r. His one
supreme aim was the glory of God; his one sole resort, believing prayer;
his one trusted oracle, the inspired Word; and his one divine Teacher,
the Holy Spirit. One step taken in faith and prayer had prepared for
another; one act of trust had made him bolder to venture upon another,
implying a greater apparent risk and therefore demanding more implicit
trust. But answered prayer was rewarded faith, and every new risk only
showed that there was no risk in confidently leaning upon the truth and
faithfulness of God.

One cannot but be impressed, in visiting the orphan houses, with several
prominent features, and first of all their magnitude. They are very
spacious, with about seventeen hundred large windows, and accommodations
for over two thousand inmates. They are also very substantial, being
built of stone and made to last. They are scrupulously plain; utility
rather than beauty seems conspicuously stamped upon them, within and
without. Economy has been manifestly a ruling law in their construction;
the furniture is equally unpretentious and unostentatious; and, as to
garniture, there is absolutely none. To some few, they are almost too
destitute of embellishment, and Mr. Muller has been blamed for not
introducing some aesthetic features which might relieve this bald
utilitarianism and serve to educate the taste of these orphans.

To all such criticisms, there are two or three adequate answers. First,
Mr. Muller subordinated everything to his one great purpose, the
demonstration of the fact that the Living God is the Hearer of prayer.
Second, he felt himself to be the steward of God's property, and he
hesitated to spend one penny on what was not necessary to the frugal
carrying on of the work of God. He felt that all that could be spared
without injury to health, a proper mental training, and a thorough
scriptural and spiritual education, should be reserved for the relief of
the necessities of the poor and destitute elsewhere. And again, he felt
that, as these orphans were likely to be put at service in plain homes,
and compelled to live frugally, any surroundings which would accustom
them to indulge refined tastes, might by contrast make them discontented
with their future lot. And so he studied to promote simply their health
and comfort, and to school them to contentment when the necessities of
life were supplied.

But, more than this, a moment's serious thought will show that, had he
surrounded them wit