9.30.2013 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF GEORGE MULLER

subtitled 'the life of trust'

introduction
'what is meant by the prayer of faith?
..what is the significance of the passages both in the new testament and the old which refer to it?
what is the limit within which they may be safely received as a ground of practical reliance?
where these promises limited to prophetical or apostolical times;
or have they been left as a legacy to all believers until the end shall come?

somehow or other, these questions are seldom discussed either from the pulpit or the press.
i do not remember to have heard any of them distinctly treated of in a sermon.
i do not know of any work in which this subject is either theoretically explained
or practically enforced.
it really seems as if this portion of revelation
was, by common consent,
ignored in all our public teachings.
do not men believe that God means what He appears plainly to have asserted?
or, if we believe that He mans it, do we fear the charge of fanaticism
if we openly avow that we take Him at His word?

the public silence on this subject does not, however,
prevent a very frequent private inquiry in respect to it.
the thoughtful christian, when in his daily reading of the scriptures
he meets with any of those wonderful promises made to believing prayer,
often pauses to ask himself, what can these words mean?
can it be that God has made such promises as these TO ME
and to such men as i am?
have i really permission to commit all my little affairs to a God of infinite wisdom
believing that he will take charge of them and direct them
according to the promptings of boundless love and absolute omniscience?
is prayer really a power with God,
or is it merely an expedient by which our own  piety may be cultivated?
is it not merely a power
(that is, a stated antecedent accompanied by the idea of causation),
but is it a transcendent power, accomplishing what no other power can, overruling all other agencies,
and rendering them subservient to its own wonderful efficiency?
i think there are few devout readers of the bible
to whom these questions are not frequently suggested.
we ask them, but we do not often wait for an answer.
these promises seem to us to be addressed either to a past or to a coming age,
but not to us , at the present day.
yet with such views as these the devout soul is not at all satisfied.
if an invaluable treasure is here reserved for the believer,
he asks, why should i not receive my portion of it?
he cannot doubt that God has in a remarkable manner, at various times,
answered his prayers;
why should He not always answer them?
and why should not the believer always draw near to God in full confidence
that he will do as He has said?
 he may remember that the prayer which has been manifestly answered
was the offspring of deep humility, of conscious unworthiness,
of utter self negation and of simple and earnest reliance on the promises of God
through the mediation of Christ.
why should not his prayers be always of the same character?
with the apostles of old he pours out his soul in the petition, 'Lord, increase our faith'.

and yet it can scarcely be denied that the will of God
has been distinctly revealed on this subject.
the promises made to believing prayer are explicit, numerous and diversified.
if we take them in their simple and literal meaning
or if in fact we give to them any reasonable interpretation whatever,
they seem to be easily understood.
our difficulty seems to be this:
the promise is so 'exceeding reat' that we cannot conceive God really to mean
what He clearly appears to have revealed.
the blessing seems too vast for our comprehension;
we 'stagger at the promises, through unbelief',
and thus fail to secure the treasure which was purchased for us by Christ Jesus.

it may be appropriate for us to review some of the passages
which refer most directly to this subject:

'ASK, and it shall be given you;
SEEK, and you shall find;
KNOCK and it shall be opened unto you;
for EVERYONE  that asketh receiveth,
and he that seeketh findeth
and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened. matt. 7.7-11

'if ye then, being evil, know haw to give good gifts unto your children,
how much more shall your heavenly Father
give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him. luke 11.13

'i say unto you that if two of you shall agree on earth
as touching anything that they shall ask,
it shall be done for them of My Father which is in heaven.
for where two or three are gathered together in My name,
there am I in the midst of them. matt. 18.19-20

 Jesus answered and said unto them,
verily i say unto you,,
if ye have faith and doubt not,
ye shall not only do that which is done to the fig tree,
but also ye shall say to this mountain,
be thou removed and be thou cast into the sea,
and it shall be done. matt. 21. 21-2

the same promise, slightly varied in form, is found in the gospel of mark.
'HAVE FAITH IN GOD.
for verily i say unto you that whosoever shall say to this mountain,
be thou removed and be thou cast into the sea,
and shall not doubt in his heart,
but shall believe that those things which he hath said
shall come to pass,
he shall have whatever he saith.
therefore i say unto you,
whatsoever things ye desire,
when ye pray, believer that ye receive them and
ye shall have them.

now i do not pretend that we are obliged to receive these words literally.
unless, however, we believe the saviour to have spoken repeatedly on the same subject,
at random and with no definite meaning,
we must understand Him to have asserted that things impossible
by the ordinary laws of material causation are possible by faith in God.
i do not perceive, if we allow these words to have any meaning whatever,
that we can ascribe to them any other significance.

