Chapter Twenty-Seven, Precious Prospect
Chapter Twenty-Seven, Precious Prospect
Early in the summer of 1897 Charles Parsons visited Muller in his study at No. 3. ‘He received me with a cordial handshake,’ Parsons recorded, ‘and bade me welcome.’
‘You have always found the Lord faithful to His promise?’ Parsons asked.
‘Always,’ replied Muller with great earnestness, ‘He has never failed me! For nearly seventy years every need in connection with this work has been supplied. The orphans, from the first until now, have numbered 9,500, but they have never wanted a meal. Never! Hundreds of times we have commenced the day without a penny in hand, but our Heavenly Father has sent supplies by the moment they were actually required. There never was a time when we had no wholesome meal. During all these years I have been enabled to trust in God, in the Living God, and in Him alone. One million, four hundred thousand pounds have been sent to me in answer to prayer. We have wanted as much as £50,000 in one year, and it has all come by the time it has been really needed. No man on earth can say that I ever asked him for a penny. We have no committees, no collectors, no voting, and no endowments. All has come in answer to believing prayer. My trust has been in God alone; He has many ways of moving the hearts of men to help us all over the world. While I am praying He speaks to this one and another, on this continent and on that, to send us help. Only the other evening, while I was preaching, a gentleman wrote me a cheque for a large amount for the orphans, and handed it to me when the service was over.’
‘I have read your life, Mr Muller, and have noticed how greatly, at times, your faith has been tried. Is it with you now as formerly?’ ‘My faith is tried as much as ever, and my difficulties are greater than ever. Besides our financial responsibilities, suitable helpers have constantly to be found, and suitable places have to be provided for scores and hundreds of orphans who are constantly leaving the Homes. Then often our funds run very low; we had come nearly to the end of our supplies: I called my beloved helpers together and said to them “Pray, brethren, pray!” Immediately, £100 was sent us, then £200, and in a few days £1,500 came in. But we have to be always praying and always believing. Oh, it is good to trust in the living God, for He hath said, “I will never leave thee, I will never forsake thee.” Expect great things from God, and great things you will have. There is no limit to what He is able to do. Praises for ever be to His Glorious Name! Praise Him for all! Praise Him for everything! I have praised Him many times when He has sent me 6d, and I have praised Him when He has sent me £ 12,000.’
‘I suppose you have never contemplated a reserve fund?’
Muller answered with much emphasis: ‘That would be the greatest folly. How could I pray if I had reserves? God would say, “Bring them out; bring out those reserves, George Muller.” Oh no, I have never thought of such a thing! Our reserve fund is in Heaven. God, the living God is our sufficiency. I have trusted Him for one sovereign; I have trusted Him for thousands, and I have never trusted in vain. “Blessed is the man that trusteth in Him”.’
‘Then, of course you have never thought of saving for yourself?’ ‘I shall not soon forget,’ Parsons wrote, ‘the dignified manner with which I was answered by this mighty man of faith. Hitherto, he had been sitting opposite me, with his knees almost close to mine, with clasped hands, and eyes that betokened a calm, quiet, and meditative spirit. Most of the time he leaned forward, his gaze directed to the floor. But now, he sat erect, and looked for several moments into my face with an earnestness that seemed to penetrate through my very soul. There was a grandeur and majesty about those undimmed eyes, so accustomed to spiritual visions, and to looking into the deep things of God. I do not know whether the question seemed to him a sordid one, or whether it touched, shall I say, a lingering remnant of the old self to which he so often alludes in all his discourses. Anyhow, there was no shadow of doubt that it aroused his whole being. After a brief pause, during which his face was a sermon, and the depths of his clear eyes flashed fire, he unbuttoned his coat and drew from his pocket an old-fashioned purse, with rings in the middle separating the character of the coins. He placed it in my hand, saying, “All I am possessed of is in that purse— every penny! Save for myself! Never! When money is sent to me for my own use I pass it on to God. As much as £1,000 has thus been sent at one time, but I do not regard these gifts as belonging to me; they belong to Him, Whose I am, and Whom I serve. Save for myself! I dare not save; it would be dishonouring to my loving, gracious, all-bountiful Father.’
Parsons handed the purse back to Muller, who told him the sum it contained.
Parsons asked him if he spent much time on his knees.
