During this year there was spent, of the funds of the Institution, for missionary objects, L2,501, 9s. 1d. By this sum sixty-one laborers in the word and doctrine, in various parts of the world, were to a greater or less degree assisted.
The sum total which has been expended on missionary operations, of the funds of the Institution, since March 5, 1834, is L18,616, 9s. 61/2d.
There was laid out for the circulation of tracts, from May 26, 1855, to May 26, 1856, the sum of L791, 1s. 01/2d., and there were circulated 812,970 tracts and books. The sum total which has been expended on this object since Nov. 19, 1840, amounts to L3,659, 16s. 71/4d. The total number of all the tracts and books which have been circulated since Nov. 19, 1840, is 4,397,680.
At the beginning of this period there were 297 orphans in the new Orphan House. During the past year there have been admitted into it 25 orphans. The total number of orphans who have been under our care since April, 1836, is 622.
_Without any one having been personally applied to for anything by me_, the sum of L84,441, 6s. 31/4d. has been given to me for the orphans, _as the result of prayer to God_, since the commencement of the work, which sum includes the L15,055, 3s. 21/4d. which was the cost of the building, fitting up, and furnishing of the present new Orphan House, and the L29,297, 18s. 111/2d. received up to May 26, 1856, for the building fund, and the L167, 18s. 113/4d., the balance of the current expenses. The total sum which has been given for the other objects since the commencement of the work amounts to L28,904, 11s. 33/4d.; and that which has come 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, 1856, amounts to L5,145, 17s.
Dec. 31, 1855. During this year the Lord has been pleased to give me L726, 16s. 21/4d.
May 26, 1856. Yesterday evening it was twenty-four years since I came to labor in Bristol. In looking back upon this period, as it regards the Lord's goodness to my family and myself, the Scriptural Knowledge Institution, and the saints among whom I seek to serve him, I exclaim, What has God wrought! I marvel at his kindness, and yet I do not; for such is his manner; and, if it please him that I remain longer on earth, I expect, not fewer manifestations of his love, but more and more.
Since my beloved friend and fellow-laborer and I first came to Bristol, 1,586 believers have been received into fellowship, which number, with the 68 we found in communion, makes 1,654. But out of that number 252 have fallen asleep, 53 have been separated from fellowship, 145 have left us, some, however, merely through circumstances and in love, and 510 have left Bristol; so that there are only 694 remaining in communion.
By the contributions received during the year 1856-7, the whole amount on hand for the new buildings was raised to thirty-one thousand eight hundred seventeen pounds one shilling and elevenpence. For the Bible, tract, and missionary work, and for schools, Mr. M. had the pleasure of receiving and of expending eight hundred and twenty-nine pounds more than in the previous year. For the support of the orphans all means were so abundantly provided that at the end of the year there was on hand a balance of one thousand four hundred and eighty-nine pounds.
The following incident illustrates the author's reliance upon God for his own future support.
On Oct. 12, 1856, was sent to me a check for one hundred pounds, with the request of the donor to receive this for myself, as the beginning of raising a fund for my support when advanced in years, and for that of my family. This very kind and well-intended proposal by the donor, who since has died, appeared to me as a subtle temptation laid for me, though far from being intended so by him, to depart from the principles on which I had been acting for twenty-six years previously, both regarding myself and the orphan work. I give the account of this circumstance fully, as it may be profitable to one or other of the readers.