PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
The Life of Trust: Being a Narrative of the Lord's Dealings With George Müller
Müller, George, 1805-1898 · 159,879 words · 260 reading sections
II. THE SUPPORT OF THE ORPHANS.
Jan. 20, 1847. For the whole of this period since May 26, 1846, therefore nearly eight months, when the accounts were closed, we have had always an abundance of means, and for the greater part of the time about two hundred pounds in hand. The sum of one thousand sixty-five pounds has come in for the orphans in less tha…
312 wordsSECTION 182MY DEAR SIR:
I send you something towards buying bread for the orphans. The dearness of food must be felt by many; but the Lord in judgment is nevertheless gracious. He will sustain. I am your sincere friend and well-wisher, * * * * March 9. This evening, Tuesday, I find that since last Tuesday evening again forty-four pounds one …
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July 13. The proceeds of an orphan box from Stafford, four pounds seven shillings sixpence. The friend who sent the money wished to know whether it arrived in a time of need. I have had many similar requests, to which I can reply nothing, or say at the most that the answer may be learnt from the next Report. It will be…
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Dec. 30. When this day began, I was without anything for the necessities of the day, though I had reason to believe that several pounds would again be required. I was therefore again looking out for fresh supplies. Accordingly, about ten o'clock this morning, a brother in the Lord, who had come last evening to stay for…
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Sometimes children are to be placed out as servants or apprentices. A suitable place is needed, or else they had better remain under our care. The obtaining of this suitable place is a "need" indeed. It is more difficult to be obtained than money. Sometimes for many weeks have I had to wait upon God to have this "need"…
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Further, that the laborers work happily together among themselves, and that I go on happily in service with them; that I be their servant, on the one hand, and yet, on the other, maintain the place which God has given me in this work; surely, if any one carefully looks at this, he will at once see that there is a diffi…
790 wordsSECTION 187III. THE NEW ORPHAN HOUSE ON ASHLEY DOWN.
Up to May 26, 1846, L2,710, 3s. 51/2d. had been received toward building the new Orphan House. July 4, 1846. For about three months my faith and patience have been exceedingly tried about the field which I have purchased for the building of the orphan house, as the greatest difficulties arose about my possessing the l…
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Nov. 19. I am now led more and more to importune the Lord to send me the means which are requisite in order that I may be able to commence the building. Because, 1. It has been for some time past publicly stated in print that I consider it is not without ground that some of the inhabitants of Wilson Street consider the…
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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, bei…
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April 29, 1848. The total amount which I have received for the building fund is L11,062, 4s. 111/2d. 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 re…
363 wordsSECTION 191IV. 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 fellows…
514 wordsSECTION 192V. 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 L399, 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…
774 wordsSECTION 193CONTINUED MERCIES.
1848-1850. HUMBLE BEGINNINGS--DEVISING LIBERAL THINGS--THE ORPHANS PROVIDED FOR--A MEMORABLE DAY--MONEY "AT INTEREST"--MEANS FROM AN UNEXPECTED SOURCE--THE PROGRESS OF THE NEW ORPHAN HOUSE--MEANS PROVIDED FOR ITS COMPLETION--INEXPRESSIBLE DELIGHT IN GOD--REVIEW OF THE TWO YEARS PAST. On the 26th of May, 1848, I had o…
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Jan. 30. During this month I had been especially led to send much assistance to home and foreign laborers. Also in other respects the expenses for _these_ objects had been considerable. On this account the funds for them had been reduced to about eighty pounds when I received this evening four hundred and fifty pounds,…
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March 9. The new Orphan House is now nearly ready. On this account we have to get in large supplies for the children's clothes. Within the last few days I have ordered thousands of yards of material for this purpose, and thousands more will need to be ordered, besides providing a stock of many other things. For this la…
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Aug. 30. Received a fifty-pound note with these words: "I send you herewith a fifty-pound note, half for the missions, half for the orphans, unless you are in any personal need; if so, take five pounds for yourself. This will be the last large sum I shall be able to transmit to you. Almost all the rest is already _out …
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At the time when I last referred to the _progress_ of the new Orphan House, it was being built. A part of it was already roofed in, and the remainder was to be roofed not many weeks afterwards. But how much did there yet remain to be done in other respects! A building so considerable as to contain about three hundred l…
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Jan. 17, 1849. The time is now near when further steps are to be taken to fit up and furnish the house, as more than two thirds of the rooms are all but ready. Under these circumstances I have prayed the more earnestly, day by day, that the Lord would be pleased to give me the means which are yet needed; and as my hear…
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During the whole of the two years ending May 26, 1850, five day schools, with 329 children in them, were entirely supported by the funds of this Institution; and some pecuniary assistance was rendered to four other day schools. Also a Sunday school, with 168 children, was entirely supported, and another was occasionall…
840 wordsSECTION 200A NEW VICTORY OF FAITH.