‘More or less, every day. But I live in the spirit of prayer. I pray as I walk about, when I lie down, and when I rise up. And the answers are always coming. Thousands and tens of thousands of times have my prayers been answered. When once I am persuaded that a thing is right and for the glory of God, I go on praying for it until the answer comes. “George Muller never gives up!’”
The words were spoken in an exulting tone. There was a ring of triumph about them, and his countenance was all aglow with holy joy. He had got up from his seat while uttering them, and had walked round to the side of the table. He went on: ‘Thousands of souls have been saved in answer to the prayers of George Muller. He will meet thousands, yea, tens of thousands in Heaven!’
There was another pause, but Parsons made no remark, and Muller continued: ‘The great point is never to give up until the answer comes. I have been praying for fifty-two years, every day, for two men, sons of a friend of my youth. They are not converted yet, but they will be! How can it be otherwise? There is the unchanging promise of Jehovah, and on that I rest. The great fault of the children of God is, they do not continue in prayer; they do not go on praying; they do not persevere. If they desire anything for God’s glory, they should pray until they get it. Oh, how good, and kind, and gracious, and condescending is the One with Whom we have to do! He has given me, unworthy as I am, immeasurably above all I had asked or thought! I am only a poor, frail, sinful man, but He has heard my prayers tens of thousands of times, and He has used me as the means of bringing tens of thousands into the way of truth. I say tens of thousands, in this and other lands. These unworthy lips have proclaimed salvation to great multitudes, and many, very many, have believed unto eternal life.’
Parsons’ record continues:
‘ “I cannot help noticing the way in which you speak of yourself,”
I said, conscious that I was approaching a subject at once tender and sacred, and closely allied with his deepest spiritual moods and personal relationship to God, that I half reproached myself as soon as the words were uttered. He disarmed all my fears, however, by exclaiming, “There is only one thing George Muller deserves, and that is— hell! I tell you, my brother, that is the only thing I deserve. I am indeed, a hell-deserving sinner. By nature I am a lost man, but I am a sinner saved by the grace of God. Though I am by nature a sinner, I do not live in sin; I hate sin; I hate it more and more; and I love holiness; yea, I love holiness more and more.”
‘I said to him, “I suppose through all these long years in your work for God, you have met with much to discourage you?”
‘“I have met with many discouragements,” he answered; “but at all times my hope and confidence has been in God. On the word of Jehovah’s promise hath my soul rested. O, it is good to trust in Him; His Word never returns void. He giveth power to the faint, and to them that have no might He increaseth strength. This applies also to my public ministrations. Sixty-two years ago I preached a poor, dry, barren sermon, with no comfort to myself, and, as I imagined, with no comfort to others. But a long time afterwards I heard of nineteen distinct cases of blessing that had come through that sermon.”
‘... Mr Muller fetched from another room a copy of his life, in which he inscribed my name. His absence afforded me an opportunity of looking round the apartment. I observed that the furniture was of the simplest and plainest description, and such as was useful. All seemed in harmony with the man of God who had been talking to me. It is a great principle with Mr Muller that it does not become the children of God to be ostentatious in their style, or appointments, or dress, or manner of living. Expensiveness and luxury are not seemly in those who are the professed disciples of the meek and lowly One, Who had not where to lay His Head. On the desk there lay an open Bible, of clear type, without notes, or references.
‘This, then, I thought, is the abode of the mightiest man, spiritually, of modern times—a man specially raised up to show to a cold, calculating, selfish age the realities of the things of God, and to teach the Church how much she might gain, if only she were wise enough to take hold of the arm of Omnipotence.
‘I had been with the Prince of Prayer one whole hour, and only once there came a knock at his door. It was opened by Mr Muller, and there stood one of his orphans, one of the largest family on earth, a fair-haired maiden. “My dear!” said he, “I cannot attend to you just now. Wait awhile, and I will see you.” Thus was I privileged to remain uninterrupted with this father in Israel, this prevailer with God, this latter-day hero in the fight, this traveller of ninety-one years in life’s rough pilgrimage—a man who, like Moses, speaks to God as a man speaketh to his friend. To me it was as one of the hours of heaven come down to earth.
‘His prayer was very short and simple. Bending lowly upon his knees, he said:
“O Lord, bless Thy dear Servant before Thee more and more, more and more, more and more! And do Thou graciously guide his pen in all that he may write in regard to this Thy work and our conversation to-day. I ask it through the merits of Thy dear Son, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.’”
