5. To _strengthen the faith of believers,_ encouraging a simpler trust, and a more real and unwavering confidence in God, and particularly in the sure answers to believing prayer, based upon His definite promises.
6. To _promote separation from the world_ and deadness to it, and so to increase heavenly-mindedness in children of God; at the same time warning against fanatical extremes and extravagances, such as sinless perfection while in the flesh.
7. And finally to _fix the hope of disciples on the blessed coming of our Lord Jesus;_ and, in connection therewith, to instruct them as to the true character and object of the present dispensation, and the relation of the church to the world in this period of the out-gathering of the Bride of Christ.
These seven objects may be briefly epitomized thus: Mr. Muller's aim was to lead sinners to believe on the name of the Son of God, and so to _have eternal life;_ to help those who have thus believed, to _know_ that they have this life; to teach them so to _build up_ themselves on their most holy faith, by diligent searching into the word of God, and praying in the Holy Ghost, as that this life shall be more and more a real possession and a conscious possession; to promote among all disciples the _unity of the Spirit_ and the _charity_ which is the bond of perfectness, and to help them to exhibit that life before the world; to incite them to cultivate an _unworldly and spiritual type of character_ such as conforms to the life of God in them; to lead them to the _prayer of faith_ which is both the expression and the expansion of the life of faith; and to direct their hope to the _final appearing of the Lord,_ so that they should purify themselves even as He is pure, and occupy till He comes. Mr. Muller was thus giving himself to the double work of evangelization and edification, on a scale commensurate with his love for a dying world, as opportunity afforded doing good unto all men, and especially to them who are of the household of faith.
Of these long and busy missionary journeys, it is needful to give only the outline, or general survey. March 263 1875, is an important date, for it marks the starting-point. He himself calls this "the beginning of his missionary tours."
From Bristol he went to Brighton, Lewes, and Sunderland--on the way to Sunderland preaching to a great audience in the Metropolitan Tabernacle, at Mr. Spurgeon's request--then to Newcastle-on-Tyne, and back to London, where he spoke at the Mildmay Park Conference, Talbot Road Tabernacle, and 'Edinburgh Castle.' This tour closed, June 5th, after seventy addresses in public, during about ten weeks.
Less than six weeks passed, when, on August 14th, the second tour began, in which case the special impulse that moved him was a desire to follow up the revival work of Mr. Moody and Mr. Sankey. Their short stay in each place made them unable to lead on new converts to higher attainments in knowledge and grace, and there seemed to be a call for some instruction fitted to confirm these new believers in the life of obedience. Mr. Muller accordingly followed these evangelists in England, Ireland, and Scotland, staying in each place from one week to six, and seeking to educate and edify those who had been led to Christ. Among the places visited on this errand in 1875, were London; then Kilmarnock, Saltwater, Dundee, Perth, Glasgow, Kirkentilloch in Scotland, and Dublin in Ireland; then, returning to England, he went to Leamington, Warwick, Kenilworth, Coventry, Rugby, etc. In some cases, notably at Mildmay Park, Dundee and Glasgow, Liverpool and Dublin, the audiences numbered from two thousand to six thousand, but everywhere rich blessing came from above. This second tour extended into the new year, 1876, and took in Liverpool, York, Kendal, Carlisle, Annan, Edinburgh, Arbroath, Montrose, Aberdeen, and other places; and when it closed in July, having lasted nearly eleven months, Mr. Muller had preached at least three hundred and six times, an average of about one sermon a day, exclusive of days spent in travel. So acceptable and profitable were these labours that there were over one hundred invitations urged upon him which he was unable to accept.