There was laid out for the circulation of tracts, from May 26, 1853, to May 26, 1854, the sum of £563, 5s. 0½d.; and there were circulated 869,636 tracts.
The total number of all the tracts which were circulated from the beginning up to May 26, 1854, was 2,689,676.
We desire to be grateful to the Lord that during no period previously we were enabled to circulate more tracts, and more copies of the Holy Scriptures, and to aid to a greater degree missionary labors, than during this period; yet we would not rest in that. It is the blessing of the Lord upon our labors which we need, which we desire, and which by his grace we also seek.
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 £3,897, 2s. 0½d.
Without any one having been personally applied to for anything by me, the sum of £64,591, 6s. 11¼d. 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 £22,268, 2s. 11¼d.; 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 £3,989, 4s. 5¾d.
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.
While I was in this affliction, this great affliction, besides being at peace, as far as the Lord’s dispensation was concerned, I also felt perfectly at peace with regard to the cause of the affliction. When in August, 1831, the hand of the Lord was heavily laid on me in my family, as related in the first part of this Narrative, I had not the least hesitation in knowing that it was the Father’s rod, applied in infinite wisdom and love for the restoration of my soul from a state of lukewarmness. At this time, however, I had no such feeling. Conscious as I was of my manifold weaknesses, failings, and shortcomings, so that I too would be ready to say with the Apostle Paul, “O wretched man than I am!” yet I was assured that this affliction was not upon me in the way of the fatherly rod, but for the trial of my faith. Persons often have, no doubt, the idea respecting me, that all my trials of faith regard matters connected with money, though the reverse has been stated by me very frequently; now, however, the Lord would try my faith concerning one of my dearest earthly treasures, yea, next to my beloved wife, the dearest of all my earthly possessions. Parents know what an only child, a beloved child, is, and what to believing parents an only child, a believing child, must be. Well, the Father in heaven said, as it were, by this his dispensation, Art thou willing to give up this child to me? My heart responded, As it seems good to thee, my heavenly Father. Thy will be done. But as our hearts were made willing to give back our beloved child to him who had given her to us; so he was ready to leave her to us, and she lived. “Delight thyself also in the Lord; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.” Psalm xxxvii. 4. The desires of my heart were, to retain the beloved daughter, if it were the will of God; the means to return her were, to be satisfied with the will of the Lord.