After leaving it, we returned to Gettysburg, and in the evening a meeting was held at the College Church, when Mr. Müller addressed the students at Pennsylvania College, the students of the Theological Seminary, and a large number of other persons for an hour and 20 minutes. On June 25th, we rose at 5, and leaving Gettysburg by the 6.45 train, reached New York the same afternoon, where we remained until Thursday, the 27th, and on the afternoon of that day, at 2 o'clock, sailed in the "Adriatic," (White Star Line,) for Liverpool. On Sunday morning, June 30th, Mr. Müller gave an address from John xiv. 2, 3, to the cabin passengers, ship's officers, and a few steerage passengers in the saloon, and held a conversational meeting likewise in the afternoon. On the following Sunday morning, July 7th, he gave another address in the saloon, a service which closed his labours for that tour. In the course of it he spoke 308 times in public, and we travelled nineteen thousand and fifty miles by land and water altogether. At 3 p.m. we landed at Liverpool, returned the following day to Bristol, and upon arriving in an open carriage at the top of Ashley Hill at half past 4, found a little army of the Orphan boys and girls, with almost all our helpers at the Orphan Houses, waiting to receive us. There, as we slowly drove along, the boys cheered heartily, and the girls waved their handkerchiefs, determined (as a by-stander remarked) to give us "a right royal welcome"; and at the entrance of New Orphan House No. 3, a crowd of children closed around us, with loving, friendly greetings.
FIFTH TOUR.
CONTINENT OF EUROPE.
From Sept. 5th, 1878, to June 18th, 1879.
After remaining at the Orphan Houses on Ashley Down for eight weeks and three days, (a period which gave Mr. Müller time to attend to business connected with the Scriptural Knowledge Institution, and to resume his public ministry in Bristol,) on Sept. 5th, 1878, we went to Dover, crossed over to Calais the next morning, and reached Paris by rail at 6 p.m. On Sunday, the 8th—morning and evening—my husband preached in English at the Chapelle Evangélique, Rue Royale, and held another meeting there on the evening of the 9th. On the following day we left Paris for Dijon, and passed the night there; rose at 4 the next morning; and, after continuing our journey to Neuchâtel, proceeded thence to Berne, where we arrived at 7 o'clock. On the evening of Thursday, Sept. 12th, Mr. Müller preached in German at the Salle Evangélique, which was crowded to overflowing, the lower part of the building, galleries, and staircases being thronged. On the 13th, he held a meeting at the Eglise Française; on the 14th addressed some poor people at a small Institution at Muri, near Berne; on the 15th, 16th, and 17th, preached at the great Eglise Française to very large congregations; gave an address on the morning of the 18th, at a Seminary near the Fest Hütte to 65 young men who were being trained for teachers; and at 2 p.m. the same day we left by rail for Thun, 18 miles from Berne. From there we drove to Gurzelen, a village on the mountains, three miles from Thun, in a lovely situation near the Alps, where, for the benefit of the poor of that locality, my husband held two meetings at a Vereins Haus, which was crowded with people from the country. On Sept. 19th we returned to Berne, and the following evening attended a social meeting of Christians at "Die Enge," where he gave an address, and afterwards answered some important questions that were put to him. On the afternoon of Sept. 21st he spoke to between 600 and 700 Christian workers—including 300 teachers of different denominations—at the Salle Evangélique; held a meeting on the afternoon of Sunday, the 22nd, at the Fest Hütte, and on the evening of that day preached a farewell sermon, at the Eglise Française, to an immense audience. On this occasion his subject was the Second Coming of the Lord, on which he was enabled to speak with great power, and much to the profit of his hearers, as we heard afterwards. At the close of this meeting, before the benediction, Colonel von Büren rose, and, on behalf of the Christians of Berne, thanked him publicly for his visit to the city; and here, before proceeding any further, it seems desirable to make the following observations:—
Some of the readers of this Narrative may possibly feel inclined to say—"With so much travelling from place to place, so many public meetings, and such continual intercourse with strangers, how does Mr. Müller find time to attend to his own spiritual welfare? Whence does he obtain refreshment for the inner man himself? How do matters stand between his own soul and Christ?—because persons who are continually engaged in ministering to others, more than any class of individuals that can be mentioned, require divine grace and wisdom for themselves." The reply to such inquiries is this. Through the goodness of the Lord, he is a man given to the reading of the Scriptures and to prayer. Whether travelling or at rest, a day never passes, without his devoting as much time as possible to the diligent, prayerful study of the word of God. He is a man of one book; and that book is the Bible. Besides reading the Scriptures regularly together early in the morning; in the course of the day, whenever there is time, my husband employs it in studying the Bible, in meditation, and in prayer. He waits habitually upon God, and thus it is, that day by day, his spiritual strength and vigour are renewed. This opportunity is taken, however, of commending him earnestly to the prayers of the Lord's people; whether he may be known or unknown to them personally.
