Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 17.djvu/277

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CORRESPONDENCE 269

of six or eight log cabins situated on the west bank of the Willamette six miles above its junction with the Columbia and twelve S. W. from Fort Vancouver. 161 Here I left my party for Tualatin Plains, ten miles S. W. My way lay over high hills and through a dense forest. About twelve reached the house of my esteemed friend and brother, David T. Lenox. Here I was received with truly Christian hospitality. Four of his children have publicly put on Christ during the last year. In the afternoon visited the school which I taught in the summer of '46, now taught by a worthy Br. Ford, formerly from N. Y.

23rd. Met delegates from six churches, and by request preached on the importance of brotherly love. Was called to the chair and, after long but friendly deliberation on the subject of the connection of churches with missionary bodies, an association was organized, consisting of five churches, under the name of the Willamette Baptist Association, leav- ing each church free to act at pleasure on the missionary question. Oh, how deeply ought Christians to humble them- selves in view of the thought that so many of our dead breth- ren are so slow to awake and put on their strength and come up to the great battlefield of Zion's King! May the love of the gospel soon bring all our churches to a union of sentiment and action on this great practical subject.

24th. This day has been one of hard labor and, I trust, of some humble, fervent prayer. It does my soul good to see some manifest marks of discipleship in the midst of error. A spirit of kindness has been maintained while there has been very little yielding of principle. On the whole, the best work done this day has been the discussing and acting on the subject of the importance of liberating the ministry from wordly care and encouraging them to work in Christ's harvest field. Br. Vincent Snelling was appointed to travel


161 Linnton was laid out in the winter of 1843-4. and a road cut out from it to Tuilatin Plains. Bancroft, Hist, of Ore. 1:415. It languishes in competition with Portland.

(P. H. Burnett and Morton M. McCarver, pioneers of 1843, were the town proprietors. George H. Himes.)