18. XVI - Groves, Müller, Chapman
Chapter XVI Groves, Müller, Chapman
1825-1902
Churches formed in Dublin—A. N. Groves—Leaves with party for Bagdad—Work begun—Plague and flood—Death of Mrs. Groves—Arrival of helpers from England—Colonel Cotton—Removal of Groves to India—Objects to his stay there—To bring missionary work back to the New Testament pattern—To reunite the people of God—George Müller—Henry Craik—Church formed at Bethesda Chapel, Bristol, to carry out New Testament principles—Müller’s visit to Germany—Institutions and Orphanage carried on for the encouragement of faith in God—Robert Chapman—J. H. Evans—Chapman’s conversion—His ministry in Barnstaple and travels—Circles accepting the Scriptures as their guide. In the early part of the 19th century a number of people were impressed by the importance as well as by the possibility of a return to the teachings of Scripture, not only in respect of questions of personal salvation and conduct, but also as regards the order and testimony of the churches. A serious attempt was made to put such convictions into practice. Anthony Norris Groves, a dentist living in Plymouth, was visiting Dublin in 1827 in connection with studies at Trinity College. In conversation with John Gifford Bellett, a barrister and native of Dublin, with whom he was associated in Bible study, Groves remarked that it appeared to him from Scripture that believers meeting together as disciples of Christ were free to break bread together as their Lord had admonished them; and that, if they were guided by the practice of the apostles they would set apart every Lord’s Day for thus remembering the Lord’s death and obeying his parting command. Not long afterwards they found a group of believers in Dublin who were already meeting in this way.
One of the earliest members of this group was Edward Cronin. Originally a Roman Catholic, he had become attached to the Independents. Realizing the essential unity of the people of God, he was in the habit of taking the Lord’s Supper from time to time with different bodies of Nonconformists. Settling in Dublin, he found it was required of him that he should become definitely a member of one of them, otherwise he would not be allowed to break bread with any. Seeing that this was a contradiction of the very unity he sought to recognize, Cronin refused compliance, whereupon he was publicly denounced from one of their pulpits. Against this a protest was raised by one of the workers of the Bible Society and eventually he and Cronin began to meet in one of his rooms for prayer and the breaking of bread. Others were added and they moved the meetings to Cronin’s house, but soon afterwards (1829), their numbers increasing, Francis Hutchinson, who was one of them, lent them a large room in his house in Fitzwilliam Square.
Another such group was formed about the same time, also in Dublin. About 1825 John Vesey Parnell (afterwards Lord Congleton) and two friends, being troubled by the fact that their fellowship with one another during the week was obscured by their separating on Sundays to their different denominations, tried to find some circle in which their differences of view on ecclesiastical points would no longer prevent the expression of their unity as children of God. Failing to find any company such as they sought, and being clear that they needed no consecrated building nor ordained minister, they began to meet and break bread in one of their own rooms. Shortly afterwards one of their number going out on a Sunday met a member of that circle where Bellett was, whom he knew as a Christian. In a brief conversation they were struck by the fact that, though one in Christ, they were going different ways, and this led eventually to the bringing together of these two groups. Groves had left for England, but Bellett and those with him had been joined by a young clergyman, John Nelson Darby. These soon began to meet with the company in Francis Hutchinson’s house, holding their meetings at such hours as did not interfere with any who might wish to attend the usual services at the churches or the dissenting chapels. As their numbers increased it became inconvenient to have the meetings in a private house, so a large auction room in Aungier Street was taken, where the meetings were held and there was great joy in a sense of the Lord’s presence and blessing. Cronin writes of this time: "Oh the blessed seasons with my soul, which John Parnell, William Stokes and others knew, while moving the furniture aside and laying the simple table with its bread and wine on Saturday evenings, seasons of joy, never to be forgotten, for surely we had the Master’s smile and sanction in the beginning of such a movement as this was!" From time to time they found that companies of believers were meeting together in other parts of the British Isles and elsewhere, unknown to each other, believers on whose hearts and consciences it had been impressed that the Lord’s people should return to a literal obedience to His Word, making that alone their guide, in so far as they understood it. There were also many individuals, who, as soon as they found that others were carrying out what they had, as yet, only desired, willingly associated themselves with them.
Anthony Norris Groves, whose words in Dublin had proved so fruitful, though still quite a young man had prospered greatly in his profession. He was happily married, had three little children, a pleasant home in Exeter and a congenial circle of friends and relatives. Before his conversion, as a boy in his teens, he had felt that to be a missionary was the ideal way for a Christian, and when he was converted he devoted himself to the Lord with this in view. His young wife, however, who was converted about the same time and to whom he was devotedly attached, was opposed to any thought of their becoming missionaries, though she was of one mind with him in the desire to serve the Lord and they agreed together to give a tenth of their income and distribute it among the poor. This was soon increased to a quarter, and after a time they saw that they and all they had belonged to the Lord so gave up all idea of saving money or putting aside for their children, and, reducing expenses by simplifying their own manner of life in every way possible, they gave away all the rest.
Groves refrained from saying anything further to his wife of his unquenched desire for missionary work, seeing her set against it, but she had her own experiences, quickened by coming in contact with the poor and suffering in her distributions, and after some years she came independently to the conclusion which her husband had reached already.