On Sept. 23rd, at 9 in the morning, some sweet singing outside the door of our room announced the unexpected arrival of Dr. Blösch, a party of Orphan girls belonging to the Institution he has founded, and four teachers, who all stood outside in the passage until the German hymn was finished; when a large bouquet of flowers from the gardens of the children was handed in, a wreath of ivy, and an address in German, beautifully written, congratulating Mr. Müller upon the approach of his birthday (on the 27th) and giving him Isaiah liv. 10, as a Scripture portion. These young girls brought a small contribution also from their own little pocket money, for the Orphans on Ashley Down. Their whole visit was of a most touching character. After my husband had spoken to them for a few minutes, they sang another hymn; we then shook hands with them all, and the whole party took leave of us.
On the 24th, we left Berne for Thun, at 10.40 a.m., proceeded thence by steamer to the other end of the lake, and afterwards went on by rail to Interlaken, where we arrived at 2 o'clock. There, at half-past 3, Mr. Müller preached at the English Church in German; but, as the weather was unfavourable, the congregation was very small. On the evening of the following day, however, when he held another meeting at the same Church, the audience was about five times as large as it had been on the previous afternoon. Interlaken is in the vicinity of the glaciers of Grindelwald, the Faulhorn, and the Wengern Alp; and is within a few miles of the waterfalls, Giessbach, on Lake Brientz, and Staubbach in the Valley of the Lauterbrunnen. The Jungfrau also, and other mountains, can be seen from the town. From Interlaken, on the 26th, we went to Thun, the chief town of the Bernese Oberland, where, on that evening and the next, he addressed crowded congregations at the German Methodist Church. On the 28th, by particular invitation, we returned to Gurzelen, where, on Sunday morning (29th), Mr. Müller preached at the village Church to a congregation of country people, some of whom had walked many miles to hear him. This place of worship was a quaint, old-fashioned building. An hour-glass on a stand (intended, probably, to remind the preacher of the flight of time, and to admonish him not to be too long in delivering his discourse) projected conspicuously from the pulpit. In the evening, my husband held a meeting at the Vereins Haus, and there addressed a very crowded congregation.
On Sept. 30th, we went to Neuchâtel, in French Switzerland, where, on Oct. the 1st and 2nd, he preached in German, at "Le Temple," and held a "German-French" meeting at the same place on the 3rd; that is, he occupied the pulpit, and spoke in German, whilst a French pastor, in the desk below, translated his Sermon into French. The congregation was very large, and Monsieur Nagel succeeded admirably with the translation. On the 4th, Mr. Müller held a second meeting of the same kind at Le Temple, when he was listened to with the deepest interest and attention; and the following morning a French brother called to congratulate him on the success of his ministry at Neuchâtel, "for"—said he—"Toute la population a été saisie et émue." On Oct. 6th my husband preached at the Salle des Conférences; on the 7th he spoke in English at the Oratoire, and, on our return in the evening, the following letter from one of his French hearers arrived by post.