; and the total number of adults who had instruction from March 5, 1834, to May 26, 1848, was 1,438. The total of the expenses connected with all these schools, during these two years, amounted to £886, 1s. 11½d.

2. During this period were circulated 649 Bibles and 232 New Testaments. There were circulated from March 5, 1834, up to May 26, 1848, 5,746 Bibles and 3,760 New Testaments. During this period, £74, 9s. 10d. was expended of the funds of the Institution on this object.

3. From May 26, 1846, to May 26, 1848, was expended of the funds of the Institution on missionary objects, £1,559, 11s. 6d., whereby 43 laborers in the gospel, at home and abroad, were assisted.

4. During this period 64,021 tracts were circulated, and the sum of £63, 1s. 5d. was expended on this object of the funds of the Institution. The total number of tracts circulated from Nov. 19, 1840, to May 26, 1848, amounted to 163,668.

5. There were received into the four Orphan Houses, from May 26, 1846, to May 26, 1848, 51 orphans, who, together with those who were in the four houses on May 26, 1846, made up 172 in all.

On May 26, 1848, there were 122 orphans in the four houses. The number of the orphans under our care from April, 1836, to May 26, 1848, was 264. The total amount of expenditure in connection with the support of the orphans from May 26, 1846, to May 26, 1848, was £3,228, 5s. 11d.

I notice, in connection with the Orphan Houses, that without any one having been personally applied to for anything by me, the sum of £24,771, 19s. 8¾d. was given to me as the result of prayer to God from the commencement of the work up to May 26, 1848. This sum includes the £11,062, 4s. 11½d., which up to May 26, 1848, had been given towards the building fund. It may be interesting to the reader to know that the total amount which was given as free contributions for the other objects, from the commencement of the work up to May 26, 1848, was £7,060, 14s. 1¾d.; and that which came in by the sale of Bibles and tracts, and by the payment of the children in the day schools, amounted to £2,373, 3s. 7½d.

V. PERSONAL HISTORY.

Dec. 31, 1846. During this year there have been received into fellowship 66. The Lord has been pleased to give me during this year £399, 2s. 11d. To this is again to be added, what I have enlarged on in a former chapter, that during the whole of this year also my daughter was, free of all expenses, at a boarding-school, worth about fifty pounds.

In November, 1847, I had a most remarkable deliverance, which, to the praise of the Lord, is here recorded, as it is a further illustration of how the Lord watches over his children.

I was laboring for a little while at Bowness and Keswick in the ministry of the word, in October and November. When at Keswick, I stayed with my dear wife in a large boarding-house, in which, however, we were then alone, except a single gentleman. Just before we left Keswick, on the morning of Nov. 24, I heard that the gentleman, lodging in the same house, had shot himself during the night, but was not quite dead. We had not heard the report of the pistol, it being a very stormy night and the house large. Two days after, I received from a Christian brother at Keswick the following information respecting the transaction.

Keswick, Nov. 25, 1847.

Dear Mr. Müller:

The tender and Almighty care of our loving Father was never more over you, and indeed over all of us, than in your stay at Mrs. ——’s. Mr.  ——  was quite deranged for two or three days before you left. Without any control, he had been walking about his room for the last two days and nights, with loaded pistols in his hands. Furthermore, he had taken into his head that you were going to kill him. How gracious of God that he spread his wings over you, and over dear Mrs. Müller, so that Satan could not break through the fence, to hurt even a hair of your heads. Speaking after the manner of men, there was nothing to have hindered him coming into the room, where we were all at tea,[19] and of firing amongst us; but the Lord was our refuge and fortress, and preserved us from danger, which we knew not of. He shot himself in the neck and breast, but is not dead. He has a strait-waistcoat on. I assisted in cutting his clothes off, and in other little offices needed at such a time, and told him of Christ’s love in dying for poor sinners. “I know it,” he said. He shot himself the first time about three o’clock in the morning, and again about seven. What a scene his room presented; pistols lying in gore; bloody knives, lancets, and razors strewed about the floor, etc.