That summer, Muller’s ninety-second, also marked the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria’s long reign. On June 16th, he recorded the arrival on Ashley Down of a gift from the Mayor of Bristol of £50, a sum allotted to the Institution out of the City Jubilee Fund, ‘for the purpose of providing treats for the orphans, in commemoration of the sixtieth year of the happy and prosperous reign of Her Most Gracious Majesty the Queen.’ The money was spent by arranging for the children from the five houses to visit Clifton Zoo—a treat which, Muller said, they greatly enjoyed. ‘Besides inspecting the interesting and instructive collection of animals, the children were supplied with tea and an abundance of suitable provisions.’ The balance of the sum was taken to provide special treats for the very youngest infants who were too small to walk to Clifton.
June 20th 1897, was Jubilee Sunday, and, for once, Muller broke his recently self-imposed rule by preaching at the evening service at Bethesda. How eagerly the large congregation watched as the tall, erect figure mounted the pulpit stairs and turned to address them! This was to be a sermon from the man who had founded his Scriptural Knowledge Institution three years before the teenaged Princess had become Queen and who had begun to care for thirty children in No. 6 Wilson Street, fourteen months before her accession. In the sixty years that had elapsed his name had become a byword for faith throughout the world; this was the man who claimed, in a letter to the British and Foreign Bible Society, to have read the whole Bible through ‘considerably more than one hundred times... with prayer and meditation’. This would be a sermon worth listening to.
‘Our meditation this evening,’ he began, ‘as the Lord may help us, will be on the short but precious 23rd Psalm, “The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want.” This was spoken and written by King David. Now, naturally, we should be inclined to say, “No wonder that he said, ‘I shall not want’, because he, who had once been a poor shepherd boy, looking after a few sheep, was now a king.” And not merely a king, but an exceedingly mighty king, for he had it in his power, if it had been necessary, to send many thousands of soldiers into the battle. And not merely a very mighty king, but an exceedingly rich king. Therefore, we are inclined, naturally, to say, “That was the reason why he said, ‘I shall not want.’” He was, indeed, exceedingly rich, for he had gathered together for the building of the Temple such an enormous stun that it would amount to more than nine hundred millions of pounds sterling of our money! So vast a sum that all the enormous national debt of Great Britain could be cleared off at once by it! And out of his own privy purse alone he had given for the building of the Temple more than eight million pounds sterling, a thing that has never been since heard of in history.
‘Yet these were not reasons why he said, “I shall not want”, but because Jehovah was his Shepherd! He looked after him. He cared for him. He fed him. He nourished him. And thus the great point regarding ourselves is, that the Lord Jesus is our Shepherd, that we are His sheep; and this we know if we are heeding His voice. Let us ask ourselves, “Do we hear the voice of the Lord Jesus? Do we attend to what He says? Are we mindful of seeking to please Him, and to carry out His Word in our life and deportment? And, above all, do we trust in Him Who laid down His life for the sheep, Who made an atonement for poor sinners, whereby all who trust in Him for salvation might be saved?” These are deeply important questions, which we should aim to be able to answer in the affirmative. Thus it is with me. Then, even though we may be amongst the poorest, the most ignorant, the most tried persons on earth, we, too, shall be warranted by the fact that we are the sheep of Christ to say, “I shall not want”.
‘And here particularly notice this. “I shall not want”, does not simply refer to bodily necessities, nor merely to mental necessities, but to everything that we can possibly need while here on earth. If we find the spiritual conflict is great, and we seek more and more to enter into our weakness, and helplessness, and nothingness, and entire dependence on God for assistance, here is a . word for our comfort which does not belong to David only, but to us also, individually, if we have Jehovah-Jesus for our Shepherd. In whatever want, of whatever kind, we possibly can be while on the road to Heaven, it is our precious, glorious privilege, with David, to say to ourselves, “I shall not want, because my Heavenly Father is my Shepherd, my precious adorable Lord Jesus Christ is my Helper, my Friend, my Elder Brother, my Saviour. He will never leave me, nor forsake me!” O, how unspeakably blessed is the position of the weakest, the feeblest, the least instructed child of God! Therefore the great, the deeply important question once more is this, “Do we belong, individually, to the sheep of Christ?” My heart’s desire and prayer is that everyone here present may with earnestness seek to get into such a Scriptural state of heart, as to be warranted to say, “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.”
