On Sept. 1st Mr. Müller preached in German—for the first time after 31 years—at the Free Church, where, because the crowd was so great, notice was given that the next service would be held at the French Church, a much larger building, in which accordingly a service was conducted on the 2nd. On Sunday afternoon, Sept. 3rd, he addressed a mixed assembly of about 1,800, consisting of pastors, young men, Sunday School teachers, country women in their Swiss costumes, children, etc., at a large Hall called the Festhütte; and in the evening preached for the third time at the French Church, with very great help and power. On the afternoon of the 4th we went to Die Enge, a Hall on the side of a steep hill at Berne, where 150 brethren and sisters in the Lord had been invited by Col. von Büren to meet us. After walking about for a short time outside the building to gaze at the beauty of the distant Alps, lighted up by the glory of the setting sun, whose departing rays shed a lovely rose-coloured hue over their snowy summits, and hearing this remark: "Le bon Dieu l'a fait exprès pour vous donner plaisir," we partook of coffee with our friends in the Hall, who heartily welcomed us to Switzerland. Mr. Müller then gave a short address, and afterwards allowed the meeting to take a conversational turn, when he answered a number of important questions that were put to him. Whilst at Berne he addressed the girls and teachers one afternoon at Dr. Blösch's Orphan Institution, preached every evening until Sunday, the 10th—when he spoke at the Festhütte, at 3 p.m., to about 1,900 persons—and preached a farewell sermon at the French Church to nearly 2,000 in the evening. The Lord helped him wonderfully, many persons appeared to be greatly impressed, and it was a glorious meeting.
Having before him an immense amount of work, with the prospect of preaching evening after evening for several months to large audiences in the close, heated atmosphere of Churches, Halls, etc.; and desiring a few days of entire rest and relaxation before the short days and cold weather of winter should set in; we decided at this time upon a little excursion amongst the mountains, and accordingly on Sept. 11th started for Lucerne. At that town, which is in full view of Mont Pilatus, we passed one night, and the next morning went by steamer across the lake to Vitznau, at the foot of the Rigi. Thence we ascended the mountain—which is 5,905 feet above the level of the sea—by cog-wheel railway, and beheld from its summit a view unrivalled for extent and grandeur. The panorama of lake and mountain scenery was magnificent, the horizon presenting a circumference of 300 miles, and including in the prospect 13 lakes, the snowy masses of the Bernese Oberland, the grand range of the Jura from Geneva to Basle, and the mountains of the Black Forest in Germany.
A considerable quantity of snow lay upon the ground in the immediate neighbourhood of the Rigi Kulm, the cold was severe, and, as snow began to fall, we were glad to find shelter, near the top of the mountain, at an hotel. At half past 4 the next morning we rose and ascended the Rigi Kulm, whence splendid ranges of innumerable snowy mountain peaks and distant glaciers could be seen extending far and wide, to which, illuminated as they were by the bright beams of the rising sun, a gorgeous prismatic colouring was imparted; and there we stood for a considerable time, gazing round upon that grand, wild, solitary, silent region with an interest that could scarcely be exceeded.
"God of stillness and of motion,
Of the desert and the ocean,
Of the mountain, rock, and river,
Blessed be THY name for ever!"
At 10 o'clock we descended the mountain, embarked in a lake steamer at Vitznau for Fluellen and Altdorf, and remained at the latter place until Sept. 15th. On the morning of that day we started by diligence for Mont St. Gothard, slowly ascended a mountain Pass by an Alpine road that winds between stupendous precipices of enormous height, dark, frowning, and perpendicular; and after crossing the Pont du Diable, and changing carriages at Andermatt, drove on to the foot of the St. Gothard. From that point a gradual ascent of the mountain (by carriage) was commenced; the grand scenery and bold outline of the rocks becoming, as we advanced, more and more striking and conspicuous; but all was soon obscured by clouds and mists, and we alighted at the Hospice (situated at the top of the St. Gothard Pass, about 9,000 feet above the level of the sea) encompassed by a dense fog. In these regions above the clouds the cold was so intense, that we were thankful to accept the very poor accommodation afforded at the Hospice (a little inn intended principally for the reception of travellers on their way to and from Italy), and, in spite of the smoke from the cigars of some Italians that filled the only room with a fire in it which the house contained, were glad to be allowed to share it with them, and with any other travellers who happened to come in. At 10 we retired to our room, which was a very small one without a stove or fireplace, where the cold during the night was severe. The next morning (the 16th) we rose early, and, finding that clouds and fog still hung over the whole mountain region, concealing entirely the beauty of the grand scenery around, we got into the first diligence that stopped at the Hospice, and went down the mountain at a rapid pace to Andermatt. From there we returned to Altdorf, took the steamer to Lucerne, and went on by rail to Zürich, where we arrived in time for my husband to fulfil the engagements he had made in that town for the 17th. On the following afternoon (Sunday) he preached at the Anna Capelle to a large congregation, the Church being crowded to the utmost, and the staircases and doorways filled; and in the evening held a second meeting at the same place, which was also very numerously attended.
