Chapter Five, The Bell Tolls
Chapter Five, The Bell Tolls
High above the Avon Gorge, where Bristolians enjoy fresh channel breezes, a new foundation stone had been laid eleven months before the Mullers came to Bristol. But soon after Lady Elton had performed the ceremony in June 1831 funds ran low and work on Brunei’s daring suspension bridge came to a temporary halt. In fact it was not until after the designer’s death in 1859 that the bridge was completed carrying a new road nearly 250 feet above the Avon to link Clifton with the suburbs at Leigh Woods and Failand.
Magnificent as they are, the high cliffs of the gorge had the awkward habit of depriving a ship of wind; add to this the hazards of the Avon’s steep mudbanks and a Bristol fog and you begin to understand why already by the turn of the century the city had begun to lose its place as England’s second port to Liverpool with its miles of easily accessible estuary. And then, in 1833, a year after Muller’s arrival, the emancipation of the West Indian slaves dealt Bristol a blow which hastened the decline of the city in the early Victorian era. Isambard Kingdom Brunei, however, did much to maintain the prestige of the city by his completion of the Great Western Railway and his construction in Bristol of the steam-ships ‘Great Western’ and ‘Great Britain’—the latter built of iron and driven by propellers.
Unlike another of Bristol’s famous philanthropists, Edward Colston, who was born in Bristol but spent most of his life in London, Muller now made his home there until his death in 1898. After their arrival Muller and Craik spent nearly a fortnight looking for lodgings. Nothing seemed to be either plain or cheap enough and so, on the 4th June, they decided to make the matter the subject of serious prayer. Very quickly, they found suitable rooms. Muller wrote, ‘They are the plainest and cheapest we can find, but still too good for servants of Jesus, our Master had not where to lay His head’. They paid 18s a week for two sitting-rooms, three bedrooms, ‘coals and attendance’. Craik lived with the Mullers at this time.
By the end ofjune the way had become clear for Muller and Craik to work in the heart of Bristol at Bethesda chapel in Great George Street; this was in addition to their prior arrangement to work at Gideon Chapel in Newfoundland Street. Bethesda was large and modem, built a few years earlier by a group led by a seceding clergyman, Mr Cowan. The congregation, however, had recently broken up as a result of false teaching. The offer for Muller and Craik to take the empty building gave them an opportunity to build up a work on their own lines, as they interpreted Scripture. A local supporter provided the first year’s rent, and they began to preach at Bethesda on July 6th 1832.
Recalling those early days at Bethesda, W. Elfe Tayler wrote (in 1866): ‘They preached alternately—one Lord’s day Mr Craik preached in the morning, and Mr Muller in the evening; the next Lord’s day the order was reversed. From the first they attracted great attention; the chapel, especially at night, was crowded to excess. No doubt this was owing, in some degree, to certain peculiarities connected with their ministry. They are neither of them Englishmen, — the one being a Scotchman, the other a German, with a strong accent and pronunciation’. Muller saw the funny side of this bonus attraction of his sermons; after one Bristolian was converted, he recorded that she came to hear him preach ‘merely out of curiosity to hear my foreign accent, some words having been mentioned to her which I did not pronounce properly. Scarcely had she entered the chapel, when she was led to see herself a sinner’.
It was during July 1832 that Muller and Craik began the practice, which they never abandoned, of setting aside evenings when people could come to the vestry to talk with them individually. On the first of these evenings there were so many enquirers that the two pastors were there for well over four hours.
Not many weeks passed after their arrival in Bristol, before Muller and Craik found their time almost fully taken up with pastoral work. Muller realised that he would have to make time for quiet lest his own spiritual life should suffer. On the evening of July 18th lie wrote in his diary ‘To-day I spent the whole morning in the vestry, to procure a quiet season. This has now for some time been the only way, on account of the multiplicity of engagements, to make sure of time for prayer, reading the Word and meditation.’
July 1832 was also the month that cholera broke out in Bristol. By mid-August, the outbreak had reached horrifying proportions and between two and three hundred people met (at 6 a.m.) in Gideon Chapel to pray for relief from the suffering.
