I am, dear Sir, Yours very gratefully, GEORGE MuLLER.
Two days after I received a reply, in which the donor desired me to use the one hundred pounds for the support of the orphans, for which object I gladly accepted this sum. The day after that I received another one hundred pounds from the same donor, and four days after that one hundred pounds more, all for the support of the orphans, and all from an individual whom I have never seen.
In the following words is contained a useful lesson to persons engaged in business:--
Feb. 24, 1857. Received five pounds as a thank-offering to the Lord for preservation from making bad debts the past year. Has it ever occurred to the reader that the Lord only can preserve any one engaged in business from making bad debts? Has it also occurred to the reader that often the Lord is obliged, because we do not use for him, as good stewards, that with which he has been pleased to intrust us, to allow bad debts to be made? Consider these things, dear Christian reader, you who are engaged in business. If you were engaged in mercantile affairs, connected with hundreds of thousands of pounds, you may by the help of G.o.d, be preserved year after year from making bad debts, though several millions of pounds should be turned in the course of a few years, provided you keep before you that you are the Lord"s steward, and carry on business for him; whilst, on the other hand, thousands of pounds may be lost in one single year, out of only a comparatively small business, because he who carries it on "withholds more than is meet, and therefore it tends to poverty," the Lord being obliged by bad debts (as they are called), which he uses as one of his rods, to deprive his servants of that which was not used aright.
The review of the year ending May, 1857, presents us with the following results:--
There have been during this period four day schools _entirely supported_ by the funds of this Inst.i.tution. There are at present in these four day schools 181 children.
In addition to the entire support of these four day schools, six schools were a.s.sisted with money, or books, or copies of the Holy Scriptures, or both money and books.
There was one Sunday school, in which there were 175 children, _entirely supported_ by the funds of this Inst.i.tution; and six others were _a.s.sisted_.
There has been, since the formation of the Inst.i.tution, one adult school connected with it, the expenses of which have been _entirely_ borne by the Inst.i.tution, and in which, since March 5, 1834, altogether 2,699 adults have been instructed. The number at present on the books is 72.
There were also two other adult schools _a.s.sisted_ during the past year.
The total amount of means which has been expended during the last twenty-three years in connection with the schools, which have been either entirely or in part supported by the funds of this Inst.i.tution, amounts to 7,938, 13s. 4d.
The number of Bibles, Testaments, and portions of the Holy Scriptures, which have been circulated since May 26, 1856, is as follows:--
Bibles sold, 601. Bibles given away, 1,476. Testaments sold, 829.
Testaments given away, 393. Copies of the Psalms sold, 151. Other small portions of the Holy Scriptures sold, 316.
There have been circulated since March 5, 1834, through the medium of this Inst.i.tution, 18,201 Bibles, 11,502 Testaments, 458 copies of the Psalms, and 1,260 other small portions of the Holy Scriptures.
The total amount of the funds of this Inst.i.tution spent on the circulation of the Holy Scriptures, since March 5, 1834, is 4,407, 7s.
2d. The amount spent during the past year, 521, 7s. 1d.
Some time since a brother in the Lord wrote to me that he had it in his heart to visit from house to house, in a large manufacturing town in Yorkshire, and, if possible, to supply each house with a tract, and to seek out persons who were dest.i.tute of copies of the Holy Scriptures. I supplied him, therefore, with 10,000 gospel tracts and 30 Bibles, and subsequently with 127 more Bibles, and finally with 10,000 more tracts and 74 Bibles.
The third object of this Inst.i.tution is, to aid missionary efforts.
During the past year has been spent of the funds of the Inst.i.tution for this object, the sum of 3,177, 17s. 11d. By this sum seventy-four laborers in the word and doctrine, in various parts of the world, have been to a greater or less degree a.s.sisted.