Now it seemed to them that the right thing would be for him to be ordained and that they should go abroad in connection with the Church Missionary Society. It was with this in view that he went from time to time to Trinity College, Dublin, and on one of these occasions had the conversation with his friend Bellett which led to their meeting, with others, for the breaking of bread. On a later visit, his reading of the Scripture having shown him the liberty the Spirit gives for the ministry of the Word of God, he saw that there was no need for him to be ordained by the Church of England, and, speaking with Bellett on this he said: "This I doubt not is the mind of God concerning us—we should come together in all simplicity as disciples, not waiting on any pulpit or ministry, but trusting that the Lord would edify us together by ministering as He pleased and saw good from the midst of ourselves". Bellett relates: "At the moment he spoke these words, I was assured my soul had got the right idea, and that moment I remember as if it were but yesterday, and could point you out the place. It was the birthday of my mind...."
Still desiring to go abroad under the Church Missionary Society, Groves went to London to arrange for going as a layman, but finding that he would not be allowed to celebrate the Lord’s Supper, even should no ordained minister be available, he withdrew his application. He had been baptized in Exeter, but when it was said to him: "Of course you must be a Baptist now you are baptized", he replied: "No, I desire to follow in all those things in which they follow Christ, but I would not, by joining one party, cut myself off from others". In 1829 Groves and his wife, with their two boys of nine and ten, and Kitto, the boys’ tutor (afterwards renowned as a Biblical scholar), as well as several others, set out and travelled by way of St. Petersburg and Tiflis to Bagdad. As their waggons traversed South Russia they met some of the Mennonite believers. Travelling through the mountainous country of Transcaucasia they saw in the distance, on the commanding summit of one of the countless hills, the well-built city of Shusha. They climbed the steep ascent and a large house, one of the first they came to, on the confines of the city, opened its doors to them and they were received by the missionaries of the Basle Missionary Society, Pfander and Count Zaremba, who did an important work in those parts until they were expelled from the country. Pfander accompanied the party to Bagdad and stayed with them there for a time, his experience and knowledge of languages enabling them to begin work there earlier than would otherwise have been possible. The needs of the journey were supplied in various ways and Groves writes: "I feel I am happy in having no system to support, in moving among either professing Christians or Mohammedans; to the one, a person so situated can truly say, I do not desire to bring you over to any church, but to the simple truth of God’s Word, and to the others, we wish you to read the New Testament that you may learn to judge of God’s truth, not by what you see in the churches around you, but by the Word of God itself". The little household was established in Bagdad and the study of language begun, while the treatment of sick people gave access to many and a school was opened which prospered from the first. The Armenians were found accessible, and there were openings among some of the Jews and Syrians; Mohammedans were often hostile, but intercourse with some was possible.
"The two great objects of the Church in the latter days", Groves wrote, "seem to me to be the publication of the testimony of Jesus in all lands, and the calling out the sheep of Christ who may be imprisoned in all the Babylonish systems that are in the world". The second year of their stay was entered upon with much to encourage, but rumours of war and plague were increasingly threatening, and when plague actually entered the city the question of leaving or remaining became urgent. Many were leaving, but considering the promising work begun, and the school, seeing also that a party of helpers on the way out from England had already reached Aleppo, they decided to stay. The plague began to spread, crowds who could get away fled, but the advance of a besieging army cut off the retreat of many. Water became scarce and robbers took advantage of slackened authority to pillage. Rapidly the plague increased, and although half the population had fled, among the 40,000 remaining the mortality soon reached 2000 daily. Then the river rose and after days of anxious hope that it might yet be stayed, the water began to trickle into the city. Walls were undermined and fell, and then a great inundation swept away thousands of houses. The plague-stricken people were crowded into narrowed areas; food failed; in a month 30,000 souls had perished in the utmost misery. The harvest, ready to be reaped, was destroyed for 30 miles round. As to the little missionary household, their hearts were rent at the sight of the indescribable horrors going on around them, yet Groves was able to write at this time: "the Lord has allowed us great peace, and assured confidence in His loving care, and in the truth of His promise, that our bread and our water shall be sure; but certainly nothing but the service of such a Lord as he is would keep me in the scenes which these countries do exhibit, and I feel assured will, till the Lord has finished His judgements on them for the contempt of the name, nature and offices of the Son of God; yet I linger in the hope that He has a remnant even among them, for whose return these convulsions are preparing the way.... The Lord has stopped the water just at the top of our street by a little ledge of high ground, so that as yet we are dry; and all free from the sword of the destroying angel". Considering the ruin of the hopeful work begun, he wrote, "it requires great confidence in God’s love, and much experience of it, for the soul to remain in peace, stayed on Him, in a land of such changes, without even one of our own nation near us, without means of escape in any direction; surrounded with the most desolating plague and destructive flood, with scenes of misery forced upon the attention which harrow up the feelings, and to which you can administer no relief. Even in this scene, however, the Lord has kept us of His infinite mercy in personal quiet and peace, trusting under the shadow of His Almighty wing, and has enabled us daily to assemble in undiminished numbers, when tens of thousands have been falling around us. Neither is this all, for He has made us know why we stayed in this place, and why we were never allowed to feel it to be our path of duty to leave the post we were in". The waters diminished; the virulence of the plague was spent. Then Mary, the wife and mother, the guide of the household, whose love and grace and unfailing faith had been a support on which all had leaned, sickened—as the anxious watchers soon realized—of the plague. Her husband and a faithful nurse cared for her. She had been entirely confident that they should stay in Bagdad, and now, faced with the prospect of leaving her husband and sons and the little baby born there, in such a place, she said: "I marvel at the Lord’s dealings, but not more than at my own peace in such circumstances." She died. Her husband cried in mingled grief and worship: "How hard for the soul to see the object of its longest and best grounded earthly affections suffering without the power of affording relief, knowing too that a heavenly Father who has sent it can relieve it and yet seems to turn a deaf ear to one’s cries; at the same time, I felt, in the depth of my soul’s affections, that, notwithstanding all, He is a God of infinite love. Satan has sorely tried me, but the Lord has shown me, in the 22nd Psalm, a more wonderful cry apparently unheeded, and the Holy Ghost has given me the victory, and enabled me to acquiesce in my Father’s will, though I now see not the end of His holy and blessed ways".
