The Life of Trust: Being a Narrative of the Lord"s Dealings With George Muller.
by George Muller.
PREFACE.
Having been requested by MESSRS. GOULD AND LINCOLN to examine the work ent.i.tled "A NARRATIVE OF SOME OF THE LORD"S DEALINGS WITH GEORGE MuLLER," the Editor was convinced that its republication in this country would greatly promote the piety of American Christians. But to reproduce the work in its original form was attended with difficulty. The "Narrative," in four parts, (published respectively in 1837, 1841, 1845, and 1856,) and the four "Annual Reports" issued in 1857, 1858, 1859, and 1860, would occupy not less than eighteen hundred pages of the size of those contained in this volume. The cost of such a work would greatly limit its circulation and its usefulness, if indeed any publisher should undertake its issue. There seemed no alternative except to abandon the idea of an American edition altogether, or to present it to the public in a condensed form.
Such a condensation seemed, on examination, to be entirely practicable.
Owing to the "Parts" of the "Narrative" having been published at four separate periods, it often happens that the same matter is several times repeated. A large portion of the s.p.a.ce is occupied with the acknowledgment of donations received. These entries, although appropriate in a report made to the donors and to the British public, have not the same interest for American readers. The discussion of some points in church polity, and the account of the Author"s journeys upon the Continent, though interesting and instructive, are not necessary to the continuity of the history. Although in some cases the portions which have been omitted cover a considerable period of time, yet it is believed that all which is essential has been retained. No pains have been spared on the part of the Editor to preserve the value of the work while reducing its compa.s.s, and to give, in a form universally accessible, a clear exhibition of the wonderful results of the life of George Muller, as well as of the principles by which his life has been governed.
Believing that the book would be rendered more attractive to the reader, and more convenient for reference, the Editor has divided it into Chapters, and has prefixed to each a brief statement of some of the leading subjects introduced in the Chapter. For these "contents," as well as for the headings of the Chapters, and for the general t.i.tle of the volume, the Editor alone is responsible.
The "Narrative" of George Muller has been blessed in other lands to the awakening of spiritual life. It was the means, as will be observed by the reader, of greatly forwarding, if not of originating, the work of grace now advancing in Ireland. "THE LIFE OF TRUST" is submitted to the Christian public of America, in the hope that its still small voice may be heard even amid the clangor of political strife and the revulsion of commercial interests, and that it may be used by the Divine Spirit to promote and strengthen in the hearts of American Christians, FAITH IN THE LIVING G.o.d.
H. L. W.
WORCESTER, DEC. 12, 1860
AUTHOR"S PREFACE.
It was only after the consideration of many months, and after much self-examination as to my motives, and after much earnest prayer, that I came to the conclusion to write this work. I have not taken one single step in the Lord"s service concerning which I have prayed so much. My great dislike to increasing the number of religious books would, in itself, have been sufficient to have kept me forever from it, had I not cherished the hope of being instrumental in this way to lead some of my brethren to value the Holy Scriptures more, and to judge by the standard of the Word of G.o.d the principles on which they act. But that which weighed more with me than anything, was, that I have reason to believe, from what I have seen among the children of G.o.d, that many of their trials arise either from want of confidence in the Lord as it regards temporal things, or from carrying on their business in an unscriptural way. On account, therefore, of the remarkable way in which the Lord has dealt with me as to temporal things, I feel that I am a debtor to the church of Christ, and that I ought, for the benefit of my poorer brethren especially, to make known the way in which I have been led. In addition to this, I know that to many souls the Lord has blessed what I have told them about the way in which he has led me, and therefore it seemed a duty to use such means, whereby others also, with whom I could not possibly converse, might be benefited. That which induced me finally to determine to write this Narrative was, that if the Lord should permit the book to sell, I might, by the profits arising from the sale, be enabled in a greater degree to help the poor brethren and sisters among whom I labor;--a matter which, just at that time, weighed much on my mind. I therefore began to write. But after three days I was obliged to lay the work aside on account of my other pressing engagements.
