Heavy Trials in the Orphan Work During the Last Thirteen Years of Mr. Müller's Life (part 5 of 5)

Dear and honoured Sir,

"As it has come to my turn to leave this Institution to be apprenticed to a plumber and gasfitter, I write to thank you for the care you have taken of me while I have been in this Home. I am glad to tell you that I leave as a Christian boy, and I will try to lead others to Christ as well. I will try to serve my master as I have been taught to do here, and will try by God's help to keep away from bad companions and strong drink. I will not forget your kindness to me as long as I live, and I will ask God to preserve you to us still longer to carry on His work.

"I remain. Your grateful Orphan, ——."

Another dear lad just going out thus closes his letter:—"I will never touch strong drink and I will never smoke."

December 1st. The total income for the week ending to-day has been only £280 2s. 7½d. The Lord is pleased still to keep us very low in funds, but, though "cast down" we are "not destroyed." We remember that the low place is the meeting-place with God, for it is written, "I was brought low and He helped me." We shall yet praise Him for the help of His countenance.—December 8th. The income for the past week for all the Objects of the Institution has been only £231 10s. 7¾d., again only a little more than a third part of the current expenses.—December 9th. Now, at the last, after long patience, came to-day a most precious token for good in the gift of £300 for the support of the Orphans; a most seasonable supply!—December 10th. By sale of gold watches, dentist gold, and jewellery, £44 7s. 7d.—December 11th. From Tangier, Morocco, £5. Thus, even from Africa, the Lord sends help!—December 14th. From Bristol £20 10s., "the result of work lovingly done for the benefit of the Orphans by the three members of one family."—December 15th. In consequence of the considerable sums received, as above stated, on the 10th inst., the total income for the week ending this day has been £800 3s. 7½d. To God be the praise!—December 16th. From Cork £75, with £25 for Mr. Müller.—December 17th. From near Havant £30, for the support of two Orphans for one year.

December 23rd. From Stockwell £1; the donor writes:—"I wish to tell you, dear Sir, for your encouragement, that your practical faith was used of God in helping to convince my brother of the truth of Christianity, when he was a sceptic and almost an infidel. He read your Report when he would not read the Bible; but thank God he has just lately taken Christ as his Saviour.… I was glad when he asked me last year to lend him your Report. Thank God, he will now read the Bible for himself, and let me read it to him every night and pray with him." From Monmouthshire £300.—From a servant of the Lord Jesus, who, constrained by the love of Christ, seeks to lay up treasure in heaven, £65 16s. 9½d. From Bristol, with 2 Cor. 9:15, £75.—

December 24th. From one engaged in the work £5. From another engaged in the work £5.—December 27th. Through a bookseller in Bristol we received to-day from "Mother" £25 4s" and from "Star" £10.—December 31st. From a servant of the Lord Jesus, who, constrained by the love of Christ, seeks to lay up treasure in heaven, £41 10s.

January 1st. From Melksham £35. From Glamorganshire £180, with £20 for Mr. Müller.—January 3rd. From Kendal £50.—January 4th. From Kendal £40, with £10 for Mr. Müller. January 6th. From Norfolk £100.—January 19th. From a servant of the Lord Jesus, who, constrained by the love of Christ, seeks to lay up treasure in heaven, £19 5s.—January 20th. From a postman, being half of what he received in Christmas boxes, £1 16s. 4d.—January 21st. From Edinburgh £8, and a breast-pin. The donor wrote, "The Spirit of God has been working on me for some time to 'Sell all and give to the poor,' and happening to see your Report, I decided to send the above, and may God's blessing rest on such a work."—January 24th. From Dalkeith £5, with the following letter:—

"I find on looking over my account with you that I am due £5, for which sum a Bank Draft is enclosed, and I feel that I have clipt the wings of that sum by sending it to you. My stock always keeps healthy, and I never fall in with any disagreeable labourers, and these are two things for which I am thankful."

May I commend this letter to the attention of the reader? The writer has learned an important secret, viz., that "riches make to themselves wings and flee away," and that the best way to retain their value is to use them for God.—January 31st. From Scotland £100, with £5 for Mr. Müller.

February 7th. From Belfast £1. The donor's wife was very ill, and he promised the Lord, that, if she was spared, he would give this sum as a thankoffering. The Lord, however, took her to Himself, and the bereaved husband sent the gift now as a thankoffering for her triumphant death! Dear reader, pause for a moment and consider what the Holy Spirit can effect in a child of God, even while he is in the body, and thereby subject to infirmities and to be tempted to indulge unbelief. The heart can be brought into such harmony with the Father's will, that it can give thanks for that which is most intensely "grievous" to nature; and how greatly God is glorified when His child is thus satisfied with Him.—February 10th. From Bristol £60, with £20 for Mr. Müller, and £20 for Mr. Wright.—February 18th. From Honiton £90. From a servant of the Lord Jesus, who, constrained by the love of Christ, seeks to lay up treasure in heaven, £139 1s.—February 23rd. From Herts £100.