At Zürich he continued to conduct services every afternoon or evening until the 24th, when he addressed a large audience at the Methodist Episcopal Chapel in the morning, and preached in the afternoon at the Frau Münster—an immense Church—to about 1,900 persons. On Sept. 25th we went by lake steamer to Männedorf, and there were cordially welcomed by Mr. Zeller, successor to Dorothea Trudel, who conducted us to lodgings at a pretty cottage, with vines trained up against the walls, in which she used to live. After Mr. Müller had preached twice at Männedorf, and held two meetings at Wädenschwyl, a small town on the opposite side of the lake, we returned to Zürich; and on the evening of Sept. 29th he preached at Wytikon, a village four miles distant, where special arrangements for lighting the Church with lamps were necessary, because evening services were never held. During our two visits to Zürich he preached in that town and in the neighbourhood 18 times altogether.
On Oct. 1st we went to St. Gallen, and afterwards visited Hauptweil, Heinrichsbad (a small Sanatorium), Herisau, Heiden, Niederuzwyl, Mollis, Glarus, and Trogen, and on Oct. 23rd returned to Heiden. At all of these places he held meetings with great encouragement and success, except at Glarus, where the population is partly of an infidel character. Here some young men entered the Hall, evidently intending to disturb the meeting; but the service, nevertheless, was of a most solemn character. On the following evening the number of hearers at the same Hall was considerably larger, and the preacher was listened to with great attention.
From the grandeur and sublimity of their mountain scenery, Mollis, Glarus, and the whole neighbourhood for miles around, are wonderful localities. These are no places, one would think, for infidels; for here, if anywhere, the most careless even must be constrained to acknowledge that "the strength of the hills is His also." On Oct. 20th we went to Ragatz (situated in a picturesque spot on the Splugen Road, in the Valley of the Rhine), and on the following morning took a drive to Pfäffers-Bad, three miles distant, in the narrow deep gorge of the Tamina, between perpendicular cliffs of an amazing height, where, even during the summer months, the sun shines only from 10 o'clock till 4. The hot sulphur springs (temperature 94°) are reached by a road of planks at the bottom of the gorge, which has high precipices on each side of it, only wide enough apart for the Bath House to stand on the level ground between them. This Pfäffers-Bad is considered one of the most curious and remarkable spots throughout the whole of Switzerland.
On Oct. 24th we left Heiden and went to Constance, where, on the evening of that day, Mr. Müller held a meeting at a large Hall of the Insel Hotel, which is situated on an island in the Boden See, or Lake of Constance. This hotel used formerly to be a Dominican Monastery, and the Hall, just referred to, was the Church originally belonging to the building. An old tower, connected with the Monastery, in which John Huss was imprisoned, is still standing close to the hotel. During our short stay at Constance, three other meetings were held (two of them in the town), and before our departure we visited the Council Chamber at the Merchants' Hall, in which the Council sat by whom Huss was tried and sentenced to be burned at the stake. The spot—now marked by a monument near the Brühl outside, where, in the year 1416, he and Jerome, of Prague, suffered martyrdom, is also one of the interesting places in this neighbourhood.
On Oct. 28th we went to Schaffhausen, visited the beautiful Falls of the Rhine, and on the 29th, at the Johannes Kirche (an immense building), Mr. Müller addressed a congregation of about 3,000. Upon four other occasions also he preached at the same Church, with great help from the Lord. From Schaffhausen, on Nov. 3rd, we proceeded to Winterthur, and after he had held two meetings there, left for Basle on the 4th. Here, during the fortnight we remained, he addressed very large congregations every evening, either at the great Hall of the Vereins Haus, at a Hall belonging to the Moravians, or at one of the Churches. He addressed the Theological Students of the University also, and spoke for an hour and a quarter to 85 Missionary Students and their Teachers. On the 15th, at Beugen, he held a meeting at an Institution for young men who were being trained for teachers; on the 16th addressed 65 Missionary Students at Creschona, and on the 17th preached at Lehrach. On Nov. 18th we went to Mülhausen, and afterwards visited Strasburg, Stuttgart, Kornthal, Ludwigsburg, Reutlingen, Ober-Urbach, Heilbronn, Carlsruhe, Gernsbach (in the neighbourhood of the Black Forest), Heidelberg, Mannheim, Frankfort on the Maine, Darmstadt, Bonn, Cologne, Düsseldorf, Mülheim, Gladbach, Reydt, Viersen, Crefeld, Duisburg, Essen, Elberfeld, and Barmen, at all of which places important, happy meetings—generally crowded to the very utmost—were held, both at Halls and in the Churches.