uddenly brought under
deep concern about their souls; yet, the blessing of the Lord has not
been withheld even spiritually. There are already many caring about the
things of God among the four hundred and twenty-four orphans who were
received within the last eighteen months, and who ask it, as a
privilege, to be allowed, in the summer, to take their Bibles with them
to bed, so that, should they awake in the morning before the bell is
rung, they may be able to read it. Out of the thirteen girls who were
sent to service, nine had been believers for some time before they left
the establishment.

When I began the orphan work, one of the especial objects which I had in
view was to benefit the church of Christ at large, by the accounts which
I might be enabled to write in connection with this service; for I
expected, from the beginning, to have many answers to prayer granted to
me, and I confidently anticipated that the recording of them would be
beneficial to believers, in leading them to look for answers to their
own prayers, and in encouraging them to bring all their own necessities
before God in prayer. I likewise firmly believed that many unconverted
persons would, by means of such writings, be led to see the reality of
the things of God. As I expected, so it has been. In very many instances
the reading of the Reports of this Institution, or the "Narrative of the
Lord's Dealings" with me, has been blessed by God to the conversion of
those who knew not our Lord Jesus. In thousands of instances, likewise,
believers have been benefited through them, being thereby comforted,
encouraged, led more simply to the Holy Scriptures, led more fully to
trust in God for everything; in a word, led, in a greater or less
degree, to walk in the same path of faith in which the writer, by the
help of God, is walking. The thousands of instances of blessing which
have been brought before me during the past twenty-four years (for
almost daily I have heard of fresh cases, and often of several on the
same day), have only still further led me to earnestness in prayer, that
the Lord would condescend to use these publications still more, and make
them a blessing to many tens of thousands of his children, and to many
tens of thousands of the unconverted. And now the reader will rejoice
with me, when he reads what follows. I am the more led to relate the
following, that the godly reader more than ever may be encouraged to
prayer, and, also, that an _