Then the baby was stricken and, in spite of her father’s utmost devotion, was taken from them. He himself was the next to be attacked, and had the prospect of leaving his children desolate, but he recovered. As plague and flood abated the enemy without advanced, the city was besieged and mob rule prevailed within. Groves’ house was repeatedly attacked and robbed, but though unarmed and helpless, those in it suffered no bodily harm. Shells passed over the roof on which they slept and the building was struck by cannon balls. Violence prevailed in the streets, the children of the Christian population especially suffering abominable treatment. At last the city was taken; its captors behaved with unexpected moderation, so that quietness and order were restored. In the summer of 1832 the long looked-for helpers from England arrived. They were Dr. Cronin, now a widower, with his infant daughter and his mother, John Parnell and Francis W. Newman (whose brother, later, became the well-known Cardinal). Groves and all with him were greatly cheered by this arrival, and the whole of the increased company entered on a period, not only of activity in study and work, but of happy, helpful union and fellowship among themselves, and advanced into fuller knowledge of God and of holiness. They had all things common; on Fridays they fasted and prayed together. There was much study of the Word; conversions took place. These were times some of them could never forget and from which several, of different nationalities, dated the beginning of a new life in God.
Cronin’s sister had been married to Parnell on the way out, at Aleppo, but had been quickly taken from him by death, and now her mother died also. In this same year Newman and Kitto went to England to seek further helpers, and the following year those in Bagdad were visited by Colonel Cotton, whose engineering skill, and Christian care for the people of India, abolished the dreadful periodic famines of the Godaveri Delta and brought prosperity to its vast population. Groves went on with him to India, leaving the others for a time in Bagdad.
One object in going to India, Groves wrote, was "to become united more truly in heart with all the missionary band there, and show that, notwithstanding all differences, we are one in Christ; sympathizing in their sorrows, and rejoicing in their prosperity". The deep experiences through which he had passed made him peculiarly capable of this, also his remarkable and unaffected humility, which rendered him quick to see whatever was good in others, slow to condemn. Also his knowledge of Scripture and practical acquaintance with the work fitted him to give wise counsel, so that he did not merely travel praising all he saw, but could well point out possibilities of improvement. He saw so vividly the need of the vast multitudes that remain without the Gospel that he preferred almost any effort to reach them, however faulty, to none at all. Moreover he was hopeful that, if anywhere, it would be in a country outside of Christendom, such as India, that it would first become possible for true believers to cast aside their denominational differences and exhibit the essential unity of the churches of God in obedience to the Scriptures and in the forbearance of love. This would remove the chief hindrance to the spread of the Gospel. It was a great undertaking and worth attempting at any cost. Whether in extensive travels all over the country, visiting many missionaries of various confessions, or when he settled in some particular district, the grace and power of Groves’s ministry, and his unselfish love, won many hearts and bore abundant fruit in the lives and service of many. When, however, it came to applying the principles of the Word to persons and organizations that had in some ways departed from them, opposition was aroused, and he suffered keenly as his loving desire to serve was misunderstood by missionaries and societies and construed as criticism and affectation of superiority and as threatening the stability of existing organizations. His own words are: "How slow we are to learn really to suffer, and to be abased with our dear Lord (Php 2:3-10). However, I think we are generally much more able to take up cheerfully any measure of bodily or mental trial than that which degrades us before the world. To see that our abasement is our glory, and our weakness our strength, requires extraordinary faith: wherever I go, I perceive the evil influence of contrary principles. I am persuaded that not following our Lord, and going down among the people we wish to serve, destroys all our real power; by remaining above them, we have power, but it is earthly. O that the Lord would raise up some to show us the way! When the truth is impressed upon a person’s mind in India, it seems to seize it with a more powerful and tenacious grasp than generally in England, people are often left with God’s word alone, the professedly religious circle being very small, and thus the views they entertain are much more scriptural. Never was there a time when it was more important than now, to make every effort that they do not rivet on this land the evils of ecclesiastical dominion, viz., the pride and earthliness under which the established churches in Europe have groaned". Again he writes: "Never was there a more important moment than the present for India; up to this time everything in the Church has been as free as our hearts could wish. Persons have been converted, either by reading God’s Word, or through one another, and have drank the living waters wherever they could find them full and clear; but now the Church of England is seeking to extend its power, and the Independents and Methodists are seeking to enclose their little flocks. My object in India is two-fold, to try to check the operation of these exclusive systems, by showing in the Christian Church they are not necessary for all that is holy and moral; and to try and impress upon every member of Christ’s body that he has some ministry given him for the body’s edification, and instead of depressing, encouraging each one to come forward and serve the Lord. I have it much at heart, should the Lord spare me, to form a Church on these principles; and my earnest desire is to re-model the whole plan of missionary operations, so as to bring them to the simple standard of God’s Word. The encouragement the Lord has given me is great, beyond all I could have hoped; I cannot tell you how lovingly I have been received, not by one party only, but by all". On another occasion he writes: "The farther I go, the more I am convinced that the missionary labour of India, as carried on by Europeans, is altogether above the natives nor do I see how any abiding impression can possibly be made, till they mix with them in a way that is not now attempted. When I think of this subject of caste, in connection with the humiliation of the Son of God, I see in it something most unseemly, most peculiarly unlike Christ. If He who is one with the Father in glory emptied Himself, and was sent in the likeness of sinful flesh, and became the friend of publicans and sinners, that He might raise them, it is truly hateful that one worm should refuse to eat with, or touch another worm, lest he become polluted. How strikingly the Lord’s revelation to Peter reproves it all, ’what God hath cleansed that call