On Dec. 8th he preached again at the City Hall; gave an address at a pastors' meeting on the morning of the 9th, and in the afternoon returned to Toronto, 170 miles from Kingston, where we arrived at 11.15 that night. There, having been particularly invited to attend the Conference meetings at Shaftesbury Hall, on the following morning (Dec. 10th) we were present at the opening prayer meeting, when the Hon. Vice-Chancellor Blake was President. From 10 to 11 Mr. Müller gave an address on "The inspiration of the Scriptures," and was followed by the Rev. W. J. Erdman of Jamestown, New York, who spoke from 11 to 12 on the study of the Bible; a subject upon which he threw out several valuable hints. He spoke, for instance, of the importance of reading the Holy Scriptures with a humble, teachable, receptive mind, prepared to set aside notions, thoughts, and prejudices of our own; to believe all that God reveals; and to carry out the light received. In the afternoon, Mr. Robert Cameron of Brantford spoke, on the second Advent, dwelling upon the glory of that period, when the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ; and remarked that, in apostolic times, young converts, at the very outset of their course, were instructed in the precious truth of His personal return, to which the Scriptures so largely and so definitely point. He reminded his hearers also of the instruction given by the Apostle Paul to the Thessalonians, namely:—"That the day of the Lord shall not come, except there come the apostasy first, and the man of sin (the personal Antichrist) be revealed, the son of perdition, whom the Lord shall consume with the Spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming." Mr. Cameron was followed by Mr. Müller, who spoke from 4 to 5 upon "Christ in all the Scriptures;" and in the evening there were addresses to Christian Workers from Messrs. Erdman, Macleod, Parlans, and others.
On the morning of the 11th, the attendance at Shaftesbury Hall was large, and Vice-Chancellor Blake again occupied the chair. After half an hour had been spent in prayer, the Rev. E. Harris, of St. Thomas, addressed the meeting; the Rev. P. Macleod of Stratford spoke afterwards, and an address from Mr. Erdman brought the morning service to a close.
In the afternoon Mr. Müller's subject was "The Second Coming of Christ," when he gave an outline of the chief events that will precede and accompany that glorious event, and dwelt upon many important truths connected with it. He spoke for an hour and 20 minutes. After Mr. Erdman had followed with his subject, "No Millennium until Jesus comes" (for which here was very little time), "Down life's dark vale we wander, Till Jesus comes" was sung with great animation, and the meeting terminated.
In the evening, from 8 to 9, Mr. Müller spoke again upon the second Advent, when he expounded Daniel vii., and in the course of his address made practical remarks connected with the subject, which took up so much time, that Mr. Erdman (as before) was able to say a few words only, on the topic allotted to him; but, as this dear brother in the Lord, possessed a gracious, Christ-like spirit, he only said—"I rejoice that Brother Müller should take the lead, for I feel like Timothy standing by the side of Paul." As Mr. Erdman subsequently gave us a few interesting particulars about his own conversion and experience which are instructive, for the benefit of others, it may be desirable to record them here.
When quite a boy, he was an ardent lover of his Greek Testament, and used to read it habitually long before he really believed the truths which the precious book contained; but, through his constant study of it, became at length a true disciple of the Lord Jesus. Some time after his conversion, however, when the pastor of a church, he, like many of his brethren in the ministry, was so thoroughly opposed to the doctrine of Christ's pre-millennial advent, that he debated publicly against it. Still, from his early youth he had always been a great lover of the simple word of God, apart from human teaching, and now in the course of his study of the Greek Testament, was led to see his standing in Christ more clearly than he did when first converted. He found that, by trusting in Jesus, he was pardoned and justified, that he was "Accepted in the Beloved"; and whilst rejoicing in a full assurance of his own personal salvation, this thought began gradually to steal into his mind—"Ought I not in the same way to take simply and literally (whenever it is possible to do so) all the statements both in the Old and New Testaments that point to the personal return of the Lord Jesus Christ, and throw light upon that great event?" This single ray of light he diligently followed, and his study of the prophetic word eventually led to his becoming as certain that the second coming of Christ will be pre-millennial, as he is of any other truth revealed in the Holy Scriptures.
