Yet another law, kindred to this and thoroughly inwrought into Mr. Muller's habit of life, was _never to contract debt,_ whether for personal purposes or the Lord's work. This matter was settled on scriptural grounds once for all (Romans xiii. 8), and he and his wife determined if need be to suffer starvation rather than to buy anything without paying for it when bought. Thus they always knew how much they had to buy with, and what they had left to give to others or use for others' wants.
There was yet another law of life early framed into Mr. Muller's personal decalogue. He regarded any money which was in his hands _already designated for, or appropriated to, a specific use,_ as _not his to use, even temporarily, for any other ends._ Thus, though he was often reduced to the lowest point of temporal supplies, he took no account of any such funds set apart for other outlays or due for other purposes. Thousands of times he was in straits where such diversion of funds for a time seemed the only and the easy way out, but where this would only have led him into new embarrassments. This principle, intelligently adopted, was firmly adhered to, that what properly belongs to a particular branch of work, or has been already put aside for a certain use, even though yet in hand, is not to be reckoned on as available for any other need, however pressing. Trust in God implies such knowledge on His part of the exact circumstances that He will not constrain us to any such misappropriation. Mistakes, most serious and fatal, have come from lack of conscience as well as of faith in such exigencies--drawing on one fund to meet the overdraught upon another, hoping afterward to replace what is thus withdrawn. A well-known college president had nearly involved the institution of which he was the head, in bankruptcy, and himself in worse moral ruin, all the result of one error--money given for endowing certain chairs had been used for current expenses until public confidence had been almost hopelessly impaired.
Thus a life of _faith_ must be no less a life of _conscience._ Faith and trust in God, and truth and faithfulness toward man, walked side by side in this life-journey in unbroken agreement.