Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 23.djvu/374

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324 CHARLES HENRY CAREY

at once to be removed. Even the large amount appro- priated for the outfit of the general reinforcement to the mission seemed to meet with a general acquiescence. And is our faith to be measured only by the visible, im- mediate and uninterrupted success attendant upon our efforts? Had the Wesleyan Mission in Southern Africa and elsewhere, the Baptist Missions in India, and those of the American Board in the Sandwich Islands, been conducted upon such principles they had long since been abandoned. And it is painful even to think how much good by such an event, would have been prevented.

Assuming therefore the principle that perseverance is the best proof of fidelity, we must not halt, nor linger in the way. We have put our hands to the plough which is to break up the fallow ground of heathenism beyond the Rocky Mountains and we must prove by our perse- verance in the work that we have undertaken it at the call of our heavenly Master. Relying less upon human instrumentality and more upon divine efficiency, we must not cease to labor and pray for the salvation of Oregon, until the conquests already won shall be repeated, and even eclipsed by future triumphs.

Twenty-fifth Anniversary, Greene Street Church, May 13, 1844.

OREGON MISSION. The superintendency of this mission has been transferred to the Rev. Geo. Gary, of the Black River Conference. The conflicting and unsat- isfactory reports concerning it which, from time to time, have reached us, seemed in the judgment of your Board, and of the Bishop having charge of Foreign Missions, 13 to call for a thorough and impartial investigation of its conditions and prospects. For this purpose our beloved brother has been appointed. His age and standing, and particularly the design of his appointment, rendered it

13 Bishop Redding.