thou not common’". In making plans for living in India he says: "We purpose that our domestic arrangements should all be very simple and very inexpensive, and our plan strictly evangelical. Our great object will be to break down the odious barriers that pride has raised between natives and Europeans; to this end, it would be desirable for every evangelist to take with him wherever he went from two to six native catechists, with whom he might eat, drink, and sleep on his journeys, and to whom he might speak of the things of the kingdom, as he sat down and as he rose up, that they might in short be prepared for ministry in the way that our dear Master prepared His disciples, by line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little, as they could bear it, feeling from beginning to end, that our place is not to set others to do what we do not do ourselves, or to act on principles on which we do not, but that we are rather to be examples of everything we wish to see in our dear brethren. And I do not yet despair of seeing in India a church arise that shall be a little sanctuary in the cloudy and dark day that is coming on Christendom".
After visiting England, where he married again, Groves returned to India, bringing with him a missionary party, which included the brethren Bowden and Beer and their wives from Barnstaple, who began work in the populous Godaveri Delta. He himself settled in Madras where he was rejoined by the party he had left behind in Bagdad. Having long depended for his supplies on such gifts as the Lord sent through His servants, he felt that now, in Madras, the circumstances were such that it would be better for the testimony that he should follow the example of Paul, who was ready, according to circumstances, either to live from the gifts of the churches, or from his own labour and earn his own living. He therefore took up practice again as a dentist and was successful in this. His efforts to help the different Missionary Societies led in time to his being opposed by some, excluded from their circles and spoken against as an enemy and a danger to the work. This he felt keenly and it was one reason for his leaving Madras and moving to Chittoor, which soon became a centre of activity and of blessing. In order to encourage those engaged in the Lord’s work to earn their living also, when possible, and those engaged in business to be active likewise in spiritual work, he took land, and carried on, first silk cultivation, afterwards sugar growing, thus giving occupation to many. At times this prospered, but there were also losses, and the acceptance of a loan offered on one occasion for extending the business involved him in much work and anxiety before it could be repaid. A letter written to England at this period explains his purpose.
"That which renders your bounty doubly precious is, that it proves the continuance of your love to us individually, but above all, to the work of the Lord in these desolate and neglected lands. I think we all feel an increasing interest in that plan of missions which we are now pursuing; either labouring ourselves, or being associated with those who profess some ’honest trade’ ... and also set an example to others that, by so doing they may support the weak. We have lately heard from several missionaries, who express the deepest interest in the prospect of our success. That dear young native, by name Aroolappen, who went from us some months since, has, amid many discouragements, and many allurements, remained faithful to his purpose. He has determined to commence his labours in a populous neighbourhood, near the Pilney Hills, in the Madura district, a little south of Trichinopoly; and he has the prospect of being joined by a native brother, who is prepared to go forth to build, with the spade in the one hand and the sword in the other—the way in which the wall will, I believe, be built in these troublous times. Dear Aroolappen has declined any form of salary, because the people, he says, would not cease to tell him that he preached because he was hired. When he left me, I wished to settle something upon him monthly, as a remuneration for his labour in translating for us; but, unlike a native, he refused any stipulated sum. The two others of whom I wrote, are an Englishman ... and a native bookbinder, who are determined to pursue the same course". Of the Englishman he writes further, "he is inured to the climate and can walk forty miles a day without fatigue. He reads and writes Tamil and Telegoo freely, and gives up thirty-five rupees a month, a horse and a house, that he may do the work of God. He goes through the Tamil and Telegoo country, in a little cart filled with books, tracts, and things for sale, preaching the gospel to the natives in their own tongues, as he passes on, and in English to all the soldiers in the military stations. He has already been blessed to the conversion of two natives; one is ... the bookbinder, the other, a servant of ours. I assure you we all feel that, had we seen no other fruit of our labour than these two or three brethren, acting on these principles of service, we should have said, truly our labour has not been in vain in the Lord. I think, therefore, we may consider that, under God, our residence in India has been the means of setting up this mode of ministry among the native Christians and the heathen, and our continuance will be, I trust, by the grace of God, the means of establishing and extending it. Those who know the natives will, I am sure, feel with me, that this plan of missions, whereby the native himself is thrown on God, is calculated to develop that individuality of character, the absence of which has been so deeply deplored, and the remedy for which has so seldom been sought. The native naturally loves a provision and ease, and thereby he is kept in dependence on the creature: the European, on the other hand, loves to keep the native in subjection and himself in the place of rule. But, it must be obvious to all, if the native Churches be not strengthened by learning to lean on the Lord instead of man, the political changes of an hour may sweep away the present form of things, so far as it depends on Europeans, and leave not a trace behind. The late visit of Aroolappen to his family in Tinnevelly has led to the discussion of these principles among the immense body of labourers there; and though he has not taken up his residence among them, he is sufficiently near for them to observe both himself and the principles on which he is acting. Indeed we would commend these early buddings of the Spirit’s power—for we trust they are such—to your very fervent prayers, that our brethren may be carried on in the spirit of real humility and dependence upon God. The fact that our position here puts pastoral work and fellowship on a simple Christian footing among the natives, is by no means the least important feature of our work. Until we came, no one but an ordained native was allowed to celebrate the Lord’s Supper or to baptize; and when our Christian brethren Aroolappen and Andrew, partook of the Lord’s Supper with the native Christians, it caused more stir and enquiry than you can imagine. The constant reference to God’s Word has brought, and is bringing, the questions connected with ministry and Church government into a perfectly new position in the minds of many".