The year before last, I had been enabled to spend on this part of the work more than during any previous year; but the last year I was, by G.o.d"s help, enabled not only to disburse for this object as much as during the previous year, but 676, 8s. 10d. more. For this privilege I feel grateful; yet I long to be permitted by the Lord to do much more still. But whilst it has been a source of joy to me to be able to a.s.sist seventy-four servants of Christ in many parts of the world, that which was far more than this a cause of thankfulness, was, that almost week by week, and often repeatedly in the same week, I had refreshing intelligence from the brethren whom I sought to help.
The letters of these brethren exhibit the fact that the aid conveyed through Mr. M. was most timely, coming often in the hour of sore need. They also give a.s.surance that their labors had been singularly blessed to the conversion of the heathen, and of the ignorant and deluded among whom they preached.
The total amount of the funds of the Inst.i.tution which has been spent on missionary operations, since March 5, 1834, is 21,794, 7s. 6d.
There has been laid out for tracts, from May 26, 1856, to May 26, 1857, the sum of 975, 18s. 7d.; and there have been circulated within the last year 1,313,301 tracts and books. The sum total which has been expended on this object, since Nov. 19, 1840, amounts to 4,635, 15s.
2d.
The total number of all the tracts and books which have been circulated since Nov. 19, 1840, is 5,710,981.
Letters from those to whom tracts were sent for distribution, convey the intelligence that in very many instances the tracts were blessed to the conversion of sinners.
At the commencement of the last period there were 299 orphans in the new Orphan House on Ashley Down, Bristol. During the past year there were admitted into it 30 orphans, making 329 in all. When the last Report was published, there were 847 orphans waiting for admission. Since then 231 more dest.i.tute orphans, bereaved of both parents by death, and some only a few weeks old, have been applied for to be admitted, making 1,078 in all. Of these 1,078 we were only able to receive 30, as has been stated, and 58 either died or were otherwise provided for, as their relatives or friends have informed us, so that there are still 990 waiting for admission. Christian reader, think of these 990 dest.i.tute orphans, bereaved of both parents! I have now, however, before me the most pleasant prospect, if the Lord permit, of being able to receive 400 of them in about three months, and also of being permitted to build the third house for 300 more.
_Without any one having been personally applied to for anything_ by me, the sum of 92,175, 4s. 2d. has been given to me for the orphans, _as the result of prayer to G.o.d_, since the commencement of the work, which sum includes the 15,055, 3s. 2d. which was the cost of the building, fitting up, and furnishing of the present new Orphan House, and the 31,817, 1s. 11d., which had been received up to May 26, 1857, for the building fund, and the 1,489, 7s. 9d., the balance of the current expenses. It may also be interesting to the reader to know that the total amount which has been given for the other objects, since the commencement of the work, amounts to 33,293, 9s. 10d.; and that which has come in by the sale of Bibles, since the commencement, amounts to 2,080, 9s. 10d.; by sale of tracts, 1,778, 2s. 5d.; and by the payments of the children in the day schools, from the commencement, 2,066, 13s. 4d.
The Lord is pleased to continue to allow us to see fruit in connection with the orphan work, with reference to those who are _now_ under our care, and we hear still again and again of cases in which those who were _formerly_ under our care, have been led to declare themselves openly for the Lord, besides those in whom we saw the work of grace manifestly begun before they left the Orphan House.
CHAPTER XXIV.
CONCLUSION.
1857-1860.
THE HOUSE FOR FOUR HUNDRED OPENED--PRAYER MORE THAN ANSWERED--THE RESORT IN TROUBLE--AN OUTPOURING OF THE SPIRIT ON THE ORPHANS--LAND FOR A NEW BUILDING PURCHASED--"BUT ONE LIFE TO SPEND FOR G.o.d"--"SCATTERING, YET INCREASING"--A MEMORABLE YEAR--THE GERM OF THE IRISH REVIVAL--LETTER FROM AN ORPHAN--THE FRUIT OF SIX MONTHS" PRAYER--THE RESULTS OF THE WORK--REVIVAL AMONG THE ORPHANS.