‘In the second verse, the figure of the shepherd and the sheep is kept up. “He maketh me to lie down in green pastures.” Not, “driveth me to a few dry blades of grass,” but green pastures, tender grass. Then, the sheep are not driven to these; but they are at leisure to partake of the green grass, the tender grass, the “green pastures”, and to lie down and to rise again, as sheep. Now the figures here used bring before us the blessedness of a child of God! The world knows nothing of our happiness in the Lord, and cannot, therefore, in the least degree enter into the blessedness of our position as God’s children ...
‘“He maketh me to lie down in green pastures”. The figure here used regarding the sheep brings before us the exceeding great blessings and happiness which are the result of putting our trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. What, therefore, we have to do is to seek more and more to ponder it, and more and more to enter into it, with reference to ourselves. Then, not merely “green pastures” are mentioned, but “still waters”. “He leadeth me beside the still waters”; the waters of quietness, on account of the timid nature of the sheep. This is especially referred to. Not a mountain torrent, which might frighten away the sheep, are they led to for drinking; but to the quiet still waters, in character with the sheep. They are not frightened away. “He restoreth my soul; He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness, for His Name’s sake.” I will mention here (what I have mentioned, I think, before) that this has nothing to do with bringing backsliders to Himself again. In the Hebrew, the words mean, “He refresheth my soul”, or “He invigorates my soul”; just as by means of a very good night’s rest we are invigorated and refreshed, or as a cooling draught of water given at the time of harvest on a hot summer’s day to the labourer would refresh him, so, spiritually, we, who are the children of God, are refreshed by our Precious Shepherd.
‘It is the very joy and delight of the heart of our precious Lord Jesus Christ to refresh us spiritually. If at any time we are cast down, through trials and difficulties, or through sore temptations, which we have to encounter, and we find that we are not being refreshed, what we should do is to remind the Lord Jesus Christ that to Him “hath been given the tongue of the learned, that He might know how to speak a word in season to them that are weary”, to them who have need to be refreshed, to comfort them, to encourage them, to strengthen their hands in God. This precious word we have brought before us regarding the Lord Jesus Christ in the 4th verse of the 50th chapter of Isaiah, and I advise all my beloved brethren and sisters in Christ to make much more use than they have yet done of this blessed word.
“‘He refresheth my soul.” O let us make use of this! O let us, in child-like simplicity, trust our precious, precious Lord Jesus Christ! Whenever you are cast down, whenever you are greatly tried spiritually, open your heart to the precious Jesus, as your Friend. I have done it for many a long year, and it is just this which upholds me, which comforts me, which makes me a happy man. I deal with my precious Lord Jesus as a bosom Friend. I pour out my whole heart to Him, and tell Him, all, everything; and beg and intreat Him, whenever I need it, to speak to me a word in season, that the weariness may pass away, and that I may be refreshed spiritually. And I find Him ever ready to help me. “He restoreth my soul; He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness, for His Name’s sake.” The Lord brings us into the right road, into “the paths of righteousness”, and we are depending on Him to be led along in the same road, for we should soon wander away from Him and go back again to our own foolish, sinful desires. This second part of the verse shows what is meant by “He restoreth my soul, He leads me along in the right road.”
‘ “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me.” Here we find the Psalmist supposing .himself to be brought to meet the greatest trial, the greatest affliction; nay, to be brought to the very close of life, to pass through the ordeal of death. Yet his language is, “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.” How comes this? Is it because we have so much medical power? Surely not! When we are brought to the very brink of the grave, is it because we have so much physical power and strength? No! But quite the reverse. The reason is this: because we have the Lord Jesus with us! “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me.” O how precious! The Lord caring for us, by His passing with us through the Vale of Tears.
‘When we are brought to the condition that more than ever we need Him, as a Friend, as a Helper, as a Support, there He is, never leaving us, nor forsaking us! What we have to say individually to ourselves when the heaviest and greatest trials come, and when we are brought even to the very brink of the grave, and when heart and flesh fail, is, “Thou art with me; Thou, my precious Lord Jesus, art with me; Thou hast not forsaken me, Thou art now with me, in my utter weakness and helplessness; I have Thee as my Almighty Friend and Upholder, and Comforter and Strength.” O how precious! “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.” Some of the dear children of God, the real, true children of God, have fear regarding the hour of death. “How will it be when I come to die?” they think. O say to yourself, “I will fear no evil!” Not because we are anything in ourselves, or can do anything by ourselves; but simply because it is written, “Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me.”
