A Trip Abroad | Page 7

the "helper" who was showing us around that Mr. Muller was accustomed to saying: "Oh, I am such a happy man!" The expression on his face in this picture is quite in harmony with his words just quoted. One of his sayings was: "When anxiety begins, faith ends; when faith begins, anxiety ends."
Mr. Muller spent seventy years of his life in England and became so thoroughly Anglicized that he wished his name pronounced "Miller." He was the founder of the "Scriptural Knowledge Institution for Home and Abroad" and was a man of much more than ordinary faith. His work began about 1834, with the distribution of literature, and the orphan work, if I mistake not, was begun two years later. "As the result of prayer to God" more than five millions of dollars have been applied for the benefit of the orphans. He never asked help of man, but made his wants known to God, and those who are now carrying on the work pursue the same course, but the collection-boxes put up where visitors can see them might be considered by some as an invitation to give. The following quotation from the founder of the orphanages will give some idea of the kind of man he was. "In carrying on this work simply through the instrumentality of prayer and faith, without applying to any human being for help, my great desire was, that it might be seen that, now, in the nineteenth century, _God is still the Living God, and now, as well as thousands of years ago, he listens to the prayers of his children and helps those who trust in him._ In all the forty-two countries through which I traveled during the twenty-one years of my missionary service, numberless instances came before me of the benefit which this orphan institution has been, in this respect, not only in making men of the world see the reality of the things of God, and by converting them, but especially by leading the children of God more abundantly to give themselves to prayer, and by strengthening their faith. Far beyond what I at first expected to accomplish, the Lord has been pleased to give me. But what I have seen as the fruit of my labor in this way may not be the thousandth part of what I shall see when the Lord Jesus comes again; as day by day, for sixty-one years, I have earnestly labored, in believing prayer, that God would be pleased, most abundantly, to bless this service in the way I have stated."
The objects of the Scriptural Knowledge Institution are set forth as follows: "To assist day schools and Sunday-schools in which instruction is given upon scriptural principles," etc. By day schools conducted on scriptural principles, they mean "those in which the teachers are believers; where the way of salvation is pointed out, and in which no instruction is given opposed to the principles of the Gospel." In these schools the Scriptures are read daily by the children. In the Sunday-schools the "teachers are believers, and the Holy Scriptures alone are the foundation of instruction." The second object of the Institution is "to circulate the Holy Scriptures." In one year four thousand three hundred and fifty Bibles were sold, and five hundred and twenty-five were given away; seven thousand eight hundred and eighty-one New Testament were sold, and one thousand five hundred and seventy-four were given away; fifty-five copies of the Psalms were sold, and thirty-eight were given away; two thousand one hundred and sixty-three portions of the Holy Scriptures were sold, and one hundred and sixty-two were given away; and three thousand one hundred illustrated portions of the Scriptures were given away. There have been circulated through this medium, since March, 1834, three hundred and eleven thousand two hundred and seventy-eight Bibles, and one million five hundred and seven thousand eight hundred and one copies of the New Testament. They keep in stock almost four hundred sorts of Bibles, ranging in price from twelve cents each to more than six dollars a copy.
Another object of the Institution is to aid in missionary efforts. "During the past year one hundred and eighty laborers in the Word and doctrine in various parts of the world have been assisted." The fourth object is to circulate such publications as may be of benefit both to believers and unbelievers. In a single year one million six hundred and eleven thousand two hundred and sixty-six books and tracts were distributed gratuitously. The fifth object is to board, clothe, and scientifically educate destitute orphans. Mr. Muller belonged to that class of religious people who call themselves Brethren, and are called by others "Plymouth Brethren."
After leaving Bristol, I went to London, the metropolis of the world. The first important place visited was Westminster