'verily I say unto you,
he that believeth in me, the works that i do shall he do also;
and greater works than these shall he do, because i go unto My Father. mark 11.22-4

and whatsoever ye shall ask in My name, that I will do,
that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
if ye shall ask anything in my name I will do it. john 14.12-4

'the effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man AVAILETH MUCH; james 5.16
that is, it is a real power, a positive energy.
the apostle illustrates what he means by availing prayer by the example of elias,
a man subject to like passions as we are:
'he prayed earnestly that it might not rain
and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months;
and he prayed again and the heavens gave rain
and the earth brought forth her fruit. v17-8

the conditions on which prayer will be heard are in various places specified,
but particularly in john 15.7
'if ye abide in me and My words abide in you,
ye shall ask what ye will
and it shall be done unto you.
that is, if i understand the passage,
prevalence in prayer is conditioned by the conformity of our souls to the will of god;
'if ye abide in me and my words abide in you.
on this condition and on this only,
may we ask what we will, with the assurance that it will be done unto us.
faith, in its most simple meaning,
is that temper of the mind in the creature
which responds to every revealed perfection of the creator.
just according to the degree in which this correspondence exists,
is the promise made that we shall have whatsoever we ask.

it is evident, from the eleventh of hebrews, that the views of the apostle paul concerning the faith
were entirely i harmony with the passages recited above.
he reviews the lives of the most eminent saints,
for the express purpose of showing that the impressive events in their history,
whether physical or moral, were controlled entirely by faith.
he sums up the whole in this remarkable language;

'and what shall i say more?
for the time would fail me to tell of those who THROUGH FAITH
subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness,
obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions,
quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword,
out of weakness were made strong,
waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens;
women received their dead raised to life again;
and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance,
that they might obtain a better resurrection.

we are, i think, taught by this passage that the apostle believed faith
to be a power capable of transcending and modifying every other agency,
by which changes became possible which to every other known power
were impossible.
we see that in this catalogue of the victories of faith he includes
the subjection of almost every form of what we call natural laws.
the whole passage seems an illustration of the meaning of our Lord,
when he says, 'if ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed,
ye shall say to this sycamine tree,
be thou removed and planted in the midst of the sea
and it shall obey you.

it seems then apparent that the doctrine of the peculiar and wonderful power of
the prayer of faith
is as clearly revealed in the scriptures as any other doctrine.
it would seem evident, at any rate, from the passages just quoted,
that the apostle paul understood the teachings of our saviour to mean what they say.
form the general tenor of the scriptures i think we may learn two important truths:

first, that there is a certain state of mind in a devout soul to which God has
promised all that it asks, subject, however, as to the manner of the answer,
to the dictates of his infinite wisdom and goodness.

second, that in granting such petitions
He does not always limit His action within the ordinary
or acknowledged laws of matter or of mind.
i do not perceive how we can interpret the passages above cited,
as well as many others,
without giving them a meaning at least as extensive as this.

why is it , then, that this whole range of revealed truth has so generally been
looked upon as an unknown and unexplored region?
why should we limit either the goodness or the power of god
by our own knowledge of what we call the laws of nature?
why should we not admit that 'where are more things in heaven and earth
than are dreamed of in our philosophy'?
in a universe governed by moral law, why should not moral laws take precedence of all others?
why should we deny that there is a power in prayer to which we have not commonly attained?
we are straitened (put into difficulties) in ourselves and suppose that we are straitened in God.

we interpret the gracious promises of our most loving Father in heaven
by the rule of our own imperfect and unbelieving piety.
we ask for light from without, while the light can only come from a more elevated piety within.
we ask for examples of the effects of faith at the present day,
corresponding to those spoken of in the sacred scriptures.
thoughtful men acknowledge that there must be a meaning in these promises,
which they have not yet understood
and they see plainly that the kingdom of god
can never come with power until this prevalence in prayer shall have become
a matter of universal attainment;
and yet they dare hardly believe that god is
as good as He has revealed Himself to be.

there have, nevertheless, from time to time, occurred,
what plainly appear to be,
remarkable instances of answers to prayer.
many of them have faded from recollection,
with the generation in which they occurred;
those which are remembered, however, seem to teach us
the god is a living god now as truly as in times past.
the history of persecutions is always filled with remarkable answers to prayer.
the rescue of peter from the power of the Sanhedrin in one case
and from the power of herod in another,
has been a thousand times repeated in the history of the church of Christ.
the answer to prayer for divine direction
as to the time and manner of performing some christian service,
to which an individual has felt himself specially called,
has frequently been very remarkable.
the biographies of the early and of many of the later Friends
are replete with such instances.
any one who will read the edifying memoirs of
george fox, john woolman, william allen and stephen grellet,
will find what i have alluded to abundantly exemplified.
the well authenticated accounts of the late revivals in this country and in ireland
teach us that most remarkable instances of answers to prayer were of almost daily occurrence.
in the last century a single instance deserves particular remembrance;
it was the founding of franke's orphan house at hale.
it seemed to him to be a christian duty to attempt something for the relief of orphans
and he commenced the undertaking.
from time to time, as the number of applicants increased,
the means for their support was provided, in answer,
as he firmly believed, to fervent and unceasing prayer.
thus an extensive establishment was reared,
which has continued to the present day,
providing education and support for thousands of the poor and destitute,
and it has been for a century and a half one of
the most honored of the charitable institutions of the continent of europe.