1850-1851. PAST MERCIES AN ENCOURAGEMENT TO NEW UNDERTAKINGS--A HOUSE FOR SEVEN HUNDRED ORPHANS PROPOSED--WALKING BY FAITH--COUNSEL SOUGHT FROM GOD--THE PURPOSE FORMED--DELIGHT IN THE MAGNITUDE AND DIFFICULTY OF THE DESIGN.…
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December 5, 1850. It is now sixteen years and nine months this evening since I began the Scriptural Knowledge Institution for Home and Abroad. This Institution was in its beginning exceedingly small. Now it is so large that I have not only disbursed, since its commencement, about fifty thousand pounds sterling, but tha…
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But whilst such like thoughts have passed through my mind, there are others of another character. For instance: 1. I have already an abundance of work. 2. My dear wife has already an abundance of work. Her whole time, with little intermission (except for prayer and reading of the Word of God), is occupied, directly or …
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Dec. 26. Fifteen days have elapsed since I wrote the preceding paragraph. Every day since then I have continued to pray about this matter, and that with a goodly measure of earnestness, by the help of God. There has passed away scarcely an hour during these days in which, whilst awake, this matter has not been more or …
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January 2, 1851. A week ago I wrote the preceding paragraph. During this week I have still been helped, day by day, and more than once every day, to seek the guidance of the Lord about another Orphan House. The burden of my prayer has still been, that he in his great mercy would keep me from making a mistake. During th…
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2. Would it not be going beyond my measure _naturally_, with reference to mental and bodily strength? Answer: Of all the objections against establishing another Orphan House, there is none that weighs more with me than this one; I might say, it is the only real difficulty. This, however, too, I am enabled to put aside …
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The new Orphan House, with its three hundred orphans only, cost about fifteen thousand pounds to build and to fit up and furnish, and still the expenses are not all met even now. It will, in all probability, cost several hundred pounds yet. And this large sum was needed, though the style of the building is most simple,…
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6. Suppose, now, you were even to succeed in getting this large Orphan House built, how will you be able to provide for seven hundred other orphans? Answer: There is much weight in this objection, looking at it _naturally_. I am too much a man of business, and too much a person of calm, quiet, cool calculation, not to …
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7. But, it might be said, suppose you were able by prayer to obtain this large sum for building a house for seven hundred other orphans; and suppose you were able to provide for them during your lifetime,--what would become of this Institution after your death? Answer: I am quite familiar with this objection. I have he…
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_Reasons_ FOR _establishing another Orphan House for Seven Hundred Orphans._--1. The many applications for the admission of destitute orphans which continue to be made, I consider as a call from God upon me to do all that is in my power to provide a home and scriptural education for a still greater number of orphans. N…
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6. The spiritual benefit of still more orphans is another especial reason with me why I feel called to go forward. The orphans who have been under my care hitherto were almost all the children of parents who were naturally weak in body, if not consumptive. The very fact of a child being deprived of _both_ parents when …
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March 5. Nearly five weeks have passed away since I wrote the last paragraph, and my mind has not been once during this time, even for a moment, in uncertainty as to what I ought to do. It is now about fifteen weeks since I have been especially praying about this subject, and three months since I began first to write o…
665 wordsSECTION 212UNVARYING PROSPERITY.