Mr. Muller's latest entries

February 26th. The following entry, under this date, is in Mr. Müller's own handwriting: "The income to-day, by the first two deliveries, was £7 15s. 11d. Day by day our great trial of faith and patience continues, and thus it has been, more or less, now, for twenty-one months, yet, by Thy grace, we are sustained."—February 28th. Monday. The income for two days has been only £14 9s. 6d.—March 1st. The following, again, is from a memorandum in Mr. Müller's own hand-writing, under this date: "For about twenty-one months with scarcely the least intermission the trial of our faith and patience has continued. To-day, the Lord has refreshed our hearts. This afternoon came in, for the Lord's work, £1,427 1s. 7d. as part payment of a legacy of the late Mrs. E. C. S. For three years and ten months this money had been in the Irish Chancery Court. Hundreds of petitions have been brought before the Lord regarding it, and now, at last, this portion of the total legacy has been received." Thus far is in the hand-writing of my beloved father-in-law. He speaks of the amount under one total, £1,427 1s. 7d. But this total included two separate sums, of £1,001 3s. 10d. and £425 17s. 9d. respectively. The latter of these was part of a legacy bequeathed by the testatrix to Mr. Müller, personally, for his own use; but, as was very often his practice, he placed it to the funds of the Institution, as his own donation.

A Secret disclosed

Now that that happy servant is with his Lord, I feel free to make known, thus publicly, the fact that the large donations to the funds of this Institution, which, for many years, have appeared in the Reports coupled with these words "From a servant (or from servants) of the Lord Jesus, who, constrained by the love of Christ, seeks to lay up treasure in heaven," were all his own donations which he gave, joyfully, to the work so dear to his heart, and to the Lord whom he so deeply loved. By papers which have come into my hands, as his executor, I find that, by acting habitually, through his long Christian course, on the principles of systematic giving as God was pleased to entrust him with means for his personal use, he was enabled to give away up to March 1st, 1898, £81,490 18s. 8d., of which about £64,500 was put to the funds of the Scriptural Knowledge Institution, and about £17,000 to the poor, and to relatives when in need. The beloved departed one left a letter, accompanying his Will, in which he expressed his desire that "all who labour in the Word would point out to the dear children of God, the great importance of systematic giving as God is pleased to prosper them in earthly things;" the reader will surely acknowledge that one who, by the grace of God, did what the above mentioned figures show he did, has no little claim to be listened to on this very important part of Christian duty and privilege. May he "being dead yet speak" to many of his fellow-servants.

March 10th. [Mr. Müller fell asleep early in the morning of this day.] Legacy of the late Mrs. E. B., Alleghany Co., U.S.A., £19 3s. 11d. On this, the first day of our new experience, as bereft of our long-loved earthly head, it pleased the Lord to send in a total of £26 19s. 3½d. for the work.—March 12th. From Reading £10. The donor wrote: "I wish to be one of the first to send a cheque (£10) after your accepting the great responsibilities now devolving upon you. We will all remember that the real Head and Manager of the Institution still lives, 'the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever.' "

March 15th. From Ontario £30. From Basingstoke £23, From Stoke Newington £1 1s. The donor wrote: "I was influenced in a dream, this morning, to send this to you."

To-day a letter was received by one of the teachers from an Orphan girl, testifying to her personal acceptance of Christ as her Saviour, and tracing her decision to impressions produced by the removal of Mr. Müller. She added that "many of the dear girls" in her department "have been convicted of sin and are longing to be Christians." God is thus already answering many prayers, that our sore bereavement might be the means of bringing many to eternal life.—March 17th. From Taunton £1 1s., "Instead of a memorial wreath." In the public announcement of Mr. Müller's decease it was requested that no flowers might be sent; hence the words accompanying this donation. Several other donations with similar remarks came subsequently to hand.—Received as the result of a collection taken at a United Communion Service, in connection with the meetings of the Free Church Congress Meetings, held in Bristol, on Thursday, the 10th instant, the day of Mr. Müller's decease, £20 6s. 10d., which, by the desire of the Assembly, was handed to us for the Orphans. From Weston-super-Mare, 10s., with the following letter:—

Dear and honoured Sir,

"I was so grieved to hear of the death of our dear and honoured father and benefactor. We (the Orphans), especially those at present in the Homes, will feel that there is a blank and void that can never be refilled in exactly the same way as dear Mr. Müller filled it. We, perhaps, will never know what we have been saved from, or all that has been wrought for us in the past, present or future, through our benefactor's life; but God knows, and He who watches over and tenderly cares for the little soulless birds will surely note and abundantly reward the love and care shown to the Orphan children so untiringly for so many years. I do feel, Sir, so thankful to God that He has spared you, whose whole heart is in the work, to carry it on; and I do pray that God will abundantly bless you for all that you have done for us, and that He will strengthen your hands for the great work that still, we hope, lies before you. We know that, in this time of deep trial, God has been to you and will be a very present help, according to His Word.

