of profit from their rank or wealth, and ask
money of unbelievers, as Abraham would
not have done. He rejected altogether the
help of unbelievers in the conduct of his
institution; but if they gave him money
for it freely and unasked, he was not, by
Acts, twenty-eighth chapter, second to
tenth verses, warranted in refusing to accept
their contributions. He rejected as unscriptural
the practice of contracting debts, and
then asking the charitable to assist in paying
them. He based all hope of success on
prayer. The object of the institution was to
assist "godly" schools; to circulate the
Scriptures; and to help those missionaries
who worked most in what the brethren
would consider a true Scriptural way. After
only seven months of work, this little
institution, which has now become a large one,
was instructing one hundred and twenty
children in the Sunday school, two hundred
and nine in the day schools, and forty adults
in the adult school. It had circulated about
five hundred Bibles, and contributed about
fifty-seven pounds to the help of missionaries.
Evidently Brother Müller is an energetic man.

"September eighteen.—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 twenty-five.—A brother sent me
a new hat to-day." A few mouths later, a
fifth day-school was established. In March,
eighteen hundred and thirty, Brother Müller
went on missionary business to the Continent.
"At Dover," he says, "we left the hotel
before break of day, to go to the packet. All
being in a great hurry, whilst we went
towards the sea, I was separated from
Brothers G. and Y. I now lifted up my
heart to the Lord, as he generally helps me
to do on such occasions, to direct my steps
towards the boat which went out to meet the
packet, and" (the italics are his) "I found it
almost immediately. We had, in answer to
prayer, a good passage." On his way back,
by way of Hamburg, the sea being very
rough, the good brother says:—"At ten I was
taken with sea-sickness, from which I had
been kept, during my four previous short
voyages, in answer to prayer; but this time
I on purpose refrained from praying about
it, as I did not know whether it was better
for my health to be sea-sick or not." Defect
of health caused Brother Müller to go, in the
next autumn, to Portishead, walk, bathe, and
take horse-exercise. But he writes:—
"September fifteen.—To-day, as I clearly
understood that the person who lets his horse has
no licence, I saw that, being bound as a
believer to act according to the laws of the
country, I could use it no longer; and as horse-
exercise seems most important, humanly
speaking, for my restoration, and as this is
the only horse which is to be had in the
place, we came to the conclusion to leave
Portishead to-morrow."

And now we come to the main fact: One
day in November, eighteen hundred and
thirty-five, George Müller writes:—"This
evening I took tea at a sister's house, where
I found Franké's life. I have frequently, for
this long time, thought of labouring in a
similar way, though it might be on a much
smaller scale; not to imitate Franké, but in
reliance on the Lord." In five days he has
made up his mind to begin. He is thirty
years old. Humanly speaking, there is life
before him for the work. He says:—"The
three chief reasons for establishing an Orphan-
house are: 1. That God may be glorified,
should He be pleased to furnish me with the
means, on its being seen that it is not a vain
thing to trust in Him, and that thus the
faith of His children may be strengthened.
2. The spiritual welfare of fatherless and
motherless children. 3. Their temporal
welfare." He prays; he calls a public meeting
at which he will state his plan, and says on
the fifth of December, eighteen hundred and
thirty-five,—"This evening I was struck in
reading the Scriptures with these words;
'Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it.' Up
to this day I had not at all prayed concerning
the means or individuals needed for the
Orphan-house. I was led to apply these words
to the Orphan-house, and asked the Lord for
premises, a thousand pounds, and suitable
individuals to take care of the children." At
the public meeting there was no collection—
no money asked for, and after the meeting
only ten shillings were given; but gifts soon
flowed in. The design was to receive only
such children as were fatherless, motherless,
and wholly destitute; to feed them, clothe
them, teach them, and to put them out where
they could earn an honest living in the world.
There should be no voting or canvassing for
admissions—no restriction of the charity to
children of one corner of the country. Orphanage
and destitution were to form the simple
claims which had only to be stated to procure
admission for a child as long as there was
house-room left to give. Any donation for
this object was received,—odd shillings,
pence, basons, mugs, four knives and five
forks, a blanket, fifty pounds, twenty-nine
yards of print, one plate, six teaspoons, one
skimmer, one toasting-fork, one pillow-case,
one sovereign, fifty-five yards of sheeting, a
clothes-horse, two pewter salt-cellars, three
frocks, four pinafores, six handkerchiefs, from
one friend a flat-iron stand and from
another friend a flat-iron, six pots of blacking-
paste, four combs, a hundred pounds, a
piece of blind-line and one dozen of blind-
tassels, a ton of coals, premises worth two or
three thousand pounds as a gift conditional
on five hundred pounds being raised to adapt
them for the orphans' use, six little shirts, a
hundred weight of treacle, two metal spoons,
a kitchen-fender and a pie-dish, fifty-five
thimbles and five parcels of hooks and eyes;
such were the gifts that flowed in upon