ould be scrupulously sacrificed to
veracity. But, more than this, God made him, in a sense, a _man without
imagination_--comparatively free from the temptations of an enthusiastic
temperament. He was a mathematician rather than a poet, an artisan
rather than an artist, and he did not see things invested with a false
halo. He was deliberate, not impulsive; calm and not excitable. He
naturally weighed every word before he spoke, and scrutinized every
statement before he gave it form with pen or tongue. And therefore the
very qualities that, to some people, may make his narrative bare of
charm, and even repulsively prosaic, add to its value as a plain,
conscientious, unimaginative, unvarnished, and trustworthy statement of
facts. Had any man of a more poetic mind written that journal, the
reader would have found himself constantly and unconsciously making
allowance for the writer's own enthusiasm, discounting the facts,
because of the imaginative colouring. The narrative might have been more
readable, but it would not have been so reliable; and, in this story of
the Lord's dealings, nothing was so indispensable as exact truth. It
would be comparatively worthless, were it not undeniable. The Lord
fitted the man who lived that life of faith and prayer, and wrote that
life-story, to inspire confidence, so that even skeptics and doubters
felt that they were reading, not a novel or a poem, but a history.

Faith was the second of these central traits in George Muller, and it
was purely the product of grace. We are told, in that first great lesson
on faith in the Scripture, that (Genesis xv. 6) Abram believed in
Jehovah--literally, _Amened_ Jehovah. The word "Amen" means not 'Let it
be so,' but rather _'it shall be so.'_ The Lord's word came to Abram,
saying this 'shall not be,' but something else 'shall be'; and Abram
simply said with all his heart, 'Amen'--'it shall be as God hath said.'
And Paul seems to be imitating Abram's faith when, in the shipwreck off
Malta, he said, "I believe God, that _it shall be_ even as it was told
me." That is faith in its simplest exercise and it was George Muller's
faith. He found the word of the Lord in His blessed Book, a new word of
promise for each new crisis of trial or need; he put his finger upon the
very text and then looked up to God and said: "Thou hast spoken. I
believe." Persuaded of God's unfailing truth, he rested on His word with
unwavering faith, and consequently he was at peace.