Subsequently, I was laid aside on account of an abscess; and being unable, for many weeks, to walk about as usual, though able to work at home, I had time for writing. When the ma.n.u.script was nearly completed I gave it to a brother to look over, that I might have his judgment; and the Lord so refreshed his spirit through it, that he offered to advance the means for having it printed, with the understanding that if the book should not sell he would never consider me his debtor. By this offer not a small obstacle was removed, as I have no means of my own to defray the expense of printing. These last two circ.u.mstances, connected with many other points, confirmed me that I had not been mistaken, when I came to the conclusion that it was the will of G.o.d that I should serve his church in this way.
The fact of my being a foreigner, and therefore but very imperfectly acquainted with the English language, I judged to be no sufficient reason for keeping me from writing. The Christian reader, being acquainted with this fact, will candidly excuse any inaccuracy of expression.
For the poor among the brethren this Narrative is especially intended, and to their prayers I commend it in particular.
GEORGE MuLLER.
INTRODUCTION.
What is meant by the prayer of faith? is a question which is beginning to arrest, in an unusual degree, the attention of Christians. What is the significance of the pa.s.sages both in the New Testament and the Old which refer to it? What is the limit within which they may be safely received as a ground of practical reliance? Were these promises limited to prophetical or apostolical times; or have they been left as a legacy to all believers until the end shall come?
Somehow or other, these questions are seldom discussed either from the pulpit or the press. I do not remember to have heard any of them distinctly treated of in a sermon. I do not know of any work in which this subject is either theoretically explained or practically enforced.
It really seems as if this portion of Revelation was, by common consent, ignored in all our public teachings. Do not men believe that G.o.d means what he appears plainly to have a.s.serted? or, if we believe that he means it, do we fear the charge of fanaticism if we openly avow that we take him at his word?
The public silence on this subject does not, however, prevent a very frequent private inquiry in respect to it. The thoughtful Christian, when in his daily reading of the Scriptures he meets with any of those wonderful promises made to believing prayer, often pauses to ask himself, What can these words mean? Can it be that G.o.d has made such promises as these to me, and to such men as I am? Have I really permission to commit all my little affairs to a G.o.d of infinite wisdom, believing that he will take charge of them and direct them according to the promptings of boundless love and absolute omniscience? Is prayer really a power with G.o.d, or is it merely an expedient by which our own piety may be cultivated? Is it not merely a power (that is, a stated antecedent accompanied by the idea of causation), but is it a transcendent power, accomplishing what no other power can, over-ruling all other agencies, and rendering them subservient to its own wonderful efficiency? I think there are few devout readers of the Bible to whom these questions are not frequently suggested. We ask them, but we do not often wait for an answer. These promises seem to us to be addressed either to a past or to a coming age, but not to us, at the present day.
Yet with such views as these the devout soul is not at all satisfied. If an invaluable treasure is here reserved for the believer, he asks, why should I not receive my portion of it? He cannot doubt that G.o.d has in a remarkable manner, at various times, answered his prayers; why should he not always answer them? and why should not the believer always draw near to G.o.d in full confidence that he will do as he has said? He may remember that the prayer which has been manifestly answered was the offspring of deep humility, of conscious unworthiness, of utter self-negation, and of simple and earnest reliance on the promises of G.o.d through the mediation of Christ. Why should not his prayers be always of the same character? With the apostles of old he pours out his soul in the pet.i.tion, "Lord, increase our faith."
And yet it can scarcely be denied that the will of G.o.d has been distinctly revealed on this subject. The promises made to believing prayer are explicit, numerous, and diversified. If we take them in their simple and literal meaning, or if in fact we give to them any reasonable interpretation whatever, they seem to be easily understood. Our difficulty seems to be this: the promise is so "exceeding great" that we cannot conceive G.o.d really to mean what he clearly appears to have revealed. The blessing seems too vast for our comprehension; we "stagger at the promises, through unbelief," and thus fail to secure the treasure which was purchased for us by Christ Jesus.
It may be appropriate for us to review some of the pa.s.sages which refer most directly to this subject:--
"Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you; for _every one_ that asketh receiveth, and he that seeketh findeth, and to him that knocketh _it shall_ be opened."
"If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, _how much more_ shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that _ask_ him."[1]
[Footnote 1: Matthew vii. 7-11.]