‘Now the last two verses place before us the intimate connection between God and His children, under another figure—under the figure of a host inviting guests. “Thou preparest a table before me, in the presence of mine enemies; Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.” Taking this verse, what is the meaning? It consists in two things. Trusting the Lord Jesus Christ, the One on Whom we have to feed; seeking to enter into what God has given us in Jesus Christ, as the Law Fulfiller, as the Atoner for our sins, and on Whom we have to feed spiritually. That is the table which God has prepared for us. Secondly, the Word of God, the revealed Will of God, as we have it in the Holy Scriptures, that is what God gives to us for our food; and this notwithstanding all the hatred of Satan, notwithstanding all the opposition of our enemies. “Thou preparest a table before me, in the presence of mine enemies.”
‘But now comes the practical question, “Do we feed practically on Christ? Do we seek at large to ponder what the Lord Jesus Christ is to us, as our Redeemer, as our Great High Priest, as the One Who is coming again to take us to Himself, that where He is we may be also? What the Lord Jesus Christ is to us as our Friend, as our Counsellor, as our Strength? Now do we seek in Him an interest, and do we day by day put on (to use the figure that is used in Scripture) the helmet of our salvation; that is, seek to enter into what is connected with the return of the Lord Jesus Christ? Do we comfort ourselves day by day with all this?” O how deeply important to attend to it that we may have peace and joy in the Holy Ghost, that the world may see what a blessed thing it is to be a child of God— that thus we may not only glorify Him, but strengthen the hands of our fellowmen.
‘“Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.” In the East, when a great one invited any one of his friends to take a meal with him, to spend a day with him, one of the first things was not only that the servants should hand him water to wash his feet, but oil to anoint his head. As a mark of respect and reverence this was done. That was the welcome, so to speak, given to the guest who came to the house of the great one. Now, we have no such thing done to us, but something infinitely more precious. The Holy Spirit is given to us—the Holy Spirit again and again represented under the figure of oil. And as assuredly as we have the Holy Ghost given to us, so surely shall we get to Heaven, so surely shall we share the glory of Christ, so surely shall we become like Christ and have our glorified bodies. These are the things which are implied in the gift of the Holy Spirit! O how precious these things are!
‘If the heart habitually were given to these things, it would be full of joy! We should be exceedingly happy; and therefore my affectionate counsel and advice to my beloved fellow-believers is, seek more and more to ponder all this, with application to your own hearts, in order that your joy may increase more abundantly. And what will come of it at last? You will be able to say, with the Psalmist, “My cup runneth over”—“I am so happy a man that I can scarcely bear it; I not only have something in my cup, and a good deal in my cup, and have my cup full; but my cup runneth over.” O the blessed position of a child of God, not as to pounds, shillings, and pence, not as to the possession of many houses, not as to the possession of a great many hundreds of acres of land, not because he has an enormous sum in the funds—not on these accounts. There may be little, or nothing at all, of all this found in his possession. But as to peace and joy in the Holy Ghost, as to the blessedness of having this brought down into his heart, O, my friends, how precious this!
‘Now comes the last verse, “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.” The poor one has been invited as a guest by the Rich One. He goes, and finds it very pleasant there, and is happy. All that is just what he desires naturally. Now. what conclusion does he come to? “I find it so very pleasant to be here, I will remain here, I will not go away any more.” This brings before us what the child of God finds, in acquaintance with Christ. Not merely entering into what God has given him in Christ Jesus; not merely having to say, “My cup runneth over; I am brimful of happiness.” But, “I have almost more than I can bear. I find it so pleasant, so exceedingly pleasant, this way of going on, I can never get into another position any more. I will remain in the house of my Heavenly Father for ever.”
‘That is the position into which we are brought as believers in Christ! And as assuredly as we are honestly walking in the ways of the Lord, and truly surrendering the heart to God, this is the result to which we come. We find it so pleasant, so precious, even for this life, that we have no desire to depart from the ways of the Lord. In our natural, worldly condition, we seek after happiness; but we do not get it. Nothing but disappointment is the result, for after a few hours all this worldly happiness is gone. But the position into which we are brought by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ not only insures us happiness for a few days, or a few months, or a few years, but for ever and ever. So that our heart says, “I will remain in this way; I am so happy in this way; I will never forsake this way.”
