Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 19.djvu/249

CORRESPONDENCE 237 wished to unite with the church by baptism; three young converts came forward and related what God had done for their souls and were likewise received for baptism; all young men. The next Monday two of these young men were bap- tized by Br. Weston. The other will join the West Union Church very soon. There were several other cases of hopeful conversion and the meeting closed at the end of eleven days, apparently with as much interest in the minds of the impenitent as at any period of the meeting. The labors were performed mostly by Br. Weston and myself, in connection with Elder Porter, 320 the pastor of the church, and the lay brethren pres- ent. A meeting was appointed for Br. Weston to preach the next Saturday and Sabbath, at which time probably others will go forward in the ordinance of baptism. The subjects of our discussions were mostly such as the following The Nature and Consequence of Sin, The Nature of Penitence, The Exclusive Claims of the Gospel, The Office of Christ as the Atoning Sacrifice and Mediator, In What the New Birth Consists and In What the Work of the Disciples of Christ Consists. The church will probably make arrangements to secure the labors of Br. Weston half the time from this time and the two above-named churches will make arrangements to pay him about $600 salary and liberate him from his black- smith shop entirely. This church are making arrangements to build a good, neat house of worship at Forest Grove, 321 a little village springing up in connection with a school designed to be the literary organ of the Congregational churches in Ore- gon. On the whole, our Zion seems to have an onward ten- dency in Oregon, notwithstanding the many opposing barriers the enemy raises in our way. Pray for us that our faith may increase more and more and that we may abound more and more in every gospel labor. Yours affectionately, EZRA FISHER, Exploring Agent. 320 Rev. William Porter came to Oregon from Ohio in 1847 and was for a time pastor of the West Union Church. He helped organize the West Tualatin Church, near which he had a donation land claim, and was its pastor for some years. He died in 1872. Mattoon, Bap. An. of Ore., I:i, n, 192. 321 The town grew up on the claim of Rev. Harvey Clark, who gave the town- site for the benefit of the college. Tualatin Academy was incorporated in 1849, and Pacific University a few years later. Bancroft, Hist, of Ore., 11:32-35.