On August 24th Henry Craik wrote in his diary: ‘Our neighbour, Mrs Williams, a few yards from us, was attacked about 3 this morning, and died about 3 in the afternoon. Her husband was also attacked and is not expected to recover. The bell is incessantly tolling; it is an awful time.’ The same evening Muller recorded: ‘Just now, ten in the evening, the funeral bell is ringing, and has been ringing the greater part of this evening. It rings almost all day ... If this night I should be taken in the cholera, my only hope and trust is in the blood of Jesus Christ shed for the remission of all my many sins.’
Both men displayed courage throughout and carried on their pastoral work undaunted, visiting many cholera victims day and night; throughout September the epidemic showed no signs of abating.
In the midst of all this danger, Mary Muller was due to have a baby. On September 16th, as labour began, she became very ill. (Her illness was not connected with the epidemic). Muller spent the whole night in prayer; next day Mary gave birth to a daughter. Despite everything, mother and child did well. They called the little girl Lydia and she was in fact their only child to survive infancy.
A week later Muller wrote:
Last night brother Craik and I were called out of bed to a poor woman ill in the cholera. She was suffering intensely. We never saw a case so distressing. We could hardly say anything to her on account of her loud cries. I felt as if the cholera was coming upon me. We commended ourselves into the hands of the Lord when we came home, and He mercifully preserved us. The poor woman died to-day.
By the beginning of October, the epidemic had passed its peak and Muller and Craik were able to set aside a day for thanksgiving. Miraculously, only one of the members of Bethesda and Gideon had died during the course of the outbreak.
Craik’s first wife had died young early in 1832 at Teignmouth. On 20th October he remarried. For this reason, and as a result of the birth of Lydia, their first lodgings became too small. Jut as they began to think about this problem, the house belonging to Gideon chapel was unexpectedly given up by the tenant. The church then offered it to Muller and Craik, and suggested that they should furnish it for them. The two men objected to this, fearing that it would be a financial burden. However several of the brethren insisted, and Muller and Craik, having prayed over the matter, accepted the offer on condition that the furniture was very plain. The house was furnished, and Muller recorded that ‘the love of the brethren had done it more expensively than we wished it.’
On May 27th 1833, the two churches at Gideon and Bethesda met together for tea. It was the first of many such occasions and Muller loved them—not least because, as he said, ‘they give us a sweet foretaste of our meeting together at the marriage supper of the Lamb’. The two congregations prayed together and sang, and Muller made it clear that ‘any brother has an opportunity to speak what may tend to the edification of the rest’.
It was just twelve months since he had arrived in Bristol, and as he looked at the crowd gathered in the hall, Muller thought about the year that had passed. Bethesda already had sixty members; and nearly fifty new members had joined the congregation at Gideon. He knew of sixty-five people who had been converted under the preaching of Craik and himself. Many ‘backsliders’ had regained their first love for Christ and a number of Christians had been strengthened in their faith. Surely, Muller thought, this was proof enough that it had been God’s will for them to come to Bristol.
All this time Muller was living in the way to which he had become accustomed at Teignmouth—depending on God for his needs and those of his family. During his second summer in Bristol (1833) he carefully recorded his gifts both large and small:
June 22. A brother sent a hat to brother Craik, and one to me, as a token of his love and gratitude, like a thank-offering, as he says.
This is now the fourth hat which the Lord has kindly sent me successively, whenever, or even before, I needed one. Between August 19th and 27th was sent to us, by several individuals, a considerable quantity of fruit. How very kind of the Lord, not merely to send us the necessaries of life, but even such things as, on account of the weakness of our bodies, or the want of appetite, we might have desired! Thus the Lord has sent wine or porter [beer] when we required it; or, when there was want of appetite, and, on account of the poverty of our brethren, we should not have considered it right to spend money upon such things, He has kindly sent fowls, game, etc, to suit our appetite. We have, indeed, not served a hard Master.
By the end of December 1833 over three years had passed since Muller’s decision never to ask anybody for anything he needed, but to rely on God alone. In the first of those three years he had received just over £150, in the second nearly £200 and in 1833: £267 15s. 8£d—Muller’s accounts never lacked precision!
Early in January, 1834, somebody discovered that thieves had broken into Gideon Chapel. Muller kept his sense of humour and recorded in his diary: ‘They had broken it open, but were either smitten with blindness, so as not to see a certain door which had been left unlocked, or were disturbed before accomplishing their design; for there was nothing missing.’