All this, however, did not prevent Groves from seeing that there are those who at times are called to give their whole time to the ministry of the Word, and he writes: "I have no question but that those whom God has called to minister should wait on their ministry and give themselves wholly to it ... recognised pastors and teachers are essential to the good order of all assemblies; and as such required and commanded of God; and though I should not object to unite with those who had them not, if it were the result of the Lord’s providence in not giving them any, I should feel quite unable to join personally those who reject them as unnecessary or unscriptural". For himself, he said at this time: "It is much my desire, if the Lord clears away difficulties, to give the rest of my short space to an uninterrupted ministry". Writing of two members of the Church of England who greatly helped the brethren Bowden and Beer in their work in the Godaveri Delta, he says: "Their system may be sectarian, but they are not so; and it is ten times better to have to do with those who are catholic in a sectarian system, than those who are sectarian with no system".
Visiting England in 1853 he was taken ill and passed away, suffering, but in peace, in the house of George Müller in Bristol, at the age of 58.
Another who came to be impressed by the importance of a literal obedience to the Scriptures was George Müller. He was a native of Prussia, born near Halberstadt, in 1805. Although he studied for the ministry yet he grew up living a sinful, profligate life and was even imprisoned on one occasion for swindling. In a very unhappy state he was taken by a friend, when he was twenty years old, to a meeting in a private house in Halle where he heard the Bible read. Though he had studied much this was new to him; he was immediately and powerfully affected by it, and it was not long before the love of Jesus to his soul and the sufficiency of His atoning blood, won the response of the love and faith of his heart. From the time of this crisis he had much spiritual conflict, but his daily, regular habit of reading the Scriptures and of prayer brought him into a growing knowledge of the will of God.
He was very desirous of becoming a missionary to Jews and was brought to England to study for such a position in the London Jews Society. Soon after reaching England he heard with delight of what A. N. Groves was doing in giving up a good income and going as a missionary to Persia, trusting in the Lord for the supply of his needs. Being sent to Teignmouth for his health he there met Henry Craik, who had been a member of the Groveses’ household; this was the beginning of a lifelong friendship. Here he received further spiritual blessing, especially in seeing more clearly that the Word of God is the believer’s only standard and the Holy Spirit his only teacher. Further light raised difficulties in his mind as to his connection with the Missionary Society and eventually by friendly agreement with the Committee this connection was severed. His reasons for leaving the Society were: he saw it was not according to Scripture that he should be ordained either in the Lutheran or Anglican Church; also that any such established Churches, being a mixture of the world and the true church, contain principles which must lead to departure from the Word of God, and the fact that they are establishments, prevents their altering their ways whatever fresh light they may receive from the Holy Scriptures. Also he had a conscientious objection to being directed by men in his missionary labours; as a servant of Christ he felt he ought to be guided by the Spirit as to time and place and though he loved the Jews he could not bind himself to work almost exclusively among them. A difficulty was that he had been some expense to the Society and was therefore under an obligation to it, but this matter he was able to arrange satisfactorily, the Society treating him with much consideration. A further question was as to how his temporal needs could be supplied, but this did not trouble him, for he was able to rest on the Lord’s promises, as in Mat 7:7-8; Mat 6:25-34; John 14:13-14, and to see that if he really sought first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, these, his temporal supplies, would be added to him. At this time the minister of Ebenezer Chapel in Teignmouth having left, Müller was invited by the whole church of eighteen members to become their minister, at a salary of £55 a year, he accepted and ministered regularly among them, but also visited and preached in many places in the neighbourhood. He found his ministry was most effective when it took the form of expounding the Scriptures.