1850-1852. DESIRES FOR MORE ENLARGED USEFULNESS GRATIFIED--A LARGE DONATION ANTICIPATED AND RECEIVED--REVIEW OF 1851--PERSONAL EXPERIENCE--BUILDING FUND FOR THE SECOND NEW ORPHAN HOUSE--DOUBT RESISTED--WAITING ON GOD NOT IN VAIN--REVIEW OF 1852. At the commencement of the year beginning with May, 1850, it was my purp…
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Nov. 27. For seven weeks the income has been very small, in comparison with what has been expended, both for the orphans and for the various other objects of the Scriptural Knowledge Institution. There has come in for the orphans L187, 16s. 23/4d., and for the other objects L62, 11s. 1d.; and the expenditure has been f…
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From May 26, 1850, to May 26, 1851, there were four day schools in Bristol, with 286 children in them, _entirely supported_ by the funds of the Institution; and three others in Devonshire, Gloucestershire, and Norfolk, with 180 children in them, were _assisted_. Further, one Sunday school in Bristol, with 184 children,…
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May 26, 1851. The reader will remember that I stated in a previous chapter that I purposed, not in dependence upon my Christian friends, nor in dependence upon former donors, but alone in dependence upon the living God, to enlarge the orphan work. Before I brought before the public what I purposed to do, I gave the rec…
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Sept. 13. Patience and faith are still called for, and, by God's grace, my desire is to "let patience have her perfect work." Not one penny has come in to-day for the building fund, but five more orphans have been applied for, so that now forty in less than one single month have been brought before me, all bereaved of …
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During the period from May 26, 1851, to May 26, 1852, there were _entirely supported_ by the funds of the Institution four day schools in Bristol, with 248 poor children in them, and three others in Devonshire, Monmouthshire, and Norfolk, were _assisted_. Further, one Sunday school in Bristol, with 243 children, was en…
664 wordsSECTION 218REAPING IN JOY.
1852-1854. EXPECTING GREAT THINGS FROM GOD--MUNIFICENT DONATION--INCREASING USEFULNESS OF THE SCRIPTURAL KNOWLEDGE INSTITUTION--ACCESS TO GOD THROUGH FAITH IN CHRIST--A VOICE FROM MOUNT LEBANON--BENEFIT OF WAITING GOD'S TIME--CAREFUL STEWARDSHIP--FAITH, THE ONLY RELIANCE--"THIS POOR WIDOW HATH CAST IN MORE THAN THEY A…
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You see, dear reader, that we are richly recompensed for our waiting upon God. You perceive the readiness of his heart to listen to the supplications of his children who put their trust in him. If you have never made trial of it, do so now. But in order to have your prayers answered, you need to make your requests unto…
515 wordsSECTION 220DEAR BROTHER IN CHRIST:
It is now several years that I read with great interest, and I hope with some benefit to my soul, the account of your labors and experiences. Ever since then your work was the object of many thoughts and prayers, and I gave many copies of your book to Christian friends. One of them has read it in Syria, on Mount Lebano…
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The natural mind is ever prone _to reason_, when we ought _to believe_; to be _at work_, when we ought to be _quiet_; to go our own way, when we ought steadily to walk on in God's ways, however trying to nature. When I was first converted, I should have said, What harm can there be to take some of the money which has b…
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During the year 1852-53, there were four day schools, with 235 children in them, entirely supported by the funds of the Institution. Further, one Sunday school in Bristol, with 150 children, was entirely supported, and three others in Devonshire, Somersetshire, and Gloucestershire, with 280 children, were assisted. Las…
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Jan. 17, 1854. From S. R. and E. R., two poor factory girls, near Stroud, 1s. 7d. This day I also received the promise that there should be paid to me, for the work of the Lord in my hands, L5,207, to be disposed of as I might consider best. The whole amount received for the new Orphan House, during the year closing M…
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On the receipt of this, I wrote at once to the poor godly widow, offering her the travelling expenses for coming to Bristol, that I might have personal intercourse with her; for I feared lest this should be an act of excitement, and the more so, as she had received back five pounds of the sum. This sister in the Lord, …
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I now asked her, as this matter concerning the retaining of the five pounds was satisfactorily explained, as far as it respected her own state of heart, what she wished me to do with the money, in case I saw it right to keep it. Her reply was that she would leave that with me, that God would direct me concerning it; bu…
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My reply is: 1. God has never failed me all the twenty years of this my service. 2. I am going on as easily now, with three hundred orphans, as with thirty, the number with which I commenced. Their number is ten times as large as it was at the first; but God has always helped me. 3. Trials of faith were anticipated, ye…
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If any of the Christian readers are in the habit of circulating tracts, and yet have never seen fruit, may I suggest to them the following hints for their prayerful consideration. 1. Seek for such a state of heart, through prayer and meditation on the Holy Scriptures, as that you are willing to let God have all the hon…
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While I was in this affliction, this great affliction, besides being at peace, as far as the Lord's dispensation was concerned, I also felt perfectly at peace with regard to the cause of the affliction. When in August, 1831, the hand of the Lord was heavily laid on me in my family, as related in the first part of this …
489 wordsSECTION 229THREE YEARS OF PROSPERITY.
