This morning I went to the Alien Office for my passport. On entering the office, I saw a printed paper, in which it is stated that every alien neglecting to renew every six months his certificate of residence, which he receives on depositing his passport, subjects himself to a penalty of fifty pounds, or imprisonment. This law I have ignorantly broken ever since I left London, in 1829. It appeared to me much better to confess at once that I had ignorantly done so than now wilfully break it; _trusting in the Lord as it regarded the consequences of the step_. I did so, and _the Lord inclined the heart of the officer with whom I had to do to pass over my non-compliance with the law, on account of my having broken it ignorantly_. Having obtained my passport, I found an unexpected difficulty in the Prussian ambassador refusing to sign it, as it did not contain a description of my person, and therefore I needed to prove that I was the individual spoken of in the passport. This difficulty was not removed for three days, when, _after earnest prayer_, through a paper signed by some citizens of London, to whom I am known, the ambassador was satisfied. This very difficulty, when once the Lord had removed it, afforded me cause for thanksgiving; for I now obtained a _new_ passport, worded in a way that, should I ever need it again, will prevent similar difficulties.
Mr. Mueller was absent for five weeks, during which time he experienced many answers to prayer and encouragements to faith.
April 15. Bristol. Yesterday, at one, we landed in London. In answer to prayer, I soon obtained my things from the custom-house, and reached my friends in Chancery Lane a little before two.
June 3. To-day we had a public meeting on account of the Scriptural Knowledge Institution for Home and Abroad. It is now fifteen months since, in dependence upon the Lord for the supply of means, we have been enabled to provide poor children with schooling, circulate the Holy Scriptures, and aid missionary labors. During this time, though the field of labor has been continually enlarging, and though we have now and then been brought low in funds, the Lord has never allowed us to be obliged to stop the work. We have been enabled during this time to establish three day schools, and to connect with the Institution two other charity day schools, which, humanly speaking, otherwise would have been closed for want of means. The number of the children that have been thus provided with schooling, in the day schools only, amounts to 439. The number of copies of the Holy Scriptures which have been circulated is 795 Bibles and 753 New Testaments. We have also sent, in aid of missionary labors in Canada, in the East Indies, and on the Continent of Europe, one hundred and seventeen pounds, eleven shillings. The whole amount of the free-will offerings put into our hands for carrying on this work from March 5, 1834, to May 19, 1835, is L363 12s. 03/4d.
June 22. This morning at two my father-in-law died. June 25. Our little boy is so ill that I have no hope of his recovery. The Lord's holy will be done concerning the dear little one. June 26. My prayer, last evening, was, that God would be pleased to support my dear wife under the trial, should he remove the little one; and to take him soon to himself, thus sparing him from suffering. I did not pray for the child's recovery. It was but two hours after that the dear little one went home. I am so fully enabled to realize that the dear infant is so much better off with the Lord Jesus than with us, that I scarcely feel the loss at all, and when I weep I weep for joy.
July 18. I have felt for several days weak in my chest. This weakness has been increasing, and to-day I have felt it more than ever. I have thought it well to refrain next week from all public speaking. May the Lord grant that I may be brought nearer to him through this, for I am not at all in the state in which I ought to be, and I think sometimes that our late afflictions have been lost upon me, and that the Lord will need to chastise me severely.
July 31. To-day brother C----r, formerly a minister in the establishment, who came to us a few days since, began, in connection with the Scriptural Knowledge Institution, to go from house to house to spread the truth as a city missionary. [This was a remarkable interposition of God. Brother Craik had before this, for some months, been unable, on account of bodily infirmity, to labor in the work of the schools, the circulation of the Scriptures, etc., and my own weakness, shortly after brother C----r's arrival, increased so that I was obliged to give up the work entirely. How gracious, therefore, of the Lord to send brother C----r, that thus the work might go on! Up to July, 1837, this beloved brother was enabled to continue in his work, and thus this little Institution was in a most important way enlarged as it regards the field of labor.]