But the chief significance of 1834 is that it was the year in which Muller and Craik founded the ‘Scriptural Knowledge Institution for Home and Abroad’, which still flourishes today despite its unimaginative title. The three aims of the Institution were first, to assist and establish Day Schools, Sunday Schools and Adult Schools in which scriptural teaching was given; second, to distribute Bibles; and third, to aid missionary work. The last of these three objects is the most well-known today: and the Institution currently sends about £30,000 abroad annually.
In March 1834 Muller and Craik addressed a public meeting at which they outlined the principles on which they intended the body should run:... We never intend to ask unconverted persons of rank or wealth to countenance this Institution, because this, we consider, would be dishonourable to the Lord. In the name of our God we set up our banners (Psalm 20:5); He alone shall be our Patron, and if He helps us we shall prosper, and if He is not on our side, we shall not succeed.
We do not mean to ask unbelievers for money;(2 Corinthians 6:14-18); though we do not feel ourselves warranted to refuse their contributions, if they, of their own accord should offer them (Acts 28:2-10). We reject altogether the help of unbelievers in managing or carrying on the affairs of the Institution (2 Corinthians 6:14-18).
We intend never to enlarge the field of labour by contracting debts (Romans 13:8), and afterwards appealing to the Church of Christ for help, because this we consider to be opposed both to the letter and the spirit of the New Testament; but in secret prayer, God helping us, we shall carry the wants of the Institution to the Lord, and act according to the means that God shall give.
We do not mean to reckon the success of the Institution by the amount of money given, or the number of Bibles distributed, but by the Lord’s blessing upon the work; and we expect this, in the proportion in which He shall help us to wait upon Him in prayer.
In the first seven months of its existence, the Institution provided for about 120 children to be taught in Sunday Schools, 40 adults in an Adult School and over 200 children to be taught in two Day Schools. One thousand Bibles and New Testaments were circulated and ^57 was sent abroad to missionaries.
On 19th March, Mary Muller gave birth to a son whom they called Elijah—‘My God is Jehovah’. For this reason, after living for nearly two years with the Craiks, George and Mary decided that they and Lydia and Elijah should live in a house of their own. Thus on May 15th they moved into No. 21 Paul Street, an end of terrace house in High Kingsdown. The house was solid but not beautiful. Nine steps led up to the front door on the first floor above a basement; there were four storeys in all. At the back of the house was a small garden which Muller was to use for prayer and meditation. In the eighteenth century Kingsdown had been a much sought-after suburb of the city, popular with merchants made wealthy by the slave trade. But by Muller’s day it was considered less desirable and had become a little scruffy. (No. 21 has fairly recently been pulled down and in its place is a new housing development’.) The Mullers received several substantial sums to help with furnishing the new house and also some carpeting.
Two diary entries in the autumn of 1834 show that Muller’s personal needs were still well provided for: ‘September 18. A brother, a tailor, was sent to measure me for new clothes. My clothes are again getting old, and it is therefore very kind of the Lord to provide thus. September 25. A brother sent me a new hat to-day.’ Surviving photographs suggest that he was normally smartly dressed; there is no indication of shabbiness.
At the end of 1834 Muller recorded that his income had been nearly £230 and that he had received gifts in kind worth about £60. Bethesda chapel now numbered 125 and Gideon, 132. Of these, over one hundred souls had been converted under Muller and Craik’s preaching.
Muller spent a few months in Germany early in 1835 staying mostly at Heimersleben with his father and brother. Herr Muller was keen to hear about secular things in England which his son had scarcely mentioned in his letters—so much so that his father asked whether it was forbidden in England to send letters abroad dealing with such matters. By the middle of April Muller was back at Bristol to find Henry Craik suffering from inflammation of the wind-pipe and unable to preach. In May Craik travelled to Devon for a change of air.
June 1835 was a sad month for the Mullers—especially for Mary. On the 22nd she lost her father, and on the 26th their son Elijah, now fifteen months old, died of pneumonia. Muller wrote:
My prayer last evening was that God would be pleased to support my dear wife under 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. The eldest and the youngest the Lord has thus removed from our family in the same week. My dear Mary feels her loss much, yet is greatly supported.
