early involved the institution of which he was the head,
in bankruptcy, and himself in worse moral ruin, all the result of one
error--money given for endowing certain chairs had been used for current
expenses until public confidence had been almost hopelessly impaired.

Thus a life of _faith_ must be no less a life of _conscience._ Faith and
trust in God, and truth and faithfulness toward man, walked side by side
in this life-journey in unbroken agreement.

CHAPTER VI

"THE NARRATIVE OF THE LORD'S DEALINGS"

THINGS which are sacred forbid even a careless touch.

The record written by George Muller of the Lord's dealings reads,
especially in parts, almost like an inspired writing, because it is
simply the tracing of divine guidance in a human life--not this man's
own working or planning, suffering or serving, but the _Lord's dealings_
with him and workings through him.

It reminds us of that conspicuous passage in the Acts of the Apostles
where, within the compass of twenty verses, God is fifteen times put
boldly forward as the one Actor in all events. Paul and Barnabas
rehearsed, in the ears of the church at Antioch, and afterward at
Jerusalem, not what _they had done_ for the Lord, but all that _He had
done_ with them, and how _He had opened_ the door of faith unto the
Gentiles; what miracles and wonders _God had wrought_ among the Gentiles
by them. And, in the same spirit, Peter before the council emphasizes
how God had made choice of his mouth, as that whereby the Gentiles
should hear the word of the Gospel and believe; how He had given them
the Holy Ghost and put no difference between Jew and Gentile, purifying
their hearts by faith; and how He who knew all hearts had thus borne
them witness. Then James, in the same strain, refers to the way in which
_God had visited_ the Gentiles to _take out_ of them a people for His
name; and concludes by two quotations or adaptations from the Old
Testament, which fitly sum up the whole matter:

"The Lord _who doeth_ all these things."

"Known unto God are _all His works_ from the beginning of the world."
(Acts xiv. 27 to xv. 18.)

The meaning of such repeated phraseology cannot be mistaken. God is here
presented as the one agent or actor, and even the most conspicuous
apostles, like Paul and Peter, as only His instruments. No twenty verses
in the word of God contain more emphatic and repeated lessons on man's
insufficiency and nothingness, and God's all-sufficiency a