‘Not merely so. But “‘Goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.’ I shall now be for ever and ever a happy man, and I will remain in the presence of my Father; I will not leave His House any more, because I have found it so very, very precious to be a child of God.” Now, this has been my own happy experience for seventy-one years and a half, and therefore I commend this plan, which is according to the Holy Scriptures, to any and every one who has not yet had it. It is not merely for this one, or another one; but God is willing to bestow the blessing upon any and every one who is desirous of having it. All we have to do is, just like mere beggars, to open our hands and to receive what God is willing to give to us. We have to own that we deserve nothing but punishment; we have to own that we are sinners who, on account of our natural sinfulness, are entirely unworthy of all the blessings which God is willing to bestow upon us; and owning to this, and then putting our trust in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation ensures to us these gifts. Will you not accept them if you have not accepted them yet? Will you all who have not yet put your trust in Jesus, do so now? O what unspeakable blessedness is here! I remember well the very first evening after my conversion lying peacefully on my bed, knowing that my sins were forgiven, that Heaven was my Home, that I was now regenerated, brought on the road to Heaven, and my heart was ready to leap for joy. And ever since matters have gone on in the same way, and this is the blessedness I desire for everyone who is yet without it. God give the blessing, and abundant blessing, for Christ’s sake.’
Dr Pierson records that to one who asked him the secret of his service, Muller replied, ‘There was a day when I died, utterly died’; and, as he spoke, he bent lower and lower until he almost touched the floor—‘died to George Muller, his opinions, preferences, tastes and will—died to the world, its approval or censure—died to the approval or blame even of my brethren and friends—and since then I have studied only to show myself approved unto God.’
Whatever the secret, service to God was a passion with Muller. During that summer he was persuaded to take a few weeks’ rest at Bishopsteignton; on the evening of his arrival he asked:
‘What opportunity is there here for service for the Lord?’
It was suggested to him that he had just come from continuous work, and that this was a time for rest. Muller promptly replied that, being free from his usual labours, he felt he must be occupied in some other way in the service of God; for to glorify Him was his object in life. Meetings were accordingly arranged and he preached to attentive congregations at Bishopsteignton and Teignmouth.
Muller then returned to Bristol; the leaves on Ashley Hill turned golden and then fell. Summer gave way to winter. In his rooms in No. 3, Muller continued to work and pray; as the weather grew colder he still ventured out from time to time to preach in Bristol. One week-day evening that winter, a huge crowd assembled to hear him in Old Market Street Chapel. His text was an unusual one: Lamentations 3:22, ‘It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.’ It is said that, as he spoke, he seemed full of the Holy Spirit. Towards the end of his address, he said:
‘While all things change here below, the precious Jesus our Friend, is “the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever”. What He was millions of years since, He is now. What He was when He walked through Judea, Samaria, and Galilee, He is now—His heart full of tenderness, of pity, of compassion.
‘Though you be the greatest, the oldest, the most hardened sinner, though you have sinned again and again against light and knowledge, if you now trust in Christ, you will for His sake be forgiven, for there is power in the blood of Christ to take away the greatest sins.
‘Learning in itself gives no happiness—no real, true happiness. Christ, and Christ alone, gives real, true happiness. I know seven languages, and with all this I should have gone to hell if it had not been that I knew Christ, Christ, Christ. Oh! the blessedness of being a disciple of the Lord Jesus!
‘I am a happy old man; yes, indeed, I am a happy old man! I walk about my room, and I say, “Lord Jesus, I am not alone, for Thou art with me. I have buried my wives and my children, but Thou art left. I am never lonely or desolate with Thee and with Thy smile, which is better than life itself!” ’
Sunday morning, March 6th 1898: the sea breezes above the Avon gorge seemed just a little less chilly; the residents of Clifton watched for signs of the approaching spring. At Alma Road Chapel, latecomers at the morning service quickly noticed: Bristol’s most distinguished citizen was present. Fervently, they hoped he would take part. He did. Shortly before the time when it was customary to ‘break bread’, the aged saint rose to his feet.