It is not clear why Muller did not pray for Elijah’s recovery. According to his distinction between the ‘gift’ and ‘grace’ of faith, this was the sort of situation where, early in his Christian life, he sometimes received, the ‘gift of faith’—that is he felt able to ask God unconditionally for the blessing of health. It appears that on this occasion he did not feel able so to do. On the day before Elijah died Muller simply recorded in his journal, ‘The Lord’s holy will be done concerning the dear little one.’ And several years later, he wrote: ‘When the Lord took from me a beloved infant, my soul was at peace, perfectly at peace; I could only weep tears of joy when I did weep. And why? Because my soul laid hold in faith on that word: “Of such is the Kingdom of Heaven”. Matthew 19:14. Believing, therefore, as I did, upon the ground of this word, my soul rejoiced, instead of mourning, that my beloved infant was far happier with the Lord, than with me.’
Financial worries followed these losses. Early in July Muller wrote: ‘Our taxes are due, and may be called for any day, and for the first time we have no money to pay them, as we were obliged, on account of our late afflictions, to spend the money which we had put by for them. May the Lord in mercy provide.’ Two anxious days followed before Muller could record: ‘I was enabled to-day, by the free-will offerings through the boxes, and by what I had left, to pay the taxes before they were called for. How kind of the Lord to answer my prayer so soon.’
This was not the end, however, of a period of successive trials for the Mullers during 1835. In the middle of July Muller developed severe indigestion and a weakness in his chest; Craik was still in Devon convalescing but Muller was forced nevertheless to cancel his public speaking engagements for a few days. His doctor confirmed that he was suffering from a stomach disorder. At the end of the month the problem of Muller and Craik’s illnesses was eased to some extent when an ex-Anglican clergyman joined them in the work of the Scriptural Knowledge Institution and in the course of the following twelve months substantially enlarged the work.
Craik returned from Devon in mid-August but was still unable to speak very much, despite a considerable improvement in his general health. On August 24th Muller wrote: ‘I feel very weak, and suffer more than before from the disease. I am in doubt whether to leave Bristol entirely for a time. I have no money to go away for a change of air. I have had an invitation to stay for a week with a sister in the country, and I think of accepting the invitation, and going tomorrow.’ Two days later he wrote: ‘To-day I had £5 given to me for the express purpose of using change of air’. Shortly afterwards he received another £10 for the same purpose.
At the beginning of September Muller travelled with Mary, Lydia and one servant whom they now employed, to Portishead where he settled down to read Foxe’s Book of Martyrs, feeling too weak for talking, walking or writing. The book refreshed him; and as his strength returned he took to horse riding in the country. However, he soon began to feel depressed and bored with ‘having for my chief employment eating and drinking, walking, bathing, and taking horse exercise ... I would rather be again in the midst of the work in Bristol, if my Lord will condescend to use His most unworthy servant.’
On September 15th Muller discovered that the person from whom he was hiring his horse had no licence, and decided that as a Christian he could ride the animal no longer. On the same day he received a pressing invitation from friends in the Isle of Wight to stay with them at their house in Niton near Ventnor; funds, however, were too low to enable the whole family to make the journey. But the next day Muller unexpectedly received £6 13s which was owing to him and a letter containing a present of £2—more than enough for the trip.
They spent just over three weeks on the Isle of Wight. Muller read some more biographies of martyrs of the English reformation and John Newton’s autobiography. The 27th September was Muller’s 30th birthday and in reflective mood he wrote, ‘I feel myself an unprofitable servant. How much more might I have lived for God than I have done!’
Before retiring to bed on September 29th Muller felt able to pray, for the first time during his illness, that God would restore his health. He wrote in his diary, ‘I now long to go back again to Bristol, yet without impatience, and feel assured that the Lord will strengthen me to return to it.’ At the end of another week, he was able to record, ‘My strength has been during the last days increasing, but I feel still the symptoms of indigestion. I have been able to speak several times at family prayer, and to expound the Scriptures to the school children, without suffering in consequence of it.’ On October 15th they returned from the Isle of Wight to Bristol; Muller was fit again and about to embark on the great adventure of faith which would make him famous.