In the Gospel of Luke the same words are repeated, with a single variation at the close. "If ye, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the _Holy Spirit to them that ask him_."[2]
[Footnote 2: Luke xi. 13.]
"I say unto you that if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them."[3]
[Footnote 3: Matthew xviii. 19, 20.]
"Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do that which is done to the fig-tree, but also ye shall say to this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea, and it shall be done. And _all things whatsoever_ ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive."[4]
[Footnote 4: Matthew xxi. 21, 22.]
The same promise, slightly varied in form, is found in the Gospel of Mark. "_Have faith in G.o.d._ For verily I say unto you that whosoever shall say to this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea, and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he hath said shall come to pa.s.s, he shall have whatever he saith. Therefore I say unto you, Whatsoever things ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them."[5]
[Footnote 5: Mark xi. 22-24.]
Now I do not pretend that we are obliged to receive these words literally. Unless, however, we believe the Saviour to have spoken repeatedly on the same subject, at random, and with no definite meaning, we must understand him to have a.s.serted that things impossible by the ordinary laws of material causation are possible by faith in G.o.d. I do not perceive, if we allow these words to have any meaning whatever, that we can ascribe to them any other significance.
"Verily I say unto you, He that believeth in me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do, because I go unto my Father. And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask anything in my name I will do it."[6]
[Footnote 6: John xiv. 12-14.]
"Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you. Hitherto ye have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full."[7]
[Footnote 7: John xvi. 23, 24.]
"The effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man _availeth much_;"[8]
that is, it is a real power, a positive energy. The apostle ill.u.s.trates what he means by availing prayer by the example of Elias, a man subject to like pa.s.sions as we are: "He prayed earnestly that it might not rain, and it rained not on the earth by the s.p.a.ce of three years and six months; and he prayed again, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit."[9]
[Footnote 8: James v. 16.]
[Footnote 9: James v. 17, 18.]
The conditions on which prayer will be heard are in various places specified, but particularly in John xv. 7: "If ye abide in me and my words abide in you, ye shall _ask what ye will_, and it shall be done unto you." That is, if I understand the pa.s.sage, prevalence in prayer is conditioned by the conformity of our souls to the will of G.o.d; "if ye abide in me and my words abide in you." On this condition, and on this only, may we ask what we will, with the a.s.surance that it will be done unto us. Faith, in its most simple meaning, is that temper of the mind in the creature which responds to every revealed perfection of the Creator. Just according to the degree in which this correspondence exists, is the promise made that we shall have whatsoever we ask.
It is evident, from the eleventh of Hebrews, that the views of the Apostle Paul concerning faith were entirely in harmony with the pa.s.sages recited above. He reviews the lives of the most eminent saints, for the express purpose of showing that the impressive events in their history, whether physical or moral, were controlled entirely by faith. He sums up the whole in this remarkable language:--
"And what shall I say more? For the time would fail me to tell of those who _through faith_ subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens; women received their dead raised to life again; and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection." We are, I think, taught by this pa.s.sage that the apostle believed faith to be a power capable of transcending and modifying every other agency, by which changes became possible which to every other known power were impossible. We see that in this catalogue of the victories of faith he includes the subjection of almost every form of what we call natural laws. The whole pa.s.sage seems an ill.u.s.tration of the meaning of our Lord, when he says, "If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say to this sycamine tree, Be thou removed and planted in the midst of the sea, and it shall obey you."
It seems then apparent that the doctrine of the peculiar and wonderful power of the prayer of faith is as clearly revealed in the Scriptures as any other doctrine. It would seem evident, at any rate, from the pa.s.sages just quoted, that the Apostle Paul understood the teachings of our Saviour to mean what they say. From the general tenor of the Scriptures I think we may learn two important truths: First, that there is a certain state of mind in a devout soul to which G.o.d has promised all that it asks, subject, however, as to the manner of the answer, to the dictates of his infinite wisdom and goodness; and, second, that in granting such pet.i.tions he does not always limit his action within the ordinary or acknowledged laws of matter or of mind. I do not perceive how we can interpret the pa.s.sages above cited, as well as many others, without giving them a meaning at least as extensive as this.