Under date of Nov. 12, 1857, Mr. M. writes:--
The long looked-for and long prayed-for day had now arrived when the desire of my heart was granted to me, to be able to open the house for four hundred additional orphans. Much had I labored in prayer and active engagements to accomplish what was to be done previously; and now things were so far advanced as that the new house was ready for use; and a few days after we began to receive the children into it. How precious this was to me, such will be able to enter into, who, having day by day prayed for a blessing for seven years, and often repeatedly on the same day, at last obtain the desire of their heart. Yet this blessing came not unexpectedly to me, but had been looked for, and had, in the full a.s.surance of faith, been expected to be obtained in G.o.d"s own time.
Feb. 17, 1858. As far as I am able to judge, I have now all I require in the way of pecuniary means for the third house also, so that I am able to accomplish the full enlargement of the orphan work to one thousand orphans.
By the conclusion of the year under consideration, Mr. M. had received, from all sources, thirty-five thousand three hundred and thirty-five pounds nine shillings threepence toward the new Orphan Houses, "being actually three hundred and thirty-five pounds nine shillings threepence more than I had been from the commencement praying for."
The following circ.u.mstance, connected with the maintenance and care of the orphans, exhibits the reliance placed upon prayer and faith for relief in every exigency:--
Towards the end of November, 1857, I was most unexpectedly informed that the boiler of our heating apparatus at the new Orphan House, No. 1, leaked very considerably, so that it was impossible to go through the winter with such a leak. Our heating apparatus consists of a large cylinder boiler, inside of which the fire is kept, and with which boiler the water pipes which warm the rooms are connected. Hot air is also connected with this apparatus. This now was my position. The boiler had been considered suited for the work of the winter; the having had ground to suspect its being worn out, and not to have done anything towards its being replaced by a new one, and to have said I will trust in G.o.d regarding it, would be careless presumption, but not faith in G.o.d. It would be the counterfeit of faith.
The boiler is entirely surrounded by brickwork; its state, therefore, could not be known without taking down the brickwork; this, if needless, would be rather injurious to the boiler than otherwise; and as, year after year, for eight winters, we had had no difficulty in this way, we had not antic.i.p.ated it now. But suddenly and most unexpectedly, at the commencement of the winter, this difficulty occurred. What then was to be done? For the children, especially the younger infants, I felt deeply concerned that they might not suffer through want of warmth. But how were we to obtain warmth? The introduction of a _new_ boiler would, in all probability, take many weeks. The _repairing_ of the boiler was a questionable matter, on account of the greatness of the leak; but, if not, nothing could be said of it, till the brick-chamber in which the boiler, with Hazard"s patent heating apparatus, is inclosed, was, at least in part, removed; but that would, at least as far as we could judge, take days, and what was to be done in the mean time to find warm rooms for three hundred children? It naturally occurred to me to introduce temporary gas stoves, but, on further weighing the matter, it was found that we should be unable to heat our very large rooms with gas except we had very many stoves, which we could not introduce, as we had not a sufficient quant.i.ty of gas to spare from our lighting apparatus.
Moreover, for each of these stoves we needed a small chimney, to carry off the impure air. This mode of heating, therefore, though applicable to a hall, a staircase, or a shop, would not suit our purposes. I also thought of the temporary introduction of Arnott"s stoves; but they would be unsuitable, as we needed chimneys, long chimneys, for them, as they would have been of a temporary kind, and therefore must go out of the windows. On this account, the uncertainty of its answering in our case, the disfigurement of the rooms almost permanently, led me to see it needful to give up this plan also. But what was to be done? Gladly would I have paid one hundred pounds if thereby the difficulty could have been overcome, and the children not be exposed to suffer for many days from being in cold rooms. At last I determined on falling entirely into the hands of G.o.d, who is very merciful and of tender compa.s.sion, and I decided on having, at all events, the brick-chamber opened, to see the extent of the damage, and to see whether the boiler might be repaired, so as to carry us through the winter. The day was fixed when the workmen were to come, and all the necessary arrangements were made. The fire, of course, had to be let out while the repairs were going on. But now see.
