What numerous evils have not been terminated, and what daring crimes have not been prevented by the influence of missions? How many a widow, otherwise doomed to perish amidst the horrors of the burning pile, now lives! How many an infant, destined to die by the hands of its mother, is now pressed to her bosom! How many a victim, marked as a sacrifice to the gods of his country, now trusts and adores the GOD of salvation! Yes! we do rejoice in these supplementary advantages of christian missions; but had our success been limited to these, we should have deemed success itself a failure. Our first, our noblest aim, is not to civilize but to _evangelize_ the heathen; not only to raise the savage to the dignity of man, but to raise man to fellowship with GOD. And in every scene of conflict with error and sin, the champions of the truth have maintained a good fight, and have been heard exulting, “now thanks be to GOD who always causeth us to triumph in CHRIST, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place.” Theirs is no empty boast, as they indulge these joyous strains. They point in _Africa_ to the wandering marauder, once more ferocious than the lion which prowls amidst her sandy deserts, now harmless and gentle as the lamb! In _India_ to the Brahmin, once the object of idolatry, now of scorn; once caressed by friends and loved by kindred, now a solitary outcast; “but what things were gain to him, he has counted loss for CHRIST.” In the _Isles of the Pacific_ to the man, once both the destroyer and consumer of his fellow man; but now the cannibal delights in peace, and breathes the amenities of love. In the _West Indies_ to redeemed multitudes, once in harder and viler bondage than their crudest oppressors could impose on their emaciated frame; but the SON OF GOD has made them free, and “they are free indeed.” But on the other hand this society has had to mingle her tears with her praises, and exhibits the trials as well as the triumphs of faith. From Madagascar the shepherds have indeed been driven, and their flocks scattered; they wander amid the wilderness as lambs among wolves, and many have been offered as a sacrifice upon the altar of their faith. From the deserts of Siberia also, where for more than twenty years our faithful brethren laboured with untiring zeal, to plant amid those snowy solitudes the garden of the LORD—they have been driven from their much loved toil.