Listening one day to a conversation among three sisters in the Lord on the subject of baptism, he saw that, though he had always been a strong supporter of infant baptism, he had never seriously and prayerfully examined the Scriptures on the subject, so set himself to do so, and became convinced that the baptism of believers only, and that by immersion, is the teaching of Scripture. Many objections to his now carrying out this command presented themselves to his mind, but being assured that it was the Lord’s will that he should act literally upon His commandments, he was baptized. Shortly after this he saw that, though it is not a command, yet the Apostles have given us the example of breaking bread every Lord’s Day, also that it is according to Scripture that there should be liberty for the Holy Spirit to work through any of the brethren whom He pleases to use, so that all may benefit by the gifts which the Lord has bestowed among them. As these things were seen and considered by the church they were introduced into its practice. The same year (1830) Müller married the sister of A. N. Groves, in whom he found a wife entirely of one mind and heart with himself in seeking to learn and carry out the will of God as revealed in the Scriptures. She was particularly concerned in the next steps which they took, for they saw now that it was not the right way for them that he should receive a fixed salary derived from pew rents and the regular contributions of members of the church, so this was given up. What actually cost them more than giving up the salary was the determination to act on a conclusion they had come to before God, that they should never ask for help, nor make known their needs to any man, but really go to the Lord and trust Him for the supply of all their needs. About the same time they received grace to act literally on the Lord’s commandment: "Sell that ye have, and give alms." Writing more than fifty years later he said: "we do not in the least regret the step we then took. Our God also has, in His tender mercy, given us grace to abide in the same mind concerning the above points, both as it regards principle and practice; and this has been the means of letting us see the tender love and care of our God over His children, even in the most minute things, in a way in which we never experimentally knew them before; and it has, in particular, made the Lord known to us more fully than we knew Him before, as a prayer-hearing God". In 1832 the Müllers and Henry Craik removed to Bristol, where the two brethren acted for a time as pastors of Gideon Chapel, but they also rented Bethesda Chapel, at first for a year only. There one brother and four sisters united with them in church fellowship "without any rules, desiring" they said, "only to act as the Lord shall be pleased to give us light through His word". This church grew steadily and was from the beginning very active in good works. After some five years a question arose which caused them much searching of Scripture that they might find a solution of it. When the church was founded all its members were baptized believers. Then three sisters applied for fellowship, as to whose faith and godliness there could be no doubt, but they had not been baptized as believers, nor, when the Scriptures were explained to them did they see that this was the right course for them to take. Most in the church, including Müller and Craik, thought they should be received, but several could not conscientiously receive unbaptized believers. After much discussion of the Scriptures the number advocating refusal was reduced to a few. Some received help through the counsel of Robert Chapman of Barnstaple, a man of such saintly character, knowledge of the Word, and sound sense, that he gained the respect of all who came in contact with him. He put the matter in this way: either unbaptized believers come under the class of persons who walk disorderly, and in that case we ought to withdraw from them (2Th 3:6); or they do not walk disorderly. If a believer be walking disorderly we are not merely to withdraw from him at the Lord’s table, but our behaviour towards him ought to be decidedly different from what it would be were he not walking disorderly, on all occasions when we may have intercourse with him or come in any way in contact with him. Now this is evidently not the case in the conduct of baptized believers towards their unbaptized fellow-believers. The Spirit does not suffer it to be so, but He witnesses that their not having been baptized does not necessarily imply that they are walking disorderly and hence there may be the most precious communion between baptized and unbaptized believers. The Spirit does not suffer us to refuse fellowship with them in prayer, in reading and searching the Scriptures, in social and intimate intercourse and in the Lord’s work; and yet this ought to be the case where they walking disorderly. The conclusion was reached that "we ought to receive all whom Christ has received (Rom 15:7), irrespective of the measure of grace or knowledge which they have attained unto". A few left the church in connection with this, but most of them returned and there was never afterwards any difference on this subject.
Questions as to elders and as to church order and discipline came later to exercise the minds of the brethren, and there was long and careful examination of the Scriptures on these subjects. They came to see that the Lord Himself sets elders in every church in the office of rulers and teachers, and that this should continue now, in spite of the fallen state of the Church, as in Apostolic days. This does not imply that believers associated in church fellowship should elect elders according to their own will, but they should wait on God to raise up those who may be qualified for teaching and ruling in His church. These come into office by the appointment of the Holy Ghost, which is made known to those thus called and to those among whom they are to serve, by the secret call of the Spirit, by their possession of the requisite qualifications, and by the Lord’s blessing on their labours. The saints are to acknowledge them and to submit to them in the Lord. Matters of discipline are to be finally settled in the presence of the church, being the act of the whole body. "As to the reception of brethren into fellowship, this is an act of simple obedience to the Lord both on the part of the elders and the whole church. We are bound and privileged to receive all those who make a credible profession of faith in Christ, according to that Scripture, ’Receive ye one another, as Christ also received us, to the glory of God’". These and other conclusions were not rules of the church, but expressed what the members had seen and purposed to act upon until they might receive further light from the Scripture. With regard to the Lord’s Supper it was seen that "although we have no express command respecting the frequency of its observance, yet the example of the Apostles and of the first disciples would lead us to observe this ordinance every Lord’s Day". "As in this ordinance we show forth our common participation in all the benefits of our Lord’s death, and our union to Him and to each other, opportunity ought to be given for the exercise of the gifts of teaching or exhortation, and communion in prayer and praise. The manifestation of our common participation in each other’s gifts cannot be fully given at such meetings, if the whole meeting is, necessarily, conducted by one individual. This mode of meeting does not however take off from those who have the gifts of teaching or exhortation, the responsibility of edifying the church, as opportunity may be offered".
Visiting Germany in 1843, George Müller spent some months, by their invitation, among a company who were glad to have his ministry, but would not allow him to break bread with them, when the time came, because he was willing to do so with Christians in the State Church, or who had not been baptized as believers. They even tried to get him to give an undertaking that he would never break bread with believers who, though baptized themselves, yet did not refuse fellowship with those who were not.
