God our Father in Christ Jesus the Son, our Brother.

Just in proportion as men know God as their Father in Christ, and
become true sons to Him, will they become united to each other as true
brethren; and thus the real and highest unity of man with man will be
realised as the Church of Christ possesses the earth, and her prayer
is answered, "Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is
done in heaven!"




PROGRESS OF MISSIONS.


The beginning of the nineteenth century marks an epoch of revival in
the Protestant Church. It would be going beyond the limits prescribed
by our subject to consider the causes of that remarkable reaction into
indifference of life, or of positive error in doctrine, which followed
more or less rapidly the stirring period of the Reformation. Such
tides, indeed, in the affairs of men,--now rushing with irresistible
waves to the utmost limit of the land; then receding and leaving
behind but a few pools to mark where the waters once had been; and
again, after a longer or a shorter interval, advancing with a deep
flood over the old ground,--are among the most striking phenomena in
history.

The last century witnessed the Protestant Church at its lowest ebb. We
thankfully acknowledge that God did not leave Himself without holy men
as living witnesses in every branch of that Church. And we record,