the most remarkable instance of the efficacy of prayer with which i am acquainted,
is that recorded in the following pages.
it seems, in act, to be a practical illustration of the meaning
of those passages of scripture which i have already recited.
a young german christian, friendless and unknown,
is conscious of what he believes to be a call from the Lord
to attempt something for the benefit of the poor vagabond children of bristol.
he is at this time preaching the gospel to a small company of believers,
form whom, at his own suggestion, he receives no salary,
being supported day by day by the voluntary offerings of his brethren.
without the promise of aid from any being but God,
he commences his work.
in answer to prayer, funds are received as they are needed
and the attempt succeeds beyond his expectation.
after a few years he is led to believe that God has called him
to establish a house for the maintenance and education of orphans.
he was impelled to this effort,
not only from MOTIVES OF BENEVOLENCE
but from A DESIRE TO CONVINCE MEN THAT GOD IS A  LIVING GOD,
as ready now as ever to answer prayer
and that, in the discharge of any duty to which he calls us,
we may implicitly rely upon his all sufficient aid in every emergency.

mr. muller was led to undertake this work in such a manner
that aid could not be expected from any being but god.
he did not of course expect God to create gold and silver
and put them into his hands. he knew, however, that God could
incline the hearts of men
to aid him,
and he believed,
if the thing that he attempted was of him,
that He would so incline them,
in answer to prayer,
as his necessities should require.
most men in making such as attempt would have
spread the case before the public,
employ agents to solicit in its behalf
and undertaken nothing until funds adequate to the success of the enterprise
had been already secured.
but mr. muller, true to his principles,
would do no such thing.
from the first day to the present moment he has
neither directly nor indirectly solicited
either of the public or of an individual a single penny.
as necessities arose he simply
laid his case before God
and asked of Him all that he needed
and the supply has always been seasonable and unfailing.

the conductors of benevolent enterprises generally consider it
important to publish
the names of donors,
appealing thus to what is considered
an innocent desire in man to
let our good deeds be known,
and thus also to stimulate others to do likewise.
ignoring every motive of this kind,
mr muller made it his rule to publish
the name of no contributor.
when the name was known to him, which, however, was not often the case,
he made a private acknowledgment;
while in his printed account he only made known the sum received and the date of its reception.
in this manner, forsaking every other reliance but god
and in childlike simplicity looking to him alone
for the supply of every want,
all that he needed was furnished as punctually as it,
in possessions of millions,
he had drawn from time to time on his banker.

thus has he continued from i think, the year 1834.
by degrees the establishment increased
and it was necessary to leave the hired houses in which the children had thus far been accommodated.
land was purchased and a building was erected in the vicinity of bristol.
this was soon filled to overflowing
and another building was demanded.
this was erected and it also was very soon filled.
these buildings were sufficient to accommodate 700 orphans.
at the present moment, a third building, larger than either,
is in the process of erection and is to be finished...summer..
when this shall be completed, accommodations will have been provided for 1150 orphans.
these expensive buildings have been erected;
the land has been purchased on which they stand;
this multitude of children has been clothed and fed and educated;
support and remuneration have been provided for all the necessary teachers and assistants,
and all this has been done by a man who is not worth a dollar.
he has never asked any one but God
for whatever they needed
and from the beginning they have never wanted a meal
nor have they ever allowed themselves to be in debt.
there seems in this to be something as remarkable
as if mr. muller had commanded a sycamine tree
to be removed and planted in the sea
and it had obeyed him.

but this is not all.
mr muller saw that there was a great demand
for copies of the holy scriptures,
both in great britain and on the continent
and he commenced the work of bible distribution.
this so rapidly extended itself that he was soon obliged to open in bristol a large bible house.
he believed that great good might be done by the circulation of religious tracts
and he has carried on this work extensively.
he was moved to make an attempt to aid and even to support
missionaries among the heathen,
as well as other good men, of various denominations, who,
with very inadequate means of living,
were preaching the gospel to the poor and destitute at home.
he BEGAN TO AID THEM AS  their necessities CAME TO HIS KNOWLEDGE,
and now 100 such men are depending on him, wholly or in part, for support.

..he has asked the assistance of not a single individual.
he has asked no one but God,
and all his wants have been regularly supplied.

...the remuneration of all assistants is contingent on
the means received in answer to prayer.
when sacrifices are to be made,
they are all prompt to make them
and they do not expect an answer to prayer until they have contributed,
from their own scanty wages, whatever can be spared after providing for their actual necessities.

...to account for a fact is to refer it to some general law
whose existence is already established.
when it is therefore asked,
how shall these facts be accounted for?
we inquire, to what known law can they be referred?
they cannot certainly be referred to any known law of human action.
how would we decide if a similar case should occur in physics?
suppose a series of experiments should be made daily for twenty five years in chemistry or mechanics,
with the same invariable result,
and this result could be referred to no previously established law,
-to what conclusion should we arrive?
there could be but one conclusion,
in which all men of science would unite.
they would all declare that a new law had been discovered
and would modify their systems accordingly.
..we can refer these facts to no other law tan to that announced by the saviour
in His promise to answer
the prayer of faith.
...what god has done for them
we cannot doubt that,
under the same conditions,
He will do for
every other believing disciple of Christ.