After the day was fixed for the repairs, a bleak north wind set in. It began to blow either on Thursday or Friday before the Wednesday afternoon when the fire was to be let out. Now came the first really cold weather which we had in the beginning of last winter, during the first days of December. What was to be done? The repairs could not be put off. I now asked the Lord for two things, viz. that he would be pleased to change the north wind into a south wind, and that he would give to the workmen "a mind to work;" for I remembered how much Nehemiah accomplished in fifty-two days, whilst building the walls of Jerusalem, because "the people had a mind to work." Well, the memorable day came.
The evening before, the bleak north wind blew still; but on the Wednesday the south wind blew: exactly as I had prayed. The weather was so mild that no fire was needed. The brickwork is removed, the leak is found out very soon, the boiler-makers begin to repair in good earnest.
About half-past eight in the evening, when I was going to leave the new Orphan House for my home, I was informed at the lodge that the acting princ.i.p.al of the firm whence the boiler-makers came was arrived, to see how the work was going on, and whether he could in any way speed the matter. I went immediately into the cellar, therefore, to see him with the men, to seek to expedite the business. In speaking to the princ.i.p.al of this, he said in their hearing, "the men will work late this evening, and come very early again to-morrow." "We would rather, sir," said the leader, "work all night." Then remembered I the second part of my prayer, that G.o.d would give the men "a mind to work." Thus it was: by the morning the repair of the boiler was accomplished, the leak was stopped, though with great difficulty, and within about thirty hours the brickwork was up again and the fire in the boiler; and all the time the south wind blew so mildly that there was not the least need of a fire.
Here, then, is one of our difficulties which was overcome by prayer and faith.
For nearly three months all went on well; but at the end of February another leak appeared, which was worse than the previous one. But over this also we were helped through prayer, so that without any real inconvenience the repairs were accomplished within about thirty hours.
From that time the Lord has not tried us any further in this way. While I am writing this it is fine warm weather, and I have ordered in both houses the fires to be discontinued in the heating apparatuses, and, the Lord willing, a new boiler will of course be subst.i.tuted.
Feb. 2, 1858. "From Newton" one pound. To-day I took the first active steps towards the building of the third house, when immediately afterwards I was informed by letter that a lady in London, an entire stranger to me, had ordered her bankers to send me three hundred pounds for the support of the orphans. I was also further informed in the evening that in two weeks eight hundred pounds shall be paid to me for the work of the Lord. The three hundred pounds was sent the next day, and the eight hundred pounds a fortnight after. See how, with enlargement of the work, the Lord keeps pace with the expenses, helping when help is really needed, often also giving beforehand.
During the year 1857-8, twenty-four schools were supported or a.s.sisted out of the funds of the Inst.i.tution, three thousand nine hundred and sixty-three Bibles and portions of Scripture were circulated, and three thousand five hundred and thirty-one pounds expended for the aid of eighty-two laborers in various parts of the world. From these men Mr. Muller received letters containing the delightful intelligence that their labor had been blessed of the Lord. After giving copious extracts from these letters, Mr. M. adds:--
Such extracts might be greatly multiplied, and, as I said before, a large volume might easily be written; but s.p.a.ce forbids me giving any more. I feel it, however, due to the Christian reader to state that there is good reason to believe that many hundreds of souls have been brought to the knowledge of the Lord through the instrumentality of these brethren within the last year; and may we not hope that even that which is known is not nearly all that the Lord has been pleased to accomplish through them? How seasonably, often, the help for which I had labored in prayer has come to these dear servants of Christ, the following extracts from letters may show, though hundreds of similar letters have been received by me within the last twenty years.
May 19, 1858. "I gratefully acknowledge the Lord"s goodness in the receipt of your check for ten pounds. Being brought low, my dear wife and myself, when specially waiting on him last evening, pleaded with the Lord that he would graciously send a supply this morning; and again we have the proof of his love by your letter and its contents. Bless the Lord, O my soul! With many thanks to you, in which my dear wife unites, I am," etc.