Commenting on these events, George Müller says: "These children of God had been right in considering believers’ baptism to be Scriptural, and in separating from the state church.... But upon these two points they had laid undue stress. Though believers’ baptism is the truth of God; though separation from state churches on the part of children of God who know that a church is ’a congregation of believers’ is right, because they see in state churches nothing but the world mixed up with some true believers; yet, if these points are made too much of, if they are put out of their proper place, as if they were everything, then there must be spiritual loss suffered by those who do so. Nay, whatever parts of truth are made too much of, though they were even the most precious truths connected with our being risen in Christ or our heavenly calling, or prophecy, sooner or later those, who lay an undue stress upon these parts of truth, and thus make them too prominent, will be losers in their own souls, and, if they be teachers, they will injure those whom they teach. That was the case at Stuttgart. Baptism and separation from the state church had at last become almost everything to these dear brethren. ’We are the church. Truth is only to be found among us. All others are in error, and in Babylon’. These were the phrases used again and again by our brother ...". "May God in mercy give and preserve to them and to me a lowly heart"! The two brethren Craik and Müller felt strongly that every believer is bound, in one way or another, to help the cause of Christ, but that any means required for this should be asked for, not from men, especially not from those who are unconverted, but from the Lord Himself in believing prayer. In pursuance of this conviction they established in 1834 "The Scriptural Knowledge Institution for Home and Abroad", the object of which was to assist Day Schools, Sunday Schools and Adult Schools in which instruction is given on Scriptural lines; to circulate the Holy Scriptures, and to assist those missionaries whose proceedings appear to be most according to the Scriptures. Their reason for forming a new Institution when so many religious societies already existed was that, while they acknowledged the good done by these, there were some points where they could not with a good conscience unite with them. The end, they said, which these religious societies propose to themselves is the gradual improvement of the world until at last it will all be converted; whereas the teaching of Scripture is that the conversion of the world will not take place until the Lord’s return, that in this present dispensation the world will rather get worse spiritually, but that the Lord is gathering out a people from among the nations. Further, these Societies have many connections with the world, so that by payment of a subscription an unconverted person may become a member; also the unconverted are often asked for money, and chairmen, patrons, and presidents are obtained by preference from among those who are wealthy and influential. These Societies also contract debts; all of which things are contrary both to the spirit and the letter of the New Testament.
They purposed, therefore, never to ask for money, though they would be free to accept it from any who gave it of their own accord; not to accept any unbeliever as a helper in managing or carrying on the affairs of the Institution; not to enlarge their sphere of work by going into debt, but in secret prayer to "carry the wants of the Institution to the Lord, and act according to the means that God shall give." From this small beginning, without any initial means, without advertisement, there flowed a constant stream of blessing, growing continually in volume. The poor were relieved, schools were established and carried on in various countries, large numbers of Scriptures were sold or given, help was sent to missionaries in many countries, and that in such a way as not to control them at all or to limit their liberty, but only to minister to their needs and those of the work they were doing. All these extensive and increasing activities were carried on in simple dependence on God. Again and again they were without funds either for the various needs they were ministering to or for their own personal necessities, but always in answer to prayer supplies were sent at the right time, so that their own faith in God and communion with Him were exercised and strengthened, while others, too, were encouraged in the path of faith. In 1836 George Müller opened his first Orphan House, renting a house for a year in Wilson Street, Bristol, where he received 26 children. He states as his chief reasons for entering on this work: "(1) That God may be glorified, should He be pleased to furnish me with the means, in 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". Seeing that so many of the Lord’s people are oppressed by cares and anxieties he desired to give visible, tangible proof that, in our day, God hears and answers prayer exactly as He ever did, and that if we trust Him and seek His glory He will supply our needs. He had himself been greatly helped by the example of Franke de Halle in Germany, who, in dependence on the living God alone, had built and carried on so large an Orphanage; and he felt sure that such a work in Bristol would be the best way of witnessing to the faithfulness of God in this country. All his expectations were more than realized. Though he was often reduced to the utmost extremity of need, yet the increasing number of orphans never lacked. The work was continued to his death in his 93rd year and since then his successors have carried it on in the same spirit. The great number of orphans received, of whom very many have been converted, the immense buildings erected, the vast sums of money received and employed—all provide a striking example of the prevailing power of the prayer of faith. In 1837 George Müller published the first part of his book, "A Narrative of some of the Lord’s Dealings with George Müller", a book which has exercised an extraordinary influence on the lives of a very great number of people, encouraging them in faith in God. The Devonshire town of Barnstaple is connected with the name of Robert Cleaver Chapman, who ministered the Word there for some seventy years and died there in 1902, close upon a hundred years old. He was born in Denmark (1803) of English parents and his mother, to whom he was deeply attached, exercised a great influence on him. While still living in Denmark he was taught by a French abbé, and afterwards went to school in Yorkshire. He developed pronounced literary interests and abilities, becoming also an excellent linguist. Attracted to the Bible at the age of sixteen, he made a careful study of the whole book, being greatly impressed by it. Devoting himself to law he became a solicitor, and did well in his profession. At this time James Harrington Evans was preaching in London, in John Street Chapel, Bedford Row, which had been built for him by a friend. He had been a curate, but becoming converted by reading some sermons which his rector had lent him, he began, with earnest conviction, to preach justification by faith. This was the means both of the conversion of sinners and the reviving of believers, but was resented by his rector, who gave him notice to leave. He now came to have difficulties as to the baptism of infants, and perceived that the connection of Church and State prevented holy discipline in the Church. Accordingly he left the Church. Soon afterwards he and his wife were baptized. Evans would not, however, become the pastor of a Baptist church, because that would have involved the refusal of church fellowship to many believers, among whom he thought there might well be better persons than himself. In John Street Chapel the Lord’s Supper was celebrated every Sunday evening and those who proved themselves gifted in any way for the help and edification of the church were encouraged to make use of their gift.
