The total of the income for the orphans, from Dec. 9, 1836, to Dec. 9, 1838, has amounted to £1,341, 4s. 7d.; the total of the expenses to £1,664, 4s. 0¾d. There was two years ago a balance of £373, 4s. 8¼d. in hand, and now the balance is £50, 5s. 3d.
Dec. 16. There was a paper anonymously put into the box at Bethesda Chapel containing four pounds ten shillings. In the paper was written, “For the rent of the Orphan Houses, from Dec. 10 to Dec. 31, 1838. ‘O, taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him!’” In order that the reader may be able to enter into the value of this donation, I would request him to read over once more what I wrote under “Sept. 29” of this year. [The individual who gave this four pounds ten shillings for the rent of the Orphan Houses for the first three weeks after the public meetings, at which the matter about the rent, for the instruction of the brethren, was fully stated, continued for three years, up to Dec. 10, 1841, to give regularly, but anonymously, one pound ten shillings a week for the same purpose, which was exactly the sum required every week for the rent of those three houses. Thus the Lord rewarded our faithfulness in carrying out the light which he had given us. But the chief blessing resulting from this circumstance I consider to be this,—that several brethren, who earn their bread by the labor of their hands, have learned through this circumstance that it is the will of the Lord they should lay by their rent weekly. I beseech those brethren who are not pursuing this course to do so, and they will soon prove by experience the benefit of acting on scriptural principles even as it regards this life.]
Dec. 17. To-day eleven brethren and sisters were proposed for fellowship.
Dec. 20. As the expenses for the orphans have been above forty-seven pounds within the last six days, and as but little above thirteen pounds has come in, and as the money for printing the Report had to be kept back, in order that we might not be in debt, we were again to-day very low in funds, though it is but six days since the public meetings. As I knew that to-morrow several pounds would be needed to supply the matrons, I gave myself this morning to prayer. About a quarter of an hour afterwards I received three pounds, the payment of a legacy left by a sister, who fell asleep in Jesus several months since, in Ireland. Besides this I received from the brother through whom the legacy was paid, two pounds ten shillings for the orphan fund. With this five pounds ten shillings I hope to be able to meet the expenses of to-morrow.
Dec. 22. A solemn day. I received to-day the information that my brother died on October 7. “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” must be the stay of the believer at such a time, and, by grace, it is my stay now. I know that the Lord is glorified in my brother, whatever his end has been. May the Lord make this event a lasting blessing to me, especially in leading me to earnestness in prayer for my father!
REVIEW OF THE YEAR 1838.
1. As to the church. There are 405 at present in fellowship with us; 61 having been added last year, of whom 36 have been brought among us to the knowledge of the truth.
2. As to my temporal supplies. The Lord has been pleased to give me during the past year £350, 4s. 8d.
During no period of my life had I such need of means, on account of my own long illness and that of my dear wife, and on account of the many and particular calls for means, as during the past year; but also during no period of my life has the Lord so richly supplied me. Truly, it must be manifest to all that I have served a most kind Master, during this year also, and that, even for this life, it is by far the best thing to seek to act according to the mind of the Lord as to temporal things!