THE NEXT STEP: ASHLEY DOWN

Müller started searching for land when he heard of a land for sale at Ashley Down. The owner told Müller that the
night before the Lord had told him in a dream to sell the land to Müller for 200 pound an acre – instead of the 320 an
acre he was trying to sell it for. Müller agreed to purchase nearly seven acres. The building work finally began in July
1847. June 18th to 23rd 1849 was an exciting week for the children because, after 13 years in the four rented houses in
Wilson Street, the children moved to the new Orphan House in Ashley Down. Soon the Orphan House was fully
operating with 300 orphans and 35 staff, so Müller was thinking of building another Orphan House, large enough to
accommodate 700 children. No one in the whole of Britain was doing anything as radical as Müller in the care of
orphaned children. By November 1857, the second Home for two hundred infant girls and 200 girls from eight years
opened. Within three months Müller started building another house, the third and largest of the Ashley Down
Orphanage Homes - on the 2nd March 1862 it opened.
Charles Dickens heard a rumor that the children in Müller's care were starving, so he went to Ashley Down to see for
himself. He was so impressed with the good care they were getting he wrote articles for the newspapers telling about
the work. On November 7, 1857, he posted a very encouraging article entitled: BROTHER MULLER AND HIS
ORPHAN-WORK. In August 1865 Hudson Taylor, who went on to found the China Inland Mission, now known as
the Overseas Missionary Fellowship, visited Müller and the Orphanages at Ashley Down. For the next 20 years,
Müller never failed to pray and give practical support to the China Inland Mission.
In 1868 he opened the fourth home and on January 6th 1870 the last Orphan Home, number 5, was opened. James
Wright became Müller's
helper and the older man
trained him to be his
successor. He married
Müller's daughter, Lydia.
Müller's wife, Mary, died
in 1870 and he later
remarried Susannah Sanger
in 1871, the same year that
his daughter and James got
married. She, just as Mary
had been, was an excellent
helpmate to him.
With his son-in-law James
to run the orphanages,
Susannah arranged speaking tours for her husband, who was now 70 years old. She said he needed to tell others his
message of depending on God for everything. In 17 years, the couple travelled 200,000 miles all over the world
visiting 42 countries urging people to read their Bibles, pray and rely on God. Susannah died when she was 73 years
old. George Müller passed away on March 10, 1898 at the age of 92. Thousands of people lined the streets to honor
him. Two thousand orphans were in attendance. The British newspaper The Daily Telegraph wrote that Müller " had
robbed the cruel streets of the thousands of victims, the gaels (jails) of thousands of felons, and the workhouses of
thousands of helpless waifs"

1. What happened these years?

1849 –
1857 –
1857 –
1862 –
1865 –
1868 –
1870 –
1871 –
1875-1892 –
1894 -
1898 –
2. Caring for this number of orphans was a costly business. There were those who said there was no way he would be
able to provide for so many children and such a large staff force. But he did and proved he served a God who
answered prayer. One such answer is recorded in the following video. What did they need? What did Müller decide
to do?, what happened next?

3. What two important visits did they have?

4. Who was James Wright?

5. In Charles Dickens’ article “BROTHER MULLER AND HIS ORPHAN-WORK”, he called Müller “Bank of
faith”, why do you think he called him in that way?

6. Underline these words in the text and match them with their meaning.

a. to make room for

a. Purchase ________
b. to direct the business or activities of, to manage
b. Accommodate ________
c. Starving _________ c. gain the admiration or interest of

d. Impressed ________ d. to obtain by paying money or its equivalent.

e. Went on ________ e. the action or state of going regularly to or being present at a place or event

f. Helpmate ________ f. one who is a companion and helper

g. To run ________ g. kept on, continued

h. Passed away _________ h. stand or be positioned at intervals along.
i. Lined _________ i. to suffer extreme hunger
j. Attendance ________ j. died