‘May we read from Isaiah, chapter six.’ He read the chapter and then asked the congregation to turn with him to the gospel of John chapter twelve. He read verses 37-41: ‘These things said Esaias, when He saw His glory, and spake of Him’ (verse 41). ‘This last verse,’ said Muller, ‘settles the matter, that what we were reading in Isaiah 6 all refers to the glory of our adorable Lord Jesus Christ. In the whole of divine testimony we do not find a single portion which speaks more of His majesty and glory. We will now read it once more, verse by verse, in reference to our precious, adorable Lord Jesus.’
In his own inimitable style, Muller read the passage again, making clear, concise comments on each verse: drawing lessons where there were lessons to be drawn, but never imposing on the text unintended meanings. When he came to verses 10-12 he said, ‘Of such terrible judgments we read little in the Holy Scriptures, but in this case the awful judgment came upon them [the Jews], because Jehovah had sent His prophets, time after time, and they would not attend to what these prophets said to them. And this awful judgment is yet on them up to the present; nevertheless, they remain the people of the living God, and it will yet be seen that the promises made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob have their further fulfilment.’
He then reminded the congregation that a similar judgment might have befallen them were it not for God’s mercy and grace. ‘O how pitifully, how mercifully, how tenderly, how graciously the Lord has been dealing with us in Christ Jesus! And what He has been doing and is doing, He will continue to do to the end of our earthly pilgrimage—He will not leave us nor forsake us, and a little while, and then He takes us home to Himself. O the bright, glorious prospect which we poor, miserable sinners have through faith in Christ Jesus! And at last taken home to be for ever with the Lord, and to see that lovely One who laid down His life for us, ourselves being permitted to kiss His feet, ourselves being permitted to kiss His hands! O the precious prospect that awaits us! ... O the precious blood of Christ!’
Muller sat down. The bread was broken and passed, reverently, one to another. The wine poured out and drunk—the perfect sacrifice remembered, once more, once less.
Muller spent the afternoon with one of his closest friends, Benjamin Perry. During their conversation, Muller mentioned that a week or two earlier he had paid a visit to two mutual friends of theirs, both eight or ten years younger than himself, but both unable any longer to play an active part in the Lord’s work. ‘I came away,’ Muller told Perry with a smile, ‘feeling myself quite young in comparison. Oh, how very kind and good the Lord has been to me! Now in my ninety-third year I am still without rheumatism, or an ache or pain, and I can still do my ordinary work at the Orphan Houses with as much comfort to myself as seventy years ago.’
And so he did. Next day, Monday, he was at his desk again at No. 3 working as usual. In the evening he travelled to Bethesda for the prayer meeting. After the meeting, Mr Fred Bergin introduced two friends to him who had just arrived from Barnstaple, one of whom brought greetings from Robert Chapman.
‘Dear Mr Chapman,’ said Muller, ‘give him again my love; he is the oldest friend I have.’ They had enjoyed sixty-eight years of close friendship.
On the Tuesday Muller worked as usual. Next morning, Wednesday, Muller felt weak as he got up and found it necessary to rest three times as he dressed. James Wright suggested that in future he ought to have an attendant in his bedroom to help him dress. ‘After to-morrow,’ said Muller.
Later in the day, he remarked, ‘I feel quite myself again.’ In the evening he led the usual weekly prayer meeting in No. 3, giving out the hymns ‘The countless multitude on high’ and, ‘We’ll sing of the Shepherd that died’. After the singing of the last verse:
We’ll sing of such subjects alone,
None other our tongues shall employ;
But better His love will be known
In yonder bright regions of joy.
Muller wished Mr Wright ‘Good night’ and climbed the stairs to his bedroom.
Close behind, but not knowing who was ahead of her, a young student teacher, then living in No. 3, ran up the stairs, singing, ‘I know not what awaits me, God kindly veils my eyes’.
‘On nearing the top of the first flight,’ she recalled later, ‘I was conscious of a dark figure standing quite still. It was Mr Muller on the way from the prayer meeting to his bedroom. He waited until I reached him, and then, shaking hands with me, said:
‘ “I am so glad to see you so happy, but you must not run up the stairs two at a time, you may hurt yourself”.’
Muller retired to his room. For some time, he had been in the habit of taking some nourishment during the night, and as usual that evening, a glass of milk and a biscuit had been put on his dressing table, should he need it. Next morning he awoke between five and six o’clock. He got up and walked towards the dressing table.
And then, in a moment, that bright prospect of which he had spoken just four days earlier became—for him—a glorious reality. George Muller saw the lovely One.