n one week, for
gratuitous circulation, and sometimes even more than this. When the
mighty working of the Spirit of God commenced in Ireland, I sought from
the beginning to send very large supplies of tracts to Belfast and
elsewhere, in order that thus the holy flame might be fanned, as it
were, and that in the very outset the simplicity of the gospel might be
set before the young converts. About two millions of the tracts and
books circulated during the past year were given away _gratuitously_.
Hundreds of believers have been engaged in spreading them abroad, not
merely in many parts of England, Scotland, and Ireland, but in various
other parts of the world.

At the commencement of the last period, there were 672 orphans in the
new Orphan Houses No. 1 and No. 2. During the past year were admitted
into the two houses 70 orphans. On May 26, 1860, there were just 700
orphans under our care, our full number in the two houses, _i. e._ in
No. 1, 300, in No. 2, 400. The total number of orphans who have been
under our care since April 11, 1836, is 1,153.

_Without any one having been personally applied to for anything_ by me,
the sum of L133,528, 14s. has been given to me for the orphans, _as the
result of prayer to God_, since the commencement of the work, which sum
includes the amount received for the building fund for the houses
already built and the one to be built. It may also be interesting to the
reader to know that the total amount which has been given for the other
objects since the commencement of the work amounts to L51,777, 14s.
11d.; and that which has come in by the sale of Bibles, since the
commencement, amounts to L2,530, 4s. 51/2d.; by sale of tracts, L3,546,
19s. 11/4d.; and by the payments of the children in the day schools,
from the commencement, L2,304, 18s. 9d. Besides this, also, a great
variety and number of articles of clothing, furniture, provisions, etc.,
have been given _for the use_ of the orphans.

Day after day, and year after year, by the help of God, we labor in
prayer for the spiritual benefit of the orphans under our care. These
our supplications, which have been for twenty-four years brought before
the Lord concerning them, have been abundantly answered in former years
in the conversion of hundreds from among them. We have also had repeated
seasons in which, within a short time, or even all at once, _many_ of
the orphans were converted. Such a season we had about three years
since, when w