1854-1857. THE SITE SELECTED--SIX THOUSAND ORPHANS IN PRISON--HOW TO ASK FOR DAILY BREAD--REVIEW OF TWENTY-FOUR YEARS--"TAKE NO THOUGHT FOR THE MORROW"--INSURANCE AGAINST BAD DEBTS. During the year ending May 26, 1855, Mr. M. received toward the erection of the second new Orphan House five thousand two hundred and fo…
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The result, then, to which I have arrived at present is this: that having seen what could be accomplished on the ground which we have already, I decided to build, without any further delay than was necessary for preparing the plans, at the south side of the new Orphan House, another house for four hundred children. The…
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In connection with all these various schools, I would suggest the following important matter for prayer. From March, 1834, to May 26, 1855, there were 5,956 children in the day schools. In the adult schools there were 2,459 persons. The number of the Sunday-school children amounted to 2,817. Thus, without reckoning the…
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1. Not _merely say_ that he trusts in God, but must _really do so_. Often individuals profess to trust in God, but they embrace every opportunity where they may directly or indirectly be able to expose their need, and thus seek to induce persons to help them. I do not say it is wrong to make known our wants; but I do s…
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During this year there was spent, of the funds of the Institution, for missionary objects, L2,501, 9s. 1d. By this sum sixty-one laborers in the word and doctrine, in various parts of the world, were to a greater or less degree assisted. The sum total which has been expended on missionary operations, of the funds of t…
752 wordsSECTION 234DEAR SIR:--
In admiration of the services which you have rendered to poor orphans and mankind in general, I think it right that some provision should be made for yourself. I think it right to send you one hundred pounds, as a beginning to form a fund, which I hope many good Christians will add to, * * * * for the maintenance of yo…
159 wordsSECTION 235MY DEAR SIR:--
I hasten to thank you for your kind communication, and to inform you that your check for one hundred pounds has safely come to hand. I have no property whatever, nor has my dear wife; nor have I had one single shilling regular salary as minister of the gospel for the last twenty-six years, nor as the director of the O…
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There has been, since the formation of the Institution, one adult school connected with it, the expenses of which have been _entirely_ borne by the Institution, 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 sch…
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_Without any one having been personally applied to for anything_ by me, the sum of L92,175, 4s. 21/2d. has been given to me for the orphans, _as the result of prayer to God_, since the commencement of the work, which sum includes the L15,055, 3s. 21/4d. which was the cost of the building, fitting up, and furnishing of …
255 wordsSECTION 238CONCLUSION.
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 GOD"--"SCATTERING, YET INCREASING"--A MEMORABLE YEAR--THE GERM OF THE IRISH REVIVAL--LETTER FROM AN ORPHAN--THE FRUIT…
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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 anticipated it now. But sudd…
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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 an…
869 wordsSource & rights
Public domain in the USA; original historical text digitized by Project Gutenberg.
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Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.