tion prospered, four day-schools
having been established, with over one thousand pupils, and more than
four thousand copies of the word of God having been distributed.

George Muller was careful always to consult and then to obey conviction.
Hence his moral sense, by healthy exercise, more and more clearly
discerned good and evil. This conscientiousness was seen in the issue of
the first edition of his Narrative. When the first five hundred copies
came from the publishers, he was so weighed down by misgivings that he
hesitated to distribute them. Notwithstanding the spirit of prayer with
which he had begun, continued, and ended the writing of it and had made
every correction in the proof; notwithstanding the motive, consciously
cherished throughout, that God's glory might be promoted in this record
of His faithfulness, he reopened with himself the whole question whether
this published Narrative might not turn the eyes of men from the great
Master Workman to His human instrument. As he opened the box containing
the reports, he felt strongly tempted to withhold from circulation the
pamphlets it held; but from the moment when he gave out the first copy,
and the step could not be retraced, his scruples were silenced.

He afterward saw his doubts and misgivings to have been a temptation of
Satan, and never thenceforth questioned that in writing, printing, and
distributing this and the subsequent parts of the Narrative he had done
the will of God. So broad and clear was the divine seal set upon it in
the large blessing it brought to many and widely scattered persons that
no room was left for doubt. It may be questioned whether any like
journal has been as widely read and as remarkably used, both in
converting sinners and in quickening saints. Proofs of this will
hereafter abundantly appear.

It was in the year 1837 that Mr. Muller, then in his thirty-second year,
felt with increasingly deep conviction that to his own growth in grace,
godliness, and power for service _two things_ were quite indispensable:
first, more _retirement for secret communion with God,_ even at the
apparent expense of his public work; and second, ampler provision for
the _spiritual oversight of the flock of God,_ the total number of
communicants now being near to four hundred.

The former of these convictions has an emphasis which touches every
believer's life at its vital centre. George Muller was conscious of
being too busy to pray as he ought. His