WHEN Agassiz wished to trace the progress of the glacier, he found it impossible to do so except by a method which enabled him to compare its conditions in successive seasons. For this purpose he placed a row of stakes in a glacier extending in a straight line from stakes firmly fixed among the rocks on either bank. Then by returning from year to year and comparing the relative position of his stakes, he could determine the rate and the nature of the progress which had been meantime made. It is by an analogous method that we must trace the progress which has been made in the world by and through the instrumentality of Christian missions. He who looks upon the stream can hardly persuade himself that anything is in progress of accomplishment. But he who is content to compare the state of the world where Christian missions have been at work with its condition where the gospel is still unknown, or the present resources and activity of Christian missions with their condition, a century ago, will readily perceive that the glacier is moving with a real and very vigorous progress, none the less that it is almost imperceptible to the casual and careless observer.—Rev. Lyman Abbott.