fact of all the States.

It was a Congregational pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Porter, who
preached the first sermon on Lake Michigan, as he held a service
in the carpenter shop of Fort Dearborn in 1833. The population of
what afterward became the city of Chicago then numbered three
hundred. As a result of the efforts of Rev. Mr. Porter, who
organized the first Presbyterian church in the city of Chicago
while working also for the Congregational church, many of the
present centers of Christian influence were instituted in that
city.

It is instructive to note the returns from one Home Mission
enterprise. On the Pacific coast the Congregational Home Missionary
Society in sixty-two years spent $1,646,000. In thirty-two years
the churches thus founded sent $864,000 to carry Christ's message
to foreign countries, and $302,000 through other Congregational
agencies for uplift in this country. This was given in addition
to all the local philanthropies and social service rendered in
their own communities by these organizations.

The history of the first Presbyterian Church of Portland, Oregon,
is one of the outstanding illustrations of the fruitfulness of
Home Mission work. "This church was organized on January first,
1854, with ten members. It was a strictly Home Mission work,
dependent upon the Home Board for its existence. When it was
reorganized in 1860 it had but seventeen members, and they were
unable to pay the salary.

"During the next four years it received aid from the Board of Home