It was into this church that, at about twenty years of age, Robert Chapman was brought. As he was walking one evening, in evening dress, near the chapel, one of the elders saw him and invited him to come in. This he did, and a few days afterwards he experienced the change of conversion. Describing this later he said: "Lord, I remember Thy dealings with me! When Thy hand at first arrested me, and Thy Spirit convinced me of sin, my cup was bitter with my guilt and the fruit of my doings ... all was dreary winter within. Sick was I of the world, hating it as vexation of spirit, while yet I was unable and unwilling to cast it out.... In the good and set time Thou spakest to me, saying, ’This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest, and this is the refreshing’. And how sweet Thy words, ’Son be of good cheer, thy sins be forgiven thee!’ How precious the sight of the Lamb of God! and how glorious the robe of righteousness, hiding from the holy eye of my Judge all my sin and pollution! Then did the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb did sing. In Jesus crucified—in Thee my Lord, my soul found rest, and in the bosom of Thy love". He was baptized and associated with the congregation of believers in John Street.
These steps cost him many friends and brought on him the disapproval of relatives, but from the beginning of his new life he gave himself entirely to the following of Christ. The Scriptures became his increasing delight, he entered on a life of believing prayer, and was careful to occupy himself with the needs of the poor and such as were in trouble. He felt himself called of God to devote himself to the ministry of the Word; some said he would never make a preacher, but he replied: "my great aim will be to live Christ." He never married, and in 1832 he settled in Barnstaple, ministering the Word in Ebenezer Baptist Chapel.
Harrington Evans followed his course there with constant interest; saying of him: "He is one of my stars. I hold him to be one of the first men of the age. He has no ebbs or flows".
He disposed of all he possessed and lived in constant, immediate dependence on the Lord for the supply of his daily needs, giving away all he received beyond what was necessary for his own modest requirements. Of his early ministry in Barnstaple he wrote: "When I was invited to leave London and go to minister the Word of God in Ebenezer Chapel, then occupied by a community of Strict Baptists, I consented to do so, naming one condition only that I should be quite free to teach all I found written in the Scriptures. This I continued to do for some time with blessing from the Lord. A brother who visited me in those days urged me to set aside the strict rule that none but baptized believers should be allowed to break bread. I replied that I could not force the consciences of my brethren and sisters; and I continued my ministry, patiently instructing them from the Word. I well knew at that time that I could have carried the point with a large majority, but I judged it to be more pleasing to God to toil on to bring all to one mind. A little time after that some Christians resident in Barnstaple, who held the strict views which we had by then abandoned, demanded that we should give up the use of the chapel. I carefully examined the Trust Deed, and found that in not one particular did we set aside its provisions. Yet we gave them the chapel, just as I should give my coat to a man who demanded it. You will not be surprised when I tell you that ere long the Lord gave us a much better chapel".
It was about this time that Robert Chapman made the acquaintance of George Müller and Henry Craik and also of some of those believers who in Dublin and elsewhere were endeavouring to carry out the Scriptures. The two simple houses, 6 and 9 New Buildings, Barnstaple, where Robert Chapman and his friend William Hake lived in unbroken fellowship for fifty-nine years until the death of the latter in 1890, became a place of pilgrimage for people from all over the world, who came there for counsel and help in spiritual things.
Robert Chapman travelled in a number of countries. His visits to Spain led several servants of the Lord to devote themselves to the work of the Gospel in that country, with fruitful result. The influence of his saintly life seems to have affected all who came into contact with him. When, years after his visits to Spain, others worked in that country, they found one instance after another of persons who had been converted and were maintaining a good testimony for Christ, the result of conversation with him. A traveller met an Englishman settled in business in one of the Black Sea ports in Roumania. They conversed of spiritual things, and the Englishman related how he had been religious before coming to Roumania, but now he had given it all up and was convinced that all who professed to be Christians were hypocrites, "but", he added, correcting himself, "I have met with one genuine Christian, he used often to walk through the place where I lived in Devonshire, his name was Robert Chapman". The traditions and instructions of the Church’s early days before the Scriptures were completed, have in the New Testament received a permanent form intended for the literal and continuous guidance, both of the individual saint and of the churches of God, and the endeavour to act in accordance with them has never ceased, even though at times only few have continued it. Some examples of this, in modern times, are the congregation in Edinburgh where the brothers Haldane worked, those assembles in Dublin in which Groves, Cronin, Bellett, and others were concerned, the church in Bristol founded by Müller, Craik and those with them; the Mennonite Brethren in South Russia, and the Stundist gatherings in various parts of Russia. But these are only a few of many such movements in various countries, some limited to small groups, others extending to wide circles. In the most important principles they had strong spiritual affinity with those of the Baptist and Independent churches which resisted and remained unaffected by the popular Rationalism of the day.