I notice further the following points respecting the Orphan work:
1, At the beginning of this period, there were 715 Orphans waiting for admission. Since then 201 more destitute Orphans, bereaved of both parents by death, and some only a few months old, have been applied for to be admitted, making 916 in all. Of these 916, we were only able to receive 25, as has been stated, and 44 either died or were otherwise provided for, as their relatives or friends informed us; so that there are still 847 waiting for admission. Dear Reader, think of these 847 destitute Orphans, bereaved of both parents! As for myself, I have now before me the most pleasant and heart-refreshing prospect, if the Lord permit, of being able to receive 400 of them about June or July 1857, and also of being permitted to build the third house for 300 more.
2, The average expense for each of the Orphans under our care, during the past year; amounted to 12l. 6s. 8d.
3, Without any one having been personally applied to for anything by me, the sum of 84,441l. 6s. 3 ¼ d. has been given to me for the Orphans, as the result of prayer to God, since the commencement of the work. The total sum given for the other objects, since the commencement of the work, amounts to 28,904l. 11s. 3 ¾ d.; 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 5,145l. 17s. 0d. Besides this, also a great variety and number of articles of clothing, furniture, provisions, etc., have been given for the use of the Orphans.
4, The Lord is pleased to continue to allow us to see fruit in connexion with the Orphan work, and we hear still again and again of cases, in which those, who were formerly under our care, have been led to declare themselves openly for the Lord, besides those, in whom we saw the work of grace manifestly begun, before they left the Orphan House.
5, The total of the current expenses for the Orphans and the various other objects of the Institution, was 8166l. 8s. 5 ¼ d. during the past year.
Matters connected with my own personal affairs, from May 26, 1855, to
May 26, 1856.
Dec. 31, 1855. During this year the Lord has been pleased to give me
1. By anonymous donations through the boxes . . . . . . £202 10 9 ¼
2. Through donations from believers in Bristol, not anonymously . . 149 13 9