Oct. 24. By sale of articles 4s. 4 ½ d.—From a Christian gentleman in Devonshire 20l. Day by day 1 am waiting upon God for means for furnishing the house. The last-mentioned sum I received when returning from the Orphan-Houses from our weekly prayer-meeting, where I had been again seeking from God further help, together with my fellow labourers in the work.
Oct. 25. From sisters in the Lord in Devonshire, 5l., of which they kindly intend one half for the Building Fund, and the other half for present use for the Orphans.
Nov. 8. The Building is now so far advanced by the help of God, that I was able to arrange yesterday with the clerk of the works to purchase today 32 grates for small rooms, two copper furnaces for the wash-house, and two iron furnaces for the scullery. Thus, therefore, the expenses for fitting up the house commence. For all this I had the money in hand, and even some hundreds of pounds more, than the liabilities which are already upon me; yet I want still many hundred pounds to meet all the heavy expenses, connected with fitting up and furnishing so large a building, levelling the ground, making a road through the ground, pitching three large playgrounds, &c. Under these circumstances I received this morning anonymously 50l. for the Orphan-House, with Psalm cxvi. and the request not to notice the post-mark. As I understood the donor to intend this donation for the Building Fund, I took it for that.
Nov. 9. Today the Lord has helped still more abundantly. I have received a donation of One Thousand Pounds, to be used for the Building Fund and the present necessities of the work generally, as the various objects of the Institution might require. Of this donation I took, therefore, 600l. for the Building Fund, 100l. for the present necessities of the Orphans, 200l. for missionary purposes, and 100l. for the circulation of Bibles and Tracts, and for the various Day Schools, the Sunday School, and the Adult School of the Institution. All these manifestations of the Lord's abundant help do not in the least surprise me. I expect help from Him. I know that He listens to my supplications, and that, for the sake of the Lord Jesus, He is willing to help me yet more and more, to the confounding of Satan and to the putting to shame of unbelief.
Nov. 10. Received a bank order for 5l. from the neighbourhood of
Tavistock, which, being left to my disposal, I took for the Building
Fund.
Nov. 15. From the neighbourhood of Launceston 20l.
Dec. 22. Received 100l. This sum being left to my disposal, I took it for the Building Fund.
Jan. 2, 1849. Received from Devonshire 10l., with these words: "A moiety of the first fruits of interest on Bristol Dock Shares from the Town Council of Bristol, towards the New Orphan Building." Thus even the fact, of Bristol being made a free port, was used by the Lord as a means to supply me with this sum.
Jan. 17. The time is now drawing near, when further steps are to be taken to fit up and furnish the house, as more than two-thirds of the rooms are all but ready. Under these circumstances I have prayed the more earnestly, day by day, that the Lord would be pleased to give me the means which are yet needed; and as my heart has been assured from the beginning, and all through these three years and two months, since I first began to pray about this subject, that God would in every way help me in this work, so I have also been particularly satisfied that He would be pleased to provide the means which may be required to meet all the heavy expenses, which yet remain to be met. Now, today I have had again a precious answer to my daily supplications with reference to this work; for I received this evening 600l., concerning which it was desired that brother Craik and myself should each take 50l. for ourselves; the remaining 500l. was left entirely to my disposal; yet an especial reference was made to the heavy expenses connected with fitting up and furnishing the New Orphan-House, towards which I might, either in part, or entirely take this sum.—After prayer I have decided on portioning out the money thus: 300l. towards fitting up and furnishing the New Orphan-House, 50l. for present use for the Orphans, 50l. for the support of the Day Schools, the Sunday School, and the Adult School, 25l. for the circulation of the Holy Scriptures, 25l. for the circulation of Gospel Tracts, 25l. for Foreign Missions, and 25l. for the Employment Fund.
With reference to the present of 50l. for myself, as mentioned just now, I cannot help calling upon the Christian reader to observe how richly the Lord supplies my own personal necessities. Since 1830 I have had no regular salary nor any stated income whatever I then began to rely upon the living God alone for the supply of all my temporal necessities; and all these many years have never once been allowed to regret this step, nor has the Lord at any time failed me. Often, indeed, I have known what it is to be poor; but for the most part I have abounded. I sought no payment from man for my service for God, whether in the ministry of the Word or as director of the Scriptural Knowledge Institution; but though I did not seek for any payment, the Lord has most abundantly recompensed me, even as to this life. By far the most important point, however, of this my way of living, is, that many of the disciples of the Lord Jesus have had their hearts comforted, and have been encouraged themselves to trust more in God, than they used to do; and it was, moreover, my becoming more experimentally acquainted, through this way of living, with the readiness of God to help, to succour, to relieve, and to answer prayer, which led me in March 1834 to begin the Scriptural Knowledge Institution, and in November 1835 to care about destitute Orphans.