"From Yours very respectfully, ——."

March 22nd. From Dunedin £100. The total income of the Institution for week ending March 23rd, has been £1,054 13s. 2¾d. To God be the praise!—March 30th. Anonymously £1. "In grateful remembrance, from a bereaved and sorrowing Orphan (instead of flowers on the 14th), to be used for the dear Home that I left in 1867."—March 31st. From a Japanese visitor to the Orphan Houses £1.

April 2nd. From Glasgow £12, with £3 for myself.—April 4th. From Bristol, with 2 Cor. 9:15, £10.—April 7th. Legacy of the late Mrs. A. P. £100.—April 23rd. Legacy of the late Miss H. G. £1,099 7s. 6d., and balance of dividend on the Government Stock which produced this sum, £2 3s. 5d. During the last three or four weeks, in the increased income our faithful God and Father has been answering, in a marked way, the many prayers that had gone up from our hearts in the name of Jesus, and now, the payment of this legacy, bequeathed some twelve years ago, is another precious token that we do not wait upon Him in vain!—April 27th. The total income of the Institution for the week ending this day has been £1,391 5s. 4d.—"It is the LORD'S doing!"—April 29th. From Kidderminster, "From two of the old Girls" £10, "As a little token of gratitude." There are not a few trials connected with a work like this, but this is a specimen of the many cups of cordial, which our loving Father hands to us, in the deep affection towards the Homes and the Helpers shown by so many of the dear Orphans after they leave; and, as in this case, after they have left us for a long time. From New York £2.

May 2nd. From Bristol, with 2 Cor. 9:15, £50. From Clifton £50.—May 11th. From Birmingham £150. The total income of the Institution for the week ending to-day has been £554 4s. 3¾d.—May 13th. Legacies of the late Miss M. T. and the late Miss E. T. £181 10s. —May 16th. From Ramsgate £50. This kind donor was led, on this occasion, to send us a much larger donation than usual. How much more precious was this to us, as a purely spontaneous act, than it would have been, if it came as a kind response from an urgent appeal from ourselves. I do not even know this kind friend, personally; but, in answer to our believing prayers, our Heavenly Father moves his heart, thus greatly to aid us. From Chester £25.—May 17th. From the "Thomas Porter's Equipment Fund" £60, to be expended in the outfit or equipment of Orphans.

[The expenditure for the Orphans from May 26th, 1897, to May 26th, 1898, was £22,523 13s. 1d.]

Brief Summary of the Statistics of Orphan, and Bible, School, Tract, and Missionary Work done during Mr. Müller's life

I.—Donations for the Institution.

(a) ORPHANS.—Without any one having been personally applied to for anything, £988,829 Os. 10½d. was given for the Orphans as the result of prayer to God from the commencement of the work up to May 26th, 1898.

(b) SCHOOL, BIBLE, TRACT, AND MISSIONARY FUND.—The total amount voluntarily given for the School, Bible, Tract, and Missionary funds from the commencement of the work, was £392,341 18s. 7d.

(c) TOTAL OF DONATIONS TO THE INSTITUTION.—The total of the above voluntary contributions amounted to One million, three hundred and eighty-one thousand, one hundred and seventy pounds, nineteen shillings and fivepence halfpenny (£1,381,170 19s. 5½d.), given solely as the result of prayer.*

II.—Donations for Personal Expenses.—The amount received by Mr. Müller during his life for his personal expenses was over £93,000. See page 461.

III.—Income from Sales, Etc.—In addition to the above there came in from the commencement by the sale of Bibles, £22,123 1s. 3½d.; by the sale of Tracts, £25,474 4s. 4d.; and by the payment of the children in the Day Schools, £24,745 8s. 2d.

IV.—Total Income for the Institution.—Thus the total income of the Institution from its commencement up to the year in which Mr. Müller died amounted to One million, four hundred and fifty-three thousand, five hundred and thirteen pounds, thirteen shillings, and threepence (£1,453,513 13s. 3d.).

V.—Number of Orphans cared for.—From April, 1836, to May 26th, 1898, ten thousand and twenty-four Orphans were cared for in the Homes.

VI.—Bibles, etc., circulated.—There were circulated between March, 1834, and May, 1898, 285,407 Bibles; 1,459,506 New Testaments; 21,365 copies of the Book of Psalms; and 222,986 other portions of the Word of God in several languages. The total amount expended on this Object from March, 1834, was £41,090 13s. 3½d.

VII.—Tracts circulated.—The sum total expended on this Object amounted to £47,188 11s. 10d.

VIII.—Missionary Funds.—There was expended from the commencement of the Institution £261,859 7s. 4d. on this Object.