On Dec. 12th, the Rev. Arthur Burson presided at the Conference, when addresses were given by Vice-Chancellor Blake and other brethren. The subject for the Vice-Chancellor was—"Watch"; the Rev. J. Salmon's, "Man, as seen in the Old and New Testaments"; Mr. Erdman's, "Eternal Life"; and in the afternoon at Shaftesbury Hall, Mr. Müller replied in public, to nine written questions that had been handed in, one of which was this—"Are we to expect our Lord's return at any moment, or that certain events must be fulfilled before He comes again?" His answer was—"I know that on this subject there is great diversity of judgment, and I do not wish to force on other persons the light I have myself. The subject, however, is not new to me; for having been a careful, diligent student of the Bible for nearly fifty years, my mind has long been settled on this point, and I have not the shadow of a doubt about it. The Scriptures declare plainly, that the Lord Jesus will not come until the apostasy shall have taken place, and the man of sin, the "son of perdition" (or personal Antichrist) shall have been revealed, as seen in 2nd Thess. ii. Many other portions also of the Word of God distinctly teach, that certain events are to be fulfilled before the return of our Lord Jesus Christ. This does not, however, alter the fact, that the coming of Christ, and not death, is the great Hope of the Church, and, if in a right state of heart, we (as the Thessalonian believers did) shall 'serve the living and true God, and—wait for His Son from Heaven.'"
In the evening Mr. Müller spoke for 40 minutes on "Walking with God," some valedictory addresses from the Vice-Chancellor and other brethren followed, and after singing—"Till He come, oh let that word," etc., the President requested "Our dear brother, Mr. Müller, to give the benediction," when the happy Toronto Conference terminated.
During his concluding remarks, Vice-Chancellor Blake expressed his surprise that pastors and servants of Christ, who minister in word and doctrine, take so little notice of the second Advent, as nearly "one third of the Bible, either directly or indirectly, points to it." By most of them the subject is ignored; but "Christ crucified, Christ risen, and Christ coming," should be their theme. One important feature in the Toronto Conference was—that instruction was given as to the character of the dispensation in which we live. How important it is to understand that there will be no universal blessing now, but that the very opposite of this is to be expected; for iniquity will abound and increase, in the professing Church as well as in the world, until at last "the man of sin will be revealed the son of perdition, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming." How earnestly should we seek to walk and to act now, as in the light of the great day of Christ's appearing!
On Sunday morning, Dec. 14th, Mr. Müller preached at Elm Street Methodist Church; and at the great Metropolitan Church, addressed an immense congregation in the evening, from John xiv. 16, 17. His subject was the indwelling and power of the Holy Ghost, and he concluded his sermon with a word of warning to believers not to grieve the Spirit. The unconverted were also solemnly reminded, that—"If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His." That evening we heard from Mr. Clarkson (pastor of the Sherbourne Street Methodist Church) that on Sunday morning, Nov. 9th, when my husband preached for him, there were several conversions amongst his congregation. Referring also to himself, he said—"Your ministry, under God, has greatly quickened me."
On Saturday morning, Dec. 20th, we left Toronto, and went, viâ Hamilton and Niagara Falls, to Buffalo, on the shores of Lake Erie, in the United States, 120 miles distant. There, on the following day (Sunday), Mr. Müller preached at the Westminster Presbyterian Church in the morning, and at the Central Presbyterian in the evening, where there was a "union service." During our visit to Buffalo, he held meetings also at the Hall of the Young Men's Christian Association, at Prospect Avenue Church, the North Presbyterian, First Baptist, and Lafayette Street Churches, at St. Peter's (a large German Church which was crowded to the utmost with a mass meeting of Germans, 2,000 being present) at the new Church of the Evangelical Association, and at Calvary Presbyterian Church. On Dec. 30th, at a meeting for pastors, he addressed about 50 for an hour and 10 minutes, who received him most affectionately, and on Jan. 4th, 1880, preached again at St. Peter's in German to a vast audience of 2,000. In addition to his English services, he held four large German meetings altogether.