If any of the Christian readers are in the habit of circulating tracts, and yet have never seen fruit, may I suggest to them the following hints for their prayerful consideration. 1. Seek for such a state of heart, through prayer and meditation on the Holy Scriptures, as that you are willing to let God have all the honor, if any good is accomplished by your service. If you desire for yourself the honor, yea, though it were in part only, you oblige the Lord, so to speak, to put you as yet aside as a vessel not meet for the Master's use. One of the greatest qualifications for usefulness in the service of the Lord is a heart truly desirous of getting honor for him. 2. Precede all your labors with earnest, diligent prayer; go to them in a prayerful spirit; and follow them by prayer. Do not rest on the number of tracts you have given. A million of tracts may not be the means of converting one single soul; and yet how great, beyond calculation, may be the blessing which results from one single tract. Thus it is also with regard to the circulation of the Holy Scriptures, and the ministry of the word itself. Expect, then, everything from the blessing of the Lord, and nothing at all from your own exertions. 3. And yet, at the same time, labor, press into every open door, be instant in season and out of season, as if everything depended upon your labors. This, as has been stated before, is one of the great secrets in connection with successful service for the Lord: to work, as if everything depended upon our diligence, and yet not to rest in the least upon our exertions, but upon the blessing of the Lord. 4. This blessing of the Lord, however, should not merely be sought in prayer, but it should also be _expected, looked for, continually looked for_; and the result will be that we shall surely have it. 5. But suppose that, for the trial of our faith, this blessing were for a long time withheld from our sight; or suppose, even, that we should have to fall asleep before we see much good resulting from our labors; yet will our labors, if carried on in such a way and spirit as has been stated, be at last abundantly owned, and we shall have a rich harvest in the day of Christ.
At the beginning of this period there were 300 orphans in the new Orphan House on Ashley Down, Bristol. During the year there were admitted into it 30 orphans, making 330 in all. The total number of orphans who were under our care from April, 1836, to May 26, 1854, was 558.
The expenses during this year for the support of the orphans were L3,897, 2s. 01/2d.
_Without any one having been personally applied to for anything by me_, the sum of L64,591, 6s. 111/4d. was given to me for the orphans, _as the result of prayer to God_, from the commencement of the work up to May 26, 1854. It may be also interesting to the reader to know that the total amount which was given for the other objects, from the commencement of the work up to May 26, 1854, amounted to L22,268, 2s. 111/4d.; and that which came in by the sale of Bibles and tracts, and by the payments of the children in the day schools, from the commencement up to May 26, 1854, amounted to L3,989, 4s. 53/4d.
Our labors continued to be blessed among the orphans. We saw also again fruit of our labors, during this year, with regard to orphans who formerly were under our care.
In July, 1853, it pleased the Lord to try my faith in a way in which before it had not been tried. My beloved daughter, an only child, and a believer since the commencement of the year 1846, was taken ill on June 20. This illness, at first a low fever, turned to typhus. On July 3 there seemed no hope of her recovery. Now was the trial of faith. But faith triumphed. My beloved wife and I were enabled to give her up into the hands of the Lord. He sustained us both exceedingly. But I will only speak about myself. Though my only and beloved child was brought near the grave, yet was my soul in perfect peace, satisfied with the will of my heavenly Father, being assured that he would only do that for her and her parents which in the end would be the best. She continued very ill till about July 20, when restoration began. On Aug. 18 she was so far restored that she could be removed to Clevedon, for change of air, though exceedingly weak. It was then fifty-nine days since she was first taken ill.