parents through this fearful malady.

At the time when I last referred to the _progress_ of the new Orphan
House, it was being built. A part of it was already roofed in, and the
remainder was to be roofed not many weeks afterwards. But how much did
there yet remain to be done in other respects! A building so
considerable as to contain about three hundred large windows would
require, even after it was finished, an immense amount of labor to be
fitted up and furnished for three hundred and thirty persons. Then,
after this was done, the settling in of the orphans and their teachers,
and other overseers, needed still more abundant help. Further, the
obtaining of suitable helpers for this part of the work was indeed no
small matter. Lastly, though the Lord had been pleased to give me
already above eleven thousand pounds for the new Orphan House, yet I
needed several thousand pounds more, in order to bring the whole into
such a state as might render the building fit for the reception of the
orphans. And now, in looking back, and finding that I not only was
helped in _all_ these matters, but also _in every one of them_ far
beyond my largest expectations, does it not become me to say to those
who love the Lord Jesus, and into whose hands this account may fall: "O
magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together!" Each one
of the foregoing difficulties which still existed on the 26th of May,
1848, was so great, that if only one of them had remained, and I had not
been helped, what would have been the result? But while the prospect
before me would have been overwhelming had I looked at it _naturally_, I
was never, even for once, permitted to question what would be the end.
For as, from the beginning, I was sure _that it was the will of God_
that I should go to the work of building for him this large Orphan
House, so also, from the beginning, I was as certain that the whole
would be finished as if the building had been already before my natural
eyes, and as if the house had been already filled with three hundred
destitute orphans. I was therefore of good courage in the midst of an
overwhelming pressure of work yet to be done, and very many difficulties
yet to be overcome, and thousands of pounds yet needed; and I gave
myself still further to prayer, and sought still further to exercise
faith on the promises of God. And now the work is done, the difficulties
are overcome, all the money that was needed has been obtained,